This not that

[Warped9]

One that sets my teeth on edge is someone saying "more better" or "more cheaper" and the like. I can see someone learning English saying this, but its nuts when I hear a television anchorman (or woman) saying it on-air.

 

[Deckerd]

Everyone knows it should be more betterer.

 

[Warped9]

I can easily overlook the occasional typo or dropped word because it happens to all of us, but when a sentence or post is littered with typos then it isn't merely an error.

 

[marillion]

Oh, and one more thing...

The accepted standard now for punctuation is one space after a period, not two. This is now standard in not only writing for media, but also professional business writing. While two spaces are generally still allowed (because most of us grew up putting two after periods and old habits die hard), it is quickly becoming less so.

In my position at work, I have to edit and proof a LOT of documents my coworkers author, and they are all resisting the change.. They WILL bow down to my grammatical rule!! It is only a matter of time!!

 

[rhubarbodendron]

Really? I had no idea! in German we've always made only one space after every form of punctuation, except for hyphens and quotation marks.
Which reminds me of an especially annoying mistake I found in a text the other day: someone made no difference between a dash and a hyphen and consequently never left any space between either of them and the word before and after it. It made reading the text extremely difficult.

Everyone knows it should be more betterer.

Naah, most betterer is bestest!

 

[trekkiedane]

I can't believe it's more betterer!

 

[marksound]

Here are a few phrases that I hear a lot:

"to each their own" (no, it's "to each his own")
"between the three" (it should be "among the three")
"over $20,000 or more" (doesn't "over $20K" = "more"?)

 

[trekkiedane]

^"six items or less"

 

[RoJoHen]

Here are a few phrases that I hear a lot:

"to each their own" (no, it's "to each his own")

This is something that I don't know should bother me or not. While "their" is technically plural, I think it is generally accepted (or at least understood) as singular when talking about a non-specific person or thing.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

isn't 'his' a bit sexist and not quite PC anymore?

 

[Gryffindorian]

Oh, and one more thing...

The accepted standard now for punctuation is one space after a period, not two. This is now standard in not only writing for media, but also professional business writing. While two spaces are generally still allowed (because most of us grew up putting two after periods and old habits die hard), it is quickly becoming less so.

I was having this very same discussion with co-workers when management sent out a note to the company to start spacing once after a period. I still do the two spaces. As a coworker once said, "Everybody needs some space after a period."

 

[iguana_tonante]

Oh, and one more thing...

The accepted standard now for punctuation is one space after a period, not two. This is now standard in not only writing for media, but also professional business writing. While two spaces are generally still allowed (because most of us grew up putting two after periods and old habits die hard), it is quickly becoming less so.

In my position at work, I have to edit and proof a LOT of documents my coworkers author, and they are all resisting the change.. They WILL bow down to my grammatical rule!! It is only a matter of time!!

I never really used a typewriter (except when I was five and played with my mother's Olivetti), so I've never used the double-spacing. Beside, I think it's mostly an American (or at least, English-speaking) thing.

"to each their own" (no, it's "to each his own")

I think in this case "their" is used as a gender-neutral alternative to "his" or "her" (which I prefer to "generic he" and is both acceptable and historically correct).

 

[RoJoHen]

I will always do two spaces. At this point in my life, it's just become an involuntary thing that my thumb does after a period.

 

[trekkiedane]

I will always do two spaces. At this point in my life, it's just become an involuntary thing that my thumb does after a period.

I think they used to do that around here too. -A generation or two ago...

But, 'involuntary' is the word; once you've learned to type, old habits die hard. I had a co-worker (and I have a mum) who still press the Enter-key whenever the cursor reaches the right side of the window they're typing in
I have tried (especially with mum) on several occasions to show them what horrible results it has when their text is shown on another computer with different text-settings and window-sizes -to no avail.

 

[marksound]

isn't 'his' a bit sexist and not quite PC anymore?

PC is a made up standard and I don't accept the premise. Grammar didn't change, people just got lazy and stupid.

 

[RoJoHen]

Grammar is a human invention that changes all the time. That's the nature of language.

 

[marillion]

I will always do two spaces. At this point in my life, it's just become an involuntary thing that my thumb does after a period.

I think they used to do that around here too. -A generation or two ago...

But, 'involuntary' is the word; once you've learned to type, old habits die hard. I had a co-worker (and I have a mum) who still press the Enter-key whenever the cursor reaches the right side of the window they're typing in
I have tried (especially with mum) on several occasions to show them what horrible results it has when their text is shown on another computer with different text-settings and window-sizes -to no avail.

Exactly!! My mom did the same thing... Yeah.. the two space thing has been hard to get across.. Some of my coworkers do it just to annoy me and REFUSE to go with one space. The reason is simply that with modern day word processing it's not needed to have two spaces...

It can be incredibly taxing to proof read documents created by people who don't write for a living, and in some cases, just don't know how to write at all... I also handle outside constituent correspondence for my department.. You should see some of the letters we get.. Half sentences, run ons, gibberish... Sometimes I have to pass a letter around for opinions because I can't make heads or tails of what they're asking/saying...

 

[RoJoHen]

I helped grade some undergrad students' essays once for a friend, and I couldn't believe how poorly constructed the sentences were...the spelling mistakes, the complete overabundance of commas, the complete lack of commas, the general misuse of commas, etc. And they were ENGLISH ESSAYS! How do you get to college and not know how to construct a sentence?

 

[marksound]

isn't 'his' a bit sexist and not quite PC anymore?

PC is a made up standard and I don't accept the premise. Grammar didn't change, people just got lazy and stupid.

I helped grade some undergrad students' essays once for a friend, and I couldn't believe how poorly constructed the sentences were, the spelling mistakes, the complete overabundance of commas, the complete lack of commas, the general misuse of commas, etc. And they were ENGLISH ESSAYS! How do you get to college and not know how to construct a sentence?

I rest my case.

 

[iguana_tonante]

isn't 'his' a bit sexist and not quite PC anymore?

PC is a made up standard and I don't accept the premise. Grammar didn't change, people just got lazy and stupid.

All standards of languages are made up, so you just sounds like you enjoy to be purposefully rude to people because it gives you a sense of power.