Grammar nazi...

zissou'smom · May 3, 2008

Originally Posted by katiemae1277

what's wrong with those phrases??

Sounds perfectly normal to me!!

Lol. You'd be amazed at the things you say that are considered non-standard. In a lot of my upper-level linguistics classes there are people from all over the place, and we will be discussing some particular example of regional dialect and I'll have to ask what exactly is non-standard about whatever it is.

One of my professors actually asks me not to make grammatical/non-grammatical judgements based on my intuitions because they're just so strange sometimes.

For instance, until I started college I didn't really know that "broughten", "boughten", and "dranken" weren't the usual respective past participles of brought, bought, drank (there's others, but you get the idea).

carolpetunia · May 3, 2008

Originally Posted by RubSluts'Mommy

...I'm one of those sick puppies who will pick out grammatical and spelling errors in published books... I'm strange, and proud of it!!

Amanda

Ha! My father, amassed quite a library of history books during his life -- and almost every one of them is marked with his marginal comments and corrections!

It's wonderful, especially when I'm really missing him, to pick up a book at random, flip through, and find where he has noted in his favorite red ink that "Major Reno was actually somewhat south of where this author claims he was," or "The Japanese minisubs were NOT just rumors! I saw one myself!"

natalie_ca · May 3, 2008

Originally Posted by cata_mint

I see nothing wrong in being quietly peeved.

So long as you are peeved quietly, then that is ok. It's not hurtful to people and what they don't know won't hurt them

katiemae1277 · May 3, 2008

Originally Posted by Zissou'sMom

Lol. You'd be amazed at the things you say that are considered non-standard. In a lot of my upper-level linguistics classes there are people from all over the place, and we will be discussing some particular example of regional dialect and I'll have to ask what exactly is non-standard about whatever it is.

One of my professors actually asks me not to make grammatical/non-grammatical judgements based on my intuitions because they're just so strange sometimes.

For instance, until I started college I didn't really know that "broughten", "boughten", and "dranken" weren't the usual respective past participles of brought, bought, drank (there's others, but you get the idea).

who would have thought Ohio was so strange

valanhb · May 3, 2008

Is it just me that has noticed some of the newer pronunciations of some words in the news and by media personalities? I've noticed it many times, where the accent on the word, or pronunciation of the vowel has changed for some reason from the way I was taught. Of course, I can't think of a single example right now!

Some of the other pronunciation differences that have always driven me insane are saying "wash" with an "R" (warsh), and creek like crick. My parents, both from northeastern Nebraska, used the warsh and crick way, and it drove me nuts from the time I started learning grammar!

theimp98 · May 3, 2008

what is this grammer thing you speak of

kluchetta · May 3, 2008

Originally Posted by valanhb

Is it just me that has noticed some of the newer pronunciations of some words in the news and by media personalities? I've noticed it many times, where the accent on the word, or pronunciation of the vowel has changed for some reason from the way I was taught. Of course, I can't think of a single example right now!

Some of the other pronunciation differences that have always driven me insane are saying "wash" with an "R" (warsh), and creek like crick. My parents, both from northeastern Nebraska, used the warsh and crick way, and it drove me nuts from the time I started learning grammar!

OK...and what about the word "often". I seem to remember in grade school (back when the Earth was cooling) that it was pronounced "offen". What's with the "of-ten" deal? Am I just senile?

Oh, and I LOVE reading books and finding mistakes. There are very few books I've EVER read that don't have a mistake somewhere!

laureen227 · May 3, 2008

Originally Posted by kluchetta

OK...and what about the word "often". I seem to remember in grade school (back when the Earth was cooling) that it was pronounced "offen". What's with the "of-ten" deal? Am I just senile?

Oh, and I LOVE reading books and finding mistakes. There are very few books I've EVER read that don't have a mistake somewhere!

i'm always finding errors in books... & when i was student teaching, i gave a spelling test that had the word often on it. i pronounced it correctly, 'offen' & several of the kids asked me if i mean 'of-ten' [pronouncing the 't']. when the teacher graded the tests, she couldn't figure out why so many of them missed it... she also pronounced it 'of-ten'.

rubsluts'mommy · May 3, 2008

Originally Posted by valanhb

Is it just me that has noticed some of the newer pronunciations of some words in the news and by media personalities? I've noticed it many times, where the accent on the word, or pronunciation of the vowel has changed for some reason from the way I was taught. Of course, I can't think of a single example right now!

Some of the other pronunciation differences that have always driven me insane are saying "wash" with an "R" (warsh), and creek like crick. My parents, both from northeastern Nebraska, used the warsh and crick way, and it drove me nuts from the time I started learning grammar!

I can think of one... granted, I think both pronunciations have been accepted for a long time, but once the whole 'PC' rage started, the word 'harrassment' has changed, IMO. I grew up with the emphasis on the second syllable (the 'bad' word in the middle)... in the last few years or so, the emphasis has switched to the first syllable... I hate it. When i say it, I put my emphasis on the second... if someone has an issue with it, well, they can kiss my lily white ***

... (the taboo three letter word in the middle of the aforementioned altered word). Even my mother, who is quite the prude on language, says it the old way...

