Author Topic: Grammar that makes you cringe  (Read 834980 times)

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5450 on: 18 November, 2019, 05:57:37 pm »
So now I know why ice cream is called lody in Polish. Though personally I find the Czech word much more aesthetically satisfying - zmrzlina.

Steph

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5451 on: 18 November, 2019, 06:06:24 pm »
Yeah, already worked out that it's nothing to do with ice.  :facepalm: But not that it was "line".  :thumbsup:

"Flood affects railway"

And the Welsh for ice cream is hufen ia--very roughly*, huvven yah

* the 'u' is pronounced halfway between 'uh' and 'ee'. Varies depending on regional accent.
Mae angen arnaf i byw, a fe fydda'i

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5452 on: 19 November, 2019, 06:32:06 pm »
Zmrzlina is a very good word.  :) Unfortunately it's also a bit how I'm feeling right now.  :-\ Perhaps I'm just a "zmrzlak."
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.


Cudzoziemiec

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5454 on: 01 December, 2019, 08:45:42 pm »
I liked this one:
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hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5455 on: 01 December, 2019, 09:03:18 pm »
I see the Apostrophe Society is being wound up.

That hiker's head would make a good collective plural apostrophe...

Mr Larrington

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T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5457 on: 02 December, 2019, 03:16:56 pm »
"Based off the book" and general preposition mayhem, largely Transpondian in origin but conveyed hither on Internetting wings like smallpox in reverse.  :sick:
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Jaded

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5458 on: 02 December, 2019, 03:35:02 pm »
I see the Apostrophe Society is being wound up.

That hiker's head would make a good collective plural apostrophe...

I think they have always been wound up.
It is simpler than it looks.

ian

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5459 on: 02 December, 2019, 04:43:16 pm »
I would be happy to see the back of apostrophes, tbh.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5460 on: 02 December, 2019, 05:59:50 pm »
I think they're useful where they indicate contractions but as The Last Remaining Declension of the English Language (do not declensh, it only makes it worse) they've probably outlived their use.
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Mr Larrington

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5461 on: 03 December, 2019, 11:35:33 am »
Id be happy to see the back of apostrophes, tbh.

FTFY :demon:
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

ian

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5462 on: 03 December, 2019, 11:49:03 am »
Well, I didnt say Id stop using them, as I benefit from the finest comprehensive school education so I know my apostrophising.

But generally theyre mostly redundant, its clear from context. Theyll either die out or well end up adding them to all the plural's.

Kim

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5463 on: 03 December, 2019, 01:01:52 pm »
Perhaps the Young People will start using them to denote passive-aggressiveness or something, causing yet more generational confusion.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5464 on: 03 December, 2019, 01:49:53 pm »
Talking of that^^, I read that "old people" have started using a "comma ellipsis" ,,, rather than ... Why? I don't know, but speculation is that it shows up better on a small screen to old eyes. Of course "young people" have started using this ironically, as a sort of punctuation pisstaking meme.
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Kim

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5465 on: 03 December, 2019, 01:54:52 pm »
Sounds like the sort of thing Gretchen McCulloch's book might cover...

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5466 on: 03 December, 2019, 02:16:47 pm »
I haven't a clue who Gretchen McCulloch is but maybe that was where I read it. (!) !!! ,,,
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Kim

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5467 on: 03 December, 2019, 07:56:54 pm »
A cunning linguist.  From the internets.

https://gretchenmcculloch.com/

Wowbagger

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5468 on: 03 December, 2019, 11:21:12 pm »
I would be happy to see the back of apostrophes, tbh.

In which case you ought to be a possessive s.
Quote from: Dez
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Mr Larrington

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5469 on: 04 December, 2019, 07:54:05 am »
Talking of that^^, I read that "old people" have started using a "comma ellipsis" ,,, rather than ... Why? I don't know, but speculation is that it shows up better on a small screen to old eyes. Of course "young people" have started using this ironically, as a sort of punctuation pisstaking meme.

This  seems ,, to be   a common thing,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, among    the Gammonariat,, , along  with random  numbers   of spaces  between      words,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,  and xcrable speling!!!1!
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ian

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5470 on: 04 December, 2019, 08:20:52 pm »
Oh, I think you find that decimate means kill one in ten, says a passing pedant. No, it doesn't in the 21st century unless you're still using Julius F. Caesar's dictionary.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5471 on: 04 December, 2019, 09:02:24 pm »
A cunning linguist.  From the internets.

https://gretchenmcculloch.com/
Cats on walls! Ox heads for glottal stops! Null morpheme!  :thumbsup:
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5472 on: 05 December, 2019, 02:22:47 pm »
Oh, I think you find that decimate means kill one in ten, says a passing pedant. No, it doesn't in the 21st century unless you're still using Julius F. Caesar's dictionary.
Have you been reading this?
Quote
In fact, by removing apostrophes altogether, the pedantry arsenal is vastly reduced. Without their favourite punctuation mark of judgement, your average pedant will be forced to make do with old favourites such as split infinitives and insisting on the “correct” meaning of “decimate”.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5473 on: 05 December, 2019, 10:32:50 pm »
Oh dear. They'll have to resort to pointing out that that piece is written in the plural (Hardcore apostrophites, people, pedants), until it suddenly, randomly and for no good grammatical reason switches to the modern "false singular" pronoun usage of "their favourite..., your average pedant...", when staying in the plural with pedants would have been far more consistent and flowing.

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5474 on: 05 December, 2019, 10:42:31 pm »
Never mind the apostrophe, the current fad for the misplaced question mark is making me annoyed?
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