Wrongly used words - a pet hate
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Karl Herber
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Join date: 23 Jun 2006
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06-24-2008 04:20
From: Zaphod Kotobide Speaking to Phil's original post, I think people have simply gotten lazy. We see misused words or misspelled words over and over in forum threads, emails, chat rooms, etc, and become conditioned to repeat the errors in our own composition.
I would add to the list of peeves the abuse of the apostrophe. When ever did it become proper to pluralize nouns using the apostrophe? British market traders have been doing that for decades. Apple's and orange's. 
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Yumi Murakami
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06-24-2008 04:23
Well, SL doesn't lack these!  ERROR (noun) Is a synonym for "mistake". Errors don't "occur", they "are made", by a human. Faults and malfunctions occur. UNFORTUNATELY (adj) Apart from the old "whole sentence modifier" complaint that English professors make, this word also requires fortune, ie, chance. "Unfortunately we cannot replace that item" is invalid because that's just your decision, not a matter of chance.
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Maureen Boccaccio
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06-24-2008 04:25
From: Yumi Murakami Well, SL doesn't lack these! ERROR (noun) Is a synonym for "mistake". Errors don't "occur", they "are made", by a human. Faults and malfunctions occur. UNFORTUNATELY (adj) Apart from the old "whole sentence modifier" complaint that English professors make, this word also requires fortune, ie, chance. "Unfortunately we cannot replace that item" is invalid because that's just your decision, not a matter of chance. Oh, these are good ones. Nice!
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Aebleskiver Thibedeau
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Join date: 6 Feb 2008
Posts: 351
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06-24-2008 04:52
From: Conifer Dada I've noticed that some French people leave out apostrophes in their chat. E.g. 'voulez-vous descargot'? or 'lenfant terrible' That's confusing!!! Woot! Or just leave a space where the apostrophe should be (je t aime)! When I began speaking French in chat it became obvious how much easier it is to disregard all those pesky apostrophes, but every once and a while I'd come across a phrase so unfamiliar it needed trotted through a translator. And that did not work unless you stopped and corrected all the punctuation on the fly before translating. Talk about chat lag....
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ConductorX Nieuport
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Join date: 29 Nov 2007
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06-24-2008 05:30
I have my own pet peeves as well.
NEVERTHELESS is one of them.
One I have also heard is: "I am going to the store do you want to go with?"
I do not know if it is proper english; to me the sentence sounds imcomplete.
Since I am from the south where we tend to shorten words and talk slowly I am subjected to poor english everyday.
"CX" (getting my mullet trimed today)
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Max Herzog
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06-24-2008 05:33
From: ConductorX Nieuport I have my own pet peeves as well. NEVERTHELESS is one of them. One I have also heard is: "I am going to the store do you want to go with?" I do not know if it is proper english; to me the sentence sounds imcomplete. Since I am from the south where we tend to shorten words and talk slowly I am subjected to poor english everyday. "CX" (getting my mullet trimed today) Out of curiosity, what's wrong with nevertheless? It's a conjunctive adverb, just like "however", "furthermore" "likewise" , "moreover" etc.
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Kitty Barnett
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06-24-2008 05:34
From: Zaphod Kotobide Speaking to Phil's original post, I think people have simply gotten lazy. Maybe more applicable to non-native speakers, but consistent misspellings might just be self-conditioned and since no one tends to point it out that you're making a mistake you just keep on doing it over and over. On the flip side of that, I'd imagine few people actually would want to correct a specific individual due to the likelihood of having it comes across as "rude" vs "helpful": i.e. someone on SLdev sent me an off-list email pointing out that I consistently spell "no one" as "noone", I took it as helpful but I could easily see it turn into a flame war if they'd send it to someone who ends up feeling offended.
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Jacquelin Seisenbacher
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06-24-2008 05:38
I have to jump on the OPs bandwagon. The difference between then and than is not slang. It isn't. It isn't even a time saver! What it is, is ignorance, or perhaps a typo.  Using effect to mean affect, same thing there. Or witch instead of which. These are all things we learn in, what, fifth grade? And, before it's argued that the people making these mistakes are not native English speakers, the only people I see making these mistakes are AMERICANS! I'm in the US myself, so this isn't some "pick on America" thing. The point is, these mistakes really are from sheer lazyness, or miseducation. They are not regional, or any sort of cultural identifiers.
