# Stop typing like and uneducated fool **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 11, 2002, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-typing-like-and-uneducated-fool/131833 "2002-10-11T16:08:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-typing-like-and-uneducated-fool/131833/61 "2002-10-13T20:18:19Z")
> [@](#): > > I do try to be good. I never say anything when my friend Chris tells me that she has a “photogeneric memory” You’re just jealous that she got it cheaper than the brand-name photographic memories! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-typing-like-and-uneducated-fool/131833/62 "2002-10-14T00:28:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by happyheathen \* > \*\*Burn your “dictionary” - it is hellspawn. > > “Unique” is binary - as is “pregnant” - it is or it is not. \*\* So a restaurant that serves Native American food in Asheville is no more unique than one that serves Martian brains simmered in jellied gravity distortion? I, and my American Heritage (a real asskicker of a dictionary), disagree. While “unique” can be binary, it don’t gotta be. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-typing-like-and-uneducated-fool/131833/63 "2002-10-14T00:34:08Z")
**less** unique. Damn you, **Gaudere**! ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-typing-like-and-uneducated-fool/131833/64 "2002-10-14T03:36:34Z")
“Unique” is binary. Period. Class dismissed. (you’re one of those 8[sup]th[/sup] graders whose papers I marked all those years ago, aren’t you? 🙂 ) New example: Suppose you want to buy a new airplane (~$200K and up (mostly up) thanks to the lawyers and the FAA) and you live in Colorado (or WY, or MT) and you look up your local Piper dealer. You will find them proudly proclaiming here: [http://www.aviationsales.com/](http://www.aviationsales.com/) > [@](#): > > Aviation Sales has been selling and servicing > hundreds of aircraft owners in the U.S. since 1971. Gotta love it! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-typing-like-and-uneducated-fool/131833/65 "2002-10-14T04:41:31Z")
Most of this thread hasn’t been about the OP at all. “Typing like and uneducated fool” is actually just a typo. Irritating as it is to read sometimes, nobody would ever actually say this. The other examples in this thread, are, unfortunately, things people say (or write) on purpose, all the time, and not excusable as (whoops, almost typed “like”) a typo such as in the thread title. On to my non-typographic pet peeves - If he had done x, I would have done y. --CORRECT If he would have done x, I would have done y. --CRINGE-INDUCING And, more a stylistic thing than grammar: when newscasters say “Back in 1996…” Bad style; they should just say “In 1996…” The way they say it makes me think 1996 is supposed to be in the distant, misty past… way back before everything that matters … some very old, senile and insiginificant folk might remember wa-a-a-a-y back in 1996… ---
**Author:** ![Forbin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5e9695/32.png) [@Forbin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Forbin)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-typing-like-and-uneducated-fool/131833/66 "2002-10-14T07:32:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tdn \* > \*\* > > Um… Yeah, I know. :rolleyes: \*\* I was whooshed. :smack: I knew it right after I hit “submit” Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-typing-like-and-uneducated-fool/131833/67 "2002-10-14T12:53:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by happyheathen \* > \*\*“Unique” is binary. Period. Class dismissed. > > (you’re one of those 8[sup]th[/sup] graders whose papers I marked all those years ago, aren’t you? 🙂 ) > \*\* Uh, teach, before that bell rings, care to pull out a dictionary? I suspect it’ll explain why the ghosts of all those hapless 8th graders are haunting you. From Merriam-Webster’s usage note for **unique** (note that this isn’t the original dictionary I cited): > [@](#): > > Many commentators have objected to the comparison or modification (as by somewhat or very) of unique; the statement that a thing is either unique or it is not has often been repeated by them. Objections are based chiefly on the assumption that unique has but a single absolute sense, an assumption contradicted by information readily available in a dictionary. Unique dates back to the 17th century but was little used until the end of the 18th when, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, it was reacquired from French. H. J. Todd entered it as a foreign word in his edition (1818) of Johnson’s Dictionary, characterizing it as “affected and useless.” Around the middle of the 19th century it ceased to be considered foreign and came into considerable popular use. With popular use came a broadening of application beyond the original two meanings (here numbered 1 and 2a). In modern use both comparison and modification are widespread and standard but are confined to the extended senses 2b and 3. When sense 1 or sense 2a is intended, unique is used without qualifying modifiers. When I check out [the American Heritage Dictionary Online](http://www.bartleby.com/61/48/U0084800.html), I find that they consider the meaning of “unusual” to be informal. Must be a different edition than the one I had in college. Nonetheless, given that your poor 8th-grade students had a respected dictionary meaning to fall back on, it was incorrect to mark “very unique” incorrect on their papers. **Now** you can dismiss the class. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-typing-like-and-uneducated-fool/131833/68 "2002-10-14T13:18:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Little Bird \* > **You have lizzard’s for sale? Lizzard’s what? Lizzard’s gizzards? Pluralization does not require an aposrtophe in almost any circumstance! It’s really not that hard!** That should be “lizard”, and “apostrophe”. ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-typing-like-and-uneducated-fool/131833/69 "2002-10-14T21:57:24Z")
Dear snot-nosed-brat-in-the-back-of-the-class **DanielWithrow** 🙂 : This issue is the old descriptive vs. prescriptive dictionary debate. Descriptive dictionaries are hellspawn. It is because of them that Illiterates can now say “Irregardless is too a word - it’s in the dictionary” (even though they would misspell both “too” and “it’s”). If enough illiterates misuse a word, the appeasers who publish descriptive “dictionaries” will list the usage as correct. Turn away from the Dark Side! (and the little bastards did NOT have access to such a dictionary - hellspawn was not allowed in classrooms on those days) ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2002, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-typing-like-and-uneducated-fool/131833/70 "2002-10-15T13:29:56Z")
