more of a learning disability issue than grammar or punctuation, but from a facebook status "it's a working progress"

LOL! I love these gems, where someone has heard something a certain way their whole life and just came to accept it, without questioning whether it made sense.

Saw this one in a forum chat room, discussing some college quarterback:

"Granite, he's good. But I'm not sure he's pro material."

>y wife always thought the phrase "dog eat dog" was "doggie dog."

My sister-in-law thought the phrase "it dawned on me" was "it donged on me."

ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ raise your dongers ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ

Humanitatian = Global citizen?

It's not new, I've noticed it for years here and was also going to bring up the name of a certain poker player...

Or "Well, I mean..."

He says one or the other six times during this three minute interview:

Also, at 1:15 he proclaims, "...math is not the be all, it's not the tell all..."

I hole-hardedly agree, but allow me to play doubles advocate here for a moment. For all intensive purposes I think you are wrong. In an age where false morals are a diamond dozen, true virtues are a blessing in the skies. We often put our false morality on a petal stool like a bunch of pre-Madonnas, but you all seem to be taking something very valuable for granite. So I ask of you to mustard up all the strength you can because it is a doggy dog world out there. Although there is some merit to what you are saying it seems like you have a huge ship on your shoulder. In your argument you seem to throw everything in but the kids Nsync, and even though you are having a feel day with this I am here to bring you back into reality. I have a sick sense when it comes to these types of things. It is almost spooky, because I cannot turn a blonde eye to these glaring flaws in your rhetoric. I have zero taller ants when it comes to people spouting out hate in the name of moral righteousness. You just need to remember what comes around is all around, and when supply and command fails you will be the first to go. Make my words, when you get down to brass stacks it doesn't take rocket appliances to get two birds stoned at once. It's clear who makes the pants in this relationship, and sometimes you just have to swallow your prize and accept the facts. You might have to come to this conclusion through denial and error but I swear on my mother's mating name that when you put the petal to the medal you will pass with flying carpets like it's a peach of cake.

Lol mother's mating name

Isn't it plagiarism to quote someone without crediting the source?

I don't get the random quotes put on stuff for no reason whatsoever. Are they just using it as if it were like a bold typeface for emphasis?

Even that wouldn't explain the "Trash Can" example above, which is just baffling. Maybe that one is actually quoting a sign on the trash can itself (outside the photo) identifying it.

If I saw trash can in quotes like that I would assume they were being ironic and throw all my garbage on the floor.

Ah yes, I didn't think of it like air quotes. That must be it.

Beautiful! I'm clipping and saving that one. Where did you get that? (If you wrote it yourself, I bow to your creativity.)

Also, is it assumed that all tenants have no more than 1 guest?

I think more than 1 gets you arrested.

Seems that's usually how it's used. I can only assume it comes from people seeing quotes being used interchangeably with italics/underlining for something like book/movie titles, and deciding that it works that way for anything they want to emphasize. Although I usually see it on handwritten signs; having it printed that way is a whole 'nother level of dumb.

LOL...this is one I haven't seen in a while, but I think it used to be in a certain cigarette commercial ("a whole nother smoke").

Kind of a funny construct. Wouldn't the correct way to say this be: "a whole other level of dumb" instead of a "a whole 'nother level of dumb"? (and, btw, what's the apostrophe for? You didn't actually leave the "a" off the word; you just put the word "whole" in between the "a" and "nother").

I wish I was that creative. I pulled this from a forum some time ago, kept it ever since.

I love the phrase "a whole 'nother" and write it on occasion myself (and frequently speak it). Yes, the apostrophe is the only way to use it, with the wonderful split contraction, rules be damned.

The more formal construction could be "a whole other" but that changes the meaning. And even "another whole", while technically correct, still isn't quite right. The phrase is just an unconventional construct that's difficult to improve upon.

Just plain "another", while correct in both grammar and meaning, lacks the same power.

So your contention is that "a whole 'nother" is acceptable and proper? Seems very colloquial to me. So, if the apostrophe is for a missing letter, I assume that's an "a"? Are you then saying "a whole another"?

I'd be interested in hearing some of the other lurking grammar nits weigh in on this one.

When listing many adjectives, which of the following is correct?

The waitress was hot, young, and generous.

The waitress was hot, young and generous.

I thought the first was correct, but I've been seeing the second with increasing frequency, including in repected publications (NYT included).

The second seems inaccurate, because it seems like the writer is trying to separate the various adjectives, but the last two get joined together, as if young and generous necessarily must go together.

No, that isn't quite my point. In formal writing you would never use this, but would change the whole sentence instead (and use none of the other contortions). But in the right context the phrase is perfect and hard to improve on. Of course there's no grammar rule for splitting a contraction that way. Who cares when the meaning is totally clear and the tone meets your needs?

Language rules are first and foremost to ensure universal understanding and clarity. Sometimes breaking them does this best.

But what's the real difference between saying "that's a whole 'nother smoke" and "that's a whole other smoke"?

I'm also a little confused with the term "splitting a contraction." What is the contraction you're splitting here? Seems like you're just splitting a word ("another"). You're actually forming a contraction where there wasn't one before. Can you think of any other examples of splitting a contraction? (curious about this)

I made up the term split contraction here and you're right, it's not a very apt description. It's a split word with an adjective inserted in the middle for emphasis. The apostrophe indicates it was intentional.

And I don't disagree with your characterizing it as a colloquialism. It is. It's one I like.

Thanks! I was beginning to think I must have been sick the day they covered split contractions!

And I completely agree with your statement above:

serial (or oxford) comma