‘Brought’ used in place of ‘bought’ is my pet hate. This actually makes me angry!!
I struggle with ‘less’ and ‘fewer’.
almost worse than ‘somethink’, my boss pronounces a hard ‘g’ on the end of any word ending in ‘ing’. ‘somthing’, ‘anything’. drives me insane.
Seriously dude, as cool as track-specific NJS parts might seem they are made for a specific purpose. What you need is fixed/free, machined, clincher – and this wheel doesn’t fit any of your criteria. Sure you could screw a freewheel onto it, run a brake on it, and ride tubular on the street but you’re gonna end up causing yourself some grief and prematurely trash a nice wheel.
If you want an NJS wheelset then ride a track bike.
well said!
one FEWER car!!!
If you replaced your commodore v8 with a Prius you could have a sticker that said “Less Car” as measurement of the amount of car is indefinite. A number of cars is most definitely a definite quantity.
Also, colleague was telling me about an awesome sticker seen on a BMX bike at Skate Park - “One Less Scooter”
- Joel
“Language is a process of free creation; its laws and principles are fixed, but the manner in which the principles of generation are used is free and infinitely varied. Even the interpretation and use of words involves a process of free creation.”
— Noam Chomsky
That makes some sense I thought ‘fewer’ referred to countable things and ‘less’ referred to things that weren’t countable
…eg Two fewer bushfires than last year
…eg Less emotion than the crowd displayed at last years final
That just doesn’t look right… Ah, it turns out that (according to Blakey’s link) “less” is actually correct in that circumstance.
Also, I have a colleague who says “somethink” and “should of”. I want to punch her. Also, another colleague who uses a “vvv” sound for “th”. Wish I could still remember linguistic notation…
It’s all just language games anyway.
And people who pronounce etc… ekcetera !
We should sticky this… Grammar : Oxford Dictionaries Online
can i ax somebody a question?
You should of aksed me earlier.
Youse guys have no idea.
ftfy…
I ain’t afraid of no ghost
I didnt do nuffink. Often heard after the accompanying shuffling sound of an unfolded search warrant.
Yes, I realise I’m adding nothing here…
Other painful (mis)uses of the English language:
b [/b] Use of the word ‘not’ in an ironic way. For example, referring to an ugly girl by saying “she was really good looking – Not!”. This seems to be one of those Southern Californian expressions that has infected Australian English. FFS, it’s not really irony if you have to add the word ‘not’ in order to make yourself understood. Use of the word ‘not’ in that way is crude, obvious and dumb - like a lot of what passes for humour in modern American society.
b [/b] Use of the word ‘like’ as a conversation filler, in the same way that some people say ‘um’, ‘err’ or ‘you know’. For example, saying “they were, like, really going for it and I was, like, ‘Ewwwh’, get yourselves a room”. This annoying habit seems to have come from the same source. Even the American’s find it annoying (see How to Stop Saying the Word “Like” - wikiHow )
b[/b] Use of the expression “me and ----- [insert name here]”. The correct expression is " ----- [insert name here] and I". Geez.
b[/b] Use of ‘management-speak’. This sort of speech was wonderfully lampooned in ‘Yes, Minister’ and ‘Yes, Prime Minister’. For example, from the Victorian State Government:
“In defining our values, we have formed a range of acceptable and non-acceptable behaviours, which contribute to the success of implementation. Behaviours which indicate that we are complying with values and contra which indicate that we are not. For example, a key contra behaviour, that we are currently focusing on that was identified through our values, is employees displaying disrespectful behaviour towards clients and/or other staff members… etc., etc., etc. apparently interminably”
(see Review: Death sentence: the decay of public language ).
Actually, the Me and… and I… thing is not so clear cut. When using the first person ID as a subject with an action verb eg “I hovered over the lake to freak out the hipsters” then you would add a third party by saying “Danny and I hovered over the lake”.
When the first person ID is the object of the sentence, eg “That klutz tried to door me” then you would add a third party using the same first person noun form “That klutz tried to door Freddy and Me”.
One of the things I hate most about the speech of young English speakers, particularly young women, is the way they raise inflection at the end of sentences which do not end in a query. It’s a form of speech that lacks confidence and makes the speaker sound quite childish. One can hear it spoken by intelligent, well educated young women who just can’t commit to what they’re saying. Very frustrating.
- Joel