In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :
One/two spaces is dictated by whatever style guide... IMO it looks goofy
Same for Oxford- it doesn't actually add any clarity. Pointless and shouldn't be used.
Sarah! Tell them to stop writing "rate of speed"! Speed is already a rate!
Qaaaaa said:In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :
Sarah! Tell them to stop writing "rate of speed"! Speed is already a rate!
Qaaaaa said:Same for Oxford- it doesn't actually add any clarity. Pointless and shouldn't be used.
You might want to read my post on a 10 million dollar lawsuit; the lack of an Oxford Comma cost a company 10 mil..............I'd say the Oxford Comma is far from pointless.
Qaaaaa said:In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :
Same for Oxford- it doesn't actually add any clarity. Pointless and shouldn't be used.
Don't make me drag this old chestnut out:
Even if you reword that to be "JFK, Stalin and the strippers", the lack of Oxford comma implies a connection between Stalin and the strippers that may or may not exist. It's certainly different from the way JFK is included in that sentence.
So I comprehensively disagree that the serial comma does not add clarity.
I worked for an Ohioan and I date a Pennsylvanian. The "needs fixed" type of phrases drive me nuts.
I also get annoyed by the misuse of possessive plurals. My neighbor's name is Jarvis and his company is Jarvis' Towing, where it should be Jarvis's Towing. What he's implying is that his name is Jarvi, there are multiple of him, and they own a towing company. I see his trucks every morning.
In reply to buzzboy :
Sorta related, how many mailbox signs do you see that say The Goldberg’s or whatever?
750$. The dollar sign goes before the number.
Mines. What brand of coilovers do you have? Mines are...
Gears. What gears do you wear when riding your motorcycle?
There is a rental home I bike by daily that is named Great S'cape. Is it Great Seascape?
myf16n said:750$. The dollar sign goes before the number.
Heh. 750 dollars = $750. But 750 percent = 750%.... in American English. %750 elsewhere.
David S. Wallens said:In reply to buzzboy :
Sorta related, how many mailbox signs do you see that say The Goldberg’s or whatever?
My MIL has one that says Suddard's next to her front door. She's never figured out why I say "Suddard's what?" every time I pass by it.
David S. Wallens said:In reply to buzzboy :
Sorta related, how many mailbox signs do you see that say The Goldberg’s or whatever?
It's works as a possessive statement............the mailbox does indeed belong to the Goldbergs as a group so therefore putting Goldberg's is ok................unless of course only one Goldberg lives there then it would need a first name, example Jake Goldberg's, to be correct.
"VIN Number"
Also, the emoji has no place in a business setting.
In reply to Tom1200 :
That's legal text. You do a lot of weird stuff in contracts that you don't do in normal writing.
In reply to Duke :
I disagree. The "JFK/Stalin/strippers" example is a ridiculous case that gets brought up to demonstrate why it would be used, but a ridiculous case has to be shown because in normal English, no such scenario ordinarily arises where clarity is added. Moreover, if there were an association between Stalin and the strippers, you would treat them as one direct object and write the sentence as "I brought JFK and Stalin and the strippers" the same way you'd write "I drank Martinis and Gin and Juice". Note the absence of commas.
Furious_E (Forum Supporter) said:Sonic said:"Needs replaced" or the like. It's not hard to write "needs replacing" or "needs to be replaced"
Tell me you're from Pennsylvania without telling me you're from Pennsylvania
See also "what for?" As in "What for motor you got in that thing?" I think that one is pretty clearly a German derived PA Dutch thing.
Shakespeare: To be or not to be...
Shakespeare in Pennsyltucky: Or not...
Talk about first-world problems. I am sure there is something in this world that bothers me less than poor grammar and spelling but I can't think of it at the moment.
In a forum environment, as long as I understand what they are trying to say then communication was successful even if they mangled the grammar.
In a magazine environment with a professional editor, I would expect better and might note mistakes but I wouldn't be up in arms about them.
* Disclaimer: This post was written and edited by a person who absolutely sucked at English when in school. All spelling and grammar mistakes are solely the fault of the writer and he does not particularly care if it is incorrect.
That said, Oxford was right. 
For a while, "bespoke" was the word of the day and it seemed like every article in every publication used it. Fortunately like most trends it has for the most part faded to obscurity.
Yeah, yeah. I know it means custom. But here in the automotive world, the parlance has been "custom cars". Bespoke is primarily used for clothing and furnishings. Get off my lawn.
