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04 Mar 08 - 02:14 PM (#2279451) Subject: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: katlaughing http://nationalgrammarday.com/ Have fun! |
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04 Mar 08 - 02:22 PM (#2279465) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: Amos http://nationalgrammarday.com/ and see also their awards for the worst grammar of the year. A |
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04 Mar 08 - 03:40 PM (#2279542) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: autolycus I'm afraid, Miss Kat, sweetheart, that I have to jib at your use of the word 'pedant' in the thread-title. A pedant gives more attention to details of language than is merited. Getting grammar correct is usually warranted, by contrast. IMHO (hence the caps), I think my point is, itself, not pedantic. (I'm doing my bit for the day, you understand). Ivor |
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04 Mar 08 - 03:44 PM (#2279550) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: katlaughing Oh, most assuredly, I do understand your point, Ivordarlin', however let us not wallow over long in the petit-points(sic) or minutiae of de'tales. Perhaps 'twould better had I used "Grammarians" to rhyme with "Librarians" but there are so many on here who self-describe as "Pedants," it seems a small thing to award them their own "day." Were it not for spell-checker, they might have all been pendants! |
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04 Mar 08 - 03:58 PM (#2279562) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: autolycus Oh, I've got one of them. I have no idea what I mean. That's communication for you. Ivor |
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04 Mar 08 - 04:06 PM (#2279568) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: Rapparee Oh, goody! In the immoral words of the great Winston Churchill, "That is the kind of nonsense up with which I will not put." |
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04 Mar 08 - 04:54 PM (#2279605) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: Bill D oh, my dear Rapaire! I DO believe Sir Winston actually said: "That is the |
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04 Mar 08 - 04:58 PM (#2279612) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: autolycus I'll be fascinated to know how you don't put with something not up on a thread. Ivor |
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04 Mar 08 - 05:44 PM (#2279660) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: Richard Bridge Immoral words? Do you mean "immortal"? |
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04 Mar 08 - 06:41 PM (#2279702) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: Slag Hey, not bad fer a guy raised by wolfs. Way to go Lone Wolf! Pendulous! An' we got us a day wherewith we can shine. Down thru the anus of history we shall ever be grateful fur such a day as this one is. |
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04 Mar 08 - 07:46 PM (#2279749) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: Stilly River Sage Okay. I've said it before. Those examples in the National Grammar Day site are ill-chosen and churlish. I find them objectionable. Why? Think about it. When Jay Leno does his headlines, he does it in good humor, and the mistakes amount to double entendres. The National Grammar Day mistake examples were mean spirited or grasping at straws. I understood the headline, and I didn't read it to mean the girl might have killed the survivors of the plane crash. And the legal ad was written by someone who wrote phonetically. He knew what he meant and he wrote under a strain so wasn't at his best. I'd also guess by the context and usage that English isn't his first language. There was nothing in that ad that was funny; a proof-reader could have helped but legal ads have to go exactly as they are submitted. I made the mistake of criticizing the writing skills of a couple of friends back in my college days. Friends who wrote letters. I was so smart. Guess what? They never wrote back. My loss, my stupidity. It was years later that a professor, one of the smartest guys I know, made the connection I needed to understand all along. We use LANGUAGE to communicate, and both of those examples could be understood by the reader, even if the word choice wasn't good. They sounded like what they meant. Language is to communicate, and GRAMMAR is simply "manners." It is the social convention that says "we prefer to do it this way." Yes, you can use the fancy little fork on the far outside of the huge array of flatware to eat your salad, or you can pick up a knife and pierce the leaves and eat it. One looks boorish and crude, but it gets the job done. Get it? So I laugh along with Jay Leno like everyone else, and I catch some blunders of my own. I'm dyslexic, I may come up with more than my share. Here is a photo, from Salladasburg, PA, the family graveyard. Which of you is going to step up to these grieving parents and ridicule their "grammar?" SRS, MA, English, 1999 rant off |
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04 Mar 08 - 07:58 PM (#2279757) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: katlaughing Maggie, understood, but to be fair, you do have to go look for those examples. They don't have them posted right on the front page. I was most uncomfortable with the legal notice as I am sure English was not their first language and I don't like making fun of that, either. If I remember, correctly, you came off a little "academically-handed" way back when you were new to Mudcat. I posted this thread, mostly for Wordsmyths and Mudder Pedants to have some fun, so I hope no one will take it personally. :-) |
