Author Topic: Grammar nazi  (Read 184574 times)

usmarine1975

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #100 on: November 06, 2014, 08:02:35 AM »
At least I am willing to try.  Any improvement is still improvement.  I am not looking to teach English or master it.  But improving on what I know now is not a bad thing. 

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I know people that have been living and speaking the language for their entire lives and still make mistakes.  If a couple weekends was enough for you to learn and correct all your mistakes you would already be an english genius.
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Thank you for the Link I will check it out.

rocksinmyhead

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #101 on: November 06, 2014, 08:18:41 AM »


I really do wish I was having a go at you.  Sadly my grammar is just that bad.  I need to take a couple weekends to study the rules and learn them.  Anyone have any good websites or tools to use?

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ is always a useful site.   I think you would find clicking on "General Writing" and then looking at the "Mechanics", "Grammar", and "Writing" sections to be most useful.

This site is AWESOME. I worked in my university's writing center and always directed people to it. Plus it was a great resource for me personally, especially for citation styles and crap like that you can never remember all the details of.

BlueHouse

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #102 on: November 06, 2014, 04:24:02 PM »
As an offender of grammatical errors, I apologize.  I wish I could keep all the errors straight.  In my defense in middle school I went to my English Teacher and asked for help (at a public school).  She refused to help me or even get me a tutor to help me with it saying she didn't understand what I was having trouble with.  Granted I should have went to my parents and sought help elsewhere but at the time I took that to mean it did not matter.  While going through College I did learn a bit more and have straightened out some to a degree but still have room to go.  For some of us Grammar just is not something that pops out to us.  It doesn't come easy and the time to study and learn all of it even if we want to just doesn't exist. 

I should find a website or a course that would help me learn it.  Sucking at grammar doesn't make someone stupid.  The same as not being able to swing a hammer doesn't make someone stupid.  Insert any activity and the statement works.

Sorry Gramar Nazi's, I do try.
I had an English teacher for a mother and she constantly made corrections to all the kids. When you're brought up with it reinforced to no end, most of it sticks, so yes, if it wasn't important when growing up, I can definitely see how it would be difficult to learn it later. I'm seeing things here in this forum that I didn't know and I had always thought I was perfect!  ;)
Actually, what I'm realizing is that too much crap "makes me crazy". Really, i make me crazy. Here's to not sweating the small stuff. (And it's all small stuff)
On a funny note, after years of correcting me when I said "Jim and me did such and such", I once had the opportunity to correct her for the same thing. I smugly corrected "Jim and I". Without missing a beat, she said "oh, you were there too?"   Never try to correct an English teacher, even when you're right.

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #103 on: November 10, 2014, 01:38:04 PM »
I think there are a few things that still equate to Nazis.  I grew up with white supremacists, for example, and the Nazi analogy is useful.  Also people who would use/misuse eugenics. People who blitzkrieg. Or other people who have committed or been victims of mass genocide, e.g. Native Americans, Armenians, Rwandans, Japan and China, aboriginal Australians, and the Turks.

It's not like the Nazis had a patent on evil, there were just a lot more movies made about the holocaust than other, sometimes larger, events.  So this sanctimonious feigned grievance over appropriation of the word Nazi is probably misplaced.  Unless you're really way more upset about Christopher Columbus than you are about Hitler.

I think your assumptions about how one reacts to the term Nazi are equally, if not more, misplaced.

I'm a WW2 buff so I'm well aware of the history of the Nazis and their unparalleled place in history. Other events may have similarities, but what the Nazis accomplished in regards to industrialized genocide is in its own class.  And yes, white supremacists do look up to them. So if you are implying that I think Nazi should become another n-word and not become part of the language, then we aren't on the same page. The Nazis should be discussed. A lot.

