The Vent and Rant Thread

[4691mls]

Why are these words so hard for so many people to get right? These are similar words that I frequently see misused in various online forums. They are not words that only someone with an advanced degree would be expected to know.

I've seen these long before most people started using phones with autocorrect to communicate online.

This happens even when the writing is generally accurate and typo-free and it appears the person is fluent in English (I give a pass to anyone who is clearly making an effort to communicate in English as second language).


Lose/Loose

Sell/sale

Wary/Weary

Tract/track

Waste/waist

Brake/break

Dominant/dominate

[ownedbycats]

I vaguely remember a fanfic with the waist/waste mistake... during a love scene. The mental image of that slightly ruined whatever mood the author was going for.

[Hemmi]

What drives me nuts is the there/their/they're. Especially in self published books. Dude, find a good editor and proofreader. If you can't be bothered to do that, not reading your whole book.

I quit reading one that kept substituting evan for even. Multiple times. I couldn't stand it. When I want to start editing the book, it's time to quit it and read something else.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

Lose/Loose

I'll excuse "lose/loose" as a very easy typo either way (double hitting the o or not hitting it hard enough) because I do it all the time, and I promise it's not because I chose (...or even choose...) the wrong word.

I'll get behind the rest of your rant, if you'll get behind my peeve of mistaken idioms, like "for all intensive purposes," or "you've got another thing coming."
Oh, and I also hate when people use "factoid" to mean "fact." I may have posted about that one in the past.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by ApK

I'll excuse "lose/loose" as a very easy typo either way (double hitting the o or not hitting it hard enough) because I do it all the time, and I promise it's not because I chose (...or even choose...) the wrong word.

I'll get behind the rest of your rant, if you'll get behind my peeve of mistaken idioms, like "for all intensive purposes," or "you've got another thing coming."
Oh, and I also hate when people use "factoid" to mean "fact." I may have posted about that one in the past.

OH yes. I really dislike both--homonym errors and the idioms. It's just...urgh. And today's horrid abuse of "literally" to mean "not." (figuratively, IOW). (sigh).

Hitch

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

I do understand that sometimes cashiers need to work in the stockroom or something during slow times, but there needs to be some way to summon them when a customer is ready to check out.

There is. There's dirt cheap motion/proximity sensors that do the job. They go off all the time when I get close to a checkout in other stores. They set them on the counter when they go in back, and come out and turn them off when a customer gets close enough to trigger them.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

There is. There's dirt cheap motion/proximity sensors that do the job. They go off all the time when I get close to a checkout in other stores. They set them on the counter when they go in back, and come out and turn them off when a customer gets close enough to trigger them.

I've never seen that. Sounds like a good idea.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by ApK

I'll excuse "lose/loose" as a very easy typo either way (double hitting the o or not hitting it hard enough) because I do it all the time, and I promise it's not because I chose (...or even choose...) the wrong word.

I'll get behind the rest of your rant, if you'll get behind my peeve of mistaken idioms, like "for all intensive purposes," or "you've got another thing coming."
Oh, and I also hate when people use "factoid" to mean "fact." I may have posted about that one in the past.

Oh I will absolutely get behind your peeve!

And then there's "should of" instead of "should've"

Or people who consistently misspell the brand name of a product in a discussion of said product even when the correct name is right there at the top of the forum.


I have wondered if sale/sell might be an English -as-a-second-language error (in which case I would be forgiving).
Mobileread is actually where I've seen that one - for example if someone has an e-reader they're no longer using they may say they're going to "sale" it

[Hitch]

Oh, joy and frabjous day.

Our microwave just died. All y'alls know, it's purportedly impossible to find appliances right now.

G*dd*ammit. Just G*dd*mmit! And I can't even drive right now, (hell, can barely sit, or walk) to see what is actually out there, and buyable, IF anything.

[I can't think of a good thing to put here for a huge irate grumbly word. GRUMBLE will have to do.]

Hitch

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Oh, joy and frabjous day.

Our microwave just died. All y'alls know, it's purportedly impossible to find appliances right now.

G*dd*ammit. Just G*dd*mmit! And I can't even drive right now, (hell, can barely sit, or walk) to see what is actually out there, and buyable, IF anything.

