Words that are NOT Interchangeable!!

[kkim]

okay... here goes.

Does it bother anyone else that people use the incorrect word for a word they really meant to use?? appropriately called homonyms, these are words that sound alike, but are spelled differently and have different meanings.

here's a few on my hit list... can you add more that drive you nutz???!!

brakes ≠ breaks
your ≠ you're
than ≠ then


come on, people...

[Xoulrath]

Their...There...They're
Except...Accept...They don't sound exactly alike but people misuse them all the time and it drives me crazy. Professional journalists do it the most!

I'm sure there are more but these come immediately to mind.

[kkim]

yep, affect...effect

[Hadyn]

Maybe it's just me, but the general population of the Internet appears to be regressing in their understanding of the English language.

Some of my pet peeves:
- their, there, and they're
- should of/should have
- quite/quiet
- where/wear/were(in the context of wolf)

But above all, the things that make me the most are misplaced apostrophes. ADDING APOSTROPHES DOES NOT MAKE THINGS PLURAL. They are not thing's, or lolcat's, or car's, or monkey's, or brake's (AND/OR break's!).

I'm seriously concerned that instead of using the greatest communication tool in history to educate people, it's being used to collectively UN-LEARN English. I fear we may be using Newspeak in a couple years, and that would be doubleplusungood.

[Xoulrath]

Don't you mean dbl+ngud?

I don't even know how people can speak with one another anymore. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Nothing good can come from texting. And of course it all transfers to everything the kids do, so they post on forums with their chicken scratch language. I don't have a degree in English but damn, people, pay attention in grade school.

[kkim]

Originally Posted by Xoulrath

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Nothing good can come from texting. And of course it all transfers to everything the kids do, so they post on forums with their chicken scratch language. I don't have a degree in English but damn, people, pay attention in grade school.

[headshrink]

With calculators, spell checkers, "leet speak," etc., each generation gets dumber and dumber. Not to 7500 this post, but what is worse than people's lack of spelling and grammar, is the younger generations' knowledge and understanding of history (lack of knowledge). It seems to get worse and worse with each generation. I'll use myself as a baseline example for the pathetic knowledge of history in my own generation, a generation that is not young, nor old. I went to a public high school. It was a CA public high school, so it is one if the worst, but let me share my shame. My knowledge of any and every war in the 20th century comes from either a) movies (oh the pathetic shame), or b) living through it, stateside. From preschool through graduate school, we simply didn't get that far.... the 1920's is about as far as we got! It should be no surprise that each generation gets dumber and dumber. Fortunately, I am old enough to realize mine is dumber than the generation before.... possibly the last generation to have that much mental capacity. I think all they do in HS today, in CA at least, is post youtube videos of themselves drooling, and sending naked pictures of themselves via mms.

[kkim]

Hey, Alex!!! Can we change this thread title to "Grumpy Old Men" or "Old Farts in a Can... Open at Your Own Risk!!!" ???

Easy, guys... take your meds and calm down.

[headshrink]

Originally Posted by kkim

Hey, Alex!!! Can we change this thread title to "Grumpy Old Men" or "Old Farts in a Can... Open at Your Own Risk!!!" ???

Easy, guys... take your meds and calm down.

LOL, gotta call in a refill

[kkim]

one more...

to/too/two

[wvninja]

I don't mind short hand typing. Its the internet and the blame isn't on texting alone. Texting has only made it more visible in everyday life. I too also use my fair share of LOL and WTFs. But in daily life I don't stand around and say LOL OMG this is so funny roflmao. I dunno its here and I doubt it's going to change any time soon.

[Seattle_Chris]

An' than they're people like me. Who'll jus' make posts ta' troll yoos guyz! /lmao



/train

[ally99]

Originally Posted by kkim

yep, affect...effect

Yep, that one irks me every time. Or 'too' and 'to' , 'threw' and 'through', 'your' and 'you're', or in 4th grade language, "awesome" is "alsome"...always. Grrr! LOL!

