I just can't stand it any more!

[dianec42]

Things I hate, in no particular order:

* People who write "Here here" when they mean "Hear hear"
* "Reign(s)" instead of "rein(s)"
* "Alright" as a single word
* "Tale" instead of "tail"
* "Flout" instead of "flaunt"

- and finally -

* "Who are you in this movie you just saw" quizzes that consistently cast me as people who... let's just say, don't do very well by the end of the movie.

It's enough to make a girl log off and go play in the sunshine, I'm telling you. (Apart from "tale" and "alright" which were actually spotted in an otherwise excellent fantasy novel I paid good money for.)

addendum: Of course, I meant '"flaunt" instead of "flout"'. And I've just overheard a heated conversation about how "Doh" doesn't actually have a correct spelling, as it's not a word but a sound effect. So at least it's not just me.

Comments

[cahwyguy.livejournal.com]

Re: alright (http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=alright&x=0&y=0). M-W notes that "The one-word spelling alright appeared some 75 years after all right itself had reappeared from a 400-year-long absence. Since the early 20th century some critics have insisted alright is wrong, but it has its defenders and its users. It is less frequent than all right but remains in common use especially in journalistic and business publications. It is quite common in fictional dialogue, and is used occasionally in other writing < the first two years of medical school were alright -- Gertrude Stein >."

What I can't figure out is whether this is accepting the usage or not. However, the Oxford dictionaries (we have a subscription here at work) appear to accept it, noting "The merging of all and right to form the one-word spelling alright is not recorded until the end of the 19th century (unlike other similar merged spellings such as altogether and already, which date from much earlier). There is no logical reason for insisting on all right as two words, when other single-word forms such as altogether have long been accepted. Nevertheless it is still considered by many people to be unacceptable in formal writing."

So, the next question is whether a fantasy novel is "formal writing".

[I do agree with your other grammatical comments]

[dianec42.livejournal.com]

I like the Chambers take on "alright" (http://www.chambersharrap.co.uk/chambers/chref/chref.py/main?query=alright&title=21st): "RECOMMENDATION: use all right, especially in writing for readers who are precise about the use of language." (In other words, use 'alright' at your own peril.)

Wait, is there EVER a logical reason for insisting on any particular spelling or usage? They've lost me there.

[dianec42.livejournal.com]

So, the next question is whether a fantasy novel is "formal writing".

Well, this was China Mieville, who writes about as formally as anyone. I think the "tale" and "alright" were on the same page. Each stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb. One can only assume the proofreader was distracted by someth-- ooh, shiny!

[lyzard13.livejournal.com]

you may or may not know i do some knitting, spinning, messing with fiber, etc. so, my fav one in other communities i frequent is "dying" when they clearly mean "dyeing".

"Look at the results of my dying this afternoon!" just doesn't have the reaction it was intended, i'm sure.

every now and then one of my fellow knitters/spinners/dyers snaps and corrects them loudly. it takes for about a week :)

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

From yesterday's Boston Globe article about a Boston themed sports bar in New York City: "Located in the middle of several Yankee hangouts, the bar not only caters to New Englanders, but doesn't welcome Yankee fans."

It's obvious that they meant "midst", not "middle".

[merde.livejournal.com]

* "Flout" instead of "flaunt"

"flaunt" instead of "flout" is even worse. lookit me! i'm flaunting the rules!

[dianec42.livejournal.com]

Too right!

Sigh. The depressing thing is, that was what I meant. I got it backwards.

[tobyaw]

Alright is a matter of taste (or writing style), whereas the others are genuine errors. New Fowler's sayes that 'The use of all right, or inability to see that there is anything wrong with alright, reveals one's background, upbringing, education, etc., perhaps as much as any word in the language.'

[madbodger.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah? How many syllables are there in “shit&rdquo?

[tobyaw]

Is that 'shit' as in I'm writing shit, or 'shit' as in you're writing shit, or 'shit' as in I'd write something that makes sense but I need to run to the khazi?

[madbodger.livejournal.com]

No, no, no, nothing like that. It's a reference to the old joke that you can determine how far you're in the deep south by how many syllables are used when pronouncing the term `shit'. If it's 1 syllable, you're a yankee, possibly even with education. Two ("shee-it"), North Carolina. I hear tell that in Alabama you can get up to six.

Just trying to be funny and failing.

[tobyaw]

Ah, American humour. Obviously this is a cultural learning exercise for me...

[dianec42.livejournal.com]

Good luck with that. I'm still trying to educate stuartc on some of the finer points, like why summer movies are all crap. (Answer: at a certain point, we'll pay the $10 just to sit in air conditioning for 2 hours.)

[tobyaw]

Reign can mean to hold office, or to predominate. Rein can (figuratively) mean to direct or to control. So depending on context, they could be interchangeable.

My Bad

[feste-sylvain.livejournal.com]

The context was mine, and I should have known better. What confused matters even more was that I was referring to the "reins of power", and I misused "reigns" before dianec42 caught it.

Re: My Bad

[dianec42.livejournal.com]

It could be worse. I've seen the usage "given free reign" in, once again, an otherwise perfectly lovely book that I paid money for. In context it should clearly have been "given free rein."

See, if you'd been the first to misuse it, I probably would have let it slide...

[madbodger.livejournal.com]

Alas, I've seen you wearing a "Nasty, brutish, and short" button, so I'm not surprised
you get cast as a frequent casualty. Sorry about that, them's the rules*.

* Bad grammar intentional. Hope it isn't a buzzkill for you.

[dianec42.livejournal.com]

* Bad grammar intentional. Hope it isn't a buzzkill for you.

That's okay, I say that one too. Anything that obviously intentional is just silly.

[feste-sylvain.livejournal.com]

Ain't so.

[dianec42.livejournal.com]

Say it ain't so!

[asimovberlioz.livejournal.com]

The stupidity that really annoys me is the confusion of "your" for "you're." I've long held that the Internet should simply be declared a virtual Dogpatch, and both words should be spelt "yore" by them yokels what don't know the difference.