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Pedants' corner

Ect., ect., ect.

(179 Posts)
Esspee Fri 31-Dec-21 12:56:16

If I see even one more ect. on Gransnet I am going to have to comment. I know that “as long as the meaning is clear” is the usual standard but ect. is like chalk screeching on a blackboard to me.
Does it drive you crazy or is it just me?

Urmstongran Fri 31-Dec-21 14:57:15

This has definately been a challenging year but please bare with me. Its been a while since I’ve been out and about as I’ve been sheilding and it’s hard looking out my window and seeing folk flounting the rules ect ect. We need to be careful some say. Here, here! If we all pull together and toe the line we will see progress.
?

MissAdventure Fri 31-Dec-21 14:57:09

There is a man somewhere, who goes around with a ladder, correcting signs and shop fronts.

Riverwalk Fri 31-Dec-21 14:50:50

Typos and bad grammar I can live with but what I will never forgive

Myself and hubby, myself and a friend, myself and the dog

Just so wrong - should be banned! grin

SueDonim Fri 31-Dec-21 14:30:48

MaizieD

OMG!!! Just seen the rogue apostrophe ???

I'm on the pedant naughty step now...

grin grin

Calistemon Fri 31-Dec-21 14:26:15

Should that be "more than one are guilty"?

I'm confused now

Smileless2012 Fri 31-Dec-21 14:25:38

You rebel MissAgrin.

Calistemon Fri 31-Dec-21 14:24:30

This is all a load of old banana's.

(Greengrocer's wandering apostrophe- or should that be Greengrocers' as more than one is guilty?)

Pigma Fri 31-Dec-21 14:23:09

Always apprehensive about correcting others (other’s??!!) but really gets to me when my DIL tells me she is loosing weight. Eww!!! Bare with me - hilarious.

Calistemon Fri 31-Dec-21 14:22:55

MaizieD

^But then I never know where to put the apostrophe in "its^

I could tell you, if you like, Alegrias? grin

In fact, I will, but you're welcome to ignore it.

'Its', no apostrophe is a possessive pronoun, like his, hers and theirs. 'It's', with apostrophe, is a contraction of 'it is'. Apostrophe indicates the missing 'i'

It's a nightmare to teach and bl88dy autocorrect doesn't help...

You spelt bloody wrong MaizieD!!

Marydoll Fri 31-Dec-21 14:07:58

Oldnproud

Marydoll

I've used it in the last few days. Do you mean me, Espee? ?
By the way, I am a fully paid up pedant and see nothing wrong with using it. ?

Look again at the OP, Marydoll. It is the spelling that is in question: ect., instead of etc.

I missed that myself to begin with, and thought the same as you until I realized. [ grin]

Thank goodness for that. I have a reputation to uphold! blush

Suvvering suffering from brain fog at the moment and I really should read the OP, at least twice! wink.

Esspee Fri 31-Dec-21 14:07:30

I once had an interesting “conversation” with a call/chat centre employee who wrote “please bare with me” as he looked up my account.
I could feel the heat from his red face over the 2,000 mile separation when he finally understood what he had been instructing customers to do.

Shandy57 Fri 31-Dec-21 13:57:19

Just remembered, 'tender hooks'!

Shandy57 Fri 31-Dec-21 13:56:04

My son has been with his girlfriend for ten years, and I still shudder when she writes 'thankyou', but I'd never correct her. I started life as a secretary and still have a 'proof reading' eye.

I was listening to Metro Radio earlier and they were asking people to text in for a competition - and they spelled out the word BONUS very clearly. It made me laugh, what are they receiving? BONERS? BONASS? smile

MaizieD Fri 31-Dec-21 13:54:31

OMG!!! Just seen the rogue apostrophe ???

I'm on the pedant naughty step now...

MaizieD Fri 31-Dec-21 13:53:01

SueDonim

I try to let these things go over my head and I can’t say I’ve noticed ect/etc. I’ll probably see it everywhere now!

The one that makes my teeth itch is towing/toeing the line. I suppose you can feasibly both toe and tow a line but it always jumps out at me.

'Towing the line' get's me, too. There is no logic to it. 'Toeing the line' means conforming to the rules, level playing field and all that, doesn't it? How can pulling a rope along have anything at all to do with that?

MissAdventure Fri 31-Dec-21 13:52:41

How about 'Chester draws'? grin
Have seen a few for sale.

Morksmate Fri 31-Dec-21 13:51:17

My first post, so please be kind.

What really irritates me is when someone says 'draw' instead of 'drawer' i.e. chest of draws - really makes my teeth grate!

Alegrias1 Fri 31-Dec-21 13:50:59

My head hurts....

grin

MaizieD Fri 31-Dec-21 13:48:54

^ but my O-Grade Latin tells me that the possessive case is a contraction of -is^

But that's just for nouns, not pronouns.

Does Latin even have pronouns? (O Level Latin failure here...)

choughdancer Fri 31-Dec-21 13:40:05

I agree with all of these!

I got into trouble over ten years ago, when I worked as a teaching assistant in a secondary school. All the teachers and TAs were asked to proof read pupils' reports before they went home to parents. The one I read said that the student was 'flaunting' the school uniform rules. I did as we had been told to do and showed it to the head teacher. She couldn't see what was wrong, and said that maybe they WERE flaunting the rules! I'm afraid I illustrated my point by telling her if they were actually doing that, they could be running around with a sandwich board with the rules written on it, and that the correct word was flouting.

Witzend Fri 31-Dec-21 13:40:00

Re it’s/its, when I was teaching English to (mostly) speakers of Arabic, one or two of whom weren’t even literate in their own language, it took just one two-hour session to sort this out. So I’ve never really understood why it’s seen as such an unfathomable mystery to so many native speakers.

Oldnproud Fri 31-Dec-21 13:38:27

Marydoll

I've used it in the last few days. Do you mean me, Espee? ?
By the way, I am a fully paid up pedant and see nothing wrong with using it. ?

Look again at the OP, Marydoll. It is the spelling that is in question: ect., instead of etc.

I missed that myself to begin with, and thought the same as you until I realized. [ grin]

Witzend Fri 31-Dec-21 13:35:54

I’ve only ever corrected anyone once, and that was on a totally different, largely male forum, when someone had corrected someone else - and made a basic mistake in his own post! (I enjoyed that! ?)

The most cringe-making example I ever saw, though, was on a writers’ forum, when someone used a Latin phrase wrongly, and someone with a high opinion of herself, undertook to correct her on the open forum. It wasn’t a public forum - many of us knew each other - and she could easily have sent a PM, but chose to humiliate her instead.

SueDonim Fri 31-Dec-21 13:32:51

I try to let these things go over my head and I can’t say I’ve noticed ect/etc. I’ll probably see it everywhere now!

The one that makes my teeth itch is towing/toeing the line. I suppose you can feasibly both toe and tow a line but it always jumps out at me.

Marydoll Fri 31-Dec-21 13:31:07

I've used it in the last few days. Do you mean me, Espee? ?
By the way, I am a fully paid up pedant and see nothing wrong with using it. ?