[I can't think of a good thing to put here for a huge irate grumbly word. GRUMBLE will have to do.]

Hitch

With full sympathy and just as a distraction, I’d miss my toaster/convection oven more than the microwave. They both died at the same time last summer and while both were replaced, I know which was the priority.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by issybird

With full sympathy and just as a distraction, I’d miss my toaster/convection oven more than the microwave. They both died at the same time last summer and while both were replaced, I know which was the priority.

Mr. H lives and dies with the microwave; he loves a specific brand of (delicate shudder) instant coffee, declines to use my Keurig, and heats his water using the micro all day long.** He will be Mr. Miserable Angry Man until we get it replaced. (sigh). The dishwasher has had a wee problem for some months, maybe two years now, but it's been usable, so [shrug] before now, but at this point, we may as well re-appliance the whole damned fandango if we can actually find a suite of appliances that will work and will fit (these are 15 y.o., give or take) and will actually be here despite the absurd supply chain issues.

I'm sorry about your convection oven. I can hear Taps playing from over here.

About his instant coffee:

Spoiler:

**To be fair, the instant coffee is Nescafe's Taster's Choice French Roast, and damned if it's not really quite drinkable. Only instant I've ever found that I can drink without feeling cheated.

Hitch

[badgoodDeb]

A quick partial solution might be to mail order a cool electric kettle. That only solves the heating-water problem, but it might be a fun toy till you can find the proper replacement?

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Oh, joy and frabjous day.

Our microwave just died. All y'alls know, it's purportedly impossible to find appliances right now.

G*dd*ammit. Just G*dd*mmit! And I can't even drive right now, (hell, can barely sit, or walk) to see what is actually out there, and buyable, IF anything.

[I can't think of a good thing to put here for a huge irate grumbly word. GRUMBLE will have to do.]

Hitch

Fortunately, when ours died over the holidays, Amazon got us a replacement Panasonic in a matter of a couple of days, all without leaving the house. (Which was good, because we were completely snowed in for a week.) I mostly use one for thawing, reheating, and cooking frozen veg. So I can live without it, but certainly don't want to.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Yes, I'm struggling with a lack of relief from the opiates, too. Gabapentin has helped a bit, and I'm taking HUGE doses of steroids and anti-virals, too. The steroids and the gaba help a small amount. It is...it is just unbelievable.

Hitch

A follow up to the shingles discussion. There was a new episode this week of "The Nature of Things" with David Suzuki that discussed many aspects of cannabis. One of the things that he mentioned was that there was fairly conclusive evidence of the efficacy of cannabis for neuropathy (ie, nerve pain, ie, the kind of pain that is why shingles is so horrible and mostly non-responsive to opioids.)

For us here in Canada, that's easy. And really, even in the US there are 37 states where medical cannabis is legal. Sadly, if you're in the UK, you're out of luck for a legal source. For most of the EU, I don't know.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

Why are these words so hard for so many people to get right? These are similar words that I frequently see misused in various online forums. They are not words that only someone with an advanced degree would be expected to know.

I've seen these long before most people started using phones with autocorrect to communicate online.

This happens even when the writing is generally accurate and typo-free and it appears the person is fluent in English (I give a pass to anyone who is clearly making an effort to communicate in English as second language).

I forgive casual posters to online forums and social media, but the errors that journalists make do get on my wick

I ran into an article in the Sydney Morning Herald (supposedly our newspaper of record) over the weekend that referred to: "…the tents of healthcare…" in its strapline, and within the article itself, there was: "…tenants of medicine being disruptive…" .

A posted a comment suggesting they try tenets - in which there's only one 'n'. They didn't post my comment but they did make the corrections.

Then on Sunday there's this ==>> Para 1, line 2, word 1

It's just possible that the King would know what the word means, but it's London to brick on that Danica doesn't.

Spoiler:

Voluntarism is "any metaphysical or psychological system that assigns to the will a more predominant role than that attributed to the intellect", or equivalently "the doctrine that will is the basic factor, both in the universe and in human conduct".

I suggested Volunteering might be better, but it's from an agency, so its still there - as it is at Yahoo. You'd think Reuters, AP, Bloomberg etc would have sub-editors.