As a court reporter, we fight with crossed swords at dawn over things like how to pluralize in a truly verbatim way – is it, “I went to the Jones’ house,” or to convey the way it’s actually spoken, is it “I went to the Joneses’ house”? I doubt anyone will ever issue a final ruling, on that OR the serial comma. And the issue of whether y’all is really a word is strictly a Mason-Dixon debate. I say when someone says y’all, it’s silly to put you all. They didn’t SAY you all. No self-respecting Southerner would.
But I digress. In the weird v. wierd, I offer this extended version of an old rhyme that for some useless reason I committed to memory years ago, and can now remember easily even though I forget my childrens’ names and telephone number regularly:
I before E except after C
or when sounded as A in neighbor and weigh.
But their, weird, and either,
foreign, seize, neither,
leisure, forfeit, and height
are exceptions spelled right.
How’s this? Got a great letter of reference, right out of college, from a charity for which I’d worked for more than 7 years.
From the Regional Director, 4th down the food chain for the state: “He’s been an intrical part of our team, for both the Telethon and the summer camp.”
Talk about moral dilemma and a bottle of Wite-Out… to go…
“Affect” versus “effect” – oh, don’t get me started!
The house belonging to the Jones family would be “the Joneses’ house” because “Joneses” is the plural of “Jones” following the rule that words ending in -s are pluralized with -es. I agree, it looks hideous, which is probably why I have to keep making that correction in the transcripts of certain court reporters whom I work for. Ah, Mama Tiger: It’s hard enough being a court reporter and taking that sludge; how’d you like to be the proofreader who reads for a dozen-plus reporters??? At least I don’t have to spend the day with the actual lawyers and witnesses.
There are days when I think, if I see “criteria” treated as a singular one more time, I’ll go berserk and commit hara-kiri with my red pen. And since court reporting is verbatim (okay, Mama Tiger, we won’t open THAT can of worms here, huh?) it has to be left as is. :mad: I’ve given up on “data” as a singular.
Disinterested. Especially in cases such as “the player appealed to the umpire who was disinterested.” Of course he was - umpires are supposed to be impartial. He was probably uninterested in the appeal.
Sign on a local bank: “Not to big, not to small”. I want to go add “Not to good at spelling”.
One that seems common in America: use of the plural form instead of singular when the plural ends in “a”. From a letter sent home from my son’s school: “The criteria is…”. You also see/hear “The bacteria is” more than “The bacterium is”. But being in the IT industry, I’ve given up on data/datum.
My 15-year-old daughter was writing a book report for her summer reading book, and asked me from the other room if that word was two separate words or if it was hyphenated. I had remembered posters mentioning this incorrect usage a couple of times on this board and was dying to know if she was using it the right way or not. When she brought me her paper to proofread, you have no idea how happy I was to see it was “prima donna.”
She reads a lot, though. I’m convinced avid readers have a big advantage over those who never read.
If you’re shipwrecked, you may end up on a deserted island (wishing you had some dessert, among other things), but not a desert island. If it’s near water, it can’t be a desert.
OK, this definition is obviously wrong then, but what is the definiton of ‘desert’? If I’d had to guess it would have been something to do with annual rainfall, but apparently not. Is it just ‘dry’??
ACK!!! Here I am, minding my own business, proofreading a transcript and trying desperately not to be driven mad by the attorneys’ childish bickering. They’ve reached the point (and it’s only page 46 of 174) of fighting about who’s making personal insults. Isn’t that bad enough, with adding a mistranslated idiom? Please, it’s “stock in trade”, not “stock and trade”.
On the high seas, a jury rig is “Temporary and makeshift rig in place of rigging carried away or lost.” (Dictionary of Nautical Words and Terms by CWT Layton, Master Mariner)
I’m trying to whomp up a way to pun that back into your court, Mr. B, but so far I’m becalmed.
Oh, indubitably! A number of posters have mentioned that some of the common errors arise from hearing rather than seeing the term – “would of” being a prime example.
In reading one gets to observe the phrase in its native habitat, surrounded by context, and learns how it should be used – or indeed intentionally misused for dramatic or comedic effect. Deliberately turning prima donna into Pre-Madonna to “turn a phrase”, would be funny… thinking it was the correct phrasing would be unfortunate.
Gosh - I’d always thought it came from Duesenberg automobiles. However, a quick check proved me wrong. Apparently, that’s a fairly popular bit of misinformation, although the word predates the car by two or three decades.
And Rilchiam, of this, at least, I am certain: you are only half right about “desert islands.” That is the proper phrase as it was used a couple centuries ago and thence passed into common usage, although it does spring from a funky conjugation of the word “deserted,” and does mean “uninhabited” as opposed to “bare and sandy.” And then, of course, there is Mount Desert Island…
I once had a very involved argument with a friend over “abound.” She said “The monkeys were a bound!” No, the monkeys abounded. We went in circles for twenty minutes until I found the dictionary.
I’d rather forget the time the grocery store put up a sign announcing the anticipated opening of a branch of the local Bank Entrust.
Something that I’ve noticed is that some people don’t know when to drop their e’s. The most common example is “truely”, but there have been others. Then there’s also “shoe-in” and confusion between “phase” and “faze”. I’d also like to mention a company’s motto which I found ironic. I don’t remember the company or the motto, but it was something about the importance of knowlege. As for “desert island”, it’s theoretically possible for an island to not get rain (although if it’s small, it would quite odd). Precipitation is the determining factor, not presence of water. Antartica (sp ) is technically a desert, even though it’s covered in water.
Not something one should indulge in on dry land.