Non-Words: Alittle / Alot / Noone

[JJVP]

"Their", "There" "They're" used interchangeably

"Your" and "You're" - same issue

"Coarse" instead of "Course" - I went to the golf coarse - arghhhhhh

[TLynnHughes]

"Their", "There" "They're" used interchangeably

"Your" and "You're" - same issue

"Coarse" instead of "Course" - I went to the golf coarse - arghhhhhh

Oh yeah!!! And boarder for border - ARGGGGHH!

T.

[mikeintexas]

A lawyer (Westbury High School graduate, but I went to rival school, Bellaire) with whom I used to work would always type things such as "after the acident, the driver said he was 'all right,'" but I proofread for him and made everything alright.

I also wurked fur MSN Chat as securdy on da chatrooms for alllmos t fiteen years and saw nearly erey way 2 speel stuff thier is. Sew, I do make Alotta typos and spell wurds rong Alot on da innernet dough cuz tha spull chukler here duddn werk reel gud, and I ne'er correct udders cuz mah brudder can't spell tooo good neither ev'n tho he's gotta 145 I.Q. (Nor do I make fun cuz his is lower'n mines' is. Cuz it hertz his feelin's big like megahertz).

You edited this twice and this is the end result?

[The Annoyed Man]

I don't know about spacing, but the one that really gets under my skin is "orientated." That is not a real word. The correct usage is "oriented," as in "he is oriented to time and place." If an ER doctor described his patient as "orientated" to time and place, he would be laughed out of the ER. The verb is to "orient" something, not to "orientate" it.

Correct: "Please orient that chair so that it faces north."

Incorrect: "Please orientate that chair so that it faces north."

Well, better check the dictionary. Orientate is a word, and orientated is a proper form of it.

o·ri·en·tate   /ˈɔriənˌteɪt, -ɛn-, ˈoʊr-/ [awr-ee-uhn-teyt, -en-, ohr-]
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object),-tat·ed, -tat·ing.
to orient.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Origin:
1840–50; < F orient(er) to orient + -ate1
—Related forms
re·o·ri·en·tate, verb (used with object),-tat·ed, -tat·ing.

Then the dictionary publishers must have thrown their hands up in despair and caved in; because 40 years ago, my PhD English Professor father would have marked down your term paper for using that word. I guess if you abuse a word long enough, it gets added in.



...sort of like that old word for "happy or carefree" which now means you prefer your significant other to have some hair on their back.

I give up. I'm going to learn Esperanza.

[Oldgringo]

The Annoyed Man wrote:

I guess if you abuse a word long enough, it gets added in.

Didn't Herr Ribbentrop say something along these lines back in the late 30's or early 40's?

[surprise_i'm_armed]

WE DO NOT SALE TO CALIFORNIA, WE DO NOT ACCEPT PAYPAL.
WE ONLY SALE TO USA.

You may find the above repeatedly from a Garland, TX gun dealer on
http://www.dallasguns.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. The man appears to have an English type name,
but the quote seems as if it comes from someone for whom English is
their 2nd language. You can view the above on the "Taurus" tab.

1. It's SELL, not SALE.
2. You may not sell to California. But if you are selling to the USA,
California is still part of the union (though often laughed at)

**************************************************************************************
Another word usage that bugs me is when the press reports on US military
casualties, they will say that "5 were killed and 10 were injured."

To my mind if you are in a car accident you are injured.

If bullets are flying and soldiers get hit, they are wounded.

SIA

[PappaGun]

"Their", "There" "They're" used interchangeably

"Your" and "You're" - same issue

"Coarse" instead of "Course" - I went to the golf coarse - arghhhhhh

Yeah!!!

EXpecially those!

[davidtx]

TAM - thanks for covering orientate. That one makes me grind my teeth every time I hear it.

I see sight and site confused a lot.

[quidni]

"apropos" (concerning) vs "appropriate" (proper)
"I have more information apropos the dress code, regarding what is considered appropriate attire for Casual Friday."

"wording" (how something is said) vs "verbiage" ("verbal garbage" - i.e. an excess of words)
"The wording of the summary was much more concise and understandable than the verbiage of the related proposal."

One apparently seen on a police report:
"During the accident the victim had his foot decapitated."
(reportedly, the chief bought dictionaries for all his staff after that one.)

One that's very common in this area:
"Thank you, eh?"
To me it sounds as if the person doing the thanking has to have it confirmed that it really was understood as thanks.

And here's another I encounter frequently when answering the phone:
'Hi, I'm calling? can you answer a question?"

[UpTheIrons]

...sort of like that old word for "happy or carefree" which now means you prefer your significant other to have some hair on their back.

"significant other to have some hair on his back." Fixed it for ya.

