Katie Couric's Notebook: Grammer Idol

He said, "I misunderestimated you last week."

How apropos that his gaffe would come on the eve of National Grammar Day.

"Misunderestimate" is not a word, and somewhere E.B White is champing at the bit to correct it. That's right, it's "champing," not "chomping."

Those mistakes are made a lot...two words..."a" and "lot." You wouldn't write "a little" as one word would you?

And it's a shame that so many of us misuse apostrophes. I-t-apostrophe-s on that one.

Never end a sentence with a preposition. Why would you do a thing like THAT for?

Who can avoid common grammatical errors? Someone for whom proper usage is a virtue.

So dust off your phonics book today...and become a grammar idol.

As William Safire once said, "Only in grammar can you be more than perfect."

That's a page from my notebook.

I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.