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Post by mrspickles on Aug 24, 2017 17:01:44 GMT -4
That annoys me more than when they decided that 'fourty' was an acceptable spelling because so many people spell it wrong. Who decided this and when?! I hadn't heard that, and it horrifies me. The thing about accepting the incorrect use of the word literally is also quite upsetting. There are rules, people. Follow them! (I know I'm preaching to the choir in this thread.) Broughten and tooken may well have driven me to throw something at the speaker if I were being forced to hear that. So, uh, I just tried to find something about where I had read about 'fourty' being made acceptable and can't find anything to indicate that ever happened. Apparently it was a nightmare that just felt extremely real. I apologize for the panic. chiquita, the only presentations I've ever found more offensive was the 2 hour 'refresher' on how sexual harassment is bad. The presenter a) failed to spell check her Power Point slides and b) was later discovered to have been having an affair with a married co-worker. Plus side, they both divorced and married each other, but it still feels like 2 hours of my life that SHE OWES ME BACK. The next most offensive was the full lecture hall discussion for a Management and Policy class during which male students were complaining about how difficult it was to work with women because of, y'know, that time of the month. That was the only one of the three settings in which I felt able to stand up and say anything.
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putch
Blueblood
Posts: 1,987
Nov 17, 2006 12:25:16 GMT -4
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Post by putch on Aug 28, 2017 10:50:04 GMT -4
Is grammar even being taught today? I received an email this morning from our Corporate Info group. You would think they'd use proper grammar but, sadly, no. The email was riddled with "Thursday's" and "Friday's." YOU DON'T USE A DAMN APOSTROPHE TO MAKE THEM PLURAL...THE APOSTROPHE MAKES THEM POSSESSIVE. GAH!!!!!! Between the incorrect use of apostrophes, the general disdain for the Oxford comma, and people using "___and I" when it should be "___and me," it's a wonder I have gone postal yet.
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Post by chonies on Aug 28, 2017 13:26:45 GMT -4
Is grammar even being taught today? I received an email this morning from our Corporate Info group. You would think they'd use proper grammar but, sadly, no. The email was riddled with "Thursday's" and "Friday's." YOU DON'T USE A DAMN APOSTROPHE TO MAKE THEM PLURAL...THE APOSTROPHE MAKES THEM POSSESSIVE. GAH!!!!!! Between the incorrect use of apostrophes, the general disdain for the Oxford comma, and people using "___and I" when it should be "___and me," it's a wonder I have gone postal yet. Haven't. But to the rest of your post--I try to be calm about it, and I'm lukewarm about the Oxford comma's fandom ('I like coffee, whiskey and cats.' isn't so difficult to understand, is it?). None of my students will claim that they have been formally taught grammar by anyone other than their parents*, but a strangely high proportion of them claim to be grammar nazis. That said, I see those errors from people of all ages, and I try to put it out of my mind with the idea that it was just a slip and they forgot to proofread. At least it wasn't written in Papyrus, right? And lest anyone think I am some kind of hippy doing the grammar wavy-gravy, I'm Team Whom. *this usually goes one of two ways. "I was never taught grammar in school [subtext: and therefore I should be exempt from having my writing graded, waaah]" and "My parents always taught me to speak properly [and therefore I am extremely judgmental about people who have non-standard or stigmatized speech]." .
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putch
Blueblood
Posts: 1,987
Nov 17, 2006 12:25:16 GMT -4
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Post by putch on Aug 28, 2017 13:49:56 GMT -4
Isn't it funny that a typo always occurs when complaining about grammar?
I try to let it go, but when the email comes from certain people (high-up, executive management) and is about certain things, they need to be more careful. Once, I can look past but it's hard to believe it's a slip when they repeat it over and over again.
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chiquita
Blueblood
Posts: 1,616
Nov 7, 2006 19:00:53 GMT -4
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Post by chiquita on Aug 28, 2017 21:41:26 GMT -4
I'd rather see or hear an incorrect "and I" than "and myself". Gah! I hate the improper use of the reflexive, and it happens alllll the time where I work, e.g., "Please contact myself or Chonies with any questions." Blech!
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mrpeanut
Landed Gentry
Posts: 543
Jun 9, 2010 15:00:08 GMT -4
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Post by mrpeanut on Aug 29, 2017 5:33:12 GMT -4
How pervasive is the whole "idear" (as a pronunciation of "idea") abomination?
Is it primarily a New England thing or is it present in other regions?
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Post by chonies on Aug 29, 2017 9:02:53 GMT -4
I think it's straight New England!
I'm torn on the myself issue (although please ask Chonies any questions, has she has LOTS of opinions) because it can skew toward charming regionalism in the right hands, especially with the himself/herself Irish corollary.
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chiquita
Blueblood
Posts: 1,616
Nov 7, 2006 19:00:53 GMT -4
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Post by chiquita on Aug 29, 2017 10:23:51 GMT -4
I don't mind it from an actual Irish person, as I like to think of it as a remnant "screw you" to the English invaders. It's the use by born and bred Americans who are trying to sound smart and aren't sure if I or me is correct so they go with myself that drives me bonkers.
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Post by chonies on Sept 2, 2017 9:26:30 GMT -4
Is there anything wrong with this headline? "Shania Twain Walked Out on Top. Now She Wants Back In." It's from The NY Times and one of my extremely grammar-picky* friends posted this with the note "this is why copy editors matter!" My friend has never worked as a copy editor--she wasn't even an English or communications/journalism major (clutches pearls). And I'm not certain she could pick Shania out of a crowd or playlist. Her level of pickiness is to fly into a fit of pique when people use "bring" when she thinks they should use "take".
I don't see anything wrong with it. "Wants back in" is something I say regularly, usually in re pets, but maybe my friend has been quietly dying of secondhand embarrassment for the last 20 years.
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Post by batmom on Sept 5, 2017 12:24:25 GMT -4
It's awkward, I think. When I reflected a beat, I got it, but on the initial read I was seeing her walk out to something, not away from her career. So it's not wrong, just clunky.
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