The Grammar Rant Thread!
Dear People of the English Speaking World:
Learn to use the friggin' apostrophe.
Here's a quick lesson:
Used to be (i.e. prior to about 800 AD) that English had case endings like in Latin. The (genitive) case ending that indicated possession was "-es." It still is that way in German.
So. If I wanted to say "Midwinter's grammar rant thread," I'd write "Midwinteres grammar rant thread."
Eventually, the apostrophe emerged in the 17th century to make things a little easier for us. You see, an apostrophe in a word means that something has been omitted. What's been omitted? The "e." And so "Midwinteres" becomes "Midwinter's."
And so on and so forth.
What's your grammar rant?
Learn to use the friggin' apostrophe.
Here's a quick lesson:
Used to be (i.e. prior to about 800 AD) that English had case endings like in Latin. The (genitive) case ending that indicated possession was "-es." It still is that way in German.
So. If I wanted to say "Midwinter's grammar rant thread," I'd write "Midwinteres grammar rant thread."
Eventually, the apostrophe emerged in the 17th century to make things a little easier for us. You see, an apostrophe in a word means that something has been omitted. What's been omitted? The "e." And so "Midwinteres" becomes "Midwinter's."
And so on and so forth.
What's your grammar rant?
Comments
Most of us quickly respond to other posting. I don't always care about perfect grammar in this environment. Do you follow grammar when you text message?
Let it go man...
Rant part: ENGLISH, YOU BASTARDIZED TONGUE!
English doesn't have a gender neutral pronoun for the third person singular besides the uber-pretentious "one."
Rant part: ENGLISH, YOU BASTARDIZED TONGUE!
English has a perfectly good plural gender-neutral pronoun: y'all.
English has a perfectly good plural gender-neutral pronoun: y'all.
And sound stupid?
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English has a perfectly good plural gender-neutral pronoun: y'all.
Unless you're from central PA, then it's younz.
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English has a perfectly good plural gender-neutral pronoun: y'all.
Ha! After I read Shawn's post but before I scrolled down I was about to post that "ya'll" should be recognized as the official plural "you" of the English language.
I mean, clearly, head and shoulders above such ungainly constructs as "youse guys", "you-uns" and "all you".
Just imagine the thrill of hearing Terry Gross, for instance, habitually saying things like "Now, ya'll have a new movie coming out, tell us about that."
Southerners, however, would get to remain soul guardians of the mystery of the singular ya'll.
Just imagine the thrill of hearing Terry Gross, for instance, habitually saying things like "Now, ya'll have a new movie coming out, tell us about that."
But by the same token, imagine Larry King habitually saying things like "I see y'all are wearing pants. Why don't we talk about that?"
Southerners, however, would get to remain soul guardians of the mystery of the singular ya'll.
Indeed. Equally sacrosanct is the most excellent "yo'mamma'n'nem."
The internet's and text messenging's made grammer obselete.
Indeed, although later today I have to help my uncle, Jack, off a donkey.
LONG LIVE THE APPOSITIVE!
The internet's and text messenging's made grammer obselete.
Not to mention spelling.
*Snooze*
We've been there before. You haven't heard stupidity until you've heard people from Northeast PA talk. We've got our own wikipedia page and dialect. Here are some marvelous examples:
Atha Leets
If you're real good, you'll go on TV as the Atha-Leet of the Week, especially if you play for a semi-pro team like Berwick High School that recruits from a 10,000-mile radius.
Aynit?
This is an advanced form of "Haynit?", spoken mainly in deep, dark interior regions such as Ashley and West Nanny-coke, where anthropologists fear to tread
Be-endat
It's hard to find good halupki anymore, be-endat the Ackamees all shut down and Gerrity's is too busy setting up their chicken barbecues in the parking lot, smokin' up the neighborhood.
Bott Tings
It's the turd of the month and da checks are out, so we bott tings at Bosco's.
Cattycorner
Farley's is cattycorner from the courthouse, hayna?
Da You
That fine Jesuit institute of higher learning on Mulberry Street, not far from CMC where they pump alcohol out of kids' stomachs.
Some people in the Wyoming Valley probably think it's called the University of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Down da line
Pittston and points south.
Fish Tix
Mrs. Poll makes 'em.
Hoddogs
The boys at the hose house fry these suckers up on the grill when there ain't no fires on the scanner, just in time for Jerry Springer.
Jeet jet?
In other words, did you scarf down those Mrs. T's Pierogies in the freezer? The proper response is "No, jew? But don't worry, Dairy Dan is out there ringin' da bell right now, unless of course you're lactose intolerant."
Korder
15 minutes before or after the hour. "Honey, it's korder ta seven. Ain't doze fish tix done yet? I'm havin' a regular conniption fit in here kuzz the cable's busted and all I can pick up is the I-Team exposing stale donuts at the greasy spoon in Tunkhannock."
The Kowney
Who needs college? You can get a nice juicy job with The Kowney, laying down orange cones on the highway.
Kupple-too-tree
A kupple-too-tree hoddogs and a kupple-too-tree Meisterbraüs sure beats a Happy Meal, dammit.
Onnakowna
We better head over the bowling alley onnakowna there ain't nothing exciting happening on the scanner, Jerry Springer's over, and there's no WWF until tomorrow.
I don't talk like this, being edjumakated and stuffs.
Once you see this one you start seeing it everywhere.
"The Danish physicist, Nils Bohr was a very clever man."
What? Denmark has had only one physicist in its entire history? And his name was Nils?
Oh, you meant "The Danish physicist, Nils Bohr, was a very clever man." But you could have written "The Danish physicist Nils Bohr was a very clever man" and it would have been more elegant. And unless you were making a comparison you shouldn't have gone anywhere near the commas in the first place. I bet you weren't making a comparison, were you? No. That's what I thought.
"The Republican candidate, Ron Paul said today 'Let them eat cake.' "
Wait: I thought they hadn't decided who was going to represent the Party of God (no offence, Fellowship) in the elections.
Oh, hang on: you meant "The Republican candidate, Ron Paul, said today 'Let them eat cake." But really what you meant, since you weren't making a comparison, you illiterate knobcheese, was "The Republican candidate Ron Paul said today 'When I get elected it's every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost with a pitchfork in the anus' " or something of that ilk.
You get the picture.
I was waiting for something good to come out of that, and I get nothing...
Who the hell besides you cares about this stuff in a internet forum. We aren't writing scholarly journal articles.
Most of us quickly respond to other posting. I don't always care about perfect grammar in this environment. Do you follow grammar when you text message?
Let it go man...
A few misspelled words I can deal with...but bear with me...
Compare a discussion here to let's say a discussion in a cafe with another person. If that person can't communicate their point grammatically, will you pay attention? Will you stop them and correct them? More likely you'll save them the embarrassment and move on.
Anyone who tries to direct a point or express their opinions in an online forum or via email and is sloppy or immature in their grammar, I totally lose interest and even suspect their credibility. The same reaction I would have in a real face to face discussion.
Text messaging is dodgy, because I don't have a cell phone and much less would not care to text message people anyway.
From the looks of it though, text messaging will be the bane of the Internet and World communication in general.
From the looks of it though, text messaging will be the bane of the Internet and World communication in general.
wot do u mean lol any1 can c that u have a carrot in yr ass abt grammar
Same thing with to, too, and two.
I hate when people mix up their, there, and they're. They're different words people!
Same thing with to, too, and two.
!!!!!