Calling All Grammar Nazi's

[davoid]

OK. Firstly I like to say that although I would never pick someone up on their grammar or spelling in a thread dedicated to another topic, I am, at heart, a pedantic for grammar. I love it. And so I thought I would create this thread where people could panda (go on, I know you want to) to their urges to point out poor grammar.

By the way, pedantic that I am, picking someone up on their spelling doesn't make you a grammar nazi and that's just one of my grammar nazi hates. When someone calls someone a grammar nazi because they pointed out bad spelling. Gosh how pedantic can I get?

But sometimes (as in my panda example) it's not a spelling mistake but an incorrect lexical choice which changes the meaning or undermines the sense of the utterance, i.e. you can't panda to urges because panda is not a verb... In my eyes, this is all fair game.

Anyway, I just thought it would be good to have a space where people could pander to their grammatical pedantry and display their stormtrooping prowess in the safety of not hurting anyone's feelings.

For instance, if I get called out for any grammatical error in this thread, I will take off my hat to you. I like to learn, and that includes being corrected.

As I see it, this will be a place to bring your pet hate grammatical mistakes to share and have a bit of fun. And we will all learn something in the process, I am sure.

We can even... debate the grammar!

And if you don't like it... I could care less

(there's one of mine right there it should be "I couldn't care less" because if you could, that might mean you actually care quite a lot... it's a semantic error but again, fair game for our purposes )

So come on, what's your pet hate grammatical mistake?

 

[SiempreTuna]

pedantic that I am

"Pendant that I am", shirley

 

[jtc303]

2 that kill me...

"should of" when they mean "should have"

"are" when they mean "our"

||Speak of the Devil, and he shall appear...

 

[Hadron]

"The data shows/says/is etc".

The word "data" is plural. If you really only have a single datum then use that word instead

 

[SiempreTuna]

Use of alternate versions of quotes to the one I'm familiar with, e.g.

Speak of the Devil, and he shall appear...

Instead of the more proper : "Talk of the devil and his horns appear"

 

[davoid]

"The data shows/says/is etc".

The word "data" is plural. If you really only have a single datum then use that word instead

Which brings me onto "we should try different mediums to maximize our coverage".

The word "media" is the plural of medium... unless they are talking about coverage of the astral plane, in which case, yes, mediums would be of better service.

 

[davoid]

"Pendant that I am", shirley

Actually "pedantic" is listed in the OED as a noun, meaning someone who is a pedant... albeit as an obsolete form. (I've been reading a lot of old literature in the last few years, I guess)

lol it was last recorded in use in 1658 and spelt with a k at the end - pedanticks... (that's the plural)

 

[mikedt]

All your grammar are belong to us. :smokingsomb:

Im prolly gonna like this thread.

BTW Im a english teacher.

 

[Mehta23]

Another thread where I can rant at this, which is one of the worst things I have seen!

Loose.
As in, "You are going to loose that if you don't keep it safe".
-_- Please give me strength.

And also, I've seen "wan't" instead of want. I really don't know what was happening there.

 

[davoid]

And also, I've seen "wan't" instead of want. I really don't know what was happening there.

It was probably a noob grammar nazi who hates it when people write "cant" instead of "can't" and was over-compensating

 

[zuben el genub]

Fora is the plural of forum. Just try using it.

 

[tommo47]

Using an apostrophe to denote a plural as in Nazi's.

 

[SiempreTuna]

Actually "pedantic" is listed in the OED as a noun, meaning someone who is a pedant... albeit as an obsolete form. (I've been reading a lot of old literature in the last few years, I guess)

lol it was last recorded in use in 1658 and spelt with a k at the end - pedanticks... (that's the plural)

So not just obsolete grammer: MISSPELLED obsolete grammer

 

[davoid]

Using an apostrophe to denote a plural as in Nazi's.

Yes! That was obviously my honey pot trap to lure in grammar nazis...

And it worked!

But yes, that annoys me too.

 

[davoid]

Fora is the plural of forum. Just try using it.

Well, just look at the name of this website... doh!

 

[EarlyMon]

Well, just look at the name of this website... doh!

Scuze me??

 

[davoid]

So not just obsolete grammer: MISSPELLED obsolete grammer

Kind of, lol.

 

[tommo47]

Yes! That was obviously my honey pot trap to lure in grammar nazis...

And it worked!

But yes, that annoys me too.

Well, you would say that wouldn't you.

But I believe you, although many might not.

 

[davoid]

From what I can find, forums is the plural of forum.

Androidfora just sounds very wrong.

 

[EarlyMon]

Datum, data, forum, fora.

We tried calling them that last year, didn't catch on.

 

[SiempreTuna]

Kind of, lol.

Oops!

Re: 'fora', Google returns lots of examples of usage, but it just sound way to close to flora or fauna .. AndroidFora sounds like a disparaging term for non-apple types

 

[davoid]

didn't catch on.

I bet.

 

[EarlyMon]

I bet.

I'll bet, or, I'd have bet, yeah?

Don't recall you mentioning that bet before.

 

[mikedt]

From what I can find, forums is the plural of forum.

Androidfora just sounds very wrong.

I suppose fora is the correct plural form of forum. But then "Android Forums" is what we all know.

Fortunately I teach English at school, and NOT Latin.

EDIT:

Well I've just checked the bulky "Oxford Advanced Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary" I've got on the desk here, and it seems both forums and fora are OK.

 

[Frisco]

English grammar, like spelling, syntax and word definitions, changes over time. At every stage of these changes resistance is there, most often spoken by the older generation of the time, but not always.

Just take a look at English literature, American or true English. Read old newspapers and public announcements as well as prose, etc. Compare to our "proper" grammar and spelling.

Whether it evolves or degenerates over time is up to each of us to decide. I pick "evolve" because the dictionaries are growing, not shrinking. I also pick evolve because descriptive terms are not what it's all about (for example, most words with the suffix "ful" or "full" were coined/invented by poets centuries ago, notably Shakespeare, but others got in on the act <--- pun intended ); it's also about grammar rules as well as cultural mingling and sharing (words and phrases in strict English being replaced by Spanish, French and German grammar words and even verb conjugation in hundreds of cases).

...etc.