"The problem with doing nothing is not knowing when you're finished" - Benjamin Franklin

Ontos45 · Guru

Whatchamacallit

GaryKelly · Guru

Thought I'd start a thread for correcting common mistakes... like calling a median strip a "medium" strip. Median = middle. A median strip is the raised divider that runs down the middle of a road. Nothing to do with "medium".

Another one is using "of" instead of "have", as in could of, would of, should of. It comes from the mispronunciation of could've, would've, etc, that sounds like "of" but is actually an abbreviation of "have".

GaryKelly · Guru

I agree with "different to"... a cat is different to a dog. But in the case of differ, if a person says "I beg to differ", they really mean "I beg to differ with (your opinion, your argument, etc). I think "an" used in conjunction with horrific is okay... one of those 'either or' thingies. An hotel, an historic building, an hotel, an hysterical joke. But if you choose to use "an" in those cases, technically you should drop the "h" in speech.

However, I was hoping this thread would encouraging illuminating gems about the proper name for various things... like antenna instead of aerial. Or suture instead of stitch. Docs are funny that way... insisting that an operation be called a "procedure". For years I thought 'One fell swoop' was 'one foul swoop', but the former is correct.

-- Edited by GaryKelly on Wednesday 6th of March 2013 07:16:41 PM

Gerty Dancer · Guru

The newsreaders who say the ubiquitous "An horrific..." annoy me. Why does every bad event have to be described as "horrific"? theres many other words which could could be used. If the word horrific must be used, surely it should be preceded by "a" instead of "an"? When we say "an hour" the H is silent, but in "horrific" the H is sounded.
Ok I'm getting back into my box.....

Peterpan · Guru

Is it "to differ to" or " to differ from"?

Happywanderer · The Master

One that annoys me, saying that instead of who. The lady that drove that car instead of The lady who drove that car.

Happywanderer · The Master

Peterpan wrote:
Is it "to differ to" or " to differ from"?

I think it would be "to differ from" or maybe "is different to"

EllenajoeL · Senior Member

I always notice (and am slightly bemused) when someone says 'pacific' when they mean to say 'specific' as they are, clearly, very different by definition.

I always notice (and am quite annoyed) when someone says '.....think' (eg somethink) when they mean to say '....thing' (eg something) as, almost always the '.....think' word is NOT a word at all!

Peterpan · Guru

Happywanderer wrote:
Peterpan wrote:
Is it "to differ to" or " to differ from"?
I think it would be "to differ from" or maybe "is different to"

I agree with "to differ from" HW, this was drummed into me by Mum over many years.

Oh the bane of having a gooder english speaker in the family.

msg · Guru

How about calling everything a disease? Whats wrong with it being an illness?

Beth54 · Guru

The 'could of' instead of 'could have' is a pet hate of mine, because my daughter says it all the time.

What I really hate is when you read a mistake like that in print..say in a book or a newspaper. These people are supposed to be professionals, for goodness sake.

There was a similar thread not so long ago, and it became a little heated, because it seemed to be aimed at some GN's who weren't writing 'correctly'. (I know that is not your intention here GaryKelly.) Needless to say, this didn't go down well with some.

We must remember that not everyone has had a good education. Many older folk left school very young, or missed out on a lot of school.

My friends hubby calls me Beff. Apparently he was never corrected to get the 'th' right, so it stuck.

Dougwe · Chief one feather

Sounds more like a thingamajig or ooziwatsit :)

03_troopy · Guru

GaryKelly wrote:
I agree with "different to"... a cat is different to a dog. But in the case of differ, if a person says "I beg to differ", they really mean "I beg to differ with (your opinion, your argument, etc). I think "an" used in conjunction with horrific is okay... one of those 'either or' thingies. An hotel, an historic building, an hotel, an hysterical joke. But if you choose to use "an" in those cases, technically you should drop the "h" in speech.

However, I was hoping this thread would encouraging illuminating gems about the proper name for various things... like antenna instead of aerial. Or suture instead of stitch. Docs are funny that way... insisting that an operation be called a "procedure". For years I thought 'One fell swoop' was 'one foul swoop', but the former is correct.

-- Edited by GaryKelly on Wednesday 6th of March 2013 07:16:41 PM

I don't think there is any problem with using either antenna or aerial. In over 30 years as a Radio/Avionics Technician I, and many other technicians, still use either. I probably lean more towards antenna though, but don't ask me why.

Rip and Rosie · Guru

Delta18 wrote:
Rip and Rosie wrote:
One of mine.............

