And it is not preventative, it is just preventive.
Ummm.... Nope, according to the dictionary that trumps all dictionaries, the OED, you are wrong on this one. They are nearly synonymous and both are correct.
Ummm.... Nope, according to the dictionary that trumps all dictionaries, the OED, you are wrong on this one. They are nearly synonymous and both are correct.
The OED does not trump all dictionaries. The OED is an historical dictionary, and so what it does is tell you how long words have been in usage, what they meant and when, and provides examples of those words in usage.
Most dictionaries that we would commonly use are *generally* going to be simply descriptive, simply providing a sense of what the word means *now*, although some dictionaries push into issues of prescriptiveness (e.g. they'll note that a word is offensive or provide usage notes).
Personally, I prefer my trusty American Heritage Dictionary.
For all intensive purposes, I'll wait with baited breath for more grammatical errors. Irregardless, I could care less about the pronounciations.
Irregardless = redundant.
a rather amusing quote from Apple's (watch where that blasted apostrophe goes lest Tonton tongue lash me) dictionary app:
"Irregardless, with its illogical negative prefix, is widely heard, perhaps arising under the influence of such perfectly correct forms as : irrespective. Irregardless is avoided by careful users of English"
I keep coming across dolts of late saying "it's not rocket surgery".
No!
It's not brain surgery or it's not rocket science. But for crying out loud, there is no such thing as a rocket surgeon or rocket surgery.
I hadn't encountered this, but I'm immediately adopting "rocket surgery" as my go-to phrase.
That and "brain science".
I'm not planning to use them in any particular context, just shout them out from time to time.
Oh, and because I can't be bothered to keep track of which thread is what, is it possible you could link to a recording of the Pancake Parlour jingle? I can't see how I can be expected to evaluate Bob's rendition without getting to hear the source material. Plus, I just have this feeling that if I could chant "rocket surgery" over and over to the tune of the Pancake Parlour song, I could get really fucked up.
And another thing that gets my goat is people using the grave key (`) instead of the single-quotation-mark/apostrophe key (').
Where's everyone else gone?
This is more teacherly than just grammar-ranty, but here's a particular pet peeve of mine along those lines:
DO NOT JUST MAKE UP YOUR OWN FRIGGIN' "RULES" FOR USING THE SINGLE QUOTATION MARK.
I swear to God, I've had people say that they put things in 'single quotes' when they only sort of don't mean them, but in "double quotes" when they really don't mean them.
THERE ARE RULES, PEOPLE.
If you are an American, things that are quoted go in "QUOTATION MARKS." Things that are quoted within that quotation go in 'SINGLE QUOTATION MARKS.'
THAT IS IT. IT'S REALLY SIMPLE.
You Brits can go somewhere else with your inverted commas.
I hadn't encountered this, but I'm immediately adopting "rocket surgery" as my go-to phrase.
That and "brain science".
I'm not planning to use them in any particular context, just shout them out from time to time.
Oh, and because I can't be bothered to keep track of which thread is what, is it possible you could link to a recording of the Pancake Parlour jingle? I can't see how I can be expected to evaluate Bob's rendition without getting to hear the source material. Plus, I just have this feeling that if I could chant "rocket surgery" over and over to the tune of the Pancake Parlour song, I could get really fucked up.
Adda: A certain person who is no longer at my Uni but who hired me and had a job title that started with a "D" and ended with an "N" once said, I swear to God, in a college meeting, "I don't want to reinvent the dead horse."
Adda: A certain person who is no longer at my Uni but who hired me and had a job title that started with a "D" and ended with an "N" once said, I swear to God, in a college meeting, "I don't want to reinvent the dead horse."
That is my new favorite phrase.
Oh man, that totally makes my day. Fantastic.
Right up there with my old HR Director and her observation that she wasn't going to bring certain information into the discussion because she didn't want to "monkey up the waters"--a phrase which I understandably used at every opportunity for the next year or so.
I have to find a meeting of some sort to address so I can begin by saying "Gentlemen. It's not rocket surgery: we simply cannot allow ourselves to monkey up the waters by reinventing a dead horse. Dismissed".
Comments
What gets me is the chronic misuse of I and me. People say "Between you and I" and "It's me". Yeesh!
Another couple (these are not errors in grammar but rather incorrect quoting of popular sayings):
1. What's good for the goose...
The saying is "What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander"; not "What's good for the goose..."
2. The proof is in the pudding.
The saying is "The proof of the pudding is in the eating". The proof is in the eating, not in the pudding!
Cheers
Well, if worse comes to worse we can just take it for granite that they might just skip to the loo.
Well, if worse comes to worse we can just take it for granite that they might just skip to the loo.
For all intensive purposes, I'll wait with baited breath for more grammatical errors. Irregardless, I could care less about the pronounciations.
And it is not preventative, it is just preventive.
The verb form of "orientation" is not "orientate", it is "orient".
It is not "Should of", it is "should have" or "should've" (with correct placement of the apostrophe)
Cheers
And it is not preventative, it is just preventive.
