Men who breastfeed Microsoft

Could you imagine Microsoft’s spellchecker giving you that wavy underline every time you use a split infinitive? Some grammar Nazis once said we couldn’t write “I’m glad to finally meet you,” because we can’t split to and meet in Latin. But we’re past that bullshit now.

Except that we aren’t. Microsoft’s spellcheck tells me I can’t use the infinitive at all in Albanian. Some grammar Nazis once said we couldn’t write “I’m glad to finally meet you,” because that’s not how the communist leaders would’ve said it. And we’re not past the communist legacy yet.

So I have to get around by saying “I’m glad that I’m finally meeting you.” That works fine in this instance.

But it doesn’t when I replace “to breastfeed” with “that you breastfeed.” It doesn’t when trying to translate “to work” without sounding bossy. And it doesn’t when saying many more simple things that most Albanians say with the infinitive.

Thank you, Microsoft.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *