Words......

Sometimes there are words that nothing else will replace. One word can convey an entire page of text; like math symbols that represent a whole series of operations.

Actually, I always thought I wrote pretty simply. Weird, huh?
 
Laura:
Actually, I always thought I wrote pretty simply. Weird, huh?

Actually, you do Laura. Your writing is as simple as is possible and still remain clear, direct and to the point. You use "big" words when necessary to be precise--as you said, one accurate word can replace a page full, but you do not use superfluous sentence structures and other pretentious linguistic gymnastics to try to show off how smart you are (but I'm doing it to make a point :whistle:), as do so many writers much less learned than yourself. You have a keen sense of audience, write to be understood by a variety of readers, and have a conversational tone that engenders trust without falling into the inaccuracies of less formal writing.

All in all, you have a relatively unique style of writing that you have continued to perfect over the years. While you may see your writing as simple, I see it as fine-tuned to meet your audience’s needs and your authorial goals—no easy task.

As for my pet peeves with word use, as a teacher I see so many . . . the misuse of their, there, and they’re makes me cringe, and substituting “that” for “who” is a nit-picking annoyance to me. It is people, women, men, boys, females, etc. who . . . ; and things—cars, houses, computers, etc. that . . . .

shellycheval
 
Laura said:
Actually, I always thought I wrote pretty simply. Weird, huh?

Well, thank goodness for that, otherwise getting through The Adventures and The Wave would have been a very 'choppy' experience. :D
 
Peam said:
Another mistake which I think mostly Americans seem to make is the swapping of the words 'then' and 'than' sometimes when writing.
I can understand a phrase like “He liked it more then that”, because it fits with the usual American accent, a sort of drawl, ( I'll rephrase that to yankees after reading Laura's post above) but the same people who make that mistake also seem to usually do the opposite and put 'than' where 'then' should be.

For instance: “He said goodbye than walked out of the room.”
I can't figure that out. Didn't they ever get pulled up for it at school? Any ideas?

yep, that happens a lot too, Peam. i think it might just be out of laziness, the then/than thing. but, yeah, the "he liked it more then that" jibes well with the accent. americans also leave the "-ly" of adverbs too...as in "real cool" rather than "really cool". that's also laziness. take home point: americans are lazy with their language ;)

one thing i like about the english accent is when they use "whilst" and "ought". those are two words that are rarely used by americans, but sound nice.

i definitely like it better then* "septic"...my brit boss called me that when i was over in england. i just ignored the word, wondering if he was telling me i stank or something. than* i found out that "septic" meant "septic tank", meaning "septic tank", meaning "yank" as in "yankee", as in american. of course, being from the south, i'd never been called a "yankee" before, so i was little confused.

*joke :D
 
Then there are:

bare and bear - I've seen that a lot on the forum. You "bare" your soul or your feet or your body. You "bear" a burden, or troubles or you can't "bear" it; or a bear catches fish in a stream and hibernates for the winter.

Then, there are: illusive and elusive. Geeze, I've got a technical book written by an eminent scholar where he misses this one. I'm sure it must have been the copyeditor. But you have to check carefully on this one because sometime illusive DOES fit.

There, there are: elicit and illicit.

I could go on, those are just the ones that come immediately to mind.

Oh, Lord Jim, I really don't think that the English actually speak English anymore. I mean, Chalmondeley! Come on!
 
lord jim said:
Peam said:
I can understand a phrase like “He liked it more then that”, because it fits with the usual American accent, a sort of drawl,

yep, that happens a lot too, Peam. i think it might just be out of laziness, the then/than thing. but, yeah, the "he liked it more then that" jibes well with the accent.

I have come to suspect that some people do not read directly into their minds. It seems that the words go through their minds' hearing centers first.

When I read, the words go straight into my mind. Very often, when a word is wrong it will make me stop IMMEDIATELY, and I will have to figure out what the word should be. It is like running and then someone unexpected kicks me from the side. Sometimes the word makes no sense at all until I "sound it out", either mentally or even out loud. Then I may discover that the writer used a word that may have sounded right, but is still wrong.

When this happens, it annoys me very much, but some people don't even seem to notice. And I believe those people do not read directly into their minds, but they mentally "sound out" everything and if it "sounds right", then it does not bother them.

This example may be difficult to read without sounding it out... "The words you Jews can effect how pee pull judge you're righting. For intensive purposes, you should be a cannibal for using the rite words so your reeders don't lose tract of your message. You don't half to aim for the Pullet Surprise or altar your style, just try to be fare to udder people."
 
lord jim said:
i definitely like it better then* "septic"...my brit boss called me that when i was over in england. i just ignored the word, wondering if he was telling me i stank or something. than* i found out that "septic" meant "septic tank", meaning "septic tank", meaning "yank" as in "yankee", as in american. of course, being from the south, i'd never been called a "yankee" before, so i was little confused.

