Grammar Police Gazette

[old man emu]

12 hours ago, willedoo said:

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/26/most-embarrassingly-outdated-words-and-phrases-to-stop-using-right-now-according-to-grammar-experts.html

Sorry, but those are all Americanisms. Out of my jurisdiction.

[facthunter]

You wouldn't want to be UN American...... At the moment I wouldn't like to be AN American. but they fell sorry for Me when I  tell them that.   Nev.

[red750]

[nomadpete]

I'll be ill if I forget the apostrophe.

[facthunter]

You'd think it would be a ContrA nym.  Nev

[red750]

An example of the stupidity of using gender neutral pronouns. Does this make sense?

 

A body was found on the bathroom floor. The ambulance was called to their home but they were dead before they got there.

 

Whose home? Who is dead? Who got there? 

 

There was a post on Facebook saying Alan Jones had changed their profile photo. Since when has Alan Jones been plural?

[old man emu]

14 hours ago, red750 said:

An example of the stupidity of using gender neutral pronouns. Does this make sense?

A body was found on the bathroom floor. The ambulance was called to their home but they were dead before they got there.

Whose home? Who is dead? Who got there? 

More an example of poor writing. Pronouns, whether gender neutral or not, should only be used after the noun they refer to has been used, and also that the link between the pronoun and its noun is clear.

 

I find it difficult to fathom why we use a plural pronoun to refer to a singular noun. For example, "Everyone has their own opinion on the topic". Everyone is a singular noun, but what singular pronoun have we got for it? "Everyone have their own opinion ..." grates on the ear.

[red750]

All because these 'woke' idiots and those that give in to them don't want to use 'his' or 'her'.

 

I'm sick of this unisex or trans rubbish. 

[Marty_d]

Probably life is a bit easier for those of us who dwell on the outer edges of the gender spectrum.  I'm a man, I've always identified as male, never felt particularly feminine, certainly don't mind being called "he" or "him".

 

But I can also imagine that it may be different for someone who's more to the centre of the spectrum.  They don't feel strongly male OR female so they, understandably, resist being put in one of those baskets.

 

I don't know that using a generally plural term like "them" or "their" is necessarily the answer, perhaps a new one could be created that's non-gender specific.

 

Must be even more difficult in places like France where words are heavily gender based, and the surrounding words cop an extra "e" if the subject is feminine.  (Mind you, both the Police and the Army are feminine, so it doesn't always go along gender lines!)

 

[red750]

And the woke community would be pee'd off being referred to as "it".

[old man emu]

We have been told that all sentient creatures have feelings. Do we get rid of dog and bitch; bull and cow; buck and doe; billy and nanny; etc., etc., and so forth? And what about those fish who start life out as males, breed and turn into females? Transsexual tuna!

[Marty_d]

They may have feelings, OME, but they can't speak any human languages, so I don't think they'll be upset.

 

I think you're overestimating the size of the "woke" community Peter... like Antifa, it's an enemy manufactured by the hysterical right-wingers to dog-whistle the punters.  

[rgmwa]

Another irritant heard on every news bulletin on TV is "Let's take a listen" . Take it where? A listen is not an object you can take anywhere!

 

[pmccarthy]

Every radio announcer seems to sign off by saying "I'll see you tomorrow". No you wont.

[old man emu]

"Everyone" is a strange fish. It's what is called a 'portmanteau' word,  a word that results from blending two or more words, or parts of words, such that the portmanteau word expresses some combination of the meaning of its parts. It is a blending of a noun - one (as in the Royal singular) - and the adjective every. That means it needs its accompanying verb to be in the singular. 

 

Everyone is bringing his or her own lunch. That adds too many words to the communication, despite being grammatically correct. However, in conversation and in informal writing it is used more often in the plural: Everyone is bringing their own lunch. 

 

One could quote many examples from the media where the noun/verb inflection is incorrect. You conjugate the present tense of the verb to be as “I am, you are, he is, we are, you are, they are.” A common one is "The Australian team are ...." A team has many members, but they only for a singular unit.

 

But languages evolve and what might have been considered incorrect a hundred years ago, might now be the norm. 

[pmccarthy]

We don't use bleach because our septic tank is not a sewer. I have holes in my shirt because my wife is not a sewer.

[onetrack]

The Spelling Checker
 

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

 

Eye strike a quay and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

 

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
It's rare lea ever wrong.

 

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
It's letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

[red750]

Hate to play the heavy here, but there is something grating on me, not only on this site, but more widely on the web, so not having a shot at anyone in particular, as it applies to many.

 

RECON V RECKON

 

Many people are using the word "recon" to mean believe, think, etc.  eg. I recon this or that...

 

The correct word is "RECKON" as in reckoning.

 

RECON is an abbreviation of RECONNAISANCE, and pronounced re-con. I also learned, looking it up on the web, that RECON is a gay men's organisation, and the name of their clothing and website. 

[nomadpete]

Peter, sad to say we are livin in an age of misscommunication.

 

I agree 'recon' (along with a growing list of misspells and effed-up abbreviations) does grate on me. And I aint no highly edoocatered grammer snob.

[pmccarthy]

And dead reckoning is actually ded reckoning! Ded as in deduced.

[red750]

[Bruce Tuncks]

PMC, is not "ded reckoning" a bit redundant in that deduced and reckoning mean the same thing?

[spacesailor]

Reckoning means ' mathematically ' deduced .

You  ' guess your position ' then you deduce your distance from that guess . 

simples

  ( even a ' meercat 'gets it )

spacesailor

 

[facthunter]

You get your position from the best Known data (established GS or based on forecast wind)and transmit "by DR" because it's not based on a "Fix" or a sighted waypoint.   If you get better info you upgrade it and give an amended ETA. Nev

[old man emu]

5 hours ago, red750 said:

I thought that there might be some logic in the spelling of those words that stand in defiance of lexicographers' rules. I had a quick look at the etymology of "heinous" Old French hainos and the only change is the "a" has become "e". "Inveigh"  from Latin invehere similarly has just had a letter change. 

 

But the verdict on some spellings comes from the full recitation of the mnemonic:

 i before e,

Except after c,

Or when sounded as "a",

As in neighbour and weigh.

 

A word like counterfeit  is in that form because it comes from from Old French contrefait.