Grammar Girl here.

I'm Minyan Fogarty, your friendly guide to the English language.

We talk about writing, history, rules, and cool stuff.

Today, we'll talk about running a gauntlet and about people saying had went instead of

had gone.

And I have a Japanese inspired, family-like story at the end.

Let's get started.

There's a big park where a lot of people hang out right across the street from

my condo.

So the other day, I said I feel like I'm running a gauntlet every time I step out my front

door to go for a walk.

I usually have to go through a big crowd before I can get to the quiet or neighborhood

where I like to walk.

So that's annoying.

But the bright side is that describing the problem reminded me of the interesting usage

debate about the word gauntlet.

Here's the problem.

Some American style guides recommend gauntlet in the phrase most of us would say or write

run the gauntlet.

Some people say gauntlet and gauntlet have different origins and that a gauntlet is only

a glove and a gauntlet is only a path lined with attackers.

Therefore, you throw down the gauntlet, a glove, to challenge someone, and pick up the gauntlet

...