New FFF.net Grammar Brigade...join here!

POSTED BY: Caite
UPDATED: Monday, April 18, 2005 11:22
VIEWED: 17257
PAGE 5 of 7

Has anyone read the book "Eats Shoots and Leaves"?

Can't remember the author, but it seems to me it could be this thread's bible.

The title is from a joke about a Panda that walks into a pub. He goes in and orders a meal, then draws out a gun and shoots the person at the next table. Then he walks out. The barman chases him outside and yells "What did you do that for?" The panda reaches into his pocket (no, I don't know why a panda has a pocket) and pulls out a book on Pandas. He turns to the section on behaviour traits, where it says Pandas "eat shoots and leaves"

I hope I got the telling of that right, but you get the gist.

Also, I am a bit tired, so if I make any grammatical errors please put it down to that, and not a mistake on my part!

I think my pet peeve is people who put an apostrophe in it's when they are implying ownership, rather than a short version of "it is."

Also, I agree with everything that's been said about your/you're, they're/their/there etc. It always makes me cringe.

But one of the interesting things (well I think it's interesting) is the fact that while Australians, Brits and Americans have vastly different ways of SAYING things (which comes out in the threads cause we write like we talk) we are all annoyed by the same gramatical issues.

Mind you, I have to admit it bugs the hell out of me that Americans don't put a 'u' in words like 'colour' etc. Not that there's a need for the 'u' - just habit!

Ok, that's me done. Thanks for helping me let off steam - now it's time to get back to work. Cheers.

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It's Lynne Truss who wrote 'Eats, Shoot and Leaves', very enjoyable book.

My pet peeves? Well, 'effect' and 'affect'. 'Less' and 'fewer'. However, the word that annoys me the most is 'innit', used as a word at the end of every sentence that is a question by some. Note for those who say that word - the symbol '?' is not pronounced 'innit'.

Oh, and we all make typos now and then but when you start a new thread, why not double check your subject line, innit?

I feel much better now.

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Finally!! Something for the English Teacher in the house to do!

Biggest pet-peeves:

Apostrophes

Capitalizing the first word of a title, but not the rest: Brave new world.

-Taylor

The Uncharted Outlaw!
Captain of Prosperity (99-K64)

Read My Words:
http://norcalriviera.blogspot.com
See my Firefly Store (new items! 1/05): http://www.cafepress.com/NorCalRiviera

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Quote:

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Originally posted by Caite:
You put punctuation inside quotation marks...always

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I had to look this up because of your use of the word "always." Here's what I found:

* period and comma within quotes except when followed by parenthetical reference
* colon and semicolon outside quotes
* dash, exclamation mark, and question mark inside quotes if it applies to the quote itself, but outside quotes if it applies to the whole sentence

And people wonder why grammar is so tricky.... I still hates it.

无 党派 人士

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Quote:

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Originally posted by Thrawn:
I'm a linguistics major, and the linguistics point of view is that anything is valid, more or less, so long as it's intelligible to those around you. The thing is that language is a very personal thing, and so it's extremely easy for differences that you feel are wrong to irritate the crap out of you even though they don't really cause any difference in meaning.

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Thank you - this is how I feel too, although I'm no where near being a linguistics major...obviously

What bugs me the most is when I see character dialogue in Firefly fan fics written with most of the words modified to follow Firefly syntax. For instance, Mal's "ing" words, where the "g" is left off and replaced with an apostrophe like, "I am forgettin' my manners." I admit I was writing it that way myself for a bit, then thought better of it for two reasons.

First, Mal hasn't been to grad school or anything, but he doesn't strike me as bottom of the barrel common by any means either. In fact, I'm sure he was rigidly home schooled.

Second, and on the more practical side as a writer, it's awfully hard to keep track of where the apostrophe was used and where it wasn't. I don't write that way normally, and it's hard to switch the brain over to think that way, so basically I gave up on it. I still have him and everyone else using words like "gonna" and "Wanna," but hey, Joss started it!

On a general note, I personally find that the "s" on the end of words like "upwards", "downwards," and especially "towards" superfluous and downright silly. If you're already going toward something, why go towards it? Does it make the motion faster or more effective? No, not really.

I see "towards" used by the pros quite a bit, though, so I know for a fact it's really just me.

Fans come and fans go...but zealots are with you until the bitter black end.
I draw...therefore I am. http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=7922
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Quote:

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Originally posted by CALLMEATH:
"I could care less" Is the extra "n't" really that hard to say?

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Well, now, that depends on what they mean.

Maybe they *could* care less (meaning they still care a little and they could lower their opinion).

If you *couldn't* care less, well, then that's the end of it.

While I don't state I am the most perfect person when it comes to grammar, spelling and punctuation, I am known (affectionately, I hope) where I work as "the Email Nazi" I am constantly having to correct work done by others to make their sentences "legible" before their emails are sent to customers.

As for pet peeves, my big one is "peoples." Drives me completely insane!! The word "people" is already plural!!!! Just thinking about it raises my blood pressure! I've noticed it used most with newspeople. Makes 'em sound like idiots!

My other pet peeve is when I find typos in newspapers or books. I mean, come on! You're in publishing! If you can't check to make sure things are spelled right, there's a real problem!

Though I do admit, typos can be quite fun. They do make me laugh. Even my own! Can't be said I'm not equal opportunity when it comes to laughing at typos!

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MAL: Everybody's makin' a fuss.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by captaincdc:

Quote:

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Originally posted by CALLMEATH:
Another pet peeve is when people say irregardless. I'm amazed every time I hear it used!

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I argued with my brother on this one. In our dictionary, it is considered a real word.

I just did a search on www.dictionary.com and came up with:

"ir·re·gard·less ( P ) Pronunciation Key (r-gärdls)
adv. Nonstandard
Regardless.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Probably blend of irrespective, and regardless.]
Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.
Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.


irregardless

adv : regardless; a combination of irrespective and regardless sometimes used humorously"


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MAL: Everybody's makin' a fuss.

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