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Alazarin Mondrian
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06-24-2008 05:44
From: Amy Stork Ain't nuffink more irritating then improperly using grammar innit? Yeah, norramean. But, like, am I bovvered?
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Max Herzog
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06-24-2008 05:45
From: Jacquelin Seisenbacher The point is, these mistakes really are from sheer lazyness, or miseducation. They are not regional, or any sort of cultural identifiers. That'll be "laziness" then, Jacquelin? 
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Rhaorth Antonelli
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06-24-2008 05:47
From: Alazarin Mondrian Yeah, norramean. But, like, am I bovvered? OMG I was watching some of her clips last night, and Am I bovvered was running through my head allll night LOL Look at this face, am I bovvered? hehe
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Milla Alexandre
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Join date: 22 Jan 2007
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06-24-2008 05:48
All I can say to your original post Phil.....is try living in the southeast~!! Holy bad english batman!!! (as an aside, don't you think it's a tad nit picky to post something on language, or are you one of those people who will correct someone in the middle of a story? Are you of German heritage perhaps? I am....and Germans put being correct over being polite) Anyway.....the South. It hurts sometimes to listen to people speak down here. I grew up in the northeast.....western Mass to be exact. An area of the country where it is said people have perfect diction. Who knows. I never had any kind of accent. Those Boston accents don't appear until you get to Worcester and points east. But in the south it is almost painful to adjust. There is so much slang and complete lack of common grammer that it makes even intelligent people sound like morons. I lived in SC for three years. I met folks from every level of education and the most common phrase I heard that drove me batty was "you might can do that" or "we might can fix that" WTF? LOL Now I'm in FL where there's a more varied blend of folks from all over the country and one doesn't even really hear a southern accent, and rarely any gross slang. But again, it's likely regional. I'm on the east coast, mid state. People seem to speak fairly normal here but time will tell. But.....all that picky sh** aside. I really don't care how people 'type'. First of all, I have known enough highly intelligent people in my life to also know that intelligent doesn't always equate with proper written communication skills. Case in point, my brother. My brother's IQ scored in near genius levels when he was younger. He's a gifted musician and extremely intelligent. He's also dyslexic. Needless to say, this caused him huge problems in the areas of reading and writing for most of his life. He finally got so fed up that one day, in his late 30s, he hoofed it to the harvard book store in Boston that was near his apartment and grabbed a bunch of books and forced himself to 'read'. He managed to overcome the dyslexia. I don't know how he did it or what method he used to train himself, but he reads like a fiend now. He reads books that are so out of my league it's not even funny. LOL.... But getting an email from him.....is still a bit on the scary side.  He still has a very hard time 'writing' or typing properly even though he speaks with flawless grammer.
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ConductorX Nieuport
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Join date: 29 Nov 2007
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06-24-2008 05:56
From: Max Herzog Out of curiosity, what's wrong with nevertheless? It's a conjunctive adverb, just like "however", "furthermore" "likewise" , "moreover" etc. While taking English Compostion in college I ruined a perfect 4.0 in the class because I used that word in an essay. "CX" (quoth the raven, "Nevermore" 
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Max Herzog
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06-24-2008 05:58
From: ConductorX Nieuport While taking English Compostion in college I ruined a perfect 4.0 in the class because I used that word in an essay. "CX" (quoth the raven, "Nevermore"  Hmmm. I'd have demanded a recount. Quite clearly, whoever marked that paper is a fool.
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Deira Llanfair
Deira to rhyme with Myra
Join date: 16 Oct 2006
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06-24-2008 05:58
This brings back bad memories of my old, Scottish, English school teacher, who had a thing abut the use of "due to", when it should be "owing to" or "because of".
She would say I imagine (and sounding like Miss Jean Brodie), "Trains , buses and payments may be due. There is nothing "due" about SL database problems! They were not due at all. The inventory was lost *owing to* SL database problems."
