Pedantry

Minty Dilemma

October 5, 2007 in Pedantry | 2 Comments

Let’s assume I have a roll of breath mints — the ones with Retsin. I offer you one.

Do I say “Would you like a Cert?” or “Would you like a Certs?”

Discuss.

Posted by Jim on October 5, 2007
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Or Some Shit

October 4, 2007 in Pedantry | 1 Comments

Overheard on campus:

Dude 1: Have you heard of Cen-Par?

Dude 2:What?

Dude 1: Center for Nuclear Particle Research, or some shit.

Is it just me, or is the phrase “or some shit” misplaced when referring to a national nuclear research lab?

I can understand: “She was talkin’ to me all about Britney Spears, or some shit.”

Discuss.

Posted by Jim on October 4, 2007
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Evacuation

July 10, 2006 in Funny Stuff, Pedantry, Seattle Life | 1 Comments

From today’s Seattle Times: “20 people evacuated after propane leak”

Ouch, that’s gotta hurt.

For the record, “to evacuate” means “to empty or remove the contents of; or to create a vacuum in.”

You can evacuate people from an area (and the article’s lead paragraph gets that right). If you simply evacuate people … well, that you’ve got a real mess on your hands.

Posted by majorsteel on July 10, 2006
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Worst Opening Sentence Ever

June 24, 2006 in Pedantry, Seattle Life | 0 Comments

I tend to pick on The Seattle Times, but I find it justifiable given that the paper truly is terrible.

Today’s review of the T-Mobile Sidekick 3 mobile device started with this sentence:

Unlike movies, where a sequel can be a huge flop, the latest version of the Sidekick could be a blockbuster.
What the hell does that mean? The sentence starts out with the general (movies) and ends with the specific (the Sidekick). But even if the scale of the comparison were evened up, it still wouldn’t make sense.
Unlike movies, where a sequel can be a huge flop, mobile devices can be blockbusters.
Nope. Both movie sequels and new versions of technological devices can be flops.
Unlike Basic Instinct 2, which was a huge movie sequel flop, the Sidekick can be a huge blockbuster.
That doesn’t cut it either.

The comparison is simply ill-conceived and useless, but the real problem is verb tense. The article is a review of an existing device that has been tested and evaluated, yet the first phrase is about movies and it refers to their potential using a modal auxiliary verb (“can”). The second phrase is about the Sidekick and is in the conditional (it “could be a blockbuster”). Is the review telling me what the product is like (i.e. what a review is supposed to do) or whether or not it thinks it might sell successfully?

It’s amazing what a mess can be made with just twenty words.

Posted by majorsteel on June 24, 2006
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Major Pedantry: Surreal Edition

May 29, 2006 in Movies & TV, Pedantry | 0 Comments

Type surreal into the search field of any major newspaper’s web site and you’ll likely come across results similar to these from The Seattle Times:

Dr. Samuel Weinstein said he had his blood drawn, ate a Pop-Tart, returned to the operating table and watched as his blood helped the boy survive the complex surgery. “It was a little bit surreal,” Weinstein said. -Sunday, May 28, 2006

“It’s kind of surreal,” said the film’s director Tristan Lunde, 15, of Seattle. “I didn’t really expect to win, but I’m really happy about it.” -Friday, May 26, 2006

While that day did much to expose the surreal vision of modern Everest…. -Friday, May 26, 2006

Durran Alexander calls the last year in his brother’s life “surreal.” -Sunday, May 14, 2006

The word surreal has been so over-used (and, I would argue, mis-used) that it now heads the Lake Superior State University’s 2006 List of Banished Words.

Continue reading "Major Pedantry: Surreal Edition" »

Posted by majorsteel on May 29, 2006
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