The (incorrect but popular) use of the third person plural in place of the (correct) third person singular drives me nuts! I know we aren't trying to offend the females among us (society in general, not this forum - and we don't wish to offend them here, either), but this is just ridiculous. I even heard a song not too long ago where Fergie was crooning on about how she misses her significant other "like a child misses their blanket." What? Talk about grating to the ears...

[seniorshooteress]

My mother in law used to say: You will get a perportion of that, speaking of a helping of food or drink or money or where ever the word PORTION was the right word. Is perportion even a word? And with this thread or we bored or what?

[surprise_i'm_armed]

quidni wrote:

One that's very common in this area:
"Thank you, eh?"
To me it sounds as if the person doing the thanking has to have it confirmed that it really was understood as thanks.
Sounds like your area has been infiltrated by Canadians.

And here's another I encounter frequently when answering the phone:
'Hi, I'm calling? can you answer a question?"
This sounds somewhat similar to a California Valley Girl speaking. They make a statement,
but then annoyingly turn it into a question at the end.

*********************************************************************************************
Californians have an annoying habit when they are giving directions or giving traffic
reports on the radio.

A Texan will say "there's an accident on 35".
A Californian will say "there's an accident on THE 405."

Just state the highway number. Why put "THE" in front of it?

**************************************************************************************************
Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.
Winston Churchill

SIA

[puma guy]

WE DO NOT SALE TO CALIFORNIA, WE DO NOT ACCEPT PAYPAL.
WE ONLY SALE TO USA.

You may find the above repeatedly from a Garland, TX gun dealer on
http://www.dallasguns.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. The man appears to have an English type name,
but the quote seems as if it comes from someone for whom English is
their 2nd language. You can view the above on the "Taurus" tab.

1. It's SELL, not SALE.
2. You may not sell to California. But if you are selling to the USA,
California is still part of the union (though often laughed at)

**************************************************************************************
Another word usage that bugs me is when the press reports on US military
casualties, they will say that "5 were killed and 10 were injured."

To my mind if you are in a car accident you are injured.

If bullets are flying and soldiers get hit, they are wounded.

SIA

I never knew you could go from Dallas to California by boat, but this guy will NOT go there, only to the USA, but I thought California was part of the USA. Did someone finally come their centses and deannexate California?

[RPB]

This thread is having an effectual affect, errr rather maby an affectual effect, of kracking myself in an upwards direction
I jus witched mah mom and dad wuz alive to reed this. Mom wuz a righter, Prezidunt of a Writin' club in Houston, and had Houston Publik Libary exhibits she was a newspapper columist to in Houston area newspapper. We used to have arthurs, like Larry McMurtry over visitin the house allah thyme. She wrote for Redbook, and sold alot of stuff too Dennis the Menace too, mostly stuff I sed, like plays on werds "Mom sez Ruff's got ticks, but I don't hear um" (witch appeared in sevral books and numerous daily newspappers over n over thru the years with diffrunt drawings). Dad was a reel enlush maven two. As a child, rather when I was yung, they'd argue over diction at the super table when mom wood reed a book to us she rote, and sense eye was the littlest kid i hadda go git tha dictionery. I had the hole thing red by the time I was five. So in secand grad they hadda put me in fith grad cause they sed I was readin adult books, but not the kind they call adult books nowadays, they jus meant high level smart ppl readin I thoughted.

When I was raisin too girl kids and there teacher sed they no longer taugt or graded off fur spellin, all us parents got mad an complaineded as a hole group together to the scool Principle. I 'member when I was in collage, they'd count off'n points fur even usin corn-tractions. In Technikal Report Writin class the teecher didun wan anybuddy to fail, so she put us bestest students with lesser graded students in groups for our term paper, I got in my group a cowboy hat wearin' feller who didun no a sennance needed a verb, and anuther feller who didn't speek enlish none what atall

Won of my favoite books as a kid was a real punnybook titled "Anguish Languish" (about English Language).

I just gave up and learn't to reed udder forms of righting; sense I retired I relly enjoy readin on fishin' forums avout fishin' reals, and people catching stripped bass out on the lakes and how much line it striped off the real.
I sometimes miss workin at the law office and hearing about people who stoped at a stop sign two..... but not often.


This thread reminds me of an English Teacher who volunteered for us as an MSN chatroom host back in the early 1990s. She added punctuation to chatters' statements like:
Mike : I just didn't know what to do
Host_Mildred: !!!
Cindy: So what did you do
Host_Mildred: ?
Mike: I just left the room
Host_Mildred: .

[KD5NRH]

If an ER doctor described his patient as "orientated" to time and place, he would be laughed out of the ER.

That depends; is the patient facing east at the time?

Merriam-Webster:

Main Entry: ori·en·tate
Pronunciation: \ˈȯr-ē-ən-ˌtāt, -ˌen-\
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): ori·en·tat·ed; ori·en·tat·ing
Date: 1848

intransitive verb
: to face or turn to the east

So, actually, Wild Bill was more correct than he may have thought.