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2017-06-10, 08:42 PM (ISO 8601)
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- The Imagination
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2017-06-10, 08:45 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2016
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
"If you want to understand biology don't think about vibrant throbbing gels and oozes, think about information technology" -Richard Dawkins
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2017-06-10, 09:14 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2009
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- Birmingham, AL
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.
Number of times Roland St. Jude has sworn revenge upon me: 2
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2017-06-10, 09:54 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2015
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- San Francisco Bay area
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2017-06-10, 09:58 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2014
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Oh. Well, around here, "error" is pronounced "air-or". So... yes, in some places, 'err' is pronounced the same as 'air'.
To be fair, I'm in Computer Science. So, it comes up a lot more frequently than it might otherwise in everyday conversations.Last edited by DataNinja; 2017-06-10 at 09:59 PM.
The stars predict tomorrow you'll wake up, do a bunch of stuff, and then go back to sleep.~ That's your horoscope for today.
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2017-06-10, 10:37 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2012
- Location
- In the Playground, duh.
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2017-06-10, 10:45 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2007
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- The Imagination
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2017-06-11, 01:46 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2007
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- Manchester, UK
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
You seem to be complaining that people use the word "tsunami" when the English phrase "tidal wave" exists, but as you also point out, those are names for two different things? A tsunami is a large wave caused by a displacement of water, e.g. by a landslide or an earthquake, whereas a tidal wave is a storm surge or tidal bore. Calling an earthquake-derived wave a "tidal wave" is just plain wrong, regardless of it being commonly done.
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2017-06-11, 05:31 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2006
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- Bristol
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
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(by Rain Dragon)
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2017-06-11, 09:30 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2010
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- Dallas, TX
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
The obvious conclusion is that both pronunciations are in common use.
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2017-06-11, 09:53 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2011
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- Calgary, AB
- Gender
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2017-06-11, 12:15 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2006
- Location
- Watching the world go by
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Tsunami has been standard for "a massive wave caused by an earthquake under the ocean" for a while now, but, as discussed in xkcd, that doesn't mean that "Tidal Wave" is not descriptive. Dictionary.com is uncharacteristically unhelpful on the etymology. Normally they at least give better references, but here they only use it in the allegorical sense (which comes from its colloquial usage for waves caused by large displacements of water, by-the-by).
Pretty much unless you are talking to a physicist about the 2 tidal bulges, you can assume that people use "tidal wave" and "tsunami" interchangeably.
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2017-06-11, 02:21 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2007
- Location
- The Future...
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
People that enunciate poorly! I have just spent half an hour talking with someone that pronounced literary at 'littry' and I thought I was going to go into shock... I had to immediately retreat here to vent about it.
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2017-06-11, 06:24 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2016
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Going back to the "more unique" issue and the misues of "literally", I'd like to point out that there's also degrees of literalness as well; something could be closer to the situation described by an idiom than is usually the case when that idiom is used without matching it precisely. It could then be said to be "literally" that idiom due to being relatively literal compared to how it is normally used.
"If you want to understand biology don't think about vibrant throbbing gels and oozes, think about information technology" -Richard Dawkins
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2017-06-12, 01:34 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2006
- Location
- where the wind blows
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
I don't have spelling misuses that bothers me but I freelance as a transcriptionist, and goddamnit people, breathe and split your sentences to two breath rather than forcing yourself to say everything in one go and having the last part of your sentence disappear into nothingness.
You got Magic Mech in My Police Procedural!
In this forum, Gaming is Serious Business, and Anyone Can Die. Not even your status as the Ensemble Darkhorse can guarantee your survival.
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2017-06-12, 07:16 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2010
- Location
- Back forty.
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
BWR beat me to it. Lie/lay. Also good/well, who/whom, and when people try to sound old fashioned without knowing how to, thy/thine/thou/thee/ye.