"Two times world champion"........ what is wrong with twice?
Twice times World Champion just doesn't sound right. Note the use of capitals, World Champion is a proper noun

Since when did proper nouns take captials?

Proper names do, and God does (as a matter of courtesy I guess), as does Her Majesty the Queen, but that's left over from history when kings and queens chopped your head off for disrespect.

-- Edited by Rip and Rosie on Thursday 7th of March 2013 02:12:59 PM

GaryKelly · Guru

I used to write TV/video scripts and an aerial was a shot from the sky. But I've always used aerial to describe reception devices for car radios. I suppose antenna is the correct term but aerial is entrenched in the vernacular. As usual, common usage eventually wins the day. Words like "gonna" are now in official dictionaries.

Rip and Rosie · Guru

One of mine.............

"Two times world champion"........ what is wrong with twice?

Delta18 · Guru

Rip and Rosie wrote:
One of mine.............

"Two times world champion"........ what is wrong with twice?

Twice times World Champion just doesn't sound right. biggrin Note the use of capitals, World Champion is a proper noun

03_troopy · Guru

GaryKelly wrote:
I used to write TV/video scripts and an aerial was a shot from the sky. But I've always used aerial to describe reception devices for car radios. I suppose antenna is the correct term but aerial is entrenched in the vernacular. As usual, common usage eventually wins the day. Words like "gonna" are now in official dictionaries.

When I started my trade as a radio tech in the early 70's, aerial was used in the text books.... but they dated back to the early 60's... antennea are what bugs have on them anyway.. LOL

Delta18 · Guru

Rip and Rosie wrote:
Since when did proper nouns take captials?
Proper names do, and God does (as a matter of courtesy I guess), as does Her Majesty the Queen, but that's left over from history when kings and queens chopped your head off for disrespect.

-- Edited by Rip and Rosie on Thursday 7th of March 2013 02:12:59 PM

My understanding is all proper nouns are capitalised, thus "he is the World Champion" but not "he is a world champion"..

English language sucks. How hard it must be for an immigrant to learn?

Pam · Guru

Why does it never rain anymore? Its now a rain event.

M i l says heighth not height.

GaryKelly · Guru

My next door neighbor calls her hydrangea hide-a-ranger hehe, and I don't have the heart to correct her.

03_troopy · Guru

we used to have a neighbour that had "sea enemas" in her fish tank... used to crack us up..

Pam · Guru

How about chickens in pyjamas ( chicken Parma )

Pam · Guru

How about chickens in pyjamas ( chicken Parma )

vk6tnc · Guru

I know it was staged, but Kath and Kim being effluent still cracks me up !!!!

sandsmere · Guru

That pain in the joints I've got called" Arthur Rightus " .

And , of course , we don't have black-outs anymore , just power outages . furious Political correctnes gone mad .

Rip and Rosie · Guru

The plain old "car" is now a "vehicle".

No one drivers a "lorry" anymore.

We still have fire engines, although they seem to be morphing into "fire appliances"

GaryKelly · Guru

Yep, political correctness gone mad alright... it's okay to call Australians Aussies, Americans Yanks, Brits Poms but not Aborigines Abos. If we can call post PM arvo, morning tea smoko, blokes named Dick Dicko or John Johnno, and compensation compo, what's wrong with Abo? I have Aboriginal friends and I'm sure they're not thin skinned about nicknames. We don't have blind people anymore but sight impaired. Dummies are intellectually challenged hehe.

Rip and Rosie · Guru

GaryKelly wrote:
Yep, political correctness gone mad alright... it's okay to call Australians Aussies, Americans Yanks, Brits Poms but not Aborigines Abos. If we can call post PM arvo, morning tea smoko, blokes named Dick Dicko or John Johnno, and compensation compo, what's wrong with Abo? I have Aboriginal friends and I'm sure they're not thin skinned about nicknames. We don't have blind people anymore but sight impaired. Dummies are intellectually challenged hehe.

When some one, or some group feels insulted, then the correct thing to do is cut the crap.

Some "jokes" and "nicknames" can be hurtful.

We saw it with Irish jokes and Jewish jokes, and the hurt that the blonde jokes create in young women. I personally dislike religious jokes that vilify or ridicule deeply (and genuinely) held belief.

It's never polite to use "yanks" or "poms" except in very relaxed and informal situations, and only when the amercian or englishman is OK with it. Otherwise its rude.

For Australia's indigenous community, "abo" is felt as an insult, and a put down. If its about being "thin skinned" - so be it.

GaryKelly · Guru

And that's precisely why we have political correctness, Rip & Rosie.