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Stupid things you've said or heard

Started by Deloria, July 16, 2010, 12:36:16 PM

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KatieHal

Like when people write "could of" when they mean "could've"

Katie Hallahan
~Designer, PR Director~

"Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix." Christina Baldwin

I have a blog!

Delling

Indeed.

In fact, this whole "what you've heard is not what you mean" thing is also why people can't get homophones right (they're/their/there;it's/its;to/too;etc.). :P
Noli me tangere! Nescio ubi fuisti!
Don't touch me! I don't know where you've been!

Marquess of Pembroke
Duke of Saxony in Her Majesty's Court
Knight of the Swan for Her Imperial Highness

...resistance was obviously useless against a family that could invent italics.

"Let the locative live."

http://my.ddo.com/referral/Delling87

snabbott


Steve Abbott | Beta Tester | The Silver Lining

crayauchtin

Quote from: snabbott on December 07, 2011, 08:18:07 AM
Homophones
I was seriously hoping that was going to be a funny link about homophones. Instead you gave us singing veggies?! You're fired!

In related news:
"If your translation is correct, that was 'May a sleepy hippopotamus lie down on your house keys,' but you're not sure. Unfortunately, your fluency in griffin-speak is too low."

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darthkiwi

#24
Sorry this is going back a bit, but I thought I should comment:

Quote
QuoteI would suggest that it's OK in informal writing, and that includes dialogue.

As for the red text: THAT'S NOT HOW USAGE WORKS!! If it's illiterate in one register... IT'S STILL JUST AS ILLITERATE IN A DIFFERENT REGISTER!

I agree with all of Brandon's post except for this - sort of. I agree that if something is grammatically incorrect in one register, it's grammatically incorrect in all registers. Ideally, one should try to be as grammatically correct when speaking to friends as one is when writing a job application. (That's not to say you'd use the same vocabulary, though.) After all, grammar is for making oneself understood, which applies informally.

BUT, the same is not true of writing dialogue. While I wish every English speaker had perfect grammar, it's simply not going to happen, and if all your characters speak with perfect grammar then (unless they all go to an English public school or something) it's not going to be true to the characters. If a poorly educated character with no interest in literature says "If I were you" instead of "If I was you" then it will be out of character, even if the phrase is grammatically correct. Likewise with "My friend and I/me went...", "I'm better than he/him" and "It's he/him". Although the former option is the grammatically correct one, almost nobody knows this, and it would be really weird for everyone in a film, book or videogame to speak in a grammatically correct way. While it would make the grammar more palateable and soothe all our inner grammar nazis, it would almost certainly compromise the integrity of the characters.

Two things I will NOT put up with, though, are poor grammar from a narrator or another intelligent character, and poor grammar or spelling in subtitles. Both point to a lack of grammatical knowledge among the writers themselves, which is just unacceptable.
Prince of the Aquitaine. Duke of York.

Knight errant and consort to Her Grace the Empress Deloria of the Holy Roman Empire, Queene of all Albion and Princess Palatine.

MikPal

#25
"Park your car in the lumber yard."

I've been told that is the best way to check, if someone has a Dorchester accent. That's some wicked **** right there.

Delling

Quote from: darthkiwi on December 23, 2011, 09:18:57 AM
Sorry this is going back a bit, but I thought I should comment:

Quote
QuoteI would suggest that it's OK in informal writing, and that includes dialogue.

As for the red text: THAT'S NOT HOW USAGE WORKS!! If it's illiterate in one register... IT'S STILL JUST AS ILLITERATE IN A DIFFERENT REGISTER!

I agree with all of Brandon's post except for this - sort of. I agree that if something is grammatically incorrect in one register, it's grammatically incorrect in all registers. Ideally, one should try to be as grammatically correct when speaking to friends as one is when writing a job application. (That's not to say you'd use the same vocabulary, though.) After all, grammar is for making oneself understood, which applies informally.

I could have been clearer. :P I was referring specifically to the implication that a grammatical error is somehow "okay" or less erroneous because writing is informal.

It IS of course permissible for writers to write their characters so that the dialogue reflects the usage common to that character's idiolect. This is less a comment on grammar than it is on style.
Noli me tangere! Nescio ubi fuisti!
Don't touch me! I don't know where you've been!

Marquess of Pembroke
Duke of Saxony in Her Majesty's Court
Knight of the Swan for Her Imperial Highness

...resistance was obviously useless against a family that could invent italics.

"Let the locative live."

http://my.ddo.com/referral/Delling87

drusain

"Could care less" is a big pet peeve of mine.

People using "literally" in a figurative way.

Brian Zabell
Quality Assurance/Technical Editor
I write for Andrew Greyson on The Four Winds

Fallout 3 Graham is Best Graham

DawsonJ

Quote from: drusain on February 14, 2012, 09:04:47 PM
"Could care less" is a big pet peeve of mine.

People using "literally" in a figurative way.


Unfortunately, there are common phrases that are commonly misquoted, and some that are badly phrased, such as "All that glitters isn't gold." So, it sounds like you're saying "Gold doesn't glitter." Umm... Ok.