[Rayme]

Originally Posted by kkim

When I was a graphic designer last year, I had to fix up some pics and signature from a bunch of elementary school kids graduation (and going to high school)...needless to say, most of the girls had a <3 next to their names! Seriously...you have a pen, just draw a damn heart instead of texting while you write, I mean... whoaaaaaaaaa!!!

[g21-30]

prolly/probably

green/kkim

were/where

[Talonne]

supposably/supposedly

[jonthechron]

horse/hores

[rockNroll]

hose pipe/ garden hose or water hose

[rockNroll]

Originally Posted by jonthechron

horse/hores

That's almost too funny!

[madcrossover]

here/hear
or/oar
for/fore
tore/tour
see/sea

[2WheelGuy]

bald ≠ balled
bridle ≠ bridal
hoard ≠ whored

[Momaru]

Hilarious folks. This drives me bonkers as well.

[ally99]

Originally Posted by jonthechron

horse/hores

That is the FUNNIEST thing I've read in a long time! Awesome! LMAO!

[madcrossover]

I find myself trying to find more/moar of these words.

[GeneJunkie]

The one that drives me nuts is witch/which.

I have to admit I am slightly dyslectic so I swap letters around a bit and make spelling errors here and there completely by accident. I used to mix up from and form all the time.

I also still get effect/affect screwed up all the time

My friends hate these common spelling errors too and shared this with me awhile back.
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling

[Kitdog]

I am so guilty of this... when I was in school they even put me in Special ed classes because by the time I was in 4th grade I was reading at a college plus level, but was spelling "of" ove. Now as a teacher of history I have to be supper careful when I write on the board because I misspell stuff to this day. I give bonus points to kids who catch my poor spelling/grammar (it's almost always girls too funny)

Originally Posted by headshrink

With calculators, spell checkers, "leet speak," etc., each generation gets dumber and dumber. Not to 7500 this post, but what is worse than people's lack of spelling and grammar, is the younger generations' knowledge and understanding of history (lack of knowledge). It seems to get worse and worse with each generation. I'll use myself as a baseline example for the pathetic knowledge of history in my own generation, a generation that is not young, nor old. I went to a public high school. It was a CA public high school, so it is one if the worst, but let me share my shame. My knowledge of any and every war in the 20th century comes from either a) movies (oh the pathetic shame), or b) living through it, stateside. From preschool through graduate school, we simply didn't get that far.... the 1920's is about as far as we got! It should be no surprise that each generation gets dumber and dumber. Fortunately, I am old enough to realize mine is dumber than the generation before.... possibly the last generation to have that much mental capacity. I think all they do in HS today, in CA at least, is post youtube videos of themselves drooling, and sending naked pictures of themselves via mms.

This is so true its really sad. Then a lot of history kids think is just a movie and not real.

[want1sobad]

agree with bob's comment in post #7 100%. at 31 i don't consider myself a "young" person, but certainly know i still have a lot of living and learning to do. in general, and please, no one freak out here, i find most people between the ages of 14-22 pretty pathetic. no sense of history, no awarness of what's going on in the world. our education system is a joke - and because it is a joke, kids seem to have very little desire to learn. life consists of facebook, video games, texting, and what they want thier parent's to buy them. my girlfriend's younger sister is 23 and actually says "OMG" "LOL" "BFF" "WTF"............absolutely ridiculous. now i am one to use shorthand in texts, as it is easier/faster. that being said, when you write a letter, email, web post, etc - use your freaking words people! sorry for the rant and getting a little off topic. poor grammar, whether verbal or written drives me up the wall too. i'll get off my soapbox now......

[want1sobad]

one more thing, i have the utmost respect for teachers. it is a selfless job, they are under appreciated, under paid, and overworked. that being said, they are stuck in a broken system.

just wanted to clarify my previous post as i know there are many teachers on the forum.

[greg737]

I had planned to never, ever send a text message. But I've got two daughters, now 12 and 14, so I've been forced into texting.

When I have to text to my daughters (it's darn near the only way they're willing to communicate), I do it in complete sentences, correctly spelled, with proper punctuation and capitalization. This irritates the hell out of them!

[want1sobad]

Originally Posted by greg737

I had planned to never, ever send a text message. But I've got two daughters, now 12 and 14, so I've been forced into texting.