No, I simply object to how casually the term Nazi is thrown around in the context of such-and-such represent the worst of the worst. I'm simply no fan of referring to them quite so casually as others. That's my pet peeve. Well, that, and people assuming I'm being sanctimonious.  ;-)
 

Dicey

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #104 on: November 10, 2014, 02:30:46 PM »
I think there are a few things that still equate to Nazis.  I grew up with white supremacists, for example, and the Nazi analogy is useful.  Also people who would use/misuse eugenics. People who blitzkrieg. Or other people who have committed or been victims of mass genocide, e.g. Native Americans, Armenians, Rwandans, Japan and China, aboriginal Australians, and the Turks.

It's not like the Nazis had a patent on evil, there were just a lot more movies made about the holocaust than other, sometimes larger, events.  So this sanctimonious feigned grievance over appropriation of the word Nazi is probably misplaced.  Unless you're really way more upset about Christopher Columbus than you are about Hitler.

I think your assumptions about how one reacts to the term Nazi are equally, if not more, misplaced.

I'm a WW2 buff so I'm well aware of the history of the Nazis and their unparalleled place in history. Other events may have similarities, but what the Nazis accomplished in regards to industrialized genocide is in its own class.  And yes, white supremacists do look up to them. So if you are implying that I think Nazi should become another n-word and not become part of the language, then we aren't on the same page. The Nazis should be discussed. A lot.

No, I simply object to how casually the term Nazi is thrown around in the context of such-and-such represent the worst of the worst. I'm simply no fan of referring to them quite so casually as others. That's my pet peeve. Well, that, and people assuming I'm being sanctimonious.  ;-)
 
+1. Except the sanctimonious part. IMHO, you're 100% wrong there. ;-)

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #105 on: November 10, 2014, 03:37:30 PM »
...so maybe you could assume people aren't native english speakers to sooth yourself?

Sooth: Noun meaning truth (archaic)
Soothe: Verb (with object) meaning gently calm (a person or their feelings)

So, sheepstache, I am confused. Was that your point? Were you just being funny? Or did you not take time to read your own comment? I just can't tell.

Wow.  Tough group.  I am not a native English speaker and so I will speak up for those of us who bravely try to keep up with American slang and still manage to get much of our basic English grammar correct. 

I am French and we have our own language snobbery, but I have to say why would anyone want to be a Grammar Nazi?  I think it is more important to try to understand the point a person is making rather than grade them on their grammar. 

Milizard

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #106 on: November 10, 2014, 05:36:23 PM »
I am far from perfect at spelling and grammar.  I think that it's important to try to be correct when writing, however.  (The same could be said for speaking, but there are more regional idiosyncrasies that are in play there.)  When I was growing up, I read a lot.  That is where I learned the vast majority of my spelling and grammar rules.  The problem is, with the sloppiness and shear ignorance displayed by people who write on the internet, I'm slowly losing the knowledge that I had attained. The crappy spelling is like a virus, in that when a reader sees something written incorrectly, they are more likely to use the error in their own writing.  ...and then there is autocorrect. We're all doomed.  ;-)  Grammatical anarchy here we come!

Dicey

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #107 on: November 10, 2014, 11:02:16 PM »
...so maybe you could assume people aren't native english speakers to sooth yourself?

Sooth: Noun meaning truth (archaic)
Soothe: Verb (with object) meaning gently calm (a person or their feelings)

So, sheepstache, I am confused. Was that your point? Were you just being funny? Or did you not take time to read your own comment? I just can't tell.

Wow.  Tough group.  I am not a native English speaker and so I will speak up for those of us who bravely try to keep up with American slang and still manage to get much of our basic English grammar correct. 

I am French and we have our own language snobbery, but I have to say why would anyone want to be a Grammar Nazi?  I think it is more important to try to understand the point a person is making rather than grade them on their grammar.
First of all, MrsK, my hat's off to you. To be able to speak and write more than one language is a skill I dearly wish I could get my stubborn brain to acquire. I only speak English fluently and my grammar is far from perfect. I am also an extremely poor typist. Even though I preview and proofread every comment, I cringe at the stinkers that get past me. I simply can't imagine being able to do that in more than one language.

