Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Pedants Anonymous

 A society whose sole aim is helping pedants adjust to the gradual decay of their beloved language.
  (+42, -9)(+42, -9)(+42, -9)
(+42, -9) 		  [vote for,
against]

Oh, by the way, Peter, I have checked each of the links returned by Google in response to a search for the term "Pedants Anonymous".

Each, it transpired, mentions the term but is unfortunately not a link to such an organisation.

If there is a Pedants Anonymous society it is remaining truly anonymous, hence the perceived need for one to be established.

Much like Alcoholics Anonymous it could perhaps offer courses to lead the afflicted through a process of twelve steps to rehabilitation. After completion of the course a pedant's reaction to a sign in a supermarket which read "10 items or less" instead of "10 items or fewer" would be mild indifference.

—UnaBubba, Feb 22 2001

Bob the Angry Flower: Plural's http://www.angryflower.com/plural.gif
[egnor, Feb 22 2001, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Puggry, please reensure http://www.dictiona...dict.pl?term=Puggry
One of a very few words ending in -gry [UnaBubba, Feb 22 2001, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Pedants shown giving something back to the world. http://www.newscien...p?tp=communication1
I'm sure these aren't really the last words on the matter. [lewisgirl, Feb 22 2001, last modified Oct 05 2004]

The Blue Book http://www.grammarbook.com/
Flip its pages. [saker, Oct 05 2004]

...or should you? http://www.askoxfor...glish/writingmyths/
Writing Myths. [silverstormer, Oct 05 2004]

Ideal Christmas gift for the pedants out there. http://news.bbc.co....nt/arts/3252902.stm
Best seller, apparently. [Jinbish, Oct 05 2004]

'obun? http://flickr.com/p...antindale/27441551/
[Ian Tindale, Jul 21 2005]

Please welcome two new members to PA. http://www.telegrap...-historic-sign.html
Grammar vandals fined for altering historic sign [Gordon Comstock, Aug 25 2008]


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Annotation:







       "10 items or less" is nothing. The real test is reading "10 item's or less" without wincing.
—egnor, Feb 22 2001
   

       10 items or Lester will kill you
—bristolz, Feb 22 2001
   

       We know your in a hurry, so for lines five or longer, we are please to open other registers.
—reensure, Feb 22 2001
   

       The hardest thing would be for people to admit that they were pedants. Most people would say "OK, I correct a little grammar now and then but I can handle it. I'm just a bit grouchy at the moment."
—Aristotle, Feb 23 2001
   

       For those of us who are afflicted with the dread curse of pedantry, I would recommend staying well away from Stoke-on-Trent where there is a chain of pubs called 'Banks's". Excuse me, I've just got to go and unclench my teeth.
—DrBob, Feb 23 2001
   

       Hi, my name's beauxeault, and I, uh, well, I'm just visiting with my friend. But it sure is nice to know that I'm not the only one for whom " 's "-abuse rallies the "inner pedant" in defense of ALL THAT IS GOOD AND TRUE.
—beauxeault, Feb 23 2001
   

       Seriously, though, how could pedants be helped at a PA meeting? Alcoholics can talk about alcohol and their feelings about it without actually exposing themselves to alcohol. But for a pedant, discussing abuses of grammar would necessarily expose the pedant to the addictive substance. The pedant demons would be exercised instead of exorcised.
—beauxeault, Feb 23 2001
   

       Having been repeatedly expelled from PA, I must take issue with you DrBob. To quote from Fowler's Modern English Usage (ownership of which is a sure sign of the need for professional help) ".. we now add the s and the syllable - always when the word is monosyllabic, and preferably when it is longer, Charles's Wain, St. James's Street, Jones's children...."   

       So if Banks is the name of the family that once made the beer, I think Banks's beer is correct. Having said that I would also recommend staying well away from Stoke-on-Trent because I think Banks's beer is shite.   

       I have to ask everyone's forgiveness for that last sentence. A more recent trip to the midlands revealed that proper cask conditioned Banks's beer is rather fine. I just seem to recall that whenever I tried it previously it was watery keg rubbish.
—Gordon Comstock, Feb 23 2001
   

       People could talk about the prejudice and physical attacks they have suffered because of their pedantry. They could also work together to desensitise themselves and discuss when pointing out mistakes makes them a credit to society.
—Aristotle, Feb 23 2001
   

       I had a horrible feeling I was the only one when I first proposed this idea. Thank you, Baal, thank you. We are not alone.   