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2017-06-12, 04:26 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2006
- Location
- Bristol
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Ah, that drives me crazy. Which isn't to say that I mind people doing it properly, albeit it can get a bit wearing, but people doing it badly is like a cheesegrater to the ears/eyes.
Shouldst thou wish to speak in ye* olde-timey English, thou hadst best be sure of thy footing, and, shouldst thou not be, lend thine eyes to such texts as might assist thee in so doing, lest thine interlocutors think thee a fool.
*Here, as in all such cases where "ye" is an article, the "y" is a stylised "th"; it is pronounced the same as "the".GITP Blood Bowl Manager Cup
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2017-06-13, 10:26 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2013
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2017-06-13, 11:17 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2007
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
The use of "who" as a direct object pronoun.
"Who is this package addressed to?" (fine)
"To who is this package addressed?" (argh!)
"To whom is this package addressed?" (fine)
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2017-06-13, 03:47 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2005
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- SW England
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Conversely, something I'm seeing quite a lot recently: a sort of "hyper descriptivism" that effectlively becomes prescriptivism, where people insist that the most recent use of a word is the only valid one.
(Especially irritating when its so new that it hasn't even made it into the dictionary, and they're basicly expecting and insisting that everyone starts using the jargon slang of their particular bubble).
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2017-06-13, 04:07 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2006
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- Bristol
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
GITP Blood Bowl Manager Cup
Red Sabres - Season I Cup Champions, two-time Cup Semifinalists
Anlec Razors - Two-time Cup Semifinalists
Bad Badenhof Bats - Season VII Cup Champions
League Wiki
Spoiler: Previous Avatars(by Strawberries)
(by Rain Dragon)
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2017-06-13, 04:10 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2009
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
This is an education deficiency. The only honest way to come to that conclusion is never to have been exposed to the word in another context. I would say more, but it'd get political.
I think dictionaries need to be seen as both descriptive and prescriptive. They are (supposedly) descriptive in their method of composition, but, partly because of that, they are also the most authoritative sources available on the topic of language usage - certainly more so than any individual speaker - and that means they should be seen as prescriptive by anyone who's concerned with making themselves as widely understood as possible."None of us likes to be hated, none of us likes to be shunned. A natural result of these conditions is, that we consciously or unconsciously pay more attention to tuning our opinions to our neighbor’s pitch and preserving his approval than we do to examining the opinions searchingly and seeing to it that they are right and sound." - Mark Twain
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2017-06-13, 04:45 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2015
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- San Francisco Bay area
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
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2017-06-13, 06:16 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2016
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Frankenstein is the name of the scientist, not the monster! Get your facts straight!
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2017-06-13, 06:41 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2009
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- Birmingham, AL
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.
Number of times Roland St. Jude has sworn revenge upon me: 2
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2017-06-13, 08:06 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2016
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Does the constant misuse to the word "race" in fantasy RPGs bother anyone else?
"If you want to understand biology don't think about vibrant throbbing gels and oozes, think about information technology" -Richard Dawkins
Omegaupdate Forum
WoTC Forums Archive + Indexing Projext
PostImage, a free and sensible alternative to Photobucket
Temple+ Modding Project for Atari's Temple of Elemental Evil
Morrus' RPG Forum (EN World v2)
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2017-06-13, 09:00 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2006
- Location
- where the wind blows
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
As always, there's a relevant xkcd strip.
https://xkcd.com/1589/You got Magic Mech in My Police Procedural!
In this forum, Gaming is Serious Business, and Anyone Can Die. Not even your status as the Ensemble Darkhorse can guarantee your survival.
Disciple of GITP Trope-Fu Temple And Captain of GITP Valkyrie Squadron.
Awesome Elizabeth Shelley by HollamerSpoiler
The OTP in the playground.
My Gallery/My Star Wolves 3 LP
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2017-06-13, 09:01 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2015
- Location
- San Francisco Bay area
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
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2017-06-13, 09:30 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2007
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- The Imagination
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2017-06-14, 12:25 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2013
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you