"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! - Page 185 - 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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Page 185 of 247

First

85 135 165 175 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 195 205 235

Last

08-15-2013 , 03:25 PM

#4601

atakdog

addicted

Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 50,136

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kvitlekh

It *may* be acceptable if both the group and song are extremely well known. It's a ****ing joke when the group's name is one I don't remember, even after having just seen it a few posts ago. Also, I did listen to (a part of) the song, and it seemed to me that absolutely nothing about the song would have been changed had they used 'phenomenon' instead of 'phenomena'. Maybe they would even earn a few more fans.

This is what matters. Artistic license is one thing — it's common and acceptable for songwriters to use nonstandard (or let's call a spade a spade: wrong) grammar or diction when doing so makes the work flow better or otherwise work in a way it wouldn't have had the wording been correct. It's quite another simply to make a dumb error that suggests the writer didn't know the difference.

Quote

08-15-2013 , 03:39 PM

#4602

Kvitlekh

adept

Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 882

I'm confused. You agree with me or don't you?

Quote

08-15-2013 , 03:47 PM

#4603

Clare Quilty

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Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 6,710

Quote:

Originally Posted by ObezyankaNol

Do you ever think impersonally, Clare?

Oh you

Quote

08-15-2013 , 06:18 PM

#4604

atakdog

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Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 50,136

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kvitlekh

I'm confused. You agree with me or don't you?

I agree with the sentence I highlighted. I don't agree that it matters how well known they are.

Quote

08-16-2013 , 11:53 AM

#4605

GMan42

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 5,330

Quote:

Originally Posted by atakdog

Agreed.

Quote

08-16-2013 , 12:04 PM

#4606

Rei Ayanami

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Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 11,685

Quote:

Originally Posted by RigCT

This is a sad day imo.

Might also mean a change to the thread title:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/15/living...html?hpt=hp_t3

"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will explode, per se!

Quote

08-16-2013 , 12:31 PM

#4607

atakdog

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Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 50,136

Quote

08-16-2013 , 01:22 PM

#4608

txdome

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Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 18,298

Per say.

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08-16-2013 , 03:01 PM

#4609

RussellinToronto

veteran

Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 2,243

Percy?

Quote

08-16-2013 , 09:08 PM

#4610

ObezyankaNol

banned

Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 3,115

From the politics forum: "It’s always fun watching the opposing party tearing in to each other like dagos in the Australian outback."

Not sure if this guy is a racist or an idiot.

Quote

08-17-2013 , 09:45 AM

#4611

SGT RJ

Twitching

Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 48,792

This might not be an either or spot, he could easily be both.

Quote

08-17-2013 , 09:17 PM

#4612

Loden Pants

adept

Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 1,106

Quote:

Originally Posted by GMan42

Agreed.

"Febuary"

"every once and a little while"

This one probably leans more toward sounding better, but it still irks me. I try to convince myself that it is grammatically correct, but I can't.

"So if by the time the bar closes, and you feel like falling down, I'll carry you home tonight."

Quote

08-18-2013 , 02:31 PM

#4613

gusmahler

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Clare Quilty

I personally think the usage of literally for ironic emphasis that inverts its "correct" meaning is pretty awesome, and the sort of thing that anyone who loves language should enjoy. I believe Shakespeare, for example, would have thought it was great--he often inverted the meaning of words for comic/ironic effect.

Problem is, it seems like most people aren't using it in an ironic emphasis to invert its correct meaning. (Like people used to use the word "bad" to mean "good.") They literally have no idea what the word literally means.

Quote

08-18-2013 , 03:44 PM

#4614

Kvitlekh

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Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 882

Quote

08-18-2013 , 04:37 PM

#4615

Clare Quilty

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Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 6,710

Quote:

Originally Posted by gusmahler

It doesn't matter to me whether or not people know what they're doing when they use "literally" this way. The fact that they're dumbasses doesn't mean this usage isn't for ironic emphasis, nor does it make the inversion and usage any less interesting.

Quote

08-19-2013 , 09:54 AM

#4616

metaname2

self-banned

Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 3,996

The Elements of Style is literally the best book I've ever read, but I still prefer Finnegan's Wake.

Quote

08-19-2013 , 10:07 AM

#4617

Kvitlekh

adept

Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 882

Quote

08-19-2013 , 10:24 AM

#4618

atakdog

addicted

Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 50,136

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clare Quilty

But the fact that they don't know that it can be used that way does mean that they're not using it that way. It's not an ironic usage if they don't intend irony (though you may think it ironic that they're doing this). If someone means nothing more than "like, um, wow!" by it, then that's what it means when he uses it. And I would think that would make it less interesting.

Quote

08-19-2013 , 10:32 AM

#4619

RussellinToronto

veteran

Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 2,243

Quote:

Originally Posted by DucoGranger

K guys, which do you support?

A) If worse comes to worse.
B) If worse comes to worst.
C) If worst comes to worse.
D) If worst comes to worst.

I've been using A since as far as I can remember. I don't know if I was taught that or if that just how I heard it. But I understand that I might not convey the full meaning when I say it. I basically say, "If the worse thing becomes worse than what it is."

I think, you could make a case for "If worst comes to worse," as you could argue you are having the worst thing happen to something that has already been made worse and similarly for C which, oddly, is also the title of a song I don't think I've heard.

D is right out...

I've been wondering about this since you posted it. I think I've usually heard or read "If worst comes to worst," but once you got me thinking about it, I had to admit I admired the logical structure of "If worse comes to worst." Then a friend of mine linked me to this piece, which is an excellent encapsulation of the question:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/ma...anguage-t.html

Quote

08-19-2013 , 10:40 AM

#4620

Clare Quilty

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Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 6,710

Atak,

When someone says, "I was so embarrassed, I literally died," let's give them the benefit of the doubt that they know they didn't actually die. They're using the word for emphasis, to convey how embarrassed they were. They may not have bothered to think about the meaning, and they might not (probably don't) have any idea what irony is, but that's still the way the word is being used--it just takes horrible nerds like us to parse it