"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! - Page 125 - 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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03-05-2012 , 05:46 AM

#3101

atakdog

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lol, and lol.

Quote

03-06-2012 , 06:27 AM

#3102

private joker

Most Definitely

Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 25,244

To bring this thread back to something from the OP title, I'm reminded of this amazing exchange between Alan Alda and Paul Rudd from "Wanderlust."

"Just remember -- money buys nothing."
"Well... it kind of..."
"No, I mean literally, money buys NOTHING."
"I think you mean metaphorically."
"No. Literally: money buys NOTHING."
"Literally, money buys MOST things!"
"I'm saying literally it buys nothing!"
"Okay. Okay. You're right. Money does not pay for things."

Such a ****ing hilarious movie.

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03-23-2012 , 10:17 AM

#3103

Dr. Spaceman

worth 1000 words

Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 7,978

This bugged me:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46832892.../#.T2yFHdW2YoE

"It's all about saving money, right?" Taule said. "If this place had North Carolina prices, I'd of just waved and passed right by."

Quote

03-23-2012 , 12:20 PM

#3104

RussellinToronto

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Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 2,243

I am posting passages from a new blog entry that is linked to, and therefore implicitly approved of by, Scientific American!
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/...ur-everywhere/

Quote:

Honey is awesome. I’ve found its best consumed when combined with nougat and wrapped in dark chocolate but I digress. Honey also has some pretty amazing properties, its broadly antimicrobial and seemingly able to promote healing. ... I can feel you wondering why bee’s would bleach their own food supply and it turns out that is very simple. ... The hole-punchers then do just that to the bacterial cell’s membrane causing its insides to leak to it’s outsides. ... honey and it’s various components might have more secrets to unveil.

This blogger has no understanding of the apostrophe. There are also comma errors in the piece. (The science is bad as well.) It's been up for a couple of days now, despite commentators mocking it. In response to their criticism, the author of the piece has posted something that sounds like a student's excuse for his sloppy homework.

Quote:

I was working on two posts simultaneously, late at night, after managing an event ...

. He also says he has now (as of yesterday afternoon)

Quote:

plugged many of the holes such that it is readable again.

I can't imagine what it was like before he "plugged" those holes.

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03-23-2012 , 12:41 PM

#3105

mikechike

old hand

Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 1,470

Quote:

Originally Posted by science man

plugged many of the holes such that it is readable again

Playing it safe. Good move.

Quote

03-23-2012 , 12:55 PM

#3106

NewOldGuy

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Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 5,935

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikechike

Playing it safe. Good move.

lol, excellent catch

Quote

03-23-2012 , 03:15 PM

#3107

atakdog

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Well, it is readable now — cringe inducing, but readable. And it probably was before, too. So he's right.

Pretty low bar to set for oneself, though.

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03-23-2012 , 03:18 PM

#3108

atakdog

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A slightly more subtle error from that blog, but one of a sort that I can never encounter without losing focus on the point:

Quote:

While only preliminary, it seems honey ...

He makes a that/which error in the same sentence, but I admit I'm one of the few here who is bothered by those.

Also:

Quote:

About the Author: Programs Co-ordinator at RiAus (RiAus.org.au). Purveyor of disease.

wtf?

Edit: Actually, the whole thing is hilariously bad, not just as an exercise in how not to write but as an example of how not to think about scientific matters. Obviously anyone can call himself a blogger and publish his musing and rambling on the web, but SI's putting its imprimatur on this tripe is an embarrassment.

Last edited by atakdog; 03-23-2012 at 03:40 PM.

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03-23-2012 , 03:21 PM

#3109

ToTheInternet

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You'll hate this one.

Quote:

Having said this, Bee Defensin 1 and other identified AMPs in honey such as Apidaecin may have much more involved roles that are only recently being uncovered.

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03-23-2012 , 03:39 PM

#3110

atakdog

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Lol. Yes, yes I do.

Last edited by atakdog; 03-23-2012 at 03:40 PM. Reason: I wonder why Bee Defensin 1 said that.

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03-23-2012 , 05:30 PM

#3111

RussellinToronto

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Quote:

edited by atakdog; Today at 03:40 PM. Reason: I wonder why Bee Defensin 1 said that.

I guess he wanted to go along with the "other identified AMPs."

