Forum: Story Discussion and Feedback

I think then/than is more common, closely followed by their/they're and whose/who's.

Depends on the author.
The incorrect usage of woman/women is something that annoys me, and I've noticed a lot of it occurring.

Depends on the author.

Yes, unless the scope of the discussion is the whole site.

Depends on the author.

Yes, unless the scope of the discussion is the whole site.

And as I mentioned, I've noticed a lot of it.

Another for the list- past/passed.

EDIT- and distain when i'm sure they meant disdain.

EDIT- and distain when i'm sure they meant disdain.

How about the defiantly definite?

I've noticed a lot of monobreasted women in stories ;)

Breast Cancer survivors need loving too! :P

But yeah, the singular/plural mixup on woman/women does elicit chuckles when I see it happen. Although I don't think it is quite so common as the OP makes it out to be. I agree their/there/they're and then/than being more common.

I'd probably add to/too/two to the list as well. See also: the homonym abuse discussion. :)

If anything, women who have suffered the consequences of breast cancer, need even more loving to help their recovery, from both the illness and the it's effect on their self-image.

But I guess, my bucket had finally filled up to the point that I needed to dump it.

My most annoying "spoken" twitch is when an anglophone mispronounces "coup de grace"
They will make the "ce" silent as in:
"coup de gr-ah"
when the correct pronunciation is:
"coup de gr-ah-ss"
When they do that, instead of saying the "the stroke of mercy", killing someone to stop their suffering, they're saying a "strike of fat", or more jokingly "whack with bacon".

I was mostly(morbidly) joking about the breast cancer survivors, I knew that the vast majority of such instances were people using the singular form when plural was intended.

Maybe they're all uni-breasted, where there's so much fat that the two breasts merge into one large expanse?

Uniboob does happen in real life, but its not a weight(fat) related issue. It's a complication of botched breast enlargement surgery.

There's a show on cable that follows two of the US's top cosmetic surgeons who specialize in repairing botched cosmetic surgeries.

I've seen a few of the episodes, including one where they had to fix a uniboob.

If they can bisect a uniboob

To do a breast enlargement, a pocket is created under the breast tissue to hold the implants.

A uniboob occurs when the tissue between the breasts separates from the sternum, the two pockets become interconnected, and the implants migrate to the center of the chest creating the appearance of a single large breast.

It would in theory be possible to create a pocket, stretch the skin out an put an implant between the natural breasts, creating the rough appearance of a third breast, but it wouldn't be functional and it wouldn't have a nipple.

Most reputable cosmetic surgeons would refuse to do something like that.

Medical Tatooists

My sister worked with some, eventually having them give her 'permanent' lipstick and makeup jobs

There is a beautician close to here where they tattoo eyebrows. They fade and need to be redone every couple of years.

Thanks for that clarification.
I will take the time to make the same comment in both those threads..

Another set that does me is when they add an unnecessary -ed to make past tense.

Language evolves over time. You may have to resign yourself to getting used to a few of those.

Language evolves over time.

The process is called "entropy" which eventually degenerates to mumbling, illiteracy, and chaotic head-bashing with clubs.

Chaucer would weep. Dude, he'd really, like, lose it.

Many Americans call Barack Obama 'black', despite his being mixed race.

Don't forget the 'one drop' rule; many Americans, especially those in the South, believe that one drop of African-American blood establishes one's racial identity.

gallons of stupidity in those around them

Thanks Forest :-)

Yet they ignore the gallons of stupidity in those around them.

It's hard to ignore the poster child for the "one drop rule" thinkers, now that he's been nominated to enforce it all across the U.S. Doff your Klan hood to Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, nominee for Attorney General of the United States. Sir, which is the greater offense: that drop of blood in one's veins, or the Koran in one's hand?

many Americans, especially those in the South, believe that one drop of African-American blood establishes one's racial identity

So by their reckoning, we're all 'black' as the Y-chromosome 'Adam' and mitochondrial 'Eve' were both from sub-Saharan Africa

Pot, meet Kettle.

Many Americans call Barack Obama 'black', despite his being mixed race.

If you research this a bit farther I think you'll find that being identified as "black" was, at least in part, his choice, as it is with many persons of mixed racial backgrounds.

Exactly as to kudos and perceptions. In some countries and geographical areas "mixed-race" is already a pejorative, and not all are "black"/"white" comparisons.

the main character and another road into town together

Were they sweathearts? Perhaps a preacher and a red-headed school teacher? Who preached the teacher; who teached the preacher. Who? He? A gay sight in the townsite? But she's Orthodox; he's a Mathematician! How sweat!

Maybe they were looking for a site to build a house on.