Amanda

lillekat · May 3, 2008

Originally Posted by tutti_bella

It's the txt spk tat gets 2 me! I dun noe, but i h8 it!

I second that - my father is an absolute pain for sending me sms messages that I can't read!! I swear, at 50, he has a worse txtspk habit than a lot of teenagers!

I have a real peeve with seeing the incorrect spellings and usage of the words "there", "their" and "they're". Actually, most misspelled words annoy me - mostly when the perpetrators are native English speakers. You can always understand it and make allowances for those for whom English is a second or third language because it is supposedly one of the most difficult languages to learn.

Hrmn.... and "harrassment"? When did the emphasis fall onto the first syllable? Is that a purely American habit? Oh yes... and "aluminium"!! ALUMINIUM, people!! ALUMINIUM - I am firmly of the opinion that the pronunciation: "aluminum" is nothing but sheer laziness!!

ARGH!

calm.... clam... calm.

I'm dreadful, aren't I?

missymotus · May 3, 2008

Originally Posted by LilleKat

and "aluminium"!! ALUMINIUM, people!! ALUMINIUM

Yes!

But that could lead to colour, mum etc.

The one that bothers me the most is 'I seen'.

lillekat · May 4, 2008

Originally Posted by missymotus

Yes!

But that could lead to colour, mum etc.

The one that bothers me the most is 'I seen'.

You have no IDEA what it leads to!

lsulover · May 4, 2008

When I am on a message board, I always try to spell words correctly. I look at what I am typing so I usually catch it if I spell something wrong.

I live in the South, so I have always typed the way that I talk. I say words like gonna, hafta, fixin, and stuff like that.

I also use double negatives all the time, which drives my daughter nuts. She is a speech pathologist and she tells me all the time to quit doing that. I am not even aware that I do this, because that is just the way that I talk.

gailuvscats · May 4, 2008

My pet peeve is when people on the message board, even IT geeks, never capitalize the word "I" and never use spell check. Personally, I would not trust that person for tech support. I would think they don't know what they are doing.

nanner · May 4, 2008

Oh, my.

Grammar on the internet is a big bugaboo of mine, as well.

The one that bugs me most, I think, is the "lose/loose" thing. And I think people use "loose" because it rhymes with "choose". But, it's sooooo wrong, and I have to hold myself back from correcting people.

I'm appalled at the bad grammar that's on TV - in commercials, in the sports booth, on the news.

In fact, one of our Mets announcers - Keith Hernandez - constantly uses the word "lacksadaisical....as if there's an x in there. I'm seriously considering e-mailing the Mets and telling them to tell Keith it's lackadaisical.

I hate stuff like that.

mrblanche · May 4, 2008

Just as a minor point, the second "i" in "aluminium" does not exist in the U.S. In fact, my spell check has just highlighted that word as misspelled. We don't scrub our tyres on the kerb, and we don't put our engines under the bonnet or our spare tyre in the boot.

Mark Twain said, "There is no such thing as the Queen's English. The property has gone into the hands of a joint stock company and we own the bulk of the shares!"

But if you think grammar (and orthography) can't cause a flap, just recall the deal with Dan Quayle and the "potatoe" flash card. No matter that that is an accepted (although definitely secondary) spelling, or even that that is the way the teacher had it on the flash card. The fact that he insisted on the "e" was touted as a sign of his ignorance.

Actually, I've found the level of language usage to be quite high on this site. Don't go to a hot rod site if you don't want your eyes to water and your fingers to twitch.

My wife is big fan of Abigail Adams, and her writing would definitely fall in the "experimental" class. That was fairly common at that time. In fact, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had a big argument about "unalienable rights" in the Declaration of Independence.

rapunzel47 · May 4, 2008

Originally Posted by gailuvscats

My pet peeve is when people on the message board, even IT geeks, never capitalize the word "I" and never use spell check. Personally, I would not trust that person for tech support. I would think they don't know what they are doing.

Well, you know, I just take that as a sign that s/he's putting more attention on IT stuff than on proper English, and since his/her proper use of the English language is not going to fix my computer problem, I think s/he has the right priorities -- even if reading such text does tie my stomach in knots.

mrblanche · May 4, 2008

Originally Posted by kluchetta

OK...and what about the word "often". I seem to remember in grade school (back when the Earth was cooling) that it was pronounced "offen". What's with the "of-ten" deal? Am I just senile?

Oh, and I LOVE reading books and finding mistakes. There are very few books I've EVER read that don't have a mistake somewhere!

Do you remember the problem with the pronunciation of that word (often) in the play, "The Pirates of Penzance?"

carolpetunia · May 4, 2008

As I understand it, the very concept of establishing a single correct spelling is only a few hundred years old -- prior to that, it was a free-for-all!

The mind boggles!

Feeling a need to clarify something here: I am not opposed to changes in language. Changes which enhance expression or expand the language to reflect societal evolution are absolutely fine with me!

But changes which are nothing more than capitulation to ignorance and carelessness -- these simply diminish a language. That's why I get so irate about some of the decisions of these "usage panels." Hmph!

rapunzel47 · May 4, 2008

Excellent distinction, Carol!

Grammar nazi...

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