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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Pedantic Follies
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Loquacious beachcomber
Shipmate
# 8783
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Posted
This game gives posters an opportunity to be a pedant; the idea is to find that in a previous post which can (and must) be corrected, while yourself making an error or two which, to a pedant, will be like chalk on a blackboard.
Theres' plenty of fun to be had here, in a kind, gentle, playful and thoroughly obnoxious manner, so put on you're thinking caps and jump right in.
[ 13. February 2013, 15:34: Message edited by: Ariston ]
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TODAY'S SPECIAL - AND SO ARE YOU (Sign on beachfront fish & chips shop)
Posts: 5954 | From: Southeast of Wawa, between the beach and the hiking trail.. | Registered: Nov 2004
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Bean Sidhe
Shipmate
# 11823
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Posted
Oh dear, oh dear, ooooh dear. I'm sure you're quite a juggler in your own sweet way LQ, but please don't do it with apostrophes. Read Lynne Truss's excellent tomb on the subject (it's not really very long) and you won't be in such dire straights again.
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How do you know when a politician is lying?
His lips are moving.
Danny DeVito
Posts: 4363 | From: where the taxis won't go | Registered: Sep 2006
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
Tomb? Surely the Pedant's Pedant hasn't been taken from us? Will Death never loose it's sting?
PS Just typing that, even in jest, is making my brain hurt ... I may have to go and lie down in a darkened room for a while.
![[Devil]](graemlins/devil.gif)
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Mamacita
Lakefront liberal
# 3659
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Posted
It's a mystery to me why I lose things. I should of been more careful.
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Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.
Posts: 20761 | From: where the purple line ends | Registered: Dec 2002
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Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
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Posted
You should HAVE been more careful - is good usage to much to ask?
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Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
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Elemental
Apprentice
# 17407
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Posted
It's an obvious error their Chapelhead.
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If anything is sacred, everything is
Posts: 16 | From: On the water | Registered: Nov 2012
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Spike
Mostly Harmless
# 36
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Posted
Surely you mean "there". There means something different to their.
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"May you get to heaven before the devil knows you're dead" - Irish blessing
Posts: 12860 | From: The Valley of Crocuses | Registered: May 2001
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Chapelhead
I am
# 21
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Posted
You're entirely correct there. This looks like a fun game, with lots of scope for posters to show off their talents and to demonstrate they're adept at writing inaccurately in a precise manner, in a way different from any other thread I have seen. In this case you have spotted my error and your precision has put me in the very unique position of being in the wrong, so I bow to your skill and hope that others will add their contributions to this thread.
[ 15. November 2012, 08:18: Message edited by: Chapelhead ]
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At times like this I find myself thinking, what would the Amish do?
Posts: 9123 | From: Near where I was before. | Registered: Aug 2001
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Elemental
Apprentice
# 17407
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Posted
Oh Chapelhead. Very unique? As if unique require's a qualifier.
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If anything is sacred, everything is
Posts: 16 | From: On the water | Registered: Nov 2012
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Jonah the Whale
Ship's pet cetacean
# 1244
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Posted
Now, now, Elemental, the apostrophe rule is so elementary (geddit?) that even a small child should be able to grasp it. I know I was pulled up for incorrectly apostrophising (is that a word?) a plural when I was about six. And I've never forgotten the lesson. Typos are always possible of course, but it is all too convenient to casually put a glaring error down to "fat finger syndrome" rather than come clean about being ignorant.
Posts: 2799 | From: Nether Regions | Registered: Aug 2001
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Elemental
Apprentice
# 17407
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Posted
Jonah, I would complain about you're split infinitive, but only pretentious pedants attempt to apply Latin rules to a language which doesn't decline.
I will, however, point out that sentences beginning with prepositions are frankly poor form.
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If anything is sacred, everything is
Posts: 16 | From: On the water | Registered: Nov 2012
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
As far as I know Jonah is not a spilt infinitive. As for the language that does not decline you will find that it does not need a comma before the "however" either. However, the prohibition against sentences beginning with propositions is almost obsolescent.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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jacobsen
seeker
# 14998
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Posted
Yet another split infinitive? It has not become entirely... is correcter, surely?
