A Finnish reader sent in a link to the web site of S.P.E.C.S., the "Society for the Preservation of English and Correct Speech", so (according to the sitemeter tag on the home page) I became its 12th visitor. The president is Albert Tudor-Smythe, there is a featured article by Robin Tyler-Wright, and "Society member Alice Sedgewicke-Browne alerts us to the tendency of Welsh BBC newsreader Huw [sic] Edwards to split infinitives". The society's financial manager, Eric Bowdler, "made the decision to step down after a series of public grammatical errors". Supportive blurbs come (allegedly) from Lynn Truss, "HRH Prince Charles", and "Michael Howard, Jew".
According to Uwhois.com, specs.org.uk was registered on April 16, 2005 by someone living in Whiston. So perhaps the punch line for this joke hasn't been posted yet. Or perhaps this is just another piece of evidence that there are whole geological strata of British humor that are inaccessible to me.
Posted by Mark Liberman at April 18, 2005 09:09 AM