Ummm.... Nope, according to the dictionary that trumps all dictionaries, the OED, you are wrong on this one. They are nearly synonymous and both are correct.
Ummm.... Nope, according to the dictionary that trumps all dictionaries, the OED, you are wrong on this one. They are nearly synonymous and both are correct.
The OED does not trump all dictionaries. The OED is an historical dictionary, and so what it does is tell you how long words have been in usage, what they meant and when, and provides examples of those words in usage.
Most dictionaries that we would commonly use are *generally* going to be simply descriptive, simply providing a sense of what the word means *now*, although some dictionaries push into issues of prescriptiveness (e.g. they'll note that a word is offensive or provide usage notes).
Personally, I prefer my trusty American Heritage Dictionary.
For all intensive purposes, I'll wait with baited breath for more grammatical errors. Irregardless, I could care less about the pronounciations.
"Wives'" tale.
There's no such word as "wive". "Wives" is the plural, and the possessive form gets the apostrophe after the 's'.
Honors English, huh?
ouch.
good thing we're not dueling.
For all intensive purposes, I'll wait with baited breath for more grammatical errors. Irregardless, I could care less about the pronounciations.
Irregardless = redundant.
a rather amusing quote from Apple's (watch where that blasted apostrophe goes lest Tonton tongue lash me) dictionary app:
"Irregardless, with its illogical negative prefix, is widely heard, perhaps arising under the influence of such perfectly correct forms as : irrespective. Irregardless is avoided by careful users of English"
What do people think of split infinitives? They don't bother me at all.
English is not Latin
Irregardless = redundant.
I think you may not have noticed that BRussel's post was full of deliberate mistakes:
"For all intensive purposes, I'll wait with baited breath for more grammatical errors. Irregardless, I could care less about the pronounciations."
Should be:
"For all intents and purposes, I'll wait with bated breath for more grammatical errors. Regardless, I couldn't care less about the pronunciations."
I keep coming across dolts of late saying "it's not rocket surgery".
No!
It's not brain surgery or it's not rocket science. But for crying out loud, there is no such thing as a rocket surgeon or rocket surgery.
I hadn't encountered this, but I'm immediately adopting "rocket surgery" as my go-to phrase.
That and "brain science".
I'm not planning to use them in any particular context, just shout them out from time to time.
Oh, and because I can't be bothered to keep track of which thread is what, is it possible you could link to a recording of the Pancake Parlour jingle? I can't see how I can be expected to evaluate Bob's rendition without getting to hear the source material. Plus, I just have this feeling that if I could chant "rocket surgery" over and over to the tune of the Pancake Parlour song, I could get really fucked up.
Where's everyone else gone?
And another thing that gets my goat is people using the grave key (`) instead of the single-quotation-mark/apostrophe key (').
Where's everyone else gone?
This is more teacherly than just grammar-ranty, but here's a particular pet peeve of mine along those lines:
DO NOT JUST MAKE UP YOUR OWN FRIGGIN' "RULES" FOR USING THE SINGLE QUOTATION MARK.
I swear to God, I've had people say that they put things in 'single quotes' when they only sort of don't mean them, but in "double quotes" when they really don't mean them.
THERE ARE RULES, PEOPLE.
If you are an American, things that are quoted go in "QUOTATION MARKS." Things that are quoted within that quotation go in 'SINGLE QUOTATION MARKS.'
THAT IS IT. IT'S REALLY SIMPLE.
You Brits can go somewhere else with your inverted commas.
I hadn't encountered this, but I'm immediately adopting "rocket surgery" as my go-to phrase.
That and "brain science".
I'm not planning to use them in any particular context, just shout them out from time to time.
Oh, and because I can't be bothered to keep track of which thread is what, is it possible you could link to a recording of the Pancake Parlour jingle? I can't see how I can be expected to evaluate Bob's rendition without getting to hear the source material. Plus, I just have this feeling that if I could chant "rocket surgery" over and over to the tune of the Pancake Parlour song, I could get really fucked up.
Adda: A certain person who is no longer at my Uni but who hired me and had a job title that started with a "D" and ended with an "N" once said, I swear to God, in a college meeting, "I don't want to reinvent the dead horse."
That is my new favorite phrase.
Adda: A certain person who is no longer at my Uni but who hired me and had a job title that started with a "D" and ended with an "N" once said, I swear to God, in a college meeting, "I don't want to reinvent the dead horse."
That is my new favorite phrase.
Oh man, that totally makes my day. Fantastic.
Right up there with my old HR Director and her observation that she wasn't going to bring certain information into the discussion because she didn't want to "monkey up the waters"--a phrase which I understandably used at every opportunity for the next year or so.
I have to find a meeting of some sort to address so I can begin by saying "Gentlemen. It's not rocket surgery: we simply cannot allow ourselves to monkey up the waters by reinventing a dead horse. Dismissed".
Making the Plunge
Here's one right in our own back yard over in the iPhone thread:
Making the Plunge
WTF? Is he unclogging his toilet with an iPhone?
Wait, don't. Your head will probably explode.