Funny/annoying grammatical mistakes and odd neologisms

[TromboneAl]

I've met zoology major who pronounced it "zoo-ology" and realtor who said he worked at a "real-ity.". How does that happen?

 

[Nords]

I've met zoology major who pronounced it "zoo-ology" and realtor who said he worked at a "real-ity.". How does that happen?

They probably started as sub-mare-iner nyoocyoolar engineers.

 

[haha]

I've met zoology major who pronounced it "zoo-ology" and realtor who said he worked at a "real-ity.". How does that happen?

He meant to say he was working to comprehend reality.

Ha

 

[SecondCor521]

The Mercedes "less doors" commercial bothers me.

2Cor521

 

[cj]

It seems that I hear more and more people pronouncing the word "forward" as FO-ward. I think every single person on the Today show does that. Drives me crazy.

 

[W2R]

From our local newspaper's website at New Orleans Mardi Gras 2012 | News, Photos, Videos, & More - NOLA.com under Mardi Gras Parade Schedule:

There are no more parades, Mardi Gras is passed

 

[ronocnikral]

From our local newspaper's website at New Orleans Mardi Gras 2012 | News, Photos, Videos, & More - NOLA.com under Mardi Gras Parade Schedule:

Know spends the next fo-ty days re-pintin'!

My favorite NOLA experience was one of my first:

[ronocnikral enters subway and orders a sandwich and the person preparing the food is missing 40% of her fake fingernails]
-sandwich artist: how you want it?
-ronocnikral: sorry?
-sandwich artist: dressed?

I finally figured out what she was getting at....

 

[JakeBrake]

This is truly a very unique thread.

Also, I don't like the way the Media Elite measure everything in "football fields". Whatever happened to feet, yards, acres?

 

[Rustward]

Your / You're ... again.

Edit to add: Same site also covers Then / Than.

youryoure, destupidifying the masses

 

[John Galt III]

"Pricepoint" instead of "price".

 

[John Galt III]

Pock Eeee Stahn instead of Pakistan.

 

[braumeister]

I've always been fascinated by how automated typesetting programs used by newspapers will sometimes hyphenate words in the most bizarre ways.

My all time favorite is one I saw about 40 years ago. There was an article in the local paper about some sort of sports activity, and the word "warmups" was broken at the end of a line to:

war-mups

I immediately had this vision of Kermit the frog in a suit of armor striding across a bloody battlefield. The image has never left me.

 

[JOHNNIE36]

Just read through a lot of these posts and remembered that again yesterday, my SIL used her word "Chester-drawers" for the piece of furniture.

Also, from some of the posts, I was reminded that somewhere I read or heard that the English language is difficult to learn in the written form because so many words are spelled the same that have different meanings. Like the word close. Or the words that are spelled differently and pronounced the same, like piece and peace, right and write. So, one has to see the word in context before knowing how the word is spelled and/or pronounced, such as "close the door". Guess it's simple when you are brought up with the language but how would one explain this while teaching English to a Japanese person?

 

[Nemo2]

Saw a pic of an elephant safari in India....which led me to check out this link:

Elephant Back Safari

Once in, I started laughing and reading aloud to my wife.....this was just one of my favorites:

Once you have spotted a Tiger, there will be a hush silence, and you will be thrilled with stark amazement. Mere his looks will excite you immensely with goosepimples running too riot in your body. But, you don't need to worry. They won’t harm you until you disturb them.

 

[John Galt III]

"Ramping up" used for "increasing". As in "The candidate is ramping up his campaigning in Iowa this week". You hear it in news a lot, but almost never in real conversation.

 

[John Galt III]

Beginning the answer to a question with the word "so". You only hear this on NPR radio stations.

 

[MichaelB]

So, the temperatures have been really ramping up lately. Is that global warming or what?

 

[ERD50]

"Ramping up" used for "increasing". As in "The candidate is ramping up his campaigning in Iowa this week". You hear it in news a lot, but almost never in real conversation.

We used this term all the time at work. As in "We need to ramp up production on those assembly lines; we need to ramp up our efforts at cost-reduction; demand is ramping up on xyz products'. I don't think anything of it when I hear it in normal conversation. These things don't normally increase as a step function, so ramping up seems pretty accurate.

Beginning the answer to a question with the word "so". You only hear this on NPR radio stations.

I noticed that listening to Science Friday podcasts. Seems that many scientist types would start explaining something.... 'So, if we place this in a vacuum.... So, if we were to extrapolate... ' I don't know if it is more with science types, maybe it is better than ' Ummmm, bla, bla, bla '.

-ERD50

 

[MichaelB]

I noticed that listening to Science Friday podcasts. Seems that many scientist types would start explaining something.... 'So, if we place this in a vacuum.... So, if we were to extrapolate... ' I don't know if it is more with science types, maybe it is better than ' Ummmm, bla, bla, bla '.

-ERD50

And far better than "you know"

 

[GrayHare]

walla instead of voila

 

[ERD50]

And far better than "you know"

Agreed. The use of 'So..' doesn't bother me, it just seemed to stick out after a while. Of course, now that it is in my head, I probably notice it more than I would otherwise.

-ERD50

 

[youbet]

We used this term all the time at work. As in "We need to ramp up production on those assembly lines; we need to ramp up our efforts at cost-reduction; demand is ramping up on xyz products'. I don't think anything of it when I hear it in normal conversation. These things don't normally increase as a step function, so ramping up seems pretty accurate.

-ERD50

I always thought of "ramping up" as a special case of "increasing."

If you increase the output per hour of the production line, that might be instantaneous or it might be over time depending on what needs to be done. If you ramp up the output per hour of the production line, that implies an increase/unit of time over time.

 

[arky]

I didn't read all the posts, so I don't know if this has already been mentioned.

When did it become proper punctuation to put a comma just before the word "and" when finishing a list of items in a sentence ? (for example - I like chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream.)

I thought the reason to use "and" was to signify the end of the list.

 

[Nemo2]

for example - I like chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream.

Without the comma(s), in this instance, it might indicate that you (only) like Neapolitan?

 

[MichaelB]

I didn't read all the posts, so I don't know if this has already been mentioned.

When did it become proper punctuation to put a comma just before the word "and" when finishing a list of items in a sentence ? (for example - I like chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream.)

I thought the reason to use "and" was to signify the end of the list.

A recent, and quite exciting, discussion of the comma can be found here http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/loser-vs-looser-58057.html#post1114823