sarahmichigan | I {heart} word nerds

On the plus side, I love that I work with a bunch of word nerds. Last week, a few of us got into a big debate about whether the word "none" is singular or plural. Would you say, "None of the customers were recognized as regulars?" or "None of the customers was recognized as a regular?" *

Even many of my friends who don't have English backgrounds have expansive vocabularies, and I love not having to dumb down the words I choose so as not to make someone feel inferior (unlike in high school when I was accused of using big words because I was trying to show off). I recently used "importune" in conversation and then kind of smirked at myself. Word nerd, indeed.

(yeah, so I'm chatty today. It's slooooooooow at work.)

*Most guides to grammar and style say either is acceptable. You can consider "none" to be short for "not one" or for "not any."