A Pet Peeve

D

deker

Joined
Nov 14, 2005
Messages
3,496
I've just got to get this off of my chest. Here are some very basic grammar and word usage rules that seem to be violated willy-nilly around the knifemaker community.

there - a place - "He's over there."
their - belonging to a group of people - "That is their table at the knife show."
they're - contraction for they are - "They're going to the knife show."

The following slaughterings of perfectly good words in particular irritate me. Shouldn't you at least know the proper words to describe your chosen avocation?

knife - one knife
knives - more than one knife
knifes - not a real word
knive - not a real word

There will be more on this list I'm sure, but these are the ones that make me twitch most often.

Also, for criminy's sake folks, at least PRETEND to punctuate. Has it been too long since you were in grammar school? I've got a solution for you.

Look at this wepgage for more information on proper punctuation.

In my opinion, we as knifemakers must be good stewards of our craft to everyone we meet. While the Internet is an excellent resource for us to do that, it's important to remember that if we don't communicate well, we just look like a bunch of digital hillbillies.

I'm not asking everybody here to go back to school and waste a lot of time worrying over whether a comma or a semicolon is required to seperate two clauses in a sentence. But would it kill you to use the "Preview" feature and read your message as others will see it before you post? Just take a minute and see if what you've written even makes sense.

Ok, rant off. :)

-d
 
Well said!

Attempting to convey a thought or an idea to others requires at least the most basic usage of our language via sentence structure, punctuation and spelling... there are many that post here that I won't even bother to read, simply due to the fact that it's less like reading and more like cryptography. If I have to translate what you're saying into something coherent, how can I possibly expect to make sure I 'got' what you said?
 
WE'be about packaging and presentation. I love the spell check feature, on

my pc, but it can't do it all.

That's were I'be comin from, Fred
 
amen bruther! thuh way sum peeple spel, youd think thay never went to skewl.

:D :D
 
Happy to see you get it off your chest. I know you feel better now. But you are right. -------------------:thumbup:
 
im one of the ones that doesnt bother with punctuation or capitalization too much when im chatting on instant messengers or posting in forums. its a bad habit i got into back in high school from chatting with my buddies and stuff. i do however correct grammer, punctuation, and capitalization when im working on a website or legal documents or even posting an ad. i do however like to watch my spelling on everything.
 
PimpinSquee said:
im one of the ones that doesnt bother with punctuation or capitalization too much when im chatting on instant messengers or posting in forums. its a bad habit i got into back in high school from chatting with my buddies and stuff. i do however correct grammer, punctuation, and capitalization when im working on a website or legal documents or even posting an ad. i do however like to watch my spelling on everything.
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Hey, bud.

Do me a favor, cut and paste your last post into Word or something, and run a spell check. I've got no less than 4 different red underlines, and not a single sentence starts with a capital letter! You're killing me!
 
Loose and lose. Like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.

Loose - To release; to free, etc.

Lose - Lose a game; lose a knife, etc.


Not to mention advise and advice.:D
 
Punctuation, is what, makes, a sentence, a sentence and with more punctuation, you have more impact.

So, if you want your post to scream, :eek: use more: , . ' " : ; / ?!!!!!!!!!!! &
 
I generally watch my spelling and grammar fairly closely, but I admit to using stuff like gonna, gotta, oughta, dunno, lol, tmi, IIRC, etc etc ...

When you actually say "lol" or "tmi" in conversation, then it's time to back away from the puter for awhile.
 
Two of my pet peeves:


"Alot" is not a word.

Right: I like it a lot.
Wrong: I like it alot.

With rare exceptions, apostrophes are not used for plurals.

Right: I ate chips and dip.
Wrong: I ate chip's and dip.
 
fitzo said:
I use that apostrophe a lot for something like "CPM's" or "the fitz's". I'll gladly suffer an accurate correction. :)
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Well, wouldn't "CPM's" be an apostrophe being used to create a possesive context? As for "the fitz's", I'd have to see some context. :)

I just stumbled on this site which is quote apropos to this thread.

-d
 
deker said:
Well, wouldn't "CPM's" be an apostrophe being used to create a possesive context? As for "the fitz's", I'd have to see some context. :)
-d
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Regarding the CPM steels you are probably correct. I tend to use that apostrophe a bit too liberally to make plurals of acronyms.

"The fitz's are not going anywhere for Easter dinner." Meaning, Nancy and Mike Fitzgerald. That one I am unconcerned who it irks, because "fitzes" irks me. :D The reader can decide contextually whether it's possessive or plural. :)
 
I can hear the future at Blade 2012:

"Well, his knives are absolutely abominable but he is positively Lowthian in his grammatical prowess. He possesses a veritable Churchillian rhetoric. I shall definitely be adding him to my collection this year." :D
 
Actually, I think writing a good book or two (assuming it's well written and has something worthwhile to say about knives) probably does increase your collect-ability. :D :D

--As in, "Hey, he's written a book!" meaning "He must be an expert with colossal IQ and dashing good looks, I should probably buy his knives":rolleyes: :D
 
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