Posts tagged with "petty peevishness" - Faerye Net

Petty Peevishness VI

2009-01-28T16:37:33+00:00

Dear sweet English. You’re such an enthusiastic language. You like to grab. But it’s good to take care of the things you borrow from other languages, even if those languages confuse you.

It is unacceptable to fail to pronounce consonants in French words and phrases simply because French has more silent letters than English does.

It is wrong to pronounce “the blow of mercy” “the blow of grease”. Especially on national radio. The momentary blindness of wrath could cause a pedant to crash her car.

Coup de grace. Grahss. GrahSSSSSSSS. Please. For automotive safety.

Petty Peevishness V

2007-01-19T09:15:53+00:00

I can’t believe this is even making it to my petty peeves, but I just can’t take it anymore.

Cars have brakes. Brakes brakes brakes. Metaphors generally have brakes too. ‘Put on the brakes’, not the ‘breaks’. Please, for my poor nerves.

sob

Petty Peevishness IV

2006-11-12T18:03:04+00:00

The internet sure does this often enough, but the final straw came from, of all things, Analog Science Fiction & Fact Magazine! If I can’t expect them to keep mathematical terms separate from non-mathematical terms, who can I trust?

You see, discrete means separate, distinct, noncontinuous. Discreet means prudent, modest, cautiously silent. When someone says a person is ‘discrete’, I have a vision of that person scattered across a Cartesian plane in pieces. Please, save me from gory geometrical visions! Use these words correctly!

Petty Peevishness III

2006-11-01T16:41:58+00:00

Internet, we need to talk again.

Withdrawal is a word which means “the act of taking back or away something that has been granted or possessed,” “removal from a place of deposit or investment,” “the discontinuance of administration or use of a drug,” “retraction,” “revocation,” MANY MANY THINGS.

Not one of those things can be said to be meant by the word ‘withdrawl’. The only thing ‘withdrawl’ means is that legions of grammar and spelling pedants (and we are legion indeed) just lost one more millimeter of tooth enamel, and that somewhere, for a split second, someone wanted to hit you with a cricket bat.

Withdrawal, people. With-draw-AL.

Petty Peevishness II

2005-04-15T08:53:59+00:00

This annoyance is not brought to you from the web, but rather from the Wide World of Business. At my first permanent job, I thought this error was simply a strange mistake of a co-worker’s; now that I have entered said w.w. of b., I seem to see it everywhere.

upcoming: Occurring soon; forthcoming.

up and coming: Showing signs of advancement and ambitious development (often, something which has achieved some measure of success — ‘up’ — and is on its way to more.)

This really, truly, does not seem so difficult to me. And yet it seems that every single bleedin’ thing that will happen soon is ‘up & coming’. Well, world, let me inform you (by posting it on the internet where you won’t see it) this week’s lunch specials are NOT marked by signs of ambitious development! Neither is a meeting of store managers on its way to greatness merely because it will transpire this month! Promising band? Up and coming. Bad movie release? Upcoming. Christopher Nolan? Up and coming. Trip to the grocery store? Upcoming. I know you can do it, world!

Petty Peevishness I

2004-08-19T14:10:16+00:00

We all know that the Web is full of horrible spelling and grammar. However, some instances, for whatever reason, hurt me more than others. Here is one such:

rein (n.)

1. A long narrow leather strap attached to each end of the bit of a bridle and used by a rider or driver to control a horse or other animal. Often used in the plural.

2. A means of restraint, check, or guidance.

3. A means or an instrument by which power is exercised. Often used in the plural: the reins of government.

Now, people, I do realize you may live in places where horses have long since disappeared, but do make an effort to spell this word in a way that makes sense! While the Boy King George does seem to be afraid of horses, that doesn’t mean that we can’t spell the word correctly when we refer to him as having ‘the reins of power.’ Thank Providence, said Boy King does NOT have multiple ‘reigns,’ and, if we are lucky, shall have neither two four-year reigns, nor two concurrent reigns in different countries, in manner of European dual-monarchs. Further more, unless the Justices have taken up residence in the excrescence’s spleen or other sensitive region, I have no idea how the Supreme Court of the United States can be urged to ‘reign in the President.’

Please, make a note of it, Mr. Internet!