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But God, holding a candle, looks for all who wander, all who search. - Shifra Alon
Beauty fades, dumb is forever-Judge Judy
The man who made time, made plenty.
Posts: 8040 | From: Æbleskiver country | Registered: Aug 2009
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Raptor Eye
Shipmate
# 16649
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Posted
It may be more correct Jacobsen, but do it really matter?
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Be still, and know that I am God! Psalm 46.10
Posts: 4359 | From: The United Kingdom | Registered: Sep 2011
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Chorister
Completely Frocked
# 473
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Posted
Since when has Ooo-Arrr Creamtealandese become Recieved Pronounciation?
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Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.
Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001
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ThunderBunk
Stone cold idiot
# 15579
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Posted
[tangent] I can't post on this thread, it sets my pendant's teeth on edge too badly! [/tangent]
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Currently mostly furious, and occasionally foolish. Normal service may resume eventually. Or it may not. And remember children, "feiern ist wichtig".
Foolish, potentially deranged witterings
Posts: 2208 | From: Norwich | Registered: Apr 2010
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Hedgehog
Ship's Shortstop
# 14125
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Posted
Ignoring as best I can that "not entirely . . . moot" is uncorrect in any event (a thing is either moot or not--there are no degrees of mootness), I need to point out, Chorie, that, while i-before-e is generally correct when spelling (except for weird words like "weird"), a recognized acception exists should there be a preceding "c".
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"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."--Pope Francis, Laudato Si'
Posts: 2740 | From: Delaware, USA | Registered: Sep 2008
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Elemental
Apprentice
# 17407
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Posted
I'm not sure which worries me more FooloftheShip, that your pendant is toothed or that it is badly so. Does it bite it's chain?
I trust your pronunciation is better than your spelling, Chorister. Receiving hostly messages misspelled would be hard to bare.
[Edited to apologise for cross posting]
[ 15. November 2012, 20:50: Message edited by: Elemental ]
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If anything is sacred, everything is
Posts: 16 | From: On the water | Registered: Nov 2012
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Hedgehog
Ship's Shortstop
# 14125
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Posted
It is all very fine to apologise for a cross-post, but such public displays of nudity is something which up with I will not put!
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"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."--Pope Francis, Laudato Si'
Posts: 2740 | From: Delaware, USA | Registered: Sep 2008
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Chapelhead
I am
# 21
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Posted
A cunning plan to disguise a mismatch of number between noun and verb in what appears to be a Churchillian objection to ending a sentence with a preposition. A devious move, Hedgehog.
I am surprised that somewhen in the last 24 hours nobody has pointed out an error from my previous post, namely that ‘moot’ does not mean ‘irrelevant’; it means ‘subject to debate’. In an attempt to add a little more fun to this game, I will now try to slip three mistakes past the other participants on this thread. I am hoping that none of the other players here spot all three, so feel free to point out any one of them and continue with the game.
Naturally is it quite possible that there will be more than three errors, but only three are intentional. They are all errors in Chapelheads school of hyper-pedantry, so could be hard to spot. Or they could be very easy. And as I don’t regard starting a sentence with a preposition as wrong, neither this sentence not the previous one contain an intentional error in their first word.
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At times like this I find myself thinking, what would the Amish do?
Posts: 9123 | From: Near where I was before. | Registered: Aug 2001
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Loquacious beachcomber
Shipmate
# 8783
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Posted
Oh, dear; Chapelheads ommision of a possessive apostraphe, combined with the substitution of as wrong in place of "to be wrong" and the use of not this sentence in place of "nor this sentence" all combine to take away the beauty of language used properly.
Surely, Chapellhead, you of all people do appreciate beautiful things, do you not?
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TODAY'S SPECIAL - AND SO ARE YOU (Sign on beachfront fish & chips shop)
Posts: 5954 | From: Southeast of Wawa, between the beach and the hiking trail.. | Registered: Nov 2004
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Hedgehog
Ship's Shortstop
# 14125
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Posted
I could be mistaken, of course, but I thought that, when using the construction of "neither X nor Y," one should not use the plural "their" but rather "its." Still, Chapelhead (using the more traditional single "l" spelling) has thrown down an intriguing gauntlet. If anything, it may get us away from punctuation issues which seem to be the principle errors used so far.
