Grammar Girl's improbably success

Who cares about grammar these days? Who can be bothered teaching it? Who in their right mind actually enjoyed studying it?

Of course there are always a few grammar and spelling police ready to pounce on the most arcane offenses against their favorite hot-button grammar sins. SfSchools has their fair share. These well-intentioned enthusiasts generally make the rest of us hate grammar even more. Either that or it makes the old-school purists bemoan the sad decline in English language instruction.

Which makes it all the more improbable to find Grammar Girl at the top of the Most Popular Podcast charts on iTunes. Yes, she really does delve into the minutae of lay versus lie, or double quotes versus single quotes. And yes, she really has a huge audience, getting noticed on Digg and CNN. How does she do it? She keeps it short. She has a sense of humor about it. And she is the opposite of dogmatic about the topic. She notes that Clapton's grammar sucks in Lay Down, Sally yet still holds it up as a useful and beloved way of remembering the correct usage. Even the short, "sound bite" format of her podcast are in tune with the times and perfect for the podcast format.

The end result is a useful, enjoyable tool that will help this listener fill in some gaping holes in my education. Check it out. I'll see if I can get my kids hooked on her lessons too.

Anoter good podcast for students — also more popular than you might exepct — is the Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day. I've been getting their daily email for years. Their podcast is also a short dose of learning in a very tasty format.