“I Argued Over The Meaning Of The Word ‘Natural’ For A Five-Hour
Bus Ride:” A TDQ Q&A With Lexicographer Emily Brewster, Part 2
Don't be fore and aft. Bottle of scotch this video that reveals
the a la mode behind chitty chitty bang bang.  TDQ: What sort of
feedback do you normally get from your grammar rule videos?
Brewster: Mostly it’s about the glasses. Which are actually a
disguise I’ve been developing since 4th grade.  TDQ: Who are
your influences?  Brewster: Grammatically, my grandmother was my
biggest influence. She taught me the difference between lay and
lie and to only use than as a conjunction (smarter than I)
rather than as a preposition (smarter than me). I don’t
subscribe to all the rules she taught me anymore (sorry,
Grandma), but she made me think about language critically. My
father too was an influence. He’s constantly making up words.
When I was a kid he would make up a word—for instance,
swiffledode—and we’d ask him what the word meant and he’d say,
“Well, it’s a little like pripapitous,”