# It's wrong, but I say it anyway **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 6, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-wrong-but-i-say-it-anyway/307189 "2005-06-06T19:30:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TheOnlySaneOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@TheOnlySaneOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheOnlySaneOne)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-wrong-but-i-say-it-anyway/307189/41 "2005-06-08T18:41:55Z")
I’ll admit it. I use the completely fictional word “disconcur” all the time. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-wrong-but-i-say-it-anyway/307189/42 "2005-06-08T20:01:03Z")
I say “ATM Machine” though it bothers me when I do it. I also say “ISBN Number”. I try not to, but I do. ::hangs head in shame:: ---
**Author:** ![Renob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8c91f0/32.png) [@Renob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renob)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-wrong-but-i-say-it-anyway/307189/43 "2005-06-08T20:05:18Z")
When speaking, liberal use of the word “ain’t.” I also use such phrases as “don’t got.” I grew up in a rural area where everyone spoke this way, and it’s just stuck with me. I’m a stickler when writing, however. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-wrong-but-i-say-it-anyway/307189/44 "2005-06-09T14:41:38Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by Sal Ammoniac > > > > I just found myself writing “The data is…” and I left it, even knowing it was wrong. So shoot me. > > The ‘these data’ police really annoy me. They can’t accept that language _changes_, and that ‘data’ is now acceptable as a singular. Stick with what you’re doing, and don’t accept that it’s wrong. The [Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary](http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=19660&dict=CALD) accepts both versions. Ask them if the rice that came with their Chinese takeout are sufficiently hot, or if you need to heat them up in the microwave oven. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-wrong-but-i-say-it-anyway/307189/45 "2005-06-09T14:56:28Z")
Salmon rhymes with “gal men”. Walk and balk and talk have fully pronounced Ls in them too. Deal with it. If Joe says “Punctuation marks come after the quotation marks.”, ending his sentence in a period, I’m _quoting_ that period and therefore enclosing it within the quotation marks regardless of whether or not I’m ending my sentence with “Punctuation marks come after the quotation marks.”. And in agreement with each of the men and women who have already commented on “they” and “their” as gender-neutral singular pronoun / possessives, I’m adding my “me too” to their entry. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-wrong-but-i-say-it-anyway/307189/46 "2005-06-09T15:33:57Z")
I also have a bad habit of using the word “seriously” for emphasis in sentences where I’m not being serious at all. For example, “I’m seriously considering opening the project manager and killing the virus scanner process.” The worst thing is that it really annoys me when people use the word “literally” in the same way. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-wrong-but-i-say-it-anyway/307189/47 "2005-06-09T16:28:34Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Ask them if the rice that came with their Chinese takeout are sufficiently hot, or if you need to heat them up in the microwave oven. Unless I’m missing something, this isn’t a comparable example (the original singular of data which the pedants are implicitly referring to is ‘datum’). ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-wrong-but-i-say-it-anyway/307189/48 "2005-06-09T16:33:19Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Unless I’m missing something, this isn’t a comparable example (the original singular of data which the pedants are implicitly referring to is ‘datum’). I can’t even bring myself to say “datum.” To me that’s practically on the same order of things as people who insist that the plural of “octopus” is “octopedes.” ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-wrong-but-i-say-it-anyway/307189/49 "2005-06-09T16:39:08Z")
> [@](#): > > To me that’s practically on the same order of things as people who insist that the plural of “octopus” is “octopedes.” It’s “octopodes.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-wrong-but-i-say-it-anyway/307189/50 "2005-06-09T16:41:03Z")
> [@yBeayf](#): > > It’s “octopodes.” 😉 But only in the Antipodes. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-wrong-but-i-say-it-anyway/307189/51 "2005-06-09T18:26:35Z")
> [@Sal Ammoniac](#): > > I can’t even bring myself to say “datum.” To me that’s practically on the same order of things as people who insist that the plural of “octopus” is “octopedes.” Wait’ll you hear geographers talk about [geodetic datums](http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/datum/datum_f.html). ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-wrong-but-i-say-it-anyway/307189/52 "2005-06-09T19:30:46Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Unless I’m missing something, this isn’t a comparable example (the original singular of data which the pedants are implicitly referring to is ‘datum’). On a not altogether unrelated note, I decided the other day that the singular of rice should be rouse. ---
**Author:** ![Thirty-Nine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f0a364/32.png) [@Thirty-Nine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thirty-Nine)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-wrong-but-i-say-it-anyway/307189/53 "2005-06-09T19:46:23Z")
I talk about Espressos and Cappuccinos. Espressi and Cappuccini are a bit pretentious in most situations. I do take issue with Panini being used as the singular – that’s a bit bizarre, but more establishments are starting to get it right. Nobody ever told me that using ‘they’ in place of ‘he/she’ was wrong until it was far too late. ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-wrong-but-i-say-it-anyway/307189/54 "2005-06-09T21:49:20Z")
Having grown up in southern Ohio, I stubbornly say “the lawn needs mowed.” I happen to think that’s not wrong at all, but it sure does annoy some people. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-wrong-but-i-say-it-anyway/307189/55 "2005-06-09T23:47:54Z")
> [@gonzoron](#): > > On a not altogether unrelated note, I decided the other day that the singular of rice should be rouse. I like it. I also argue that given the plural of goose is geese, the plural of moose is… > [@Thirty-Nine](#): > > I talk about Espressos and Cappuccinos. Espressi and Cappuccini are a bit pretentious in most situations _Pretentious_? They’ve got to be taking the piss. My god. Please, tell me they’re not serious. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-wrong-but-i-say-it-anyway/307189/56 "2005-06-10T00:10:46Z")
“How’s you?” and “I likes it.” I can’t explain it. It’s so wrong that it should make me bleed from my pores, but I likes it, rabbit. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-wrong-but-i-say-it-anyway/307189/57 "2005-06-10T02:00:49Z")
kerfluffle. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-wrong-but-i-say-it-anyway/307189/58 "2005-06-10T02:15:09Z")
> [@gonzoron](#): > > On a not altogether unrelated note, I decided the other day that the singular of rice should be rouse. Why bother? Rice already is singular. Then again, I like the idea of “rouse.” It’s easier than “grain of rice.” _E.g._: “Excuse me, there’s a rouse on your necktie.” ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-wrong-but-i-say-it-anyway/307189/59 "2005-06-13T14:24:27Z")
Exactly. “A grain of rice” seems so superflous. Rouse fills the need nicely. ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-wrong-but-i-say-it-anyway/307189/60 "2005-06-13T14:24:43Z")
Exactly. “A grain of rice” seems so superfluous. Rouse fills the need nicely. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-wrong-but-i-say-it-anyway/307189.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-wrong-but-i-say-it-anyway/307189.md?page=4)