Advice vs. advise

[MarkB]

Prolly vs. Probably

Prolly is not a word in the english language. Probably means: insofar as seems reasonably true, factual, or to be expected : without much doubt <is probably happy> <it will probably rain>.

 

[Patdeisa]

In engineering (electrical, not mechanical) school, I was taught that disk refers to storage media that is in protective housing and disc refers to storage media that is not. So, 3.5" floppies and hard drives are disks, while CDs, DVDs, and phonographic records are discs. Now, however, I think this "rule" does not quite paint the complete picture...

My understanding is that disc and disk were originally interchangeable; although, disc was preferred over disk by everyone except for Americans (in a way similar to the examples D’Ecosse mentioned, I assume). Then, for some reason, phonographic records were called discs, even by Americans. Then, CDs were invented and also called discs. I’m not sure if this was a result of being in the music industry (like records, which are called discs) or because the co-inventors of the CD were a European and Japanese company (would use disc over disk) or for some other reason. Whatever the reason, when the CD format was expanded to store computer data and when DVDs were introduced, "disc" naturally stuck. Search google for "disk vs. disc" for more info.

All this plus: disk is a short version of the word diskette (a disc enclosed in a plastic housing), so that's why there is a "k." A disc is a flat, circular object, such as a CD, DVD, or rotor.

 

[steveny]

I wasn't going to contribute to this, but I guess I'm weak. One that always annoys me and is very common even among well-educated people is then/than.

I don't know why it is so difficult, but apparently it is. Then is related to time or timing (such as order of occurrence) whereas than is used when making a comparison between two or more things.

Than I bet I just drive you nuts then :biggrin: :biggrin: My grammar is just terrible. An old wise man told me to communicate everything verbally, never put anything in writing. So At a young age I figured if it sounds a like then I only need to learn the one word and not the spelling of ten different words.

The wise man, "Spelling who the hell needs to know how to spell that is what you have a secretary for."

I am not kidding. The wise man was a Cornell professor and has 3 PhD's.


Prime has increased my grammar skills ten fold.

 

[Mr.Wolf]

I like this thread. Make it sticky.

 

[bizman]

Always wondered, "grey or gray" I have seen it both ways but never new for sure (just kidding on the new) :wink:

 

[Ojas]

If you want a turbo, spell it right

Cartek vs. Cartech

It was spelled correctly less than 55% of the time in this thread! (I only counted the instances where someone had to type the word, not quotes or occurances in the subject of a reply.)

 

[apapada]

my grammatical Nemesis is when people write "of" instead of "have" in sentences like "you should of done this"

 

[mojo]

Or when people don't bother to use capitalization, punctuation, or any other form of grammar...

But Prime is definitely the most educated group of people out there- I have a hard time reading other boards (cars or not) because the grammar and spelling are so atrocious.

 

[ChopsJazz]

Your/you're
there/they're/their
Could of vs. could have
Should of vs. should have
Definately vs. definitely
rediculous vs. ridiculous
wala vs. voila
ya vs. yeah (although both are slang, Webster's only recognizes one: yeah)

and recently I read:
"...so the point is mute" vs. moot

 

[Patdeisa]

And another one that's been bugging me: roll/role.

Examples: He likes to race from a roll. She plays the role of the mother in the film. He's quite a role model. That ball does not roll well on grass.

 

[Patdeisa]

ya vs. yeah (although both are slang, Webster's only recognizes one: yeah)

I believe you mean: yea vs. yeah.

Yea: a formal positive agreement, as in yes, opposite of nay
Yeah: an informal expression of excitement in the affirmative, as in, "Yeah, baby!"

 

[ChopsJazz]

I believe you mean: yea vs. yeah.

No, I mean, "ya". I've seen it often in these forums. When I find an example I'll post it here.

 

[ChopsJazz]

"Ya" as in this example.

 

[Patdeisa]

"Ya" as in this example.

Ahh, I see what you mean. So it should be "ya/yea/yeah."

 

[JonBoy]

my grammatical Nemesis is when people write "of" instead of "have" in sentences like "you should of done this"

I think they do it because, when speaking, they say "should've" and they just forget that it means "should have," not "should of".

 

[dave22]

Wreckless.

 

[dave22]

Also:

MB Quartz

I know it isn't a grammer thing, but I wish people would pay more attention to brand names :redface:

 

[nicholas421]

which is correct?
1. mute point / moot point
2. for all intents and purposes / for all intensive purposes
3. champing at the bit / chomping at the bit
4. suppose to / supposed to
5. towards / toward

do you know the difference?
1. disinterested / uninterested
2. allusion / illusion
3. climactic / climatic
4. elicit / illicit
5. emigrate / immigrate

 

[nicholas421]

which is the correct spelling?
1. changable / changeable
2. acquit / aquit
3. conscientious / consciencious
4. pastime / pasttime
5. occurence / occurrence
6. twelfth / twelvth
7. supercede / supersede
8. refered / referred
9. pronouciation / pronunciation
10. playwrite / playwright

i predict that not even our revered ken can get all correct.

 

[MarkB]

The correct versions are colored red.
1. mute point / moot point
2. for all intents and purposes / for all intensive purposes
3. champing at the bit / chomping at the bit
4. suppose to / supposed to
5. towards / toward

The general meanings of the words listed are parenthesized.
1. disinterested (verb) / uninterested (adjective)
2. allusion (an indirect or veiled reference to something) / illusion (something that decieves or misleads)
3. climactic (pertaining to a climax) / climatic (of or having to do with weather)
4. elicit (extract) / illicit (illegal)
5. emigrate (to leave) / immigrate (to enter)

The correct spelling is colored red.
1. changable / changeable
2. acquit / aquit
3. conscientious / consciencious
4. pastime / pasttime
5. occurence / occurrence
6. twelfth / twelvth
7. supercede / supersede
8. refered / referred
9. pronouciation / pronunciation
10. playwrite / playwright

I may not be Ken but, I believe I hit them all.

 

[ChopsJazz]

which is correct?

3. champing at the bit / chomping at the bit

This one has always interested me, but I think the correct answer is:

If someone is eager or anxious to do something, they are said to be champing at the bit, (not chomping at the bit. nor chomping on the bit).

CHAMPING: Repetitious, strong opening and closing action of the mouth which produces sounds when the teeth hit together. Champing in swine may be a threat signal, but also is performed by boars during courtship andmating. Definition from Hurnik et al., 1995.
- The Encyclopedia of Farm Animal Behavior <http://www.liru.asft.ttu.edu/EFAB/letter.asp?Letter=C>

champ
v. tr. - To bite or chew upon noisily.
v. intr. - To work the jaws and teeth vigorously.
Idiom: - champ at the bit
* To show impatience at being held back or delayed.
- The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

 

[ChopsJazz]

And while we're on the subject of colloquialisms, here's one I read on Prime that really caught my eye (colloquialism intended):

"I guess you can lead a blind elephant to water, but you can't make it drink... too bad."

Makes you think about how the original expression got that twisted?

 

[LJSB]

Wreckless.

When business is really, really slow.

 

[NsXMas]

for shizzle!!

 

[NSX-Racer]

9. pronouciation / pronunciation

Really? I guess I learned "pronounciation"?

BTW: I just saw this one in a thread: photo's instead of photos - wrong apostrophes, very common here in Germany too.