Op-Ed Contributor: Oaf of Office:
[Via NYT > Opinion]
The fumbling in the administration of the presidential oath of office to Barack Obama was likely blowback from Chief Justice Roberts Jr.’s habit of grammatical niggling.
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This is the best explanation for the flub the Chief Justice made in the oath. He is a well-kown pendant on proper language and it probably has come up in discussions before that the oat of office is grammatically incorrect. At least to those who harken to the myth of the split infinitive.
The oath says “will faithfully execute.” Any grammar police know it should be “faithfully will execute” or “will execute faithfully.” I imagine that the pressure of the moment and his attempt to memorize it all caused a momentary lapse to the default grammarian thus causing the confusion.
It is one thing to change a Bob Dylan lyric in order to make it conform to proper grammar. But I hope we have seen the last of the stubborn ‘no split infinitive’ malarkey. I will hope so certainly. I certainly will hope so. With certainty, I will hope.
