A note about words I personally hate so stop using them, alright??

[dorkzilla]

Last edited Mon Oct 21, 2013, 06:10 AM - Edit history (2)

Okay, for starters, it's EAVESdropping, not EASEdropping.

it's FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES not FOR ALL INTENSIVE PURPOSES.

HOUSEHOLD name, not HOUSE WHOLE name.

You cannot have a HANDFUL of SENATORS.

I could go on and on......

AND ITS CALIFORNIA, AL-GOD-DAMNED RIGHT?????

Edit--for the record, I KNOW I left out the apostrophe in the "its" above. Please see #69 below for the 'splainin'.

New edit: FFS...

This was an attempted parody of the plethora of call-out threads that have infected DU of late.

[johnp3907]

1. Al is God?

Al who?

[PasadenaTrudy]

144. Reverand Al?

Weird Al? You Can Call Me Al?

[pangaia]

187. Baaa dup dup dup.... Baaaa dup dup dup.

[Wounded Bear]

2. AL-GOD-DAMNED RIGHT?

What are you, some kind of Muslin?

(All, dummy.)

Take a note here, genius. When posting a grammar police thread, use correct diction.

[dorkzilla]

8. Thank you for noticing my intellectual superiority

Alright = al-godamned-right. So really, my faux pas was leaving off the last hyphen.

[Wounded Bear]

152. Technically, it probably should be "al'right"

[Blue_In_AK]

11. I personally take great offense at "alright,"

although I think some modern (i.e., wrong) sources say that it's acceptable usage. It's "all right," all right?

(I'm agreeing with you.)

[dorkzilla]

13. Funny, I've only started using "alright" after being told I was unnecessarily wordy.

I suppose it's just a slippery slope from "alright" to "r u ok" like the whippersnappers do these days.

[Blue_In_AK]

44. You know, I still write "okay" instead of OK

or the even worse 'K. It's all left over from when I was a court transcriptionist. The transcript clerk at the Court here was a beast on usage. She would send a transcript back in a heartbeat if we committed any of these transgressions. That sort of thing sticks even though I haven't typed a transcript in about five years.

[dorkzilla]

49. Yes, me too. I started life out as a legal secretary.

To this day my business correspondence shows it, too. That was 25 years ago...and I still can't shake off my curmudgeonly boss coming back to my desk and giving me a lecture.

[Blue_In_AK]

67. I was a legal secretary/paralegal for 25 years.

I started doing the transcripts at home at night the last few years of that, and then when I left the biz in 2001, I did the transcripts full time. I really loved working in my jeans and t-shirts, or pajamas, and keeping my own hours. Now I'm happily 100% retired.

[Scootaloo]

102. Funny thing is, "O.K." is the proper form

It stems from a fad in the 20's of not only writing words phonetically, but also heavy reliance on abbreviations. so "all clear" became "oll klear" which became "O.K."

"Okay" is actually an onomatopoeia, and is totally improper.

[Blue_In_AK]

103. Tell that to the transcription clerk.

There were other weird things she made us do, too, like typing an em-dash this way -- two dashes with a space on either side -- which I have been assured by many is completely incorrect. Also the two spaces after a period thing, although since we were using Courier 10, the two spaces at the end of sentences was probably a good thing. It was amazing how nitpicky they were, but uniformity among transcriptionists was the name of the game.

It does become second-nature after a while, almost automatic, and I did enjoy the work, especially the criminal trials. It was almost like an audiobook or something -- "What's going to happen NEXT?" And, "Oh, my god, I think this guy is INNOCENT." Real trials are certainly different than what we see on TV.

[Scootaloo]

107. Well, the proper dash didn't exist on old typewriters

And in fact, doesn't exist on the qwerty keyboard at all. You have to alt-code for it, alt+0151: — instead of the regular dash, - , or the double-dash replacing the em-dash, --.

Fuckin' typography!

[Blue_In_AK]

109. And since I am an old person

(in years anyway) who learned how to type on a manual typewriter, it makes sense that my brain is wired that way. The word processing technology has gone through some pretty amazing changes since I first learned how to type in 1963. All that ever-evolving technology is tucked away in my brain somewhere -- all those correcting selectrics, mag cards, Wangs, word processors whose names I don't even remember, several versions of Word Perfect DOS and Windows, Word (gag, I hate it) -- all that technology is there in my brain, buried away in there somewhere, but I'd hate to have to remember how to use some of those machines now. Is it like riding a bicycle, something you never forget? (Allegedly you never forget; I crashed my bike and got a brain concussion when I was 11, and I've not ridden a bicycle since.)

[pinboy3niner]

110. It's as easy as falling off a bike--you never forget

[dorkzilla]

123. I still do the em dash too -- and I still put two spaces after a period. Nt

[libdem4life]

208. Memories...high school office work 1962-1966..business for girls, which of course meant typing

carbons and erasers with little brooms on the other end for all the carbon copies, then correction tape, correction fluid. When we typed an important letter for the big boss, it had to be perfect...no corrections because they looked so ugly. He'd hold it up to the light to make sure...LOL.

Dictating machines? Ugh.

