Non/none

[Incelebration]

There is no such word as "non" (in English). "Non-" is a prefix.

Do not write, "It was non of her business".

"None" means (and is a contraction of) "not one", or "not any".

Do not write, "She signed a none disclosure agreement".

Therefore: "The match was a non-event because none of the competitors showed up."

Yes - so annoying!

It's the kind of mistake you'd only make with a certain accent (northern?), so it's kind of nice to hear the "voice" of the writer. For me, none and non- aren't homonyms - none sounds like nun.

On a mn comment recently someone wrote about her baby who would "sook" on a dummy.

Maybe I just find it sweet because my dh is northern. His cousins once wrote something like "thank you for lending xyz to use" - they meant "to us", which they pronounce "uz"

The clock struck noon, yet no-one heard the chimes 🙀

Yes this winds me up. They're not even pronounced the same.

Yes, I agree that it comes from "non" and "none" being homophones in some accents. But still...

I know this is snobby and judgemental, but if I read "use" instead of "us" I would think the writer was an illiterate idiot.

Please explain!

They do sound exactly the same in some accents. But then so do "your" and "you're", and we generally expect people beyond lower primary school age to know the difference.

Some people have problems spelling.
Sometimes it's bloody autocorrect.
I dont mind if people get words wrong as I do it myself.

People seem to be using noon as no one, I think.

Ah! Not even "noone"?

? ?
Just similar words, both confused with each other or with your original words, etc.

Sorry, yes I realise now what you were saying! Haven't seen "noon" confused with "no-one" but I'm quite prepared to believe it happens.

Language evolves, I could care less.

You should of expected words and phrases to change. Your not Susie Dent

I see what you did there.

I'm not sure that Susie Dent is primarily a prescriptivist.

My eyes!

I know language evolves, but that doesn't mean that the lowest common denominator should always win out! (See also: ect...)

In that example, they were children writing a thank you card, and it was very sweet.

I'm as pedantic as anyone in the pedants' corner but there's no need to be horrible.

In my experience, pedants who fire insults are the ones who are insecure in their pedantry. See Muphry's Law

I'm so sorry. It was painful to type out

I think its all a bit of a mute point, a damp squid really

I wasn't being horrible or firing insults; I was simply saying how I would react (internally). There was no reason to think when you referred to your DH's cousins (rather than, say, nieces/nephews or grandchildren) that you were describing children, which of course puts an entirely different complexion on it. Yes, I agree that coming from children that is very sweet.

Yes, your proberly right their.

🤣

"I could care less."

We need to treat it with distain.