Posts: 2740 | From: Delaware, USA | Registered: Sep 2008
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Chapelhead
I am
# 21
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Posted
This post does not contain any deliberate errors - it is just observations on responses to my previous post.
quote:
Originally posted by Loquacious beachcomber:
Oh, dear; Chapelheads ommision of a possessive apostraphe,
Correct - deliberate error one.
quote:
Originally posted by Loquacious beachcomber:
the substitution of as wrong in place of "to be wrong"
Chapelhead's school of pedantry doesn't have that as an error - although now you have highlighted it it does seem colloquial.
quote:
Originally posted by Loquacious beachcomber:
not this sentence in place of "nor this sentence"
My apologies; that was a genuine typo which I did not intend. My usual proof-reader is not available at present.
quote:
Originally posted by Hedgehog:
I could be mistaken, of course, but I thought that, when using the construction of "neither X nor Y," one should not use the plural "their" but rather "its."
I believe that that construction can be regarded as either singular or plural. However, if it were taken as singular (so followed by 'its' rather than 'their') then the verb should also be singular ('contains' rather than 'contain'), so there would be two errors.
So I believe there are two errors still to be found in my previous post, as well as any that might exist in Loquacious beachcomber's and Hedgehog's posts.
[ 16. November 2012, 21:11: Message edited by: Chapelhead ]
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At times like this I find myself thinking, what would the Amish do?
Posts: 9123 | From: Near where I was before. | Registered: Aug 2001
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Jonah the Whale
Ship's pet cetacean
# 1244
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Posted
I did not comment on "moot" because it is a bit of a thorny word - it's North American meaning being different to it's British one:
quote:
(http://oxforddictionaries.com)
adjective
1 subject to debate, dispute, or uncertainty: whether the temperature rise was mainly due to the greenhouse effect was a moot point
2 North American having little or no practical relevance:
the whole matter is becoming increasingly moot
Posts: 2799 | From: Nether Regions | Registered: Aug 2001
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Spike
Mostly Harmless
# 36
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Posted
The North American meaning is different from the British meaning. This sort of thing literally makes my head explode.
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"May you get to heaven before the devil knows you're dead" - Irish blessing
Posts: 12860 | From: The Valley of Crocuses | Registered: May 2001
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Barefoot Friar
Ship's Shoeless Brother
# 13100
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Posted
Ill call an ambulance.
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Do your little bit of good where you are; its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world. -- Desmond Tutu
Posts: 1621 | From: Warrior Mountains | Registered: Oct 2007
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Spike
Mostly Harmless
# 36
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Posted
Missing apostrophes make's me annoyed too.
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"May you get to heaven before the devil knows you're dead" - Irish blessing
Posts: 12860 | From: The Valley of Crocuses | Registered: May 2001
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roybart
Shipmate
# 17357
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Posted
quote:
Missing apostrophes make's me annoyed too.
Never let yourself get so annoyed that you make grammatical faux pas's of your own.
[ 17. November 2012, 15:13: Message edited by: roybart ]
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"The consolations of the imaginary are not imaginary consolations."
-- Roger Scruton
Posts: 547 | From: here | Registered: Sep 2012
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Bean Sidhe
Shipmate
# 11823
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Spike:
The North American meaning is different from the British meaning. This sort of thing literally makes my head explode.
I've looked everywhere for bits of Spike's head and found nothing, not so much as an eyeball, so I must conclude his head didn't literally explode. If anyone suspects that I'm disappointed, I refute that entirely.
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How do you know when a politician is lying?
His lips are moving.
Danny DeVito
Posts: 4363 | From: where the taxis won't go | Registered: Sep 2006
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Chapelhead:
So I believe there are two errors still to be found in my previous post.
All right. You're forcing Miss Amanda's hand.
I am hoping that none of the other players here spot all three -- mismatch in number between subject and verb. None (singular) is the subject and so requires a singular verb: spots.
