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  • #16
    Re: MY pet peeves

    You're right, but I was pointing out that if someone is going to leave end marks out, that person's complaining about someone else's pronunciation of a word when it's obvious what the word is seems excessively negative, and negatively pointed outward.
    But I'm disturbed! I'm depressed! I'm inadequate! I GOT IT ALL! (George Costanza)
    GrouchyTeacher.com

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    • #17
      Re: MY pet peeves

      Underlining text is ugly! Especially for descenders g j p q and y.
      I'm still here. Are you?

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      • #18
        Re: MY pet peeves

        Originally posted by mel View Post
        Underlining text is ugly! Especially for descenders g j p q and y.
        But a font with serifs (here Times New Roman) helps:
        Underlining text is ugly! Especially for descenders g j p q and y.
        Greg

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        • #19
          Re: MY pet peeves

          Originally posted by GregLee View Post
          But a font with serifs (here Times New Roman) helps:
          Underlining text is ugly! Especially for descenders g j p q and y.
          Not too much. Still ugly.
          I'm still here. Are you?

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          • #20
            Re: MY pet peeves

            Originally posted by scrivener View Post
            Someone else in this thread, normally a very good writer (with perhaps too great a fondness for ellipses), has made the its/it's mistake a couple of times recently.
            Its true...and one of my most common grammatical errors is in the use of "I" or "me" - most commonly, in speaking...its something I am working on. I've gotten much better in correct usage of "fewer"/"less" ... and if it hadn't been for Scrivener, I would have continued to (incorrectly) put my periods within the parentheses, rather than at the end (you know what I mean).

            Above errors purely intentional.

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            • #21
              Re: MY pet peeves

              Originally posted by Leo Lakio View Post
              ... its something I am working on. I've gotten much better in correct usage of "fewer"/"less" ...
              Do you count an error for putting just one space after a period, like this?:
              something I am working on. I've gotten much better

              rather than two, like this:
              something I am working on. nI've gotten much better
              Greg

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              • #22
                Re: MY pet peeves

                Originally posted by Leo Lakio View Post
                I've gotten much better in correct usage of "fewer"/"less"
                I oftentimes hear people in Hawaii saying "much" when they actually should be saying "many" in a sentence. That always drives me up the wall.

                Eh, how much cans of soda should we bring to da party?
                This post may contain an opinion that may conflict with your opinion. Do not take it personal. Polite discussion of difference of opinion is welcome.

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                • #23
                  Re: MY pet peeves

                  Actually, Leo, I didn't look up your posts. Since you and I are in-real-life friends now, you fall into another category for my English teacher behavior.

                  As for two spaces after an end-mark, I always use them and like it better when others do, too. But that rule is a remnant of our use of typewriters for formal writing, when each character took up the same amount of space. Since word-processors and online print use space differently, you often can't even tell the difference between one or two spaces between sentences, so I have gradually, over the years, learned to accept a single space between sentences. Word-processors are programmed to make paragraphs look good either way.
                  Last edited by scrivener; September 28, 2012, 07:35 AM.
                  But I'm disturbed! I'm depressed! I'm inadequate! I GOT IT ALL! (George Costanza)
                  GrouchyTeacher.com

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                  • #24
                    Re: MY pet peeves

                    Originally posted by scrivener View Post
                    As for two spaces after an end-mark, I always use them and like it better when others do, too. But that rule is a remnant of our use of typewriters for formal writing, when each character took up the same amount of space.
                    Yes, using exactly two spaces does come from the typewriter days.. But using more space after end puctuation is traditional in typography using proportional fonts.. (And if you look closely, you will see that I used slightly more space after two previous periods in this posting.)
                    Greg

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                    • #25
                      Re: MY pet peeves

                      Many people still use two spaces at the end of a sentence. In fact, my work place style guide calls for it. I’m against it, but I’m outnumbered. It’s one of my pet peeves.

                      The rule is a single space at the end of a sentence (see Chicago Manual of Style). In fact, for online text, html does not support two spaces, or three spaces, or any number of extra spaces, unless you use trickery. (Greg, I notice you used html tricks to insert those extra spaces.)