When I have to text to my daughters (it's darn near the only way they're willing to communicate), I do it in complete, properly punctuated and capitolized sentences. This irritates the hell out of them!

that's funny as hell. greg, what part of spokane? i grew up there, Newman Lake/Stateline area.

[Sailariel]

Kelly, I was immersed in the English language at age 9, with my primary language being French and German. What I found most difficult--other than homonyms--were expressions that are purely illogical. For example, you park your car in a driveway and you drive your car on a parkway. If the plural of house is houses, why is the plural of mouse mice? My favorite is "chopper" It can be a noun such as the slang for helicopter, a Thompson machine gun, a motorcycle, etc. I took a lot of English courses over the years and my conclusion was that English was probably one of the most difficult languages one could learn.

[want1sobad]

Originally Posted by Sailariel

Kelly, I was immersed in the English language at age 9, with my primary language being French and German. What I found most difficult--other than homonyms--were expressions that are purely illogical. For example, you park your car in a driveway and you drive your car on a parkway. If the plural of house is houses, why is the plural of mouse mice? My favorite is "chopper" It can be a noun such as the slang for helicopter, a Thompson machine gun, a motorcycle, etc. I took a lot of English courses over the years and my conclusion was that English was probably one of the most difficult languages one could learn.

very true - most "foreign" languages have distinct rules that are almost never deviated from. english has pretty much no rules when it comes to pronunciation, grammar, pluralisms, etc.

[greg737]

Originally Posted by want1sobad

that's funny as hell. greg, what part of spokane? i grew up there, Newman Lake/Stateline area.

Liberty Lake. I just got back in the house from a 14 mile run (long distance running is a hobby). The route I ran included Starr Road to Newman Lake then back southbound on Idaho road to the Spokane River, then down the river to Harvard Road and back into Liberty Lake for a triple-Grande-latte at the Libery Lake Starbucks. That's livin' large for me!

[want1sobad]

Originally Posted by greg737

Liberty Lake. I just got back in the house from a 14 mile run (long distance running is a hobby). The route I ran included Starr Road to Newman Lake then back southbound on Idaho road to the Spokane River, then down the river to Harvard Road and back into Liberty Lake for a triple-Grande-latte at the Libery Lake Starbucks. That's livin' large for me!

nice, know that area well......small world. i was there for bloomsday at the beginning of may.

[KJohnson21]

Originally Posted by Seattle_Chris

An' than they're people like me. Who'll jus' make posts ta' troll yoos guyz! /lmao



/train

I don't see anything to complain about. You spelled all of the regular and slang words correctly, and used apostrophes to show the contractions. More importantly, you certainly seem to understand the subject of this thread!

[adouglas]

I've been making my living as a full-time writer since 1985.

The ongoing and ever-increasing inability of people to use language has kept me fed ever since. I'm good enough at it that I'm actually on staff, not a freelancer. In this business, that's rare.

Verbal and written "shorthand" annoys me to be sure, but it's understandable. Humans have been communicating this way since time immemorial, through the use of slang and pop culture references. I do it myself on a routine basis, usually to express humor or irony.

It's no substitute for the economical, pithy, effective use of language, however. A person who can, in a single sentence, make you feel like you've been hit in the gut is formidable indeed. That kind of powerful impact cannot be accomplished with convenient, throwaway, meaningless slang.

Communication is an art and language is the medium. A brilliant communicator uses words like a painter uses a fine brush and brilliant palette. Most people use words like a beer-soaked suburban husband uses a can of flat-black spray paint.

PS: My pet peeve? The inability to convey a clear thought in writing.

[want1sobad]

Originally Posted by adouglas

Most people use words like a beer-soaked suburban husband uses a can of flat-black spray paint.

best line ever.......

[adouglas]

See what I mean?

I could have said

"WTF, ppl can't speak anymore. Sux."

[kkim]

Originally Posted by adouglas

"WTF, ppl can't speak anymore. Sux."

them's the brakes!

[CC Cowboy]

I don't no any weather you can believe it or knot.