How to write right? Ask the doctor
By Colleen Krantz

Cedar Falls, Ia. -- Jim HiDuke already has made his mark around Black Hawk County.

He's the reason Waterloo's Allen Hospital now directs visitors to its "doctors' offices" instead of "doctor's offices."

Because of HiDuke, Bonanza Steakhouse advertises "today's special" instead of "todays special" and Younkers at College Square Mall in Cedar Falls sells "men's jeans" instead of "mens jeans".

Now his bosses at the University of Northern Iowa want this perfectionist of punctuation, stickler on sentence structure and king of capitalization to make his mark statewide and perhaps, nationwide.

The university has begun a promotional blitz that includes a new Web site through which HiDuke, a UNI English professor, will offer free grammar advice. There's talk of eventual television and radio exposure.

"Jim has pretty much always been known as Dr. Grammar, so we thought we'd make it official," said Jeff Copeland, head of UNI's English Department. "There are restaurants where if Jim walks in, they will actually run out of sight - in a fun way - because they know he'll find mistakes on their menus."

UNI decided to begin promoting HiDuke's expertise after realizing the demand for quick advice on word use, punctuation, and other aspects of the English language.

"Most people don't know the difference between a gerund and a gerbil," Copeland said. "But Jim has taken this as a personal crusade."

HiDuke, known on campus as a demanding teacher, said the Dr. Grammar nickname caught on years ago. It's a fitting moniker, HiDuke acknowledges.

"I've actually gone into department stores, looked at their 'mens jeans' sign and asked for a ladder and Magic Marker. I've done a lot of that," said that 56-year old Hiduke, who came to UNI in 1967. "I try to point anything out as gently as humanly possible. I never say, 'Hey, Bozo, look what you did.'"

A California man who has made a name for himself as a grammatical expert told HiDuke he receives about 300 calls a week from people seeking advice.

"I'm actually a little nervous about it turning out to be a flood like that," said HiDuke.