Selectrics, IBM carbon tape cartridge that you couldn't run through again, a whole paragraph memory you could see in the little two line window, because it was the school district, we always had the old stuff but each innovation was thrilling !!

One correction...We're not That Old!

[pinboy3niner]

209. For some, it was a little harder to keep up with changes

[libdem4life]

210. OMG ... it's that darn temporary agency. Got to get a new one. LOL

[Blue_In_AK]

215. When I got a mag card machine,

I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

And I agree, we're not that old. Honestly, I feel like I'm about 45.

[libdem4life]

216. And we did get a bit off the OP, but enjoyed the trip. Workers Unite !!!

[Ms. Toad]

221. But since you're old, you should know your former boss was right

about 2 spaces after a period. A single space is a modern (and not universally accepted) thing.
In case you're curious - http://www.heracliteanriver.com/?p=324

[Blue_In_AK]

226. I had a huge argument with a friend of Facebook about this not too long ago.

I ended by telling him that I'm 67 years old, damn it, and I'll put two spaces at the end of my sentences if I want to! I've earned that right.

[Ms. Toad]

227. Definitely.

I not only put two spaces at the end of mine, I often do a universal find and replace when I'm editing someone else's work...then I have to go back and fix the few places where there really should be only one space - like those signifying an abbreviation.

[Samantha]

218. When I trained, we had Sabin as our authority

He was generally accepted as the expert in these matters. With all of the changes we have seen as a result of the onslaught of so many software packages for word processing, suddenly we had an overabundance of "experts." As many of the classic rules continued to be broken, I always wondered who made this rule and what authority gave him or her the right to do so.

The rule about the two dashes sprang from the fact that typewriters did not have dashes, just hyphens. So to achieve a dash, type two hyphens. Leave a space before and after for ease of reading. So I always do that and when someone corrects it, I ignore the change. Part of the pleasure of reading text springs from the presentation.

You agree--don't you? You agree -- don't you?

The two spaces at the end of a final period were also for ease of reading -- to separate the end of one sentence from the beginning of the next.

I worked in the legal community for decades in various capacities but after I left I did transcripts as well for different counties in this area. I loved it but it was very hard work meeting some of those rush deadlines during lengthy trials. The uniformity in punctuation was necessary since often those really long transcripts -- hundreds of pages -- had to be split up among 3 or 4 people working as a team. It gave the document as a whole the look of having been done by one person.

I once got into a dispute with the person I worked for who headed the agency. She changed some words from what I had presented to force the sentence to make sense. She improvised on what was actually said. I refused to sign it because she totally changed the meaning of what the witness uttered to something grammatically pleasing.

Sam

[Art_from_Ark]

223. "OK" goes back at least 90 years before that

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okay

[Scootaloo]

229. Oh, well, I got the premise right

Just forgot the years.

[lastlib]

62. (...but apparently you have no similar problem with "although".....)

(Inhale deeply..........sigh.....) Alright. .

[Blue_In_AK]

65. Laughing out loud.

[brush]

135. You're prolly right

Anybody else seen that one recently? I just saw if in a comments section today.

It was used instead of probably.

[Blue_In_AK]

154. I think it's text speak,

which has been a bad thing for spelling and English composition in general.

[llmart]

178. Those of us of a certain age......

were taught that the correct spelling was "alright".

Generational differences.

[Blue_In_AK]

189. Yes, there's a lot of that going around. :)

[llmart]

190. Ironically.....

I started my working career as a legal secretary too, about a gazillion years ago (almost 50 years) and those rules stay with you for life!

[Warren DeMontague]

99. You laugh, but I distinctly remember during the extremely bad El Nino year of 1997, I think...

There was a guy in Stockton named Al Nino who got ALL Sorts of abuse and terribly mean phone calls. To the point where he actually went on the news and said "Please. Stop."

[Zorra]

148. However, it was later discovered that Al Nino was actually a

splinter group of Al Qaeda. The group was attempting to use human caused weather disturbances as acts of terrorism.

The fictitious person, Al Nino from Stockton, was actually found to be a switchboard operative, located in India, who was acting as a front for Al Nino in order to deflect all those annoying phone calls from all the disgruntled republicans who were complaining to Al Nino about El Nino weather patterns.

[roguevalley]

199. I'm kind of down with prostrate gland

I also had a kid in my class of first graders whose adenoid problem made him say lutch instead of lunch.

Then my grandpa used to say sumbitch instead of son of a bitch.

[petronius]

3. I literally died laughing at this post...

(But as a Californian myself, my opinion is that folks can call my home whatever they like, so long as they aren't being deliberately insulting or disrespectful.)

[dorkzilla]

46. GhostPetronius?

Is that you??

The word "literally" has figuratively become the most overused word in the vocabulary of mostly young people.

[dchill]

51. +1

[petronius]

54. ...

(I'd post more, but getting used to this whole non-corporeal-being thing is taking some time...)

[lastlib]

64. And Hopefully, someday people will learn not to start sentences with "Hopefully,...."

My personal pet peeve! . .

[Flying Squirrel]

111. It is to be hoped

...that this will eventually occur.

Hopefully.

[IronLionZion]

138. literally?

[Electric Monk]

4. Here here!

(Hear, hear!)

