Little editing/grammar mistakes that drive you up the wall

[Arc]

But what's the difference between an en dash and just the normal minus sign / dash?

An en dash has a slightly shorter glyph:

−
–

[gerb]

What bugs me about these editing/grammar mistakes is that they don't notice/care.
Or even the people who know better and do it anyway.

America will be a scary place twenty years in the future when these kids are running the place...

The three that bug me the most:
Using 'of' instead of 'have', 'u' instead of 'you', and text speak instead of real words and sentences.

[goofy]

What bugs me about these editing/grammar mistakes is that they don't notice/care.
Or even the people who know better and do it anyway.

America will be a scary place twenty years in the future when these kids are running the place...

The three that bug me the most:
Using 'of' instead of 'have', 'u' instead of 'you', and text speak instead of real words and sentences.

I think you're right. Abbreviations will cause the downfall of civilization. After all, that's why the Roman empire fell.

also see

[Sir_Elderberry]

What bugs me about these editing/grammar mistakes is that they don't notice/care.
Or even the people who know better and do it anyway.

America will be a scary place twenty years in the future when these kids are running the place...

The three that bug me the most:
Using 'of' instead of 'have', 'u' instead of 'you', and text speak instead of real words and sentences.

Converns have been raised that an explosion in the use of "textisms" like "CUL8R" and "wot u doin 2nite?" could be damaging children's reading and spelling ability. To investigate, Beverly Plester and her colleagues at Coventry University in the UK asked 88 children aged 10 to 12 to write text messages describing 10 different scenarios. When they compared the number of textisms used to a separate study of the children's reading ability, the found that those who used more textisms were better readers. (British Journal of Developmental Psychology)

So lighten up.

[gmalivuk]

Don't forget that other downfall of society caused by heavily abbreviated, pay-by-the-letter telegrams after Morse Code was invented.

[Chuff]

I hate it when people have broken ellipses. An ellipsis is three dots, not two or four.

[Monika]

But what's the difference between an en dash and just the normal minus sign / dash?

An en dash has a slightly shorter glyph:
−
–

Yeah, but what is it supposed to be for?

I think that you confused dash and hyphen there

Uh, now that you mention it, I guess I have. I hate English. At least today, tomorrow I'll probably change my mind again.

[Random832]

But what's the difference between an en dash and just the normal minus sign / dash?

An en dash has a slightly shorter glyph:
−
–

Yeah, but what is it supposed to be for?

The hyphen is supposed to be used exclusively* for a hyphen within hyphenated words (and in printed text for breaking a word at the end of a line) – a dash is supposed to be the actual punctuation mark used for – well, I just used it just now. An em dash can also be used in these situations—but there are some situations (like showing a range of years like 2000–2009) that the en dash is exclusively used for. *The ASCII hyphen is also used as a minus sign; its name is "hyphen-minus", but there's another minus sign, −, that is the same width as the other mathematical operators (and usually the digits and currency signs as well), whereas the hyphen is shorter and can have a thicker stroke width in many fonts.

I don't know what Arc meant by "an en dash has a slightly shorter glyph"; in any font I've ever used the hyphen has a shorter glyph (and the longer one he pasted is the proper minus sign, not the ASCII hyphen-minus, which I assume is what Monika meant by the "normal" one)

[sje46]

I hate it when people have broken ellipses. An ellipsis is three dots, not two or four.

An ellisis only has three dots. When you see four, that's an ellipsis at the end of a sentence.
"Oh, to be young again . . . ."

I don't have anything to cite, and I don't care if this is standard or not. I'm going to do it anyway.

And don't lecture me on my ellipsis-spacing either.

[gmalivuk]

I hate it when people have broken ellipses. An ellipsis is three dots, not two or four.

An ellipsis only has three dots. When you see four, that's an ellipsis at the end of a sentence.
"Oh, to be young again . . . ."

I don't have anything to cite, and I don't care if this is standard or not. I'm going to do it anyway.

And don't lecture me on my ellipsis-spacing either.

If the first dot is a period that ends a sentence, it needs to be right after the word that ends the sentence.

