# Another "misspellings or grammatical errors that drive you nuts" thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 16, 2008, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183 "2008-08-16T03:22:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![phil417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@phil417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phil417)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/161 "2008-08-23T07:09:47Z")
[QUOTE=Indistinguishable] “avocado” most certainly does have a second “a”. What it lacks is a third one. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Thanks. You’re right. Love, Phil ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/162 "2008-08-23T11:23:05Z")
I got a chuckle at work yesterday. In a blog, an editor wrote a long post about grammar and spelling, and in the first sentence, she had an it’s/its error. Not only that, but another editor posted a comment without noting the error. I think I was about the 8th post down, and I said something like “I hope the _it’s_ in the first line is a typo.” I was trying not to snark, but I couldn’t let it go. The OP graciously responded and corrected her error - I suspect she was more than a little embarrassed, but it happens, doesn’t it? The fingers get on autopilot and sometimes you miss it. Now I’ll post this, hoping I don’t miss my own possible goofs… ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/163 "2008-08-23T17:03:06Z")
Noticed this in an SDMB posting yesterday, but didn’t want to hijack the discussion (and now I’ve forgotten enough of the discussion that I’m not sure what to search for in order to find the thread :smack: ). **Proscribe** is not the same as **prescribe** , and in fact means almost the opposite. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/164 "2008-08-23T17:40:57Z")
A [warning to pedants](http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s1i33042) ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2008, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/165 "2008-08-24T15:30:54Z")
[QUOTE=pseudotriton ruber ruber] Does everybody agree with \*\*RNATB \*\* here? Because either he or I is RNATB. Who, for example, dictated that “within is not inclusive”? Seems inclusive to me. [/QUOTE] Would you say that you’re within a circle if you’re sitting right on the line that forms the circle? I certainly wouldn’t and I’ve never heard anyone else do it either. Nor would I say that being 6 points from winning the game is the same as being within 6 points. You would be within 10 points of winning, but not within 6 points. I’ll take the chance to gripe about people who say “same difference”. This has annoyed me at least back to high school. Six and seven have the same difference as three and four. Nearly every other usage is incorrect. There can only be a same difference if there are two differences. What is meant is that there is no difference. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2008, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/166 "2008-08-24T17:08:17Z")
One that has recently been gaining in popularity is the misuse of “ect” in place of “etc”. Classics that have bothered me for decades: “your” misused for “you’re”. “affect” instead of “effect”. This one almost caused me to have a breakdown at my junior high science fair, as about 75% of the other entries got it wrong. The name game: I’ve posted before about this, but the name is “Buddha”, not “Buddah”. It’s also “Gandhi”, not “Ghandi”. The record holder for consecutive MLB games played is Cal Ripken, not “Ripkin”. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2008, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/167 "2008-08-24T17:27:17Z")
[QUOTE=snailboy] I’ll take the chance to gripe about people who say “same difference”. This has annoyed me at least back to high school. Six and seven have the same difference as three and four. Nearly every other usage is incorrect. There can only be a same difference if there are two differences. What is meant is that there is no difference. [/QUOTE] I dunno about other people, but I’ve always used this tongue-in-cheek. It’s meant to be nonsensical. So there. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2008, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/168 "2008-08-24T17:37:46Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] Well, Cambridge seems to agree with me, given that _inside_ isn’t inclusive either. [/QUOTE] ‘…or not beyond’ is, though ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/169 "2008-08-24T17:55:48Z")
[QUOTE=snailboy] I’ll take the chance to gripe about people who say “same difference”. This has annoyed me at least back to high school. Six and seven have the same difference as three and four. Nearly every other usage is incorrect. There can only be a same difference if there are two differences. What is meant is that there is no difference. [/QUOTE] I’m trying to break my son of this one. Every time he says “same difference,” I respond, “Same difference as _what_?” ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2008, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/170 "2008-08-24T21:54:04Z")
[QUOTE=phil417] Also, I have a problem with the superfluous apostrophe often added to plurals. According to my 1986 HOW _Handbook for Office Workers_, an apostrophe is used in a plural only when using a number (the roaring 20’s) [/QUOTE] I thought when it was a year the apostrophe took the place of the missing numbers, such as the roaring '20s (the same as it takes the place of missing letters in word contractions)…? This is what I was always taught, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/171 "2008-08-25T00:19:03Z")
[QUOTE=OpalCat] I thought when it was a year the apostrophe took the place of the missing numbers [/QUOTE] I think you’re right, but you can use them thus: **1980’s**. And I think it’s also acceptable to use them for acronyms and initialisms: **ATM’s** ; **DVD’s** ; **CD’s**. I’m not entirely comfortable with that usage, it just encourages them where they ought to be discouraged, but it is nevertheless accepted. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/172 "2008-08-25T01:29:04Z")
[QUOTE=GuanoLad] I think you’re right, but you can use them thus: **1980’s**. And I think it’s also acceptable to use them for acronyms and initialisms: **ATM’s** ; **DVD’s** ; **CD’s**. I’m not entirely comfortable with that usage, it just encourages them where they ought to be discouraged, but it is nevertheless accepted. [/QUOTE] _tic_ I really need to buy myself a style manual, because I’ve built up my own personal internal style guide that I frankly have no idea if it conforms to any established style or not. But to my mind there’s no reason for apostrophes in those cases at all. 1980s, ATMs, DVDs, and CDs are all perfectly good, more consistent with the convention, and just look tidier. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/173 "2008-08-25T01:39:41Z")
