by exwitless 107 Replies latest social humour
BrentR: I feel much less comfortable posting now since these are not my strong points.
No worries. I grate my teeth to myself when I read posts. It is in very poor form to point out someone's grammatical or spelling error in their serious thread. Hence, this thread dedicated to the obsessive.
I have stumbled on occassion, if the slip is peculiarly freudian.
or
Thanks for backing me up. Sometimes I think I'm the only one who notices things like that. Nope, I've never heard of the book, but I'll take check it out!
Thanks for backing me up. Sometimes I think I'm the only one who notices things like that. Nope, I've never heard of the book, but I'll take/check it out!
Thanks for backing me up. Sometimes I think I'm the only one who notices things like that. Nope, I've never heard of the book, but I'll take it or check it out!
Thanks for backing me up. Sometimes I think I'm the only one who notices things like that. Nope, I've never heard of the book, but I'll check it out!
OK, OK! See, I make mistakes like everyone else. I'm not saying I'm without error. You caught me. I meant to type "I'll check it out." I was thinking "I'll take a look at it" and "I'll check it out" while I was typing.
It used to bother me when people would say "troof." Now I know that they actually meant, "brainwashed and assimilated."
I drive myself crazy. Does anyone else here draft your post in MS Word or some other app then paste into the little gray box? I can't help it. I've gone back and read before to find a mistake then I get all bunged up. I'm sure most don't give a damn about the mistake... but I do. Dammit! Oddly enough, it doesn't bother me nearly as much if someone else does it. Hopefully that means that they don't spend way too much time critiquing themselves.
Homonym misuse are my favs: to/too/two; there/their/they're, et cetera. Learn the rule people; it doesn't change... ever.
p.s. why is there no spellchecker on JWD? That would make me extremely happy.
I love questions, except when people try to 'axe' me one. I would love to correct them, but besides that being rude, they might feel as if they were being sworn at; as in "please feel free to ass-k me anything".
My personal favorite is "fairy tail" (for fairy tale).
When I first came to this board (as a French with very little practice of speaking and hearing English) I learnt to "read (almost) aloud" when I didn't understand the syntax (e.g. "should of," "their/they're," "effect/affect," "then/than") and -- that is not "automatic" when you are mostly used to read printed English.
Anyway(s) I'll use my French to pick on Scully's post:
Actually, in French, one would say "Votre enfant devrait apporter leur baluchon demain." (leur = their). Or, if you knew that the child was a girl, you would say "Votre fille devrait apporter son baluchon demain." The object "baluchon" is a masculine noun, therefore we use "son baluchon" regardless of whether the person using it is male or female. If we wanted to say "Your son should bring his suitcase tomorrow" we would say "Votre fils devrait apporter sa valise demain." The object "valise" is a feminine noun, therefore we use "sa valise" regardless of whether the person using it is male or female.
No, it would still be "son baluchon" (or son sac à dos). Because, as you pointed out, the possessive adjective agrees in gender and number with the posessed object (hence sa valise or ses affaires), it refers neutrally to the (singular) possessor ("irregardless" of his/her/its gender). Leur would only be used for a plural possessor: Vos enfants devraient apporter leur sac à dos / leur valise / leurs affaires demain. If the Canadian French use "leur" as you do it is actually a contamination from English.
I don't really see any correct way of speaking, or how to say a particular word. All language currently spoken, is in flux. Dialects are a fact of life:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dialects_of_the_English_language
Meanings of certain phrases reduced to strict rules of grammar, the improper use of double negatives, may have it's place in legal documents, and translations of the Bible and other areas where wording is crucial.
But in a forum where people speak english, and come from all walks of life, and locations that speak different dialects,, than the standardize English, it would hardly seem likely that they would need to be scrupulously correct or overly concerned with what they write measures up to the standardized model. Maybe broadening out in your understanding of how and why we have a standardize language may make it a little more easy to take,, for the correct spellers and grammar perfectionest when they see errors of this nature? Even with the nonstandardized use of english the meaning is often clear and easy to understand from the context and subject under discussion.
Not to mention some have a hearing problem, and the correct spelling of words they are not familiar with may not be that easy.One women I met spoke english with a french acsent so I asked her if she was from France, she said no and that her acsent that sounded French in origin was from a hearing impearment,, the way she heard the words is the way she spoke them, which sounded like a French acsent.
Maybe broadening out in your understanding of how and why we have a standardize language may make it a little more easy to take,, for the correct spellers and grammar perfectionest when they see errors of this nature?
Geesh (if I may be allowed to stray from "perfect" English) Frankiespeakin. Lighten up! As I have now stated twice in this thread, I put the thread in the "humor" section. Let's call it a "fluff" topic and leave it at that. Everyone has his or her own pet peeves; that means I might find something annoying where someone else might not even notice it. It's a matter of opinion and/or personality quirk.
I don't read posts here with an eye for grammatical and spelling accuracy. I read them for their content. In fact, if you read my posts on this thread, MOST of what I posted about was related to how things are pronounced in spoken language, such as Alzheimers, or Espresso, etc.
The purpose of this thread was just for an innocent discussion on common "errors" (if you will) we all come across in ordinary conversations every day. It wasn't meant to belittle anyone or claim perfection. That's why I put it in 'humor". I am obviously no stand-up comedian, but it's exactly what someone like Seinfeld would talk about; people laugh and think "Yeah, that bugs me too." They don't accuse Seinfeld of being a "perfectionist" of the English language.
My bad.
Anyway(s) I'll use my French to pick on Scully's post:
Actually, in French, one would say "Votre enfant devrait apporter leur baluchon demain." (leur = their). Or, if you knew that the child was a girl, you would say "Votre fille devrait apporter son baluchon demain." The object "baluchon" is a masculine noun, therefore we use "son baluchon" regardless of whether the person using it is male or female. If we wanted to say "Your son should bring his suitcase tomorrow" we would say "Votre fils devrait apporter sa valise demain." The object "valise" is a feminine noun, therefore we use "sa valise" regardless of whether the person using it is male or female.No, it would still be "son baluchon" (or son sac à dos). Because, as you pointed out, the possessive adjective agrees in gender and number with the possessed object (hence sa valise or ses affaires), it refers neutrally to the (singular) possessor ("irregardless" of his/her/its gender). Leur would only be used for a plural possessor: Vos enfants devraient apporter leur sac à dos / leur valise / leurs affaires demain. If the Canadian French use "leur" as you do it is actually a contamination from English.
Thank you, Narkissos! I will consider myself duly informed , and culturally contaminated, having learned to speak French in an English school under the auspices of Monsieur Campbell and Madame Lawson.
edited because I couldn't resist...
