Today's Lesson

[jackofallgeeks]

I'm such an english nazi. Which is funny, because I didn't used to be. (Now i'm concerned if "didn't used to be" is proper english...") When I was a kid, all the way up through highschool, I was always the Math/Sci sort. I liked reading a lot and such, but... I was horrible at spelling, you can ask anyone who knew me before, say, Junior Year in highschool. I'm still not grand, but I'm infinitely better. I was always pretty good with grammar, too, and when we did sentence diagramming in 7th grade I was the only one who had even done it before.

Or something. Anyways, a couple friends of mine have, uhm, misused a couple common sayings recently, and it seems to have bothered me. I didn't want to correct them then and there, making them look foolish and me look pedantic, but...

Firstly, it's "the whole sordid story," not 'sorted'. While 'sorted' may make a kind of sense, 'sordid' mean dirty, filthy, or vile, and it falls along the same lines as "all the gory details."

Secondly, contrary to common misconception, you "nip something in the bud," not the butt. As a contemporary colloquialism, 'butt' makes sense (though one might figure that that would imply sexual harassment, or at least flirtation), the phrase comes from gardening, where you would nip a bud of a plant before it had time to mature and flower.

I almost went into College for an English Major, and semantics and etymology were always what I was most interested in.
I'll shut up, now.

Comments

[tzohekiti.livejournal.com]

*giggles* Dear, you sound like my grade school english teacher.

[surichan.livejournal.com]

You sound like me! ::lives in thrall:: Oh, dearheart, you make this old soul proud.

Lately I've been pruning Mike of his speech fallacies, and one of the biggest he's been using lately is "flip the bill", as in, "Mom's flipping the bill for dinner tonight."

I, of course, have to calmly explain that one foots a bill, one does not flip it. I've had to do this three times this past two weeks. I think it's starting to annoy him. ::smiles:: But there really is no excuse for continued ignorance in these matters. To be able to use one's language properly is of the utmost importance.

[nif.livejournal.com]

Darling, I am an English nazi as well. It is good to see that other people are continuing the tradition of good grammar. The one thing that always gets me is when people say "He suicided himself". I'm like.. what? No! Terrible. And insure vs. ensure... oh man.

Your Younger Brother

[whtepckupprncss.livejournal.com]

Would you be willing to share some of your English Naziness with your younger brother Timothy? It drives me up a wall his horrible spelling. I dont mean to sound critical I just cant stand the fact that he's going into eleventh grade at 16 years old and cant spell.

Hate to do this to you . . . well, actually, I don't ;p

[naughtjennifer.livejournal.com]

I think the word you're lookign for is "pedagogical," not pedantic. Pedagogical, coming from pedagogue, meaning overbearing, blowhardy, speaks to hear the sound of his own voice, or prove that he's smart, etc.(yes, I know this isn't a full sentence. I also don't care. ;p) Pedantic, however means having knowledge intellectually, but with no actual experience.