Let us Rejoice! ? , * " _ ' [] : : ... () !!!!!!!

[Geonz]

Welp, it was a *very* close vote that kept "alot" from making into the dictionary. Let's face it, we don't mean "a single clump" when we say a lot; we mean bunches of... a big amount... it is a concept that deserves its own word. I am less perturbed by use of a word which has no correct and accurate substitute than one which is being misused or is less accurate. Thus, I cringe slightly more when I see "one less car" than when I see "a car costs alot of money," though even then I empathize with those who question the need to differentiate between smaller quantities of countable items and generally smaller amounts. Using "peddling" for "pedaling" makes me sigh.

[Sadie]

At my school, could we just stop spelling they, thay?

[OakLeaf]

I am less perturbed by use of a word that has no correct and accurate substitute....

Fixed it for ya.

I warned you.



ETA: That rule, which I learned for the first time in law school, probably bothers me more than all the other grammatical rules that we're all taught in elementary school - because it so clearly reflects a deficiency in teaching rather than learning.

[papaver]

A bit off topic but still related:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091007/...annoying_words

They can add the word 'awesome' to the list too.

[OakLeaf]

http://www.flablog.net/2009/10/in-wo...unctuation.htm

[SadieKate]

Wonder what the payscale is?

[maillotpois]

You can't expect gators to be paid much above minimum wage.

[snapdragen]

You can't expect gators to be paid much above minimum wage.

I dunno....they may have a pretty powerful union...

[ginny]

Affect vs effect: this is something that I correct in manuscripts all the time. Scientists seem to have our very own and special usage of the English language. I always thought it was completely unacceptable to use "we" in a formal paper, but "we" do it all the time in scientific journals.

[Ja Da Dee]

I can't believe no one posted a link to Bob's Quick Guide to the Apostrophy.

[Mr. Bloom]

A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to fire it at the other patrons.

'Why?' asks the confused, surviving waiter amidst the carnage, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

'Well, I'm a panda', he says, at the door. 'Look it up.'

The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation. 'Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.'

Credit to: Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss

[OakLeaf]

Trending topic on Twitter today is "youknowyouruglyif"

Someone came up with the perfect tweet:

RT @hotdogsladies :

You know your ugly if you're contractions are f***ing killing me. They're. I said it.