Don't Loose your Breaks!

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by naterprius, Mar 7, 2005.

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  1. naterprius

    naterprius Senior Member

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    Okay, it's pet peeve time. For those of you who failed third grade:

    loose: not rigidly fastened or securely attached

    lose: to miss from one's possession or from a customary or supposed place

    "Loose" is pronounced with a HARD "S" and is NOT a homonym to "lose" which is pronounced with a "Z" sound. The thing that I can't figure out, is do folks pronounce the word "lose" with an "S" sound instead of a "Z" sound? I heard someone call someone a "looser" on a forum once and wondered if he pronounced it like "loo sir" instead of "loo zer"?

    brake: something used to slow down or stop movement

    break: to separate into parts with suddenness or violence

    Here are some examples:

    "You might lose your hubcap if it comes loose from your wheel."
    "I really like the brakes on my Prius, but not the breaks in my windshield!"

    Those of you who are thoroughly confused need to repeat second grade.

    All of you who have failed to properly use these four words on this forum are hereby fined 1 point per incident. Donate points to naterprius as restitution.

    Nate
     
    #1 naterprius, Mar 7, 2005
  2. V8Cobrakid

    V8Cobrakid Green Handyman

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    lol... in the middle of the night, when i post.. if i post ( i should never post past 10pm for this reason) i find myself making dumb mistakes like these... hey.. i'll take responsibility for writing as if i'm in the 2nd grade still... my bad. if you can find my post.. i'll give you points :)
     
    #2 V8Cobrakid, Mar 7, 2005
  3. chanterelle

    chanterelle Member

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    Sure you learn these distinctions in the 2nd or 3rd grade? I don't think I learned these until 4th or 5th grade!! Then again, I passed....
     
    #3 chanterelle, Mar 7, 2005
  4. naterprius

    naterprius Senior Member

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    Next week:

    Fewer vs. Less

    This one's harder; I hear CNN and commercials screwing this up.

    Here it is:
    The Prius uses less gasoline and produces fewer emissions.

    (If it's plural, it's fewer, otherwise, it's less).

    Try it the other way:
    The Prius uses fewer gasoline and produces less emissions.

    This ought to sound doubly wrong. If "less emissions" sounds fine to you, repeat 6th grade and pay your points penance.

    Here's an easy way to know when to use "fewer": Always try it, and if it souds wrong, replace it with "less."

    ;-)

    Nate

    Man, it's getting late.

    Week 3: How to use a turn signal...
     
    #4 naterprius, Mar 8, 2005
  5. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    lol

    Is there a count thing involved?

    If it's a countable noun, it's "few" otherwise it's "less" or "little"
     
    #5 Tideland Prius, Mar 8, 2005
  6. Frank Hudon

    Frank Hudon Senior Member

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    Here it is:
    The Prius uses less gasoline and produces fewer emmisions.

    Well it's a two part statement broken with "and" and the fewer <pron, plural in constraint> works, sloppy English, but from CNN, about all you can expect. I wonder how Fox Network would say it?
     
    #6 Frank Hudon, Mar 8, 2005
  7. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    It uses less, pollutes less, goes more? lol ok I'm joking
     
    #7 Tideland Prius, Mar 8, 2005
  8. Frank Hudon

    Frank Hudon Senior Member

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    got a laugh from that!
     
    #8 Frank Hudon, Mar 8, 2005
  9. dreichla

    dreichla New Member

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    How about "Bring" and "Take" My mother, the English teacher, still yells at me for my incorrect use. I still don't know the rules.
     
    #9 dreichla, Mar 8, 2005
  10. heliotropehead

    heliotropehead New Member

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    Peeve this!

    Than vs. Then
    & the spelling of definitely!
     
    #10 heliotropehead, Mar 8, 2005
  11. jimofdg

    jimofdg New Member

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    "Than vs. then" I can live with. I try to be tolerant.

    "Than vs. that" is creeping into written language like kudzu! Wow, these are two very different words. I also realize speech patterns drop some final letters and it gets hard to keep track. (My advice: pay attention!)

    It's important to realize each word has its own spelling. The previous sentence contains my two big peeves.

    I'm also seeing a lot of "penultimate" used as "more than ultimate" instead of the correct "just one less than the final..."

    That's "more than" and "less than," not... oh, I can't say it...
     
    #11 jimofdg, Mar 8, 2005
  12. naterprius

    naterprius Senior Member

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    This one is almost accepted into common language for political reasons:

    "Anyone who swims at this beach without a lifeguard does so at their own risk."

    What's wrong? It should be:
    "Anyone who swims at this beach without a lifeguard does so at his own risk."

    That's grammatically correct, but politically incorrect, so it becomes:
    "Anyone who swims at this beach without a lifeguard does so at his or her own risk."

    Which is stylistically incorrect, and still places the his before the her, so is still somewhat politically incorrect, all of which is solved with a slight grammar violation:

    "Anyone who cares this much about my grammar can go ---- themselves."

    :mrgreen:

    Nate
     
    #12 naterprius, Mar 8, 2005
  13. victor

    victor New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dreichla\";p=\"70558)</div>
    My wife always gets this wrong, but English is not her first language (but damm nearly after 15 years together!!!)

    Easy to remember is "Bring to me" and "Chineese Take away"
     
    #13 victor, Mar 8, 2005
  14. KMO

    KMO Senior Member

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    Something that always jars for me every time I see it is the bizarre way that Americans always write "I could care less", when they mean the complete opposite. Surreal.
     
    #14 KMO, Mar 8, 2005
  15. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    :-D

    The first thyme I red that post, eye was confused. Butt than I understanded.
     
    #15 TonyPSchaefer, Mar 8, 2005
  16. ssmithri

    ssmithri New Member

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    Ahh... I hate to bring this up... but...

    Isn't "emmisions" spelled "emissions"?

    How ironic... :D
     
    #16 ssmithri, Mar 8, 2005
  17. naterprius

    naterprius Senior Member

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    Hmmm, it seems to be spelled right to me...

    ;-)

    Nate
     
    #17 naterprius, Mar 8, 2005
  18. Frank Hudon

    Frank Hudon Senior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ssmithri\";p=\"70682)</div>

    ya I looked at that and then remembered that it was a cut and paste then looked at the bottom of the orgional and it was edited after I cut and plastered it into my message.
     
    #18 Frank Hudon, Mar 8, 2005
  19. Frank Hudon

    Frank Hudon Senior Member

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    I guess I should have spell checked the whole message! Nice try Nate.

    I'll grant you this one time reprieve. It was late.
     
    #19 Frank Hudon, Mar 8, 2005
  20. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    ok, definitely is one that I cannot stand. The reason why people don't correct it is because MS Word auto-corrects it for them hence they never see the error.
     
    #20 Tideland Prius, Mar 8, 2005
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