The reason for using the correct word is exactly so that the reader can understand the writer's point. In the case you cited above, there is a little bit more going on than meets the eye. Sheepstache is a very good writer and frequent contributor. I was fairly certain that the use of "sooth" vs. "soothe" was merely a typo, but it did cleverly underscore the thread's main point. Sheepstache is both smart and funny, so I would have completely believed that the typo was deliberate.

The fact that people care enough to organize their thoughts, and take the time to share them using proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation is apparent throughout this site. I believe this shows a level of respect for fellow forum participants. It is a far cry from the garbage comments one sees on Yahoo, for example. One sees so many egregious errors out in the world; it's nice to have a sheltered place to air one's pet peeves. I enjoy reading about what drives others nuts, primarily so I can hold a mirror up and check that I'm not making the same mistakes.

I believe there was a comment upstream giving all non-native speakers a pass.  I second that. I truly hope it's clear that these "peeves" are directed at people who should know better, myself included.

I think the whole "Grammar Nazi" thing came into widespread usage when the (then) very popular Seinfeld Show featured a character called the Soup Nazi. The term took hold and is apparently here to stay. Grammar Zealot might be a more accurate term, but sadly, it doesn't have the same ring to it.

RetiredAt63

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #108 on: November 13, 2014, 05:47:16 PM »
Maybe Grammar Police would be better than Grammar Nazis?  But then we might get lumped in with the Retirement Police.  We could be PDCBBE - "people driven crazy by bad english".  Not a catchy acronym, though.

It is not just us. When my DD was in French High School, the teachers had even more difficulty with the bad French of their students than her English teachers in Elementary school had with the bad English of their students.  It is universal!

Et ici on parle Franglais.


Elle 8

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #109 on: November 22, 2014, 06:52:42 PM »
I have a couple of pronunciation ones that drive me crazy.

"Nip it in the bud" becomes "nip it in the butt".
"Groceries" become "grosheries".

Grid

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #110 on: November 22, 2014, 06:57:29 PM »
I have a couple of pronunciation ones that drive me crazy.

"Nip it in the bud" becomes "nip it in the butt".
"Groceries" become "grosheries".

"Grosheries" I believe is standard pronunciation in much of the U.S., but I would prefer the more phonetic pronunciation.  There are a couple of other American bastardizations that the British (at least, maybe Australians too?) have kept clean, but I'm blanking on them at the moment...

pbkmaine

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #111 on: November 22, 2014, 07:04:07 PM »
Someone was looking for a grammar book to read. One of the best is "Elements of Style". E. B. White, the children's book author and New Yorker essayist, wrote it in stunningly lucid prose.

domustachesgrowinhouston

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #112 on: November 22, 2014, 07:32:39 PM »
...so maybe you could assume people aren't native english speakers to sooth yourself?

Sooth: Noun meaning truth (archaic)
Soothe: Verb (with object) meaning gently calm (a person or their feelings)

So, sheepstache, I am confused. Was that your point? Were you just being funny? Or did you not take time to read your own comment? I just can't tell.

Wow.  Tough group.  I am not a native English speaker and so I will speak up for those of us who bravely try to keep up with American slang and still manage to get much of our basic English grammar correct. 

I am French and we have our own language snobbery, but I have to say why would anyone want to be a Grammar Nazi?  I think it is more important to try to understand the point a person is making rather than grade them on their grammar.
Probably because it is easier and more fun to point out to other people how they can improve than it is to improve oneself.

Best of luck with the American slang.  I was once told a joke by a Brazilian student you may appreciate:  A person that can speak three languages is called trilingual.  A person that can speak two languages is called bilingual.  A person that speaks one language is called American.

Malaysia41

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #113 on: November 23, 2014, 02:07:20 AM »
In school I was taught to never begin a sentence with 'but'.  At some point I discovered this to be yet another Victorian construct, and in fact, beginning a sentence with 'but' is perfectly okay. 

Now, I'm reaping an unexpected reward; every time I begin a sentence with 'but' I revel in an act that feels very very naughty.  But I know it's actually okay. 

