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Joined: Jan 2001
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enthusiast
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"We hardily recommend .... for an award."

Ugh. I also detest the frequent confusion of pore/pour, as in "she poured over the book." [teeth-grinding e]


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"We hardily recommend .... for an award."

It seems obvious that "hardily" should have been "heartily". Not clear what the mistake should be called. It is more than a typo, and unlikely to be a double typo.


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"... after 14 days it will automatically be effectuated".

I read this yesterday on a newly installed system. I think it will give me nightmares for a while.

Rod


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"she poured over the book."

Ah. You've seen my wife's skill with a wine bottle?


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It might be one one writer has called "sonic errors" a case of having heard an expression, and not quite understanding it, but using it... similar to mondegreens... like hares breathe (not hairs breadth), If you don't know the the words or expression.. a firm recommendation --might be misconstrued as a hard-- and then Hardily seems to make sense..

I sometime feel at the cusp-- i am very bright-- but not well educatated-- but somewhat well read.. but if i were less well read-- or less educated. or less bright.. and passed throught the "education mill"..

Jay Leno, the comedian, has a weekly special.. "Jaywalking" where he goes out and asks "simple questions"-- and see the kind of answers he gets-- recently, with the US release of "Pearl Harbor" he asked questions like-
"When was Pearl Harbor bombed?" , "Who bombed it?" "Who was the war between?", "When was the beginning of WWII?"-- the anwsers included 1924, 1967, the Hawaiins (bombed it) we were at war with the chinese.

Obviously, right answers don't get on the show... but the there is no shortage of people providing wrong answers.. and they don't all seem to be faking... I like to think its not just the average american who is this uneducated!


#30947 06/06/01 01:04 PM
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I like the name sonic errors, Helen! My husband has one that he always does - I can't remember it offhand - he knows the right word but now he's been saying the wrong one too long...I guess it's not a big deal. But I hate to think of someone hearing him and thinking nasty thoughts, like "Boy, what an uneducated lout!" when it's really just one little ingrained mistake, and of course he's quite un-lout-y!


#30948 06/06/01 04:39 PM
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"I like the name sonic errors, Helen! My husband has one that he always does - I can't remember it offhand - he knows the right word but now he's been saying the wrong one too long...I guess it's not a big deal. But I hate to think of someone hearing him and thinking nasty thoughts, like "Boy, what an uneducated lout!" when it's really just one little ingrained mistake, and of course he's quite un-lout-y! "


Bean, This reminds me of one my boyfriend always does. Spanish was his first language. He speaks perfect English but he has a problem with the English conjunction "so" used to mean "therefore". He uses "for" instead of "so", as in "we cross the street with the light so we won't get flattened by a semi". I believe this is because in Spanish the word "por" can mean somewhat the same thing as "therefore", but is translated literally as "for". I am guessing at this. I have always thought it was kinda cute, but the man even writes "for" in the place of "so"!


texasteri


texasteri
#30949 06/06/01 06:58 PM
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We have a travelling game we play - the word "accommodation" is one of the most used and most mis-spelled words in tourist areas both here and elsewhere. We look for signs which have it spelled either "acommodation" or "accomodation". There are no points and no prizes, but, hey! who needs 'em?



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#30950 06/06/01 07:43 PM
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I think "sonic errors" nails it. I also think many usage errors, especially in spoken English, stem from the fact that (alert, generalization ahead), many people don't read much and if they do read they're reading attrociously written prose. Another of my pet peeves (yes, I am often peevish ), is idiom butchery. Naturally, I can't think of a good one just now, but I'm sure y'all know just what I mean!


#30951 06/06/01 08:19 PM
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written idiom butchery:

speak my peace
one in the same
blessing in the skies


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