       By the way, beauxeault, did you mean 'defence' ? (Sorry, my mistake, both spellings are apparently acceptable, according to my OED)   

       That is pedantry, up with which I shall not put.
—UnaBubba, Feb 23 2001
   

       I'm encouraged to learn that there's an elementary school that actually teaches that there is an issue regarding possessive plurals. Now when they start teaching the use of the apostrophe for non-possessive plurals (i.e., plural's), just let me know, and you & me'll go burn the place down.   

       (See what I mean about exercising?)
—beauxeault, Feb 23 2001
   

       The possessive apostrophe with words that end in s is quite difficult and I'm not sure if there is a definitive answer.   

       Earlier, I quoted Fowler's, but before that quotation it says "It was formally customary, when a word ended in -s, to write its possessive with an apostrophe but no additional s." Certainly we still use this today, for instance: Archimedes' principle - where Archimedes' has no extra s and has only four syllables. Achilles' heel - there's another.   

       So can we form a splinter group: confused pedants anonymous?
—Gordon Comstock, Feb 23 2001
   

       beauxeault : now, now, now! [Holds head in hands weeping] You and I, I, I, I'll go burn the place down.
—Gordon Comstock, Feb 23 2001
   

       Heal, Gordon, heal? Get thee behind me.
—UnaBubba, Feb 23 2001
   

       Mea culpa, PeterSealey. Confused by Archimedes. I obviously don't know my Achilles from my elbow.
—Gordon Comstock, Feb 23 2001
   

       Vote 1 PeterSealy for president of the society. You'll be sworn in at our first inaugural meeting. Gordon and me will propose and second your nomination. I seen him about it already.
—UnaBubba, Feb 23 2001
   

       Thank you for heals/heels. I think he missed my post.   

       Maintain the rage, my man. It's 2:30am (in the morning) here and I've got many things to do this Saturday.
—UnaBubba, Feb 23 2001
   

       Oh bollocks. That's the trouble when you're trying to be a pompous old fart. Any infraction brings out the jackals. I should be hanged. (Another one I'm always correcting.) So UnaBubba I stand corrected. Have you really got nothing better to do at that time in the morning?   

       PeterSealey:   

       How many syllables are there in James' ?   

       I thought it might be a transatlantic thing, but a quick trawl through multimap reveals two St James' in the UK (one in London and one in Bangor) although most are St James's as in the park in front of Brenda's place.
—Gordon Comstock, Feb 23 2001
   

       I see this as sort of a anti-My Fair Lady. The final exam is some sort of social gathering or meeting which people use incorrect grammar at. Student's/client's are graded by the professor/counselor on their ability to calmly overlook breach's of language protocol.   

       But, I guess, thats what UnaBubba really proposed, in the first place.
—centauri, Feb 23 2001
   

       Instigator.
—PotatoStew, Feb 23 2001
   

       Are you calling moi an instigator? You, PotatoStew, are the one using sentence fragments.
—centauri, Feb 23 2001
   

       Words, words, words, I'm so sick of words....
—centauri, Feb 23 2001
   

       From elsewhere in Fowler's Modern English Usage, 2nd ed.: "...my pedantry is your scholarship, his reasonable accuracy, her irreducible minimum of education, and someone else's ignorance."   

       I think of Pedants Anonymous as a resistance organization, somewhat akin to Guerrilla Solar.
—hello_c, Feb 23 2001
   

       Fragments? Non-sequiturs perhaps?
—UnaBubba, Feb 23 2001
   

       Dues owed can be dealt with through the "Take or leave aproposition" tray.
—reensure, Feb 23 2001, last modified Feb 25 2001
   

       I'm signing up. PeterSealy, get thee to the idea about soap-scum eating micro-organisms and add an "ly" to the adverb you abused.
—Susen, Feb 23 2001
   

       Think Grammatic.
—centauri, Feb 23 2001
   

       Parse a moment, if you would.
—UnaBubba, Feb 23 2001
   

       Pedant's Anonymous has already worked for me. I can see that I'm really just an amateur compared to the major league pedants that have come crawling out of the woodwork while (whilst? when? Who cares anymore! I'm cured!) I was at the pub.
Gordon, re: Banks's <grimace> beer. Agreed!
—DrBob, Feb 24 2001
   

