Pedants' Paradise

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

... one hand clapping is zen koan [innit?] pedant thread &c

[Flosshilde]

I'm not sure if this has anything to do with pedantry, but I had assumed that the word 'trending' (to describe a topic that is developing on Twitter - I think) was a neologism. However, I've just read H. Rider Haggard's King Solomons' Mines - published about 1895 - & came across a close variant used to descrbe the direction of a road - I think (I no longer have the book to refer to) the context was something like 'The road trended to the left'.

[mangerton]

'The road trended to the left'.

It could perhaps be a typo for "wended", or even "bended".

[Panjandrum]

The confusing of "discrete" and "discreet". Even one of our notorious pedants failed to make the correct distinction on a recent thread.

[Pabmusic]

The confusing of "discrete" and "discreet". Even one of our notorious pedants failed to make the correct distinction on a recent thread.

Agreed. 'Forego' and 'forgo' is another trap.

[Lateralthinking1]

Agreed. 'Forego' and 'forgo' is another trap.

I wrote that word yesterday. Isn't it either?

The Free Dictionary

for·go also fore·go (fôr-g, fr-)
tr.v. for·went also fore·went (-wnt), for·gone also fore·gone (-gôn, -gn), for·go·ing also fore·go·ing, for·goes also fore·goes
To abstain from; relinquish: unwilling to forgo dessert.

I am looking for advice on 'equable' and 'equitable'. What is the difference please?

[mangerton]

I am looking for advice on 'equable' and 'equitable'. What is the difference please?

Yes, these two words are frequently confused - dare I say, even recently on another thread here.

Equitable means fair, equal, reasonable. Demonstrating equity. An equitable sytem of taxation.

Equable can be used to describe a person - placid, calm, even-tempered.

[Lateralthinking1]

Yes, these two words are frequently confused - dare I say, even recently on another thread here.

Equitable means fair, equal, reasonable. Demonstrating equity. An equitable sytem of taxation.

Equable can be used to describe a person - placid, calm, even-tempered.

Thanks mangerton. For a moment, 'equitable' looked very American and I had genuine doubts but I will continue to use it. For every possible reason I can think of, I doubt that I will now have much need to use 'equable'. This doesn't feel like the right era for it.

[amateur51]

The confusing of "discrete" and "discreet". Even one of our notorious pedants failed to make the correct distinction on a recent thread.

Now that is discreet

[Pabmusic]

I wrote that word yesterday. Isn't it either?

I'd love to say "no, it's not", but we don't like being proscriptive with spellings any more, do we? 'Forego' means to precede, to go before; 'forgo' means to do without. They do not have a common derivation. The trouble is that we don't often use the verb 'forego' as such any more, except in set expressions, such as 'a foregone conclusion', or 'the foregoing paragraph', so people have largely forgotten it's meaning. Many dictionaries (but not all, by any means) seem to include it now as an alternative to 'forgo'. Maybe we've lost the battle to preserve a distinction - it's a little sad, though, this preservation of misunderstandings.

[gurnemanz]

I'd love to say "no, it's not", but we don't like being proscriptive with spellings any more, do we? 'Forego' means to precede, to go before; 'forgo' means to do without. They do not have a common derivation. The trouble is that we don't often use the verb 'forego' as such any more, except in set expressions, such as 'a foregone conclusion', or 'the foregoing paragraph', so people have largely forgotten it's meaning. Many dictionaries (but not all, by any means) seem to include it now as an alternative to 'forgo'. Maybe we've lost the battle to preserve a distinction - it's a little sad, though, this preservation of misunderstandings.

SOED has a nice sample usage for "forego":

J. Payne: His head forewent his feet and he fell to the ground.

[Pabmusic]

SOED has a nice sample usage for "forego":

J. Payne: His head forewent his feet and he fell to the ground.

[Nick Armstrong]

It doesn't really take a pedant to object to this, but the total misuse of the word 'literally' seems to be more and more prevalent, especially in the media.

I just heard a classic. I was just watching the start of a motor race (British Touring Cars) and as the camera focused on a particular car on the grid, the commentator said "Tom will be looking to literally make hay in these warm conditions"...







(Reminds one of that famous footage from the British GP at Silverstone in 1973 I think, when Jackie Stewart had an "off" and like a combine harvester cut a great swathe through the long grass in the infield, emerging with tufts sticking out everywhere)

[Pabmusic]

[COLOR="#0000FF"]It doesn't really take a pedant to object to this, but the total misuse of the word 'literally' seems to be more and more prevalent, especially in the media.

"The legendary fiddler literally flew through the last movement of Mendelssohn's iconic concerto". Apocryphal, but...

[Nick Armstrong]

"The legendary fiddler literally flew through the last movement of Mendelssohn's iconic concerto". Apocryphal, but...

Exactly!