It was Yoda, in the first Star Wars movie, who said to Luke Skywalker, “Do or do not, there is no try.”
Which, in current vernacular, would equate to “Poop or get off the toilet.” Ok, so maybe it wouldn’t be “poop” and maybe toilet would be “pot,” but you get the drift.
Nike had the same idea: “Just do it.”
One of my favorite grammatical pet peeves is when someone says they want to “try and” do something. I want to scream every time I hear someone use that phrase: “It’s not TRY AND, moron, it’s TRY TO…” (I didn’t make this up; Strunk and White’s “Elements of Style” will back me.) But of course I don’t scream it out loud, I just think it AT THE TOP OF MY VERBAL CAPACITY.
So go ahead… Try AND pick up a pencil… No, I didn’t say to actually pick it up… I said TRY AND pick it up.
“I will try and be there on time.” No, you will either be on time or you will be late. Just try TO be on time.
Please, gentle readers, help me spread the word! Let’s all try to make the world a more literate place!
