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#162967 10/31/06 03:31 PM
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ParkinT Offline OP
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I am certainly not alone.
Does it cause you to cringe when, in conversation, someone will mis-use (or abuse) a word; based solely on a bad habit?
I have seen well educated people use very stupid phrases with authority.
Some of my favorites are listed in a post on My Blog.
They include:
Supposively,
Irregardless,
Unloosen

And in correspondence it is far to prevalent to see 'loose' where it should be 'lose' and 'myself' where it should be 'me'.

What are the ones YOU find most irritating?


"I am certain there is too much certainty in the world" -Michael Crichton
#162968 10/31/06 03:47 PM
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Park: Thank you for that link. As a card-carrying prescriptivist, I agree wholeheartedly. However, every usage in "Battered and Abused" has become so common that inevitably they will all be accepted in Merriam, whereupon they will be considered "correct"


dalehileman
#162969 10/31/06 03:54 PM
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last night on the Jay Leno show segment "headlines" one headline featured incluced the phrase (illustrating how easy something was) it's not rocket surgery!

I love it.. its not rocket science, its not brain surgery, it's as easy any one can do it.. after all its not rocket surgery!

#162970 10/31/06 04:46 PM
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"it is far to prevalent to see 'loose' where it should be 'lose'"

Personally, I find it very disturbing that folks substitute 'to' for 'too' so often.

(sorry, but what's a person to do when confronted with a plaint regarding lose/loose..)

#162971 10/31/06 04:50 PM
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ParkinT Offline OP
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Quote:

"it is far to prevalent to see 'loose' where it should be 'lose'"

Personally, I find it very disturbing that folks substitute 'to' for 'too' so often.

(sorry, but what's a person to do when confronted with a plaint regarding lose/loose..)



Thank you all for the comments.
Was it intentional or merely "poetic irony" that you used 'to' in this post where it should be 'too'?


"I am certain there is too much certainty in the world" -Michael Crichton
#162972 10/31/06 05:04 PM
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Quote:

Quote:

"it is far to prevalent to see 'loose' where it should be 'lose'"

Personally, I find it very disturbing that folks substitute 'to' for 'too' so often.

(sorry, but what's a person to do when confronted with a plaint regarding lose/loose..)



Thank you all for the comments.
Was it intentional or merely "poetic irony" that you used 'to' in this post where it should be 'too'?




Parkih, the only place I used 'to' where it should be 'too' was when I copied your line - as I'm sure you know all too well.

#162973 10/31/06 05:48 PM
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That is pretty funny, especially in the "lose/loose" context, but maybe it was *just a typo? I'm just sayin'...

Welcome to the madhouse, PT.


Edit: I looked a little at your blog and have two observations:

- You've misspelled "linguistic."

- "Orientate" is a perfectly valid form.

Last edited by AnnaStrophic; 10/31/06 05:54 PM.
#162974 10/31/06 06:15 PM
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ParkinT Offline OP
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Thank you, AnnaStrophic.

That is an honest typo. My real peeeve is with the usage as such: "...that was orientated the wrong way." It should be "oriented"

And, tsuwm, my apologies. I had completely overlooked the fact that it was a direct quote of my post
I am too new to this forum (in a glass house) to be throwing stones.
Thank you for being kind.


"I am certain there is too much certainty in the world" -Michael Crichton
#162975 10/31/06 08:53 PM
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Quote:

My real peeeve is with the usage as such: "...that was orientated the wrong way." It should be "oriented"




welcome PT!

however, the ASp will be back to tell you that orientated is correct as well, as badly as it sounds....



formerly known as etaoin...
#162976 10/31/06 09:19 PM
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ParkinT Offline OP
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Thank you etaoin, and thanks for the welcome.
Having been "out of school" the equivalent of many people's entire life, there are numerous changes to which am (reluctantly) becoming accustomed.
Just the other day I was conversing with my (college student) son's girlfriend, who is a literature student, about English sentence structure. While I was going through school, I recall a 'shift' in the labels for the varioius parts of a sentence.
I was originally taught about the:
Subject
Verb
Predicate
Later, it became the:
Subject
Verb
Object

But the evolutionary nature of our language is among the things that keep me fascinated.


Then, of course, I was also led to believe the Brontosaurus existed!

--------------------------
English is a crazy language


"I am certain there is too much certainty in the world" -Michael Crichton
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