'The word pedants' top 10 | It's specific, not Pacific...' blog discussion.

gordikin

Quoting 'wiki' etc as a source of reliable information should be outlawed on MSE!

rapido

etruscanshades wrote: »

It was always "Cister" in the olden days when I was alive.

Oh yeah, I forgot that one!

Like "Cister" but the first vowel is ever so slightly different, so not quite sounding like "sister".

abby1234519

KimYeovil wrote: »

There you go again. Or was that deliberate?

I am just too lazy to type cannot?
It is a problem within the ranks of my fellow university students, we should be aware of "proper grammer" but we just are not! I know that when I am writing an assignment I need to write does not instead of doesn't but I always write doesn't and have to go back over my work to check where I have done this.

Its lazy English

Flyboy152

Nij_P wrote: »

My top three are:

1. "I'm good", in response to, "how are you?" "I'm" is short for "I am", "am" is the first person singular of the verb, "to be" and thus requires an adverb. "Good" is an adjective. "Duh", as one says nowadays - how hard can it be?

2. "Fewer" is losing out to "less" when referring to amounts of things. "Less" should be used when referring to quantity. Those not comprehending may wish to ascertain the difference from a book called a "dictionary". Double "duh"! How hard can it be?

3. I never cease to chuckle at the incompetents who struggle to realise there is a differecne between "personal" and "personnel". Treble "duh"! How hard can it be?

I feel better now. I'm off to slap my local pub's landlord for using the apostrophe incorrectly on his notice board. I shall feel even better before night's out!

Huh :huh: ?

john_s_2

fatal1955 wrote: »

• A big ask (nouning a verb)
• She loaned him £20 (verbing a noun)

:mad:

Am I the only one who's wondering if this is a deliberate attempt at irony? (Personally I have nothing against verbing nouns or vice-versa.)

I noticed how often people are quoting dictionaries, eg OED. My copy of the Concise OED has sadly departed, and I rely on Google these days, but I distinctly remember it said that its job is to reflect usage, not dictate it.

So if people choose to, like, use Americanisms then this practice will likely end up in the OED sooner or later.

Hint on practice/practise that I read once and have used ever since: swap the word for advice or advise. And keep the same ice/ise spelling. Simples!

EDIT: Actually (and I know that upsets some people) I don't like the verbing of "loan". But generally I don't mind it. "Incentivise" for example. You could use "encourage" but, for me, it doesn't quite capture the same meaning as "incentivise". Hmmm... like a lot of things in (my) life, there's no real logic to it ;-)

Flyboy152

pete1976 wrote: »

Just thought of some more annoyances:

Contracting people's names, e.g. Simon Cowell becomes SiCo and Susan Boyle is SuBo.

Similarly expressions such as 'Hazmat' meaning Hazardous Materials (when in Australia a few years ago I worked briefly for the New South Wales Fire Brigades and 'Hazmat' had me confused for a while).

'Mizzle' annoys me too.

and not using capital letters to start sentences (seen many times in this thread).

And starting sentences with 'and' :-).

Mizzle is an Old English word, derived from high German, meaning, "to drizzle."

Starting words with "and" has been acceptable in the informal, conversation style of writing, for a long time, but generally at the start of a paragraph, to join the subjects together; a bit like the way a semi-colon does in a sentence. But, what does push my button, is placing a comma after "and."

Flyboy152

LynnMcW wrote: »

Or as the sign in a local shop says: "Pannini's".

I like to wind up the poor beggars on the sandwich stall, by asking, "how many panini I can get for three pounds sixty?"

sirmarcus

gordikin wrote: »

Quoting 'wiki' etc as a source of reliable information should be outlawed on MSE!

Really ? Just like being given a yellow card ?

Back to the Masters !:rotfl:

etruscanshades

abby1234519 wrote: »

I am just too lazy to type cannot?
It is a problem within the ranks of my fellow university students, we should be aware of "proper grammer" but we just are not! I know that when I am writing an assignment I need to write does not instead of doesn't but I always write doesn't and have to go back over my work to check where I have done this.

Its lazy English

Do you mean "proper grammar"? :-)

Flyboy152

nikki1520 wrote: »

The double negative is my personal bugbear - especially when combined with bad use of languarge - "I ain't got no money" and so on.

Both my mother in law and my best friend persistantly use the wrong words for things - my friend will gladly be corrected and try to remember for next time, but the MIL refuses. All weekend I've had to put up with "mirrow" for "mirror" (and it's not an accent thing as both the FIL and my husband can mange it) along with lots of others. Aaargh!

You need to get them down to vet's for that.