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stranger
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Anyone else worried about incorrect use of "your" becoming part of Standard English? I see it everywhere, including on today's AWADmail:
"Of course this leads to some interesting puns in British English that don't work in US English ("I'll give you a ring unless your engaged" has two meanings in UK English but only one in US English).
David Loaring
David Loaring
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Carpal Tunnel
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Welcome aBoard, David.
Yes, I've noticed that tendency. I don't know whether it will be unstoppable or not. U.S. society as a whole has certainly been getting more and more casual in the last few decades, and language would seem to be a part of that trend.
I also notice people using 'there' for 'their'--and never mind 'they're'!
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Carpal Tunnel
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and what about sonic writing-- a hare's breath for a hairs breadth- since in the US we tend to measure the height, width and depth, not breadth of something.
sonic writing is something like a mondegreen... you go along thinking every one knows something till you trip over something the rabbit has exhaled!
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stranger
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No doubt the study of this kind of writing is called "sonics".
David Loaring
David Loaring
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veteran
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Hi David, Yeah, this is definitely a pet hate of mine in all its forms, though the one that drives me most up the wall is the confusion of its with it's  I know that the confusion is caused by "'s" more often meaning "belonging to" (genitive) than being short for "is", but I'm sorry, it brings out the grammar policeman in me. And what really gets me is that supposedly well-educated people with highly-paid jobs are among the worst culprits. Grrrr! Spiky Fish P.S. People for whom English is not the first language are, of course, fully excused any kind of rant from the grammar police  . In fact they deserve to be showered with praise if they can get these particularly tricky facets of English right .
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Carpal Tunnel
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>grrrr! dogfish, I always tell folks that evidence this confusion to consider his --> hers --> its and then extend that to all possessive pronouns -- of course, if they've got their and there confused, there's no hope; we just have to lock them up and throw away the keys. 
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> ("I'll give you a ring unless your engaged" has two meanings in UK English but only one in US English). I'm in total agreement with you, David, as I'm sure is the tired overworked proofreader (one of us) who let this slip by (I feel his pain  ).
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supposedly well-educated people with highly-paid jobs are among the worst culpritsYou are not wrong fishy - I growled last night when one of my kids came home with a Governors' Report from their secondary school with this very mistake liberally splattered over its fair face! Still, I guess they may be let off this fishhook, as teachers are certainly not well-paid
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on the other hand (fin, whatever  ) ... As a proofreader myself, I'd probably have resorted to using [sic], since it was someone else's words. Ah well, back to the docks....
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In reply to:
Yeah, this is definitely a pet hate of mine in all its forms, though the one that drives me most up the wall is the confusion of its with it's
Sorry, shona, but that particular sin, doesn't top my list. Higher up, though not necessarily on top, is loose for lose. As much as this drives me into homicidal rage, it puzzles me. To date, I can't recall having seen it outside the IT arena, where it appears to be endemic, even among people who claim that English is their first language.
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