What scares me the most
July 30, 2007Not too long ago, Adam wrote about his pet peeves of the English language. I replied stating that language changes, get over it - but I obviously know that that’s hard to do. In fact, I get annoyed almost every hour when reading English content online. What scares me the most is that English isn’t even my native language, yet I get annoyed by native speakers who refuse to properly speak and/or write their own tongue.
- Atop the list is the improper use, or lack, of punctuation. Punctuation is a vital part of language, and improper use seriously hinders getting the meaning across. Something which you’ve written down, without punctuation (and punctuation includes capitalisation, Aaron!), might seem perfectly understandable to you - but that’s because you know your own rhythm of speech, your own pronunciation, and so on. The rest of the world, outside your basement, does not. so please try not to write like this to get your point across its really annoying and doesnt facilitate reader comprehension
- Kernel. It’s k-e-r-n-e-l. Not kernal.
- The correct English plural form of virus is viruses. Not virii. Virii is even incorrect in Latin.
- MAC is an acronym for ‘mandatory access control’ (or any of the other ten million meanings), not Macintosh. The correct abbreviation for Macintosh is ‘Mac’.
- Make proper use of paragraphs. A paragraph contains one core sentence, one subject. Not ten million subjects and a boatload of varying information.
- When you abbreviate a word, use the period properly. When a word is abbreviated in such a way that it includes the word-final letter, a period is not needed. In other words, it is “Mr” and not “Mr.”
- When writing down a list, use the comma properly. I’m buying apples, oranges, bananas, and kiwis. Note the comma before the list-final item. This comma is mandatory in English (it is not in Dutch), because if you do not include that comma, you indicate that the final two items have some sort of special connection, different than the connection between the other items. It’s of course possible that they do have a special connection; only if that’s the case, you can omit the comma.
World | 
Rule number 6 holds for British English, but not American English. Specifically, titles are followed by a period in American usage. The New York Times is a good case study. Quoting from one article today: Mr. Bergman, Mr. von Sydow, Ms. Kakutani, etc.
(I read that when A Wrinkle In Time was published in the states, the publisher added this “missing” punctuation against the wishes of Madeleine L’Engle.)
Comment by Jason — July 30, 2007 @ 12:33 pm
I like Aaron’s style of writing and after a few seconds I don’t even notice that he writes all lower case.
Other than that, I agree with you.
And thanks for item 7, I didn’t know this and always wondered why you would need a comma before an “and”.
Comment by RandomGuy — July 30, 2007 @ 1:16 pm
to properly speak
Split infinitive.
Of course, I don’t really care that much, I’m just pointing it out for reasons of humor.
Comment by karhu — July 30, 2007 @ 4:10 pm
Kernel. It’s k-e-r-n-e-l. Not kernal.
Unless, of course, we’re talking about the Commodore 64.
Comment by Shanya Almaefta — July 30, 2007 @ 5:57 pm
I was taught to use a comma before, but some people were taught that it was okay to leave it off. In fact, on the Faltercon page someone took my from the quote announcement and removed the comma before the word “or”. I think the period can go on the outside of a quote, or the inside depending if you were taught American English or British English. I’m not sure about Australian or Canadian. Damn you British Empire, your fall has fractured English language.
Comment by mikesum32 — July 30, 2007 @ 6:13 pm
I’m afraid I’m not sure I agree with your point 7. This is known as the Oxford or serial comma. It’s apparently mandatory in American English, but in British English it’s optional (at least according to “Eats, Shoots & Leaves” by Lynne Truss, p. 84). A search for “Oxford comma” will bring up lots of references.
Of course I wouldn’t normally be so pedantic, but I believe it’s a law that anything written about grammar on the interweb must be corrected recursively. I’m just doing my bit.
Comment by David — July 30, 2007 @ 6:34 pm
Kernal is kernal when I talk about popcorn, just to be clear. MAC is also an acronym for “Media Access Control,” which all OSI weenies know.
