seeingeyeduck Posted May 13, 2015 Posted May 13, 2015 Alcohol. Sigh. Cheshire_Cat, FoggyAnhinga and Page228 3
knp Posted May 13, 2015 Posted May 13, 2015 (edited) Being really serious about various bits of grammatical prescriptivism: not splitting infinitives, not ending sentences with prepositions, railing against the casual use of "me" as a subject, using "I" where it should be "me" to overcorrect for the previous ("He gave the book to him and I")... At least half of them are the result of misunderstanding Latin and/or grammar. That last one in particular is nails on chalkboard. Some of those rules have their place re: formal writing (not the split infinitives one; 'to boldly go' and all that), but I know people who pedantically insist on applying them to casual speech. True Detective. Frozen yogurt. Ser Jorah. Edited May 13, 2015 by knp
FoggyAnhinga Posted May 13, 2015 Posted May 13, 2015 Kim Kardashian and Kanye West (his songs suck btw - but that's just my opinion). I definitely heard more than I need to know about them at this point (and I'm pretty sure many people are getting sick of them too).
Cheshire_Cat Posted May 13, 2015 Posted May 13, 2015 Math. I know, I'm an accountant who hates math. Trying to brush up on calculus is hard though. I understand the concepts, but it is boring.
eeee1923 Posted May 14, 2015 Posted May 14, 2015 How ridiculous of a punishment was handed down to Tom Brady.
Crucial BBQ Posted May 14, 2015 Posted May 14, 2015 How ridiculous of a punishment was handed down to Tom Brady. This goes along with kip's post above: Brady's defense is that he did not direct anyone to deflate the balls, so therefore he is innocent. He still went ahead and used them, though, knowing that they were somehow magically inflated to the pressure that best suits his own grip. Coming from someone who will be in the Hall of Fame, and who is the QB for one of the best NFL teams of the last decade+, this is unacceptable and unnecessary. As for the punishment; a four-game suspension is not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things and the $1M fine against the team is just pocket change to the overall franchise. As for the losing of two draft picks and suspending two ball handlers without pay (with the caveat they never go near another football again without the approval of the NFL first), well, someone had to pay. I mean, if Brady truly does not know who deflated the balls or for what motivation surely there is at least one person associated with the team who does. No one wants to speak up so what are they going to do? With that, I don't see what the big deal is. It's not like he is throwing spitters or using steroids. If letting a little bit of air out of a ball allows him to get a better grip what is the difference between that and a QB with a bigger hand? I'd be more concerned with the effects on aerodynamics. When a pitcher spits on a ball, or scuffs it up, it affects rotation allowing the ball to drop in or out of the strike zone at the last second, which is something that an MLB pitcher should know how to do anyways without resorting to cheating. Does a deflated ball travel farther? Faster? Will it spin differently affecting it to drop down into the sweet spot effortlessly?
mockturtle Posted May 14, 2015 Posted May 14, 2015 Being really serious about various bits of grammatical prescriptivism: not splitting infinitives, not ending sentences with prepositions, railing against the casual use of "me" as a subject, using "I" where it should be "me" to overcorrect for the previous ("He gave the book to him and I")... At least half of them are the result of misunderstanding Latin and/or grammar. That last one in particular is nails on chalkboard. Some of those rules have their place re: formal writing (not the split infinitives one; 'to boldly go' and all that), but I know people who pedantically insist on applying them to casual speech. Oh my god, this. Also just linguistic elitism in general. Grammar: good Being a tool about other people's casual grammar/dialect: not good, not productive, not intelligent, just don't Cheshire_Cat and knp 2
MangoSmoothie Posted May 14, 2015 Posted May 14, 2015 ^I had a professor who took this to the next level. He would mark you down points for using a semi-colon to connect two independent clauses. There's nothing wrong with doing that; he just hated it. He would mark you down points for using expletive "it," demonstrative pronouns, and not using the oxford comma. This was all because "I am the professor, and I have to read your writing, so you will subscribe to my grammar in this class." I'm fine with correcting students' grammar. They need it, and we need to be taught to pay more attention to our writing, but it was a bit ridiculous to mark us down for grammatically correct writing just because he disagreed with it for whatever arbitrary reasons. knp and shinigamiasuka 2
knp Posted May 15, 2015 Posted May 15, 2015 "Don't split infinitives," while it doesn't come up that much, particularly bugs me because of the reasoning behind it. "Well, you can't split infinitives in Latin!" Yes, and in Latin, infinitives are just one word (mostly). Have you realized that English is a different language?
