Grammar Discussions

[donovan301]

The Olympics brings out the pedant in many of us I'm sure. ("Looks like they could medal here..." "Maybe the could podium...")

The next time I hear a commentator say "The Aussies swum a great race" I don't know what I'll do. They might as well say 'swimmed'.

Would it help if they dropped "great" out of the gramatastrophie? ;-)

 

[Hvr]

The Olympics brings out the pedant in many of us I'm sure. ("Looks like they could medal here..." "Maybe the could podium...")

The next time I hear a commentator say "The Aussies swum a great race" I don't know what I'll do. They might as well say 'swimmed'.

What really annoys me is when the commentator says something like; Australia has won 'insert event'.

Wrong!! An Australian has won 'insert event', The actual country hasn't won anything.

 

[anat0l]

What really annoys me is when the commentator says something like; Australia has won 'insert event'.

Wrong!! An Australian has won 'insert event', The actual country hasn't won anything.

The use of the collective or larger body is quite common even in formal usage, again even though it actually was a single actor or specific actor who carried the action.

Especially when you hear something like, "Representing Australia, James Bloggs," i.e. this man is competing as a proxy for his country, since not everyone in the country can be a competitor and we could only field one or two or whatever.

Similarly, in other parlances, you could argue that instead of, "Thank you for choosing to fly with Qantas," it should be, "Thank you for choosing to fly on a Qantas flight/aircraft" or similar, since you're not actually flying with the entire company.

 

[Captain Halliday]

Out of respect for my fellow grammar thread enthusiasts, I have decided not to have a taco at tonight's DRW dinner and drinks. For those wondering the owner is not named "taco".

 

[penegal]

Out of respect for my fellow grammar thread enthusiasts, I have decided not to have a taco at tonight's DRW dinner and drinks. For those wondering the owner is not named "taco".

The burger was a good choice

 

[JessicaTam]

The burger was a good choice

Did they have a range of burger's?

 

[penegal]

Did they have a range of burger's?

Pulled Pork or Beef Brisket

 

[tuapekastar]

I heard a couple of guys on the radio tonight rebuke Bill Hayden (in his absence) for using the phrase "if he/she/it thinks blah blah they've got another thing coming"...as opposed to "another think coming". I nodded in agreement as I 'knew' they were correct. A few minutes later they read an email from a listener asserting they in fact were a couple of dunces and incorrect, and that Hayden's usage was right. Of course, they started googling and came back with the magic words (for me, at least, when grammar and spelling disputes are involved) - OED (Oxford English Dictionary) - which supported their view (and mine) that think is in fact correct. And after a bit of googling myself I am satisfied that this version, which is what I have used 'forever' (in fact I had no idea an alternate version even existed) is the right one. I just hope this is not another case where so many people get it wrong, it becomes 'right', as happens with certain words and phrases. Evolution of the language is one thing, evolution through ignorance is quite another.

PS. I see both versions have had a run on AFF, though not, as far as I can tell, in this thread.

 

[JessicaTam]

I heard a couple of guys on the radio tonight rebuke Bill Hayden (in his absence) for using the phrase "if he/she/it thinks blah blah they've got another thing coming"...as opposed to "another think coming". I nodded in agreement as I 'knew' they were correct. A few minutes later they read an email from a listener asserting they in fact were a couple of dunces and incorrect, and that Hayden's usage was right. Of course, they started googling and came back with the magic words (for me, at least, when grammar and spelling disputes are involved) - OED (Oxford English Dictionary) - which supported their view (and mine) that think is in fact correct. And after a bit of googling myself I am satisfied that this version, which is what I have used 'forever' (in fact I had no idea an alternate version even existed) is the right one. I just hope this is not another case where so many people get it wrong, it becomes 'right', as happens with certain words and phrases. Evolution of the language is one thing, evolution through ignorance is quite another.

PS. I see both versions have had a run on AFF, though not, as far as I can tell, in this thread.

"If you think that then you have another thing coming" is my preference, because it just sounds right.

 

[tuapekastar]

"If you think that then you have another thing coming" is my preference, because it just sounds right.

Sounds right (doesn't to me, actually ) but still wrong. If 'think' is good enough for the OED (which will AFAIK usually acknowledge a common alternate, even if it does not agree with it), and as far as I can see on the back of a quick google search it does not even acknowledge the existence of 'another thing coming' in that context, then it is good enough for me.

