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Vexing phrases

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  • OwlHoot
    replied
    Originally posted by Gibbon
    Apostrophes are for dumb****s who cant understand context, they were invented only @500 years ago by some verbose Italian.
    That's not strictly true, of some ancient documents anyway. Saxon charters and the Domesday Book for example are full of abbreviations with squiggles over them, because parchment was pretty expensive and scribes lazy and/or in a hurry.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._abbreviations

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  • vetran
    replied
    Originally posted by northernladuk View Post

    Have you evern tried to help your Uncle Jack off a horse?
    that is telling

    Leave a comment:


  • northernladuk
    replied
    Originally posted by d000hg View Post
    Sorry but they still teach English at school, they just don't teach much grammar because the language is tending towards function over form. Sorry to break it to you but what you were taught is no longer 'proper English' anyway. Move with the times grandad.
    Sadly true. Was talking to my other half about this thread to day and they teach the kids to start sentences with a conjunction nowadays. Was a no no back in our day. Was very surprised.

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  • northernladuk
    replied
    Originally posted by Gibbon View Post

    Context fecking hell M didnt expect you to roll out that trite example. Spoken it would make perfect sense, why should the written word be different?
    Have you evern tried to help your Uncle Jack off a horse?

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  • d000hg
    replied
    Originally posted by malvolio View Post

    Because I can read? And, unlike most of the last two generations, I was taught English, rather than picking it up from a variety of illiterate sources.
    So you're boasting that your learning makes you struggle to understand something an illiterate would not find confusing?

    Sorry but they still teach English at school, they just don't teach much grammar because the language is tending towards function over form. Sorry to break it to you but what you were taught is no longer 'proper English' anyway. Move with the times grandad.

    Leave a comment:


  • malvolio
    replied
    Originally posted by Gibbon View Post

    Context fecking hell M didnt expect you to roll out that trite example. Spoken it would make perfect sense, why should the written word be different?
    Because I can read? And, unlike most of the last two generations, I was taught English, rather than picking it up from a variety of illiterate sources.

    Leave a comment:


  • OwlHoot
    replied
    Originally posted by Gibbon View Post

    Apostrophes are for dumb****s who cant understand context, they were invented only @500 years ago by some verbose Italian. If it isnt spoken it isnt needed; the ancient Greeks and Romans had no use of spaces or full-stops (or any other grammatical interlopers really) and they got along fine with their literature. ..
    To be fair though, most Romans found reading text like that quite challenging and would read aloud. Julius Caesar was the first person recorded as being able to read without speaking the text or even moving his lips, and everyone marvelled at that amazing ability!

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  • Gibbon
    replied
    Originally posted by malvolio View Post

    I think you'll find that is not everyone's viewpoint. For example "I forgot my lunch so I ate my workmates".

    HTH. BIDI...
    Context fecking hell M didnt expect you to roll out that trite example. Spoken it would make perfect sense, why should the written word be different?

    Leave a comment:


  • malvolio
    replied
    Originally posted by Gibbon View Post

    Apostrophes are for dumb****s who cant understand context, they were invented only @500 years ago by some verbose Italian. If it isnt spoken it isnt needed; the ancient Greeks and Romans had no use of spaces or full-stops (or any other grammatical interlopers really) and they got along fine with their literature.

    All they do do is give pedants a reason to feel superior when in reality they ought to look at themselves as nemorepentefuitstultissimus
    I think you'll find that is not everyone's viewpoint. For example "I forgot my lunch so I ate my workmates".

    HTH. BIDI...

    Leave a comment:


  • Gibbon
    replied
    Originally posted by HoofHearted View Post

    "Its" when it should be "it's"
    Apostrophes are for dumb****s who cant understand context, they were invented only @500 years ago by some verbose Italian. If it isnt spoken it isnt needed; the ancient Greeks and Romans had no use of spaces or full-stops (or any other grammatical interlopers really) and they got along fine with their literature.

    All they do do is give pedants a reason to feel superior when in reality they ought to look at themselves as nemorepentefuitstultissimus
    Last edited by Gibbon; 7 February 2022, 17:27.

    Leave a comment:

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