Or looking for places to erect naked Trump statues.

naked Trump statues

As long as it's not Donald. Nobody wants to see him naked.

naked Trump statues

As long as it's not Donald. Nobody wants to see him naked.

This is the Internet.
As long as there's enough people connected to it, i'm sure that there will be a demand for a fully covered in latex Donald wearing a gas mask in stilettos & suspenders holding a lit cigarette with a fully automatic weapon slung over his shoulder.

There really is some weird crap out there. The problem with the Internet is once you've seen something, you can't un-see it.

Does this mean they are old farts?

Does this mean they are old farts?

Depends, are they members of Parliament in Canada?

just read a story where I fellow was told to bring his cheek book into pay a bill.

Had to look at that several times, and took Crumbly responding to figure it out. Two typos, and the second one, "in to" becoming "into" blew my mind for some reason and broke my brain. I couldn't parse it at that point.

At least it wasn't "inn two"

Didn't you know ?

A "cheek-book" is really high tech.

A cheek-book is something you sit one, so that the contents can penetrate you by osmosis and slowly work their way up to your brain..

That's how I memorized the phone book when I was much younger and very small
I did it during piano lessons too.

Horse voice - whinnying?

Or they're imitating Mr. Ed.

Maybe they are ponygirls.

Speaking of horses and ponygirls. It's "mane of hair" NOT "main of hair" or "Maine of hair."

And a person who is vain may or may not have issues with their vein or veins. But we might as well be speaking about a weather vane for all the good it does.

But maybe somebody has some heirs who can sort it out. That or they're trapped in a Maine of Heirs.

Sorry, but that'd be "the Maine of Heirs", as it's comparing "hair" to a specific location.

Unless it's a named product/item like a Monopoly board game, or something else in that vein where there is a proper name given to it, but it has many copies. Kind of like a Cylon in the latest Battlestar Galactica.

It's because the Emergency personal are to dammed lazy to find the body

Being a three care garage and only having one car ....

(edited to try to sort out the quotes)

I don't think emergency personals are very concerned with finding those kinds of bodies. Although I'm now wondering what specifically an emergency personal entails.

sejintenej

It's because the Emergency personal are to dammed lazy to find the body

I don't think emergency personals are very concerned with finding those kinds of bodies. Although I'm now wondering what specifically an emergency personal entails.

Clearly, Not_a_ID, we have a clash of languages.

In the UK the plural of person (in such a case) is personnEl and a reference to excess is tOO. (BTW we also write aN before a vowel ;-) )

As I recall, those bodies were human so what your ambulance staff do .......

I guess I need to explain the joke. I was making a play on "personal advertising."

"SWM seeking SWF."

Or to go with a particular song: "Do you like pina coladas?"

Wow,

This is discussion thread I like to read very much.

For us evil foreigners who are still learning your language, this is real treasure chest, and thank you all for giving us good examples how not to (miss)use it :)

Wow,

This is discussion thread I like to read very much.

Yeah, the "emergency personal" once noticed was a gem I couldn't pass up once I caught it. One case where one small typo could end up giving the sentence it is contained within a completely difference meaning. Even if the person has to be deliberately obtuse to misinterpret what was meant. ;)

For us evil foreigners who are still learning your language, this is real treasure chest, and thank you all for giving us good examples how not to (miss)use it :)

Only one s in misuse. Unless you're talking about either Miss Ewes or Miss Hughes. Maybe you were somehow trying to involve the state of Mississippi? In which case you forgot to capitalize the M. Of course, maybe we were going to get into missile use that completely misses the point. ;)

English is a lot of fun to abuse as well.

English is a lot of fun to abuse as well.

It is.
Specially when your spelling checker does not work :D

Specially when your spelling checker does not work :D

Smartphone posting and autocomplete/correct brings its own level of special into the conversation a lot of the time as well. :)

I never did learn the origin of the conflict between the two cultures.

What I learned (I worked in Norway) was that Norway used to be part of / ruled by / controlled by Sweden (and Denmark at a different time) until it got independence. During the last century, after independence, there were two separate Parliament decisions which introduced changes in the language. For example the old 'aa' as in King Haakon became å and two other letters were introduced. For me, coming down from the arctic where I learned the old language, the changes in words was a problem - for example 'syve' became 'sju' (the number seven) as was the changes in genders.

During WWII there were stories of people fleeing from the Germans, being arrested in Sweden and being handed over to the Gestapo.

After my return (ie second and subsequent times there) I was introduced to the dislike of Swedes and absolute hatred of Germans. This was in small isolated communities - I cannot speak for the cities

Of course, in Scotland they eat Swedes - they call them neeps ;-)

You don't have to have different colors to have conflicts.

eg The English, Welsh, Scottish, Irish, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese...