But, then again, we live in a world where it's common to floss the food out from between one's teeth immediately AFTER brushing. Sure, sweep the corners after mopping the floor... Why not? ::)

Deloria

That one's just misquoted. :P "Not all that glitters is gold"
 
Holy Roman Empress
Queen of *all* Albion
Précieuse and salonnière! :D
"In cases of doubt about language, it is ordinarily best to consult women."-Vaugelas
Space! :D Extraterrestrium! :D Espace! :D

snabbott


Steve Abbott | Beta Tester | The Silver Lining

DawsonJ

Notice: Febuary (pronounced "Feb-yoo-ay-ry") and Nucular (pronounced "Noo-kyu-lahr") are NOT words!
People who speak those words sound illiterate. February and Nuclear, however, ARE words. That is all.

writerlove

How do you say February then? I pronounce it  Feb-you-air-ee.  Sometimes it throws me off though when I'm trying to spell it out. Have to remember the extra R :P

(Your Blanka avatar totally wins, by the way. Big Street Fighter fan)
"Love can't be banished, even from this place. ... still less can it be banished from my heart."
"ENOUGH! Burden me not with thy poetry."-KQ6

DawsonJ

#33
Quote from: writerlove on February 18, 2012, 03:06:11 PM
How do you say February then? I pronounce it  Feb-you-air-ee.  Sometimes it throws me off though when I'm trying to spell it out. Have to remember the extra R :P

(Your Blanka avatar totally wins, by the way. Big Street Fighter fan)

I actually say the full word: "Feb-roo-air-ee"

I liked the Blanka-chu image, but it wasn't rightly sized for an avatar. Therefore, I resized this one. Thanks. :)


Blankachu!

ladidada

Hm. I have tons of speech impediments. I only eat p-sgetthi and my house is powered by "Nucular" energy, so what?

My parents both have strong Southern accents, my mom's is out of this world. My mother can't pronounce "-TH" words so heaven only knows why she decided to name me, "Timothy." Not a big deal but lucky for me, she raised me and 25 years later and I am still the only person I know who can't pronounce their own name (you see, my mother taught me how to speak so I picked up all my mother's speech impediments,) but I wouldn't have it any other way, so please, feel free to call me "timofy":-D

Women in particular seem to pick up on my speech impediments.

...We must remember that every time the sun sets, it takes a little part of our life with us....

carpe diem

DawsonJ

#35
Quote from: ladidada on February 21, 2012, 11:57:50 AM
Hm. I have tons of speech impediments. I only eat p-sgetthi and my house is powered by "Nucular" energy, so what?

My parents both have strong Southern accents, my mom's is out of this world. My mother can't pronounce "-TH" words so heaven only knows why she decided to name me, "Timothy." Not a big deal but lucky for me, she raised me and 25 years later and I am still the only person I know who can't pronounce their own name (you see, my mother taught me how to speak so I picked up all my mother's speech impediments,) but I wouldn't have it any other way, so please, feel free to call me "timofy":-D

Women in particular seem to pick up on my speech impediments.



Some people learn Sign Language just to be able to communicate clearly. I have friends whose speech impediments have forced them into signing.

Legitimate speech impediments and accents don't bother me; intentional ignorance, however, bugs me to no end.

And, regarding those who can't pronounce their own name: Try asking an American girl named "Déjà" to pronounce her own name properly... not happening. ::) The same applies to her parents. Most Americans dumb enough to name their child that will ALWAYS call her some form of "Dedja", nothing like "D'Asia" (which is closer to the original French pronunciation).

ladidada

At the barbershop today

Old Cuban # 1 "Y-Y-Yo, You got to try my been can chicken!"
Old Cuban # 2 "Beer can? How ya make it?"
Old Cuban # 1 "Whaddya mean how ya make it? Take a chicken, shove a beer can up it, throw it on the grill"

...heh
...We must remember that every time the sun sets, it takes a little part of our life with us....

carpe diem

drusain

Sometimes the little kids I teach scare me with their thought processes. For context, this has been "Native American Month" for them and I overheard a conversation from them:

Kid 1: "I'm an Indian!"
Kid 2: "I'm not an Indian. I'm a human."

Oh wow.

Brian Zabell
Quality Assurance/Technical Editor
I write for Andrew Greyson on The Four Winds

Fallout 3 Graham is Best Graham

Deloria

I have a speech impediment too. :( I'm told it's because I grew up bilingually and to this day can't differentiate between the German "sch" and the English "sh" which are apparently slightly different. :( It's more noticeable in English, which is why I generally don't post any voice clips online. :P
 
Holy Roman Empress
Queen of *all* Albion
Précieuse and salonnière! :D
"In cases of doubt about language, it is ordinarily best to consult women."-Vaugelas
Space! :D Extraterrestrium! :D Espace! :D

Delling

Quote from: Deloria on February 22, 2012, 10:28:38 PM
I have a speech impediment too. :( I'm told it's because I grew up bilingually and to this day can't differentiate between the German "sch" and the English "sh" which are apparently slightly different. :( It's more noticeable in English, which is why I generally don't post any voice clips online. :P

"sch" and English "sh" ARE equivalent! Perhaps you mean the way the Swiss pronounce their ich-lauts? It is really, really close to "sh"... despite the two being different sounds. ???
Noli me tangere! Nescio ubi fuisti!
Don't touch me! I don't know where you've been!

Marquess of Pembroke
Duke of Saxony in Her Majesty's Court
Knight of the Swan for Her Imperial Highness

...resistance was obviously useless against a family that could invent italics.

"Let the locative live."

http://my.ddo.com/referral/Delling87