Author Topic: The Official Henry Higgins Thread  (Read 10012 times)

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Brentwood

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Re: The Official Henry Higgins Thread
« Reply #15 on: January 03, 2007, 05:16:22 PM »
This is a common one in Etiquette Hell stories and even in this discussion forum.

"My friend and myself were going....."

How about "My friend and I were going..."

"Myself" is one of the most misused words in the English language.

housewife2k

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Re: The Official Henry Higgins Thread
« Reply #16 on: January 03, 2007, 05:17:19 PM »
Liberry, it's LibRary people...there's an 'R' after the 'B'.  Axe a question, drink expresso, and pretty much any other time the letter 'x' is used when it shouldn't be. That's all for the immediate time being, but I'm sure more will arise.

dawbs

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Re: The Official Henry Higgins Thread
« Reply #17 on: January 03, 2007, 05:18:53 PM »
alot a lot alot a lot.

A LOT =  2 words

(And will someone please tell Mr. Dawbs that runes and ruins aren't the same thing?  Because anymore he says them wrong just to watch me twitch.)

Recently, because of the focus on the former Iraqui dictator, who was hanged.
He wasn't hung; he was hanged.

Pictures are hung.
People are hanged.
If you mention a man is hung you are never referring to his execution.


Brentwood

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Re: The Official Henry Higgins Thread
« Reply #18 on: January 03, 2007, 05:19:46 PM »
Liberry, it's LibRary people...there's an 'R' after the 'B'.  Axe a question, drink expresso, and pretty much any other time the letter 'x' is used when it shouldn't be. That's all for the immediate time being, but I'm sure more will arise.

I'm exspecially annoyed by expresso.

BatCity

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Re: The Official Henry Higgins Thread
« Reply #19 on: January 03, 2007, 05:22:07 PM »
Dare I say it?  It's Nuclear, not nucular.

I don't care how Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush pronounce it.  I don't even care that Webster's finally gave in and listed it as an alternate pronunication.  It's pertaining to the nucleus, and therefore...oh, never mind.

I even worked with a guy who worked on a you-know-what submarine who said it the wrong way.

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Venus193

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Re: The Official Henry Higgins Thread
« Reply #20 on: January 03, 2007, 05:24:06 PM »
All fabulous examples.  Perhaps this thread should be called the Henry Higgins Academy.   Here's one from my past, used by an office manager [shudders]: 

"Don't axe me about that; I can't get pacific about it."

Obviously the correct word is "specific."

Scritzy

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Re: The Official Henry Higgins Thread
« Reply #21 on: January 03, 2007, 05:25:32 PM »
Misuse of apostrophes!!!!!!! I could write a book about that particular peeve of mine.

And subject/verb agreement. I cringe whenever I read something along the lines of, "Everyone has their own way of doing things." Everyone is singular. One doesn't say "Everyone have their own way of doing things." To be correct, one should say or write, "Everyone has his own way of doing things"; "Everyone has her own way of doing things"; or "Everyone has his/her [or his or her] own way of doing things."

One can use gender-neutral language and still be grammatically correct.

When editing my cow-irker Jewel's training material, I had to correct her subject/verb agreement errors in almost everything she wrote. She didn't understand why, even after she took the business English class that my boss and I taught.

Of course, Jewel thought I was a snobby Eastsider and was no fun, and one of her reasons for thinking so was because I chose to use correct grammar. (Most of the time, anyway. ;) )
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Brentwood

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Re: The Official Henry Higgins Thread
« Reply #22 on: January 03, 2007, 05:29:21 PM »


And subject/verb agreement. I cringe whenever I read something along the lines of, "Everyone has their own way of doing things." Everyone is singular. One doesn't say "Everyone have their own way of doing things." To be correct, one should say or write, "Everyone has his own way of doing things"; "Everyone has her own way of doing things"; or "Everyone has his/her [or his or her] own way of doing things."



This has been very hard for me to get used to since my husband went back to school. His papers are required to be written in the APA style, which requires the students to use "their" with "everyone" instead of "him", "her" or "him or her". When I edit his papers, the desire to correct this is strong.

nicetooths

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Re: The Official Henry Higgins Thread
« Reply #23 on: January 03, 2007, 05:39:41 PM »
Quote
And "orientated." It's ORIENTED

This is very common in Australia. I'm used to it now but it drove me crazy when I moved here.

I hate "I feel badly". It's "I feel bad." You should be using the adjective, not the adverb.

Alida

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Re: The Official Henry Higgins Thread
« Reply #24 on: January 03, 2007, 05:51:50 PM »
Drug!  As in: "I drug it out of storage."

My husband makes me cringe every time he does it, and I correct him every single time (unless we're in public).

Chonsil

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Re: The Official Henry Higgins Thread
« Reply #25 on: January 03, 2007, 05:53:37 PM »
I can't stand it when people say things like:
"That thread is more finer than that one."
It's: fine, finer, finest.
or: fine, more fine, most fine.
Not: fine, more finer, most finest.
Ugh!

And people always get stationery and stationary wrong. I have some tolerance for it, but when it's a fellow wedding stationer advertising on their website, I really think they should know which spelling they should be using.

Brentwood

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Re: The Official Henry Higgins Thread
« Reply #26 on: January 03, 2007, 05:58:43 PM »
More:

I really can't stand the excessive "verbing" of nouns (and yes, I know that verb is not a verb). Examples include internet, office, church, and so very many more. These are nouns, not verbs!

Venus193

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Re: The Official Henry Higgins Thread
« Reply #27 on: January 03, 2007, 05:59:48 PM »
I'm not mad about this either, especially with regard to the word "disrespect."

Lisbeth

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Re: The Official Henry Higgins Thread
« Reply #28 on: January 03, 2007, 05:59:58 PM »
Didn't there used to be a ceremony called "churching" for women who had just had babies in medieval times?
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Brentwood

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Re: The Official Henry Higgins Thread
« Reply #29 on: January 03, 2007, 06:01:52 PM »
Didn't there used to be a ceremony called "churching" for women who had just had babies in medieval times?

I have no idea, but it has become more common lately for people to say things like, "Where do you church?" instead of "Where do you go to church?" or "What church do you attend?"