Speaking of Mike Shannon's Unusual Grasp of Language...

Last Friday I wrote about Cardinals broadcaster Mike Shannon's pronunciation butchering of Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano's last name. (According to Shannon, the pitcher's name sounds something like a breakfast cereal, as in Zam-BRAN-o.)

Well, yesterday stltoday.com one-upped me big time with a hilarious quiz on "Shannonisms" -- the tortured language that spills from the broadcaster's mouth during most every game. Click here to take the test yourself and see how knowledgeable you are when it comes to Shannon's idiosyncratic monologue. (I scored a pathetic 9 out of 20.)

Do you have your own favorite Shannonism? I'd like to hear it in the Comments thread below. Here's mine...
    This isn't so much a language gaffe, though it was plenty embarrassing. A few years back Missouri Congressman Russ Carnahan was in the broadcast booth for an inning when Shannon inquired on-air about Carnahan's father, the late Missouri governor Mel Carnahan who died in a plane crash in 2000 that was all over the news for weeks -- if not months.

Not sure how to respond to the question, Russ Carnahan meekly informed Shannon that his father was dead. The oblivious Shannon didn't miss a beat, saying something like "oh, sorry to hear that" before encouraging fans to reach for another "cold, frosty one."