superpeeve Oh my Gawd! - Totally unOfficial Pet Peeve Thread.

[Rolig Loon]

Thanks to 20th Century English advertising, we now have nite and lite (helpful if you don't have time to type "gh" and need a nitelite but otherwise a sign of cute and lazy spelling). By comparison with that sort of abomination, an atavistic apostrophe in Halloween is hardly worth complaining about.

Edited November 3, 2022 by Rolig Loon

[Orwar]

27 minutes ago, Lindal Kidd said:

And "thouest" was never a word.

   I know. I was mocking people trying to sound old-timey by doing silly stuff like regurgitate faux Shakespearian spelling and putting apostrophes where they don't belong. 

[Gabriele Graves]

Have you wiped the monitor to make sure they really are apostrophes?

[Coffee Pancake]

ap'ostro'ph's are sexy.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

Is it time to post this? Yes, I think it is.

You should watch this. Listen to it, more properly. What makes it not merely thoughtful and wise, but also delightful is Fry's own playful use of language, his love of it, and his virtuoso deployment of it.

Language isn't "code." It's a palette of colours, shapes, shadows and light. Sometimes it's enough, or even best, to be merely "correct."

But when language is at its best and most effective, it doesn't just communicate: it soars, and takes us up with it. And when that happens, the misapplied apostrophes and sentence faults fade into meaninglessness.

 

[PheebyKatz]

Peeve O' The Day: People who don't place any value on my kindness and friendliness, and would rather see me angry, hurt, or vindictive. Especially when I've gone to bat in defense of them and their own feelings on multiple occasions. For the record, I make a far better ally than I do an enemy. Ask anyone who's survived it. They'll tell you real quick.

Edited November 4, 2022 by PheebyKatz

[Ags Falconer]

18 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Is it time to post this? Yes, I think it is.

You should watch this. Listen to it, more properly. What makes it not merely thoughtful and wise, but also delightful is Fry's own playful use of language, his love of it, and his virtuoso deployment of it.

Language isn't "code." It's a palette of colours, shapes, shadows and light. Sometimes it's enough, or even best, to be merely "correct."

But when language is at its best and most effective, it doesn't just communicate: it soars, and takes us up with it. And when that happens, the misapplied apostrophes and sentence faults fade into meaninglessness.

 

Ain't that ^^^ groovy!! 

[Rolig Loon]

19 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Language isn't "code." It's a palette of colours, shapes, shadows and light. Sometimes it's enough, or even best, to be merely "correct."

Oh, now that is lovely. Thank you for posting this little essay.  Stephen Fry nails it. 

Language is more than communication. It's a joyful medium of connotation and creative expression. The "rules" of language are not boxes to seal your ideas in; they are guidelines for shaping them. It does pay to know the rules, if only so you can bend them carefully to give your thoughts a fresh feel that encourages other people to listen and focus on what you have to say. They are a starting point, not an end unto themselves. I can think of a half dozen people I will be sending this clip to this evening. 

[PheebyKatz]

Additional Peeve: When a troll drops all attempts at artistry and subtlety, and just starts making duplicates of already existing threads and acting like a mentally challenged bot.

Trolling used to be an art form, and wasn't even negative in nature. New people would join a community, and someone would trick them into something silly, all would laugh, and then the new person would be considered part of the community, because everyone'd had the same jokes played on them when they were new.

It was like joining a club, becoming part of it all. Being one of the "cool kids".

Now it's just people wiping their butt on others because they don't care about anyone else's feelings. I grew out of that bulldooky before the 2010's, and I really thought that everyone else had, also.

Not even /b/ quality, and that's REALLY sad. Probably thinks he's making fun of autistic people. I'm autistic, and really dislike that sort of thing.

Edited November 4, 2022 by PheebyKatz

[Love Zhaoying]

8 hours ago, Orwar said:

   That's not a question. In 21st century English it's Halloween. You shouldn't put an apostrophe in it with any more regularity than you use 'doth' 'thine' or 'thouest'. 

But but but, them folks still use "whilst" a lot! 

[Love Zhaoying]

4 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Is it time to post this? Yes, I think it is.

You should watch this. Listen to it, more properly. What makes it not merely thoughtful and wise, but also delightful is Fry's own playful use of language, his love of it, and his virtuoso deployment of it.

Language isn't "code." It's a palette of colours, shapes, shadows and light. Sometimes it's enough, or even best, to be merely "correct."

But when language is at its best and most effective, it doesn't just communicate: it soars, and takes us up with it. And when that happens, the misapplied apostrophes and sentence faults fade into meaninglessness.

 

I hope people who truly agree with this don't go around correcting others.

