Pedants' Paradise

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  • ahinton
    Full Member
    • Nov 2010
    • 16122

    Originally posted by mangerton View Post
    I have just heard the sports correspondent on the R4 news say that for the first time the women's boat race is to receive "the same parity" as the men's.
    What said commentator means is is that - er - oh, never mind!...

    Comment

    • Eine Alpensinfonie
      Host
      • Nov 2010
      • 20570

      Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View Post
      Many will be aware of my pedantry in insisting that Europe as a continent does not exist, being merely the western edge of Asia (sometimes called Eurasia). It is one of many misconceptions brought about by the limited knowledge of the world in the "cradle of civilisation" when the first reasonably accurate maps of the world were being drawn.

      Another assumption that has gained acceptance, but has no scientific justification, is that the North Pole is at the top of the world, and the South Pole is at the bottom. But who says it is? It could just as easily be the other way round.

      I'm not alone:
      Help support videos like this: https://www.patreon.com/cgpgrey

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      • ahinton
        Full Member
        • Nov 2010
        • 16122

        Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View Post
        Instructive and amusing though this is, it might just encourage a simpleton like me to prefer to try to define continents as the second piano concerto by Ronald Stevenson...

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        • french frank
          Administrator/Moderator
          • Feb 2007
          • 30235

          Originally posted by Sydney Grew View Post
          We may then, confident of its illegitimacy, surrender the combination "octothorp(e)" to the outer darkness.
          So you use 'hash sign' in all contexts, will you? Oh, but wait: the earliest example in the OED seems to be from the Chicago Civil Service.

          However, I'm sure Mr Grew would recommend sticking to the first edition of Fowler. In fact, there are many entries in 'Butterfield' which refer to N. American usage: I find them interesting to know and compare with British English (if that is not considered tautologous).
          It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.

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          • jean
            Late member
            • Nov 2010
            • 7100

            Originally posted by french frank View Post
            (Btw, 'hapax legomenon' is a term of literary/textual criticism, not classics; and he pronounced it wrongly: he said 'hapax legonmenon')
            I noticed that, and I didn't go to a public school.

            (I'd probably have said 'wrong', though. I see the -ly as hypercorrection.)

            Comment

            • french frank
              Administrator/Moderator
              • Feb 2007
              • 30235

              Originally posted by jean View Post
              (I'd probably have said 'wrong', though. I see the -ly as hypercorrection.)
              Really? I know 'wrong' can be an adverb, though I would normally use 'wrongly'. Perfectly standard: OED says 'inaccurately; incorrectly'.
              It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.

              Comment

              • Eine Alpensinfonie
                Host
                • Nov 2010
                • 20570

                Originally posted by jean View Post

                (I'd probably have said 'wrong', though. I see the -ly as hypercorrection.)
                I thought a hypercorrection was trying to correct something that is correct already, with the result that it isn't correct. Do you think it's OK when those Driffield horse riders wear a notice: "Please pass slow"?

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                • jean
                  Late member
                  • Nov 2010
                  • 7100

                  Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View Post
                  I thought a hypercorrection was trying to correct something that is correct already, with the result that it isn't correct.
                  Or no more correct than it was before.

                  Comment

                  • Eine Alpensinfonie
                    Host
                    • Nov 2010
                    • 20570

                    Originally posted by jean View Post
                    Or no more correct than it was before.
                    I think turning an adjective into an adverb is more correct.

                    Comment

                    • jean
                      Late member
                      • Nov 2010
                      • 7100

                      Wrong is an adverb as well as an adjective. Oddly, people don't seem to have the same problem with right, which is also both adjective and adverb.

                      Comment

                      • Pabmusic
                        Full Member
                        • May 2011
                        • 5537

                        Originally posted by jean View Post
                        Wrong is an adverb as well as an adjective. Oddly, people don't seem to have the same problem with right, which is also both adjective and adverb.
                        http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-wro2.htm

                        Comment

                        • jean
                          Late member
                          • Nov 2010
                          • 7100

                          Michael Quinion does it again!

                          Comment

                          • french frank
                            Administrator/Moderator
                            • Feb 2007
                            • 30235

                            Originally posted by jean View Post
                            Wrong is an adverb as well as an adjective. Oddly, people don't seem to have the same problem with right, which is also both adjective and adverb.
                            As I said in my #101. It doesn't follow that 'wrongly' is a 'hypercorrection'. We say 'rightly or wrongly', and 'wrongly', for me is a common adverb, not a hypercorrection of 'wrong'. As the OED attests.

                            It may be a Liverpudlian expression to say 'You pronounced that wrong', but to me that is ambiguous: it doesn't necessarily imply wrong pronunciation, since 'pronounce' has more than one meaning ('To make a formal, considered, or authoritative statement or assertion; to declare a ruling, judgement, or opinion (on or upon a matter); to pass judgement), so it could mean 'you declared that to be a wrong/bad thing'; whereas 'wrong pronunciation' = to pronounce wrongly. In my opinion.

                            [PS Quinion uses the example 'to spell wrong', not 'to pronounce wrong', which doesn't carry the same ambiguity. I would still use wrongly, and I don't think that is unidiomatic. Or even formal. At least not in Bristol ]
                            It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.

                            Comment

                            • jean
                              Late member
                              • Nov 2010
                              • 7100

                              Originally posted by french frank View Post
                              It may be a Liverpudlian expression...
                              Oh what a put-down!

                              Comment

                              • french frank
                                Administrator/Moderator
                                • Feb 2007
                                • 30235

                                Originally posted by jean View Post
                                Oh what a put-down!
                                No more so, surely, than admitting mine might be a Bristolian expression?
                                It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.

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