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Parenthetically, worcestershire is a good example to illustrate that words signify objects, and exist as objects in and of themselves.

Meehan, though, tripped over a different hurdle: she said all the right words, just backwards. (“Nepean South Gloucester” vs. “Gloucester-South Nepean.”)

She can be forgiven, as well, since Gloucester-South Nepean contains very little of what was historically considered part of Gloucester Township, the original boundaries of which comprised land closer to the Ottawa river east of the Rideau River, between present-day Vanier and Orleans.

And, not to be too pedantic here, but what’s going on with that hyphen? Is it meant to signify that the ward covers the southern part of Gloucester (which it does) or the southern part of Nepean (which is also does)?

If Meehan needs it, she could in fact cite White, who once wrote: “A schoolchild should be taught grammar — for the same reason that a medical student should study anatomy,” White wrote, once. “Having learned about the exciting mysteries of an English sentence, the child can then go forth and speak and write any damn way he pleases.”

But hey, who hasn’t tripped over their words from time to time? In other words, one person’s Goucester-South Nepean is just another person’s Nepean South Gloucester.