[Tx4obama]

5. I personally 'dislike' the word 'HATE'

[ffr]

12. Always P.C.

[ThoughtCriminal]

6. We don't get French Benefits?

[dorkzilla]

19. Oooh, does that mean more wine or something? I'll take it! n/t

[2naSalit]

45. especially if there's cheeze n' crootons!!

[Agnosticsherbet]

7. My list contains "hate" and "evil."

Being really old fashioned and historically minded, I call it Alta California.

[MineralMan]

160. Or California del Norte.

Soy Norteño...

[TheDebbieDee]

9. What about "Should've, would've, could've" instead of

"Should of, would of, could of"?

And martial law instead of marshall law?

[silverweb]

16. Ummm...

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]I think you mean instead of "should have," "would have," and "could have."

The "have" is where the "ve" part of the contraction comes from.

[TheDebbieDee]

47. The "have" is where the "ve" part of the contraction comes from.......

And that's why I inserted an apostrophe where the letters have been omitted.......

[silverweb]

75. Right idea, wrong word.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]You made the very common error of saying "should of," "would of," and "could of."

The second word should be "have," not "of." Think about it.

On edit: I re-read your original post a couple of times and now see what you were trying to say. You were not contracting "should of" to "should've" and did mean "should have;" it just didn't come through clearly. Sorry.

[notadmblnd]

27. it's have not of

Should have, would have, could have.

[TheDebbieDee]

36. That's what I said!

[intaglio]

87. errr - it is martial law

as in military.

And my bug bear is "court marshall".

[dorkzilla]

124. Does the Court Marshall get a big shiny star badge?

I hope the court has saloon doors so he can push them open and saunter his bad self in....

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

115. Arrrrrggghh. Writing "of" because the "'ve" in 've contractions sounds similar to "of" is

one of my many pet peeves!

[dorkzilla]

125. I honestly think the reason for most if these is because people don't read!

They merely repeat what they think they've heard, and now that the email, texting, social networking and the like have become the way for people to communicate and they actually have to type things all their misconceptions are out there for the world to see.

[cui bono]

163. That one really bothers me.

(I read your post "backwards" as well, thinking you were saying it is supposed to be "should of".)

[ScreamingMeemie]

10. A note about maturity and respect...

Both are beautiful things, and both are sorely lacking here lately.

[JohnnyLib2]

14. I have no ideal why you are upset.

Ya know?

[ffr]

15. And there are

to when it should have been too
your when it should have been you're (you are)

Those are the biggies with me.

Yeah man, those are to big. Ta big? What's ta big? What?
Your the man! Huh?

[NYC_SKP]

17. Imma get back to ya....

[NuclearDem]

18. Now, look, I know this is a tough thing to deal with.

I really hate to be easedropping on this conversation.

But for all intensive purposes, Cali is just a housewhole name. I could ask a handful of Senators.

[2naSalit]

48. !!!

Edited to fix my rolls.

[dorkzilla]

72. I want to fix my rolls too but I can't afford liposuction.

Thank you! I'm here all week!


Or should that be "...I'm hear all weak"?

[BelgianMadCow]

184. Duzy!

Does that work?

[Lint Head]

20. All this time I thought it was a hole full of Senators.

[pinboy3niner]

21. "Handful of senators don't pass legislation"

It's a bit late to be complaining about 'Eve of Destruction' ...

[NYC_SKP]

22. Please translate, if you will, "ou-from-way-from, oufromwayfrom"....

If you're a good progressive, you'll know.

I kid.

You might not get NPR.

[dorkzilla]

26. I get NPR!

I'm a WNYC member!

....sadly I don't get what those words are.

[NYC_SKP]

30. Here you go! "Get ou' from way from around them cars. "

BADU: But there was one joke that we wrote, where we had these cue cards and we would write this really long word and put it up on an easel and have the audience try to pronounce the word.

SAGAL: OK.

BADU: And what we explained is that this word is actually a phrase that black people use that you wouldn't understand.

(LAUGHTER)

BADU: And if you understand it, you win a prize.

SAGAL: OK.

BADU: Yeah. One of the was ou-from-way-from, oufromwayfrom.

SAGAL: I wouldn't win that prize.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Oufromwayfrom.

BADU: And if they didn't get it right, then I would get a chance to put it in a sentence.

SAGAL: Can you put that in a sentence?

BADU: Get ou' from way from around them cars.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

http://www.npr.org/2013/02/09/171478270/singer-erykah-badu-plays-not-my-job

[dorkzilla]

38. K, imma hit you for that one...

I actually hear that one, but I didn't remember it until you put up the transcript. I love that show. I don't love the new one...Ask Me Another? I think it's called that. It appears they find the dumbest people they can find in Brooklyn and put them on a quiz show.

[NYC_SKP]

43. I'm with you. And I need more NPR stream that are saved and available.

This American Life has some sucky clone, just like Wait Wait had Ask me Another.

Jesus, I thought this was PUBLIC radio.

BTW, have you ever priced ticket to see Prairie Home Companion?

For two, count on hundreds of dollars.