I am amused by the kids who use "well" when they mean "very" - things are "well good" or "well wicked". I'm waiting to hear "well well" - meaning, "very well"!
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Max Herzog
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06-24-2008 06:00
From: Deira Llanfair This brings back bad memories of my old, Scottish, English school teacher, who had a thing abut the use of "due to", when it should be "owing to" or "because of". She would say I imagine (and sounding like Miss Jean Brodie), "Trains , buses and payments may be due. There is nothing "due" about SL database problems! They were not due at all. The inventory was lost *owing to* SL database problems." I am amused by the kids who use "well" when they mean "very" - things are "well good" or "well wicked". I'm waiting to hear "well well" - meaning, "very well"! Did you ever watch Nathan Barley, Deira? A cool new mobile phone was "well weapon" Something exciting was "well Mexico" Something bad was "well Jackson"
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Brenda Connolly
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06-24-2008 06:04
From: Max Herzog That'll be "laziness" then, Jacquelin?  Max wins the thread. I thought Zap was going to be the winner: From: Zaphod Kotobide You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. Max overtook him at the clubhouse turn. Mangled grammar on The Internet, which isn't limited to this side of the pond, used to bother me, but I've learned to just let it go. I used to try to correct people, but got tired of being shouted down as some sort of Grammar Nazi, so now my philosophy is "Chump don't want no help? Chump don't get no help"
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Deira Llanfair
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06-24-2008 06:07
From: Max Herzog Did you ever watch Nathan Barley, Deira? A cool new mobile phone was "well weapon" Something exciting was "well Mexico" Something bad was "well Jackson" Oh yeah. Well wonderful Max! -- or even, well kewl?
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Chris Norse
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Join date: 1 Oct 2006
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06-24-2008 06:09
I really hate it when people don't know the definitions of simple words. You know like "many if not most". Most people can understand that phrase means a majority of whatever is being discussed.
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DancesWithRobots Soyer
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06-24-2008 06:17
Well. . .language does change over time. I mean, there are these insects that used to be called "flutterbys. . ."
That being said, it sets my teeth on edge when successful, supposedly educated people have to "ax" me a question.
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Rhaorth Antonelli
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06-24-2008 06:20
can I ax you a question? I just want to ax you a question though.
heh
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Curtis Dresler
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06-24-2008 06:23
From: Phil Deakins ... HAVE (of) I don't think this one is limited to americans, because many or most english speakers pronounce it similar to "of", by dropping the H. Example: I should of seen it coming" should be "I should HAVE seen it coming".
...QUOTE]
Actually, 'should of' and 'would of' are commonly seen as incorrect versions of should've and would've, which follow more closely phonetically. In any case, it is not considered incorrect when used in a representation of conversation, as it would be appropriate to use colloquial speech. Neither would bother me (much) in chat, but would bother me in non-RP IM. OTOH, I spent seven years as a hair-splitting linguist, so the irritation comes naturally by now.
BTW, it is also a very minor annoyance when English and American are spelled english and american. Just saying...
So since we are talking language here, what is the opposite of 'you must go there' - 'you don't have to go there' (non-imperative) or 'you must not go there' (the negative)? We can have a vote later... (We argued this for several months, FWIW, back in the day, especially over beer and pizza. It ended up a hair-split decision.)
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Vampaerus Wysznik
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06-24-2008 06:33
From: Deira Llanfair I am amused by the kids who use "well" when they mean "very" - things are "well good" or "well wicked". I'm waiting to hear "well well" - meaning, "very well"! hehe, I use "pretty" all the time. Not a clue were that one came from, but it's pretty well stuck. 
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Mereille Despres
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06-24-2008 06:33
All I can do is quote the immortal words of the late George Carlin:
backwards words say to used i. again go I there. s$*t oh.
Peace out.
M
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Vampaerus Wysznik
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06-24-2008 06:44
"you must go there" implies that not going would result in some dire circumstance. "you don't have to go there" implies you may go if you want to, but it is not required. "you must not go there" implies that going would result in some dire circumstance. I fail to see the debate  "don't have to" does not carry the same weight of compulsion as "must [not]". ETA: I think the reason it took several months is because every time you got together to debate it no one could agree on what pizza toppings to get. 
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