# Shibboleths and simple judgements - what are yours? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 25, 2006, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shibboleths-and-simple-judgements-what-are-yours/341491 "2006-01-25T02:08:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shibboleths-and-simple-judgements-what-are-yours/341491/41 "2006-02-02T07:16:29Z")
> [@M. Meursault](#): > > The judge’s microphone stopped working. Once it got it fixed, he asked “can you hear me now?” The courtroom chuckled. I died on the inside. Monsieur, un peu d’illumination, s’il vous plait, pour nos etrangers. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shibboleths-and-simple-judgements-what-are-yours/341491/42 "2006-02-02T07:19:25Z")
> [@jabiru](#): > > People (politicians in particular) who want to be kept “appraised” of the situation. Yes, Alexander Downer, I’m talking about you. Yes, mate (Downer, not you), open app-u-rise! ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shibboleths-and-simple-judgements-what-are-yours/341491/43 "2006-02-02T07:20:48Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Oh, and my snap judgments are against people in the military, and abortionists. You mean you’re instinctually anti-military and anti-abortion? Unusual combo. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shibboleths-and-simple-judgements-what-are-yours/341491/44 "2006-02-02T07:24:15Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > Sort of similar to what the OP was saying…I notice that some people say things like, “I miss not having you around” when they clearly mean “I miss having you around”. Am I allowed four in a row? Well, it’s my thread, so I’ll try if I want to. This happens quite a bit when people without the wit to use multiple negation try it because they think it’s somehow more intellectual. The verbal equivalent of wearing glasses. Problems also often occur after another verb with negative “prosody”: _deny_. ---
**Author:** ![M.Meursault](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@M.Meursault](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/M.Meursault)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shibboleths-and-simple-judgements-what-are-yours/341491/45 "2006-02-02T15:17:26Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > Monsieur, un peu d’illumination, s’il vous plait, pour nos etrangers. This occurred when that…Verizon? Sprint? commercial was popular, with the dorky guy in the jumpsuit walking everywhere, checking reception. “Can you hear me now? Good.” was the tagline for the commerical, indicating that particular cell phone carrier’s superior reception. At the time, people were saying it all the time. I did hear it more frequently when people were yelling into cell phones. They’d say the tag line and chuckle. That sort of thing. It also bothered me when “Wassup!” (from a beer commercial) become the standard greeting for some people. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shibboleths-and-simple-judgements-what-are-yours/341491/46 "2006-02-02T19:30:29Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > You mean you’re instinctually anti-military and anti-abortion? Unusual combo. Yeah, I fit in with the Democrats/farther-left peaceniks except for that pesky pro-life issue. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shibboleths-and-simple-judgements-what-are-yours/341491/47 "2006-02-02T20:48:56Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > Sort of similar to what the OP was saying…I notice that some people say things like, “I miss not having you around” when they clearly mean “I miss having you around”. I have another usage/grammar one, but I have to be forgiving here since some of my nearest and dearest do this. It isn’t “how dare him”, or “how dare her”, or “how dare them”! Her and him, if you’ll pardon the expression, don’t dare. People who say this think that any pronoun following a verb has to be in the objective, and they haven’t read widely enough to understand that “to dare” is a special kind of verb that doesn’t require the usual “do” auxiliary construction when placed in a question. ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shibboleths-and-simple-judgements-what-are-yours/341491/48 "2006-02-02T22:40:59Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > Re spelling names wrong, I can understand people who do it to put the other person down (“You’re so unimportant that I don’t care how to spell your name”), but when it’s done through carelessness or incompetence, it’s irredeemable. I hav a very difficult name; thus when it’s spelled \*right \* on an envelope I notice! > > And when someone who’s never met me pronounces it right, then I know that either they have met me or my family, or they know someone who knows me/my family. For some reason, I am very used to people mispronouncing my name, and I take no offense. However, I am an absolute fanatic about getting other’s names right, both in pronunciation and in spelling. I work quite often with people from China and from India. Some of these names are really tough. Fortunately, I have never completely exasperated these folk by eschewing their “nicknames” and getting them to listen to me try and try and try to pronounce them correctly. They have always been very patient, fortunately, and seemed to genuinely be OK with my “Monk-style” obsessiveness in getting it right. All I can say is that, from both sides of the fence, it does sometimes take a real effort on both of us. As for the spelling, that is a different matter. It is so easy to get the correct speeling and keep it handy, that once should get it wrong as long as you pull out your little book and continually refer to it. NO EXCUSE FOR GETTING THAT WRONG REPEATEDLY! Whew. I feel better now. ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shibboleths-and-simple-judgements-what-are-yours/341491/49 "2006-02-02T22:46:21Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > Re spelling names wrong, I can understand people who do it to put the other person down (“You’re so unimportant that I don’t care how to spell your name”), but when it’s done through carelessness or incompetence, it’s irredeemable. I hav a very difficult name; thus when it’s spelled \*right \* on an envelope I notice! > > And when someone who’s never met me pronounces it right, then I know that either they have met me or my family, or they know someone who knows me/my family. For some reason, I am very used to people mispronouncing my name, and I take no offense. However, I am an absolute fanatic about getting other’s names right, both in pronunciation and in spelling. I work quite often with people from China and from India. Some of these names are really tough. Fortunately, I have never completely exasperated these folk by eschewing their “nicknames” and getting them to listen to me try and try and try to pronounce them correctly. They have always been very patient, fortunately, and seemed to genuinely be OK with my “Monk-style” obsessiveness in getting it right. All I can say is that, from both sides of the fence, it does sometimes take a real effort on both of us. As for the spelling, that is a different matter. It is so easy to get the correct speeling and keep it handy, that there is no excuse for getting it wrong except for maybe once; just pull out your little book and continually refer to it. NO EXCUSE FOR GETTING THAT WRONG REPEATEDLY! Whew. I feel better now. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shibboleths-and-simple-judgements-what-are-yours/341491/50 "2006-02-03T01:11:09Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Yeah, I fit in with the Democrats/farther-left peaceniks except for that pesky pro-life issue. Further proof that “farther left” and “farther right” can have more in common than either has with the masses in the middle (the wooses who sit on the fence). Though not anti-military as such, I am anti-militia (i.e. anti-handguns and assorted weapons of destruction being toted by my next door neighbour) as well as being anti abortion-on-demand. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shibboleths-and-simple-judgements-what-are-yours/341491/51 "2006-02-03T03:16:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Incorrect use of “myself”, as in “My sister and myself went to the store”. ARGH! " my sister and myself went to the store…ARGH!" Is acceptable on Talk Like a Pirate Day, no? 😃 I would like to add to that ARRRGH worthy note the absolutely annoying, " The Kids and Me" or “My mom and Me” Argh, indeed. And I absolutely detest the slang _y’all_. ::::shudder:::: I also have some residual issues left over from High school english by the toughest teacher I’ve ever had ( and I can’t remember her name) but boy! was she ever hung up on not using the word **got**. She hated it and harped on us and now, all these years later, I _cringe_ when I hear [b]got\*\*. Thanks, Mrs. Whatsyourface! ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shibboleths-and-simple-judgements-what-are-yours/341491/52 "2006-02-03T03:32:37Z")
> [@LiveOnAPlane](#): > > For some reason, I am very used to people mispronouncing my name, and I take no offense. Me too. The first time, anyway, and maybe the second time. But when you pronounce it wrong the third time, I might not smile when I correct you. And by the fourth or fifth time, I’m going to be downright irritated. (And yes, this happens. More than you’d believe, really.) Hint: it’s not Kayla. I don’t care that you have a niece/cousin/friend named Kayla. If you can’t pronounce my short, phonetically-spelled name correctly, I’m afraid I’m going to have to think you’re a complete moron. Also: I am probably unreasonably harsh in my judgments of people who use apostrophes incorrectly. Did we not all attend the fourth grade? Please, people. **double-checks to make sure all apostrophes are correct and clicks submit** ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shibboleths-and-simple-judgements-what-are-yours/341491/53 "2006-02-03T20:42:22Z")
> [@M. Meursault](#): > > I had to stop correcting people when they said “me and my mom” (or whatever). Upon hearing this, I would say “my mom and I.” Usually, a debate would follow, where I would chastise their lack of politeness (I don’t think this is an actual grammar rule; it’s just somewhat rude). There’s definitely a grammar rule. “Me” is used when replacing the object, and “I” when replacing the subject. “Grandma gave sweaters to me and my mom for Christmas.” is both correct and polite. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shibboleths-and-simple-judgements-what-are-yours/341491/54 "2006-02-03T22:02:31Z")
> [@iamthewalrus(:3=](#): > > There’s definitely a grammar rule. “Me” is used when replacing the object, and “I” when replacing the subject. “Grandma gave sweaters to me and my mom for Christmas.” is both correct and polite. Correct, yes, but some would say it’s polite to name your mom before yourself. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shibboleths-and-simple-judgements-what-are-yours/341491.md?page=2)