Outburst Of Pedantry

[ShipsWoofy]

Re: I\'m fed up of it.

If your using internet explorer you could download iespell wich would install a button on you're toolbar to spel chek any open txt window what you tipe into.

http://www.iespell.com/

Remember to cheque that its set to english (UK) as the american is defaulted I thought.

Hope that help's.

***this is tried and tested by many forumites and is not spyware***

 

[Tisme]

Re: Ought to be - correct spellings sort.

Are they characters from the next Harry Potter adventure?

 

[ShipsWoofy]

Re: Ought to be - correct spellings sort.

yea it really really winds me up to.

I don't like common mistakes such as towards. There is no such word, it can only be toward, trouble is, people write as they speak.

 

[peterb]

Re: Ready About

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
"Collision regulations" Shirley?

[/ QUOTE ]
No, no. "International Regulations for the prevention of Collision at Sea".

[/ QUOTE ]
May I be pedantic, and point out that they are the "International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea"?

I went to school before, during and just after WWII. Because of the shortage of teachers, class sizes could easily reach 40. But we did learn correct spelling, correct grammar, and correct punctuation, and I don't think our 'creativity' suffered overmuch.

I can understand the thinking that says it's all unimportant as long as the message comes through. But frequently the message doesn't come through, or it has to be read several times before it does. Having to stop and think "Did he really mean loose, or should it be lose?" interferes with the message, and, to me anyway, spoils the creativity that went into it.

Oh yes, my own pet hate is "seperate". Ugh. Stops me in my tracks whenever I see it.

 

[suse]

After all, we must remember they don\'t actually speak English.

That is very much a moot point - in fact it has been said the American accent, although now with many variations, is based on old Devon and that many of their speech forms, apart from those based on German from the influx of European immigrants, and inclines to longevity in sentence construction, reflect earlier forms of English, leading one to suppose that perhaps it is US here in the UK, rather than THEM there in the US who have a more accurate form of this language. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Tisme]

Re: After all, we must remember they don\'t actually speak English.

Yes, that summarises the position very well indeed. It supports the contention that English no longer exists and that we now speak American. The exception, of course, is that when in Fora the accepted norm is to speak Gibberish.

I'm sure you will agree.

 

[Spyro]

Doesn't really bother me on here. It does on telly when the master of bad grammar (Sir Allan Sugar) does it. He continually uses was instead of were.

 

[bdsweeting]

My personal favourite is when people seperate instead of separate.

As previous posters have said, it's strange that we older ones may not have had the smaller classes that they do nowadays but, we seem to have taken in a lot more than the modern youngsters have.

 

[Lakesailor]

That seems to be a regional fing.

I can hardly watch the Formula One coverage because of Mark Blundell's awful grammar. He wasn't a great driver and he's a crap presenter.

 

[theforeman]

come back raymond baxter ...

 

[Lakesailor]

You can mock..........

 

[michaelh]

Can I lend your screwdriver??

Do you mean would you like to borrow my screwdriver?

That's what I said, "Can I have a borrow of your scredriver"

 

[theforeman]

not mocking - that was a plea from the heart.

 

[old_salt]

Then there is Yernowat i meen.

Or as said by Trever McDonald You know, what I mean!.

 

[roborali]

"we seem to have taken in a lot more than modern youngsters have"

In a mad effort to support modern youngsters; they are not taught grammar. I'm not sure when the emphasis on good grammar disappeared but I started high school in 1986 and was most definately not taught the functions of such obscure concepts as adverbs, pronouns and when to use a semicolon.

Some excellent books on this subject are:

Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson
Troublesome Words also by Bill Bryson
Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss
Lost for Words by John Humphrys

 

[stephenh]

Re: Ought to be - correct spellings sort.

what about " foorn " and " terrist " ??

Interesting elision - maybe all words with more than 2 syllables should have one cut ....

 

[reginaldon]

In a mad effort to support modern youngsters; they are not taught grammar. I'm not sure when the emphasis on good grammar disappeared but I started high school in 1986 and was most definately not taught the functions of such obscure concepts as adverbs, pronouns and when to use a semicolon
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm sure you were not taught basics, I was taught grammar in the early 40s, trained as a teacher in the mid 60s; grammar was not on the curriculum then at all - then all about Bernstein etc. As an English HOD I was frequently consulted on matters of grammar and also literary allusions by these bright young things with English degrees. At one stage there were 11 graduates in my department (Upper School) and me with my humble teaching certificate.

NB. 'definitely'.

 

[John_Lana]

OK, here are my two pet peeves.
1. People that talk about the aft deck (or cabin) when they mean the after deck (or cabin). Why can people not get this straight in their minds? Folks would usually say that they go up to the upper deck, so why can they not say that they go aft to the after deck?

2. People who say that they are going forward to the bow of the boat. Every boat has two bows; a port bow and a starboard bow, so you must go forward to the bows of the boat.

grrrrrrr

John

 

[Twister_Ken]

Give that man a prize

Aft/After

Bow/Bows

John Lana is declared grammatical anachronism of the year!

 

[Lakesailor]

Re: Give that man a prize

Yes. Hes' sertanely splitting hers.