[dorkzilla]

55. I go see the show at Town Hall every year!

We get tickets right in the front (our group knows Russ, Garrison's truck driver and joke writer!) and they're usually around $80 a pop. But now it's a tradition so I don't mind. We go up to Tanglewood to catch the last show (always the Saturday before the Fourth of July) and get lawn tickets so it's like $15, and we pack a big picnic dinner with lots of wine and have a grand old time.

[NYC_SKP]

58. Jealous!

But happy for you!

I took a stab at their tour a year or two ago for northern california venues and what wasn't sold out in advance was just not for the type of person who works a job and pays a rent.

Kind of disappointed, we were.

[dorkzilla]

66. If he ever plays at a big outdoor venue in finer weather, do try and go

I've been going to his shows for 26 years now! Oh my GOD, 26 years?? Hang on...I need to faint

Anyway, seeing the show live is great. When they used to do American Radio Company (remember that? He did a show from BAM back in 90/91? Ivy Austin was on? Great show...I wish he'd kept some of the characters like Babette...) I used to get a seat as close to Tom Keith (RIP) so I could see him do the sound effects. That is worth the price of admission right there.

[Bucky]

23. It's a sinking suspicion, not a "sneaking" suspicion.

[dorkzilla]

77. I had a neighbor who used to say "stinking suspicion"! n/t

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

116. Nuh-uh!

http://thesaurus.com/browse/have+sneaking+suspicion

http://ask.reference.com/web?s=t&q=have%20sinking%20suspicion&l=dir&qsrc=2891&o=10300

[Retrograde]

24. I want a moritorium on "iconic"

All right, I really want to totally ban the word unless one is referring to Russian Orthodox religious emblems.

And it's California, no argument.

[BluegrassStateBlues]

25. YOU CAN'T PUT CHRIST ON A CRACKER

Bible thumpers don't like interracial relationships.

[dorkzilla]

28. Ooh, that's going to be my new bumper sticker!

You know those "keep Christ in Christmas" stickers? I'm going to make up some "keep Christ off of Crackers".

Think it'll take off?

[BluegrassStateBlues]

42. Only one way to find out. Take pictures of reactions.

[pinboy3niner]

29. But putting Him on a trailer hitch is perfectly kosher

[dorkzilla]

32. What.the.$&ck??

I'm thinking that's not photoshopped either.

[pinboy3niner]

53. iirc, it's from a fundie demonstration outside Terri Schiavo's hospice

A memorable image that comes up here from time to time.

[Warpy]

82. It was during the Terri Schiavo flapdoodle

that drew every fundygelical media hog in the country. Jesus Christ showed up on his trailer hitch to add visual impact to all the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the fact that her feedings were shut off and she didn't wake up and ask for a ham sandwich.

[NYC_SKP]

33. Jesus Christ!

That's no way to tow a Jesus!

The wires are danglin, where's the safety chains and HELLO, what if it rains???

[SaveAmerica]

246. That ain't no way to tow a Jesus, the fundies won't believe this,

no chains, no raincoat...

(thank you Helen Reddy)

[BluegrassStateBlues]

40. The fuck?

Weirdest thing I've seen hitched to a vehicle since the neighbor I had that had a kid's coffin permanently hitched to his.

[RagAss]

52. Who was your neighbor, Gandpa Munster?

[NBachers]

93. I see they brought the beer cooler along in case He gets thirsty.

[pinboy3niner]

96. It was either that or the Mohawk beer hat

[Control-Z]

149. That is just freaking creepy. (nt)

[The Straight Story]

37. But you can turn him into one

[Warpy]

79. No, but he has been on a trailer hitch

I have the picture on my hard drive to confirm it.

[GeorgeGist]

114. Is cheeses of Nazareth Okay?

[IronLionZion]

139. You can eat Christ as crackers

and drink blood as wine since symbolic cannibalism is OK.

[Dr. Strange]

31. This argument is getting old.

I think we've gone past the statue of limitations.

[dorkzilla]

34. LOL! Isn't that out in NY Harbor? n/t

[Dr. Strange]

35. That would explain why all the ships come in on Arbor Day!

[dorkzilla]

39. HA!!!

I love puns...

[cyberswede]

59. Your point is mute.

[niyad]

41. and, the last phrase should read "and it's (the contraction for it is, not the possessive)

california. . . .

it is painful enough seeing such things on a discussion board. seeing them in newspapers (yes, such things still exist) and books is thoroughly depressing. It seems that proofreaders are a thing of the past.

[2naSalit]

57. Out where I am

most homemade signs, and even some made by alleged professionals insist on using an apostrophe for all plurals. It's hard to know what they mean half the time and is truly annoying... for someone who actually knows how to spell or read.

[niyad]

63. my current favourite on that topic is in the floral dept. of my local supermarket: "bosse's day is

oct. 16" (and now I am wondering why it was still there today)

and this was my favourite for some time: "mom's too envy" (a maternity shop, judging by the window displays)

[dorkzilla]

69. In a world where apostrophes are as overused as the word "literally"

...I'm in the "less is more" camp.

Seriously though, I noticed it after I posted and thought it would be funnier to just leave it. Goes along with the whole "self-appointed arbiter of posting etiquette" disease that seems to have struck DU lately.

