Flux, your argument isn't making much sense. The reason people say "my" is because they're assuming ownership in the future and are in the process of attaining it. I'm trying to think of other examples besides term paper...

Say you were buying a car and they didn't have the one you wanted in stock. So they ordered it. Then the day comes when you're going to pick it up. Wouldn't you say, "I'm going to pick up my car," even if you hadn't paid for it yet?

I'm as anal and nitty as they come, but this is a ridiculous thing to get worked up about. It's clear they haven't earned the PhD yet--using "my" just implies that they feel justifiably proprietary about the degree they're working hard to attain.

I'm sure no one has ever been confused when someone says, "I'm working on my PhD."

"Wait....you mean you already have one? Whut fux???"
"No you ******."

Is how I'd imagine it would go if people actually were confused.

"who's"

what do you mean it's "wrong"?

I'm a SQL developer (sorry, AN SQL developer for the nits) and I call it "sequel". I worked for microsoft for 6 years (windows division, but whatever) and half the people there called it "sequel" too.

And evidently everyone at Oracle calls it "sequel".

Doesn't matter how the "insiders" say it. Written, it should always read "an SQL"

If you wish to call it a sequel (which to me sounds ******ed, but I'm not an insider), then you are right to say "a sequel", because saying "an sequel" would be wrong and ******ed.

so then we agree

I was on a Veruca Salt mailing list and someone posted:

I was very impressed.

Having studied Japanese, I found that they answer negative questions straightforward.

That is:

"Don's not getting married, is he?"

"Yes, he's not."

This makes sense to me and I've unintentionally adopted it when speaking English. People notice only occasionally.

I'm pretty sure this thread is prohornblower's first exposure to the concept of spelling something phonetically. "Why are you spelling NASA weird"? LOL

"My wife and I are expecting a first child later this year"?

dunno if you're leveling but "whose" is correct

lol. Not leveling. I really think it's "who's".

http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000268.htm

God dammit.

Didn't Kurt Vonnegut use a similar illustration in his book "Breakfast of Champions"?

New to OOT and this thread, but I am loving it! This one in particular made me laugh out loud (especially the all caps line).

There are some sharp people and quick wits on 2+2 (though I find the one line posts of the "I could care less" variety to indicate a shallowness of wit; I mean, c'mon, it's so obvious why would you waste the bandwidth?)

Four years of Latin here and it's probably the main cause of my grammar nit-ness.

I'm on board with most of the grammar complaints mentioned in this thread, but the one that is easily at the head of my list is the I/me confusion. So many people use I rather than me because, I assume, they think it sounds smarter. I hear this on TV and radio from news people, talk show hosts, and Oprah.

If you've ever heard of the radio show "Mediocre Poker", those guys are among the worst offenders (along with their cohorts on their daytime radio show "The Sports Junkies" in the D.C. area). Literally, not a show goes by without this mistake. I defy anyone to find a broadcast without this error.

It's usually something like "He came up to Brett and I...". Funny, because no one would say "He came up to I...".

Related beef: misuse of "myself". It's used as a reflexive pronoun or an intensifier, not as a substitute for me. G. Gordon Liddy (somewhat of a grammar nit himself) used to make this error regularly on his radio show. Example: "You may send your request for a signed autograph to our producer Ken or to myself."

Reflexive use: "I like myself"
Intensifier: "I used to do that myself."

Some people mistakenly take the adverb thing too far when they say "I feel badly". No, you feel bad (unless your hands are damaged). You wouldn't say "I feel sadly", but I hear "I feel badly" all the time.

Reminds me of a heartwarming moment from my youth. My father told me "Just remember Steve, you're unique, just like everyone else in the world."

either there are degrees of uniqueness or unique is a meaningless word, I think the former is a better situation.

I'm not sure of the accuracy of this, but my high school Latin teacher addressed this very thing. According to Mrs. White, the first usage was inflammable, meaning "able to be inflamed." But so many people thought it meant "not flammable" (an understandable mistake since the prefix in- often means not) that they eliminated the prefix, preferring to avoid unnecessary fires at the expense of proper word usage.

These forms are colloquial and usually the speaker is from western Pennsylvania. Not strictly correct. In Wisconsin they will say "I threw the cow over the fence some hay", a sentence construction showing influence from the Germanic and Scandinavian cultures predominant there.

This reminds me of the way people respond to the question "Do you mind?" If you don't mind, you'll often say 'yes.' And if you do mind, you'll have to say neither.

"Do you mind picking me up from the airport?"
"Sure, yeah. What time does your flight get in?"

"Do you mind picking me up from the airport?"
"No, not at all. What time does your flight get in?"

"Do you mind picking me up from the airport?"
"Actually, I have to work that day so I can't. Sorry."

So whether you say yes or no, people think you don't mind. I mean technically it should always be 'no' because you don't mind, but I hear yes at least as often if not more often than no.

"Do you mind taking off your hat?"
"Oh absolutely!" [followed by hat being removed]

Yeah PJ, the "do you mind" answers are so obviously wrong but so many people do it.

It's like they are translating "do you mind" to "can you" as a force of habit.

Do you mind cleaning the car today?
-No, I'll start right now.

Can you clean the car today?
-Yes, I can.