Call The Grammar Police!

When it comes to proper usage, the Grammar Police work overtime. Have you ever corrected another person’s grammar? How did that go over? Linguist Geoffrey Pullum has written widely on language and usage, from technical syntactic theory to a study called “The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax." He joins us for a conversation about the constant struggle for grammatical excellence (or even just improvement) and the right and wrong way to encourage better sentence structure.Also this hour: it's week five of the state legislative session in Olympia. KUOW's Olympia correspondent Austin Jenkins gives us a look at what's on the agenda. The House and Senate Armed Service Committees look at the impact of federal budget sequester this week. We talk with columnist Tom Philpott. Plus, Michael Fagin joins us with a weekly recommended hike to match the warming weather.