Grammatical annoyances

Quicksearch

Blog Administration

RSS Readers

Tuesday, October 24. 2017

The worst thing about these f-ing errors is that one tends to discount everything else the person is writing. The thing is, they could have something smart to say but somehow missed class the day they reviewed The Common Writing Errors of People Who Did Not Pay Attention in 3rd Grade.

You know how it is. People with English accents sound smarter than what they are saying and, for many Yankees I am sad to say, people with Hillbilly accents sound dumber than what they are saying. Both of these biases, interestingly, can work to the advantage of the object of the bias.

A reader offered this comment: " I heard Prince Harry or William express appreciation of a gift given “to my brother and I”. We’re doomed!"

Posted by The Barrister in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 17:17 | Comments (21) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks

Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments

Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

Jesse Helms took advantage of that bias.

#1 Ron Snyder on 2017-10-24 18:13 (Reply)

Affect is a verb and effect is a noun, except when they're not:

With a simple change in posture and expression the actor took on the affect of a much older man.

We will effect the changes due to the new regulation on the first of the month.

And I know plenty of farmers who've made a lot of money by being underestimated, particularly at poker tables.

#2 another guy named Dan on 2017-10-24 18:21 (Reply)

Affect is a verb and effect is a noun, except when they're not

Right. That confuses people.

#3 Bird Dog on 2017-10-24 18:30 (Reply)

Guilty. Don't know's how to grammer much but they's tell me I ain't dum.

#4 Fred on 2017-10-24 19:21 (Reply)

Is there a clean version of this language lesson for the grandkids?

#5 JC on 2017-10-24 19:34 (Reply)

Meh, just give the kids the fucking mug and let them think you're the coolest Grandpa ever.

#5.1 JM01 on 2017-10-24 19:54 (Reply)

I tried a couple of ways (2) to write plus one (1), like one does when signalling approval but it got tagged as spam twice. Third time works or not at all.

#5.1.1 Curtis on 2017-10-25 04:46 (Reply)

Yes, JC. Amazon has a clean version. https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51g7ghF-L3L.SX425.jpg

#5.2 pbird on 2017-10-25 18:32 (Reply)

And it would be nice to get people squared away on when to use than and *that*.

#6 michael on 2017-10-24 22:27 (Reply)

Don't forget proper use of "that," "which" and "who!"

#7 B48 on 2017-10-24 23:15 (Reply)

Who gives a fuck?!

#8 tennesseered on 2017-10-25 06:44 (Reply)

"..[T]aboo words are not entirely vulnerable to syntactical analysis. Saying that "the fuck" in a sentence like "What the fuck are you doing?" iss adjectival in function, or that "bloody" in "What are you bloody well doing?" is an adverb, misses something of the point. In such cases specific syntactic location seems to be made a convenience of, for somehow the intensifying word is meant to color uniformly the whole of the utterance some place or other in which it occurs. Here see Quang Phuc Dong (1971)"

- Goffman, "Response Cries," Forms of Talk p.115n

For the latter

http://babel.ucsc.edu/~hank/quangphucdong.pdf

arguing that "fuck" is not a verb but an epithet.

#9 rhhardin (Link) on 2017-10-25 07:44 (Reply)

"arguing that 'fuck' is not a verb but an epithet."

When fuck is used as a verb, then it's a verb. When it's used as a noun, it's a noun. And so on, and so on. It doesn't stop acting as a specific part of speech just because it's an epithet.

#9.1 JJM on 2017-10-25 08:42 (Reply)

"Try and"

#10 forest on 2017-10-25 09:11 (Reply)

"A reader offered this comment: ' I heard Prince Harry or William express appreciation of a gift given "to my brother and I". We’re doomed!'"

The x and I hypercorrection has been a feature of English for so long now that it is entirely unremarkable.

Prince Harry's use of it just seals the deal.

#11 JJM on 2017-10-25 09:16 (Reply)

It's still remarkable to I.

Using informal English when you're clearly trying to be informal doesn't grate on my ears at all. Using a hypercorrection to try to sound smart is annoying, not to mention self-defeating. Languages always change, but let's break the rules in aid of verve and expressiveness, not empty pomp and social anxiety.

#11.1 Texan99 on 2017-10-26 04:10 (Reply)

I learned not to be misled by appearances. In my local Walmart in the fine proudly self-styled "redneck" town, the cashier asked "how are you doing today?" I replied, 'well, thank you". She replied, "My goodness, someone who knows how to answer the question grammatically correct." Well, shut the front door I thought.

#12 missred on 2017-10-25 10:24 (Reply)

FYI: The epithet "fuck" is, in fact, the English derivative of the Anglo word "fük", pronounced as "fook". "Fük" means "to polk" giving the English "fuck" its many and general meanings.

Hence, the work "fuck" is, in source, not truly an epithet but rather a perfectly decent and legitimate adoptive which has, unfortunately, run amok in the mouths of those educated by state institutions.

Those seeking extra credit would well note that we could replace "fuck" with a similar Sumarian word, "uk-sab-eh". This word seems to have had a distribution and use quite similar to "fuck". Adopting "uk-sab-eh" would give us all a fresh start on fucking-up an otherwise beautiful language.

One final question: Can the mug be purchased in bulk quantities and from whom?

#13 Michael S. Smith on 2017-10-25 12:48 (Reply)

Them kind of statements annoyance me too

#14 weagree on 2017-10-25 13:15 (Reply)

Strunk and White, The Elements of Style...

#15 rocdoctom on 2017-10-25 17:17 (Reply)

I try to spell things right, what more do you want ?
If you are looking for enlightningment, that'll caust ya.

#16 uk(us) on 2017-10-25 18:14 (Reply)

Add Comment

Name
Email	(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)
Homepage
In reply to
Comment	By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications. Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u], [url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here. Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (word), underscore are made via _word_. E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications. To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly. Enter the string from the spam-prevention image above: BBCode format allowed
	Remember Information? Subscribe to this entry

Maggie's Farm

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

RSS Readers

Tuesday, October 24. 2017

Grammatical annoyances