(However, the more general statement, which is that four dots means one's a period and three means part was taken from the middle of a sentence, is also how I learned it originally.)

But what's the difference between an en dash and just the normal minus sign / dash?

An en dash has a slightly shorter glyph:
−
–

Yeah, but what is it supposed to be for?

Wikipedia is your friend.

[AVbd]

Said symbols come in quite handy for those of us who script.

[stuff about usefulness of symbols, etc]

I happen to program/script as well; I actually used to program in Perl (a couple of years ago? I can't remember), which obviously makes liberal use of whatever symbols are on the keyboard. My point isn't that the other symbols are useless, but that they're more obscure and less commonly used than the dash, and today, they're mostly used simply because they're on the keyboard, rather than being on the keyboard because they're used; moreso for the tilde and circumflex, but if we didn't have @ on the keyboard, it would just be replaced by some other symbol in e-mail addresses. Anyway, our keyboards have a fair bit of history behind them, which I'm not complaining about; I just thought it odd that, considering how much the dash is used, it's still too shy to appear of the modern-day keyboard.

Is a dash really *that* much more useful than just using two hyphens in a pinch? That's what we were taught to do in my middle school keyboarding class, anyway.

If only people actually followed the two-hyphen convention. I feel like arguing about typing ‘at’ instead of ‘@’, etc., but that's obviously not applicable, as @ is already on the keyboard, and it has uses other than simply shortening the word ‘at’.

Anway, I'll concede defeat on this matter. Legitimate uses now exist for all the keys on the keyboard, and typing two hyphens unambiguously represents a dash.

What key did you put the hyphen on? I'd put it on ~, if I didn't program in a programming language that regularly requires ~ (as the separator between interface and method).

I actually changed my keyboard configuration so that I have a second-level shift key, and that allows me to put an extra character on every key (e.g. for the <a> key, typing <a> = ‘a’, <shift>+<a> = ‘A’, and <shift-2>+<a> = ‘&’), so I actually have the hyphen, underscore, and em dash on the same key. I originally just edited my config so that I could type some characters that weren't on a standard keyboard layout more easily; I don't generally move the default keys around, otherwise when I use another computer my fingers will get confused.

Sorry about this 2am post, but I'm going away tomorrow, so I'm just hoping I make sense. If I don't, feel free to poke fun at me mercilessly.

[gmalivuk]

I actually changed my keyboard configuration so that I have a second-level shift key, and that allows me to put an extra character on every key (e.g. for the <a> key, typing <a> = ‘a’, <shift>+<a> = ‘A’, and <shift-2>+<a> = ‘&’), so I actually have the hyphen, underscore, and em dash on the same key. I originally just edited my config so that I could type some characters that weren't on a standard keyboard layout more easily; I don't generally move the default keys around, otherwise when I use another computer my fingers will get confused.

In Mexico I got very used to having an additional set of characters when using the right-hand Alt key, called Alt Gr. So for example Shift+2 gave something unhelpful (for typing emails anyway), like ^, while Alt Gr+2 gave @.

Edit--Changing my keyboard layout just now to Spanish (International Sort), I find that shift 2 gives ", in fact.

[Monika]

Edit--Changing my keyboard layout just now to Spanish (International Sort), I find that shift 2 gives ", in fact.

On the German keyboard, Shift + 2 also results in ". Alt Gr + 2 gives ². @ is typed with Alt Gr + q for no reason I can think of. If they had at least put it on the a ...

[Grop]

I understand computer keyboards were made after typewriters; to a writer who had no computer, characters like " (or à in the case of this French keyboard) were more important than { or @.

These characters are very useful today, but apparently standards are set.

(What strikes me as sillier is that the symbol for € is less accessible, on this keyboard, than $ or £ - but € came after standards).

[Bobber]

[Alt Gr] + [E] = €

Holding down shift and hitting 1 through 0 on a Danish keyboard gives me the following: ! " # ¤ % & / ( ) =

Holding down Alt Gr and doing the same, I get the following: (1) @ £ $ € (6) { [ ] }

The 1 and 6 keys do not type anything with Alt Gr, so I just mentioned where they were so that the row of symbols makes more sense.