Let's just say it's a gratifying indulgence. 

But that's stupid right?  IDC - it is what it is.  I just have to be careful.  Sometimes I go overboard, starting with the 'but'.

Gerard

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #114 on: November 23, 2014, 03:48:04 PM »
Someone was looking for a grammar book to read. One of the best is "Elements of Style". E. B. White, the children's book author and New Yorker essayist, wrote it in stunningly lucid prose.

An entertaining counterpoint by Geoff Pullum, a very readable linguist:

http://chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-Grammar/25497

pbkmaine

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #115 on: November 23, 2014, 04:38:02 PM »
 Funny! It shows how slippery English is as a language. Odd that it became the lingua franca of the world. I think he misses the point of Elements, though. What the book taught me was that simpler is usually better. Why use "utilize" when "use" is simpler, shorter and means the same thing? I remember E. B. White saying that if you can't explain something simply, you probably don't understand it. I have found that to be true.

frugalnacho

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #116 on: November 24, 2014, 11:33:58 AM »
Funny! It shows how slippery English is as a language. Odd that it became the lingua franca of the world. I think he misses the point of Elements, though. What the book taught me was that simpler is usually better. Why use "utilize" when "use" is simpler, shorter and means the same thing? I remember E. B. White saying that if you can't explain something simply, you probably don't understand it. I have found that to be true.

I thought that was Einstein?

pbkmaine

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #117 on: November 25, 2014, 08:59:32 AM »
Hmm. I misquoted, sorry. It's widely attributed to Einstein, but some say it comes from Richard Feynman. It sounds like Feynman. The White quote is: "Use the smallest word that does the job."

Gone Fishing

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #118 on: November 25, 2014, 09:22:02 AM »
Twice pronounced twist with a long i.

frugalnacho

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #119 on: November 25, 2014, 10:15:51 AM »
As in twice-t?  Never heard that

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #120 on: November 25, 2014, 01:31:44 PM »
As in twice-t?  Never heard that

You don't want to...

deborah

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #121 on: November 26, 2014, 02:21:59 AM »
I get really annoyed by people who imply that the plural of you is yous.

Beric01

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #122 on: November 26, 2014, 02:28:14 AM »
I get really annoyed by people who imply that the plural of you is yous.

Sadly, English doesn't have a good second person plural. "Y'all" is regional, and you (plural) isn't distinguishable. Latin and Spanish (the languages I've studied so far, though lost most of them) both had no issues with this.

My biggest issue right now is that the vast majority of people I am working with are English-second language. I think this is awesome (I love learning about other cultures) but my English is suffering. I find myself occasionally using grammatically incorrect statements for ease of communication, both written and oral. I also have to greatly simplify my vocabulary. When the majority of my waking hours are spent at work, it's hard to avoid these influences.
« Last Edit: November 26, 2014, 02:34:15 AM by Beric01 »

deborah

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #123 on: November 26, 2014, 02:46:46 AM »
My biggest issue right now is that the vast majority of people I am working with are English-second language. I think this is awesome (I love learning about other cultures) but my English is suffering. I find myself occasionally using grammatically incorrect statements for ease of communication, both written and oral. I also have to greatly simplify my vocabulary. When the majority of my waking hours are spent at work, it's hard to avoid these influences.
Join a book group - this may kill two birds with the one stone, as book groups tend to include more females than males and they read a book and then meet to discuss it. Generally speaking the people in book groups are more academically inclined, and probably use better English.

Silverwood

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #124 on: November 28, 2014, 04:56:10 PM »
By reading this I realized I use alright all the time, oops

I watched this on YouTube and thought it was interesting. I was mostly interested because my boss ignores me. Maybe if I put more effort into how I speak that will help with my writing.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIho2S0ZahI&list=UUAuUUnT6oDeKwE6v1NGQxug

MarciaB

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #125 on: December 02, 2014, 04:41:03 PM »
Hoo boy, don't get me started!

