Spelling/Grammar Police
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No Ordinary Joe
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Soundy
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As always, though, there are exceptions to many rules: what if the "best" refers to a group? As in, the Lions are the best team, and Joe Smith is one of the best?jcalhoun wrote:As far as I'm concerned, anyone that uses the phrase, "one of the best" is an idiot, as "best" is singular. One is either "the best" or "one of the better" but one cannot be "one of the best".
(Okay, that's a poor example, but you know what I'm getting at...)
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pinkfreud
Unfortunately, for some men that difference is imperceptible.jcalhoun wrote:Hey all,
Oh boy....where to begin?
I remember listening to the CKNW sports report sometime in the early 90's on a Saturday morning, and a Lion, being interviewed about the game the night before said, (I paraphrase) "I played good, the defence played good, the whole team played good." After the clip the reporter added, "I can hear all the lower mainland English teachers cringing..."
Other than the it's/its -their/there/they're debacle that plagues so many, I'm a real stickler for using the Queen's English when it comes to the "u" in 'neighbour' etc. I guess I suffer from irritable vowel syndrome.
As far as I'm concerned, anyone that uses the phrase, "one of the best" is an idiot, as "best" is singular. One is either "the best" or "one of the better" but one cannot be "one of the best".
I have a similar disdain for anyone that uses phrases like "the reason why" (the reason is always why, unless you're quoting Tennyson) or "centers around" (no my friends, you can 'revolve around', or 'centre upon', but you cannot 'centre around').
It's not 'Zee' it's 'Zed'. It's 'centre' not 'center' and 'standard American English' is ugly enough to be a modern-art masterpiece.
"Khaki" is pronouced "Kharki" (from the Urdu for 'dusty'), "Culinary" is 'Q-linary' not 'cull-inary', and 'Duke' has a 'Y' in it, as in 'Dew-ke', unless one is speaking of the Blue-devils.
"Ly" is excess baggage on the end of most words. It's not 'firstly', 'secondly', etc. It's 'first', 'second', etc.
I'm a stickler for the difference between lie and lay, and in my experience, not one person in fifty knows how to use 'lain' properly. Oh, and numbers less than 101 are to be written out, as in 'fifty' not '50'.
Oh, and the past tense of hanging a man is 'hanged.' As I keep telling pinkfreud, there's a hell of a differnce between a man who's 'hanged' and a man who's 'hung.'
Yes I'm single. Why do you ask?
Cheers,
James
Last edited by pinkfreud on Mon Sep 24, 2007 12:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