       The time spent so gainfully at the pub quaffing Banks's Brown Bog was not a contributing factor to your laissez-faire view of affairs DrBob?
—UnaBubba, Feb 24 2001
   

       From PA to AA in one easy step.
—PotatoStew, Feb 24 2001
   

       Joint meetings would be a huge time-saver.
—Monkfish, Feb 25 2001
   

       About whose (whos, who's) time are we talking, anyw~?
—reensure, Feb 25 2001
   

       We'll have a designated driver standing by at all times, just in case you feel the urge.
—UnaBubba, Feb 25 2001
   

       I'm happy to report that Banks's was a short-lived aberration in my youth. A terrible memory that I had happily suppressed until you posted this idea, UnaBubba. These days I abase myself at the shrine of St.Guinness. It does not, of course, affect my judgement in any way.

I suspect that Pedants Anonymous, whilst a fine and worthy idea, is thoroughly impractical. You'd never get anyone to agree on the best place to hold the first meeting and, even if you did manage it, can you imagine the hell that you'd have to go through in order to get the minutes agreed at the second one?
—DrBob, Feb 26 2001
   

       Would there be any seconds for the minutes? Whoooooaaaaa ! Hold that train of thought right there, young man.
—UnaBubba, Feb 26 2001
   

       I know I'm out of step, since tongues fail when alchohol caresses, but commonly, is Pug Ryan's Outlaw Brown Ale better served as "Pug' Brown"; "Pug's Brown"; or as, "Pugry' Browns"?
—reensure, Feb 26 2001
   

       Pug's, and give my regards to Bacchus.
—UnaBubba, Feb 27 2001
   

       All this enthusiastic discussion about pedantics makes me wonder if you're not all a bunch of pedaphiles. <g>
—beauxeault, Feb 28 2001
   

       Puggry has 2 g's, reensure. (See link)
—UnaBubba, Mar 01 2001
   

       Aagh! I saw this morning in the paper a temperature of 16C being referred to as half as hot as a temperature of 32C!!!! (<pedant>16C could be said to be about 94.75% as hot as 32C</pedant>).
—hippo, Mar 01 2001
   

       ...especially if you had to wear a Ten gallons or Fewer Hat.
—DrBob, Mar 05 2001
   

       Something might contain ten gallons, or less if it was unable to hold ten gallons. It might contain fewer gallons if it had less in it. i.e. A lesser amount or fewer gallons.   

       American gallons are less than British (Imperial) gallons as they are smaller.   

       Hope I've confused you now.
—UnaBubba, Mar 05 2001
   

       That's a pretty good idea. I can't help myself. One of our businesses prepares corporate procedure manuals. Pedantry is an asset in those circumstances, but once you've got it you can't turn it off without extensive counselling.
—UnaBubba, Mar 14 2001, last modified Mar 15 2001
   

       PA: a not unpleasant idea, irregardless of who up with it came. Very unique.   

       Cheer's!
—1percent, Mar 21 2001
   

       Re Feb 23, I thought Banks' Beer was named after Gordon Banks, who single-handedly kept Stoke City in the First Division for so many years. Prost!   

       And I believe the old US Ten-Gallon hat derives its name from the translation of "sombrero de diez galanes" where "galan" refers to the feathers that adorned the hat brim. So, it would not be a measure of volume but rather decoration -- ten feathers or less.
—daruma, Mar 24 2001
   

       That's "ten feathers or FEWER," daruma. Is it legal to be a pedant in more than one language? Forget legal; is it fair?   

