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Pedants' corner

Coping mechanisms for the grammatically conscientious person who frequents internet forums

15 replies

SkaterGrrrrl · 19/04/2010 12:16

Genius!

hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/

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redroof · 19/04/2010 21:56

Very clever. I like the Alot a lot.

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purplewednesday · 19/04/2010 22:07

Should that be fora? Remember amo amas, amat, amamus etc?

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BoysAreLikeDogs · 19/04/2010 22:20

I likey

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Habbibu · 19/04/2010 22:23

No, doesn't need to be fora - lots of loan words from other languages into English adopt (or have adopted for them, more properly) native grammatical inflexions.

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Habbibu · 19/04/2010 22:25

Love the drawings!

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SkaterGrrrrl · 22/04/2010 16:25

Love the Alot.

A lot.

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thumbwitch · 22/04/2010 16:34

Ha, have you re-checked your link, Skater? There is a new blog above the Alot one. Very funny indeed.

Since you lot here are good pedants, can I ask you what you would use for the plural of apparatus? I would say apparata, but DH is going for apparatuses (He is Australian so he can be forgiven).

And can someone please tell me why it is that so few people understand the use of infer and imply? I get all irrational when posters say "What are you inferring with that statemeny?" when they mean imply - Argh!

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thumbwitch · 22/04/2010 16:35

statemenT - every bloody time I post on here there is a speller - well, nearly every time anyway. OK, occasionally.

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Pogleswood · 22/04/2010 17:33

I would use apparatus as the plural as well as the singular.I hope I'm not now going to discover I've been wrong all these years!

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hocuspontas · 22/04/2010 17:40

I think apparatus is like fish and can be singular as well as plural. Although I think apparatuses is ok as well!

Love Alot.

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thumbwitch · 22/04/2010 23:11

Interesting - I am guilty of a neoclassical plural! Hadn't heard of that before. More interesting is the number of hits I got for patents or official import papers etc. when I googled "apparata" - apparently I'm not the only one!

I really don't like apparatuses though - very clumsy word (even though technically ok) so will stick with apparatus I think.

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BeenBeta · 22/04/2010 23:34

hocuspontas - you are right. Apparatus is a word like 'sheep' or 'fish'

I used to work in a laboratory and we always used to say apparatus as a collective term for one or more bits of equipment or collections of equipment we were using to do an experiment or experiements.

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WingedVictory · 04/05/2010 22:35

The Hyperbole and a Half blog now has an essay on How to Make Showering Awesome Again. It is bloody funny, especially for me, with a specific voiceover in mind for the roaring, showering creature!

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SmellsLikeTeenSweat · 04/05/2010 22:47

Thumbwithch, that link made me laugh, the link to a somone asking about plural of a 'taboo word ending in -is'. Brilliant.

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SmellsLikeTeenSweat · 04/05/2010 22:49

Here it is:

What exactly is the plural of penis? I would say penises, but it seems too simple and obvious. Is it penis, like deer, or maybe peni, like fungi?

? Sissy, Emerald Isle, NC

If you have more than one, you should be writing to Ripley's and not to the Straight Dope. Heck, Sissy, if you have even one, the first thing you should do is change your name to Buddy.