Jimmy Hall

I wish I could claim that I wrote these witty rules, however, I have shamelessly lifted them from this excellent book by Caroline Taggart and J. A. Wines.

1. Verbs have to agree with their subjects.
2. Remember to never split an infinitive.
3. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
4. Never use a big word when a diminutive one will suffice.
5. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
6. Use the apostrophe in it’s proper place and omit it when its not needed.
7. Eliminate unnecessary references.  As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, ‘I hate quotations.’
8. Who needs rhetorical questions?
9. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
10. Last but not least, avoid clichés likes the plague.

I found something astounding out today whilst reading Watching The English by Kate Fox.  Now, we are a nation of animal lovers, this is true, yet surprisingly we English established the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) in 1824, sixty years before the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) was founded in 1884!

It turns out that most of the famous societies were founded on the back of laws.  This further amazes me, as not only was there a society protecting animals before children but there was also a law against the maltreatment of animals before a specific law against the maltreatment of children.

Now, I’m all for the prevention of cruelty to both kids and animals.  I just found it a little bit odd that the laws of the land ended up being made in that order!