"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! - Page 10 - Other Topics Forum - Discuss Pop Culture, Arts and Entertainment

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"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode!

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12-10-2008 , 04:07 PM

#226

BeccaGo

adept

Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 1,172

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElSapo

Someone wrote in the apostrophe and the e.
Also, someone pissed on the girl on the right.

Not sure if either of those touches is visible in the picture.

ROFL!

Quote

12-10-2008 , 04:14 PM

#227

Triumph36

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Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 40,911

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrWookie

On the sports front, the one that gets me regards "fair catch." "Number 85 calls for a fair catch on the 40 yard line." Fine. "Number 85 fair caught the ball on the 40 yard line." Sonnuvagoddambitchahachchchchchchchchdch!

sorry i don't see the problem here. i guess 'caught' works? i mean it's an awkward thing to describe in the past tense.

claunchy: i use 'times out' ironically. i can't think of the other sports one - although i've always wondered what the plural of spin-o-rama is - "spins-o-rama" was my guess. i also say 'forwent' as the past tense of forgo. when the fascists take over, i will be the first to go.

Quote

12-10-2008 , 04:16 PM

#228

Nootka

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 5,649

Quote:

Originally Posted by Claunchy

The "so" thing is just a colloquialism imo, and doesn't really bother me.

This reminds me of another thing that pisses me off: people who correct you for violations of grammar rules that aren't grammar rules (e.g., "never end a sentence with a preposition!!!").

Also, on the timeouts/times-out thing: here in law firm-world, we have a thing called a "request for admission." A document containing multiple requests is not called "Request for Admissions." Thank you.

Quote

12-10-2008 , 04:22 PM

#229

Nootka

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 5,649

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aloysius

Corporate-Business Types -- have you noticed the further up the chain you get, in general, the more informal / horrible the punctuation and grammar is on e-mails? I find it amusing.

-Al

Haha. Also, there's a weird book-ending thing in which only the most senior partners and the most clueless secretaries use wacky colors, fonts, and/or all-caps in e-mails.

Quote

12-10-2008 , 04:23 PM

#230

Lou Bega

adept

Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 996

Quote:

Originally Posted by holland3r

According to Strunk & White you can only leave the "s" off the end of possessive-nouns-ending-in-s when the noun in question is an important Biblical figure. So you can write "Jesus' car" or "Mosses' car" but not "Jonas' car". It should be "Jonas's car."

wat²

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12-10-2008 , 04:27 PM

#231

qdmcg

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Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 4,870

i can't even read through this retarted thread

Quote

12-10-2008 , 04:27 PM

#232

Nootka

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 5,649

Quote:

Originally Posted by BeccaGo

Tell it, brother. And to that end, may I just state for the record: I loathe serial commas.

What? They're logical and provide clarity! Failure to use them in contracts can lead to some pretty stupid legal disputes, imo.

Quote

12-10-2008 , 04:28 PM

#233

Aloysius

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Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 12,751

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nootka

Haha. Also, there's a weird book-ending thing in which only the most senior partners and the most clueless secretaries use wacky colors, fonts, and/or all-caps in e-mails.

I think this is more common in law firms -- but the "SEE BELOW MY RESPONSE IN ALL CAPS" is kind of awesome.

(We tend to change font colors, seems a bit more polite imo.)

-Al

Quote

12-10-2008 , 04:33 PM

#234

tuq

TEEJ

Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 46,360

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nootka

Haha. Also, there's a weird book-ending thing in which only the most senior partners and the most clueless secretaries use wacky colors, fonts, and/or all-caps in e-mails.

People who choose comic sans as their default font almost always turn out to be a waste of my time.

www.bancomicsans.com

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12-10-2008 , 04:42 PM

#235

gumpzilla

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Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 13,973

Quote:

Originally Posted by tuq

People who choose comic sans as their default font almost always turn out to be a waste of my time.

www.bancomicsans.com

I have no idea where the deep and abiding hatred for Comic Sans comes from, which is probably why I didn't really get this comic:

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12-10-2008 , 04:50 PM

#236

Aloysius

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I also do not understand that comic, but:

I agree.

-Al

Quote

12-10-2008 , 04:50 PM

#237

tuq

TEEJ

Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 46,360

gump,

That comic is hilarious and awesome in multiple ways but I think I enjoy it more because I think comic sans sucks outside of, well, comics.

Quote

12-10-2008 , 04:58 PM

#238

snowden

veteran

Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 2,527

Quote:

Originally Posted by Triumph36

in anarcho-capitalism, language is free to mean nothing!

so are you really claiming that since no two things are exactly alike, everything is 'unique', and thus there are degrees of comparative uniqueness? yeah that only goes against the way in which we speak, act, and exist.

I like this argument a lot triumph, that I'm the one making everything up even though people do use phrases like "very unique" or "quite unique" all the time. If you think that my plain white shirt is not unique, then what does it take for something to be unique?

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12-10-2008 , 05:04 PM

#239

gumpzilla

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Quote:

Originally Posted by snowden719

I like this argument a lot triumph, that I'm the one making everything up even though people do use phrases like "very unique" or "quite unique" all the time.

There's a well noted distinction between descriptive usage - the way people in practice use language - and prescriptive usage - for lack of a better way to put it, the correct usage. What you are describing is descriptive usage. Almost all grammar nitting (and thus what this thread is all about) comes down to errors in prescriptive usage that may be fairly normal descriptive usage.

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12-10-2008 , 05:07 PM

#240

bobman0330

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People who don't use serial commas infuriate me.

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12-10-2008 , 05:09 PM

#241

snowden

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Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 2,527

Quote:

Originally Posted by gumpzilla

I know that, but even by prescriptive use it seems reasonable, or unique ends up not meaning a lot.

Quote

12-10-2008 , 05:15 PM

#242

Grue

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Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 5,667

My girlfriend over-pluralizes. It drives me crazy. "Hey lets go into Barnes & Nobles then we can go to Victoria's Secrets!".

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12-10-2008 , 05:16 PM

#243

dalerobk

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Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 2,933

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobman0330

People who don't use serial commas infuriate me.

This.

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12-10-2008 , 05:16 PM

#244

gumpzilla

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Quote:

Originally Posted by snowden719

I know that, but even by prescriptive use it seems reasonable, or unique ends up not meaning a lot.

I decided to look it up in the dictionary. It does appear that the descriptive use has some merit, which surprises me. Still, Webster's 2nd definition - "being without a like or equal" - suggests that applying it to a white T-shirt is stretching it quite a bit. And it's a great technical word in its rigid sense in mathematics, where it can be meaningful to talk about there only existing one of something.

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12-10-2008 , 05:16 PM

#245

otnemem

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Quote:

Originally Posted by bobman0330

People who don't use serial commas infuriate me.

Serial commas are ugly, and when used the writing doesn't flow as well visually.

Quote

12-10-2008 , 05:22 PM

#246

anklebreaker

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Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 4,551

Quote

12-10-2008 , 05:23 PM

#247

tuq

TEEJ

Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 46,360

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobman0330

People who don't use serial commas infuriate me.

What about people who eat comma-shaped cereal?

Quote

12-10-2008 , 05:24 PM

#248

snowden

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Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 2,527

Quote:

Originally Posted by gumpzilla

I agree it's stretching it, which is why we don't use it in every day conversation. The less related something is to everything else, the more unique it is.