Grammar Fiend

I've just finished reading a cheesy British novel (my favourite kind of novel for the last few years) with the following on its cover:

'Irresistible
romantic
seriously
funny'

First off, it annoyed me for its lack of punctuation (I loved Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss) but then I realized that seriously funny is a funny phrase. Kind of like pretty ugly. I think it might be ironic but even though I have an English degree, I find the concept of irony hard to pin down and I usually just avoid ever using the word for fear of misusing it. It's one of my pet peeves actually, other people misusing and overusing ironic. Though Alannis Morrisette provided great fodder for an Irish standup comic I once saw making up similar scenarios that would actually be ironic. (Wish I could remember his name because it was really funny... maybe I'll try to google him.)

Anyways, I'm a grammar fiend. And I have some pet peeves. Like when people misuse literally (As in: I literally laughed my guts out... if they weren't misusing the word that would be really messy). And this doesn't really count as a pet peeve because it makes me giggle so much and isn't nearly as widespread as the literally and ironic pet peeves but I worked with a woman who always said pacific instead of specific. Like "Let's be pacific" (why not be Atlantic?) and "Pacifically, we need to..." I had a really really hard time keeping a straight face in meetings with her.

So now I've identified myself as a grammar fiend but I'm also contradicting this announcement with all the grammar rules I've just broken in this post. And I'm completely unapologetic.

postscript: when I googled Irish stand up comic ironic, I found this blog, which included these gems in the comments from someone called Stef the engineer:

"Ironic" analysis. Yay! Mind you, there was an Irish comedian who did a great standup piece on this. Shame I can't remember his name.

and

I love Canadians, and Canada - it's like America with a healthcare system and better spelling. They do have a bit of a production line in angst ridden female singer-songwriters 'though (Sarah, Alanis, that 12 year old in the baggy trousers). Love 'em all. (Saw Alanis in concert once; like paying money to watch a nervous breakdown live on stage. I gather she's mellowed since then. Shame.)

I think I will need to explore that blog, Urban Chick, further because I just love British slang and humour - that's why I love British chicklit so much. I guess that's another contradiction in me: I have an English degree and can't stomach litrachuh anymore... Anyways, I'll keep looking the the Irish comic.