The Buckets by Greg Cravens for October 11, 2015
October 10, 2015
October 12, 2015
Transcript:
What's a pronoun? Oh, you know- words like I, he, she, it, they and the thingy. The thingy? I'm not sure Ms. Mallet said that one in class. It's a pronoun you use in place of a lost noun. Can you use it in a sentence? Ok. Honey! I'm late! Where's the thingy that usually sets on, y'know... The thingy? I don't think Ms. Mallet knows that one. It might not be in hurt textbook, but you can bet she learned about it in the hullabaloo of earning her teaching thingy.
More From The Buckets
Placeholder nouns like ‘thingy’ aren’t strictly pronouns.
I’ve started to follow the lead of the late great Sir Terry and refer to them as ‘metasyntactic variables’ – he liberated this term from the confines of computer nerdery. And then take it a step further by using it: ’ Has anyone seen the metasyntactic variable?’ (revenge on the other half for his ability to construct sentences including 3 or 4 different placeholders and expect me to understand what he means… which too often I can)