Comments on: Thursday Grammar: The Proof of the Posting is in the Reading

By: TheDarkFan

TheDarkFan — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 19:03:23 +0000

What brilliant posts!!! Thanks to you and those who comment on your posts, I now have some hope that people will stop murdering the English language and displaying their ignorance at the same time. It’s paradoxical that in this day and age, despite the abundance of dictionaries (printed and online), we are still treated to language which makes you cringe whenever you hear it. Anyway, I discovered a book online that might interest you all, it’s called ‘How to speak and write correctly’ by Joseph Devlin and it can be downloaded from projectgutenberg.org. Enjoy (By the way, nice nod to Tolstoy’s ‘Anna Karenina’)

By: AJ

AJ — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:14:00 +0000

Thank you so much for this series. My friends call me a “grammar nazi” because I have a tendency to correct mistakes like these (and actual grammatical errors in writing, even for published works). I really enjoy reading these other mistakes and seeing how they occur and how they should be used.

By: Gab

Gab — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:20:10 +0000

How about “drunk off my ass”?

By: Matthew Wrather

Matthew Wrather — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 03:42:43 +0000

Thanks, everybody! I’m really glad my rantings are making people happy.

I thought I was just being a dick.

You know, “another thing coming” makes me think of “I could care less” for some reason, which should be a post in the series as well. Actually, after this Thursday, my original series of articles, written last month in a fit of rage, will be exhausted. So please, please send ideas to wrather at overthinkingit.com — i’ll be very grateful to know what you want to hear about.

To be honest, though, I’m hoping to take it more in the direction of this post — rather than just correcting people, I would like to spend some time Overthinking(tm) how these errors come about.

By: mlawski

mlawski — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 23:10:19 +0000

Great post. Can you do peaked/piqued (as in “that ____ed my interest”)? That one’s driving me crazy.

By: 24Frames

24Frames — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:46:35 +0000

Good stuff. As always.

I’m dying for somebody to publicise the rampant misuse of “ambivalent”. Hopefully this single comment on this blog will do the trick.

By: Siwi

Siwi — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:04:09 +0000

I heart this series. I’d been going over the old “test” meaning of proof for a student who wondered why the word “reproof” made any sense (it would’ve helped if she’d ever heard the word “reprobate”), but I had never thought to apply it to “exception proves the rule.” I am so much happier and more at peace now that I understand that phrase.

I have to say, I benefit more from the entries that correct me (nonplussed=big oops), but entries on errors I know about are satisfying as well. If there’s one of these lined up for “another thing coming,” I’ll be the happiest of campers (it turns out there are intelligent people who think that’s the correct phrase! It pains me right in my snobbery!).

(this comment written but not successfully submitted before the now-preceding and more succinct sentiment)

By: Alec Harkness

Alec Harkness — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:33:01 +0000

Aha! That whole “exception that proves the rule” thing never made sense to me, but now it does.

I have learnt something today… :)