... as a longtime editor for one of the largest newspapers in the country, I could write a thesis on the misuses that drive me nuts, the mistakes that I grudgingly correct every day, the nuances we're losing ground on, and the battles that are flat-out lost....
but for advanced petpeevedom, check out testycopyeditors.org
They no longer teach Gramatical English in the schools. When I was coming through we were required to take one semester of Latin as part of our English education. Now with all of the "me first", ACLU type lawsuits it is amazing that any of the students learn anything. And given the quality of the young work force I have to deal with; I don't believe they have learned anything other than entitlement and how to get out of working. Okay, okay I'll get off my soapbox now.
The one that really blows me away is the incorrect usage of "a" and "an": I have a Airstream for sale, it's a '02 ('02 should be pronounced "oh-two", otherwise it should be written 2002, am I right?).
How 'bout golf as a verb or adverb? That one just makes me cringe... I'm going golfing. I'm gonna go golf... We golf.
I golf
You golf
He golfs
We golfs?
You golfs?
They golfs?
Does anyone here baseball? Do you tennis, or basketball? ARGHHH!!!
Roger
__________________
AIR 2053 “A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.” Robert Heinlein 2006 Bigfoot 25B25RQ towed by a 2001 Born Free 23RK moho
Originally posted by rfield54 The one that really blows me away is the incorrect usage of "a" and "an": I have a Airstream for sale, it's a '02 ('02 should be pronounced "oh-two", otherwise it should be written 2002, am I right?).
No, technically ... you're wrong. That's a number in front of that 2 ... not a letter. So it is not an "oh-two" ... it is a "zero-two."
I know, I know ... everyone says "oh" for the number "zero" ... but it is incorrect.
You're absolutely right, but we all say things like "Formula Four-Oh-Nine" or "nineteen-oh-nine", etc. Do six million wrongs make a right? I don't know.
("Oh" in this case is really short for zer"o", as opposed to the letter).
I know you understand what you think I said,
But I am sure what you heard is not what I meant!
A pet peeve of my Dad's is - when you turn a knob, most folks say turn it right or turn it left, neither is correct.
It is clockwise or counter-clockwise, or are we both wrong???
"My mind is a raging torrent,
Flooded with rivulets of thought,
Cascading into a waterfall
of creative alternatives!"
{From the movie 'Blazing Saddles'}
and from 'Heaven Can Wait,' something to the effect:
"The likelihood of one individual being right increases in direct proportion to the intensity at which others are trying to prove him wrong."
Talmadge, here is an explanation of the doorknob rule to try out on your father:
Back in the days before quantum mechanics, the way to determine the direction of the magnetic flux in a conductor was by application of the 'right-hand rule'.
If you wrapped your right hand around a wire with the thumb pointing in the direction of the current flow, your fingers showed the direction of magnetic flux. (I'm sure you remember this from high school).
This developed into the doorknob rule when an bright young engineer discovered that if you point your thumb at the keyhole, your fingers would indicate the correct rotation of the doorknob.
Quantum physics, magentic flux fields and doorknobs... rotating clockwise or anti-clockwise... (counter-clockwise?) Now THIS is a THREAD!!!!
Did you know that (according to myth) toilet water swirls clockwise north of the equator, and counter-clockwise south (or vice-versa)? Or so I'm told...
Why is there air?
Roger
__________________
AIR 2053 “A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.” Robert Heinlein 2006 Bigfoot 25B25RQ towed by a 2001 Born Free 23RK moho
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