Board "Style book" and Grammar

Cleaver

nearlynew wrote: »

When writing, I never use a long word when a more diminutive one would suffice.

And I avoid cliches like the plague.

Comparisons are just as bad as cliches. And always avoid alliteration.

A._Badger

I don't mind Americanisms as such - particularly when they enable you to express something in a way you couldn't in British English. I feel the same way about Australianisms, too - another rich source of novelty and enrichment.

I do bristle at ignorance and the purposeless adoption of change - hence my comment about the in/on thing. It offers the user no advantage.

As for the 'z' - as Generali says, a number of what we take as Americanisms are really surviving British usages - the famous 'I met with Mr Smith' instead of the simpler 'I met Mr Smith'. The US usage there is the original.

The 'z' usage remains the preferred OED one, though it's a battle the dictionary has just about lost.

As for the class war point about 'correct usage' - if English isn't being taught properly in our schools (and it isn't), that's just another example of state provision being degraded for no good reason. State schools are quite capable of teaching to the highest standards and, not so long ago, did.

The lowering of standards as some sort of misplaced 'gesture of solidarity with the working class' is just making it even harder for children from poor backgrounds to get on in life.

ali-t

JonnyBravo wrote: »

Tut.

Lose and loose are another couple of "idiot identifiers".

It drives me round the bend when I read of people loosing weight. Dogs get loose, trousers get loose but you lose weight. My grammar is not great so I feel a bit cheeky picking up on others flaws but it is a pet hate (along with cats that !!!! in my garden )

StevieJ

Cleaver wrote: »

If everyone says "Selfridges is on Oxford Street", at what point does their version become correct and the other version becomes wrong and obsolete?

I'm always uncomfortable with these types of threads. My typing / spelling / grammar / language on forums is always a little loose. Firstly because it doesn't really matter that much, and secondly because on a debate forum you're trying to get the throughts from your head on to the screen as quickly as possible, so I regulary mispell words, miss them out completely or put in the wrong word. I wouldn't ever do this at work, for example, as I am writing at a slower pace and generally check things more.

U c wat i is sayin?

Nice one here is a list of the 100 most misspelt words.

http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/misspelled.html

googler

Lifted from elsewhere on this site, I'm sure the writer meant to say 'beck and call' ....

"how much do you charge for your time to be on beconing call?"

BitterAndTwisted

"Definately" or even more strangely "defiantly".

I'm sure most people read but am mystified that they don't appear to retain. No matter, I expect ere long we'll all be typing away in txtspk. Gr8

Generali

StevieJ wrote: »

Do you also use that Americanism math?

Not as a rule, it sounds weird to me too TBH. I have been known to use it to wind up someone on another ignorant rant about how stupid/uncultured/ill-educated etc Americans are.

GavB79

I cannot fathom the confusion between 'then' and 'than'. It seems that so many people think that 'my grammers better then yours' is an acceptable sentence.

JonnyBravo

StevieJ wrote: »

Nice one here is a list of the 100 most misspelt words.

http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/misspelled.html

naerlynew obviously never found this on the web.

100% correct and gauranteed.

nearlynew

JonnyBravo wrote: »

naerlynew obviously never found this on the web.

100% correct and gauranteed.

How do you spell n0bhead?