CastleLyons
Junior Member
Virtute et Fidelitate
Posts: 83
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Post by CastleLyons on Sept 22, 2008 20:41:57 GMT -5
As an editor, I tend to notice mistakes on signs when out in public. My husband probably wishes I'd shutup about them. Anyway, one of the most common errors, and one of my pet peeves, is the use of an apostrophe for a mere plural. You know, like "What's going on with all these apostrophe's?"
So I saw one today that REALLY took the cake. (If there was any cake to be had.) It was in Spanish. Here's what it said:
SE RENTA APARTAMENTOS, CASA'S
OK, so they're renting apartments and houses. That's nice that they're catering to those who speak Spanish. But hey, THE SPANISH LANGUAGE DOESN'T USE APOSTROPHES!
So now we're spreading our English punctuation errors into other languages, are we? Doesn't that take a lot of hubris?
(I suppose anyone who uses the word "hubris" has a lot of hubris, eh?)
OK, done venting now.
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Post by J Jack on Sept 22, 2008 23:34:34 GMT -5
A side note, people who say "I seen that" or "Jacob and me" really irk me. Or fustrated, axed, and others like that. What is the world coming to when we cannot speak our own language?
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Post by rwley on Sept 23, 2008 10:29:06 GMT -5
Oh how I agree. My husband, too, gets tired of the fact that I keep pointing out all misuses of our language. My other pet peeve is professional people, generally athletes, who get with the reporters after a game and cannot open their mouths and speak with any clarity. They mumble. They gibber. It's almost like they have marbles in their mouths. I keep thinking I should open a business and teach elocution to athletes who insist on talking to the media. At least learn how to make your self understood!
Okay, that was my vent. ;D
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Post by torainfor on Sept 23, 2008 12:44:05 GMT -5
I'm having a problem because my kid is so cute when he messes up words that I don't correct him. For years he would go into the "chicken" for some juice.
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CastleLyons
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Virtute et Fidelitate
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Post by CastleLyons on Sept 23, 2008 21:51:49 GMT -5
I love many of my kids' cute sayings as well. I mean, who wants to correct a little boy who asks for "Milk, please," by saying "Muppies"?
Or my daughter, who absolutely loved pickles, only she called them "go-ghees." Don't ask me where she came up with that one. She'd eat anything on her plate if we promised her a goghee afterward.
Yeah, we still use those words, 20+ years later.
BTW: They're both great with words now, so hanging onto some cute phrases didn't set them back any.
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Post by Spokane Flyboy on Sept 29, 2008 22:18:05 GMT -5
Reminds me of an online role-player mocking some in a chatroom once. "Ju'st becau'se you u'se an 's doe'sn't nece's'sitate that you u'se an apo'storphe."
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Post by happydancer4 on Oct 1, 2008 11:57:27 GMT -5
Sabre 3030: "I seen that" bugs me, too. People who constanly use ellipses to create a dramatic pause bug me; we have one blogger who does that constantly. This person also uses four or more exclamation points and/or question marks (yes, sometimes combined). It frustrates me!!! You see??!!! I should ask him whether he thinks his ellipses are actually multiple periods. ;D Thankfully, he hasn't blogged in a while. The more changes I have to make, the greater the likelihood is that I will introduce an error. Although the following aren't punctuation, they are pet peeves. In spoken English, something from the Pennsylvania Dutch area I can't stand is this: "Do you want to go with?" Grr. Makes me grimmace everytime, whether it's this or another variation! "We're going to the fair. Would you like to come with?" How about misplaced modifiers? I found this on yahoo news recently. Teacher OK after crashing into bear on a bicycleThe title had me thinking it was a very talented bear!! It was the teacher who rode a bike. I've been transported back to childhood memories of a circus act. I know there are some from my daily editing job, but I'm unable to think of any right now. I may return.
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Post by happydancer4 on Oct 1, 2008 12:05:57 GMT -5
Reminds me of an online role-player mocking some in a chatroom once. "Ju'st becau'se you u'se an 's doe'sn't nece's'sitate that you u'se an apo'storphe." That's witty. And very hard to read.
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CastleLyons
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Virtute et Fidelitate
Posts: 83
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Post by CastleLyons on Oct 2, 2008 8:18:01 GMT -5
Here's another of my pet peeves of punctuation: the use of the serial comma. This is the comma that comes before the word "and" in a series, like: red, white, and blue. Most people nowadays leave it out. In fact, we've been taught in school to leave it out. But CMOS tells us to use it, and I absolutely agree. Here is an example of what happens when you leave it out:
With gratitude to my parents, Mother Teresa and the pope.
See what the absence of a comma can do? There's also the oft-cited (and true) example of three brothers (I'll call them Tom, Frank, and Harry) who were in disagreement as to how their father's estate should be divided. The will stated that it should be divided equally between Tom, Frank and Harry. Tom argued that since Frank and Harry were lumped together and not separated by a comma, the father meant to divide the estate in half, giving one half to Tom and one half to be split between Frank and Harry.
The court ruled in favor of Tom. All because of the lack of a comma.
