Inspired by Narrad’s Pit rant about the popular misuse of the term schizophrenic:
You’ve got a word like that, admit it. You know that in the big-picture scheme of things, it doesn’t matter; you may even have admitted you’re fighting a losing battle. But every time you hear the word misused, it takes you one step closer to going absolutely apedoodoo. What’s yours?
Mine is “train”. We’ve got a toddler in the house, so we read a lot of picture books. For some reason, picture book authors rarely seem to know the difference between a locomotive or engine on the one hand, and a train on the other. A picture of a steam locomotive will be labelled “train”. This bugs me so badly that I confess I’ve gone so far as to cross out the word and write the correct term below it :o Doesn’t work well with alphabet books, thought. “S is for Snake, and T is for… um… diesel locomotive?”
Fortunately, the day will come when totnak moves on to the Railway Series/Thomas the Tank Engine books. The good Reverend knew the difference, bless 'im, and so far the post-Rev Awdry books we’re read in the TtTE series have gotten it right as well. Until then, I’ll just fight the urge to scream every time I see a “train” that’s one element long.
Convinced vs. persuaded. Pushes me right over the edge. You can’t “convince” someone else. YOU can be convinced of something. You PERSUADE other people.
EchoKitty, I could very well be wrong (and could easily be convinced of such), but I thought you could convince a person of something (i.e., a statement of fact or opinion), but not to do something (that’s where persuasion comes in).
In other words, you could convince me that Tom Jones is the greatest singer alive… but would have to persuade me to go see him in Vegas with you.
Auntie em, now you’ve got me wondering…the way I understand it is I can’t say, “I convinced her…”, but you could say, “She convinced me that Tom Jones…” I could say “I persuaded her to believe that Tom Jones…” I’m at work, so I don’t have a good usage book. Maybe I can find something in cyberspace that will tell all.
Max, you are so smart. Of course, that whole little usage blurb at the bottom lost me at about midpoint, but I’m becoming convinced that my little “rule” for use of those two words no longer really applies.
EchoKitty, check out the link supplied by Max Carnage, and see what you think. I’m going to go have some coffee, and then maybe read it again.
"According to a traditional rule, convince is used to indicate mental acceptance, and persuade to indicate mental acceptance followed by action. Thus you convince someone of the truth of a statement or proposition but persuade someone to do something. By extension you use convince, but not persuade, with a that clause. Thus you should say By convincing me that no good could come of staying, he persuaded me to leave. 1
If you accept this distinction, then you should not use convince with an infinitive: He persuaded (not convinced) me to go. In an earlier survey, a majority of the Usage Panel upheld this distinction. But the use of convince with an infinitive has become increasingly common even among reputable writers. In addition, both persuade and convince see frequent use with that clauses to indicate the acceptance of truth: I convinced (or persuaded) the receptionist that the matter was urgent. Thus, the traditional rule does not appear to have much of a future.
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Well, there I go with the antiquated usage again! A big round of applause to my father, the Grammar Nazi, who has difficulty changing with the times. He’s been drilling this into me since I was kneehigh to a grasshopper, and always uses the excuse of, “Well, if people didn’t misuse it all the time, it wouldn’t have become acceptable!” Thanks, Auntie.
This copyeditor maintains the traditonal distinction between convince and persuade, FWIW.
I’d say that the term at the top of my peeve list is tax return. I have a friend who misuses this all the time, and it drives me batty. “I’m going to spend my tax return on X, Y, and Z.” AAAAUUGHH!
Your tax return is the form you fill out and send in.
Your tax refund is the money you get back (if you’re lucky) after you send in your tax return.
-The written use of “would of” in place of “would’ve” and “should of” in place of “should’ve”.
-The spoken or written use of “ironic” in place of “coincidence”.
-The COMPLETE misuse (myself included!) of the word “hopefully”.
-and finally, to Christine, my ex-manager, who used the words “flustrated” (in place of “frustrated”) and “blump” (in place of “blunt”) in THE VERY SAME SENTENCE!
I’ll see the “literally,” “orientate” and “comprise,” and raise a “momentarily/presently/currently.” My father drilled those into me so hard that I cannot stop myself from correcting people.
“Momentarily” is for a moment, “presently” is in a moment, and “currently” is now.
Not of all of them (oh, man, ditto on the irregardless), but I’m probably guilty of that tax return thing, and am definitely guilty of the comprised of faux pas…
