Grammar. Saying that grammer is an acceptable alternative spelling of grammar is just the sort of descriptivist nonsense (accepting errors as mere change) that drives prescriptivists such as John Simon mad. I'm on Simon's side as a prescriptivist; however, Simon himself managed to misspell grammar in a review he wrote for The New Criterion. Neither he nor anyone else caught the mistake before the review went into print.
Rather than sic Simon and thus call attention to his error, I am (reluctantly) issuing an edict: By virtue of my authority as principal editor of the PseudoDictionary, grammer is henceforth a correct spelling of grammar. I'm also, of course, going out of my way to point out how ironic it is that Simon should have made the mistake in that particular review -- one in which he was characteristically and caustically critical of R.W. Burchfield's revision of Fowler's Modern English Usage for its descriptivist approach.
"Usage is as usage does" is what one much-published [at least 40 books] descriptivist replied in an e-mail after I remarked on his ready and willing acceptance of they as a singular pronoun. In contrast, Simon calls for prescriptivists to have the courage to stand and fight for what is right. As I said, I'm with Simon -- except when it comes to the spirit of the PsuedoDictionary and making it up as you go along.
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