Eats, Shoots & Leaves

[FunkyT]

i shall say one thing only. Misuse of 's

it's everywhere. newsagents are a particular culprit

Hear, hear

[FunkyT]

^^ LOL

I am not bothered when it comes to messages on the net not that many peoples literacy skills are good, I for one admit mine are terrible. All I care about is that my message gets across in a some form.

Though I do understand some people get upset by poor use of these sort of things.

I don't get upset but I'm often unable to understand people when they speak like a 15 year old

[FunkyT]

Neither. It's "...should have gotten the nVidia card...", using the past participle of "got".

Edit: I suppose that "got" is also valid as a past participle, and is increasingly used, while "gotten" is in decreasing use. As somone mentioned, the language is evolving.

Is there even such a word as "gotten"?

[Grey M@a]

From what I know, gotten isn't in the British dictionary but is in the US dictionary, got both open here on the desk. Its handy having a library just across the road

[FunkyT]

Here are the ones that annoy me:

I will loan you this CD not "borrow you" it.
The misuse of apostrophes after acronyms e.g. DVD's should be DVDs.

You see examples of the above everywhere!

[Moby-Dick]

The misuse of apostrophes after acronyms e.g. DVD's should be DVDs.

Known as "The Grocer's appostraphe" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophe_(mark)

[FunkyT]

Seems to be a dud link dude?

[FunkyT]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostro....27_apostrophe

[smtkr]

Here's one that doesn't really annoy me, but the /. crowd would start a lynch mob over:

Saying 'PIN number' (because it is redundant).

[schmunk]

Here are the ones that annoy me:

I will loan you this CD not "borrow you" it.

Or 'to "itch" oneself' - it's "scratch", you idiots...

[schmunk]

From what I know, gotten isn't in the British dictionary but is in the US dictionary, got both open here on the desk. Its handy having a library just across the road

It's in my Concise Oxford, but with a 'US' designation.

[Kaizen]

Which is correct?

1) "...should of got the nVidia card..."

2) "...should have got the nVidia card..."

I think it's 2). The same goes for 'could of' and 'could have'.

Neither, it's "...should have got the ATI card..."

jk... lol

[Kaizen]

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

That one pops up way too often, as does:

then - First I did this, then later I did that.
than - My card is better than your card.

It tends to be mostly when reading US sites and forums (and speaking to some US friends) that I see/hear those mixed up and it irritates the hell out of me!

[bertoli]

suit - 2 or 3 piece clothing set
soot - coal residue

[bertoli]

tied - to put a knot in rope/string
tide - movement of the sea

[schmunk]

suit - 2 or 3 piece clothing set
soot - coal residue

suet - The hard fatty tissues around the kidneys of cattle and sheep, used in cooking and for making tallow.