Two that get me:
1) "Mute point" instead of "moot point."
2) An extra "s" in lackadaisical, which makes it either lacksadaisical or laxadaisical. I'm not sure which.
Two that get me:
1) "Mute point" instead of "moot point."
2) An extra "s" in lackadaisical, which makes it either lacksadaisical or laxadaisical. I'm not sure which.
I hate it when folks get those wrong.
"Febuary" instead of "Feb-RU-ary"
JimFiore wrote:
What if I spelled "dog" b-l-g-o-p-h-o-r-n-a-x. Would that be wrong? If everyone spelled it "blgophornax", would that make it better, or would we simply be deciding collectively to throw out any semblance of useful phonetics?
One of the most important attributes of useful language is clarity.
My blgophornax crapped all over the front room carpet.
But seriously, is anyone mystified by my use of "they"?
The difference between dog and blgophornax is not one of clarity.
One of my psychology professors used to say "catharsisis" instead of "catharsis". It used to drive me bonkers but I never corrected her.
You're welcome. And thanks to others for posting, I've learned a few things and had some laughs.
A few other common misuses that drive me crazy:
Reoccurrence (recurrence)
Supposebly
Flustrated
Cut the mustard (muster)
Another often misused phrase is "under the gun"
It is actually from early military origins. Under the gun really means that you have advanced to a position in which cannon fire cannot reach you as the trajectory will put the ordinance beyond you.
In the line of fire - you are in danger
Under the gun - you are safe.
Apologies if this has been mentioned already...
Nuclear.
Not Nucilar. Nearly everyone says it this way. I hate that.
As a kid in England, i said "aluminium", not "aluminum.
First time I said aluminium in front of all the Canadian kids, they all laughed. It haunts me still. I'm 43.
jimmy buffett.... wrote:
It is actually from early military origins. Under the gun really means that you have advanced to a position in which cannon fire cannot reach you as the trajectory will put the ordinance beyond you.
In the line of fire - you are in danger
Under the gun - you are safe.
You're only safe only if you don't misuse the word ORDNANCE.
Sorry Prof, type-O
Pretentious think-tankers on C-SPAN often say things like, "I'm not adverse to the notion of . . . " when they mean to say "I'm not averse to the notion of . . .."
I like how all the cool people order their Scones (and pronounce it to rhyme with cone) with their coffees at Strabucks, when the correct pronunciation rhymes with Ron.
Here's some rules for better written communications:
Easy Steps to Gooder Grammar
1. Don't abbr.
2. Check to see if you any words out.
3. Be carefully to use adjectives and adverbs correct.
4. About sentence fragments.
5. When dangling, don't use participles.
6. Don't use no double negatives.
7. Each pronoun agrees with their antecedent.
8. Just between You and i, case is important.
9. Join clauses good, like a conjunction should.
10. Don't use commas, that aren't necessary.
11. Its important to use apostrophe's right.
12. It's better not to unnecessarily split an infinitive.
13. Never leave a transitive verb just lay there without an
object.
14. Only Proper Nouns should be capitalized.
15. a sentence should begin with a capital and end with a
period
16. Use hyphens in compound-words, not just in any two-word
phrase.
17. In letters compositions reports and things like that we
use commas to keep a string of items apart.
18. Watch out for irregular verbs which have creeped into our
language.
19. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
20. Avoid unnecessary redundancy.
21. A writer mustn't shift your point of view.
22. Don't write a run-on sentence you've got to punctuate it.
24. A preposition isn't a good thing to end a sentence with.
25. Avoid cliches like the plague
What about those people who think that RE means regarding?
How about those people that use pronouns who don't agree with the subject.
how about people (a lot of us) who describe a situation or scene that caused laughter as \"hysterical.\" People become \"hysterical,\" not situations. It\'s an adjective that describes a reaction to the situation.
The new SAT essay will fix all this.
Before I bother to respond, are you aware of Saussure's work?
correction wrote:
SomeONE answers the phone, and you guess "THEIR" name?
You do know why this is, don't you? Because of PC bullshit! It used to be that people said, "When someone comes to your store, greet HIM kindly." But now all the whiny bitches have to say, "No, it's her or she, not him or he." So for a while, we said, "he or she" and "him or her" and "his or hers" but now, because people are lazy and can't utter an extra syllable or two, we say their, even though it is incorrect. So thank the whiny bitches who run their mouths about being sensitive to everyone.
Well said!
FYI, I'm female and still have no problem accepting that "he" or "him" is meant to be gender neutral when used that way.
Many women's magazines will say, "If you go to the doctor, tell HER..." Absurd!