Sorry. Have to do it.

lend/loan
infer/imply
set/sit
lie/lay
who/whom
theirselves

Even better, I had a boss who was a very serious and egotistical guy. He could butcher metaphors like nobody's business. The funniest was watching the faces of folks who wouldn't call him out on them. See if you can figure out what the hell he meant. These are real:

"We don't want to whistle pass Dixie."

"She made her bed. Now she has to eat out of it."

"I wouldn't touch that with a hose."

"I know its not pleasant, but we can't stick our heads in a sandbasket."

"His diabetes is so bad he needed to get a p**** transplant."
 
Folks,

This is a fascinating discussion :biggrin: but it's really no longer relevant to the USAFA forum. Thus, I'm moving it and leaving a re-direct.

Please feel free to continue the discussion in the Off-Topic forum!

Your friendly mod
 
Is 1985 suggesting that this disease is not just AFA related?
 
USAFA83GradWife said:
Well, for whatever its worth, if I mixed up principal and principle, I blame my Elementary school teacher. She always say "the princiPAL is your PAL". That stuck with me. :rolleyes:
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In hind sight, the principal probably was my pal. He helped keep me on the straight and narrow. However, at the time I sure didn't think the principal was my pal.
 
Wow. The first thought to come to mind is, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." There are a couple of glaring grammatical errors in the original post. Can anyone find them?
 
cricket said:
Wow. The first thought to come to mind is, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." There are a couple of glaring grammatical errors in the original post. Can anyone find them?
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The one that jumped out at me was about taking it "personal". :rolleyes:
 
You are correct. Most times, the proper word would be the adverb "personally" vs the adjective "personal. However, depending on where one grows up; certain colloquialism and forms of language is common and acceptable. It is acceptable to describe a person with an adjective and say they took something "personal'; which describes THEM as someone who thinks people are picking on them. Vs using the word "personally" to simply say they are reacting to a situation and internalizing it.

This is also common when using slang, street talk, etc... Grammatically, it can be correct or incorrect. Depending on the meaning. As much as some people don't like it, AIN'T, is an "acceptable" word.

But what's more important, is that I never once said anything about anyone's "GRAMMAR". I simply mentioned using the WRONG WORD when writing. Big difference. The English language is one of the most difficult. Especially with all it's homonyms. I simply pointed out that many people were using the wrong word. Not incorrect grammar, spelling, etc... Just a word that didn't mean what they wanted it to me.
 
Whom do you love?

just fixed it for Bo Diddley and George Thoroughgood:

I walk forty-seven miles of barbed wire,
I got a cobra snake for a necktie
A brand new house on the road side,
And it's made out of rattlesnake hide

Got a band new chimney put on top,
And it's a-made out of human skull
Come on take a little walk with me baby,
And tell me whom do you love?

Whom do you love?
Whom do you love?

Around the town I use a rattlesnake whip,
Take it easy baby don't you give me no lip
Whom do you love?
Whom do you love?

I've got a tombstone hand and a graveyard mind,
I'm just twenty-two and I don't mind dying
Whom do you love?
Whom do you love?
Whom do you love?
 
ED :thumb:

A favorite question of mine: Can you think of a sentence that can be spoken but not written?

How about this one: "In the English language we enjoy using three tos twos toos..." dang!
 
"The English language is one of the most difficult. Especially with all it's homonyms." Principle/principal are homophones, sound the same.
 
Good god shoot me now! If I wanted all this English education I'd go back to school! :rolleyes:
 
Freda'sMom said:
True story - Air Force Academy BFE''s a few years ago had printing on the envelope stating "Appointment Inclosed" instead of "Appointment Enclosed."
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The nom letter from my MOC is absolutely atrocious. Misspellings, grammar mistakes, word swaps such as those mentioned by OP, synonyms right next to each other (it says "will determine decide", and it seems to me like he was trying to figure out which word to use and forgot to remove one), and just poor use of the language are thrown all over the text.

I wish there was a polite way to correct the English in the letter and let the MOC know without being rude. The way it's written almost makes it difficult to understand, which makes me reluctant to want to show it to people on social media. Oh, the nitpicky things...
 
Idzak said:
"The English language is one of the most difficult. Especially with all it's homonyms." Principle/principal are homophones, sound the same.
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That is correct. I didn't say principal and principle were homonyms. I should have said the English language is difficult with its homonyms, homophone, homographs, etc. The thread has spread out to a grammar lesson instead of the vocabulary correction I was initially making.

But you are correct. Principal and principle are homophones. Fair as in equitable and fair as in carnival are homonyms.
 
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