But in all seriousness, I have a minor in English (I was just 2 classes shy of a double major) and I have to raise some issues with your points. Writing styles are highly debated, and some of your points, while valid, are not as steadfast as you’d suggest.
As an above poster mentioned, the final comma of a list is not always required and some Grammar professors wil insist you leave off the last comma. That one is really a nitpick, anyway, since it doesn’t change the meaning or mislead you.
Your abbreviation point is also contestable in that students are taught to use the period in that case; I think you’ll find most Americans do because it is the accepted norm here in the US.
Overall, I agree that English is generally abused on a daily basis, but the stupid, avoidable, careless, ignorant mistakes definitely weight heavier for me than specific grammar style tips. English is a young and moving language. It makes me sick to see the “AOL speak” that u c these dayz, u no wut Ima sayn? But you have to admit - it’s alive, and it’s evolving.
Comment by Adam — July 30, 2007 @ 6:55 pm
Thom, I have news for you. Languages involve. And they involve EXACTLY because of such “mistakes”. People use the *same* wrong language over and over again exactly because their brains find them to be more logical/faster/easier that way. And that’s ok. Even if for linguistic purists this is like the sky is falling, it is how languages evolve. It is how languages simplify. The English language for example is much more simplified than ANY ancient language. Even modern Greek is greatly simplified compared to its ancient version.
If through the years “wrong” words/syntax/grammar were not allowed to eventually be included in official language guides/dictionaries, you and me would still all be speaking Hindo-European from 4,000 years ago. And that would be nasty to learn to read and write.
So, lighten up. I know that you are taking pro English lessons, so this might have gone a bit into your head. I never had proper training in English, and it shows. And I don’t care.
Comment by Eugenia — July 31, 2007 @ 12:08 am
Eugenia, I KNOW. Look at the comment I left on Adam’s blog entry. I study language, so I really need not be lectured on this.
The thing is, as I clearly said at the beginning of this post, despite all that, I still get annoyed. I *know* why it happens, but that doesn’t mean it cannot annoy me.
Comment by Administrator — July 31, 2007 @ 1:19 am
Here’s what I said in that comment:
“Well, language changes. English is particularly prone to change, because of two factors:
I) There’s no governing body for the English language. Other languages, like Dutch, French, and German, have national language institutes which govern language change, and set official rules. They “maintain” languages and keep them up-to-date. The fact that this doesn’t happen in English, means that change will happen without control.
For instance, over the past 50 years, several ’strong’ Dutch verbs morphed into ‘weak’ verbs; they were standardised. Some of these changes were made official by the Taalunie (’Language Union’, our language institute), so that everyone knew how to spell the newer variations. The older, unused variations were ‘deprecated’. This way, you keep a language up-to-date, and make sure the spoken and written language remains ‘in sync’.
II) English is a lingua franca, meaning it is influenced by just about any other language in existence. This leads to “dutchisms’, ‘germanisms’, and so on. Are these ‘-isms’ wrong? Well, without an official language institute, who gets to decide?”
Comment by Administrator — July 31, 2007 @ 1:24 am
You might find this interesting too:
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/10-rules-for-writing-numbers-and-numerals/
Comment by Adam — July 31, 2007 @ 12:27 pm
Eugenia wrote: “Languages involve. And they involve EXACTLY because of such “mistakes””
OMG, I surely hope you mean EVOLVE in stead of INVOLVE…
(Sorry for the capitals Thom… ;-))
Comment by LoeZ — July 31, 2007 @ 8:29 pm
That’s just a typo LoeZ. Of course and I know what EVOLVE is. When I wrote the above comment, I was also cooking crabcakes and I was coming in and out of the kitchen to the PC. :P
Comment by Eugenia — July 31, 2007 @ 8:34 pm
I know, I just liked the irony… ;-) (things like that happen, especially to me, so it’s nice to see it happens to others too)
Comment by LoeZ — August 1, 2007 @ 5:11 pm
LOL. I have most of the same pet peeves, and yet I violate the rules of English daily. We Humans are a funny old race ;^)
Comment by Trent J. Townsend — August 1, 2007 @ 6:15 pm