[QUOTE=GuanoLad] I think you’re right, but you can use them thus: **1980’s**. And I think it’s also acceptable to use them for acronyms and initialisms: **ATM’s** ; **DVD’s** ; **CD’s**. I’m not entirely comfortable with that usage, it just encourages them where they ought to be discouraged, but it is nevertheless accepted. [/QUOTE] FWIW, my version of WordPerfect gives me the red underline when I remove the apostrophe. I hate that! It just looks so wrong with an apostrophe. ---
**Author:** ![phil417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@phil417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phil417)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/174 "2008-08-25T04:27:25Z")
[QUOTE=Indistinguishable] That’s a common urban legend, so to speak. [It isn’t true](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9277979&postcount=94). [/QUOTE] I’m an old wife (55 yrs old, married 10 years). Why can’t I insist on it (at least mentally)? Love, Phil ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/175 "2008-08-25T13:53:21Z")
[QUOTE=Indistinguishable] I still don’t understand why you think “than” only can be used in the comparative fashion. “My beliefs are different from yours.” Suppose we put another word in there, such as “similar”. \*“My beliefs are similar from yours”. What, what? That makes no sense whatsoever. The thing to say is “My beliefs are similar to yours.” Ergo, ipso facto, etc., it should be “My beliefs are different to yours”. Only that line of reasoning is fatally flawed. There’s no reason to believe that this kind of word substitution proves anything; the prepositions used with one word, and the way those prepositions are used with that word, don’t establish or require anything about prepositions used with another word/phrase. The ways prepositions are deployed in English in phrases such as these _are_ pretty arbitrary. [/quote] Erm, not quite. It appears that you’re overlooking something important here. In my example, the reason I chose “uglier” as a substitute for “different” was because, in the context of the sample sentence, the adjective was used to make a _contrasting_ comparison. “Similar” does not make a contrasting comparison, and it’s illogical to suggest that “similar” and “different” can substitute for one another. Your counter-example is like saying that “away from” and “next to” should be interchangeable, but it takes pretty tortured sentence construction to use “next from” properly. And as I said before, I was under the impression that this thread was about _common usage_. Most people who say “different than” aren’t carefully constructing a grammatically correct sentence, they’re just using it wrong. I’m sure you could argue that there are bizarre circumstances where the phrase “TRY” OUR HOT DOG’S is grammatically correct, but that don’t make Willie the Hot Dog Man’s sign a fine example of good English. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/176 "2008-08-25T14:27:55Z")
[QUOTE=Bosstone] 1980s, ATMs, DVDs, and CDs are all perfectly good, more consistent with the convention, and just look tidier. [/QUOTE] A thousand times yes. ---
**Author:** ![Hellestal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hellestal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hellestal)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/177 "2008-08-25T16:57:23Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] Are you saying that linguists concern themselves with what is “right” and “wrong” grammatically? [/quote] Linguists absolutely do concern themselves with grammatical correctness. It’s just that they base their notions of correctness on [real evidence](http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001843.html). > [@Zoe](#): > > Have linguists said that the majority rules and that whatever is currently in vogue is just fine? If a word or phrase is “in vogue” in the English language, then it is obviously a part of the English language. This is self-evident, as long as you’re aware that the language is constantly changing. > [@Zoe](#): > > Do you honestly think that most of these linguists (the movers and the shakers) would use _alright_ in an academic paper as a substitute for _all right_? It wouldn’t surprise me at all. The language changes. Always. The artificiality of spelling gives it much more resistance to change than grammar or semantics, but even spelling isn’t necessarily fixed and permanent. > [@Max Torque](#): > > I’m sure you could argue that there are bizarre circumstances where the phrase “TRY” OUR HOT DOG’S is grammatically correct… There are no _grammatical_ errors of any kind in that sentence. The mistakes are solely to do with _orthography_, or how the language is represented in writing. They are totally different things. Grammar is learned naturally, and we pretty much all speak grammatically (given our native dialect). Orthography is pounded into our heads for twelve years or more by irate schoolmarms, and most of us still suck at it. I don’t think I saw a single grammar complaint in this thread that wasn’t either incorrect, or a complaint about a well-established dialectical variation. In contrast, I’ve agreed with many (if not all) of the orthographical complaints. For example: > [@Bosstone](#): > > 1980s, ATMs, DVDs, and CDs are all perfectly good, more consistent with the convention, and just look tidier. > [@gigi](#): > > A thousand times yes. A million times yes. The only time we should use an apostrophe for a plural is when there is no other choice, like when we need the plural form of a single letter: “I received all A’s on my report card.” ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/178 "2008-08-25T17:45:01Z")
Me, I idiosyncratically pluralize single letters by surrounding them with single quotes (e.g., “I received all 'A’s on my report card.”). But that’s just the pernicious influence of C programming… ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/179 "2008-08-25T19:27:46Z")
[QUOTE=Max Torque] to make a _contrasting_ comparison [/QUOTE] Aren’t “contrast” and “compare” essentially opposites? As in instructions on a quiz to “compare and contrast” two things? compare = show the similarities: “A pound of lead and a pound of marshmallows weigh the same.” contrast = show the differences: “A pound of lead has less volume than a pound of marshmallows.” I may be misunderstanding you, but “contrasting comparison” seems to be a contradiction in terms. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/180 "2008-08-25T20:29:08Z")
A “comparison” would be an evaluation of similarities. A “contrasting comparison” is an evaluation of _dis_similarities. I chose to phrase it that way for two reasons: first, because, although the verbs “contrast” and “compare” are opposites, “contrast” as a noun isn’t quite right as the opposite of the noun “comparison”. If only “contrastion” was a word. heh. Second, I wanted to stress that, while the adjective was used to make a comparison, the comparison was a negative one, and I wanted to avoid using the words “different” or “difference”, since “different” was the word under discussion. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183.md?page=10)