BTW: The reason the general populace leaves the serial comma out is interesting. Long ago, the serial comma was always used. But come the advent of newspapers and their constant struggle to find more space, newspaper editors started leaving it out. For no other reason than to save on space. It had nothing to do with proper use.
And now we all leave it out, to the chagrin of poor Frank and Harry.
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CastleLyons
Junior Member
Virtute et Fidelitate
Posts: 83
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Post by CastleLyons on Oct 2, 2008 8:24:15 GMT -5
OK, this is hilarious, and creates another great argument for the use of the serial comma. In my previous entry, I originally used the names Tom, thingy, and Harry. I wound up having to change the second son's name because once it was posted, the system changed it to "thingy." So I went back and changed the guy's name to Frank.
Now here's the interesting part. The system did not change the name whenever it was followed by a comma!
I rest my case.
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Post by Spokane Flyboy on Oct 2, 2008 10:53:32 GMT -5
Being a pilot, I've never been a stickler for proper punctuation and grammar usage outside of books, magazines, and newspapers. Of course, I read weather reports that would be 40 pages instead of 10 if they used proper English convention. Often you'll have at least 3 to 4 AIRMET/SIGMETs in your area alone, and the farther you go, the more you may have in your weather report. The other two are for specific airports. So, the more airports you fly near, the more of those get listed on your sheet. These are the three culprits: AIRMET/SIGMETs: WAUS46 KKCI 021445 SFOZ WA 021445 AIRMET ZULU UPDT 3 FOR ICE AND FRZLVL VALID UNTIL 022100 AIRMET ICE...WA OR CA ID NV AND CSTL WTRS FROM 20NE YDC TO GEG TO 40ESE REO TO 40W ELY TO 20SSW OAL TO 20WSW FOT TO 170WSW ONP TO 140W TOU TO 20NE YDC MOD ICE BTN FRZLVL AND FL220. FRZLVL 100-120. CONDS CONTG BYD 21Z THRU 03Z. OTLK VALID 2100-0300Z...ICE WA OR CA ID MT NV AND CSTL WTRS BOUNDED BY YDC-50WSW YXC-20SE YXC-70N LKT-TWF-20S ELY-20SW OAL-30ENE OED-50WNW TOU-40N TOU-YDC MOD ICE BTN FRZLVL AND FL220. FRZLVL 100-120. CONDS CONTG THRU 03Z. FRZLVL...RANGING FROM 085-155 ACRS AREA 120 ALG 130WSW PYE-OAK-20ENE MOD-70S FMG-50S FMG 120 ALG 40SSE REO-20SE BKE-80E YDC METARs: KGEG 021453Z 07006KT 10SM FEW110 BKN140 BKN200 16/09 A2981 RMK AO2 SLP081 T01560094 55006 TAFs: KGEG 021138Z 021212 05008KT P6SM FEW120 BKN200 FM1700 15010KT P6SM BKN120 FM2100 22012G18KT P6SM VCSH BKN100 OVC140 FM0300 20007KT P6SM VCSH BKN090 OVC120 FM0800 15005KT P6SM VCSH OVC070
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Post by scintor on Oct 4, 2008 13:22:19 GMT -5
I'm afraid that mangling the language very seldom bothers me because I come from a long line of hicks. (I once scandalized a colege friend who heard me talking to my grandmother in perfect southern hick.) The only ones that really bother me are the ones that people affect to make a social point. Eubonics and that "gay accent" just irritate me because people are doing it on purpose.
Scincerely,
Scintor@aol.com
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Post by dizzyjam on Oct 13, 2008 20:15:43 GMT -5
OK, this is hilarious, and creates another great argument for the use of the serial comma. In my previous entry, I originally used the names Tom, thingy, and Harry. I wound up having to change the second son's name because once it was posted, the system changed it to "thingy." So I went back and changed the guy's name to Frank. Now here's the interesting part. The system did not change the name whenever it was followed by a comma! I rest my case. Of course you always could have just said Thomas, Richard and Harold. Another thing I don't like about comma use is extra commas instead of the absence of commas. Take that first sentence of mine with extra commas (and lack of another punctuation people sometimes actually forget to include): Of course, you always could have just said, "Thomas, Richard and Harold. Although the comma after "course" can work, it's just not needed. Am I pausing? If not, why is it there, hmmmmm? (See what I mean? I could pause, but do I need to? Two more commas that could have not been used even though the last third one was needed to bring two clauses together with the word "but".) I suppose you noticed the closing quote marks being missing. Why don't people close quotes? I understand a little about the end of one paragraph leading into another so you know it's the same character talking, but what about in the middle of a paragraph? Very messy and confusing. And why is it people don't seem to know the difference between its and it's? GAAAAHHH!!!
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Post by J Jack on Oct 13, 2008 22:04:15 GMT -5
their, there, and they're
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CastleLyons
Junior Member
Virtute et Fidelitate
Posts: 83
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Post by CastleLyons on Oct 13, 2008 23:25:16 GMT -5
Yeah, that's always a good one. I was working as a copyeditor for a newspaper some time ago, and the owner/editor-in-chief showed me an application someone had filled out. The applicant had used one or more of the above words incorrectly...and she wanted the copyediting job!
No, she didn't get the job.
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