Idiomatic, grammatical, spelling and other misteaks....

D

Dan Murray

Guest
Ok, you'll no doubt appreciate my little efforts to grab attention in the heading?!

I was thinking about this, well, the other day. By this, I mean, the common writing errors found on this site and elsewhere.

I think that it would be interesting to compile a list - so to start the ball rolling, here are a few recent quotes from this site. The intention is not to embarrass anyone - so whilst the quotes below are recorded verbatim - I propose that all quotes should be unattributed!

Here goes....

1. Sometimes investors on masse get excited about....
2. The country is FF to it's core
3. You need to ask for financial advise.........including people on this forum who can advice you
 
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One that annoys me is posts about tennants. Amazing how cheap cans rent so many rooms and cause issues.

Off to get a cat....
 
The one that annoys me is people pronouncing "remuneration" as "renumeration". And you hear it regularly on the radio.
 
Spelling, grammatical errors and mispronunciations don’t annoy me at all.

During my working life I frequently read reports and chaired meetings in which excellent communicators talked utter rubbish and the less linguistically gifted, in their own way, made excellent points.

I do, however, agree that long posts lacking punctuation, paragraphs or use of sentence case can be unintelligible and wearisome.
 
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My dad is obsessed with people using fulsome; it doesn't mean being praised, it means being foolish or false
 
amtc said:
My dad is obsessed with people using fulsome; it doesn't mean being praised, it means being foolish or false
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This is not a good example.

Even today, it can be still be used in its original 13th century sense - generous or abundant.
 
Sophrosyne said:
This is not a good example.

Even today, it can be still be used in its original 13th century sense - generous or abundant.
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What other meaning does it have ? I have alway understood fulsome to mean, greatly or in detail. When I looked it up I got copious and abundant. Of course it is mostly used in conjunction with praise, but that is not part of its meaning. When I stub my toe, I am certainly capable of fulsome abuse.
 
Google gives me a definition of fulsome as "complimentary or flattering to an excessive degree." The word seems to be regularly used as meaning, approximately, "comprehensive". So you hear people talk of "a fulsome apology", by which they mean comprehensive.

Another is holistic - "characterized by the belief that the parts of something are intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole." - again thank you google. But people use it as "wholistic" - i.e. all encompassing is what they mean, but there isn't such a word.
 
cremeegg said:
What other meaning does it have ? I have alway understood fulsome to mean, greatly or in detail. When I looked it up I got copious and abundant. Of course it is mostly used in conjunction with praise, but that is not part of its meaning. When I stub my toe, I am certainly capable of fulsome abuse.
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The reason I said it was not a good example is because of ambiguity as to its meaning. Experts are divided in their opinion.

In the 13th century it was used in a positive sense – abundant, plentiful, etc.

By the 18th century it was used almost exclusively in a negative sense – loathsome, excessive, insincere, etc.

The word then went out of use but made a comeback in the early 20th century when its original meaning was revived.

Therefore, it can be understood in either a positive or a negative sense, depending on context.
 
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I'm guilty of the odd grammatical and punctuation error but the one that bugs me is the use of the word left instead of let; "He was left off the charge". "She was left go".
Pacifically instead of specifically also bugs me.
 
I was talking about this with my friends. I was never taught English grammar...we had a French teacher who ended up teaching us the basics, so bizarrely I learnt English through French. Can't speak too much French, mind you. Writing is my career. But I read lots and I think that helped.

Myself and my friends have fascinating chats as to one flounders or founders...or mitigates or mitigates against...


I am going out tomorrow night. otherwise I will get the cat.
 
I worked in a major semi state and wrote out a post it for the webmaster as to its, it's and its'. he has it framed still
 
I wasn’t going to indulge further but …

  • Sprout to catch a salmon
  • In anyway
  • Myself personally
  • Excape
  • Bronnical
  • Indunated
  • Right- as in “I went down to the pub, right! Then, I had a pint, right!
  • People who don’t consider a thing told unless they have said it several times sequentially, particularly when they know one is pressed for time - very sad, yeah very sad, very sad.
  • Dependants, the noun and dependent, the adverb
  • Use of obscure acronyms or abbreviations
  • As for use of arcane industry-related words and phrases, which become more arcane when statements are challenged, should we revive Bullshit Bingo?
 
Some funny contributions above - my favourites, so far, being....
on route, very unique, and the absolute corker in the context outlined by Mathepac........the gardai are proactive in solving crime!

My original idea was to quote sins, found on this site, verbatim - so not being stubborn, right, but myself personally, feels like this is like the right thing to do, in anyway. Right thing to do, right thing....

Grammar
1. The Unionist establishment were....
2. Each to their own

Dodgy spelling
1. Euphonism
2. Soyonara
 
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sangwitch or samwitch instead of sandwich,
but my biggest bugbear is somethink instead of something....Gordon Ramsay, for shame! :mad:
 
amtc said:
Usual yours and you're
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I had a modest lie-in on Sunday due to man-flu . . I sent my wife a text saying "can you make you're [sic] husband a cup of tea?" . . how sad is it that I found that funny?
 
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Hate when people say 'You know that kinda way?'. No, no I don't.

Or people that finish every sentence with 'Yeah?'. Seriously bugs me.
 
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