MOST of the time, spellcheck produces results I not only didn't intend, but flat out don't want!

Spellcheck is fine, it's autocomplete/autocorrect that creates the grammatical horror shows. At least spellcheck alone lets me know when something was flagged. But leaves it up to me to make the change.

Maybe he is talking about a sailing yacht a two-masted fore-and-aft-rigged sailboat with the mizzenmast stepped far aft so that the mizzen boom overhangs the stern. Pronounced and spelled yawl.

It was ya'll as in talking to more than 1 people.

I do understand the ya'll as they were southern but it seemed odd to me that the rest of the characters seemed to speak normal english and the mc too, until every now and then he would speak out ya'll and that would really stand out.

Maybe its a personal quirk to the protagonist? there are some people like that who speaks a word specifically different.

I do understand the ya'll as they were southern but it seemed odd to me that the rest of the characters seemed to speak normal english and the mc too, until every now and then he would speak out ya'll and that would really stand out.

What is odd to me is the way the word is spelt.
I've always considered it to be an abbreviation for 'you all', so i'd expect it to be spelt y'all.

I've always considered it to be an abbreviation for 'you all'

Many consider ya'll to be incorrect, e.g.

http://writingexplained.org/yall-or-ya-ll-difference
but I s'pose it could be a contraction of "ya all".

Yes, "ya" is a variant (US) of "you" described by main-stream dictionaries.

but I s'pose it could be a contraction of "ya all".

Yes, "ya" is a variant (US) of "you" described by main-stream dictionaries.

It came from Scotland(or more specifically, the "Scotts-Irish" who were the original "red necks" because they wore red bandanas around their neck), and likely was initially "ye all" before becoming a contraction.

It came from Scotland

Just like OK :-)

You have to wonder why all the Scots left Scotland. And brought their take on the English Language with them. I know the Irish left because of the potato famine. Do you suppose there was a whiskey famine?

I doubt if a Scotsman would ever touch whiskey, let alone mind there was a famine.
Now whisky, that would be a different matter. :)

You have to wonder why all the Scots left Scotland. And brought their take on the English Language with them. I know the Irish left because of the potato famine. Do you suppose there was a whiskey famine?

Well, the Scots-Irish to my understanding were "low-lander" Scots, they also were on the "Wrong side" of a civil war(where they became "red necks") with religious overtones(they were protestant).

So after their side lost, they moved to Northern Ireland, where they weren't very well received(but how they came to be called the Scots-Irish, and not just Scots). So once colonization in the New World opened up, they pulled up stakes again and headed for the Colonies, and upon arrival, headed for the hills of Appalachia. Resulting in "Red Neck culture" in the Southern States in particular.

Now the Scots-Irish is a slightly different group, they were Scots who moved to Ireland to work the land there. A few generations later a lot of them, along with regular Irish, left due to the famine and some later left due to the same change in land usage as was happening in Scotland and England with the growth of the wool and sheep industry.

There were a LOT of Scots-Irish in the US Colonies even before the Revolutionary War, as some of them went for that whole "Religious Freedom in the Colonies" thing. Between being Protestant in the United Kingdom in general, and Protestant in Ireland in particular, they certainly had motive to seek friendlier places to set up shop. Some just stuck around much longer than others.

Do you suppose there was a whiskey famine?

Sadly, there has never been any whiskey made in Scotland. Whisky on the other hand is abundant there, and would probably be the refuge of last resort :-)

If it is made in Scotland it is Whisky, not whiskey.

so there's nothing of colour in the US, and they have no centre, then?

Correct. You won't find those things in the US. The US arbitrarily changed the spelling of many words, and are now borderline religious about it.

re Whisky / Whiskey

Correct. You won't find those things in the US. The US arbitrarily changed the spelling of many words, and are now borderline religious about it.

I am not sure if it is copyright or trademark but it is illegal to use the word Whisky in respect of any drink made outside Scotland. Yes, I know the Japanese use the wrong spelling and Paraguay used to export 10 times as much whisky as they imported!

Zom wrote:

in Scotland. Whisky on the other hand is abundant there, and would probably be the refuge of last resort

Fighting talk there, Zom

Yes, I know the Japanese use the wrong spelling

As do the Canadians strangely ...

Fighting talk there, Zom

:-) Ah but what a refuge! Remaining too sozzled to be belligerent.

but I s'pose it could be a contraction of "ya all".

Yes, "ya" is a variant (US) of "you" described by main-stream dictionaries.

It came from Scotland(or more specifically, the "Scotts-Irish" who were the original "red necks" because they wore red bandanas around their neck), and likely was initially "ye all" before becoming a contraction.

I don't know the origin but we still say 'yer' as an abomination of 'you are'. That is at least Devonian but probably elsewhere as well