[niyad]

71. gee, I miss out on all the fun.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

117. Companies are too cheap to hire proofreaders! But I say write and complain every time you see

a typo in any publication. If we don't, they will think it's not a problem.

[niyad]

137. trust me, it does not help. I have written to authors, called papers, etc., and the attitude has

been a total lack of interest. several years ago, after a month of daily calls to the news manager of one of the local stations, complaining about the dreadful spelling, and total inaccuracies of the crawls on the all-day news channel, I finally got hold of the guy. his response was "well, we have six different people working on it, and they don't have time to double-check everything. and, english grammar really isn't that important." after I recovered from the shock, I asked him what majors these interns had, and he replied, "journalism". I asked if they all graduated from the sarah palin school of journalism. he was not amused, especially since he was also a journalism major. I would have thought that basic knowledge of the language in which one is engaging in "journalism" might be a primary requirement, but, apparently, I was wrong.

it is hard enough just trying to read the local news online, it is almost impossible to listen to it without wanting to hurl something at the news "readers".

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

197. I hear ya, but if many people complained, i think it would have an impact. But when

the complaints are few and far between, it's easy to take the attitude that it doesn't matter. I say keep complaining when you have the time. (Which is probably why a lot of people don't--overworked and underpaid people have less time and energy.)

[nadinbrzezinski]

200. Partly you are running into fewer people than we used to have

It's gotten so bad that your observation is correct, proof reading is not a priority.

[niyad]

205. it depresses me some days. reading standard news is bad enough--reading the comments sections

after various news stories or blogs makes me want to grab my cyber editor's pen, and politely enquire where (or if) these people went to school.

[nadinbrzezinski]

212. At times I edit blog posts, many a times actually

It is usually something that I missed in initial read. I love that about Wordpress. One problem we have is the pressure to go to print.

[Spider Jerusalem]

50. You DO realise people will do that just to wind you up, now, right?

[pinboy3niner]

56. Who, us? We wooden do that!

[dorkzilla]

70. Wooden shoe? WOODEN SHOE?

[Arugula Latte]

143. Well, a lot of people do like to go against the grain.

[dorkzilla]

60. I don't care...I'm just having a laugh...

I was having a go at another thread about "Cali" versus "California". It was all in good fun.

[NuclearDem]

92. Cali vs California?

I mean, she's pretty cool and all, but that seems a battle lost before it's begun

[Squinch]

121. Nah. She could take them.

[Arugula Latte]

142. What's with the fancy British spelling of "realize"?!

You some kinda furriner?

[klook]

61. You should of mentioned "mute point." But I could care less.

I'm sure you're OP will illicit a few closed-minded gaffs from the maddening crowd. Not to mention pronounciation errors and other mumble jumbo.

[Blue_In_AK]

68. Bwah...

[Solly Mack]

73. Noodles.

[dorkzilla]

74. Cheese.

This *is* word association, I presume?

[Solly Mack]

97. Yes.

[darkangel218]

76. So..

Why are you easedropping for all intensive purposes, when there are so many other housewhole issues you should worry about?

I think i will take a lil vacay and go to cali.

[dorkzilla]

80. You'll prolly get a good tan in Cali!

It would prolly be a mute point if the sun isn't out though.

[Jamaal510]

78. The word "epic"

is what I wish people would stop saying all the fuckin' time. I don't know what happened, but in recent years, I hear people on the Internet say it all the time, especially on YouTube video game Let's Plays. That word is now being used to describe shit that is not epic in the literal sense of the word, whether it is some song or some prank.

[Vashta Nerada]

86. Epic post!

[Control-Z]

165. Epic is the new awesome.

Remember when awesome had meaning?

I've removed it from my vocabulary. Using it now just feels silly and childish.

[Enthusiast]

185. Awesome still has meaning for those of us 'in the know'.

[Enthusiast]

181. Epic post, bra.

[Duer 157099]

81. Yes, I hate those alot!

And if I hear 'em I go nukular

[Deep13]

83. Barry McGuire disagrees on the Senators thing. nt

[Tigress DEM]

84. WHAT Ever! nt

[Vashta Nerada]

85. GET OFF MY LAWN!!!11111ELEVENS

[jtuck004]

88. How about a pocketful of Senators?

[Kablooie]

89. You talking 'bout Fornia?

[Quantess]

90. But... why can't I have a handful of senators?

On the photos they look like they are small enough to fit in my hand.

I will love them and squeeze them and love them and squeeze them!

[nolabels]

91. Yet, it's only obvious that it is not much better than a pant-load

[Squinch]

122. .

[pintobean]

132. This post could work in the

toilet paper thread.

Was Mr. Whipple a senator?

[Skittles]

94. PROBABLY, NOT "PROLLY"

gawd I absolutely DETEST that sh**

[Warren DeMontague]

100. Prolly wants a skittles ass-kickin, that's what it is.

[Skittles]

104. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I WILL KICK MULTI-COLORED PROLLY ASS; yes INDEED

[Thegonagle]

95. Another words, "for all intensive purposes" is incorrect.

It's more properly expressed as "for all intents and purposes."

Got it!

And all these years, I thought they were one and the same.