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                      • #26
                        Re: MY pet peeves

                        Originally posted by Honoruru View Post
                        Many people still use two spaces at the end of a sentence. In fact, my work place style guide calls for it. I’m against it, but I’m outnumbered. It’s one of my pet peeves.

                        The rule is a single space at the end of a sentence (see Chicago Manual of Style). In fact, for online text, html does not support two spaces, or three spaces, or any number of extra spaces, unless you use trickery. (Greg, I notice you used html tricks to insert those extra spaces.)
                        Oh, Chicago is full of mobsters who don't get 'compensated' for blank space.

                        From my English/Writing classes in the 1970/80's, I learned two spaces was the rule, and I'm too old to change.[space][space]

                        Live with it.
                        Be Yourself. Everyone Else Is Taken!
                        ~ ~
                        Kaʻonohiʻulaʻokahōkūmiomioʻehiku
                        Spreading the virus of ALOHA.
                        Oh Chu. If only you could have seen what I've seen, with your eyes.

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                        • #27
                          Re: MY pet peeves

                          Originally posted by GregLee View Post
                          Do you count an error for putting just one space after a period, like this?:
                          something I am working on. I've gotten much better

                          rather than two, like this:
                          something I am working on. nI've gotten much better
                          Interesting. I am generally in the habit of using two, but I've been using one with more frequency in the past couple of years. I blame Twitter. Or the gentle sloppiness that comes with aging.

                          Originally posted by Frankie's Market View Post
                          I oftentimes hear people in Hawaii saying "much" when they actually should be saying "many" in a sentence. That always drives me up the wall.

                          Eh, how much cans of soda should we bring to da party?
                          I suppose pidgin would be the source for many/much of these sorts of linguistic adjustments, eh?

                          Originally posted by scrivener View Post
                          Actually, Leo, I didn't look up your posts. Since you and I are in-real-life friends now, you fall into another category for my English teacher behavior.
                          That's vaguely frightening ... but just vaguely. The Alpha Female's father was a high-school English teacher his entire career, so she was raised with a strong sense of accurate usage, and has assisted me in a number of ways.

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                          • #28
                            Re: MY pet peeves

                            "Oh my God." That phrase is so overused. I admit, I say it on occasion, as well as "OMG" while typing... but I've been hearing it so often that it's become annoying.

                            I don't mind when tourists mispronounce Hawaiian words. After all, it's a foreign language to them. At least they try. I know I mangle names and words when I visit places. I think it's funny, tho, when residents tell me they live on... "You know, that 'H' street in Lahaina"... meaning, Honoapiilani. Wow, they're so lazy, they don't bother to learn the name of the street they live on.

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                            • #29
                              Re: MY pet peeves

                              Is it ru-inned or rune-d for ruined?

                              WTH is up with aks for ask only seemingly done by black people (no racism intended)?

                              And in all technicality, it should be rest-ah-u-rant instead of rester-rawnt.
                              If anyone on Oahu is NOT happy , feel free to trade places with me.

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                              • #30
                                Re: MY pet peeves

                                Originally posted by memorylane View Post
                                Is it ru-inned or rune-d for ruined?

                                WTH is up with aks for ask only seemingly done by black people (no racism intended)?

                                And in all technicality, it should be rest-ah-u-rant instead of rester-rawnt.
                                You hear both the two- and one-syllable pronunciations of "ruin".

                                If you google on "aks ask", you'll find that both pronunciations have existed since Old English, and it's possible that "acsian" is the earlier form. As a conjecture about why "aks" might have shifted to "ask", a theory about the most natural form of a syllable is that aperture in the mouth increases up to the vowel of the syllable, then it decreases more and more, up to the end. Then, since "s" has more aperture than "k", it is more natural for a syllable to end with "sk", with decreasing aperture, than it is to end with "ks", with increasing aperture.

                                I don't know how the "aks" variant came to be associated with Black English. There is some discussion here, http://linguistlist.org/issues/7/7-1048.html, but no one seems to know.

                                The "au" of "restaurant" is a French spelling, which would be pronounces "o" in French, and presumably in English when the word was borrowed. Apparently, there is an etymological connection with "restore". I don't see any reason it would be pronounced as a diphthong "a" plus "u".
                                Greg

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