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Pet Peeves v. 5.0

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Damien said:
lol Fjones, I think you're wrong on that one dude. Plus wouldn't it be a vocabulary issue, not a grammar issue?
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I teach writing and grammar. I am not wrong on this one. Writing "comprised of" is wrong. It's a word usage issue, which falls under the category of grammar.
 
alasdairm said:
i think fjones problem with "comprised of" is the "of" part because most definitions of comprise mean "to contain".

i think his point is that the correct usage is "the collection comprises 5 works of art" not "the collection is comprised of 5 works of art".

that said, some dictionaries define comprise as a synonym of compose or constitute in which case the "of" would be ok. however, merriam webster, on this subject, says:

"Although it has been in use since the late 18th century, sense 3 is still attacked as wrong. Why it has been singled out is not clear, but until comparatively recent times it was found chiefly in scientific or technical writing rather than belles lettres. Our current evidence shows a slight shift in usage: sense 3 is somewhat more frequent in recent literary use than the earlier senses. You should be aware, however, that if you use sense 3 you may be subject to criticism for doing so, and you may want to choose a safer synonym such as compose or make up."

your call but i understand where fjones is coming from.

alasdair
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What Alasdairm said is correct. Basically, the dictionary is saying the following:

"Comprised of" is wrong, but since enough careless and unskilled writers have started using it, we'll list it as an "alternate" use to placate the feeble-minded folks and make them feel less inadequate about their shortcomings.
 
^Theres this really cool feature now, you see that little "+ sign next to the quote button? It lets you quote multiple posts in one ;)
 
fizzle said:
^Theres this really cool feature now, you see that little "+ sign next to the quote button? It lets you quote multiple posts in one ;)
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aaaaack! :) you got me.

Will anyone believe me if I say I scrolled down and only saw one reply at a time and clicked " reply" to each one not realizing there was another one after that I would be replying to again?
 
As long as we are on this subject I have a related pet peeve:

1) When dictionaries or other similar sources start to list incorrect, wrong, or erroneous spellings or definitions as "alternative meanings (spellings)."

I just don't get this at all. This would never happen in mathematics or physics. Imagine looking in a math book and it says, "Anything raised to the power of zero equals 1. ALTERNATIVE ANSWER: something raised to the power of zero is zero, because some people don't understand why something raised to zero power equals 1."

or

"Absolute zero is -273 Kelvin. But there is a growing trend to set absolute zero to -721 Kelvin, so we're listing it as a secondary answer."

But in writing, we do exactly that. Take the word "minuscule," which is misspelled more often that not. The root word is "minus," not "mini."

But, enough people say, "Oh, it sounds like mini so I'll just spell it "miniscule," and now most dictionaries list it as an alternative (though less preferred) spelling.

At least firefox spellcheck still flags "miniscule" as wrong. (It flags "spellcheck also. I guess it wants it to be two words).
 
^The form of language is arbitrary in many ways.Sometimes the rules are about euphony. Sometimes they arrived at by logic. Mostly they are ever changing matters of convention.

Truly sensible would be to go to an entirely phonetic system of spelling. Russian and Spanish are approaching 100% consistent regarding spelling by what I'm told.

I'm a descriptivist rather than a prescriptivist when it comes to language so you and I will prolly disagree on this over and over. Prolly used intentionally.
 
Fjones said:
:)

I'll assume you did that on purpose

:)
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Hahaha no actually it's called being drunk ;)
But as soon as I posted it I realised my error, but couldn't be arsed to edit it :D



I mean....yessss I did it on purpose.... ;) =D
 
fizzle said:
^Theres this really cool feature now, you see that little "+ sign next to the quote button? It lets you quote multiple posts in one ;)
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Do this & you will instantly have a text box comprised of other people's quotes. :D
 
I hate when people give me a hard time if I don't want to hang out. They act like not wanting to do anything means I'm dissing them. Sometimes I just don't want to do anything!

When I work 40+ hours a week, play guitar and compete in a bowling league on Friday nights, play soccer (for two different teams) on Saturdays... sometimes I just want to sit around the house and relax!
 
My biggest ongoing pet peeve seems to be with me & my choice of queue I always join.

I really detest queueing at the best of times, but I always manage to end up behind the person who has some sort of time wasting ability. Whether it's an old man who can't remember his pin code, or the woman who has shopped like she knows nuclear war is imminent and tries to pay by cheque knowing full well the supermarket doesn't accept this type of payment any more. I somehow lack the sense others have that makes them stay away from that particular line. The choices I make when joining a queue are always wrong.

Three times today it happened in the space of 2 hours - most of it waiting time!

  • Checking out of a hotel, I timed it perfectly that I had to stand behind someone complaining about their bill - had to wait ages!
  • As above, some old guy in a shop queue punching random numbers into the keypad - had to await ages!
  • Travelling homewards, I needed to top up the water reservoir in the car & check tyre pressures at the petrol station. Some stupid cow in a very large jeep parked terribly & fucked around in a clueless manner with her equally clueless husband - once again, had to wait ages for them to GTF.

Arghhhhh!!!! :X
 
When you throw something out because you've had it for ages & will never use it, and the very next week you need it and wish you had it. happened to me today with bubble wrap.

Also when the 2 sheets that make up the toilet roll are out of synch, and so won't tear properly.
 
badandwicked said:
When you throw something out because you've had it for ages & will never use it, and the very next week you need it and wish you had it. happened to me today with bubble wrap.

Also when the 2 sheets that make up the toilet roll are out of synch, and so won't tear properly.
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Two that I've always thought of and forgot to post here. Thank you!
 
alasdairm said:
^ the safeway club card, for example, offers benefits which go beyond saving money on selected items. there are a couple of programs which give you benefits for every single penny spent, even if the transaction in question has no items in it which are on sale.

some people simply use their card for every purchase for that reason. for them, it's not a pointless exercise in time wasting - it's a material benefit.

alasdair
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With reference specifically to Safeway: along with the obvious discounts associated with the club card, there is also a program where if you buy 7 deli sandwiches, your 8th will be free. The card tracks it automatically, and when you buy a sandwich, the receipt shows how many you have bought already.
 
badandwicked said:
Also when the 2 sheets that make up the toilet roll are out of synch, and so won't tear properly.
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Yep that pisses me off too!
I hate it more when I can tell that it's been happening for a while (like, it's really out of synch) yet no-one else has thought to fix it.
 
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