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04 Mar 08 - 09:45 PM (#2279798) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: Bill D We have to distinguish between ignorance and stupidity. If someone can't learn, it is one thing...if they just refuse to try, it is quite another. I see nothing wrong with being sure a decent, reasonable standard is kept alive and noted in situations where it seems to be ignored & faltering. I do see a problem with trivial nit-picking over irrelevant issues with folks who have problems coping. Much of a culture's...or nation's... essence is embedded in its language, and dismissing the nuances of spelling & grammar because, 'like, you know what I'm sayin' anyway...' is a sad commentary on our educational system. So...I do have my moments when pedantry will bubble to the surface, but I will personally try to be selective about timing.....and continue to recommend things like clever spell-checkers for those who don't cope well with spelling naturally. rant, likewise, off.... |
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04 Mar 08 - 10:44 PM (#2279832) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: katlaughing I am sure most of us caught what the headline really meant, but a good copy editor would not have let it past, let alone a good headline writer/editor. |
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04 Mar 08 - 11:56 PM (#2279873) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: Stilly River Sage Oh, I still pull the scholarly tone on occasion. And I've fought more than a few battles about people introducing fuzzy logic into an otherwise forward-moving discussion. Some of the folks who took that approach don't post much now, so the dust-ups aren't as often. I did get on a roll here, but it is one of the conundrums that English teachers have to wrestle with--teaching the students to communicate effectively and understand why they need the skill, without shutting down the desire to communicate because of the perceived judgement involved. SRS |
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05 Mar 08 - 12:09 AM (#2279879) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: katlaughing Ah, well, nothing wrong with that. At least you aren't afraid to teach them through showing them what's wrong or right as the case may be. |
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05 Mar 08 - 04:00 AM (#2279941) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: freda underhill But is the case upper case or lower case? if it's an uppity case, well, it deserves to be put in it's place. If it's a lower case, well, is it lower because it's an upper trying to commune with it's lower, or is it a case of low self esteem? it could be a case of low participles, in which case it's a sad case. or a nut case. better go or you'll get on my case.... but just in case.... I feel it wise to point out that a pedant can be a hanging thing around your neck - without an "n" to it, it's a pain in the neck..... f.u. |
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05 Mar 08 - 05:01 AM (#2279953) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: Bryn Pugh I am instigating The Pedants' Revolt (signed) Which Tyler |
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05 Mar 08 - 06:09 AM (#2279983) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: Slag They is revoltin' enough without you stirrin' 'em up. |
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05 Mar 08 - 07:59 AM (#2280034) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: Backwoodsman Who's Jay Leno? |
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05 Mar 08 - 10:33 AM (#2280167) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: katlaughing Late night talk show host Freda..LOL, as the case may be! Pedant alert...no apostrophe in possessive "its." Alert - off.**bg** |
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05 Mar 08 - 10:43 AM (#2280181) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: bobad Re."Pedant alert...no apostrophe in possessive "its." Alert - off.**bg**" In this case isn't "it's" a contraction of "it is" and not a possessive and the apostrophe replaces the "i"? |
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05 Mar 08 - 12:12 PM (#2280286) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: Bill D "... if it'scorrect an uppity case, well, it deserves to be put in it'sincorrect place." who was that masked pedant? |
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05 Mar 08 - 12:51 PM (#2280321) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: katlaughing bobad, not as used a couple of times in a previous posting which one I do not want to point out so as to save any red-faces.:-) Though, I do see it quite regularly on the Mudcat by various others. |
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05 Mar 08 - 12:53 PM (#2280324) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: bobad Oh OK, I thought you were referring to the thread title - my mistake. |
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06 Mar 08 - 07:27 AM (#2281050) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: GUEST,Which Tyler On with the revolt! |
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06 Mar 08 - 08:24 AM (#2281100) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: kendall Bill, I didn't know that Churchill spoke in italics. I have two daughters, that bug me with their misuse of "I" and "ME". I have hammered on them for years, but they insist on doing it, when they know better. What bugs me more is, why do I give a damn? |
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06 Mar 08 - 09:07 AM (#2281132) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: GUEST,Chicken Charlie Found this on an old Edison cylinder recorded by Epiphany Quimble and the Madhouse Four in 1908: Come all ye fair and tender pedants, Take warning how you proof our speech-- Someone my steal your prized thesaurus And hide it quite beyond your reach. Come all ye fair and tender pedants, Take warning how you parse our graphs; Someone may seize your dictionary And try to stuff it up your aphs. Take care you fair and tender pedants, And do not count apostrophes; Mock not our dangling participles, But let us write just as we please. Anyone know the chord progression? CC |
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06 Mar 08 - 10:21 AM (#2281198) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: Stilly River Sage Funny! |
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06 Mar 08 - 11:52 AM (#2281246) Subject: RE: BS: Oh, ye Pedants, it's your day! From: wysiwyg That skill of being able to read sense when non-sense is written comes in handy when reading Freecycle messages. Of course there's an incentive. ~S~ |