I just thought that it'd be interesting to mention this.

[goofy]

The cool thing about computers is that we can make our own keyboard layouts. The physical keyboard layout doesn't matter any more.

[Chuff]

Do the xkcd fora change h a t e into omniloathe or something?

Huh. What's so bad about h a t e?

[gmalivuk]

There are all kinds of changes today, mostly for fun. Some of them might remain, also mostly for fun.

[Hobgoblin]

When people use this little guy (`) as an apostrophe.

Example:
Guy 1:Did you hear about Dillon`s party last night?
Me: NO, RETARD. I HEARD ABOUT DILLON'S PARTY. DILLON'S.

[Chuff]

When people use this little guy (`) as an apostrophe.

Example:
Guy 1:Did you hear about Dillon`s party last night?
Me: NO, RETARD. I HEARD ABOUT DILLON'S PARTY. DILLON'S.

My keyboard randomly switches between the standard ' and the other one there. It's really gay.

[sje46]

When people use this little guy (`) as an apostrophe.

Example:
Guy 1:Did you hear about Dillon`s party last night?
Me: NO, RETARD. I HEARD ABOUT DILLON'S PARTY. DILLON'S.

My keyboard randomly switches between the standard ' and the other one there. It's really gay.

Yeah, it's so homosexual. I mean, it reflects how it wants sex with other keyboards of the same gender. Which I'm fine with, of course. Being homosexual is not a bad thing,

[Perpy]

When people use this little guy (`) as an apostrophe.

Example:
Guy 1:Did you hear about Dillon`s party last night?
Me: NO, RETARD. I HEARD ABOUT DILLON'S PARTY. DILLON'S.

My keyboard randomly switches between the standard ' and the other one there. It's really gay.

Yeah, it's so homosexual. I mean, it reflects how it wants sex with other keyboards of the same gender. Which I'm fine with, of course. Being homosexual is not a bad thing,

Or, it's just funny. You know, he could have meant it that way.

[Bobber]

When people use this little guy (`) as an apostrophe.

Example:
Guy 1:Did you hear about Dillon`s party last night?
Me: NO, RETARD. I HEARD ABOUT DILLON'S PARTY. DILLON'S.

My keyboard randomly switches between the standard ' and the other one there. It's really gay.

Yeah, it's so homosexual. I mean, it reflects how it wants sex with other keyboards of the same gender. Which I'm fine with, of course. Being homosexual is not a bad thing,

WHY DID YOU TYPE A COMMA THERE OH GOD HOW I OMNILOATHE OUT-OF-PLACE COMMAS.


This post was brought to you by In Jest^TM.

[sje46]

When people use this little guy (`) as an apostrophe.

Example:
Guy 1:Did you hear about Dillon`s party last night?
Me: NO, RETARD. I HEARD ABOUT DILLON'S PARTY. DILLON'S.

My keyboard randomly switches between the standard ' and the other one there. It's really gay.

Yeah, it's so homosexual. I mean, it reflects how it wants sex with other keyboards of the same gender. Which I'm fine with, of course. Being homosexual is not a bad thing,

Or, it's just funny. You know, he could have meant it that way.

But you forgot the fact that . ..
I love you.

[Monika]

Are they trying to force people to use the preview button more?

[Rilian]

Are they trying to force people to use the preview button more?

What are you talking about ?

[sje46]

Are they trying to force people to use the preview button more?

Ha, maybe. But the result turned out pretty funny.

[Monika]

What are you talking about ?

Maybe if you read this last page again from top to bottom you will notice.

[Rilian]

What are you talking about ?

Maybe if you read this last page again from top to bottom you will notice.

I had already. Why you assume I hadn't? I still don't know what you're talking about.

[Monika]

I had already. Why you assume I hadn't?

Because then you would know what I am talking about .

I still don't know what you're talking about.

About that now not only LOL changes to ¡This boiling hot lava is burning me!, but also hate changes to omniloathe and school changes to late night double picture feature show.

[sje46]

And like, a hundred other word filters.

[Fractal_Tangent]

lol

sorry, had to try that out =D

[Monika]

And like, a hundred other word filters.

