Er, not over here it ain’t.
Two reasons: first, we pronounce it with a short ‘o’ (Q-DOS), so it doesn’t sound to us like the plural of the putative Q-dough - which I assume people imagine to be an ancient monetary unit or something - and, second, nobody apart from those of us into whom Greek was drilled from the age of 11 has ever even heard of it.
if there are any municipalities recruiting for the grammar police, sign me right up. I have a B.A. in English, I was a two-time spelling bee champ (and downright obnoxious about it) as a kid, and I’m a notorious grammar/spelling Nazi who’s earned the reputation of being a reeeeeeeeeally tough proofreader at work.
I have various spelling/grammar pet peeves, most of which have been covered here. But one of my biggest pet peeves is the rampant misuse of apostrophes, which seems to have risen to epidemic proportions. “Company’s” is not the plural of “company”; the plural is “companies.” If a company does not keep records on contract “employee’s”…you’ll have to explain to me what belongs to these employees that the company does not maintain any records on, because there’s a word missing there. How does anyone graduate from elementary school, let alone high school and college, without knowing how and when to use apostrophes in a sentence?
I have another little peeve that comes up often with my long-distance quasi-bf, who is a native of Georgia…I’m not sure if this is a colloquialism or not, but he always says something is “in” the floor to mean “on” the floor. 
I was born and raised in California, and until I started meeting people from the South, I had NEVER heard anyone say that something was “in the floor” (e.g., “Why are your books in the floor? Shouldn’t they be on the shelf?”) I’ve heard (and use) “in the middle of the floor” and I’m fine with it (because it specifies a location ON the floor, if that makes any sense), but “in the floor” just sounds odd and awkward to me, and my quasi-bf, and another good friend of mine, also a Georgia native, are forever trying to convince me that this usage is correct. I’m not buying. I first heard it out of a friend who was from Tennessee, but I’ve never heard it from anyone who was from anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon. So I assume it’s a Southern colloquialism, but I could be wrong.
I can’t read a page of the VH1 website without wanting to tear my hair out. Where do they hire their content writers, the local elementary school? That site’s so rife with spelling and grammatical errors that I’ve considered offering my services as a proofreader/copy editor to them more times than I care to count.
I guess I’m overly nitpicky, but I say if you’re going to have a website that’s viewed by millions of people, at least learn to spell the simplest of words correctly and make sure you know proper grammar. It makes you look like you care about the quality of your work.
This is actually sometimes a sneaky baking-industry thing. In order for bread to be labeled “whole wheat bread,” the FDA requires that must be made from 100% whole wheat flour. “Wheat bread” contains a mixture of whole wheat and white flour. Often you’ll find bread labeled “wheat bread” that has had but a passing aquaintance with bran. They even add brown food coloring to give it a false aura of wholesomeness. The consumer gets the light-textured, bland-tasting bread that so many people seem to prefer, plus they think that they’re eating healthy whole wheat. It’s win-win—except from a nutritional standpoint.
Read the label. If you want to include more whole grains in your diet, the first ingredient on your bread should be whole wheat flour, not “wheat flour.”
Not that this is a pet peeve of mine, or anything.
Just today I saw someone post (not here): “Can you explain that to me in latent terms?” I can only assume she meant layman’s terms. (or is it laymen’s?)
Recently I spotted an “allusive” in the newspaper that should have been “elusive.”
This is a Mormon thing–at church when we sustain someone to a new calling, whoever is conducting the meeting will often say something like “All those in favor please signify by the uplifted hand.” We have a new guy who keeps saying “by the uplift of hand” and it is driving. me. nuts.
This also reduces me to a twitching pile of nerves.
Can you go into a little more detail? When and why should you say “bring”, as opposed to “take”?
Oh, Helena, some of the things religious orators say makes me want to kill! I had the distinct displeasure to be in the captive audience of a Salvation Army captain, who always used “fellowship” as a verb - “as we fellowship together”, or as a gerund - “join us in fellowshipping.” You don’t know how much I wanted to smack this guy!
Here I am, playing Grammar Cop, and I put in “makes” where it should have said “make.” :smack:
I think it was more a typo, because I have big fingers and often hit two keys at the same time.
One takes a thing away. One brings the thing to a place.
(Example) “Take these clothes to the cleaners.” is correct if you are not at the cleaners. “Bring these clothes to the cleaners.” Implies the speaker is currently at the cleaners.
When the poster said he brought his sister to the hospital, he implies he, is already at the hospital.
When the speaker is the subject of the sentence, this is the distinction:
“Bring” is used when something is being transported to the speaker’s current location.
“Take” is used to describe all other situations involving transporting something.
Thus, if Boyo was at the hospital when he posted the message, he “brought” her there–he transported her to his current location. If Boyo was at home when he posted, he “took” her there–he transported her to a location other than his current one.
The same rules apply if the speaker is the direct object, the thing being moved:
If I am currently at home:
She took me to the hospital.
She brought me home.
If the speaker is the indirect object, the rule is different, and “bring/brought” should be used in all cases.
She brought me a card while I was in the hospital.
She will bring me something to eat in a few minutes.
I’d just like to say that I’ve never, ever in my life even considered the possibility that anyone would say “another thing coming.” That sounds completely foreign and nonsensical to me.
Think. You’ve got another think coming. I’ve never seen or heard it any other way until reading this thread. If your keeping track, I lived18 years in New England, 13 years in the Midwest, and 5 years in the south – so it’s not some tiny regional thing. Or a regional think.
I see. Thank you.
Seriously, this is one hotly-debated topic. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone from either camp switch sides. People get passionate about these thinks!
Yes, I know about sneaky names for food, and I do read labels. My irritation with “wheat bread” isn’t so much with the evasion or the grammar as with the people who just don’t get it.
I haven’t been keeping up with this thread until 2nite …sorry, couldn’t resist 
My first thought was “If they think I am going to open my mouth in a room full of speech police they have another think coming!” (Yeah, I say yea to the think side of the thing/think fence…Yay! one more for the think side 
)
But it is such a fun thread I can’t resist a couple of comments.
I could care less – when I have used this it is kind of a smartypants reply – as in – I could care less if I were so inclined but I care so little already why bother?
Prolly has always been a curious one to me and I was glad to see it mentioned here. Prolly has 6 letters and probably has 8 so I can’t really see it as much of a short cut. I have never heard anyone actually say prolly so I can’t see it as a “write like you speak” kind of exception. Where did it come from? Can it go back?
Fun thread. I really enjoyed all the posts.
