My name is CurlewKate and I am a recovering pedant….

[CurlewKate]

After 30 years as an active pedant, I am now trying VERY hard always to look at what people obviously mean, and not the way they express it. Not everyone has been taught about apostrophes.

But for the love of GOD- please stop saying “stag doo” “birthday doo”. Any other “doo”! Where did that come from?

If you think about it, oo is a longer sound than o
However, in loose the s is short and sharp, in lose it's more of a z sound.
It's confusing because it's actually not very logical, even though I admit to pedantry on this issue.
Loose trousers don't lose your key.

Thank you! I couldn't figure this out at all

'Gotten'

Just no.

Did it on purpose. Glad you noticed!🤣

People may argue that it's a valid archaic term, returned to these shores by American involvement.

Come to Glasgow. A "doo" is a pigeon here.

Blimey- that was a bit uncalled for!

"change your ways and be more pleasant" 😂
Perhaps you could have that painted on your front room wall in cursive script, surrounded by flowers 😉

As a fellow pedant (clue in the name!), I don't understand why you need to "recover", OP. Surely it is up to us to set the standards that we can only encourage others to reach? (And, yes, Radio 4 - I'm looking at you, when you start going on about "train stations"!).

The “to” in “to the zoo” is pronounced differently in spoken English to the “to” in “I’m hoping to”. Say it out loud. The first is actually just more of a ‘t’ sound. The second has more of an oo sound to it.

God that was complicated to write out. So many tos!

Waaa I sometimes write ect...i know.its wrong but still do(o) it.
Years and yesrs ago I had a boyfriend who would text me at the weekend "are we having a doo tonight?" Meaning going out somewhere, used to really wind me up! He was well ahead of the game it seems

Yes, "ect" is more common than "etc" on MN and I've never known why.

God help you if you think someone's highest calling is to 'pleasantness'. Are you one of those bizarrely sheltered Mners whose social or professional life does not involve being roundly disagreed with, ever, from time to time? If not, I recommend you seeking it out. It would make you less easily knocked off balance if someone points out that a feather in the garden is more likely to be evidence of bird activity rather than a passing angel/the spirit of Great-Aunt Brenda returning to the earthly sphere.

Semi-literacy of the 'Chester Draws' and 'rest bite' variety, I assume.

You have missed the joke. 🙄

Sorry, what? Too and to aren’t pronounced the same?

I’ve never heard them pronounced differently. They’re even pronounced the same as two. Hmm, given that, why don’t people refer to a hen dwo?

Not for me they don’t. I have completely confused myself to the point where to now sounds like a made up word but both uses of to still sound the same.

It’s also perfectly normal in hiberno English.

Gotten. Just yes. It adds depth and meaning when used appropriately. Common in hiberno as well as American English, both of which are valid dialects.

I mean disagreement is great - and I've not been on the paranormal threads. But is it not partly that there are little communities on MN with shared assumptions and the desire to have a conversation based on those without being told they are wrong? And that tacitly it's an in-group space?

In the same way that people - I hope - don't go onto the Christian prayer threads and start telling the Christians they are wrong?

But "do" IS pronounced the same as "to".

In a lot of languages, function words (grammar words) are not emphasised so they come out short, "do" is a bit of a mixed word but it can be a grammar/helper word as in "do you really want that" or a main verb as in "are you going to do it now?".
But in "hen do" it's probably more emphasised and it's a noun, so that might be why people think it's a different word.

It's taken me ages too. Only when I read your post, a little light bulb went off. It's short for 'bachelorette' party 🤣 ie. 'A hen doo'

😂

Actually I would like to have the word "doo" officially sanctioned to refer to a social situation where the words "party", "gathering", etc don't quite cut it.

Like fuck am I reforming my pedantry. I actively enjoy it.