No worries, **Happyheathen** – I had superstitious ancestor-worshipping fogeys teaching English back in my junior high classes, who also didn’t recognize what dictionaries were for, and who also wouldn’t admit they were wrong in the face of evidence. Good luck with that Grammar From On High thing! Daniel ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2002, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-typing-like-and-uneducated-fool/131833/71 "2002-10-15T14:11:29Z")
Rock on! (just don’t be too surprised when people look at you funny) ---
**Author:** ![Reuben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/54ee81/32.png) [@Reuben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reuben)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2002, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-typing-like-and-uneducated-fool/131833/72 "2002-10-15T17:11:27Z")
Correct apostrophe use is not as simple as previously asserted. [http://www.apostrophe.fsnet.co.uk/](http://www.apostrophe.fsnet.co.uk/) I for one was surprised to learn that, although you use an apostrophe for personal possession (eg “Sue’s hat”), you don’t do so for _impersonal_ possession (eg “Its hat is grey”). I’ve been doing that wrong for over 20 years! ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2002, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-typing-like-and-uneducated-fool/131833/73 "2002-10-15T17:31:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Reuben \* > \*\*I for one was surprised to learn that, although you use an apostrophe for personal possession (eg “Sue’s hat”), you don’t do so for _impersonal_ possession (eg “Its hat is grey”). I’ve been doing that wrong for over 20 years! \*\* You’ve also been doing something else wrong. “e.g.,” always requires specific punctuation: a period after each letter and a comma after the final period (unless you end a sentence with the abbreviation, in which case it should be preceded by a comma). It’s short for “exempli gratia,” if I remember my Latin; this phrase translates roughly as “for example.” Place the comma accordingly. Daniel just to show **HH** that I can be a grammar nazi too. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-typing-like-and-uneducated-fool/131833/74 "2002-10-16T00:05:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DanielWithrow \* > \*\* > > “e.g.,” always requires specific punctuation: \*\* [etc] You’re talking to a person who has already mastered the correct usage of “E.g.” (as opposed to “i.e.”) Cut the guy some slack on the punctuation! jes’ kiddin’; keep up the good work! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-typing-like-and-uneducated-fool/131833/75 "2002-10-16T04:28:30Z")
One that’s been bothering me lately: “Mexican (or Chinese or whatever) Restaurant.” The word “restaurant” implies that they serve food–so “Food Restaurant” is redundant. ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-typing-like-and-uneducated-fool/131833/76 "2002-10-16T05:10:56Z")
but not all that unique 😃 ---
**Author:** ![fizgig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f04885/32.png) [@fizgig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fizgig)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-typing-like-and-uneducated-fool/131833/77 "2002-10-16T06:31:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by emulsified \* > \*\*Hmm… That’s funny. That particular mistake hasn’t stuck out at me, especially not here. Maybe I just ignore it. > > The one I notice here a lot, though, is **loose** when the poster really means **lose**. > > For said posters: > > To “loose” something (when one uses it as a verb, which you invariably, and mistakenly, do) means to set something free, to untie something. It rhymes with “juice.” “Lose” is how you spell it when you mean something has gone missing. > > I’m not even going to bother with the whole “its/it’s” debacle. \*\* That one kills me. I almost had a coronary when one of my professors handed out a syllabus using “loose” for “lose.” Where’s that head blowing up smilie? ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-typing-like-and-uneducated-fool/131833/78 "2002-10-16T12:14:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dr. Rieux \* > \*\*One that’s been bothering me lately: “Mexican (or Chinese or whatever) Restaurant.” > The word “restaurant” implies that they serve food–so “Food Restaurant” is redundant. \*\* I’m not sure if I understand this one. What’s wrong with saying ‘Mexican Restaurant’ or ‘Chinese Restaurant’? The ethnic name just describes what _type_ of food they serve. ---
**Author:** ![MattTheCroc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/439d5e/32.png) [@MattTheCroc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MattTheCroc)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-typing-like-and-uneducated-fool/131833/79 "2002-10-16T14:24:05Z")
I think it was a typo: **Dr. Rieux** probably meant to say he/she (I can use it in that instance!) finds it annoying when people say “Mexican Food Restaurant”. Maybe. I must admit I’ve never heard that before in my life. I’ve found it helpful to remember the “its” thing by putting it in the same category as other words similar to it: yours, his, hers etc. None of those have apostrophes, but since we have no similar words that _do_ have apostrophes, we don’t make the mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-typing-like-and-uneducated-fool/131833/80 "2002-10-16T16:31:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MattTheCroc \* > **Dr. Rieux probably meant to say he/she (I can use it in that instance!)** Noooo! 😉 Use “he or she”. It’s so much nicer. \*\*DanielWithrow: > [@](#): > > You’ve also been doing something else wrong. “e.g.,” always requires specific punctuation: a period after each letter and a comma after the final period (unless you end a sentence with the abbreviation, in which case it should be preceded by a comma). It’s short for “exempli gratia,” if I remember my Latin; this phrase translates roughly as “for example.” Place the comma accordingly. \*\*Pfft. _Fowler’s Modern English Usage_ tells us that it is perfectly okay to omit the full stops in common abbreviations. Would you bother writing “U.S.A.”? Your point about placing a comma after “eg” is well made, however. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-typing-like-and-uneducated-fool/131833.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-typing-like-and-uneducated-fool/131833.md?page=5)