Whac-"a"-Itchy-Foot
A blatant Holmes reference but with a horrible grammar error. Did I miss something? Is there a joke there and I'm just too dunderheaded to get it? Please, someone tell me. You won't hurt my feelings.
In this latest installment, "Whac-a-Mole", House sets a puzzle for his team. He claims to already have diagnosed the PotW and writes his answer on a piece of paper. He sticks it in an envelope pins it to the White Board with a magnet.
As he sends the other doctors running, we get a close up of the envelope. On it, House has written, "The Game's A Itchy Foot!"
First, before I complain about fingernails down "a" itchy blackboard, let me say that the quote is a take off on one that Holmes made to Watson in The Hound of the Baskervilles. The actual line is "The game's afoot!" and off he and Watson race to solve the mystery.
Now. As for grammar. "Itchy" starts with a vowel. The correct word to place before it is "an" not "a".
GAH.
That grates.
In this latest installment, "Whac-a-Mole", House sets a puzzle for his team. He claims to already have diagnosed the PotW and writes his answer on a piece of paper. He sticks it in an envelope pins it to the White Board with a magnet.
As he sends the other doctors running, we get a close up of the envelope. On it, House has written, "The Game's A Itchy Foot!"
First, before I complain about fingernails down "a" itchy blackboard, let me say that the quote is a take off on one that Holmes made to Watson in The Hound of the Baskervilles. The actual line is "The game's afoot!" and off he and Watson race to solve the mystery.
Now. As for grammar. "Itchy" starts with a vowel. The correct word to place before it is "an" not "a".
GAH.
That grates.
posted by Cap at 12:01 PM
6 Comments:
I think it was written "a" to underline the fact that it was a Holmes line, with the word "itchy" stuck in the middle of it.
I see your point but it still grates.
It wasn't "The Hound of The Baskervilles". It was in "The Abbey Grange".
perhaps paraenthesis or punctuation would have lessened the grate?
The game's a(itchy)foot
The game's a-itchy-foot
The game's afoot (and it's itchy)
parenthesis.
now i have grated more.
Seems like you may always grate even though you do see the point. :) No offense...I didn't get it 'til today when I read the part of this article where you made the point to ask if you were missing something with the apparently bad grammar. It was only then I looked at the line and it was clear to me (and confirms what your other comments have said) they merely inserted "itchy" into the sentence "The game's afoot" so...though it might sound awkward to some, I expect it of House. It's poetic license - or whatever applies here - though not guaranteed to be grate-free. :)
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