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Old February 22nd 07, 12:27 AM posted to rec.crafts.textiles.quilting
Megan Zurawicz
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Posts: 15
Default OT: The Congenitally Grammar-Picky (was OT Grammar Book New Log Cabin Quilt)

First off, let me make clear that I are one. So I'm not even close to
potshotting anybody; I understand the obsessions involved intimately.

(My last email rant to a newspaper writer was over the statement "They may
not understand that they're implying X." Um, no; if you're implying it, you
understand that you are doing so. Now what you choose to *infer* from my
statement I may not understand; I won't contest that, as inferring doesn't
necessarily have any connection with what the original speaker actually
meant. g)

So wandering off into a thread that's really geared for us obsessives to
mutter together (a recuperation diversiong), which do you find more
irksome:

Incorrect usage of terminology:
examples: misuse of "speaker implies/hearer infers", "very unique" (unique =
"one of a kind"---how can something be "very one of a kind"?), "begging the
question" being used to mean "leads us to ask" rather than "trying to use
what you're trying to prove as proof of itself", etc.

Incorrect usage of homonynms:
examples: "he poured over the papers" (what did he pour? WHY would he do
such a thing? Didn't it make a mess?) "she peddled her bicycle" (OK, I
guess you can, but it seems a bit distracted to me to postpone a trip to
grandma's house to sell one's bicycle, and wouldn't that slow you down,
especially since you now have to walk there?) and so forth. Am I the only
one that notices that even highly reputable publishers and newspapers seem
to be mistaking spellchecking for proofreading these days?

Gross mispronunciation:
examples: my current raw nerve, the Texas Instruments DLP commercial series
with the little girl: "It's the mirs!" I really want them to either teach
her that mirror has two syllables or change their website to itsthemirs.com.
If it's acceptable to mangle pronunciation in even the most formal, planned,
and high-priced corporate contexts (and surely an advertising campaign is
just that), then can we at least shoot for consistency and change the
spelling? Let's all spend Febby-airy going to the liberry to look up
nukular mirs.

Let the rant begin, and with examples! ;-)

--pig, noting she didn't notice any knee pain while contemplating/typing
this

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