Is there's a list or a thread about this somewhere?

Even your nick is filtred, ROTFL.

¡This boiling hot lava is burning me!

sorry, had to try that out =D

See, that's what the Preview button can be used for.

[sje46]

And like, a hundred other word filters.

Is there's a list or a thread about this somewhere?

Even your nick is filtred, ROTFL.

¡This boiling hot lava is burning me!

sorry, had to try that out =D

See, that's what the Preview button can be used for.

Ha! Yeah, it is.
s j e 46 = Christopher Columbus of Awesomification Discovery
l o l = ¡This boiling hot lava is burning me!
black = <colour not needed due to Fat Tony's birth>
w h i t e = <colour not needed due to Fat Tony's birth>
f i l t e r = awesomification
teh letter C and most progamming languages= BASIC
New York City = Babylon
A u s t r a l i a = Oz
Canada = The Frozen North
M o o n = battle station
l o v e = haaate
h a t e = omniloathe
computer = superabacus
l a p t o p = miniabacus
calculator=abacus
science = mysticism
p r o g r a m m e r = card-puncher
r e l a t i o n s h i p = interpersonal arms race
comic = funny page
E d i t : = OOPS:
school = late night double picture feature show
h a p p y = SO MOTHEREFFIN SO MOTHEREFFIN HAPPY
artificial intelligence = Natural Stupidity
h u g = glomp
r a p t o r = SO MOTHEREFFIN HAPPY lizard
f o r a = fȫra
bacon = COCK!
douche = official Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time
cheese = boiling hot lava
m y p e r i o d = Shark Week
M e m e = cocks cocks cocks
G o o g l e = widdershins
sarcasm = douchebaggery
O b a m a = Mr. Awesomepants

feminism = the radical notion that women are people
n i n j a = SUPER EXTRA STEALTHY MASK-WEARING SNEAKING-UP-BEHIND-YOU KILLING-YOU-BEFORE-YOU-EVEN-KNOW-I'M-THERE MOTHER FUCKING NINJA
I lost the game=i lost twenty dollars and my self respect
qft=qft
belial=belial
cookie=cookie
relationship=relationship


And a lot more. A lot.

[Monika]

Oh thanks!

Now a post about a political science exam makes A LOT more sense than it did when I read it.

Also W T F = WTF

[Fractal_Tangent]

i love it. =D
although thats been filtered.
You catch my drift i hope...

i love the one for oba.ma.
obama.
oh im having fun.

and anyone who isnt or is saying wtf is clearly a ninja.

(apologies)

[Arc]

Also:

n i n j a ' d = ninja'd
g r e a t = great

I'm surprised that "epic" has been left alone.

Edit: I found some more, and feel the need to obsessively edit this post with filters not yet listed:

s e r i o u s = serious
h e l l o = hello

[Chuff]

When people use this little guy (`) as an apostrophe.

Example:
Guy 1:Did you hear about Dillon`s party last night?
Me: NO, RETARD. I HEARD ABOUT DILLON'S PARTY. DILLON'S.

My keyboard randomly switches between the standard ' and the other one there. It's really gay.

waffle, it's so homosexual. I mean, it reflects how it wants sex with other keyboards of the same gender. Which I'm fine with, of course. Being homosexual is not a bad thing,

Yes, that's exactly what I meant. My friends keep humping my laptop, because it's so very sexy. That was simply an afterthought.


That's not to imply that I have friends, or anything.

[gmalivuk]

There are awesomification lists elsewhere already. That's not what this thread is for. Go back to your pedantic discussions of language-related mysticism.

[Arc]

Okay.

There is one mistake that people seem to consistently make that drives me crazy, and that is spelling "passé" or "[insert borrowed French past participle/noun/verb that uses an accent here]" without the accent aigu. Every single time I see it, I hesitate, trying to figure out why anyone would want to put an e at the end of "pass". Maybe more people are using laptops than I thought, but for people who aren't it isn't that difficult or time-consuming to press alt and then 130 (or an other character input method of your choice), or even to open a tab, head over to Wiktionary, and copypaste "passé" onto whatever it is that is being typed up.

</minirant>