[Love Zhaoying]

7 hours ago, Rolig Loon said:

By comparison with that sort of abomination, an atavistic apostrophe in Halloween is hardly worth complaining about.

Peeve: People often complain about things not worth complaining about!

[Gabriele Graves]

1 hour ago, Love Zhaoying said:

But but but, them folks still use "whilst" a lot! 

Hey, I resemble that remark!

[SarahKB7 Koskinen]

Peeve: People who wear or associate "V for Vendetta" movie masks with traditional 5th November Bonfire Night celebrations.

These "V for Vendetta" masks have nothing to do with historic traditions of celebrating the failed "Gunpowder Plot" of 5th November 1605.

The masks are a much more recent invention, originating from a 2006 film called "V for Vendetta" and are not part of commemorative Bonfire Night traditions in England. They were created as movie merchandise, not as Bonfire Night wear. 

"V for Vendetta" is a British 1980s graphic novel/comic that was made into a 2006 film, which features a damaged and vengeful man named "V", who wears a Guy Fawkes mask (of his own creation) to hide his disfigured face while he attempts to re-enact his own version of the 1605 "Gunpowder Plot" in an alternative dystopian present-day England. 

Edited November 4, 2022 by SarahKB7 Koskinen

[kali Wylder]

So many peeves!  I was afk for about a week and I just finished reading all the pages since last time I was here.  I see the language correctness peeve has seen a lot of action. I'm fairly neutral about proper language, as long as communication happens, I don't care if people break the rules but I to make an effort to follow them myself.  And dirty monitors adding apostrophes where they shouldn't was amusing.  I sure wish that whoever is persecuting PheebyKatz would cut it out, it's really uncool.

My own peeve of the day(and the many days I was forced to deal with them) is with the gummit, particularly the US mail and the IRS.  They've managed to make my life a living hell and now I get to wait anxiously for 8 weeks to see if it all gets sorted out or if I need to jump through more hoops.

[Modulated]

1 hour ago, kali Wylder said:

So many peeves!  I was afk for about a week and I just finished reading all the pages since last time I was here.  I see the language correctness peeve has seen a lot of action. I'm fairly neutral about proper language, as long as communication happens, I don't care if people break the rules but I to make an effort to follow them myself.  And dirty monitors adding apostrophes where they shouldn't was amusing.  I sure wish that whoever is persecuting PheebyKatz would cut it out, it's really uncool.

My own peeve of the day(and the many days I was forced to deal with them) is with the gummit, particularly the US mail and the IRS.  They've managed to make my life a living hell and now I get to wait anxiously for 8 weeks to see if it all gets sorted out or if I need to jump through more hoops.

Whenver the IRS is involved, expect hoooops on top of hoooops. Its their shtick.  You have my sympathy.

[Rowan Amore]

Peeve...when I can't decide whether to laugh, roll my eyes or give my usually WTF reaction to some people.

[Love Zhaoying]

Peeve: Region Restarts today. Guess I did not expect them on Friday.

(Had to changes regions twice while scripting.)

[Rowan Amore]

7 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Peeve: Region Restarts today. Guess I did not expect them on Friday.

(Had to changes regions twice while scripting.)

They are having voice and parcel.settings issues today so maybe the restarts are to help with those?

[LittleMe Jewell]

Merchants that continue to call 10L items "gifts".  If I am paying money for it, regardless of how much, it is not a gift.

[Love Zhaoying]

10 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

Merchants that continue to call 10L items "gifts".  If I am paying money for it, regardless of how much, it is not a gift.

It's a gift to them, of your 10L!

[Rolig Loon]

As an interesting but irrelevant aside,  the word "Gift" in German means "poison". 🤔

[Sasy Scarborough]

14 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

It's a gift to them, of your 10L!

I understand when it is 1L because then you can gift the gift to alts or friends etc, but 10L is definitely not a gift.

[Orwar]

2 hours ago, Rolig Loon said:

As an interesting but irrelevant aside,  the word "Gift" in German means "poison". 🤔

   Same in Swedish. Where it also means 'married'. 

[Lindal Kidd]

On 11/3/2022 at 9:54 PM, Scylla Rhiadra said:

when language is at its best and most effective, it doesn't just communicate: it soars, and takes us up with it. And when that happens, the misapplied apostrophes and sentence faults fade into meaninglessness.

While I am often the pedant that Mr. Fry decries, I very much enjoyed that little excursion, and agree with the above sentiment. And any observant reader of my own posts will see that I am not wedded to "all correct, all the time."

For another wild trip into creative languaging, see John Brunner's prophetic novel, "Stand on Zanzibar". I'm re-reading it now.