 

[JessicaTam]

Sounds right (doesn't to me, actually ) but still wrong. If 'think' is good enough for the OED (which will AFAIK usually acknowledge a common alternate, even if it does not agree with it), and as far as I can see on the back of a quick google search it does not even acknowledge the existence of 'another thing coming' in that context, then it is good enough for me.

Yep, I will try to mend my ways.

 

[tuapekastar]

Yep, I will try to mend my ways.

No need...please don't take my stubbornness on this one as smugness. I acknowledge plenty of people must say 'thing' (though as I said I had never heard it used before), and they can all continue to do so...free world and all that.

 

[andye]

I've rapidly gone through the Kubler-Ross stages and now accept 'think' as correct. Feel like a Mrs Malaprop

 

[anat0l]

Very interesting, I've always understood it as the "incorrect" "thing coming" rather than "think", of which the latter seems out of place or at best cryptic.

That said, the origin indeed puts the think before the thing, even if the "incorrect" form has, innocently in some way, surpassed or virtually replaced the original form.

 

[Happy Trails]

The Addams family could have another Thing coming.

 

[Deleted member]

I dont know if it has already been canvassed. But the sudden (to me anyway) appearance of words with * * rather than " " (Inverted commas) is confusing and annoying

 

[JessicaTam]

Very interesting, I've always understood it as the "incorrect" "thing coming" rather than "think", of which the latter seems out of place or at best cryptic.

That said, the origin indeed puts the think before the thing, even if the "incorrect" form has, innocently in some way, surpassed or virtually replaced the original form.

It still sounds odd to me, as it equates to the 'think' in 'something' mispronounced as somethink. Or is that somefink?

I dont know if it has already been canvassed. But the sudden (to me anyway) appearance of words with * * rather than " " (Inverted commas) is confusing and annoying

I think (or is that I thing) that it is used to indicate bolding where HTML or the like is not available. Mind you, I use '*' to indicate an action of some sort where an emoticon doesn't quite suit. *sigh*

 

[tuapekastar]

It still sounds odd to me, as it equates to the 'think' in 'something' mispronounced as somethink. Or is that somefink?

Not so sure about that. Ever decided to "have a think" about something? Then made a pronouncement based on that thought, only to have someone suggest you got it wrong, and would need to go back and have "another think" about it? Hence you would have "another think" - about that particular subject - coming.

 

[tuapekastar]

Very interesting, I've always understood it as the "incorrect" "thing coming" rather than "think", of which the latter seems out of place or at best cryptic.

That said, the origin indeed puts the think before the thing, even if the "incorrect" form has, innocently in some way, surpassed or virtually replaced the original form.

I'd be amazed (and I'm prepared to be :shock if the use of "thing" in this context was more widespread than the use of "think". In fact I wouldn't have thought it would get anywhere near it. I feel a straw poll coming on.

 

[anat0l]

It still sounds odd to me, as it equates to the 'think' in 'something' mispronounced as somethink. Or is that somefink?

According to one source I read, the use of "think" in the context of your comment was actually intentional to the original saying. It doesn't seem to make sense there (or at all), but the original quote is actually "think".

I dont know if it has already been canvassed. But the sudden (to me anyway) appearance of words with * * rather than " " (Inverted commas) is confusing and annoying

I think (or is that I thing) that it is used to indicate bolding where HTML or the like is not available. Mind you, I use '*' to indicate an action of some sort where an emoticon doesn't quite suit. *sigh*

Correct. Surrounding asterisks are commonly used for:

• Indicating something in bold or something to be emphasised. You can activate a shortcut in Word (I think, or may only be older versions) where typing *content in asterisks* gave you content in asterisks. A similar Word feature was _underscores for italic_ giving you underscores for italic. In forum parlance, it is usually used for bolding where it is hard to write formatting codes, or where no such rich text features exist.
• Indicating non-content side notes, like actions. I'm not sure where this one kind of came from, because those who remember using mIRC in the old days would know the shortcut to indicate an emotion or action (rather than chat) was /me (although that would append "user " against the front of your action text).

I can't think of too many groups of instances where *...* would be replaced with "..." (or vv.) and have the same meaning. Inverted commas are used for direct speech, some proper nouns (e.g. the title of a book), to denote sarcasm or similar loss of literal meaning.... I've seen some instances where inverted commas are used as a type of bolding, but I think it is an improper use and can give the wrong idea. I'm sure we've seen enough signs like:

ONLY "YOU" CAN BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR "SAFETY"

or something like that. Also, compare:

Only *cookies* should be placed in this jar (Only cookies should be placed in this jar)

with

Only "cookies" should be placed in this jar