Pedants' Paradise

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Pedants' Paradise, Spelling and Grammar Notes and Queries

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maggiemay	Dec 29 2010, 12:49 PM Post #16
Maestro Group: Members Posts: 18180 Joined: 12-January 04 From: S E England Member No.: 413	Maizie - LOL - brilliant. Thanks for the laugh. Oh yes, less and fewer. That is definitely one for the list. And people who say Feb-you-erry. We'll hear a few of those over the next few weeks, no doubt. (ed) I think I might be with Lucky045 on the noun-verb thing - maybe comes in the category of creative use of language.

wendywoo	Dec 29 2010, 01:01 PM Post #17
Advanced Member Group: Members Posts: 184 Joined: 14-August 09 From: Canterbury Member No.: 72855	QUOTE(lucky045 @ Dec 29 2010, 12:29 PM) I get annoyed when people say less instead of fewer, or vice versa. Also, incorrect use of the term "literally" drives me crazy (metaphorically). I get so annoyed by people saying things like 'she is literally driving me up the wall!'. 'They're', 'there' and 'their' are all different words with distinct meanings. Likewise 'your' and 'you're'. Can anyone explain to me why something cannot be "so fun" though? Since Miranda started I've been saying "such fun" anyway, but I don't really understand why it's necessary... Because fun is a noun. I can't think of any noun you can use with so. (Waits for all the examples of so + noun (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hides.gif) ). You can use so funny because it's an adjective.

flobiano	Dec 29 2010, 01:03 PM Post #18
Prodigy Group: Members Posts: 1454 Joined: 27-August 09 Member No.: 73855	Also, why are things now described as "on trend"? Is the word fashionable...um....off trend? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

Arundodonuts	Dec 29 2010, 01:09 PM Post #19
Virtuoso Group: Members Posts: 4955 Joined: 14-May 08 From: Stockport Member No.: 30881	Sickth.

Cyrilla	Dec 29 2010, 01:39 PM Post #20
Maestro Group: Members Posts: 11957 Joined: 9-November 03 From: Croydon, South London/Surrey Member No.: 99	QUOTE(maggiemay @ Dec 29 2010, 12:49 PM) Maizie - LOL - brilliant. Thanks for the laugh. Oh yes, less and fewer. That is definitely one for the list. And people who say Feb-you-erry. We'll hear a few of those over the next few weeks, no doubt. (ed) I think I might be with Lucky045 on the noun-verb thing - maybe comes in the category of creative use of language. Yes - Maizie - wonderful (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) !! Ah - I also hate 'seck-er-terry'... I never get the apostrophe wrong in its/it's because, in my mind's eye, I can see my old English teacher's Red Pen across the top of my work...'it's = it is'... enjoys thread

lucky045	Dec 29 2010, 01:41 PM Post #21
Unregistered	My primary school teachers taught me how to spell February by repeating "it's not the way it sounds! It has an extra R in there that you don't pronounce!" It's only lately that I've realised you're actually SUPPOSED to pronounce it Feb-roo-erry, and I'm completely mortified about it!

miffy	Dec 29 2010, 01:41 PM Post #22
Virtuoso Group: Members Posts: 2587 Joined: 27-October 08 Member No.: 43225	saying garrige instead of garage. We use aesir's 'tasty' as a name-noun. It's a particular meal we occasionally have when one of us has had a bad day or we just can't think of anything else to cook. So the kids will say "can we have Tasty for dinner please?"

Czerny	Dec 29 2010, 01:49 PM Post #23
Virtuoso Group: Members Posts: 4136 Joined: 7-December 07 Member No.: 21097	QUOTE(miffy @ Dec 29 2010, 01:41 PM) saying garrige instead of garage. Isn't this just the British rather than American pronunciation? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

saxophile	Dec 29 2010, 01:52 PM Post #24
Advanced Member Group: Members Posts: 853 Joined: 9-July 09 From: Yorkshire Member No.: 70062	One which annoys me is confusion between "dependant" (noun) and "dependent" (adjective). My "dependent" child is my "dependant" - not vice versa!! The way to remember it is that if you could say "a dependant", with nothing more, then it's dependant. I also can't bear the way speech (especially children's / teenagers' speech) is punctuated with meaningless uses of the word "like". "I was, like, getting my bag, and this boy said to me, like, ... " AAAAARGHHH! Beyond that, it's punctuation errors which irritate me the most. In particular, commas in the place of colons, semi-colons or full-stops; and the truly horrible grocer's apostrophe. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ill.gif)

Arundodonuts	Dec 29 2010, 01:55 PM Post #25
Virtuoso Group: Members Posts: 4955 Joined: 14-May 08 From: Stockport Member No.: 30881	QUOTE(saxophile @ Dec 29 2010, 01:52 PM) Beyond that, it's punctuation errors which irritate me the most. In particular, commas in the place of colons, semi-colons or full-stops; and the truly horrible grocer's apostrophe. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ill.gif) But the plural of potato is, like, potato's, innit?

jm-hamilton	Dec 29 2010, 02:07 PM Post #26
Virtuoso Group: Members Posts: 2226 Joined: 4-January 05 From: By the sea Member No.: 2857	"Less" and "fewer" - I shout at the radio when I hear these two wrongly used. "Sickth" - I hate this too One I've noticed recently is the pronunciation of "nuclear". I say "new-clear" but I've heard a lot of people pronounce it "new-colour" (that's the nearest I can get to how I've heard it.)

Maizie	Dec 29 2010, 02:17 PM Post #27
Virtuoso Group: Members Posts: 4862 Joined: 5-February 07 From: Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire Member No.: 9360	Nu-cue-lar is sufficinetly common as a US pronunciation that it makes it in to dictionaries (usually as a 'colloquial' alternative pronunciation). They're 'nukes', you see, so obviously the full work is nuke-ular (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Czerny	Dec 29 2010, 02:20 PM Post #28
Virtuoso Group: Members Posts: 4136 Joined: 7-December 07 Member No.: 21097	QUOTE(Maizie @ Dec 29 2010, 02:17 PM) Nu-cue-lar is sufficinetly common as a US pronunciation that it makes it in to dictionaries (usually as a 'colloquial' alternative pronunciation). They're 'nukes', you see, so obviously the full work is nuke-ular (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) That one was a Bushism, wasn't it?

Banjogirl	Dec 29 2010, 02:22 PM Post #29
Advanced Member Group: Members Posts: 952 Joined: 12-September 08 Member No.: 39509	'Driveway' instead of 'drive' and 'park up' instead of 'park', and all the other similar horrible American elongated words.

willobie	Dec 29 2010, 02:24 PM Post #30
Virtuoso Group: Members Posts: 2574 Joined: 9-July 05 From: Nottinghamshire Member No.: 4110	'Regularly' and 'frequently' - I'm forever getting those two wrong and it really annoys Mr Willobie... W (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

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