View Older Entries
Latest Articles
Anna's Profile
Member Since: August 26, 2009
My name is Anna Davis, and I am a complete nerd. While it has been said that admitting you have a problem is the first step on the way to recovery, it’s not something I neither wish to nor have the capacity to recover from. I love Nerd Girl Pinups, along with any other appreciation of nerd culture. I wasn’t always comfortable with my nerdiness. Growing up nerdy isn’t easy. Before even understanding that that is who you are, you know you’re different (and so does everyone else). I looked forward to spelling tests, had the largest collection of comic books at summer camp, and for fun, I would try to memorize as many elements of the periodic table or digits of pi as possible. All the other girls had Barbie dolls; I had Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figures. I’m certain that every other true nerd has their own examples of things that set them apart as a child – and generally, at that age, being set apart is not a good thing. But despite the mockery that a young nerd will undoubtedly be forced to endure, they will survive childhood and generally end up with good grades and a fair book collection (as books will have filled the void usually occupied by friends). As an adult, things change. You care less about other people’s opinions and get more comfortable in your own skin. Eventually, you start meeting like-minded people; the nerd support group you never had as a child becomes a circle of the best friends and most awesome people you could ever imagine. As an adult nerd, I have never been happier or more confident with who I am. That’s why I love the concept of this site. It is a celebration of nerd pride, and a community of people who really understand what it means to be one. I’m excited to be a part of Nerd Girl Pinups. I will be regularly writing a column of podcast reviews, as well as pieces on events and activities that are of geeky interest. Any feedback and/or suggestions are always welcome at aez.davis@gmail.com.
Latest Post
Prime Podcast Picks – #1: Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
As the first in a regular column of podcast reviews, I decided to begin with an appraisal of a personal favourite. As a lover of things wordy and nerdy, I knew that this podcast would appeal to me the first time I heard of it. Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, a weekly educational podcast offering quick lessons in grammar, usage, and other topics on effective writing, has been both entertaining and a valuable tool in answering a couple long-standing questions.
Started by former science writer Mignon Fogarty in 2006, Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing caught on quickly through word of mouth, rising as high as #2 on iTunes. Episodes usually run between five to eight minutes in length, allowing the listener to learn better grammar on the go. The show’s popularity led to a book deal for Fogarty – a grammar and usage guide sharing the name of the podcast. Released last year in paperback and audiobook formats, the book followed suit with the podcast’s acclaim, placing #9 on the New York Times best-seller list for paperback advice books.
Fogarty’s friendly and welcoming tone, as well as her tendency to slightly over-enunciate words (an oral characteristic I share with her, admittedly), help keep the lessons clear and concise. It is also through her demeanour that the listeners are assured that they are being taught by a teacher who knows and loves their subject well. As she states in the introduction to her book that it “is not intended to be a comprehensive style guide... This is a practical guide for everyday writers”, it is clear that the intentions of the podcast are no different.
The best thing about Grammar Girl is the fact that many podcasts are inspired by listener questions. Fans of the show are encouraged by Fogarty to write to the show or call its voice mailbox, and she frequently responds directly by dedicating entire episodes to these inquiries. Examples of such episodes include ones about irregular plural nouns, “can” versus “may”, and the serial comma. She has described her podcast as making “complex grammar questions simple with memory tricks to help you recall and apply those troublesome grammar rules”, and it certainly does.
The only downside to this generally stellar podcast lies in an editing glitch with a small number of its archived episodes. The brief advertisements normally placed either close to the beginning or near the end of each episode seem to have been incorrectly positioned in some, so one might hear Fogarty interrupt herself midsentence to discuss a show sponsor’s product or service. While this can be a bit annoying – as no one really wants an informative lesson on appositives or phrasal verbs intruded upon by a commercial – it only affects a few past episodes, and the problems seems to have since been rectified.
Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing can – of course – be found on iTunes, but a number of bonuses can be found on the Quick and Dirty Tips website. These extras include full episode transcripts, a newsletter offering grammar tips of the day, widgets for blogs and websites, Grammar Girl TV, and a link to Fogarty’s new podcast, Behind the Grammar.