1474 replies to this topic

[GG Mora]

I think this deserves its very own thread, since it's more than just a Surreal Annoyance. And some of its abuses are so egregious. Or just hilarious. Like this one:

The wife of one of my business colleagues is a Project Manager in the pharmaceutical industry. She recently submitted a comparison chart to her boss for approval, and received this response:

R____:

As we discussed, would you please perform a spell check on
this table.  "Worst" is not a word (regulatory table), the correct
spelling is worse.

If you are not sure of a term or its spelling, let me know and
we can discuss on Monday.

M____

This was R_____'s response:

M_____:

Please note that "Worst" is a word (and is in the dictionary). 
"Worse" case would not be the correct grammatical term.  You
generally refer to the set as Worst, Realistic, and Best Case
Scenario.  If you still want it changed, let me know.  I ran the
spell check - twice.

R_____

I've learned to stop questioning how idiots like this ascend to positions of power.

[hollywood]

What would Safire say?

[Steven Dilley]

What would Safire say?

He'd blame Clinton.

[mongo_jones]

is "your" now an accepted americanization of "you're"?

[Squeat Mungry]

At one point in my checkered career, I worked as a word processor/database designer/factotum for a small management consulting firm. One of the principals in the firm had no idea that "then" and "than" were two discrete words. Drove me crazy.

[Jaymes]

Misuse of the apostrophe is probably the thing that gets me the most. I mean how hard is it? How can one graduate from high school and not understand the difference between it's and its? Or the difference between a plural noun and a possessive? As in, "We Sell Taco's"?

[mongo_jones]

How can one graduate from high school and not understand the difference between it's and its?

i have to admit that i often have to think twice about this one myself.

http://www.wsu.edu/~...errors/its.html

[GG Mora]

On reflection, I actually think this is my favorite part of the initial exchange:

If you are not sure of a term or its spelling, let me know and
we can discuss on Monday.

I'd love to see the minutes from that meeting.


And Jaymes? I'm, so with you on the apostrophe thing. It really chap's my ass.

[Jaymes]

It really chap's my ass.

[Rail Paul]

the language does evolve nicely over time, however.

years ago, "their" was not an approved usage as a reflexive ("each person will take their book" wasn't accepted. the proper usage was "his" book, except in situations where the situation required otherwise, as a reference to books held by nuns.)

today, that archaic usage has been abandoned in favor of more inclusive terminology, and "their" is OK, which is another accepted term now

[Jaymes]

So true. I'm just about to give up on 'hopefully' as an adverb. I have watched hopefully in the hopes that the incorrect use will evaporate. Alas, the opposite has occurred, and the incorrect is becoming correct.

[Orik]

Isn't it surreal that this topic was started by an American?

[Rose]

I was thinking about the ubiquitous use of "awesome" and I decided that for someone who doesn't have a lot of words at their fingertips with which to describe something good, they just make the sound of indecision (which is "uh") and then add a "some" and they get, its uhhhhh... some. Thats why its so popular.

[Orik]

I've found that language cops generally mock everyone who can't use language at the level they can manage, while dismissing anyone who corrects them as being unnecessarily pedantic.

[Rose]

I've found that language cops generally mock everyone who can't use language at the level they can manage, while dismissing anyone who corrects them as being unnecessarily pedantic.

awesome analysis