Yeah, that's one of those English oddities--"flammable" and "inflammable" mean the same thing--no wonder English is so hard to learn.Originally Posted by Popoki_Nui
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Well, I'm an English teacher, so when we're talking about pet peeves in the area of language, I've got piles of them. But here are a choice few:
* Using "if" when you mean "whether," as in "She asked me if I preferred the green bike or the red one." HELLO! It's "She asked me WHETHER I preferred the green bike or the red one." "If" is supposed to be used to imply conditions, whereas "whether" simply refers to choices. Jeez!![]()
* I, too, get steamed by that "literal"/"virtual" confusion. Thanks to computer technology, we're all familiar with the concept that "virtual" means "not in reality." Is it really so hard to make the leap to apply that reasoning to other things that are not true in reality? Double jeez!![]()
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On the other hand, I still walk my dog--that's standard, though idiomatic, English.![]()



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