I hate to hear the word "I" misused as a possessive ("It's Tom and I's birthday today.") or used in a prepositional phrase ("Just between you and I.") or used in some part of speech I can't remember the name of ("He asked Sarah and I to come to the party.")




solon

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #126 on: December 02, 2014, 04:56:48 PM »
It's Tom and I's birthday today

What's the correct way to say this? I've always had trouble with constructions like this.

MarciaB

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #127 on: December 02, 2014, 05:00:12 PM »
You say it the way you would if you used only one person at a time:

It's Tom's birthday today.

It's my birthday today.

It's Tom's and my birthday today.


Makes sense when you think about it. Sounds a little stilted, but you get used to it, and then it comes naturally.

Malaysia41

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #128 on: December 02, 2014, 06:51:31 PM »
Hoo boy, don't get me started!

I hate to hear the word "I" misused as a possessive ("It's Tom and I's birthday today.") or used in a prepositional phrase ("Just between you and I.") or used in some part of speech I can't remember the name of ("He asked Sarah and I to come to the party.")

I love my in-laws.  They're kind, loving, funny, generous.  But, the entire family suffers from some malady that causes them to use object pronouns when they should be using subject pronouns. 

For me, visits are opportunities to practice letting go of irritation.  Visits are opportunities to practice keeping my mouth shut even as I want to scream, "She! She and I went to the store! It's not HER AND I!  GAAAAAAHH!" 

I just smile.

MDM

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #129 on: December 02, 2014, 07:43:59 PM »
I get really annoyed by people who imply that the plural of you is yous.

Sadly, English doesn't have a good second person plural. "Y'all" is regional, and you (plural) isn't distinguishable.
"Y'all" is the singular.  "All y'all" is the plural. :)

Gerard

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #130 on: December 06, 2014, 01:08:19 PM »
"She! She and I went to the store! It's not HER AND I!  GAAAAAAHH!" 

Shouldn't they be saying "Her and ME went to the store"? :-) At least in the dialects where object forms are permitted with conjoined subjects?

(Somewhat off topic, in French you *have* to use the "her and me" construction in those types of sentences!)

OutBy40

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #131 on: December 06, 2014, 03:39:14 PM »
For whatever reason, I am seeing more and more loose vs. lose mistakes.  People almost always add the extra o.  Not sure why or how that habit materialized.

frugalnacho

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #132 on: December 08, 2014, 12:03:25 PM »
"She! She and I went to the store! It's not HER AND I!  GAAAAAAHH!" 

Shouldn't they be saying "Her and ME went to the store"? :-) At least in the dialects where object forms are permitted with conjoined subjects?

(Somewhat off topic, in French you *have* to use the "her and me" construction in those types of sentences!)

No.  You do it the same way Marcia explained a few posts up where you use only a single person.

She went to the store.

I went to the store.

Therefore,

She and I went to the store.

MandalayVA

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #133 on: December 08, 2014, 12:42:28 PM »
I get really annoyed by people who imply that the plural of you is yous.

Sadly, English doesn't have a good second person plural. "Y'all" is regional, and you (plural) isn't distinguishable.
"Y'all" is the singular.  "All y'all" is the plural. :)
and "youse" is Jersey :-)!Yo! Youse guys. Howzabout youse just fuggitaboutit.

Being a Jersey native but having lived in the south for close to twenty years I have successfully used "y'all you guys" in a sentence.  :D

Gerard

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #134 on: December 08, 2014, 01:06:55 PM »
Shouldn't they be saying "Her and ME went to the store"? :-) At least in the dialects where object forms are permitted with conjoined subjects?
No.  You do it the same way Marcia explained a few posts up where you use only a single person.
She went to the store.
I went to the store.
Therefore,
She and I went to the store.

No, that's how you do it in Standard English. In dialects where object forms are permitted, they both have to be object forms (her, me) even though with a single person you'd use subject forms (she, I).

iris lily

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #135 on: December 08, 2014, 01:14:04 PM »
I make myself crazy with mis-using "it's." God, I know better, but nearly every day I put in that stupid apostrophe when it should not be there.