       And how do you say "smarty pants" in Spanish?
—1percent, Mar 27 2001
   

       Would Smarty Pants be baked or half-baked?
—moonmoose, Mar 27 2001
   

       Probably glued. If you baked them they'd melt in your oven.
—UnaBubba, Mar 27 2001
   

       "Pants" is the rarest of nouns -- singular at the top and plural at the bottom. They might therefore be baked at the waist and half-baked at the cuffs.
—daruma, Apr 04 2001
   

       Attributed to Gary Rosenberg in http://members.aol.com/gulfhigh2/words14.html .
Another word with that property is "law".
—jutta, Apr 04 2001
   

       And fish. Where fishes refers to multiple species, and fish may be singular or plural or collective.
—UnaBubba, Apr 04 2001
   

       If there is a Pedants Anonymous, then I desperately need to join.
—kitsune, Apr 18 2001
   

       centauri wrote: >> I see this as sort of a anti-My Fair Lady. <<   

       Surely you mean: "I see this as a sort of anti-Pygmalion." ... We should be modelling our exams on the original, not an inferior copy.   

       (Not that I'm being pedantic here, but the play was much better than that wretched musical.)   

       ;)
—cp, May 29 2001
   

       If I understand twelve-step programs for the rehabilitation of hopeless cases, part of the deal is to accept subjection to some higher authority, with the purpose of inducing humility and readiness to reform. Pedants Anonymous would be hampered by the conviction of every member that he or she <is> the higher authority. At least the meetings would be lively.
—hagfish, Jun 18 2001
   

       That's the idea hagfish.   

       Steve, I hate "free gift". At least you can be sure 'they' won't want it back.
—UnaBubba, Jun 18 2001
   

       We're probably moving toward having to say 'uniquely unique.' Heaven knows where that regression will take us.
—hagfish, Jun 18 2001
   

       *choke, choke* ack! Yes, DeGroof! Qualifying unqualifiable (i.e., indicating binary-state) adjectives drives me up a wall!
—absterge, Aug 19 2001
   

       It's not just our lovely language that's being corrupted, it's our lovely slang too. Heard something described as "fairly wicked" the other day.
—-alx, Aug 19 2001
   

       And totally uncool. What is that?
—UnaBubba, Aug 19 2001
   

       I desperately need help. Rage bordering on insanity courses through my body every time I see the ad: "Giveth this day our daily Rush".
—jabbers, Aug 28 2001
   

       Do what it says:
1. Purchase a bottle of Rush,
2. Prepare to make obeisance to the day, preferably at dawn,
3. Make the necessary sacrifice. This will involve finding an advertising copywriter whose grammar is not up to par and pouring the pint / ½litre of iced coffee into their pocket/shoe/briefcase/handbag when their attention is momentarily diverted.
4. The rage should dissipate whenever you repeat these steps in person, or as a mantra.
—UnaBubba, Aug 28 2001
   

       I want to sign up a certain colleague who wanted to change "blond" to "blonde" because he thought "blonde" was the proper adjective form. He apologized profusely and repeatedly for missing this. When we pointed out that no, "blond" is the proper adjectival form, he grasped his head and apologized profusely and repeatedly for misreading the style book. We felt sorry for him. :)
—arghblah, Aug 29 2001
   

       Either spelling is correct, whether noun or adjective, according to my Shorter Oxford. Unable to justify the cost of the OED, I'll have to rely upon someone like -alx to confirm whether the OED can further define this answer.
—UnaBubba, Aug 29 2001
   

       blond masculine, blonde feminine.
—lewisgirl, Aug 29 2001
   

       Is that OED? If so, thanks lewisgirl.
—UnaBubba, Aug 29 2001
   

       ' Is that OED?' No, that would be French.
—angel, Aug 29 2001
   

       chuckling, angel.
<brunette cheekiness>UB, I think I'm correct, but I believe that the masculine term is falling out of use. Perhaps an indictment of the masculinity of fair-haired men?</brunette cheekiness>
—lewisgirl, Aug 29 2001
   

       Thanks, UnaBubba, but isn't "giveth" third-person? I'm still not quite convinced we have a proper sentence here.
—jabbers, Aug 29 2001
   

       hello again jabbers!
I giveth, you giveth, he/she giveth, we giveth, they giveth, ... it's a verb, my dear. What your slogan needs is the object of the verb, which as you rightly notice appears to be 'this day'. What they were presumably were trying to invoke was the line from a certain prayer, 'Give us, this day, our daily bread' (which, in less florid language would be 'give us our daily bread today'). The use of "giveth" is totally wrong and unnecessary; it's in there presumably just for the slightly sanctified image it generates. 'Give us' is a command. 'Giveth' is a continuous verb, describing an action that is happening (this is where my knowledge of grammar becomes a little shaky. Perhaps someone else would like to step in.)
—lewisgirl, Aug 29 2001
   

       I was taught the same thing as [lewisgirl], but (if those people who try to control the language are 'right') that's only partially correct. According to OED, when used as adjectives, the meanings of 'blond' and 'blonde' are identical.   

