Pet Peeve of the Day

[GeckoGeek]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

How about when people refer to a "hot water heater"?

Brought to you by the Department of Redundancy Department. Right up there with "pair of dice". How many games do you know of that use four die?

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

I agree with Scriv here, but I also agree with NoCal Boy that this may not be a cut-and-dried area in grammar, and it can get very complicated. Most people in the "real" world would say that it should be "s-apostrophe" like they've been taught in school, but they're wrong! It really should be "s-apostrophe-s".

But to get back on topic: My PPD is getting into arguments with my "real" world co-workers about our company's established style guide that insists there should be two spaces after a period. This is just wrong. This is a throwback to typewriter days; it should be one space.

I'm old school when it comes to typing and even from back in the early 70's you always used two spaces after a period. It broke down the mistake of it being misconstrued as a comma which would have only a single space after it.

Then there are those who like to write a business letter with indentations and not block style. When I write memos I never end it with a "Sincerely". This isn't a letter, it's a memo. The header indicating the Who should give the recipient of that memo a hint as to the origin of that document. I will sign a memo if it is a posted hard copy.

And how many people know how to center a title on a page if they didn't have a justification tool to do it for them?

Easy, you take the approximate center of the page (33 spaces Pica from left edge of a standard 8-1/2" wide paper stock) then backspace one space for every two letters or spaces. So for the word Hawaii Threads you would find the center of the page and back space 7 spaces from the center of the page and viola! Your title is centered!

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

How about when people refer to a "hot water heater"? It's a "water heater", darn it! If the water was already hot, it wouldn't need to be heated.

Or those who use redundant words in conjunction with abbreviations?

Examples:
ATM Machine
PIN Number

And what about Ala Moana Boulevard? Doesn't that belong to the Department of Redundancy Division?

and viola! Your title is centered!

That should be "voila," unless your page contains the second-smallest member of the violin family.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

Or those who use redundant words in conjunction with abbreviations?

Examples:
ATM Machine
PIN Number

And what about Ala Moana Boulevard? Doesn't that belong to the Department of Redundancy Division?
That should be "voila," unless your page contains the second-smallest member of the violin family.

Das right! Okay old school never had spell check so there's one plus for word processors

[scrivener]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

Easy, you take the approximate center of the page (33 spaces Pica from left edge of a standard 8-1/2" wide paper stock) then backspace one space for every two letters or spaces. So for the word Hawaii Threads you would find the center of the page and back space 7 spaces from the center of the page and viola! Your title is centered!

Easy enough on a typewriter, but unless you're using a font such as Courier, where every character takes up the same amount of space as every other, this method is meaningless with a word-processor. And since almost NOBODY is going to be called upon to type something on a typewriter again (I said almost), why should anyone learn how to do this?

Besides. Real typists use Elite! I have three portables, all of them Elite.

[NoCal Boy]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

What school teaches that?

Like Tutu, I was educated here in California, well enough to score a 5 on the AP English exam. (But not enough to prevent running away screaming from the major after a full freshman year of English Lit at UCLA!) Again, I'm not trying to say that "s-apostrophe" is proper, just that there seem to be credible sources saying that it's not incorrect, and I'll keep using it until I'm definitively convinced otherwise. I've always thought "s-apostrophe-s" just looks really awkward, like I'm stuttering (no offense to stutterers!) I yield the chalkboard...

And after all these years I still have to fight the urge to doublespace after a period. (I just did it!) Come on, I learned to type on an old Royal typewriter! Just think, we're probably close to a second generation of humankind that doesn't know what Liquid Paper is.

[GeckoGeek]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

Besides. Real typists use Elite! I have three portables, all of them Elite.

Heh. At least it's not l33t.

[mel]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

I've been typing single space after periods for many, many years. I got rid of my old typewriter habits long ago after learning how to do typesetting on a proprietary system. By the time computers (Macs) became common place I was already routinely typing text using only single spaces after every word and punctuation. As I understand it the software knows how much space to insert between letters and punctuation marks in relation to the fonts you are using. Of course in the world of typesetting and graphic arts you can fidget with all of these through the process of kerning and letter spacing.

One thing that irks me is underlined type, the kind that practically all computer programs and operating systems offer end users. The default underlining is ugly IMO especially when lower case letters get chopped off by the lines.

You know, in most cases, underline is not needed. That is why we have italics today. Underlining is a leftover habit from typewriter days that is best tossed out with those ancient relics. About the only place that underlining is probably acceptable is within the legal community where for some reason underlining is used quite extensively on legal documents.

What I hate the most about underlining is that on the WWW, it is the default text style for links. Yuck.

It is a good thing that most modern browsers give you the option to turn the default underlining off. However I don't know of an easy way to turn this off when one designs or creates a web page.

In the larger scope of life, this is not a real big thing, but over the years underlining has annoyed me.

[scrivener]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

It is a good thing that most modern browsers give you the option to turn the default underlining off. However I don't know of an easy way to turn this off when one designs or creates a web page.

I'm with you, Mel, on the underlining. I had a brief exchange with Ryan once when I expressed something quite similar. All Ryan had to say in response was, "Links should look like links."

If you insert this in the HEAD portion of an HTML document, it will disable the underlining for most (if not all) browsers:

<style type="text/css">
<!--A{text-decoration:none}-->
</style>

[mel]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

<style type="text/css">
<!--A{text-decoration:none}-->
</style>

I'm gonna have to try this out. Thanx!

[adrian]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

I hate being short. I test drove my brother's new used car and my face barely got over the steering wheel.

[helen]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

You know, in most cases, underline is not needed. That is why we have italics today. Underlining is a leftover habit from typewriter days that is best tossed out with those ancient relics.

Sometimes italicized text can be hard to read. I usually use bolding instead of using italics.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

Easy enough on a typewriter, but unless you're using a font such as Courier, where every character takes up the same amount of space as every other, this method is meaningless with a word-processor. And since almost NOBODY is going to be called upon to type something on a typewriter again (I said almost), why should anyone learn how to do this?

Besides. Real typists use Elite! I have three portables, all of them Elite.

Pica is 6 characters per inch while Elite is 8.

If you're using tab functions with your word processor, and let's say the justification function craps out then even on a word processor this method works even with a courier font.

Come on Scriv, you're with the DOE, I still see Selectric II typewriters in the offices in some elementary schools. I keep a trusty Royal manual typewriter handy because you never know when you'll have to type onto a triplicate form and the boxes are big enough for Elite only.

I never give up on old technology or functions because as we move on in this technological world we forget the simple things like finding the square root of a number without a calculator.

[GeckoGeek]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

"Links should look like links."

And non-links shouldn't! That's why I avoid underlining for anything to be used on-line.

I find italics aren't always that visible. I tend to use bold.

[GeckoGeek]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

Pet peeve: A mite (or some such small critter) that keeps buzzing your head. Worse, it manages to fly by your nose right when you're inhaling (argh!)