Word Crimes

Song: Word Crimes

Running Time: 3:42

Year: 2014

Parody of: "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke, featuring Pharrell Williams and T.I.

Album: Mandatory Fun

Genre: R&B, rap

Guitar tuning: E standard

Lyrics: Word Crimes

Video: Yes

Watch

Forum: Forum Discussion Page

Trivia

• The last line of the song ("try your best to not drool") contains an intentional grammatical error called a split infinitive (a correct version would be "try your best not to drool"); Al claims he did this on purpose just to see if people would notice.
• Al apparently received some criticism for the lyric "you write like a spastic"; the term "spastic" (or "spazz") is much more offensive in the United Kingdom than it is in America. British people often use it as a slur towards people with cerebral palsy and other disabilities, while for Americans it usually just means someone is clumsy or hyperactive. Al tweeted an apology after the song was released, claiming he was unaware how offensive the word could be. [1]
• During the music video, the name "George Newman" briefly appears during the reddit post in the video. This was Al's character in the feature film UHF.
• 27 appears multiple times in the music video:
  • During the line "If you don't know how to conjugate", 27 is the number of the question the lyric is located on. (Timestamp 0:25)
  • During the line "To learn some grammer", there are 27 retweets on WowMuchShiba's tweet. (Timestamp 0:54)
  • During the line "It's less or it's fewer", 27 is seen at the bottom of the banner with "It's less" on it. (Timestamp 1:00)
  • A logo parodying the Merriam-Webster Dictionary's cover says "Twenty-Seventh Edition" at the bottom. (Timestamps 1:06 and 3:13)
  • During the line "At least a little", you can see "MODEL 274C" on the Care-O-Meter. (Timestamp - 1:12)
  • For a split second during the line "Use your spell checker" you can see "Col 27". (Timestamp 2:00)
  • During the line "Write words using numbers", multiple 27s can be seen. (Timestamp 2:03-2:05)
  • In the part of the song saying "I hate these word crimes!", an evidence marker with 27 on it can be seen next to the red pen. (Timestamp 2:09)
• Prince's (Deceased) use of numbers and letters in place of full words in song titles (e.g., "I Would Die 4 U") predated the now-common practice lamented in the song. He temporarily changed his name to "", which is why that symbol appears in the video when he is mentioned.
• The name on the paper (at the "you flunked that class" part) in the video is Mrs. Krabappel. Mrs. Krabappel is the name of Bart Simpson's teacher on The Simpsons, a show which Al appeared on a few times.
• At the beginning of the music video when we see the dictionary flipping, we see Weird Al (In his 1980s look) playing an accordion.
• At the end of the music video balloons are lined up saying ""Weird Al" Yankovic has a big dictionary". This is a reference to the Blurred Lines music video in which balloons line up saying "Robin Thicke has a Big D".
• The dictionary pages at the beginning of the movie are from the "A" section. The pages used in the middle of the movie are from the "L" section. A-L spells "Al".
• The pages were scanned from Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Basic English. An $11 paperback copy was destroyed to produce this parody music video.
• The diplomas certify Al as "Participle Pundit", "Master of Tékhne Grammatiké", "Grammarian" and "Licentiate of Subordinate Clauses" with an "Associates Degree in Conjugating Verbs", a "Doctorate of Spelling", a "Certificate of Achievement in Syntax Engineering", and a "Bachelor of Writing Good".
• The Care-o-meter has a certification sticker from the Division of Measurement Standards, a branch of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, where illustrator of the music video, Jarrett Heather, was employed full-time as a programmer analyst while creating this video on nights and weekends.
• The Care-O-Meter is manufactured by J. M. Heather Enterprises, Inc., and obvious reference to animator Jarrett Heather.
• The coffee stain on the "no X in 'espresso'" napkin is the same art used in the chorus of "Shop Vac", a video also illustrated by Jarrett Heather.
• The animated typewriter was created using a template from Creation Effects. No other templates or plug-ins were used.
• No particle systems are used in the animation. The fuse sparks, downvote arrows, pixelated stink-lines and raindrops are all keyframed.
• No photographs of chalkboards are seen in the final animation. The background of the chalkboard section was created entirely in Photoshop using a Wacom tablet and custom brushes. The dust and debris on the chalkboard are actually photographs of the night sky.
• An animatic for the music video can be seen by clicking here, it contains some unused lyrics, the original music track, and unused animated footage.
• When Al says "Okay now here's some notes," the music video's notebook features doodles of Trogdor the Burninator (from The Homestar Runner), and Pac-Man with two ghosts.
• The animatic playing during the line "Unless you're 7" is drawn by Ethan Heather, the then 7-year-old son of the music video's animator. At the end of that line, for a split second, you can see Ethan's signature at the bottom right corner.
• In the lyric, "Oh you're a lost cause" (timestamp 3:20), at the bottom right corner, it says "Learn your ABCs, doofus."
• Microsoft's Clippy makes a cameo at "Get it together/use your spell checker" and the Start Button directly after "I read your email" shows that the computer is using Windows 95.
• Trogdor from the Homestar Runner series of internet cartoons appears
• The game of Minesweeper visible around 3:02 in the music video is impossible: there is a square marked with a 2 that is touching three mines.

  

  "Learn your abc's, doofus" (circled in red)