Grammar Girl Quick And Dirty Tips For Better Writing

972. How did humans evolve from grunting ape-like ancestors to masters of language and poetry? This week, we explore fascinating theories on the origins of human language, including the laugh-inducing Bow-Wow and Pooh-Pooh theories. We also delve into Irish-English calques for St. Patrick's Day (and in response to a question from a Grammarpaloozian) and celebrate Leslie F. Miller's winning limerick from the National Grammar Day contest.Miller works as a health care writer in Baltimore. She is the author of the nonfiction book "Let Me Eat Cake: A Celebration of Flour, Sugar, Butter, Eggs, Vanilla, Baking Powder, and  Pinch of Salt," which is not about BAKING cake, but about EATING cake; a chapbook of "arty and electric" poems called "BoyGirlBoyGirl"; and a forthcoming full-length poetry book called "Words with Friends."The "language theories" segment was written by Valerie Fridland, a professor of linguistics at the University of Nevada in Reno and the author of "Like Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in B