Proper English? I thought this should be a thread and have made it a sticky so that newcomers and anyone else may easily find it. Hopefully we can exchange ideas here and lay a few linguistic demons to rest. Anyway here's my two pennyworth .... First off I love to use words and to use them properly. I am addicted to points of ellipsis ... because I am also a little lazy. I am very pedantic about the use of apostrophes, and I get quite irritated by the sight of malappropriate homonyms That said words are first and foremost for communication and if what the writer has writ is comprehensible without much in the way of deciphering required then it doesn't matter how it is written. Here. This is not an english language class. It is a fun forum for folks to share their enjoyment of a video game. One thing I love to do with words is to make puns and to write in a relaxed conversational, vernacular way. Thus I might use words like cos, drop the G from words ending in ing (without always replacing it with an apostrophe because sometimes a person who has somethin on their mind doesn't have room for the G ... geddit? Besides. The english language is a living language with a global spread. It is rapidly evolving into 5 or more distinct and increasingly divergent dialectic sub-languages; although film and TV and the internet may limit the final extent of the ultimate divergence. As a living language however it is subject to constant change. Words change in meaning as well as in spelling and phrases and sayings are even more likely to undergo wholesale revision. I shan't bother to list examples. I'd be here all day! The only thing that really gets me frustrated about peoples' posts is when they ask for help without taking the time adequately to explain what their problem is ... and yes if that plea for help is littered with txt spk sht hd i no i wont bothr ithr So that's my two cents. Whose next up to the plate?
OK, since I sort of started this, here's my two cents: I actually agree with you, Mirelly. I'm very forgiving of other people's spelling mistakes, etc. I just like to see some kind of effort to make it "intellible." I have been on sites where shorthand is strictly forbidden and didn't want to see a newbie get in trouble from an official source, then ended up sounding, as you quite rightly pointed out, a bit crusty. I realize that unlike me not everyone majored in English or is a professional writer, and this forum is definitely for fun ... I use elipses a lot too, use words like "kinda" cuz it's fun ... and this isn't a college prep course LOL What bugs me is when people put things in neon and don't bother to have them spellchecked or edited: my home town had a neon sign for years that said "Home Cooking at It's Best." AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH ... Signs that misuse quotation marks disturb me. "Fresh" fish. Does that mean you're being ironic? Should I worry about food poisoning? Apostrophes for plurals. Pancake's $1.00. Pancake's what are a dollar? I didn't know pancakes could own anything ... I could go on for quite a while so I'll stop now. Two cents entered.
Aha sbw! I suspected that thee were a closet apostrophist My favourite example of the flexibility of language rules is the one about the closing quotation mark and any required comma before the qualifying (or whatever it is properly called) clause. For example which is correct: 'I am almost ready,' she said. 'I am almost ready', she said. And why are both forms found in print?
And of course, here in America those quotes should be double ... apostrophist ... LOL. I've got to remember that one.
In my English class last year, the teacher read excerpts from a book called Eats, Shoots, and Leaves. I think stricklers of the English language would appreciate reading that. My favorite subject is English. I love to write, and I plan on going into journalism someday, and maybe writing novels on the side. Thus, when I see craptastic (excuse my French ) writing, especially on message boards, I tend to cringe. But hey, the English language evolves every day. Everything is becoming "shorthanded" since the emergence of the email and text messaging. Or, at least that's how I see it from the point of view of a rising senior in highschool.
English is a living, evolving language, as Mirelly pointed out. Languages that fail to change eventually die out or mutate until they're unrecognizable. No one speaks Latin anymore, for good reason. So a little mutation is a good thing ...
And Cheez you're on a roll already. Never stop trying to invent new words. Craptastic is ... er ... craptastic! The best writers are not afraid to break the rules, cos rules are there to be broken. Of course that advice does not apply outside of english grammar. It'll get you an F in maths, history and physics and where taxes and motoring rules are concerned it'll get you a narrow cot and plastic cutlery at the state's expense for a spell. But on paper breaking the rules can be be clever ... course you need to know them before you can break 'em.
by the way what does: ROTFLMAO stand for? I've come up with: rolling on the floor laughing my *** off. Am I close? I must be showing my age when it comes to some of the abbreviations.