[N]either this sentence not [sic] the previous one contain an intentional error in their first word. -- Ditto.
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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Pia
Shipmate
# 17277
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Posted
quote:
I've looked everywhere for bits of Spike's head and found nothing, not so much as an eyeball, so I must conclude his head didn't literally explode. If anyone suspects that I'm disappointed, I refute that entirely.
'To refute' means to prove to be erroneous, not simply to disagree.
In a similar vain, an audience member once told me that he had been 'literally galvanised' by my lecture. Its nice to have an effect on one's listeners, of course, but it was the first time I'd been told that my words had lead someone to become coated in iron.
[At least four mistakes in the above.]
Edited because if you're going to be a pedant it pays to preview!
[ 17. November 2012, 23:01: Message edited by: Pia ]
Posts: 151 | Registered: Aug 2012
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Pia
Shipmate
# 17277
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Posted
Also - Chapelhead, Elemental et al. - 'and' and 'or' are conjunctions, not prepositions.
A preposition is a word like 'in', 'on', 'over', 'under', or 'though'.
[Oh me, oh my... I think I may be in Pia Pedant Heaven! Thanks for starting this thread LB.]
Posts: 151 | Registered: Aug 2012
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Jonah the Whale
Ship's pet cetacean
# 1244
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Posted
Pia: quote:
In a similar vein (like a vein of ore, I suppose, though I've never considered where that expression came from before), an audience member once told me that he had been 'literally galvanised' by my lecture. Its nice to have an effect on one's listeners, of course, but it was the first time I'd been told that my words had led someone to become coated in zinc.
I'll leave your fourth slip to other readers since I wouldn't want to hog all the limelight myself. But I'd like to add that I thought your metallic theme was cleverly done.
Oh, and Chorister - "pronounciation"? Aaaargh!!!
Posts: 2799 | From: Nether Regions | Registered: Aug 2001
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Chapelhead
I am
# 21
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Posted
There are no deliberate errors in this post - it is just a comment on responses to my first post of 16 November
quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
I am hoping that none of the other players here spot all three -- mismatch in number between subject and verb. None (singular) is the subject and so requires a singular verb: spots.
Correct. This is the error I thought would be the hardest to spot, even for those who know that 'none' is singular (it derives, IIRC, from the Old Norse and is in essence a short form of 'not one', which is more clearly singular). Particularly difficult to spot as a consequence of the plural 'players' between the noun and verb.
quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
[N]either this sentence not [sic] the previous one contain an intentional error in their first word. -- Ditto.
I would say that this construction could take either a singular of plural verb, depending on whether the noun is taken as a singular 'sentence' or the two sentences referred to. I prefer to treat it as a plural as their are two sentences involved.
So there remains one error from my first post of 16 November. It could be a slightly debatable error, but I think most people would regard it as a fairly clear mistake, and it doesn't involve detailed examination of grammar. I will give it a few hours before saying what it is, if nobody has commented on it.
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At times like this I find myself thinking, what would the Amish do?
Posts: 9123 | From: Near where I was before. | Registered: Aug 2001
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Chapelhead:
quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
[N]either this sentence not [sic] the previous one contain an intentional error in their first word. -- Ditto.
I would say that this construction could take either a singular of plural verb. . . . So there remains one error from my first post of 16 November.
intentional error in their first word -- should you have said "an intentional error in its first word"? The antecedent is "construction", which is singular, and so a singular pronoun is required.
Miss Amanda disagrees with your allowing a plural verb to follow a "neither . . . nor" subject, both elements of which are singular. If you had said "both . . . and", or if one of the elements were plural, it would be a different matter.
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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Morlader
Shipmate
# 16040
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Posted
quote:
I would say that this construction could take either a singular of plural verb, depending on whether the noun is taken as a singular 'sentence' or the two sentences referred to. I prefer to treat it as a plural as their are two sentences involved.
Wrong ! Should be "there". Simple rule/advice: "There" is followed by a verb; "their" is followed by an adjective
I am with Miss Amanda ( ![[Biased]](wink.gif) ) on her insistence on a singular verb in the ...neither...nor construction.
