Erin+Stone

I looked over one of Dennis Baron's other blogs titled "Good grammar leads to violence at Starbucks?". Well, to me, the title is more of a question and it actually gets answered as Baron explores this situation. Basically, Lynne Rosenthal, an English professor, was just craving a bagel of somesort from Starbucks. She went to Starbucks, placed her order, and everything seemed completely normal until the question "Do you want butter or cheese?" was asked. Rosenthal, being such a stickler on English, didn't want to tell Starbucks what she didn't want so she refused to answer the question. Then, whoever was working called the cops for her refusal to answer this simple question, according to the employee.

To me, this is a typical question. I wouldn't think twice about the "linguistic sense" of it all. I would have just answered the question and my bagel would be in my possession, with no trouble at all. I'm definately no English professor and I definately understand when Baron talks about how restaurant employees are scripted with what to say. I also agree with Baron sympathizing with the employee and not the customer. Anyone in the restaurant buisness knows that difficult customers come up but I'm sure that Starbucks employee wasn't expecting that. If I was the employee, I don't think I would have called the cops or told the customer, as Rosenthal claims, "You're not going to get anything unless you say butter or cheese!". I would have worded it differently or had another employee assist me in dealing with the problem.

Well, does good grammar lead to violence at Starbucks? As I've explored, it very well could. If the police wouldn't have been called and more people ended up getting involved, it could have ended in some sort of brawl. That would have made the article more interesting and it would have shown Starbucks who //really// cared about their premium Starbucks coffee. I know I care about Starbucks frappachinos; however, how far would //I// take it? 
 * //Erin - Your summary is great but I'm assuming you didn't read the instructions on the handout on how to do the analysis. Good thinking--but be sure to follow instructions! CHECK ~Prof. Wendt //**