"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! - Page 62 - Other Topics Forum - Discuss Pop Culture, Arts and Entertainment

There seems to be a lot of companies who don't understand .02 dollars from .02 cents.

That wasn't the only reason I posted that though. I'm pretty sure the "100's" part is full of fail, too.

Shouldn't the sign read "Hundreds of items @* $.99"? (I put the question mark outside quotes F off).

Now I get that the word "Hundreds" takes up too much space, so I can forgive them for using numbers. But it still looks royally messed up.

*I verified that the sign said "@" in lieu of "from".

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09-04-2010 , 12:07 PM

#1527

GMan42

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Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 5,260

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaredL

I got into an argument with coworkers a couple weeks ago. We saw a sign for a candidate claiming to be a "common sense conservative" and I said I would never vote for them since they didn't hyphenate. When I explained why it should have one, the first guy kept going on about how only adverbs modify adjectives. The other one tried to settle the issue by googling "common sense" to see if it has a hyphen.

That whole hyphenating of multi-word phrases acting as an adjective (I'm assuming there's a name for these, but it escapes me) seems to be disappearing entirely. I wouldn't be surprised if it's already considered optional to do this (I personally always use the hyphens).

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09-04-2010 , 12:14 PM

#1528

Poker Reference

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 4,877

Quote:

Originally Posted by GMan42

That whole hyphenating of multi-word phrases acting as an adjective (I'm assuming there's a name for these, but it escapes me)

Adjective phrase, I think.

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09-04-2010 , 06:06 PM

#1529

lonely_but_rich

ɔarpal \ʇunnel

Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 24,110

"Let's see if I can't fix this." sounds like something someone would say as a joke if he had a reputation for trying to fix things and failing.

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09-04-2010 , 06:38 PM

#1530

prohornblower

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That pretty much sounds like everybody.

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09-04-2010 , 06:47 PM

#1531

Louis Cyphre

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Quote

09-04-2010 , 09:48 PM

#1532

atakdog

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Quote:

Originally Posted by GMan42

Agreed. Hyphenating the unit modifier (which is what I believe it's called) was once insisted upon — I think it's so in The Elements of Style, for example — but doing is is now so uncommon that I think this battle's been lost.

Last edited by atakdog; 09-04-2010 at 09:49 PM. Reason: But yes, I would hyphenate in jared's example 100% of the time too.

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09-05-2010 , 12:22 AM

#1533

green_baize

journeyman

Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 309

Americans calling mathematics 'math', and 'off of'. It's 'maths' and 'off', respectively.

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09-05-2010 , 12:24 AM

#1534

daryn

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yeah and a flashlight is really a torch right? idiot

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09-05-2010 , 12:55 AM

#1535

lonely_but_rich

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Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 24,110

lol @ "maths"

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09-05-2010 , 01:30 AM

#1536

atakdog

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Quote:

Originally Posted by green_baize

Americans calling mathematics 'math', and 'off of'. It's 'maths' and 'off', respectively.

Nittery with respect to idioms is misplaced. Nittery with respect to regional idioms is perhaps worse, because to those who aren't from the region being mocked, it looks plausible.

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09-07-2010 , 09:59 AM

#1537

daryn

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ugh you know what i hate that i see a lot more now? "your guys" used instead of "your" (2nd person plural possessive)

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09-07-2010 , 10:28 AM

#1538

Poker Reference

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 4,877

Came in to ask about this. "What are some of your guys' best tips and advice on how to save money when grocery shopping?"

Other languages have words that resolve this, like vous. I don't know if I get more annoyed at English's failure to, or at the work-arounds.

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09-07-2010 , 11:05 AM

#1539

prohornblower

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The correct word is just "your".

When speaking to a crowd you are still just speaking to several individuals. It's no different. You can also say "I want you to turn to page 73" instead of "I want you all to..." or "I want each and every one of you" or "I want you guys to..." etc.

Just say "you".

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09-07-2010 , 11:50 AM

#1540

atakdog

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Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 50,136

Or, in less-than-formal speech, you can use y'all's. Y'all is a southernism but it has its utility, as (as PR said) formal English lacks a strictly plural form of you and there are times when making the distinction explicit adds clarity. (And no, folks, it's not spelled ya'll.)

Of course phb is correct that the formally correct word is still your.

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09-07-2010 , 10:28 PM

#1541

PartysOver

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Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 5,970

Should I put a hyphen in the phrase "search engine friendly websites"?

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09-07-2010 , 10:47 PM

#1542

Zeth

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Quote:

Originally Posted by atakdog

In Pittsburgh it's yuns. Or y'uns.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PartysOver

Should I put a hyphen in the phrase "search engine friendly websites"?

Yes, but any reason you can't just say "search-friendly websites"?

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09-07-2010 , 10:49 PM

#1543

Bostaevski

veteran

Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 2,130

I saw this video explaining how the proper pluralization of "octopus" is "octopuses", not "octopi". That was news to me, but now whenever I hear octopi I go nuts. Latest was two characters in Under the Dome where someone said "octopuses" and another character corrected them saying it was "octopi".

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09-07-2010 , 10:55 PM

#1544

jontsef

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Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 2,065

Should just be octopodes actually :P

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09-07-2010 , 10:58 PM

#1545

snowden

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Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 2,527

should be octopuses actually

Last edited by snowden; 09-07-2010 at 10:59 PM. Reason: all 3 are ok though.

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09-07-2010 , 11:08 PM

#1546

Bostaevski

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Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 2,130

yeah they also said "octopodes" was acceptable but pedantic which I guess makes it really the only correct answer in a grammar nittery thread

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09-07-2010 , 11:15 PM

#1547

jontsef

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Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 2,065

LOL yea I only said that in the spirit of the thread. It's completely correct though, unlike "octopi"

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09-07-2010 , 11:46 PM

#1548

private joker

Most Definitely

Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 25,244

From wiki:

Quote:

The term octopus, pronounced /ˈɒktəpʊs/, is from Greek ὀκτάπους (oktapous), "eight-footed",[31][32] with plural forms: octopuses /ˈɒktəpʊsɪz/, octopi /ˈɒktəpaɪ/, or octopodes /ɒkˈtɒpədiːz/. Currently, octopuses is the most common form in both the US and the UK; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objectionable.[33]

The plural form octopi is often defined as a hypercorrection. The Oxford English Dictionary (2008 Draft Revision)[34] lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order); it labels octopodes "rare", and notes that octopi derives from the "apprehension" that octōpūs is a second declension Latin noun, though it is not. It is a Latinization of Greek third-declension masculine oktṓpous (ὀκτώπους, 'eight-foot'), plural oktṓpodes (ὀκτώποδες). If the word were native to Latin, it would be octōpēs, plural octōpedes, after the pattern of pēs ('foot'), plural pedēs, analogous to "centipede".[35] The actual Latin word for octopus and other similar species is polypus, from Greek polýpous (πολύπους, 'many-foot'); usually the inaccurate plural polypī is used instead of polypodēs.

In modern Greek, the word is khtapódi (χταπόδι), plural khtapódia (χταπόδια), from Medieval oktapódion (ὀκταπόδιον), equivalent to Classical oktápous (ὀκτάπους), variant of oktṓpous.

Chambers 21st Century Dictionary[36] and the Compact Oxford Dictionary[37] list only octopuses, although the latter notes that octopodes is "still occasionally used"; the British National Corpus has 29 instances of octopuses, 11 of octopi and 4 of octopodes. Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists octopuses and octopi, in that order; Webster's New World College Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order).

Fowler's Modern English Usage states that "the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses," and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic.