I think you need to meet smarter people.

Although that reminds me that last night I was talking to a non-native speaker who didn't like the word "founded" because the past tense of "find" already uses the word "found". I hadn't ever thought about that before.

Well, if it's in the dictionary... I'm sure the usage is as old as can be and makes as much sense in modern usage as riding a donkey to work would.

Still, seems odd to have an "active" participial adjective used for a wholly passive state (one of being ready to be boarded or of being boarded), and far odder yet to make this a present continuous sentence given that conceptual journeys generally have a hard time physically entering vehicles. If you consider "flight" to roughly approximate "scheduled airplane journey", it doesn't seem correct: "The scheduled plane trip is boarding." What is it boarding, exactly?

I just spent 15 minutes arguing about my friend's comment "you were bit by a spider"

Check our, e.g., "Grammar girl" (which is a site for grammar nits) at http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/pronoun-order.aspx on this topic. As that site puts it: "When you put yourself in a list with others, it's a rule of politeness to put yourself last."

Definition of BOARD

transitive verb
1
archaic : to come up against or alongside (a ship) usually to attack
2
: accost, address
3
a : to go aboard (as a ship, train, airplane, or bus)
b : to put aboard <an airliner boarding passengers>
4
: to cover or seal off with boards <board up a window> <board up a house>
5
: to provide with regular meals and often also lodging usually for compensation
6
: to check (a player) into the boards in hockey
intransitive verb
: to receive meals or lodging; specifically : to live at a boarding school
See board defined for English-language learners »
Examples of BOARD

You must have a ticket in order to board the train.
The pirates tried to board the ship, but we fought them off.
We're supposed to board at 10:15.
We're now boarding all passengers.
The flight is about to begin boarding.
Passengers should remain in the boarding area.
The caretaker boarded the window.
They board guests during the summer season.
Many students board at the college.


http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/boarding

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So apparently "The plane is boarding" would also be correct, although that's not relevant to the original question.

Again, I already accepted that the dictionary disagrees with my argument. I disagree with the dictionary, nittery ensues.

b: to put aboard.

This definition is pretty much my argument, so why is it bolded? Sorry, why is it bolding?

Yeah but the line in question was as scripted as the show gets. It was important to the plot and called back later on.

Even if it's a rule of politeness, if I go through all the work of choosing and buying a gift for someone, and Bob just contributes a few bucks at the last minute, that gift is from me and Bob.

When I was a kid and spoke a phrase like that (and, growing up in Texas, I would have said "me an' Bob"), my mother, no slouch of a grammar nit herself, would always say, "And who is this 'mean Bob'?"

How much leeway do we give people for misspelling liaison? I mean, it's sort of a weird word, but it's also spelled pretty much phonetically spelled - lee-eh-zon. My boss spelled it laison.....

I'd give no quarter for "laison." I've seen "liasion" a lot more, and I can more easily forgive that.

Here's a weird question. What do you call the tense when you're referring to something that happened in the past but using present tense verbs. It usually seems to be used in informal storytelling. An example:

"The other day, I'm standing at the water cooler, and Jones comes in carrying a monkey. I ask him where he got the monkey, and he says...etc."

Is there a formal name for this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_present

Thanks, feel like I should have already known that!

A good piece on some of the niceties of the apostrophe-s:

http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/ar...service=mobile

Co-worker tells me today, "It almost cost me $31 to fill my tank this morning!"

So I go, "Wow- how'd you get out of paying?"

Cue crickets...

Hmmm...is "almost cost me $31" outright wrong there, or is it just an issue of clarity?

Misplaced modifiers are outright wrong in that they create issues with clarity.

I understand what you are almost saying.

What TTI said. But also, this seems outright wrong to me in that where the hell is this guy buying gas? It costs me $60 to fill a tank. (15 gallons at $4 or so).

Does this guy have an 8-gallon tank? Or is gas like $2 a gallon where you live?

I lol'd (not almost - completely). Great way to make your point.

You just reminded me how much it tilts me when I see people use the dollar sign AFTER the amount.

Ex. 10$ instead of $10.

The lyrics at approx. 1:30 reminded me of this thread.

Here's a language cliche that bothers me:

"Everything from ___ to ___ !"

This is sometimes used properly but usually it doesn't make any sense at all. Like today I heard someone described as "living everywhere from Denver to Seattle to Montana." But that's the only places they lived: Denver, Seattle, and Montana. So they didn't really live everywhere from one place to the next. It's not like they stopped off in Colorado Springs, Boise, Portland, and Walla Walla.

On the radio, you might here "We play everthing from Metallica to Lady Gaga." That's fine. It's a wide range, and if they include Coldplay and Death Cab, then it's accurate.

But then you'll hear "We play everything from Lady Gaga to Katy Perry to Britney Spears!" Oh really? Wow, what a wide range.

Maybe they are just absurdly massive.