# Missing words **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 23, 2010, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-words/565178 "2010-12-23T14:23:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-words/565178/1 "2010-12-23T14:23:02Z")
Recently I’ve noticed more posts that are missing words, often verbs. Examples: > [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > How can a 1700 year old pulsar visible? > > I accidentally a 1700 year old pulsar. > [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > How can a 1700 year old pulsar visible? > > You may have thought you a pulsar but you actually a burning dog. These are from one thread, and the replies are intentionally mis-written. I’ve seen actual examples elsewhere. It’s become common enough to become punchline fodder. The thing is, the proliferation seems pretty recent. Have I missed the missing words for ten years? Or are people suddenly dropping words? We all delete words on edit, or have extra words when we edit while typing; but it seems to be becoming more common. What’s up? I hope, in my caffeine-deprived state, I did not any words. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-words/565178/2 "2010-12-23T14:29:01Z")
In my case, screwed-up grammar is more likely when I go back and edit a sentence in a previous paragraph. I don’t always follow through and make sure it fits properly with the rest of the sentence. Another problem is when I’m posting from my iPhone and the whole text box/post doesn’t show on the screen to allow for an easy skim before posting. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-words/565178/3 "2010-12-23T14:49:12Z")
The first post is related to that stupid joke about “I accidentally a whole Coke bottle” which makes me all stabby. The second one, I would think, is related to the old Pit thread called “I burning you dog”. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-words/565178/4 "2010-12-23T14:50:54Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > The first post is related to that stupid joke about “I accidentally a whole Coke bottle” which makes me all stabby. > > The second one, I would think, is related to the old Pit thread called “I burning you dog”. I know that. They were just handy. I’ve read sentences that were missing words elsewhere, but which were not funny enough for anyone to comment on. It just seems to be happening more often. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-words/565178/5 "2010-12-23T15:06:27Z")
Well, I _thought_ it sounded too easy! 😛 Carry on. FWIW I haven’t noticed a lot of this (missing verbs). ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-words/565178/6 "2010-12-23T18:38:15Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I know that. They were just handy. I’ve read sentences that were missing words elsewhere, but which were not funny enough for anyone to comment on. It just seems to be happening more often. In many cases people do it **because** of the “accidentally” joke, which is about [a year and a half old](http://encyclopediadramatica.com/I_accidentally_X). ---
**Author:** ![Al\_Bundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-words/565178/7 "2010-12-23T19:16:10Z")
I don’t ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-words/565178/8 "2010-12-27T19:08:57Z")
I see it frequently in thread titles and it makes me all cranky. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-words/565178/9 "2010-12-27T23:32:37Z")
This sentence no verb. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-words/565178/10 "2010-12-28T05:43:26Z")
Then not sentence. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-words/565178/11 "2010-12-28T08:03:23Z")
I can’t speak for others, but often it seems like my hands are typing something totally different than what my brain is thinking. I will re-read something I wrote and be shocked at the odd spellings, typos and grammar snafus. It also doesn’t help when I do last minute editing and wind up with screwed up sentences like, “She liked to going to the movies.” Drives me crazy and usually I don’t notice until after the window of opportunity to edit the post has expired. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-words/565178/12 "2010-12-28T16:40:18Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Drives me crazy Was noticing recently that people seem to think it’s OK to have subjectless sentences like this one. Why do that?