*joke :D

That's cockney rhyming slang. L J. :D
I think a lot of people in the uk wouldn't make any distinction between an American and a Yank. Well I didn't, I thought they meant the same until I looked it up a while ago. :-[
Well it could have been worse. According to this site your boss could have said wooden plank! :)

http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/english/Y
 
My pet peeve relates to the incorrect use of "less" and "fewer". So many people get this wrong.

"The words “less” and “fewer” have similar meanings. However, they cannot be used interchangeably. Use “fewer” when referring to an amount that could be expressed as a specific number. Use “less” when making comparisons that do not lend themselves to numeric amounts.

Here’s an easy rule of thumb:

Use “fewer” to modify a plural noun.

Example: I have fewer papers to write than last year.

Use “less” to modify a singular noun.

Example: You’ll need less paper if you type your report. (quote from www.rhlschool.com)"
 
tom32071 said:
Actually I shouldn't pick on my sister for her use of high dollar words. She really is a word person, she enjoys words and she probably uses some words just because they need to be taken out and used from time to time. As far as slowing down my reading that is probably a good thing as sometimes I go fairly quickly and could miss the whole point sometimes.

It seems to me that you are getting twice the education for the price of one. :) New ideas, new words. Learning is fun! ;D

One of my pet peeves is that nowadays, people just don't use apostrophes anymore. I was told it was because of how many people are now texting. But I am always seeing words such as cant, dont, didnt, ive, im, etc. For some reason, that just sticks in my craw.
 
Nienna Eluch said:
One of my pet peeves is that nowadays, people just don't use apostrophes anymore. I was told it was because of how many people are now texting. But I am always seeing words such as cant, dont, didnt, ive, im, etc. For some reason, that just sticks in my craw.

Even worse are people who don't use apostrophes in their speech...as in "I'm going to my sister house." :lol:
 
Odyssey said:
Nienna Eluch said:
One of my pet peeves is that nowadays, people just don't use apostrophes anymore. I was told it was because of how many people are now texting. But I am always seeing words such as cant, dont, didnt, ive, im, etc. For some reason, that just sticks in my craw.

Even worse are people who don't use apostrophes in their speech...as in "I'm going to my sister house." :lol:

The apostrophe is even more forgotten when it's about plural possessive nouns

Our TVs' remote controls are both black.
 
Nienna Eluch Reply #24 on: Yesterday at 03:16:28 PM said:
It seems to me that you are getting twice the education for the price of one. Smiley New ideas, new words. Learning is fun! Cheesy

So true. It's interesting to say the least.


Laura Reply #15 on: Yesterday at 11:01:52 AM said:
Actually, I always thought I wrote pretty simply. Weird, huh?

Yeah, well, when a person uses words a lot, their vocabulary is naturally larger than a person that doesn't (use words a lot), so simple words to them may seem more like "high dollar words" to some others. It's just a matter of perspective, I guess.
 
Another one:

affect: have an effect upon

effect: consequence: a phenomenon that follows and is caused by some previous phenomenon
 
Self observation has occasionally shown me the illogic (handy word :)) of the things I say. I think that any person striving for objectivity and self-awareness must at some point turn their attention to their use of language, because such a person must realize that the purpose of language is communication, both within and without. I think it was George Orwell who said that clear language leads to clear thought and vice versa?

I try to be clear and concise, but I often fail due to the tiny "I"s, which don't have very expansive perspectives yet have lots to say.

It's fun when I realize the deeper meanings of words via their roots, or when I find clues or interesting relationships between words. For instance, I realized just moments ago that the verb 'respect' literally means "to look or see again", and this has lead me to ponder how this changes the meaning of the word for me. So I think, "Well, you look at something again to see what you may have missed before, to see more deeply, to read between the lines." With this new perspective, "respect your elders" literally means "see your elders twice", which I interpret to mean "consider your elders carefully", the reason being that they have more experience, so their actions and words may contain knowledge that isn't immediately obvious. "Respect nature" becomes "consider nature carefully", as it may contain hidden dangers as well as gifts. So now, I extend this to the noun form of the word. Respect is the property of seeing twice. To be respected means to be considered carefully. Finally, I realize I'm using the word 'consider' and think of Gurdjieff's teaching of external consideration.

So now I have a concept and personal definition of respect that is much more insightful than the vague notion I had before, and, I dare say, more objective. To respect means to seek to understand completely. Armed with this clear definition I realize how disrespectful I am in general and that to respect myself, nature, and God is my highest, although pitifully underpursued, aim.

For what it's worth.
 
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