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Grammar School with Snooki

2010-07-24 (said on 2010-07-23 — implied: date said in the video; uploaded 1 day later) · letter vlog · John · 3:36 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Everyday life · mode: Comedy & performance · tags: on location, community lore

Replying to Hank's Snooki video, John reads Snooki's tweets to show comically how poor spelling and grammar cause confusion, and argues that celebrating people who don't value language makes for crappy discourse.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Greeting ('it's Freitag'); surfboards in Munich far from the ocean; a field of sunflowers

  • ★ Walking around Munich, John keeps seeing people with surfboards and wonders where the ocean is; he films in a field of sunflowers. (playful) — 00:00:03

00:00:19 — Reply to Hank's Snooki video: her tweets troubled John; grammar and spelling exist to make communication clear

  • ★★ After Hank's video on Wednesday about meeting Snooki, a reality TV star John only half knew, John checked her Twitter, and what he found troubled him. — 00:00:19 · Twitter
  • ★★★ John grants that the importance of grammar and spelling can be exaggerated, but says they exist to make communication as clear and transparent as possible. — 00:00:35

00:00:52 — Spelling: Snooki's tweet about missing an apostrophe, 'coma' or period; Mark Wahlberg's name

  • ★★ John mocks Snooki's tweet asking people not to fuss when she misses an apostrophe, 'coma' or period, taking 'coma' and 'period' literally. (playful) — 00:00:52
  • ★★ John suggests Mark Wahlberg might believe Snooki is a fan if she spelled his name correctly, with a K. (playful) — 00:01:18

00:01:37 — Grammar: 'packs of gorillas', 'tweet-ohs', and three readings of the margaritas tweet

  • ★ John notes that Snooki calls groups of men 'packs of gorillas', though a group of gorillas is called a troop. (playful) — 00:01:41
  • ★ John calls Snooki's habit of calling her followers 'tweet-ohs' strange and fascinatingly racist. (playful) — 00:01:51
  • ★★★ Parsing Snooki's tweet about holding a hand 'with margaritas and the other', John finds three readings (giant hands, extra hands, a ménage à trois with a Margarita), showing why grammar matters. (playful) — 00:02:07

00:02:57 — Snooki isn't stupid and everyone errs, but she doesn't value language; celebrating such people worsens discourse

  • ★★★ John stresses that Snooki isn't stupid and that everyone makes mistakes, Hank (who misspelled her name) and John included, but says she doesn't value language or care about the quality of discourse. — 00:02:57 · Hank Green
  • ★★★ John worries that celebrating people like her instead of those who use language precisely and thoughtfully leads to really crappy discourse, on Jersey Shore or in Congress. — 00:03:10 · United States Congress

00:03:21 — Munich is lovely; John's punishment; Nerdfighters keep suggesting Hank's punishment; sign-off

  • ★★ John says Munich is lovely and that his punishment sounds horrible. (playful) — 00:03:21 · Punishment
  • ★★ John asks Nerdfighters to keep suggesting punishments for Hank in the comments; he reads them all. — 00:03:26 · Nerdfighteria, Punishment
  • ★★ John tells Hank he will find out his punishment on Wednesday. — 00:03:30 · Punishment

Humor (significant)

  • Snooki's tweet complains about fuss when she misses a period. — 00:01:00

    “I'm not the one who should be concerned when you miss a period.”

  • Snooki tells people not to have heart attacks when she misses a 'coma'; John is deeply concerned about missed comas. — 00:01:15

    “The only excuse for missing a coma is being in a coma.”

  • Snooki tweets she froze up meeting Mark Wahlberg, misspelling his name, and wants him to know she's a fan. — 00:01:34

    “knew that he spelled his name with a "k".”

  • John lays out three readings of Snooki's margaritas tweet, from giant hands to a third hand to a ménage à trois. — 00:02:50

    “we can't tell if Snooki is polyamorously inclined or has a secret third hand.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: linguistic prescription · Snooki

Also: Jersey Shore · Mark Wahlberg · Munich · Punishment · Twitter · United States Congress

Also centred on linguistic prescription: MY FRIEND CHESTER

Also centred on Snooki: I Hung out with Snookie...Accidentally

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