I WAS watching an old Carol Duval, a show I normally enjoy, on DIY. But I had to walk away - the guest is doing a repaint of a file cabinet. She's stenciling the "parameter" of the side of the cabinet. IT IS PERIMETER or more properly a border; a parameter is something very different. The edge is one of the parameters you measure to get to the perimeter.
ARGGHHH
I feel better now
Cheryl
That is one of my big pet peeves, and I'm sure I've seen the same episode as you as I remember getting ticked off with it and walking away. Heather Now... if only I could get the difference between distribution and analysis (as they apply to my job) clearly understood here, I'd have a lot fewer of those moments in my day! The analysis is what produces the distribution!!!! It's not that hard! URRRRGGGHHHHHH! I feel better now...
Hey, I'm not the only person who gets upset about this sort of thing!! I thought I was all alone out here!! I'm awfully tired of "definitive" when they mean "definite" and "lead" when they mean "led". Likewise persons who "pleaded" guilty, rather than having "pled". And don't even get me started on people using the present tense for things which happened years, decades or millenia ago.
Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.
Oh, oh, oh... present tense. Now you've pressed my button!
Why does almost every tv show have to have people talking about what has already happened in the present tense?????
Catherine
"Olwyn Mary" > >
And people who are found "innocent" by courts. And people charged with "driving with undue care and attention". Dawne
That`s as bad as the newscaster who, early yesterday morning, sent me into stitches be talking about the "Muriel" on the wall of the infants` school!!! Not only then, but they repeated it all day!!!
Pat P
Er - it`s more usually "pleaded" over here - in any case see
Pat P
"Pat P"wrote..
I seem to remember my mother singing some awful old song about the Muriels on the Wall. Dawne
Sorry, Pat, you must have forgotten I was born, brought up and educated in the north of England. Obviously, standards have fallen since my day. Likewise, you quote Columbia Journalism Review. I worked as a newspaper reporter over here, and I can tell you from experience that most J-School graduates seem to know how to be very rude to public officials (funny, I used to get just as much info out of them by asking my questions politely but persistently) but their writing skills were frequently abysmal. Grammar, syntax, punctuation - not to mention spelling - seemed to be unknown territory to most of them.
Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.
Sadly, that`s all too true - far more pupils are leaving school unable to read OR write properly these days. I have usually only heard "pled" on American shows - otherwise it`s regarded as very ignorant if anyone uses it here. I HAVE more frequently heard "Trett" for "Treated". It does make you do a silent "Yeuk!" Or a not so silent one, on occasion! ;-))
Isn`t it odd, when you come to think of it, that the past tense of "treat" is "treated", yet the past tense of "beat" is still "beat".
Pat P
Pat P
And not just that...have you noticed that in TV shows that when a character enters a room, he/she says, "Hey," to which whoever is in the room responds "hey." This is a pet peeve of DH -- as we're watching TV, every time someone says "hey" he repeats it in jest. He found a page online that talked about it being a new drinking game among young people
- every time someone says "hey" you take a swig of beer!
Sue
With all of the grammar people here - can you explain what the word 'some' means in the following sentences:
'There were some 100 fighters on the battle field.' Some 200 years ago this wall was built. 'Some 8 cars were involved in the accident.
I was told that the word 'some' meant 'many'. But if I put the word 'many' in place of 'some' - the context of the sentence is all wrong.
Katheryne
My stepson does this, on the rare occasions he actually calls us. I just ask "Who is this?" It ticks him off a bit, but unless I look at the caller ID, I have no idea who he is. Since he generally calls from a cellphone, the ID doesn't work anyway.
Probably not a problem any more, since I said some things to him and his new bride when they came to the MIL's deathbed, with four little kids in tow!
Gillian
It means "approximately" or "about." See the definition for the adverb form below. Not also that "some" doesn't really mean "many" either.
some adj.
pron.
adv.
I always take it mean "round about" OR "at least".
Pat P
Is it wrong that I want to correct my manager every time he says it's a "mute point" ???
The word is MOOT you moron! Not MUTE!!!
Arghh.....thanks - I feel better now MelissaD
There's an expression used in parts of Atlantic Canada to express praise of something..."That's right some good!" Now that would REALLY set *some * people's teeth on edge! LOL
Mavia
Aaargh! I`d forgotten about that one! it`s amazing how many people use that! Eeugh!
Pat P
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