When a question is asked, it seems lately more and more people are starting their answer with “I mean…”. How does that make sense? That should be used to clarify something that has already been said. There is no reason to start with “I mean” if you haven’t said anything earlier. What is the sense in that? So what do you mean? Are you stalling for time? Is it a placeholder? It just doesn’t make sense.
End rant.
People Hate Change
This came across our email this week. It seems for a almost two decades, the U.S. State Department has used Times New Roman as their font for high-level internal memos. They decided to change that font to Calibri. (Thank goodness it wasn’t changed to Comic Sans!) Cue the complaints. This change is meant to be easier for visually impaired employees but many don’t think it looks as appealing.
They began using Times New Roman in 2004 when they switched from Courier New 12.
So here is a fellow “hater” of Comic Sans
As posted on Twitter:
Since people keep saying they're the same pic.twitter.com/o5DwyIF9kS
— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) March 5, 2020
Common Grammar Errors
We ran across this tweet from Business Insider recently:
Watch out for these common grammar mistakes pic.twitter.com/Hald3qTFRP
— Business Insider (@businessinsider) April 21, 2019
A Pet Peeve: Marinate
Marinate simply means to soak or steep meat in a mixture of spices and liquids (a marinade). Why do people use that word to mean think or meditate on something?
Sometimes we don’t hear correctly
Here’s a fun little video about misheard lyrics of O Fortuna
Here is the video with the correct lyrics:
If you open them up in two tabs on your browser and listen to the original but mute the misheard words video and follow it while listening to the real music it almost sounds like they are singing the misheard words. They are actually singing the wrong words and how they do that without laughing is phenomenal.
New Yorker’s Comma Queen
Our group came across a Ted Talk presented by Mary Norris, The New Yorker’s copy editor. It was a charming talk about some of the letters and comments she’s received in the past about perceived errors found in The New Yorker. It was recorded this past February. Watch:
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We must be jerks
Came across this article the other day called People who constantly point out grammar mistakes are pretty much jerks, scientists find.
They tested 83 participants and had them read email responses to an ad for a housemate. Some had no errors and some had typos and grammatical errors. The 83 subjects judged the person who had written the email based on what they felt about intelligence, friendliness, and other attributes as to what type of housemates they’d be. They were also asked if they spotted any errors and if they did, how bothered they were by it. Those with errors were judged more harshly. However, they found that extroverts were more likely to overlook the errors than introverts.
Ok. We’re jerks. This article had a typo I cannot let get by! They spelled extrovert as “extravert”.
Missing comma gets woman out of a ticket
In West Jefferson, Ohio, there is an ordinance that states: certain types of vehicles cannot be parked longer than 24 hours, including “any motor vehicle camper, trailer, farm implement and/or non-motorized vehicle.” If you look closely, you can see that there is a comma missing after “motor vehicle.”
A woman named Andrea Cammelleri used that to her advantage when she was cited for parking her 1993 Ford pickup for more than 24 hours. She claimed her pickup didn’t fit into any of the categories listed. Although the village says the meaning is clear, the judge sided with Andrea and let her off. The judge said they should amend the law if they want to enforce it.
Some pet peeves
Some pet peeves are changing phrases from the original. Here are some examples:
The proof is in the pudding. What does this mean? Nothing. The phrase is supposed to be “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” So what does that mean? The “test” of whether the pudding is correct is when you actually eat it – you will know if it is correct.
Music calms the savage beast. Well, that may be true but the original phrase is “Music has charms to soothe the savage breast.” This is from a poem by William Congreve called The Mourning Bride.
Money is the root of all evil. This is actually a misquote from the Bible. The correct phrase is “The love of money is the root of all evil.” I Timothy 6:10
Pride goes before the fall. This is another misquote from the Bible. The correct verse states “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18
I will add more as I come across them.