Merry Generic Winter Day-Off With No Religious Content

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally posted by Penske_Account
Got it. Makes sense, although, in contrast to that approach, I find it shocking the number of married couples with whom I am aquainted who have sexual relations with each other less than say 6 times a year.....and are also not getting it on the side. And are only in their mid 30s.

And they think soliciting for a threesome on Craigslist is going to help that?

[Cletus Miller]

Originally posted by nononono
I would think that someone who habitually (for example) places "s"'s on the ends of words where they don't belong ("Barnes & Nobles," say, or "Victoria's Secrets")

Not that this doesn't make my head hurt, but I think that this is, in some cases, a Midwestern-ism. I know many people (midwesterners all) who do read quite a lot who will refer to, for example, Nordstrom as "Nordstrom's" (I presume the ', to maintain some bit of sanity on the subject). I believe that it results from a feeling that all stores that seem to contain a person's name should take a possessive form--e.g. Marshall Field(proper name)= Marshall Field's.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by sebastian_dangerfield
For the love of God, man, don't trample the rules of elementary grammar, its near imposible to read what you're writing without getting winded, and I care about what you post.

Sorry. I had some wine with lunch.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by sebastian_dangerfield
And they think soliciting for a threesome on Craigslist is going to help that?

It wasn't Craigslist, but how did you know that?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Cletus Miller
Not that this doesn't make my head hurt, but I think that this is, in some cases, a Midwestern-ism. I know many people (midwesterners all) who do read quite a lot who will refer to, for example, Nordstrom as "Nordstrom's" (I presume the ', to maintain some bit of sanity on the subject). I believe that it results from a feeling that all stores that seem to contain a person's name should take a possessive form--e.g. Marshall Field(proper name)= Marshall Field's.

No one in Mi. works at "the Ford Motor Company." People work at "Fords."

it doesn't apply to any other company as far as I know.

[Bad_Rich_Chic]

Originally posted by ThurgreedMarshall
Well then, I don't understand how your approach of politely asking someone to clarify how something is ironic is a solution to anything. It would seem to me that if someone is fucking something up and you tell them that they are doing it incorrectly, they probably won't do it that way again. If you try to be clever in the most subtle, yet superior way, your cleverness may go unnoticed or flat-out ignored.

Asumes the mistake corrected is a one-off or rarity. You can hope to remedy a discrete problem, but random friendly reminders won't make up for a misspent youth in which proper grammar wasn't learned. For that, the speaker has to take it upon themselves to basically retrain themselves entirely from scratch - think through every single thing they say before they say it, and not say it (until they go back and check) if they aren't sure. With any luck, that will reduce errors back to a relative rarity, making the odd friendly clarification something more than a whisper into a hurricane.

If subtle correction is unnoticed or ignored, that seems to imply that the corrections are unsolicited. In which case, see prior comments on trying to correct adults.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally posted by Penske_Account
It wasn't Craigslist, but how did you know that?

I, uh... I didn't. Just a guess. Yes, a guess.

[Fugee]

Originally posted by Bad_Rich_Chic
Concur that it will likely be repeated, however, I don't concur that it is likely to be correctable, particularly if it is a general pattern of bad usage rather than a rarity.

But in noX4's case, it is a word usage/definition error -- not completely bad grammar.

I think errors of a specific nature (rather than overall bad grammar) are more easily correctable, especially if the person is motivated. And asking for correction from noX4 seems to indicate motivation.

I learned a good part of my vocabulary from reading, not from hearing it used. As a result, my pronunciation (and sometimes definitions) haven't always been good. One of my friends used to let me know when I was mispromouncing words. Although it was embarrassing, it was less embarassing than learning about my mistakes much later.

[greatwhitenorthchick]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
No one in Mi. works at "the Ford Motor Company." People work at "Fords."

it doesn't apply to any other company as far as I know.

In the UK and Canada (and probably other places in the commonwealth) people add "s" to law firm names. "He works at Ashurst's" is a particularly fine example of this.

[nononono]

Originally posted by Cletus Miller
Not that this doesn't make my head hurt, but I think that this is, in some cases, a Midwestern-ism. I know many people (midwesterners all) who do read quite a lot who will refer to, for example, Nordstrom as "Nordstrom's" (I presume the ', to maintain some bit of sanity on the subject). I believe that it results from a feeling that all stores that seem to contain a person's name should take a possessive form--e.g. Marshall Field(proper name)= Marshall Field's.

I get that, and I've sort of kind of gotten mostly over my irritation with that particular thing (hell, even Truman Capote did it to Tiffany & Co.). But it truly does make my head hurt to realize that people don't actually understand what they are saying so much of the time. I mean - changing Finelli & Sons (a revamped name of a restaurant here) to Finellis & Sons?? I could understand (if not endorse) "Finelli's," but.

[dtb]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
No one in Mi. works at "the Ford Motor Company." People work at "Fords."

it doesn't apply to any other company as far as I know.

Not in my family. My grandfather worked for Ford. Not Fords.

My grandmother and I would meet him for lunch downtown (downtown Motown) sometimes, and we would have Vernors floats for dessert. (Vernors and vanilla ice cream.)

Now that you mention it, though, I do refer to Talbots as "The Talbots" for some strange reason. You could have knocked me over with a feather when someone pointed out to me that there is no "The" in front of the word Talbots in the name of the store.

(don't tell me it's Talbot and I've been adding an "s" or I'll plotz)

[nononono]

Originally posted by Fugee
But in noX4's case, it is a word usage/definition error -- not completely bad grammar.

I think errors of a specific nature (rather than overall bad grammar) are more easily correctable, especially if the person is motivated. And asking for correction from noX4 seems to indicate motivation.

I learned a good part of my vocabulary from reading, not from hearing it used. As a result, my pronunciation (and sometimes definitions) haven't always been good. One of my friends used to let me know when I was mispromouncing words. Although it was embarrassing, it was less embarassing than learning about my mistakes much later.

It's both. :-( And this particular person is always in front of people, making pitches, presentations, etc. Engaging person, but you just know this stuff, if the listener hears it enough to realize it wasn't just a slip of the tongue, is going to be less-than-helpful in establishing credibility.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
No one in Mi. works at "the Ford Motor Company." People work at "Fords."

it doesn't apply to any other company as far as I know.

They may be mispronouncing the inlet where they work. Otherwise, I think you mean "Ford's."

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by nononono
It's both. :-( And this particular person is always in front of people, making pitches, presentations, etc. Engaging person, but you just know this stuff, if the listener hears it enough to realize it wasn't just a slip of the tongue, is going to be less-than-helpful in establishing credibility.

Most of that sort of stuff can be totally unconscious. It was pointed out to me recently that I say "It's interesting that... " or "It's funny that..." before sentences that should be interesting or funny without the intro a lot. It's apparently only in speech. I rarely do it in writing. I'm a little more aware of it now, but I had absolutely no idea it was a verbal tic that annoys the crap out of people (or at least the person who pointed it out to me) until it was brought to my attention. I've since tried to work on it, but I often forget about it.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by dtb
Not in my family. My grandfather worked for Ford. Not Fords.

So you're only half Jewish?

My grandmother and I would meet him for lunch downtown (downtown Motown) sometimes, and we would have Vernors floats for dessert. (Vernors and vanilla ice cream.)

so he was white collar. I don't know how those people talk.

And d, Vernors (isn't it Vernor's? Ironic?) and vanilla ice cream is a Boston Cooler, not a Vernors float. Was this rude, or helpful?