       If used as nouns (i.e. to identify one with fair hair), 'blond' is a generic word for a person with fair hair, 'blonde' is a female only affair.   

       Me, on the other hand, is an brunet.
—-alx, Aug 29 2001
   

       Or brunette, as the case may be.   

       [jabbers], that was me being sarcastic, trying to make light of the very wrongness of the statement.
—UnaBubba, Aug 29 2001
   

       (*quick check*)   

       The case is brunet.
—-alx, Aug 29 2001
   

       *quick correction*   

       bru·nette
(adj.) Having dark or brown hair.
( n. ) A girl or woman with dark or brown hair.
[French, feminine of brunet. See brunet.]
—UnaBubba, Aug 29 2001
   

       Am I missing something here [UB]? I can be a brunette person, but I'm a brunet.
—-alx, Aug 29 2001
   

       Yes, you're not blonde.   

       Seriously, either spelling is acceptable. In Commonwealth countries many words tend to be francified as it was considered rather trendy to do so during the 1800's, when much of the grammar in common usage today was first codified for educational homogeneity. Hence the usage of labour/labor, favour/favor, etc.   

       Blond/blonde and brunet/brunette are further examples. I am not sure why gaol/jail and tyre/tire differ when you ask a North American. Or for that matter why realise/realize developed.   

       Does anyone have any idea? I'm too lazy/busy to go looking.
—UnaBubba, Aug 29 2001
   

       I'll take your word for it [UB]. Truth is, I only came across the word 'brunet' after wondering if there was an equivalent to the blond/blonde dilemma - this annotation's probably the last time I'll use it, so the point is moot.   

       The two words 'gaol' and 'jail' come from Northern or Norman France, and Central or Parisian France respectively.   

       Tyre/tire: both being used indifferently in 15th and 16th c. In 17th c. tire became the settled spelling, and has so continued in U.S.; but in Gt. Britain tyre has been revived for the pneumatic tires of bicycles, carriages, and motor-cars, and is also sometimes used for iron or steel tires.   

       Not that I knew, but hey...
—-alx, Aug 29 2001
   

       As opposed to tiring of this debate?
—UnaBubba, Aug 29 2001
   

       Well, I suppose Pedants Anonymous was the wrong place to start quibbling over words...
—-alx, Aug 30 2001
   

       Just wait till the big wheel comes around again. I sometimes wonder whether I shouldn't bake this idea into reality.
—UnaBubba, Aug 30 2001
   

       But would that wheel have a tyre or a tire?   

       I've noticed that a lot of people who are very pedantic also seem to have some kind of anxiety disorder. This makes me think that pedantism is a treatable condition. I'd get baking, [UB].
—-alx, Aug 30 2001
   

       lol - [UnaBubba], I realise that, and commend you for your attempt at trying to squeeze a horrible botch of a pseudo-olde English sentence into something that makes grammatical sense. (Isn't if fun how little it is possible to imply tone (eg sarcastic) in text?)   

       [lewisgirl], I am not sure about your conjugation there, especially the "you giveth" - I would have thought "thou givest", but I could be wrong.   

       I would translate to modern English thusly: "Gives this day our daily Rush" rather than UnaBubba's (valiant) "Give [to] ...". But I already feel better about it (yay for PA).
—jabbers, Aug 30 2001
   

       see link. This week's 'last word' question in NewScientist is an etymological puzzle- it's an easy one for us because we've been over it time and time again here at the bakery, but someone out there still wants to know. And by the way, since when did etymology become a science? Pah!
—lewisgirl, Aug 31 2001
   

       The day they got it confused with entomology, I would guess.
—mark_t, Aug 31 2001
   

       mark_t, your comment about 'entomology' bugs me...   

       I am one of the very few that voted against this idea, because to me, it should be equated with 'Homosexuals Anonymous'.   

       I am pedantic and proud! If people cannot accept my lifestyle, then they must be pedantophobic.   