[chervilant]

98. More DUzy fodder!

Last edited Sun Oct 20, 2013, 05:43 AM - Edit history (1)

Congrats!

My fave ( ) pun:

Time flies like an arrow;
Fruit flies like a banana.

[Warren DeMontague]

101. You need to loose the attitude friend, your casting asparagus

[pinboy3niner]

105. Lettuce knot forget to be charditable

But I dye cress...

[Warren DeMontague]

106. why you're okra radish tuber go there again

beets me.

[pinboy3niner]

108. I yam a maized you want to turnip the heat

As we say at harvest time...

Picky, picky, picky.

[Arugula Latte]

145. Could you two just squash this argument and learn how to live in peas, please?

This chiving and parsnipping back and forth just sprouts animosity and tends to mushroom until it makes people go out of their gourd.

[pinboy3niner]

171. I have never bean soy a shroomed of myself

I'm sorry I ever endived into this caper.

Do me a fava and never leek this to anyone.

[SaveAmerica]

247. Wheeew! The odor when you cast asparagus!

[Flying Squirrel]

112. Personally I could care less

[Logical]

129. LOL, good one! n-t

[dorkzilla]

130. Ooooh, that one makes me see red.

My dad goes out if his way to insert this in conversations because he knows that makes me nuts.

[B Calm]

113. Posters who use loose instead of lose.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

118. You are not supposED to mention those things!

I mean, it doesn't bother me at all when people write suppose to instead of the correct supposed to. Nope, I don't even notice.

But if I did notice it, I might say, think of it this way, folks: it's kind of the same as believed to. You would never write "The suspect was believe to have been armed," would you? No, of course not! You would know it was believed, right?

Better yet, you would never say, "The suspect was think to have been armed," would you? You would know to say, "the suspect was thought to have been armed." I know that you would. It's a past tense thing.

And the literally thing--don't get me started!

(I know it doesn't make you stupid if you can't spell or punctuate correctly, but it does mean people will be distracted from your message.)

[Control-Z]

169. What I find even worst

is when someone writes the worse case scenario. It makes me want to scream!

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

219. You are correct that people mix up worse and worst.

Last edited Tue Oct 22, 2013, 03:32 AM - Edit history (1)

I hope you won't mind, however, if I point out that even worst is not correct, and that worse case scenario could be correct.

As you know, one thing is correctly said to be worse than another. When two things are being compared, we use the comparative not the superlative.

Positive Comparative Superlative
good____better_______best
bad_____worse_______worst

Following than with worst seems never to be correct. (Google worse than, then google worst than.)

Worst comes in when we compare more than two things.
"That was the worst meal I've ever eaten."

Now, it might seem that, "That meal was worst than all of the other meals I've ever eaten," is correct because we're comparing more than two things. But, in fact, we are comparing just two--this meal and the group of all the other meals. So, "This meal is worse than those other meals," would be correct.

However, "This is the worst of all the meals I've ever eaten," is correct because we are comparing all of the meals we've eaten to one another.

So, again, than is the key. To put it simply: worst than is never correct. With than, use worse.

As for worse case scenario, I'm sure we've all heard it used incorrectly. On the other hand, some of the language geeks at this link make a good case for how worse case scenario might in some cases be correct.

Well, that's way more than you bargained for, and this thread is cold so it probably won't ever even get read, but after trying hard to make this a reasonably clear explanation of a somewhat complicated point of grammar, I guess I may as well post it.

[niyad]

224. thread is not cold, and thank you for posting this

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

234. Thanks for the reply. It made me feel good, and

it gave me a chance to change movies to meals. (I'd had more examples at one point and wasn't careful when I decided to go with fewer.)

[TexasProgresive]

119. No DUers fault, but I hate:

Nouns used as adjectives in headlines, i.e.
"Italy court bans Berlusconi from public office for two years"

This one is from Reuters but I've seen it from others including BBC.

[KG]

120. Going Back To Cali

[LWolf]

126. You forgot one.

It's LOSE, not "loose."

[orpupilofnature57]

127. Words are vehicles for ideas, as long as it arrives it's

Alright as opposed to being All Right .

[Logical]

128. Great, another genius who wants to insult people who annoy them. nt

[dorkzilla]

131. That's the whole point of this post, in case you didn't notice...

I don't know why people think they're allowed to school people in their personal bugaboos. It's absurd. I didn't add the sarcasm tag because I thought it was obvious!

[Logical]

133. Sorry, just woke up. If that was your goal I 100% agree with you! n-t

[BootinUp]

134. Thanks for the laugh.

[fadedrose]

136. It's "Almighty God-damned"

Not "AL-GOD.."

That's how we say here in Mich.

[Sunlei]

140. show some respect dorkzilla! it's GODzilla.

ゴジラ !!

[Zorra]

141. You're LOOSING it, totally LOOSING it, dude!

Step back for a sec, close your eyes, and think about the warm sun and beaches of Southern Cali.

[Tikki]

146. It's 'taken for granted' not 'taken for granite' though many are taking granite for countertops...

Tikki

[ecstatic]

147. What's wrong with "handful of senators?" nt

[Wounded Bear]

150. I just can't bare this....nt

[mrsadm]

151. "it's" (a contraction of it is), NOT "its". Al right?

edited to add: "Al right" is sarcastic.

