When the Grammar Nazi's strike!

[RJDiogenes]

I go through odd periods of several days when I'll forget question marks on interrogatives. No idea why.

Getting back to supermarkets, the one I go to has a sign over one aisle that says, "Can Goods."

 

[bluedana]

I have this fantasy in which I go around the city and erase errant apostrophes (2 pizza's for $10!) from signs, with impunity.

 

[Skellington]

^ Erase the sinner, not the sin! That'll teach 'em.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Ah, the Punctuation Nazi. Eats shoots first, asks questions later.

 

[thestrangequark]

and the phrase, "it's a doggie-dog world."

They're just snoopin' around.

I was actually guilty of this for a long time, but it was because I was deaf as a child and could never hear very well even after surgery. Fortunately, I've always been a big reader so that aided in resolving most of my errors. I still have a lot of trouble distinguishing the sound of the letter b from that of the letter v, so if I haven't read a word with one of those letters I may not know which it is. Fortunately, I rarely run into words I haven't read before these days.

 

[Captain_Nick]

I play Scrabble on facebook

People don't understand how I whip them when my msgs 2 them r writen liek this

Pedantry only gets you so far

 

[Skellington]

^ You can play Scrabble on Facebook?

Kewl.

 

[thestrangequark]

^It's the only reason I'm on Facebook.

 

[scotpens]

I work in an office and part of my duties involves the sorting of correspondence. I just thought that I'd mention that I frequently see people end a question with a full stop, eg "Can you look at this.". Who stole all of the question marks?

Probably the same guy who came up with the movie title Who Framed Roger Rabbit. (No question mark.)

My favorite malapropism discovered while scoring papers include taking things "for granite," and the phrase, "it's a doggie-dog world."

Those are eggcorns. Some that I run across frequently are:

“For all intensive purposes” instead of “for all intents and purposes.”

“Without any further adieu.” Good. I hate long goodbyes.

“Tow the line.” You mean, like a waterskiing boat?

“Free reign” instead of the correct “free rein” — as in letting go of the reins so the horse can go wherever it wants. Nothing to do with kings and queens.

And one I found recently: “Death nail.” Someone apparently mixed up “death knell” with “a nail in the coffin.”

 

[Captain_Nick]

^ You can play Scrabble on Facebook?

Kewl.

It is an awesome game. I'm quite addicted

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Believe me, I have tried. I think he really just doesn't care. It was really embarrassing when my Dad, who has Alzheimer's, corrected him, using the "There is less rain because there are fewer rain clouds" example. I've even used the "there is LESS traffic because there are FEWER drivers on the road" while we are in the car, because he's a road-rage driver. He just doesn't listen.

None of you then could have missed the ubiquitous "10 items or less" tills at the supermarket.

I'm not sure if that's wrong...I think that's more mathematical phrasing: X <= 10, basically. It is permissible to say "Make sure the amount is less than 10," which I think is the unstated rest of the sentence in that very specific case.

 

[B.J.]

There's a tire/repair place near my house that had "TIRE SAIL" for the longest time on their reader board. Really bugged me every time I drove past. Then they changed it to some other messages, like "SPRANG TIME TIRE ROTATION" and such. That made me realize that they were misspelling things on purpose in order to attract attention! Kinda sneaky if you ask me.

 

[MLJames]

Probably the same guy who came up with the movie title Who Framed Roger Rabbit. (No question mark.)

That's not a mistake. The title is meant to be a statement, not a question. (It's also supposed to be bad luck for a movie title to end in a question mark.)

 

[Skellington]

I work in an office and part of my duties involves the sorting of correspondence. I just thought that I'd mention that I frequently see people end a question with a full stop, eg "Can you look at this.". Who stole all of the question marks?

Probably the same guy who came up with the movie title Who Framed Roger Rabbit. (No question mark.)

I guess that I'll have to post this myself, then:

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I work in an office and part of my duties involves the sorting of correspondence. I just thought that I'd mention that I frequently see people end a question with a full stop, eg "Can you look at this.". Who stole all of the question marks?

Probably the same guy who came up with the movie title Who Framed Roger Rabbit. (No question mark.)

I guess that I'll have to post this myself, then:

"No, Who is on first."
"I don't know!"
"THIRD BASE!"

 

[LitmusDragon]

“Tow the line.” You mean, like a waterskiing boat?

“Free reign” instead of the correct “free rein” — as in letting go of the reins so the horse can go wherever it wants. Nothing to do with kings and queens.

lol! I've been doing these wrong for years! Thanks for the tip.

I'll try to remember that the next time I'm feeling snarky.

 

[danellis]

My favorite malapropism discovered while scoring papers include taking things "for granite," and the phrase, "it's a doggie-dog world."

I'd never heard either of those before reading this... but someone used the "granite" one (and was pulled up on it) in a TV show I was watching today!

dJE

 

[RoJoHen]

“Tow the line.” You mean, like a waterskiing boat?

“Free reign” instead of the correct “free rein” — as in letting go of the reins so the horse can go wherever it wants. Nothing to do with kings and queens.

lol! I've been doing these wrong for years! Thanks for the tip.

I'll try to remember that the next time I'm feeling snarky.

Are we sure? I always assumed "free reign" meant you had the power to do whatever you want, like a king and queen.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

“Tow the line.” You mean, like a waterskiing boat?

“Free reign” instead of the correct “free rein” — as in letting go of the reins so the horse can go wherever it wants. Nothing to do with kings and queens.

lol! I've been doing these wrong for years! Thanks for the tip.

I'll try to remember that the next time I'm feeling snarky.

Are we sure? I always assumed "free reign" meant you had the power to do whatever you want, like a king and queen.

Eggcorns FTW.

 

[scotpens]

Probably the same guy who came up with the movie title Who Framed Roger Rabbit. (No question mark.)

That's not a mistake. The title is meant to be a statement, not a question. (It's also supposed to be bad luck for a movie title to end in a question mark.)

Oh. Like How the West Was Won or What the Butler Saw? Well, it still sounds like a question to me.

“Free reign” instead of the correct “free rein” — as in letting go of the reins so the horse can go wherever it wants. Nothing to do with kings and queens.

Are we sure? I always assumed "free reign" meant you had the power to do whatever you want, like a king and queen.

That's part of what makes it an eggcorn rather than a malapropism -- it seems to make sense. But it's still wrong. Or it becomes a variant of the original phrase.

A good example is "butt naked," an eggcorn for "buck naked."

Or "supe up," where the correct spelling is "soup up." The expression originally referred to doping racehorses to make them run faster. The drug solution (usually cocaine) was called "soup." Later, "soup up" was extended to mean modifying an engine to make it faster or more powerful. It has nothing to do with "super" or supercharging.

BTW, a furniture store in my neighborhood has a sign in front saying "FRENCH PERVENTIAL FURNITURE." Maybe it pervents preverts?