February 24, 2005

Common errors in English. Can never remember whether it's imply or infer? Love to be a nit-picking pedant? Then this is the site for you. Detailed explanations of common mistakes people make when dealing with the English Language.
posted by Bondurant 19 years ago
  • Thanks! I are on tenderhooks! Soon I would be dominate on Internets like ceasar!
  • W's favorite site.
  • This one sparked an argument among me and my friends that lasted for months. I am the pro-circle pedant described in the listing.
  • Ah, I love this stuff.
  • Bobsled, if it were, you wouldn't have mentioned it.
  • I'm curious about the following from the site's entry on the use of AM/PM: "Although digital clocks routinely label noon “12:00 PM” you should avoid this expression not only because it is incorrect, but because many people will imagine you are talking about midnight instead. Really? Seriously? Can I have a show of hands of those Monkeys who would look at "12:00 PM" and think it meant midnight?
  • Not me, planetthoughtful. What puzzles me is the way these things sometimes seem to spring up overnight. A year or two ago the distinction between 'persuade' and 'convince' seemed to disappear overnight, and suddenly everyone began talking about convincing people to do things, just like that. Perhaps the person who makes up all the jokes and urban legends also issues linguistic edicts from time to time.
  • The letter z should never be used three times in a paragraph - to do so causes the angelic beings to tremble with rage Yeah, good advice there.
  • The correct way to refer to the son of Tydeus is "Diomedes, expert in war cries", "horse-taming Diomedes" or simply "proud Diomedes, son of Tydeus". The modern usage "That Greek dude, whassisname" is simply incorrect I tell ya, this stuff is GOLD.
  • arse/ass: The original English form is "arse", meaning the buttocks or anus. Americans prefer "ass", presumably on the grounds that they don't know their arse from their donkey. Well, I don't know about THAT.
  • Harumph! Though it is widely believed that the word "Harumph" is used to express vigorous but non-violent outrage, this is largely incorrect. A Harumph is actually a large group of shemale prostitutes, kept on hand for a wealthy industrialist's pleasure. If intending to express dissatisfaction, one should instead use the traditional "You loudmouth motherfucker, I'm going to kill you with a cheeseburger and a copy of 'Jet' magazine." See, I've been misusing using that one.
  • Can I have a show of hands of those Monkeys who would look at "12:00 PM" and think it meant midnight? If it were dark outside, I might. It's not about looking at the clock. It's about reading that something happened at 12:00 PM in 1928. If there aren't any textual hints to clue you in to whether it's day or night, it won't be obvious which the author meant. Even if *you* would always use 12:00 pm to refer to noon, how do you know that the author did? It's easier just to write "12:00 noon" or "at midnight" or "at 0000 local time."
  • Don't write 12:00 noon. That's ugly. It's not too hard to remember that the day becomes PM at noon. Unless you have a gaping headwound. All of this pedantry is vaguely interesting, but I have no real use for it. In my chosen profession, it doesn't matter what's correct, but what the AP Guide says. (And I tend to think of a great many of his "mistakes" as a matter of tone.)
  • It's not too hard to remember that the day becomes PM at noon. See, but that's the problem. Time after noon is PM - post meridian. Time before noon is AM - ante meridian. Noon is neither. Perhaps we should write 12:00M - but then that looks like "twelve midnight". Really we should just adopt a 24 hour clock.
  • they are missing one that i've been curious about for a while. is it "all of A sudden" or "all of THE sudden" and where does it come from...
  • It was good to see Brians' dismissal of claims regarding the subjugation of minorities by insisting that standard English be used in formal settings. (I personally prefer adding an apostrophe to a name ending in 's' when using the possessive. 'Brians's' sounds much too cumbersome.) As an aside, I have found that 9 out of 10 people get the plural of 'quiz' wrong.
  • it's "quiznunc"
  • Hectorinwa, I've never heard it said "all of the sudden". Though I don't mean to imply that that means it's wrong. ;)