I may step on some toes with this one. I apologize in advance.
Plural pronouns for individuals.
I don't mind gender fluidity. Don't mind transsexuals, or individuals who identify as a gender other than the one of their birth.
I don't have any capacity to understand who we are talking about when my son refers to his girlfriend as "they".
"They are going to NYC"
"Oh really? Who is she traveling with?"
"They are going alone."
I get it. English doesn't express gender neutrality well. But plurals don't express individuals well either, and it gets really confusing.
(At least it's not Spanish, where EVERY noun is a masculine or feminine gender... La Papa is MUCH different than El Papa. One is a potato, and one is the Pope)
1. "how is everything tasting for you?"
what the actual berkeley are you asking me, dear server?
firstly (see what i did there, readers of grammar thread?), my food has flavor, which i taste. the food has flavor. it is a characteristic, not an action. the action is done by me. i taste the flavor of the food.
secondly (damn, i'm funny!), "for you" implies some action on the part of the food. maybe i'm just ranting now and this is already covered by my first point. but it angers me. so i answer "It's great." but in my mind i'm saying "its' grate." because berkeley you, that's why.
2. my wife has recently taken to saying "I'm liking _____." fill in the blank with the new wall color in the kitchen, or Taylor Swift's new haircut, or whatever the berkeley. I correct her every single time, and yes, it really is a hill worthy of my death.
Qaaaaa said:In reply to Duke :
I disagree. The "JFK/Stalin/strippers" example is a ridiculous case that gets brought up to demonstrate why it would be used, but a ridiculous case has to be shown because in normal English, no such scenario ordinarily arises where clarity is added. Moreover, if there were an association between Stalin and the strippers, you would treat them as one direct object and write the sentence as "I brought JFK and Stalin and the strippers" the same way you'd write "I drank Martinis and Gin and Juice". Note the absence of commas.
It doesn't seem ridiculous to me at all. If we switch the names, it's an everyday occurrence...
"We invited the drivers, Bob, and Jim" looks like three different entities to me (the drivers, Bob, and Jim). It might be MANY people (10 drivers, plus Bob and Jim).
"We invited the drivers, Bob and Jim" looks like 2 entities named Bob and Jim who both happen to be drivers. Only 2 people.
In reply to SV reX :
I'll cede that there are some contexts where it makes sense to use it. The serial comma absolutism that some people explicitly call for is absurd, though.
David S. Wallens said:In reply to Sarah Young :
Plus it’s supplemented by the Official GRM Style Guide. (Seriously, we do have one–mostly technical terms.)
I really wish we had an official style guide that included this where I work. There are multiple style guides which are not enforced or even known about in my discipline where I currently work and almost no one I've spoken to even knows what a style guide is. The last time I saw this was really outdated and was mostly concerned with page number placement and style and the size of margins.
And we do a whole lot of technical writing. It's not a great situation.
EDIT: And about serial aka Oxford commas; I feel like they help you know if any commas are needed. If two commas do not work in the sentence, do you really need one? It's a good question to ask.
From work: I have to bite down hard on my tongue every time I hear someone call the fiscal year the physical year, which is often. (apologies if this is a repeat. I didn't read the whole thread. I'm going to come back later and do that when I feel like getting riled up.)
Qaaaaa said:In reply to Duke :
I disagree. The "JFK/Stalin/strippers" example is a ridiculous case that gets brought up to demonstrate why it would be used, but a ridiculous case has to be shown because in normal English, no such scenario ordinarily arises where clarity is added. Moreover, if there were an association between Stalin and the strippers, you would treat them as one direct object and write the sentence as "I brought JFK and Stalin and the strippers" the same way you'd write "I drank Martinis and Gin and Juice". Note the absence of commas.
Feel free to disagree, but you will not convince me on this. I think such scenarios arise all the time. In fact, you proved my point in your rewrite above.
In "I brought JFK and Stalin and the strippers" you are indeed now treating all 3 objects equally. However, instead of an implied (and possibly spurious) connection, you have now made it ambiguous whether any connection even exists or not. So without a lot more contextual reading, there is no way to discern which is the intended grouping:
So in your inexplicable desire to save a measly comma, you are:
Instead of all that, you could just add the extra comma in the appropriate place and be done with it.
In reply to Qaaaaa :
Sometimes, you might have to color outside the lines, so to speak.
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