[Blue_In_AK]

155. Autocorrect (talk about a misnomer) does that to me all the time.

It pisses me off.

[L0oniX]

153. Yew mean Cali ...doncha!

[Jenoch]

156. To 'err' rhymes with 'her' and not 'air'.

[State the Obvious]

159. I consider it a shortened form....

....of the word "error" That is why I would say "air".

To err is human, to forgive divine. (Alexander Pope)

[Jenoch]

168. It still does not rhyme with 'air'

when pronounced correctly.

[State the Obvious]

191. Listen to the audio pronunciation...

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/err

[Jenoch]

214. Merriam-Webster reduced to the lowest common denominator.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/_/dict.aspx?rd=1&word=err

The traditional pronunciation of err is err. Jusf because a bunch of people pronounce it wrong and it becomes a norm does not make it the correct pronunciation.

[State the Obvious]

225. To each his own. Done. nt

[truebluegreen]

157. It's "Toe" the line; "rein in" spending....

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

158. Not "toad the line"? Or "reign in spending"? nt

[truebluegreen]

162. Egzacly!

[Arugula Latte]

182. And the "reigning" monarch -- not "reining" ... unless you're the queen up on an equine.

[truebluegreen]

193. Ha!

Very good.

[Enthusiast]

186. I thought it was tow the line.

Shit.

[truebluegreen]

192. A common mistake, probably from the "tow lines" on a tug or something,

and given current usage "tow" seems to make more sense. But originally it meant falling in line/lining up/toeing the line before starting a race.

It's a silly thing, but Dad was an English professor.

[Enthusiast]

220. Thanks. It would be convenient

to have an English professor father. I guess I will remain a dummy.

These are ingrained bad habits. But I want to improve.

[RebelOne]

161. Don't even try to correct misusages of spelling, grammar, etc.

I am a former copy editor and see so many grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors here and on other web sites that make want to pull my hair out. I just give up and do not even try to correct them. Maybe some people did not pay attention to English classes in school.

[Martin Eden]

164. AND ITS

Shouldn't that be AND IT'S?

My biggest gripe is when people type LOOSE (rhymes with "juice&quot when they mean LOSE (rhymes with "booze&quot .

[RebelOne]

194. My pet peeves also.

I can't understand why some people do not know the proper usage of its and it's. Drives me crazy. And loose and lose used incorrectly is like nails on a blackboard.

[Martin Eden]

201. What a bunch of "loosers" ...

... when it comes to grammar

The flipside of its & it's is putting the apostrophe where it doesn't belong. An old auto junkyard near the forest preserves where I go hiking has a sign that reads used part's.

[cui bono]

166. Also, the past tense of lead is not lead. It's led.

Can't tell you how many times I've seen this on DU!

But really, who says house whole name? That has to have been an unfortunate autocorrect.

[Thirties Child]

167. meet up with .... join up with

What's wrong with meet or join? I hear them on tv all the time, now even read them in books.

[sl8]

170. "Blessed are the cheesemakers"

C'mon people, obviously it's not meant to be taken literally; it refers to any manufacturers of dairy products.

[arcane1]

173. It's = it is.

It is used correctly in the OP.

[arcane1]

175. That's the third instance

[William769]

176. With all those books where you are at you should know right?

[pinboy3niner]

180. Nice catch :)

[William769]

183. Veteran here.

[DesertFlower]

188. when did the word work

become a noun, i.e., "i went to his work". how about "place of work"? another one "me and so and so did something". it's supposed to be i and so and so. apparently it's acceptable because i recently heard it come out of a doctor's mouth. also have heard it on tv by supposedly educated people.

when i hear it it's like running a fingernail down a blackboard. i said it once when i was a kid (me and so and so) and my father went nuts. i never said it again.

[niyad]

202. shouldn't it be "so and so and I"??

[DesertFlower]

217. you're right.

[pintobean]

222. About the same time that

capitalization became optional.

[DesertFlower]

231. i only capitalize when writing

a letter. for some reason when i started using a computer i decided to type in lower case.

[truebluegreen]

195. I've got a question for other usage sticklers:

Why do so many use the construction: in the 1960's, or '70's? Shouldn't it be the simple plural: 1960s or '70s. Or if you want to talk about the music of the era, for example, wouldn't it be: 1960s' music?

Seems to me that would be correct and I never see it that way....

Thx.

edited to correct my own punctuation

[Blue_In_AK]

196. You are correct,

at least in my opinion. I was taught that you only use an apostrophe to show plural when it is a one-letter thing, as in "there are several I's in this sentence" or if not putting an apostrophe makes it a different word, thus making the meaning unclear. 1970s should not have an apostrophe unless you're talking possessive, as in the year 1970's Billboard Top 100 or something like that.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

233. I agree with you. However there is some disagreement on this even amongst the experts.

If you're really interested, check out this discussion.

There seem to be some cases where the apostrophe is necessary for clarity. Otherwise, most agree to leave it out. But a lot of people in the non-expert category seem to think every s needs an apostrophe before it. Then there's the other group--those who never use apostrophes even where they belong!

