I'm rather particular about grammar and language, sometimes in pretty unconventional ways.
This page is a stub, created on 2020-04-21 (last updated on 2024-09-14). Its contents are notes on the issues and angles I want to address about this topic.
Here are a few of my fixations and particularities (in no particular order) that I intend to explain in greater detail:
- apostrophes
- "The Bureau of Grammatical Integrity" and the anecdote with Sara Triplett and her parents when we "vandalized" the "WASHER AND DRYER HOOK UPS'" sign
- for pluralization of acronyms
- for possessives of words that end in "s" or "z"
- the subjunctive
- serial comma
- punctuation and quotation marks
- punctuation for abbreviations (eg, "eg", "ie", "etc", "Mr", "Dr", "PhD", "Sr")
- nested parentheses
- verbs as nouns (eg, "That's a big ask.")
- nouns as verbs (eg, "Let's solution that.")
- adjectives as nouns (eg, "deliverable")
- noun versus verb compound forms; eg,
- "setup" versus "set up"
- "login" versus "log in"
- "checkin" versus "check-in"
- "oncall" versus "on-call"
- "inline" versus "in-line"
- "workout" versus "work out"
- "wakeup" versus "wake up"
- "followup" versus "follow up"
- "hangout" versus "hang out"
- "hookup" versus "hook up"
- "handwriting" versus "hand-writing"
- "the reason why", "the reason is because"
- "coincidence" versus "mere coincidence"
- "altitude" versus "elevation"
- "hurricane" versus "typhoon"
- hyphenates that should be or are their own words
- usecase
- enduser
- painpoint
- roadtrip
- longshot
- willpower
- dogfood (in a tech context)
- pushpin
- filename
- labcoat
- chairlift / skilift
- hardcode
- timezone
- keycard
- litterbox
- hairstyle
- nevermind
- goodnight
- sweatpants
- datacenter
- goodnight
- lockerroom
- coworker
- hashbrown
- onramp
- contranyms
- cleave: to adhere, or to separate
- sanction: to approve, or to boycott/penalize
- practically
- apology: a statement of contrition for an action or a defense of one
- bolt: to secure, or to flee
- bound: heading to a destination, or restrained from movement
- dust: to add fine particles, or to remove them
- fast quick, or stuck or made stable
- left: remained, or departed
- peer: a person of the nobility, or an equal
- weather: to withstand, or to wear away
- negation prefixes that don't negate
- inflammable
- delimit
- deploy/employ
- "begs the question" versus "implies the question"
- "Your call will be answered in the order in which it was received." versus "Calls are answered in the order in which they are received."
- "try and" → "try to"
- the "[blah] because [noun phrase]" construction
- "a-whole-nother"
- RAS syndrome
- "PIN number"
- "ATM machine"
- "API interface"
- "VIN number"
- "DC Comics"
- "LCD display"
- "UPC code"
- "IP protocol"
- "SIP protocol"
- "IHP program"
- "RPC call"
- "ICU unit"
- "KT Tape"
- "compose" versus "comprise"
- "further" versus "farther"
- "less" versus "fewer"
- "envy" versus "jealousy"
- "effective" versus "efficient"
- see also post on Manager Tools forum
- "assume" and "assumption" versus "conclude" and "conclusion"
- "need" versus "want"
- the effect of regarding these as being quantitatively on the same spectrum: "strong-enough desire" == "metaphysical requirement", an uncalibrated sense of entitlement
- relationship to scarcity and "post-scarcity world"
- consider Aristotle's view on the distinction
- "facts" versus "opinions"
- "objective" versus "subjective"
- "universal" versus "personal"
- "situational" versus "context-free"
- "abstract" versus "concrete"
- "opinion-based" versus "fact-based"
- "controversial" versus "uncontroversial"
- "selfish" versus "short-sighted whim pursuit"
- "practical" versus "pragmatic"
- "reconcile" versus "rationalize"
- "judge" versus "condemn"
- "feeling" as referring to either emotion or intellectual/cognitive conclusions (ie, "seeming")
- "I feel X." as being either "My emotion is X." or "It seems to me that X."
