One-letter Chrome extension corrects Twitter's grammar

The Twitter Whom to follow Chrome extension does one thing: adds an "m" to Twitter's "Who to follow" list. (via Making Light)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

More at Boing Boing

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

Hackers prepare for first "national holiday" in their honor

meatbee

A pox on all of you, this bothers me tremendously.

‘Whom’ is in the objective case. Just mentally replace ‘who/whom’ with ‘he/him’ and read it out to see which is correct.
Donald Petersen

“The adaptable contingent” must not be mistaken for the contingent that simply never bothered to learn any but the most elementary grammatical concepts. If the future of the language resides in those who feel an efficient 9,000-word vocabulary is all anyone should ever need, then I won’t be the last to weep.

Moar woe, yo.
Palomino

My Rule: “Who of Whom”, “One of Many”.

Use “them” instead of “him”.

“Who do you love”?

I love her. singular
I love him. singular

“Whom do you love”?

I love them. plural

“Whom” means a selection out of a group and “who” means the best one out of that selection. You can alternate “which” with “whom” and “which one” with “who”.

Whom do you think will win the House and who do you think will do the best job? “The Republicans will win and Senator Smith will get things done”.

Which do you think will win the house and which one do you think will do the best job? “The Republicans will win and Senator Smith will get things done”.

So this app is great. My way: “Who to follow” = “One to follow” and “Whom to follow” = “Which type to follow”. Who of Whom.

Who = one common thread/interest
Whom = many common threads/interests
Who = one friend out of a group.
Whom= Multiple friends out of a group.

Some older people still answer the phone either “Who is this”? or “With whom am I speaking”. Asking “who” used to solicit a name and “whom” a company, “Hi, this is Emily from Dr. Conrad’s office”. Who of Whom; Emily of a business. You would properly ask a lobbyist “Who(1) are you and Whom (+1) do you represent?” or “What’s your name and which group do you represent?”

Who (1) do you think will win the election?
Whom (1+)do you think will be running for the election?
RULE: “Who of Whom” or “which one of which”

“Whom do you love”?
I love my parents.
I love my class
I love my friends

“Who-of-whom do you love”? “Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones”!
1 of +1 who of whom
which one out of which
- Anonymous
  
  Palomino, that is some astounding trolling.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Yeah, Esperanto was getting old. It was time for a new made-up language.
eyemyth

“Who to follow” and “Whom to follow” are both sentence fragments. As proper usage depends on context within a sentence, either one is as correct as the other.
Angryjim

But isn’t “I want to know who to follow on twitter” fine? Doesn’t it depend on what part of an imaginary sentence this is a fragment.
- grimc
  
  At the risk of sounding like even more of a useless pretentious asshole: Respond to the sentence in question.
  
  I want to know who to follow = Follow he
  I want to know whom to follow = Follow him
jrlogue

“Useless Pretentious Asshole,” “pointless grammar rules,” “bunch of prigs”–wow! Some people really get upset about people they don’t know playfully correcting the grammar of other people they don’t know. They sure put we “grammar nazis” in our place!
- Godfree
  
  They sure put *us* “grammar Nazis” in our place. FTFY. ;-)
  - jrlogue
    
    Thank you, friendly grammar Nazi! ;)
- hapa
  
  “playfully” –if only it WERZ.
  
  “they sure put we ‘grammar nazis’ in our place!” –if you choose a glaringly awkward construction for a heading, it reflects badly on you, your priorities, your family, and your cow. how do i know you have a cow? because when i replace what i just wrote with “don’t have a cow, man” it feels correct.
pidg

Whom/whilst/amongst/etc are deprecated. Didn’t you get the memo?
Anonymous

Who to followm?
AccordionIdol

Since we’re adding archaisms, how about a ‘Whom ye shouldst follow’ extension?
- pidg
  
  OH!!
  
  Just remembered this!
Anonymous

Next: an app to make your Apple products “think differently”.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  If I were to make an app, it would be a subjunctifier.
JDavid

Hansel? Hansal?
TooGoodToCheck

this is the sort of pedantry up with which I will not put
ikegently

Actually, it is just fine to end a sentence with a phrasal verb. So you should cheer up.
- ikegently
  
  That should have been in response to TooGoodToCheck….
show me

Actually, to all of you, there are no iron clad rules in English. There are guidelines, but English is not French. French is regulated by AcadÃ©mie franÃ§aise. Many other languages have a regulating body. English does not. It changes with usage. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_language_regulators.
- show me
  
  Damn periods! Get rid of them!
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_language_regulators
- timquinn
  
  “Many other languages have a regulating body. English does not. It changes with usage.”
  
  So you are saying, then, that we should follow the usage of the lowliest moron cuz its whuts happening.
  
  I think the reality behind your statement is that usage is an ongoing negotiation. Sort of like what is going on right here. most will watch the language roll down the entropy hill to chaos. A few are willing to point out that it will be more fun if we can still use it to speak to each other. The downhill contingent will then accuse the lovers of language of being fascists, expanding their lazy efforts beyond grammar and into the meaning of the words.
tarabl

I feel sick.
Antinous / Moderator

The downhill contingent will then accuse the lovers of language of being fascists

The adaptable contingent will then accuse the lovers of rigid, fixed, immutable and eventually-unusable language of being fascists.
- timquinn
  
  I see what you did there !
M

Grammar nazis vs no-grammar nazis.
Either way, we lose.
timquinn

Here’s the thing, un-grammatical nazis, grammatical rules exist for good reasons. Mostly to eliminate ambiguity and make communication possible in a noisy world. The real irony, it is working for you whether you realize it or not.
- yclept
  
  timquinn stand down, they know not who they mock.
Jake0748

Personally, I still don’t give a s**t about Chrome or Google+. Am I wrong? And if so, why? Thank you.
Anonymous

So all it does is add a grammatical error?
Anonymous

Clearly, a huge win for pointless grammar rules!
show me

So it’s called the Useless Pretentious Asshole extension?
- emmdeeaych
  
  You must be very excited for it.
GreenJello

So the grammar nazis now have their own plugin? I’m surprised more stuff hasn’t been added….
hapa

i don’t know why, but suddenly it feels like twitter thinks i should follow a bunch of prigs.
Tau’ma

Do not ask for who the tweet tolls.
- 3eff_jeff
  
  Do not ask for who the tweet tolls^H^H^H^H^Htrolls.
  
  FTFY.
  - Tau’ma
    
    To who it may concern: Thanks.
grimc

Awesome.
Angryjim

er, uh.. funny, but can it also switch it around. I’d feel more comfortable with “to follow whom”. “who to follow” sounds right to me. Am I wrong, grammar nerds?
- grimc
  
  This is how I learned it: Take the sentence and make it work with “he” or “him”. If “him” is right, use “whom”.
  
  Who to follow = Follow he
  Whom to follow = Follow him
  
  Conversely:
  
  Who is a grammar nazi = He is a grammar nazi
  Whom is a grammar nazi = Him is a grammar nazi
  - Angryjim
    
    Ah, see I don’t say “him to follow” to often. That’s why that rule wasn’t working for me. The abbreviated sentence thing was throwing me off. Thank you.