Post Budget discussion on R5 yesterday had the presenters at odds. Someone dared to say 'one pence' which got the pedants' goat and the texts started. Peter Allen was massively unimpressed and roundly told the complainants to get a life.
Pet Hates Page 3
Quote: Kenneth @ March 24 2011, 10:51 AM GMTYou might enjoy the book Death Sentence by an Australian pedant named Don Watson, bemoaning the mania among the media, business managers and politicians for mangling the English language. Plenty of copies in the second-hand shops here if you'd like a copy.
Thanks for the 'heads up' on that. It seems to be right up my alley.
I've checked out Amazon UK and it appears that I can lev-ridge a copy from their stock holding if I am prepared to, going forward, action a transfer of funds from my bank account.
Will add it to my next order.
I tend to take my BS Bingo cards to meetings with me or organise books on who can spot the most examples in two minutes. I wonder if that's why Management don't like me very much. It could be the elephant in the room.
Took a while to get on to this - I was running round the house trying to find my wife and show her it's NOT JUST ME!
There's another thread somewhere in which I listed a few of my objectiosn. But the big one - the one I hate and which I am powerless to eradicate. 'What are you still doing here?' That's not right. You mean, 'What are you doing still here?' 'Still doing' is what I was doing last time you saw me. 'Still here' means I should have been gone by now.
In a sitcom I wrote in the first scene the main character points this out:
MAN: I was sat there.
MAIN: No you weren't. You were sitting there
CHARACTER GOES TO THE COUNTER TO PASS TIME WITH THE OWNER.
OWNER: Hello, Martin, what are you still doing here?
MAIN: I'm not still doing anything, I'm still here.
OWNER: Only last time I saw you you were sat over there.
That's an abreviation but you get the picture. Thank you for this thread - it's like coming home.
Quote: Buddy Sorrel @ March 24 2011, 11:07 AM GMTThank you for this thread - it's like coming home.
Delighted to have been of service.
We pedants are a dying breed and must stick together righting linguistic wrongs wherever we see them (or some shit like that)
Quote: Griff @ March 24 2011, 11:07 AM GMT... and you've lost me right there...
I think the R5 is some kind of motorised electric scooter.
I don't care. I'm fighting a losing battle with Final Draft. I have until 2pm to show it who's boss.
I prefer scriptsmart or celtx but da rules state Courier Final Draft 12 pt so FD it has to be. I think I'm going to finish the dialogue in a separate word document and then just cut and paste across.
Quote: Griff @ March 24 2011, 11:34 AM GMTGood luck! I'll get back into using Final Draft when it can manage a decent export to Word.
Quote: KLRiley @ March 24 2011, 11:38 AM GMTI prefer scriptsmart or celtx but da rules state Courier Final Draft 12 pt so FD it has to be. I think I'm going to finish the dialogue in a separate word document and then just cut and paste across.
Oi! Beggar off this thread with your scriptwriters' talk you pair!
I've checked back now three times to see what new pedantic gems have been deposited only to find the comments above.
Don't either of you know I'm trying to finish a book and could easily do without these interruptions?
I'll set the NJ robot on you.
And another thing --- 1 in 10 are paying too much (or whatever he's doing) You get that all the time in headlines. 1 is. I get so mad.
Oh, oh..and I read this book once by the son of Jess Oppenheimer. The dad wrote a lot of the original I Love Lucy and before that My Favourite Brunette which was a radio sitcom that starred Lucille Ball. Anyway, Junior's Mum was a bit of a stickler and she told him there could be no such thing as a grammatical error, because if something is grammatical it cannot be wrong.
Get in there, Mrs O. I've argued that with a lot of teachers. Teachers? What do they know?
On a point of order, are we being pedantic or just pernikity?
I've got to come off this now.
My pet hate is people saying 'too' when it should be 'to' or vica versa...God Almighty it's not that hard!
But on the other hand I like colloquialisms, and hearing words and phrases from different areas,and words that are part of a dialect for eg saying 'like' at the end of a sentence(guilty!)) not the same thing as just lazy grammar or not spelling things proper!(soz!)
There, their and they're. Oh, and pluralising with an apostrophe where there is no implied ownership.
BWAAAAAAAAAAA! [/Unicron]
Quote: Griff @ March 24 2011, 12:40 PM GMTHow can you tell that just from listening? You must have a good ear!
Or did you mean people writing 'too' when it should be 'to' ?
Thanks 'teach 
Quote: Buddy Sorrel @ March 24 2011, 12:25 PM GMTOn a point of order, are we being pedantic or just pernikity?
I think both are allowable as far as I'm concerned, although at the risk of being (ahem-hem) pernickety