Yes! I will add it, thanks Don! That reminds me of bated / baited, as in "waiting with bated breath." Baited breath would be pretty painful with the hook and all, to say nothing of the worm.
I listen to many stand-up comedians and I have begun to notice some serious errors creeping into the language of American comics. E.g. “This happened on accident” not by accident. Mistakes in conditionals, mixing the clauses: “I wish I would have gone” instead of I wish I had gone. And don’t get me started on “I’m good” as a response to “how are you?”!
Agreed. The whole "on accident" thing used to drive me up a wall, until I started researching it and found that it is generational with a fairly narrow date range, which I've since forgotten. Of course, my parents' generation (Silent) used to say "for" which we (Boomers) replaced with "because" as in, "I am not going to dinner, for I am not hungry."
But the “I wish I would have gone” instead of "I wish I had gone" makes me mildly homicidal! Worse... "I wish I would of gone." Pure torture.
"And don’t get me started on 'I’m good' as a response to 'how are you?'" reminds me of a Steven Wright line: "When I woke up this morning my girlfriend asked me, 'Did you sleep good?' I said 'No, I made a few mistakes.'"
Maybe this will take a bit of sting out of the whole verbing thing:
"Carol Burnett, no doubt about it, is a verb—transitive, active, reciprocal, irregular. To burnett is to affirm, to make funny, to dance, sing, cry, mug and gambol about in extravagant motion."
(Cyclops, "Ode to a Very Active Verb." Life, April 2, 1971)
You're a fan of that classic, The Carol Burnett Show? Most Millennials, if I've guessed your generation correctly, are clueless about her! I grew up watching her show every week. My fave sketch is Tim Conway as the dentist, making Harvey lose it! Hbu?? 🫂💕
Lay / lie. It’s not that hard. And if we have all decided that “among” no longer serves any purpose, let’s give it a roaring Norse funeral send off. If I see another Times or Post writer who says “between” 3 disparate items, I will kill that person.
Hear hear! I'm surprised they get disparate right, tbh...I half expect "desperate" with that kind of, uh, what is that? It's not journalism. I love the Viking funeral idea! I would use it for repeated ill-usage use. And I am totally with you on lay/lie. Part of me wants to hold Dylan somewhat responsible for the millions of audio repetitions of "Lay Lady, Lay" inserted into how many brains over how many decades? I told my daughter when she was little that if she told the dog to "lay" she should expect an egg. 🥚🐣
Omg. Before or after you changed and burped them? Maybe being an attending, said person was a litter older, but the residents I used to schedule for rotations? Oy. Some were just amazing, of course. Others were so f'ing privileged they thought staff meant, you know, the hired help. Still others you wanted to give only the Fisher Price suture kits, amiright?
Oh good one! I'm going to add it to the list. I saw a sign taped to a cart in a store that read "Don't use, it's braked." So, were the wheel stops set, or was it broken? 😵💫
Bale/Bail.
Yes! I will add it, thanks Don! That reminds me of bated / baited, as in "waiting with bated breath." Baited breath would be pretty painful with the hook and all, to say nothing of the worm.
or the pusscat and ..er, the mmmmouse :)
It’s / its
I listen to many stand-up comedians and I have begun to notice some serious errors creeping into the language of American comics. E.g. “This happened on accident” not by accident. Mistakes in conditionals, mixing the clauses: “I wish I would have gone” instead of I wish I had gone. And don’t get me started on “I’m good” as a response to “how are you?”!
Agreed. The whole "on accident" thing used to drive me up a wall, until I started researching it and found that it is generational with a fairly narrow date range, which I've since forgotten. Of course, my parents' generation (Silent) used to say "for" which we (Boomers) replaced with "because" as in, "I am not going to dinner, for I am not hungry."
But the “I wish I would have gone” instead of "I wish I had gone" makes me mildly homicidal! Worse... "I wish I would of gone." Pure torture.
"And don’t get me started on 'I’m good' as a response to 'how are you?'" reminds me of a Steven Wright line: "When I woke up this morning my girlfriend asked me, 'Did you sleep good?' I said 'No, I made a few mistakes.'"
Humor "defiantly" helps. Oh, right—definitely.
It is my belief that Western civilization ended when "journal" turned into a verb. Harumph.
Maybe this will take a bit of sting out of the whole verbing thing:
"Carol Burnett, no doubt about it, is a verb—transitive, active, reciprocal, irregular. To burnett is to affirm, to make funny, to dance, sing, cry, mug and gambol about in extravagant motion."
(Cyclops, "Ode to a Very Active Verb." Life, April 2, 1971)
she....of my favourite indulgence ...with her show....
You're a fan of that classic, The Carol Burnett Show? Most Millennials, if I've guessed your generation correctly, are clueless about her! I grew up watching her show every week. My fave sketch is Tim Conway as the dentist, making Harvey lose it! Hbu?? 🫂💕
Kinda like “Bogart” has become a verb. I didn’t know that Carol Burnett was a verb—but in her instance, it makes perfect sense.
Oh right, I forgot about the infinitive "to Bogart"! I did not know about "to Burnett" either, but stumbled into it, and it is somehow soothing.
Lay / lie. It’s not that hard. And if we have all decided that “among” no longer serves any purpose, let’s give it a roaring Norse funeral send off. If I see another Times or Post writer who says “between” 3 disparate items, I will kill that person.
Hear hear! I'm surprised they get disparate right, tbh...I half expect "desperate" with that kind of, uh, what is that? It's not journalism. I love the Viking funeral idea! I would use it for repeated ill-usage use. And I am totally with you on lay/lie. Part of me wants to hold Dylan somewhat responsible for the millions of audio repetitions of "Lay Lady, Lay" inserted into how many brains over how many decades? I told my daughter when she was little that if she told the dog to "lay" she should expect an egg. 🥚🐣
Hahahaha! That’s awesome. I once explained the difference to one of my attendings on a slow day.
Omg. Before or after you changed and burped them? Maybe being an attending, said person was a litter older, but the residents I used to schedule for rotations? Oy. Some were just amazing, of course. Others were so f'ing privileged they thought staff meant, you know, the hired help. Still others you wanted to give only the Fisher Price suture kits, amiright?
Oddly, one of the most obtuse is now a settled attending in an undeserved area. Turns out he was obviously teachable.
Well there is always hope! I'm glad that worked out.
But FP suture kits: that’s priceless. Will be sharing that.
The one that bugs me is break/brake. I've seen way too many examples of people writing about problems with their breaks squealing.
Oh good one! I'm going to add it to the list. I saw a sign taped to a cart in a store that read "Don't use, it's braked." So, were the wheel stops set, or was it broken? 😵💫
I'm curious what it is about a double "ee" that makes you shudder, if you know?
Hm, maybe it's too redolent of screechiness.
Discreet/ discrete is definitely an advanced word problem.
100% !
That is positively, undeniably true!