- "compromise"
- "entitlement" / "entitled" equivocating between
- an actual entitlement and actually being entitled to something
- an attitude of entitlement irrespective of whether an actual entitlement exists
- "behave" actually being used to mean "conform"
- "[collection]" versus "[collection] [item]":
- "blog post" versus "blog"
- "podcast" versus "podcast episode"
- "wiki" versus "wiki page"
- "JIRA" versus "JIRA issue"
- "FAQ" versus "FAQ entry"
- "meme" versus ???
- "irregardless", other non-words, and the (d)evolution of language (maybe a separate post in its own right)
- paradox
- irony
- humility and arrogance
- datetime stamps, 24-hour time
- "3 times more (than x)" versus "3 times x"
- "3 times less (than x)" versus "1/3 of x"
- "verbally" != "orally"; {"orally", "in writing"} ⊂ "verbally"
- "gods"
- British English spellings I prefer
- theatre (and when I use the American English "theater" instead)
- spectre
- cancelled / cancelling
- channelled / channelling
- British English alternatives I prefer
- lift
- rubbish (bin)
- pronunciation of plural words, such as
- "basis" versus "base"
- "bias" ("bias-ehz" versus "bias-eez")
- Picard-isms
- schedule
- issue
- appreciate
- process
- other words I like to pronounce in my own way
- controversial
- mature
- modular
- incredulity
- gradually
- Christian
- parmesan
- pendulum
- prescient
- individual
- Ventura
- cordial
- emaciated
- Vallejo
- neutral
- I want you
- Colorado, Nevada, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan
- leisure
- celestial
- niche
- associated
- Sebastian
- altruism
- species
- amateur
- procedure / procedural
- aficionado
- nausea
- equilateral
- mischievous
- fraudulent
- azure
- quasi
- grandure
- spatula
- sentient
- dynasty
- advertisement
- harassment
- aficionado
- generic brand names
- Kleenex
- Band-aid
- Speedo
- Ziplock
- Jello
- Pyrex
- Tupperware
- Post-It
- Sharpie
- Scotch tape
- pronunciations I'm not okay with
- foyer
- Louisville
- Buena Vista
- Rio Grande
- Vallejo
- Dubois
- "none are" versus "none is"; "any are" versus "any is"
- singular "they"
- singular "data"
- shorthand for "item of data"?
- connection to "the Borg", "a Borg"
- contrast/connection to "medium"/"mediums" and "media"
- "formulas" versus "formulae"
- "terrariums" versus "terraria", "aquarium" versus "aquaria"
- phrases and words I've either coined or am enamored of
- "dermatological phenomena"
- "micro-disasters"
- "musical hedonist"
- "ussie" (like "selfie", but of multiple subjects)
- "disconcur"
- "pathetisad"
- "embiggen"
- "foot coffins"
- "meow"
- "right meow"
- "over meow"
- "cutelittletinybabygoi"
- "pet owner" / "pet parent" → "pet guardian" / "pet custodian"
- "crazy" → "absurd", "ludicrous", "ridiculous"
- "hysterical" → "hilarious" (for funny things); "frantic", "frenetic", "uncalibrated" etc (for uncontrolled extreme emotion)
Fun games:
- alterninyms (eg, "Sleep, Shower, and Sundry")
- pluralization (eg, mattropodes, hice, Attorneys General, culs de sac, Lords of the Rings, boxen, dominatrices, Starbucies, Unices)
- silly pronunciations
- escape
- jalapeño
- quesadilla
- fajita
- tortilla
- Chipotle / Aristotle
- Target
- influencer
- cocaine
- marijuana
- Paleo
- dangerous
- photography
- pornography
- lyrics
- eggs
- legs
- book, hook, cook
- wifis
- stupid
- robot
- aminal
- curious → querious
- fluffy → floofy
- vitamin
- cimamin
- sammiches
- ormaments
- hummusexual
- again
- puppy-doughgs
- meecrowahvay
- cronchy
- jojoba oil
- snyack
- chamomile
- volcanoes
- teefs
- asplode
Other topics:
- Style guides be damned! (Kind of.)
- descriptive versus prescriptive versus objective
- evolution versus devolution
- Newspeak
- liberal
- progressive
- social justice
- woke
- (re)distribution (of wealth)
- privilege
- labour party
- proletariat
- pro-life
- detention center
- energy conservation
- the homeless
- the environment (this is like referring, in general, to "the context")
- (tax) subsidy (referring to a tax break as a "subsidy")
- human rights
- economic rights
- anticompetitive
- working class
- words I struggle to pronounce
- remunerative