Monday, December 01, 2003
End my confusion
If you've ever looked at the wall of the Free Speech Movement cafe, you'll notice on the far left a woman. This is the only woman you'll see on the wall, so she's probably just the token female. (I couldn't find the token black person) While her expression looks "I just lost my boyfriend/crush" sad (for an example, see the Daily Cal's picture associated with its spectacular piece "Silence, Wishes and the Torment of War."), her sign sends the angry message:
End Cal's Shame.
Give Free Speech Now.
But wait a second. Presumably, "End Cal's Shame" has the subject "you" and is addressed to the audience of external observers. But the subject they want free speech from is Cal, so the subject of the second sentence would have to be Cal. But that, too has a subject of "you", which means the two halves have two different subjects, both described by "you." That's just bad English.
Further, "Give Free Speech Now" looks to be severely lacking in an object for "give." Do they mean "Give us free speech now"? "Give squirrels free speech now"? "Give Free 'Speech Now' brand condoms to everyone"? Hmmph. And they called themselves educated.
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