I think the first one is correct. That's the way I learned it, anyway... They're both found in print because someone at Microsoft doesn't know how to properly program a grammar check when authors are writing their works Thank you for the thread Mirelly! I've been waiting for someone to post something like this... Seeing improperly spelled wods... i.e. boyz, gurlz... slimsim's last message... is a major pet peeve of mine. suitemichelle... yes, ROTFLMAO means exactly what you think it does.
Good one John. Right answer, wrong reason. Though ... to heck with it. Lets leave the balme with Microsoft. Eh? Oh OK then. In the old days of moveable lead type the inverted comma was a bit vulnerable out there on its own in 'I'm almost ready,' she said. So the typesetters cheated by moving the closing quote to inside the comma. And also yes. It is true that double quotes should be used in theory and when a quotation is required in quoted speech one should then use the single quote mark. In practise you will find that most fiction uses the convention the other way around. I am not certain I know of a reason for that and will not speculate. But its a classic example of usage shaping the rules. The only rule I care about is understanding what's written. As for Microsoft .... When I first got a PC with Windows and its associated MS goodies I thought W00T! Spellchecker, grammar checker. I am gonna really learn to speak inglish proper like wot i orta! Within minutes I was more confused that I thought possible. Office 97 choked on every darn "which" (at the time I wondered if Master Gates was trying to recreate the Salem trials in Seattle ... the Seattle Which Trials. For a while I was so paranoid I was hedging my bets and using convoluted expressions that included that and which ... oh joy! Microsoft Office 97 was confounded every time!
I suppose it's the second one, as you don't really say the comma, do you. I mean, the the girl in the sentence wouldn't say 'I am almost ready comma' would she?
Ah but the way it works, grammatically bwb, is the punctuation must follow the construction. -- "I am almost ready." -- Is as perfect a sentence as it is a subordinate clause. Either way it requires an immediate punction mark to clearly delineate it. Luckily the rules of english grammar are so foggy and muddied by convention (its roots come from Norse, Gaelic, Breton/Basque, Olde French, Latin, Greek, Arabic, Hindi and well just about everything really). The wonder is that we can understand each other at all. My answer (above) was the correct one. The second usage is "correct" thru the convention set by generations of old-fashioned printers who got peed off with ripping down plates to replace a broken inverted comma. As they (correctly) suspected, no-one (who mattered) noticed the difference. Printers are a wild and canny bunch. A French print shop went on strike during Napoleonic times to avoid printing a new law against obscenity ... after reading what they were supposed to be printing they realised the would breaking the very same law and they very wisely all went home until the fuss died down. It's a laugh minute here in Olde Europa.
Ehh... I figured it was the wrong reason. I just like blaming Microsoft for computer woes. I think the fact that my favorite oxymoron is "Microsoft Works" just about sums up my opinion of them.
LOL John. I don't suppose you remember that joke about the people in a helicopter over Seattle who were lost and seeking directions ...?
Guy arrives in Seattle for a meeting at Microsoft. A helicopter is waiting at the airport to whisk him to his destination. The copter pilot is a new on the job and doesn't know the way. They get lost. Inspiration strikes and our friend asks the pilot to descend and hover outside a handy building. He then holds up a makeshift placard bearing the legend "Where are we?". The folks in the office see the fun and hold up an answer: "You are in a helicopter". Our resourceful chum gives a cheer and announces they have found Microsoft. "How can you be so sure?" Asks the pilot. "Because I asked them a question and got an answer that was factually correct but otherwise completely useless."
LOL Yes! That describes Microsoft perfectly! My next computer will be a PowerBook! But anyway, back on topic, thank you for making this thread. It's not so much that I mind some grammar mistakes or misspellings, just so long as the message is intelligible, you know?
*Points at Avitar* I really can't stand Mac, and I have never seen any other system, so it's Microsoft for now.
