Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Oxford Commas, Pin-Stripes, and Fact Checking

If you haven't already listened to Vampire Weekend's self-titled album (left), we think you should. The group of Ivy League punks (is that an oxymoron?) wax lyrical on a number of writing-related topics in the course of their 11-track debut.

Here at PDX Writer Daily, we were just arguing the other day, in fact, about the Oxford Comma, but it seems VW beat us to the punch: "Who gives a fuck about an oxford comma?" Well, we do, it turns out, but we're smiling again by the time frontman Ezra Koenig sings, "I haven't got the words for you/All your diction is dripping with disdain."

The album really picks up steam on track nine, "I Stand Corrected," a tongue-in-cheek homage to errata, editing, and self-rebuke. "You've been checking on my facts," the tune goes, "And I admit I have been lax/ ... I stand corrected." As if reading our minds, making a perfect slogan for our collective daily existence here in Cramer Hall, Koenig adds, "No one cares when you are wrong/ ... I've been at this far too long."

And perhaps we have. A good day to you, nonetheless.