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Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

630 - Who Wrote the ABC Song? Shark Idioms!

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Mignon Fogarty, Inc.

Society & Culture, Education

4.52.9K Ratings

🗓️ 19 July 2018

⏱️ 12 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, we talk about who wrote the alphabet song that helps people learn their ABCs, and we investigate six silly idioms about sharks. #SharkWeek FOLLOW GRAMMAR GIRL Twitter: http://twitter.com/grammargirl Facebook: http://facebook.com/grammargirl Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/realgrammargirl Instagram: http://instagram.com/thegrammargirl LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/grammar-girl SPONSORS http://stitcherpremium.com/grammar (offer code GRAMMAR) http://babbel.com/GG (offer code GG) GRAMMAR POP iOS GAME Optimized for iPad: http://bit.ly/GrammarPopiPad For iPad and iPhone: http://bit.ly/GrammarPop GRAMMAR GIRL BOOKS http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl-book-page GRAMMAR GIRL IS PART OF THE QUICK AND DIRTY TIPS PODCAST NETWORK.

Transcript

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0:00.0

This week I have a tidbit about the alphabet song and an honor of the upcoming TV Extravaganza

0:14.5

Shark Week.

0:15.8

I have a meaty middle about shark idioms.

0:19.6

As we were making the bonus episode about Schoolhouse Rock for Stitcher Premium subscribers

0:24.0

a few weeks ago, I started thinking about how effective music is for helping you remember

0:29.6

things.

0:31.0

For example, some boys in my high school chemistry class made up a song about Avogadro's

0:36.0

number.

0:37.5

Just now I had to look up what the number actually is and why we needed to know it for chemistry.

0:43.6

It's the number of units in one mole of any substance.

0:46.8

Thanks Google.

0:48.2

But because of that song, I can still tell you off the top of my head that 6.02 x 10 to

0:54.8

the 23rd is Avogadro's number.

0:57.9

Thanks music.

0:59.6

So with all that on my mind, I couldn't resist this tidbit by Rachel Dwyer about the

1:04.2

origin of the alphabet song.

1:07.3

Hendrix, age 6 from Dunsboro, Western Australia, asked who made the ABC song.

1:15.6

A common answer to this question is that the ABC song was first copyrighted under the

1:21.2

title The Schoolmaster in 1834 by an American man named Charles Bradley.

1:28.4

You can see the original sheet music and lyrics on the Library of Congress website.

1:33.5

And I'll post a link to it on the transcript of this podcast at quickandirtytips.com.

1:38.9

But the history of this famous song goes back a little further than that.

...

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