Quote

03-23-2012 , 05:37 PM

#3112

RussellinToronto

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Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 2,243

Quote:

Originally Posted by atakdog

Actually, the whole thing is hilariously bad, not just as an exercise in how not to write but as an example of how not to think about scientific matters. Obviously anyone can call himself a blogger and publish his musing and rambling on the web, but SI's putting its imprimatur on this tripe is an embarrassment.

A scientifically-informed individual in the comments points out some of his basic errors in science. Most strikingly, the author of the blog doesn't know the difference between an "agonist" and an "antagonist".

Quote:

“lipopolysaccharide (a potent immune system antagonist found on the surface of many bacterial cells)”

Since lipopolysaccharide (LPS, aka endotoxin) stimulates an immune response (inflammation) it is an immune system agonist. An antagonist would suppress a response. A bacteriology PhD student should know this.

Quote

03-23-2012 , 08:10 PM

#3113

mikech

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Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 3,799

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...postcount=2089

Quote:

we dont want to take anyting for granite

this one amused me.

Quote

03-23-2012 , 08:15 PM

#3114

Sly Caveat

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Quote:

Originally Posted by private joker

Maybe that's where D Cross got his inspiration for this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ly1UTgiBXM

Quote

03-25-2012 , 09:59 PM

#3115

atakdog

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Recently it seems I keep hearing people say that one thing is "different to" another.

Am I imagining things, or seeing a statistical aberration, or is there a trend toward this construction? Also, do y'all agree that it sounds strange, or is it perhaps a regionally-acceptable idiom?

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03-26-2012 , 12:36 AM

#3116

private joker

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Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 25,244

Never heard it before. And it's not correct.

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03-26-2012 , 12:42 AM

#3117

atakdog

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I've definitely been seeing/hearing it. I was reminded of it because yesterday it was in an interview with the director of some movie, one they were showing as part of those pre-trailer ads that are now commonplace in movie theaters. It struck me that this was in an edited and packaged piece, not someone stumbling while ad libbing and conflating "different from" and "similar to". The editors chose to leave it in, and that suggested to me some degree of acceptance. And that, in turn, bugged me.

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03-26-2012 , 02:11 AM

#3118

nunnehi

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Grammar and context are frequently butchered, in those types of pieces, by Editors and Producers. I work on that kind of stuff, and it drives me nuts.

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03-26-2012 , 08:55 AM

#3119

NewOldGuy

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Never heard anyone say "different to".

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03-26-2012 , 09:46 AM

#3120

econophile

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from a cover letter. you make the call:

"I have exceeded every one of my employer's expectations."

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03-26-2012 , 09:54 AM

#3121

NewOldGuy

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Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 5,935

Quote:

Originally Posted by econophile

from a cover letter. you make the call:

"I have exceeded every one of my employer's expectations."

The phrase "every one of" almost certainly modifies employer[s] rather than expectations, so the apostrophe is misplaced. The ambiguity means the sentence isn't well constructed.

The context might tell us if he is talking about one "employer" but since this is a cover letter, multiple employers seems very likely.

Last edited by NewOldGuy; 03-26-2012 at 10:00 AM.

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03-26-2012 , 10:15 AM

#3122

lagdonk

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Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 4,861

Quote:

Originally Posted by NewOldGuy

Never heard anyone say "different to".

It's a U.K. thing. More in speech than in writing.

Quote

03-27-2012 , 12:24 AM

#3123

atakdog

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Quote:

Originally Posted by lagdonk

It's a U.K. thing. More in speech than in writing.

Aha!

Considered an error, a normal idiom, or somewhere in between?

Quote

03-27-2012 , 12:52 AM

#3124

LeonardoDicaprio

Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 39,918

Quote:

Originally Posted by atakdog

Aha!

Considered an error, a normal idiom, or somewhere in between?

you're moms and idiom

Quote

03-27-2012 , 01:27 AM

#3125

RussellinToronto

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Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 2,243

Quote:

Originally Posted by atakdog

Aha!

Considered an error, a normal idiom, or somewhere in between?

Very strict grammarians continue to rule that the only preposition that can follow "different" is "from". My sense is that that rule is more adhered to in the UK than in the US -- which is interesting given the argument that "different to" is a Britishism, not being heard in the US.

Perhaps a recent development?

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