       I have known I am a pedant from a very early age. I was raised in a small rural town, where backwards attitudes and intolerant behaviour focused on people of my kind were the norm. I had to hide my 'problem' from kids at school by occasionally getting a word wrong on a spelling test, or not correcting them when they said, "I ain't got none!" Self-preservation makes people do funny things; I am still ashamed of not correcting them.   

       My high school English teacher discriminated against me because of this (ever since I wrote in an essay, "Poetry is, according to Tennyson, 'composed of choices not made by the average man'". Mr. Johnson tried to convince me that it should read, "Poetry _are_").   

       But now that I live in a large, cosmopolitan city, where any sort of 'deviant' lifestyle is accepted, I seek comfort in the fact that there are others of my persuasion who comment on the use of "it's" instead of "its" in news articles.   

       So if you are yearning to yell out, "'a lot' is TWO words, NOT one!", then yell it from the rooftop! Be a pedant, and be proud!
—lewarcher, Sep 04 2001
   

       I was going to stipulate that people be allowed 3 posters or fewer, but the crowd which we rented to swell our numbers for CNN's cameras may have cared for less.
—UnaBubba, Sep 05 2001
   

       'the crowd *which* we rented'
—angel, Sep 05 2001
   

       It should be encapsulated in a whole sentence, with the phrase in pronunciation marks to denote it is a direct quote. It constitutes the subject of the sentence.
—UnaBubba, Sep 05 2001
   

       I spent several minutes last night correcting someone on 'Antiques Roadshow' who kept calling a horse-soldier's sword a 'calvary saber'...
—StarChaser, Sep 08 2001
   

       Ah yes, the 'cavalry' error. I'm always amazed at how often it's Christians themselves who confuse the spelling of the word.   

       Years ago, when the love of my life was just the guy at work whose beauty rendered me a babbling idiot, said guy forwarded me an email he'd received from my boss. He titled his message thus: "Just nail me to the cross." Inside, my boss (born-again, natch) had advised her colleagues on an emergency: "I think it's time to send in the calvary ..."   

       It was an unfortunate moment for my boss. On the other hand, the story stands as proof that the grammar and spelling midsfortunes of others can serve to bring the like-minded together, united in outrage.
—1percent, Sep 08 2001
   

       Please define midsfortune.
—UnaBubba, Sep 08 2001
   

       On Fortune's cap we are not the very button...Then you live about her waist, or in the middle of her favours? ... 'Faith, her privates we.
—UnaBubba, Sep 09 2001
   

       Privates wee?
—StarChaser, Oct 01 2001
   

       Shakespeare, SC. The dear old bard waxing lyrical about the place we occupy on the person of fortune. It's an observation that we are nothing more than the genitals of Lady Fortune.
—UnaBubba, Oct 01 2001
   

       <grins> So we ought to be fun. I was making a bit of a <lame, admittedly> pun on 'wee = pee'...
—StarChaser, Oct 01 2001
   

       I read it as meaning 'wee' as in 'tiny'.
—angel, Oct 02 2001
   

       Y-e-e-e-e-s-s-s, that's why I took you seriously.
—UnaBubba, Oct 02 2001
   

       Next meeting will be 8:30 pm February 13, 2002 at the home of El Pedanto, if you know that location.
—UnaBubba, Jan 01 2002
   

       The anti-pedants are just as pedantic as the pedants themselves.
—LeBain, Jan 18 2002
   

       I think I would support full immersive therapy, basic training-style, in the worst possible grammar and schedule conditions. That way, they would appreciate the decent approximation of the rules accepted by normal culture.   

       Basic training camp would be held somewhere in Texas. Advanced training would be in the ghettos of Gary Indiana. All pendants would be required to keep their schedules to clocks that chime one time less than the current number of hours, just to add to the nightmare.   

       The first bar of "Shave and a haircut" and other annoying piano-riffs would be played over and over again, wrongly. Pendants would learn to mis-quote lyrics to popular music.
—RayfordSteele, Feb 07 2002
   

       Would the schedule-keeping pendants then notify their pedantic wearers of any upcoming events, compensating for the apparently random musings of imprecise clocks?
—UnaBubba, Feb 07 2002
   

       Yes, but everyone would be subjected to the uncertainty timepiece.
—RayfordSteele, Feb 07 2002
   

       "To boldly go where no man has gone before" ("man" later changed to "one") "music soothes the savage beast"   

       So lets (let's) junk English and switch to Esperanto. If grammar is the main thing pedants nitpick, a better language would help. Think of it as prohibition.
—ThotMouser, Apr 29 2002
   

       Whom do you propose enforces this new prohibition? Eliot Correctness, perhaps?   