I use "If I were rich" but I suppose that's because I read every English novel I could get my hands on in my youth, and if that originated in England, I'd have  heard of it.

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #136 on: December 08, 2014, 01:39:25 PM »
I get really annoyed by people who imply that the plural of you is yous.

Sadly, English doesn't have a good second person plural. "Y'all" is regional, and you (plural) isn't distinguishable.
"Y'all" is the singular.  "All y'all" is the plural. :)
and "youse" is Jersey :-)!Yo! Youse guys. Howzabout youse just fuggitaboutit.

Being a Jersey native but having lived in the south for close to twenty years I have successfully used "y'all you guys" in a sentence.  :D

That makes me very happy for some reason.

iris lily

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #137 on: December 08, 2014, 11:48:56 PM »
I get really annoyed by people who imply that the plural of you is yous.

Sadly, English doesn't have a good second person plural. "Y'all" is regional, and you (plural) isn't distinguishable.
"Y'all" is the singular.  "All y'all" is the plural. :)
and "youse" is Jersey :-)!Yo! Youse guys. Howzabout youse just fuggitaboutit.

"Y'all" is perfectly fine in casual conversation. Being from the Midwest we say "you guys" but I like "y'all" better, it is softer and more pleasant on the ears. I picked that up when I lived in New Mexico.

MandalayVA

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #138 on: December 09, 2014, 10:08:14 AM »
I get really annoyed by people who imply that the plural of you is yous.

Sadly, English doesn't have a good second person plural. "Y'all" is regional, and you (plural) isn't distinguishable.
"Y'all" is the singular.  "All y'all" is the plural. :)
and "youse" is Jersey :-)!Yo! Youse guys. Howzabout youse just fuggitaboutit.

Being a Jersey native but having lived in the south for close to twenty years I have successfully used "y'all you guys" in a sentence.  :D

That makes me very happy for some reason.

I was very proud of myself.  I still say "you guys" way more than "y'all," though.

Silverwood

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #139 on: December 14, 2014, 07:39:40 PM »
What do you say when you're comforting a Grammar Nazi?

There, Their, They're

;P

NinetyFour

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #140 on: December 14, 2014, 08:20:36 PM »
This isn't really grammar (or is it?)--

Using the word "so" to begin a conversation/topic/answer to a question.  Harry Shearer* calls it the use of the "initial 'so'".  I have seen many threads here originating with a post that begins with the word "so".

I think this is a fairly new phenomenon, and it perplexes me.  It used to be that one only used so to mean "as a result" or "in conclusion".


* http://harryshearer.com/le-show/

sol

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #141 on: December 14, 2014, 08:44:09 PM »
Using the word "so" to begin a conversation/topic/answer to a question.
* http://harryshearer.com/le-show/

That's the counterpart to the trailing "but".  I have a particular group of friends who habitually end sentences with the word but, as if they were about to continue talking, but they don't have a second half of the sentence.

I think it started because they were so used to interrupting each other, or finishing each other's sentences, that it became a convenient transitional word between parties in a multi-sided conversational thread.  They find it very awkward when one of them does it, and then I just stare at them silently waiting for them to continue, and they look at me like "don't you know that's your cue that I'm finished and you're supposed to start talking now?"

I've never heard anyone else but this group of about ten people do it, but they all do it, consistently.

Dicey

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #142 on: December 15, 2014, 01:03:32 PM »
What do you say when you're comforting a Grammar Nazi?

There, Their, They're

;P
Har dee har har har! Love this.

CowboyAndIndian

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #143 on: December 15, 2014, 01:11:38 PM »
The oatmeal is really funny. His take on common mis-spellings/Grammar.

http://theoatmeal.com/tag/grammar


pzxc

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #144 on: December 15, 2014, 01:21:38 PM »
The lose/loose thing drives me nuts.  Wary/weary is another one that happens ALL THE TIME and bugs me.