jujubea Posted May 15, 2015 Posted May 15, 2015 "Don't split infinitives," while it doesn't come up that much, particularly bugs me because of the reasoning behind it. "Well, you can't split infinitives in Latin!" Yes, and in Latin, infinitives are just one word (mostly). Have you realized that English is a different language? It's funny I was just researching this yesterday... I'm a professional editor and I had a disagreement with a client about whether it's OK to split infinitives (my side: it is!). Turns out, splitting infinitives has NOT been considered a no-no by many (most?) major style guides for several generations now (and some never even adopted it at all). It appears to have been a "fad" of sorts a few centuries ago, to make splitting infinitives incorrect... Nonetheless, some insist on weeding them out, so long as you can salvage the original sentence. As for me, I like to boldly ignore them. knp 1
WriteAndKnit Posted May 17, 2015 Posted May 17, 2015 Seconding white people with dreadlocks. Third. The assumption that the predominantly African-American parts of any town or city are, by default, the Bad Part Of Town. The seemingly automatic inclination to default to chain restaurants rather than supporting local businesses (unless, of course, I want my coffee and people are dithering and asking for frappucinos). Assumptions that non-standard English implies lack of intelligence. knp, psycgrad37, ss2player and 3 others 6
avflinsch Posted May 18, 2015 Posted May 18, 2015 The seemingly automatic inclination to default to chain restaurants rather than supporting local businesses (unless, of course, I want my coffee and people are dithering and asking for frappucinos). This is a big one with me also, I usually avoid the chains unless there is nothing else available. The only thing good about them is that they are consistently mediocre.
scarvesandcardigans Posted May 19, 2015 Posted May 19, 2015 This is a big one with me also, I usually avoid the chains unless there is nothing else available. The only thing good about them is that they are consistently mediocre. True. What's worse is to see those mediocre chains driving out better local businesses because of the draw of a familiar name. Where I went to school, there were many small businesses that got hurt by the influx of chain restaurants, which seriously decreases the uniqueness of a small college town.
knp Posted May 20, 2015 Posted May 20, 2015 The Starbucks frappuccino particularly baffles me as an object of devotion. Like, they're fine? Now that they've introduced the 'mini' size, I even get them sometimes. But like, that's not coffee, that's a medium-quality milkshake.
Mattie Roh Posted May 20, 2015 Posted May 20, 2015 How bout it! Once a year I get duped into buying one of those things because I see a delicious looking ad somewhere, but they're not very good. knp 1
Mwing Posted May 21, 2015 Posted May 21, 2015 Lululemon and other branded yoga clothing/accessories: they're outrageously overpriced and misappropriate India's traditional knowledge Commercially available homeopathic remedies: just cut it out, we need solid scientific proof before you start making profits Cinnamon: I don't understand the appeal, at all Friends (the TV series): same as above Spin class: why would anybody spend money on this? ss2player and mockturtle 2
psycgrad37 Posted June 3, 2015 Posted June 3, 2015 The Bachelor/Bachelorette... no, America, no. I'm not a big fan of Starbucks.
Ashlée Posted June 3, 2015 Posted June 3, 2015 Reality TV in general. I just do not understand the appeal. Yoga pants or yoga in general. Tea. A lot of mainstream music. Game of Thrones. Posting passive aggressive and/or vague Facebook statuses, which leads to concerned friends asking "What's wrong?" followed by the equally vague response of "You know," or "Text me." If it's private, why post about it in the first place?