I yield to no one in pedantry, but putting elementary things right is not pedantry. It's just ..um.. putting things right.
Chapelhead's school of pedantry should have an apostrophe; but Chapelheads School of Pendantry can have one or not, depending on how the founder(s) established the name.
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.. to utmost west.
Posts: 858 | From: Not England | Registered: Nov 2010
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Pia
Shipmate
# 17277
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Chapelhead:
Naturally is it [ahem: it is] quite possible that there will be more than three errors, but only three are intentional.
Was that the final one, Chapelhead?
I'm glad you liked my example, Jonah. I should of pointed out earlier that it was, of course, a true story.
No-one has noticed the deliberate error in my second post above yet.
Posts: 151 | Registered: Aug 2012
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Chapelhead
I am
# 21
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Posted
Pia should have 'should have'.
As nobody has commented on my third deliberate mistake, I am now wondering if it is something that is now acceptable (possibly there is a pond difference).
The error was simply that 'somewhen' isn't a 'proper' word. I suspect that is is not uncommon, especially in spoken language, but the dictionaries I have don't include it (including the Shorter Oxford). Having said that, 'somewhen' and 'anywhen' are words that I think should be allowed, because - they are useful, and shorter than the equivalent 'at some time' and 'at any time'
- their meaning is clear - I don't think anyone reading my previous post would have been confused about my intention
- most importantly, I use them so they must be good.
Perhaps others could say whether 'somewhen' appears in any authoritative dictionary, although I suppose this issue might depend on from whence a dictionary derives its 'authority'.
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At times like this I find myself thinking, what would the Amish do?
Posts: 9123 | From: Near where I was before. | Registered: Aug 2001
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Morlader
Shipmate
# 16040
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Posted
Pia
The error in your second message is "though", which is a conjuction, for "through". I think.
Chapelhead
I saw it, but didn't check dictionaries as I thought it probably a pond difference. And, as you say, it is a useful word and deserves official sanction.
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.. to utmost west.
Posts: 858 | From: Not England | Registered: Nov 2010
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Pia
Shipmate
# 17277
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Posted
Well spotted all.
Chapelhead: I missed 'somewhen'. Had someone else already notice the 'Naturally is it...'?
Just commenting in passing... There aren't no mistakes in this post.
Or are there?
Posts: 151 | Registered: Aug 2012
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Morlader
Shipmate
# 16040
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Posted
quote:
Just commenting in passing... There aren't no mistakes in this post.
Easy.. Either "There are no mistakes in this post" or "There aren't any mistakes in this post." The former much preferred.
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.. to utmost west.
Posts: 858 | From: Not England | Registered: Nov 2010
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Cara
Shipmate
# 16966
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Morlader:
quote:
Just commenting in passing... There aren't no mistakes in this post.
Easy.. Either "There are no mistakes in this post" or "There aren't any mistakes in this post." The former much preferred.
Morlader, is your use of two full stops an intentional error?
Coming late to this game which I find very unique.
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Pondering.
Posts: 898 | Registered: Feb 2012
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Morlader
Shipmate
# 16040
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Posted
Cara
It was indeed an error: it should have been either one or three (an elipsis).
In yours: you can't, or at least shouldn't, compare "unique", because something is either unique or not unique.
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.. to utmost west.
Posts: 858 | From: Not England | Registered: Nov 2010
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Pia
Shipmate
# 17277
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Posted
Do you mean an 'ellipsis", Morlader?
Posts: 151 | Registered: Aug 2012
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Pia:
Do you mean an 'ellipsis", Morlader?
I'm sure he did mean that. It is so easy to muddle the present and pluperfect.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
quote:
Originally posted by Pia:
Do you mean an 'ellipsis", Morlader?
I'm sure he did mean that. It is so easy to muddle the present and pluperfect.
And the pluperfect and the preterite, it would seem. You should of paid more attention in English lessons.
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Pia
Shipmate
# 17277
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Posted
Morlader's not the only one who should have paid more attention in English, KLB. It looks as if the majority of people on this thread were somewhat remiss during those lessons.
(And there's another deliberate mistake in my previous post that hasn't been picked up yet.)
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