The worst though, are the phrases that get bungled instead of words.  The other day, someone wrote me an email that begin with, "For all intensive purposes..."

solon

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #145 on: December 15, 2014, 01:31:15 PM »
I once got a Christmas letter from an old friend who said, "...Ray is now 35 lbs soak and wet."

FIPurpose

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #146 on: December 15, 2014, 02:05:40 PM »
Our fingers and our brains need to communicate more (better?). You don't want to see what my fingers do to "students". And of course "form" and "from", "teh" and "the", and  "adn" and "and".  I do a lot of spelling correction.

I love all the above posts.  I did much too much proofreading as a teacher, and now I can't stop.

We need Latin in schools!  I.e. is id est, e.g. is exemplia gratia, et. al. is et alia, and so on.  If people knew what the abbreviations were short for, maybe they would use them properly?  And, a period goes after every abbreviation, so i.e. is i.e. not ie. The plural of radius is radii, and the plural of ulna is ulnae, because they are from Latin. 

Of course English is weird, since it has incorporated so many languages.  The plural of mouse is mice, but the plural of house is houses. The plural of goose is geese, but the plural of moose is moose.  I thought I had trouble learning the 16 irregular verbs in French, but English - I pity people coming to it as adults.

It's like when I type the word third. I just can't get my fingers to do it right when I'm going fast, so it's spelled t-h-r-i-d-[backspace]-[backspace]-[backspace]-i-r-d.

As a long time student of Latin, Greek, and the Classics in general, I would love to see more students in those classes, but I would not hold them to some impossible standard of knowing the pluralization for foreign words. (As can be noted by your incorrect expansion of the abbreviation eg). The fact is that even after studying for several years do not always naturally know the pluralization of particular words. If English borrows a word from Latin or Greek, please just use the anglicized plural. Do not pretend to know the original plural except for maybe the common words.

Here is a list of words intelligent people pluralize incorrectly:
Virus
Octopus
Platypus
Apparatus
Rhinoceros

And many other 3rd and 4th declension nouns that have unexpected pluralizations.

Let's honestly just let language be language and pluralize our words as we naturally would in English

NinetyFour

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #147 on: December 15, 2014, 03:12:07 PM »
Using the word "so" to begin a conversation/topic/answer to a question.
* http://harryshearer.com/le-show/

That's the counterpart to the trailing "but".  I have a particular group of friends who habitually end sentences with the word but, as if they were about to continue talking, but they don't have a second half of the sentence.

I think it started because they were so used to interrupting each other, or finishing each other's sentences, that it became a convenient transitional word between parties in a multi-sided conversational thread.  They find it very awkward when one of them does it, and then I just stare at them silently waiting for them to continue, and they look at me like "don't you know that's your cue that I'm finished and you're supposed to start talking now?"

I've never heard anyone else but this group of about ten people do it, but they all do it, consistently.

Oh, that must be annoying.  Fortunately, it hasn't caught on in my neck of the woods.

NinetyFour

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #148 on: December 15, 2014, 03:19:07 PM »

As a long time student of Latin, Greek, and the Classics in general, I would love to see more students in those classes, but I would not hold them to some impossible standard of knowing the pluralization for foreign words. (As can be noted by your incorrect expansion of the abbreviation eg). The fact is that even after studying for several years do not always naturally know the pluralization of particular words. If English borrows a word from Latin or Greek, please just use the anglicized plural. Do not pretend to know the original plural except for maybe the common words.

Here is a list of words intelligent people pluralize incorrectly:
Virus
Octopus
Platypus
Apparatus
Rhinoceros

And many other 3rd and 4th declension nouns that have unexpected pluralizations.

Let's honestly just let language be language and pluralize our words as we naturally would in English

What about Prius?  That's Latin, isn't it?  ;-)

FIPurpose

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Re: Grammar nazi
« Reply #149 on: December 15, 2014, 03:48:43 PM »
Just read that Toyota decided that the plural of Prius is Prii...

*le sigh*

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!