Eats, Shoots & Leaves

[Mutley]

Ah, you spotted the deliberate mistake!

Brake
1. A toothed device for crushing and beating flax or hemp.
2. A heavy harrow for breaking clods of earth.
3. An apparatus for kneading large amounts of dough.
4. A machine for bending and folding sheet metal.

(Drops some obscure references to brake to hide embarrassment and runs away)

[Mutley]

0wnzd by my own sux0r.

[ajbrun]

ajbruns' - belongs to ajbrun
ajbrun's - ajbrun is
ajbruns - many of me

Not entirley certain of the first one, but I think they're all right .

[Mutley]

Is that right? Wouldn't it be ajbruns' if the original word was ajbruns?
That has always confused me - making words that end in s possesive. What are the rules?

[specofdust]

I agree that maintaining standards in language is important, however its also important that the language continues to evolve.

English has, by many factors, more words then any other language, the vocabulary is several times larger then any other language. This could not have happened unless new words were continually brought into the English language.

So its important to use nice big words that people don't use anymore, but its also important to embrace new words, when they, for instance, describe something that nothing else can quite get perfectly described.

Those are just my thoughts on the matter though, and I know many many people feel extremely strongly that I'm wrong about embracing new words, and the evolution of language.

[schmunk]

ajbruns' - belongs to ajbrun

no - ajbruns' would denote either:

- belonging to one individual named ajbruns, or

- belonging to several individuals named ajbrun (i.e. ajbruns).

[Fatboy]

Got the book for my wife a while back (she being into languages) along with Eats, ****es, and Leaves, which was more of the same as far as I recall. They're quite amusing in a "I teach languages" kind of way.

edit - Hmmm, I'm guessing you can fill in the blanks. Didn't think about it being blanked out when I typed it.

[mr_anderson187]

0wn - to beat
pwn - to beat

[iranu]

I Also feel that we the injection of net / txt speak into our language, things like punctuation, correct spelling and grammar are of slightly less importance now.

There is certainly, I feel, a time and a place for doing things correct and a time and place for not worrying about it. For example, on forums, I really don't care about my spelling, grammar etc it means nothing. However, on a job application or professional document, these details are of the utmost importance.

I disagree. I think it's even more important to spell and puctuate properly when posting in forums on the internet. It's not just native English speakers that browse the forums. Many people who have English as their second language find it difficult to understand "txt speak" etc. In order to get the correct meaning across to the reader, it's important to use correct grammer. Whilst we are all guilty of mistakes every effort should be made, otherwise, what is the point of wroting if not to communicate?








..... wroting what's wroting?

[shelley bda]

Broadening the discussion to something wider than punctuation (which is the subject of the excellent book "Eats, Shoots & Leaves"), I thought I would start a very pedantic thread on correct grammar and punctuation to enable the correct use of the English language

So, for starters:

Lose - as in when you lose a game
Loose - the opposite of tight

Their - as in belongs to
There - as in over there

Your - as in "I will smash your face in"
You're - as in "You're kidding aren't you?"

It's - as in "It's raining again'
Its - as in "My dog can lick its tail"

More please...

I believe words that sound the same but are spelt differently are called Homophones

Made - as in i've made the dinner
Maid - as in house maid, milk maid

Rode - as in i rode a horse
Road - as in i drove down the road

See - i can see you
Sea - went down to the beach to see the sea

Caught - as in i caught a fish
Court - as in he was in court today

Blue - as in a colour
Blew - as in the wind blew a tree over

So - as in so what?
Sew - as in sew up the hole

[schmunk]

It's not just native English speakers that browse the forums.

No, there are some USA-based viewers too...

[smtkr]

Spelled: The past tense of spell
Spelt: huh?

[toolsong]

I always laugh at these threads My favourite is

a lot = a large quantity
allot = to allocate things to people

alot = not a word

[TeePee]

Earned: He Earned £500
Earnt: huh?

[Endymion]

I agree that maintaining standards in language is important, however its also important that the language continues to evolve.

As this is a pedantic grammar thread, I shall point out that you can't use the word 'however' to connect two independent clauses.

[ajbrun]

As this is a pedantic grammar thread, I shall point out that you can't use the word 'however' to connect two independant clauses.

So then what's it used for?