How do you pronounce Heresy

[fini]

Common convention on this forum (on the WWW, really) is "anything goes." []

[thebes]

Whatever you call it, just use the right typeface.

[Islander]

I was trying to define what was actually correct, rather than what was common convention.

Thanks for the info. It's always good to know what the rules are before we start breaking them. [][8-|][Y]

[gnatnoop]

just a bunch of iconoclasts and heretics!

[garyrc]

In the same vein, it's one La Scala, two La Scalas. Apostrophes are to indicate possession, not plurality.

That is correct, according to the MLA, and me! Arianna Huffington wrote a blog on it, and she was right, also. Her pet peeve was people who write "The 60's" instead of "The '60s," which has to be written as the latter, since the first part is a contraction (the 19 is left out), and the last section is a plural, thus just gets the s. This has been lost on AOL -- at least the version I have --since their spell check keeps suggesting 60's instead of '60s. Is this one more example of corporations introjecting the errors of the consumers they fear?[]

[Islander]

i here ya.sum days it seams liek nobody nos how too spel nomor.i wish thay had went to skool.thay no how the wurds sownd,but not how thae look,so "you're" and "your" are interchangeable, along with "they're", "their" and "there", "hear" and "here", "than" and "then", "to" and "too", "know" and "no", "its" and "it's", to mention just a few.

Spell check doesn't catch a lot of those, if the writer even cares to use it, because they're not spelled wrong, they're the wrong words.

Another odd thing is the use of "of" and "a" as verbs, as in "I would of done it." and "I'm a go to the store." Even in its "proper" form, "I wish I would have done it." is really clumsy-sounding, instead of just saying, "I wish I had done it."

"Where you're at" used to be mocked as hick or hillbilly talk, but now national newscasters say it, so they come across like hicks in suits.

"In back of" and "out back of" both mean the same thing, "behind". I didn't know that "behind' was a rarely used university-level word.

Then there's the negative/positive thing, where the writer is so sloppy that he leaves out a word that would show one or the other, so the sentence is completely ambiguous, as in "I can't hear the difference, so it's important to me." Should there be a "not" in there somewhere? That probably started when people began to say "I could care less", when they actually meant "I couldn't care less".

If you want to see some really bad writing, check out the comments below most Youtube videos. Some silly stuff there!

I should stop now, before this starts looking like a rant. Hmm, probably too late...

[garymd]

It drives me nuts when people attempt to sound intelligent using "I" when "me" is correct. "John took Mom and I to the store." Take out Mom and listen to the sentence. It's very easy.

How about further and farther? Simple rule: Use farther for distance and further for everything else.

Keep it simple! Eliminate unnecessary words! My first sentence:

It really drives me nuts when people attempt to sound intelligent by using "I"
when "me" is the correct word.

Fill out a government employment application and you will quickly understand the importance of eliminating unnecessary words!

[fini]

Take out Mom and listen to the sentence.

John did take out Mom. And you. To the store. [:#]

Another one that bugs me is when people use "less" when they should use "fewer." Use "fewer" when it's something you can count, use "less" when you can't. Example: Fewer flowers, less dirt. Of course dirt can be "counted," but then you'd say "Fewer yards of dirt."

[RichardP]

While we are at it, another common problem is "loose" ('looss') vs. "lose" ('looz'). "Loose" is an adjective or condition, e.g., She is a loose woman; or, your spade connector to your speaker is loose. "Lose" is a verb, e.g., Don't lose your mind. So, take it from Dr. Grammar, don't be loose with lose.

[garyrc]

The worst abuse of the language started with the very old TV commercial with the following voice over: "This is drugs."

[germerikan]

As I was growing up I was always told that ain´t, is not a word. I think that language has gotten lazy.

I was never good with language though,now that I speak German 80% of the time I have become illiterate in 2 languages.[:|] Does this bring extra points??

[Islander]

"Ain't" was once a respected word. It was first used when people found "amn't" (contraction of "am not") too hard to say. True story.

[garyrc]

"Ain't" was once a respected word. It was first used when people found "amn't" (contraction of "am not") too hard to say. True story.

• I believe Islander, but marvel at the degree of horror expressed by my grade school teachers when they heard that word. I wondered about the emotional battering of students who used it, and noted that this amounted to picking on those of low SES. A simple substitution of standard English would have sufficed
• Now, nearly the same degree of horror greets the use of a spit infinitive, even though Strunk & White point out that it is acceptable to use them, with precedents in fine writing going back to the 14th century. We know they can be useful in emphasizing the word in the middle, as in "... to boldly go where no man has gone before," or in the more pollitically correct "...to boldly go where no one has gone before."

[Islander]

You know you're trying too hard to follow the rules when you say something like, "It's things like this up with which I will not put.", in order to avoid ending a sentence with a conjunction.

[fini]

Either trying too hard to follow the rules OR trying too hard to sound like Yoda...

[gnatnoop]

A good point you make.

[oldtimer]

Heretics.

[Rivernuggets]

A good point you make.

Hah! I heard his voice while reading. Very funny that was.