Cheshire_Cat Posted June 3, 2015 Posted June 3, 2015 Caitlyn Jenner. I couldn't care less what people do to their own bodies, but seriously ESPN? Someone publicizing their sex change is more heroic than someone raising money and playing basketball as she's dying of cancer? WTF?
dr. t Posted June 3, 2015 Posted June 3, 2015 People bitching about Caitlyn Jenner. Trans awareness is good. ginagirl, ss2player, psycgrad37 and 3 others 6
Crucial BBQ Posted June 5, 2015 Posted June 5, 2015 Caitlyn Jenner. I couldn't care less what people do to their own bodies, but seriously ESPN? Someone publicizing their sex change is more heroic than someone raising money and playing basketball as she's dying of cancer? WTF? Hill doesn't deserve it either. She certainly had her troubles for sure but her continuing to play basketball was a personal choice that caused no adversary as far as I am aware. Neither one are a Jesse Owens story. People bitching about Caitlyn Jenner. Trans awareness is good. Trans awareness is a good thing that I support 100% and it is awesome that Bruce Jenner used his celebrity to make the case. But.... ...if Bruce Jenner were not associated with the Kardashians the headlines would have read simply "Former Olympian Becomes Woman". To add, it would have been headline news for one night only. This has been a major news headline almost daily for ~3 months now. ...trans gendered have faced persecution for many decades for simply being who they are. Jenner surely would have received some backlash if he came out in the 70s or 80s, and I am sure he battled mental anguish throughout his life, but c'mon, he came out in the safest place possible; hardly deserving of an Espy award. Outside of insults thrown around the Internet, Jenner will not get his face pummeled in after school for being a xxx.... ...The Left complain that the media is controlled by the Right and of course we all hear from the Right that the media is controlled by a Liberal Agenda. Whatever the case, one thing is for sure: the media tells us what we should think about. Yes, trans awareness is good and we can use more of it, but how much of the Jenner story is about trans awareness and how of it is about Jenner herself? It cannot be denied that this story is largely about Jenner; a person associated with, but the least famous of [until now], the Kardashian praise me, please, empire. Jenner's story could have been the perfect platform to raise awareness by highlighting other trans gendered individuals and their struggles. Unfortunately, as evidenced so far, this is all about Jenner and not the larger transgendered community. The teenagers contemplating suicide would be a good start. But let us face it, Jenner's story is making a lot of people a lot of money. psycgrad37, guest56436, Page228 and 2 others 1 4
dr. t Posted June 5, 2015 Posted June 5, 2015 (edited) Trans awareness is a good thing that I support 100% and it is awesome that Bruce Jenner used his celebrity to make the case. But.... If that's the case, can we use the right gender pronouns (and the person's actual name), please? I agree, this is a narrative that is convenient for a lot of people. So what? Edited June 5, 2015 by telkanuru mockturtle 1
Cheshire_Cat Posted June 5, 2015 Posted June 5, 2015 Hill doesn't deserve it either. She certainly had her troubles for sure but her continuing to play basketball was a personal choice that caused no adversary as far as I am aware. Neither one are a Jesse Owens story. True, I think the other "candidate" was the man who was in the military and lost his arm and leg and was on Dancing with the Stars, I think. He probably should have won. Interestingly enough, my trans friend (who is in the army) was pissed that Jenner got it instead of him.
psycgrad37 Posted June 5, 2015 Posted June 5, 2015 I'm unclear as to what your issue with Caitlyn Jenner is Crucial BBQ. It's the fact that she's using her platform to raise awareness? Is it that she didn't do it sooner (I mean how dare she not go through her personal journey at a faster rate?)? that it's been a major news story for a few months? BTW- please use correct pronouns and call her by her name, which is Caitlyn. Also, it's not transgendered. It's not a verb. Use trans or transgender to show respect. dr. t and mockturtle 2
SeanDDavies Posted June 5, 2015 Posted June 5, 2015 Alcohol. I hate the taste of it. I hate how stupid it makes people.I just dont like it. Give me coffee over a beer any day. Cheshire_Cat 1
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