A bit OT, but my favorite Star Trek verbal mistake is in the TOS episode The Devil in the Dark, where DeForest Kelley kept referring to the silicon lifeforms as “silicone.”
Maybe all the lifeforms had cosmetic surgery.
I proofread a lot of documents at work and am expected to be pedantic. It’s appreciated a lot more there than when I’m home reading Facebook posts and correcting my well-meaning, but somewhat illiterate, friends.
(after rethinking what I was going to post a few days ago)
Does “dilapidated” have a meaning specifically to do with stones in some specialty area? Totally ignorant guess: something involving masonry, maybe?
I think it has already been mentioned, but what drive a person to raise their hand during the Q&A portion of a presentation/meeting, and then when called upon say, “Can I as a question?” (And not even “May I?”
Which brings me to “Bridge May Be Icy.” Well, I’m glad it is permitted to be.
And there is “black ice.” Sure, I know it is technically a “thing.” But in common usage it is meant as “It wasn’t my fault!”
I’m pedantic enough to only use the phrase “begs the question” in its “proper” logical sense, and to notice and be annoyed whenever people use it to mean “raises the question.” But I’ve given up saying anything about it. So I don’t think that counts as “annoyingly pedantic” since the only person being annoyed is me. (There are lots of things that annoy me this way.)
Around where I was raised, it was expressed on a sign “Bridge Freezes Before Roadway”. Too much information! I remember my reaction being basically “big deal” because I took it very literally and thought it meant that the bridge structure itself froze before the road surface lain on the bridge.
They should have stated “Bridge May Be Icy” and be done with it.
That’s 296.15 K !
They were kinda’ lumpy.
Never seen black ice, have you?
Around here, I don’t think anyone would use that as an excuse. If black ice is possible, that means you should be driving very carefully
My brother-in-law denied responsibility for rear-ending someone in dense fog because he couldn’t see them due to the the fog being so thick.
Maybe I should amend my post - no one would use it an excuse without it being as just an excuse
Really. Don’t just putter along in a dense fog like a sissy, waiting to get rear-ended. Floor it! Problem solved.
My apartment is totally organized, and everything has its exact place. Since I live alone, this isn’t really a problem, but it can be annoying to my brother, SiL, or any other guest I might have.
Me: “Thanks for doing the dishes, but just leave them in the strainer. I’ll put them away.”
or
Me: “I can’t find the two water glasses I had out. (pause) You know they don’t go on THIS side of cabinet!”
Yeah, black ice is not theoretical in my neck of the woods either. When I first moved to a climate with actual winter, I was given a boatload of advice on how to drive in winter, but it all came down to drive slowly and don’t get cocky.
As I understand it, in British English that is the correct way to abbreviate “doctor”. You use a period (full stop) only when the last letter of the abbreviated word does not appear in the abbreviation. So “Dr”, “Mr”, and “Mrs” do not take a period, but “Prof.” for “Professor” does.
That is both civilized and logical. I’m afraid I’m going to ditch as much abbreviation punctuation as possible. I have too many abbreviations and acronyms in my life.
There’s a car show up in Oregon called the Malaise Invitational. They state that anyone with a vehicle from 1972-1995 is welcome to register. “Invitational” means entry is by invitation only. If anyone with a car from between those years is welcome to enter, then it should be called the Malaise Open.
People who use “logon” and “logoff” as verbs when writing something.
Email sent to me: “You need to logoff before you leave.”
My response: “Should I tell you when I finish logoffing? … Okay I have logoffed!”
Re the use of two spaces when typing: I typed two spaces because I like it that way; I resent having what I wrote changed because someone else thinks therr should only be one.
People who use “presently” to mean now, and “momentarily” to mean soon.
I dislike the very use of those terms. Our IT guy will tell me to logoff my work computer. But when I right click the START button, none of the options are “logoff.” From memory, I believe I can Sign Out, Shut Down, Restart… How am I supposed to know which of those means logoff?