[truebluegreen]

238. Huh. P's and q's!

Forgot about those. So, OK, best to avoid the apostrophe unless it is unavoidable? Another hard and fast rule bites the dust. Thanks for the link.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

239. Glad to be of assistance. : )

[nadinbrzezinski]

198. Well you can use the wonderful trash thread doncha know?

And in my hood we call it Cali bro. I'm sorry regionalisms are such a drag man.

There used to be a time when call out threads were a no-no.

Sigh!

[pintobean]

206. ...

[Brother Buzz]

211. How's that Carly Simon song go?

"You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you."

[Rex]

203. CaliCaliCaliCaliCaliCaliCali

You going back to Cali?

[duffyduff]

204. That stupid word "truthiness," which isn't a word at all.

The person who uses it is trying to be cute because he or she picked it up from some celebrity comic.

[Wounded Bear]

213. Don't be dissin' on Stephen, now...

he's an anti-hero around here.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

235. Some celebrity comic? It was Stephen Colbert and he invented the word to call out the RW BS that

is so prevalent. He is constantly pointing out the idiocy and duplicity of the Rs and is hilarious while doing it.

On the verge of the previous to this latest GOP government shutdown, thanks to Colbert:

#NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement became a Twitter hashtag used to preface fabricated statements in satire of Arizona’s Republican Senator Jon Kyl, who made a false claim during the congressional debate on 2011 budget that “well over 90%” of Planned Parenthood’s activity is devoted to performing abortion." Within hours, it was revealed that the congressman’s assertion was baseless and when inquired by the news media, Kyl’s spokespeople clarified that his claim was “not intended to be a factual statement.”

Stephen Colbert slammed on the Arizona senator’s gaffe, poking fun at the careless response that his argument wasn’t intended to be a factual statement, but only to be taken as true. That same night, Colbert began tweeting a series of baseless rumors about Kyl with the hashtag “#NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement.”

On the following night of April 12th, Stephen Colbert announced that he would be tweeting various “non-facts” about Senator Kyl and encouraged his audience and Twitter followers to participate using the designated hashtag.

Some of Colbert’s most re-tweeted #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement posts include “Jon Kyl thinks no one can see him when he puts a paper bag on his head,” “Jon Kyl was named after the Quebec town, Jonquière, which is fitting because he ate all of its residents” and "John Kyl is “90% prune juice.”

Stephen Colbert is my hero!

[Brainstormy]

207. "Alright" is my personal pet peeve

sorry. Bugs me more than any of your other examples. It' "all right."

[zappaman]

228. You have caused quite the kerflunkle!

Easy peachy!

[dorkzilla]

230. Kerflunkle? LOL!

Have you actually had someone use that? Hahahahahahahaha!

[Wolf Frankula]

232. And Can People STOP using Decadent as a complimentary Word for food.

Rich good tasting food is not decadent. It's rich, good tasting food. Decadence/decadent implies decline, wretched excess, fussiness for the sake of fussiness, display to show you can afford it. Rich chocolate cake is not decadent. Lampreys fattened on human flesh, roast pig that has been whipped to death, fried whooping crane, bread fried in pimple pus, cheese made from breast milk: Those are decadent foods. Teaching parrots to talk, then killing and eating their tongues in a pie is decadent. New York cheesecake is not decadent.

Most of the so-called aphrodisiac foods, tiger penis soup, snake blood wine, are decadent foods.

Wolf

[SaveAmerica]

248. Wasn't that in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? Pimple pus and treacle tarts?

I know someone whose first language is Spanish and he says the same thing about decadence not being the same as rich and good but decaying and not the best you can be served.

Mmmmm Tiger penis soup. Thems good eats.

[RobinA]

236. Devastated

"I was devastated whan I found out that my game was cancelled because of weather." Really? What would you be if an invading Army came to your town, bombed your house killing your three young children, and took all the food you had left in the world.

[pinboy3niner]

237. Decimated

A word that often is misused to indicate consequences far more severe than the word denotes.

[Zorra]

240. Ni. The word ni has always made me cringe.

[dorkzilla]

241. Bring us a shrubbery!

My favorite movie of all time. Thanks!

[Zorra]

242. A shrubbery?

It totally had me roflmao the first time I saw it.

[Blue_In_AK]

243. Okay, I saw this on Facebook today and thought of this thread.

[pinboy3niner]

244. ROFL!

Good find, Blue!!!

[SaveOurDemocracy]

245. Funny, and perfect for this thread!

[dorkzilla]

249. Epic!

[ancianita]

250. More words to hate the improper use of: regime/regimen and yeah/yay/yea

Regime = an autocratic system of government or a period during which an autocrat governs
Ex: "The dictator's regime that followed the coup...
Regimen = a restorative course of diet, exercise or manner of living often used in military contexts
Ex: Her morning regimen was a two-mile run...

Yea = the biblical affirmation, or biblical 'yes'
Ex: Congress voted yea or nay on the bill.

Yeah = the modern 'yes'
Ex: Hell, yeah!

Yay = a joyful interjection or shout
Ex: Yay! I got the promotion.

All right??