       Given the spectacular failure of prohibitions on most of the vices we enjoy, as a society, I can but assume this will be equally doomed.
—UnaBubba, Apr 30 2002
   

       I am obliged to award a fishbone to this idea, as I object fiercely to the notion that pedantry is something of which to be ashamed. Between pedantry and wrongness, I'll take pedantry every time. Take pride in being correct, people!   

       Given the thoroughly pedantic nature of these annotations, I find it shocking that no-one has, in almost two years, pointed out centauri's horrific, "The final exam is some sort of social gathering or meeting which people use incorrect grammar at," posted on Feb 23 2001.   

       "...At which people use incorrect grammar," God, damn it!   

       That rant made me feel much better, until I thought about people who say, "None are," instead of, "None is." Aargh.   

       Should it be, "Anonymous pedants"?
—friendlyfire, Dec 08 2002
   

       The first step is to admit you have a problem, friendly.   

       (and I expect it was just that no-one took the bait until now ;op)
—yamahito, Dec 08 2002
   

       Now my rage has subsided, I can better appreciate centauri's bon mot (or mauvais mot, as the case may be). I guess you're right, waugsqueke. It still offends my eye, though.   

       Yamahito, I don't have a problem! (That's not true - what I mean is, none of my many problems is caused by pedantry.)   

       "Chief! Ya know that guy whose camper they were whackin' off in?"
"Bork, you're a federal agent! You represent the United States Government! Never end a sentence with a preposition."
"Oh, uh... Ya know that guy in whose camper they... I... I mean, that guy off in whose camper they were whacking?"
—friendlyfire, Dec 12 2002
   

       /Pendants would learn to mis-quote lyrics to popular music./   

       Followed by a barbeque at 9pm tonite.
—egbert, Feb 12 2003
   

       // mis-quote lyrics to popular music //   

       Mis-quote "to" or mis-quote "from" ?   

       Does this mean they will mis-quote the lyrics, accompanied by unrelated popular music, or that they will mis-quote relevant lyrics without music of any kind ?
—8th of 7, Feb 12 2003
   

       However they might misquote the lyrics, they will not mis-quote the lyrics.
—UnaBubba, Feb 13 2003
   

       Did you misquote me deliberately, or did you mis-quote (sic) me accidentally ?   

       Anyway, I was quoting.
—8th of 7, Feb 13 2003
   

       I have no recollection of that matter.
—UnaBubba, Feb 13 2003
   

       //Pendants would learn to mis-quote lyrics to popular music.//   

       By the way, both the American Heritage Dictionary and Webster's incorrectly identify the title of the song which gave rise to the term "grandfather clock". They refer to the song as "My Grandfather's Clock", but the correct title is actually "Grandfather's Clock", as may be confirmed by examining a scan of the original (1876) published sheet music.   

       Incidentally, I think Henry C. Work, the songwriter who penned Grandfather's Clock, liked floorstanding clocks better than wall-hanging ones. Two years after he published "Grandfather's Clock", he penned the very unimaginatively-titled "Sequel to Grandfather's Clock" in which he refers to grandfather's clock's replacement as "a vain stuck-up thing on the wall."
—supercat, Feb 13 2003
   

       Some things ignorant people say, that really annoy me:   

       >>YOUR<< a really nice person.   

       I didn't see nobody. (That means you saw someone duh!)   

       I'm going shopping at Safeway's. (Safeway's what?)   

       PIN number.   

       IRC chat.   

       Look over their.   

       Look over they're.   

       My parents have come to visit. There outside.   

       My parents have come to visit. Their outside.   

       Wear did you go?
—Lula, Jun 15 2003
   

       //Some things ignorant people say//

'Things that some ignorant people have written', surely?
—DrBob, Jun 16 2003
   

       Heh.
—UnaBubba, Jun 16 2003
   

       In Canada, we have had a commercial for a product called 'Fisherman's Friend', and the tag line at the end has been 'Effects you'. My significant other has to wrench the remote from my hands to prevent me from throwing it at the television. I am in desparate need of 'Pedants Anonymous'.
—Cr0esus47, Jun 16 2003
   

       "And with that, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the case of the People versus Steve DeGroof is proven".
—8th of 7, Jun 16 2003
   

       Is pedantry a term restricted to the use of language?   

       (Note the omission of <which is>).   

       As an accomplished pedant, in the linguistic sense, I is branching out into other mediums ((Oops) - or should I have typed "oops" - damn, I do not know)), (is this comma correctly juxtaposed and have I used that verb correctlly? And did that sentence need two question marks? ).   

       To address the substantive issue, I am considering a career in checking inventories prepared by property (or is that realty, or ,even , Realty?) agents, on behalf of ingoing (not hyphenated, I hope) and outgoing (again, I wonder) tenants.   

       My daughter (or, to be more accurate, the only daughter of my wife and me) has begun renting a home and the agents' inventory states that the garage thereto (the property, that is, not the agents (oh?? dear), contained three pine cones when they prepared it (the inventory, not the property); the same inventory makes no mention of the parent trees, whose progeny were accidentally kicked into the garage; a fact of which I, naturally, have proof.   

       The point being that such irony calls into question the accuracy of the agents' inventory.   

       Would my mindset (yep (aaaagh), it is in the OED) be catered for in any country? If so, please state the country in point. I had in mind Botswana. However, that country may not suit my Eirean temperament.   

       Please help me.
—Mancunian pedant, Jul 08 2003
   

       Gosh, I bow my head to you, a more pedantic pedant than I. What else is wrong, linguistically, please?   

       I fear that I may never progress to non-linguistic media.
—Mancunian pedant, Jul 08 2003
   

       [buddha_pest] Usual English gramm_e_r requires one to start a sentence with a capital letter. ;)
—silverstormer, Jul 08 2003
   

       Silverstormer: gramm[a]r.   

       Mancunian pedant: I believe you mean non-verbal media. Non-linguistic media would mean media not pertaining to the *study* of language. Also, I don't see how you can be both Mancunian and Eireian.
—hob, Jul 08 2003
   

       "The parent trees, whose progeny were accidentally kicked into the garage" - progeny is a singular noun.
—hob, Jul 08 2003
   

       Also, parentheses within parentheses should be written as brackets: "(yep [aaaagh], it is in the OED)".
—hob, Jul 08 2003
   

       [hob] Silverstormer is actually written all lower-case; [silverstormer] thank-you.
—silverstormer, Jul 08 2003
   

       [silverstormer], you mean "written *in* all lower-case" and there's no hyphen in "thank you." Thank you.
—hob, Jul 08 2003
   

       Main Entry: thank-you
Pronunciation: 'tha[ng]-"kyü
Function: noun
Etymology: from the phrase thank you used in expressing gratitude
Date: 1792
: a polite expression of one's gratitude
—silverstormer, Jul 08 2003
   

       You got me. I guess I am cured...Cross me off the pedants membership list.
—silverstormer, Jul 08 2003
   

       ~I is branching out into other mediums~   

       Oops, indeed.   

       ~and the agents' inventory states that the garage thereto (the property, that is, not the agents (oh?? dear)~   

       What, exactly, are you trying to say there? How many agents are involved? Did you intend to use two question marks, after 'oh'? If so, why did you believe that appropriate?
—UnaBubba, Jul 08 2003
   

       hob: You have me on the "progeny" issue. Blast!   

       It is quite possible to be Mancunian (although I have not claimed so to be)and have a temperament typical of one who is not a Mancunian.   

       Non-linguistic media not only would, but does, mean what you say and is exactly what I meant.   

       Zanzibar:   

       As to your first point, this was a reference to the style of a certain popular comedic entertainer.   

       The agents number four, in partnership.   

       My use of two question marks was deliberate and intended to signal my uncertainty as to the spelling of "oh".   

       I so enjoy the company of those better versed in the noble art of pedantry than I.
—Mancunian pedant, Jul 09 2003
   

       <wheels steam powered soapbox from under bed, mounts, places tongue firmly in cheek>   

       I read the idea and annotations with interest. My take on this is that a lot of the point is being missed.