Home › Forums › West Seattle Rants & Raves › RANT: THEN VS. THAN
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September 2, 2008 at 6:59 pm #636580
JoBParticipantis either of your bosses over 50?
i don’t know what happened to education in the early 70’s, but i do know that my youngest brother graduated from the same high school i did.. with honors,(though not in advanced classes)in 1976 without a basic knowledge of grammar, spelling and the ability to write a term paper.
thankfully, his first year of college english and a little help from a big sis cured him…
I have talked with other people who saw a deterioration in english basics in Oregon schools at about the same time.
if so, it’s had at least two generations to become the “norm”.
September 2, 2008 at 7:18 pm #636581
JenVMemberno, she was 37. She had no other excuse other than just being dumb as a post. But, she was pretty and had big knockers – which I suspect was a main reason behind her promotion to supervisor…because she was completely unqualified to even work in the mail room.
September 2, 2008 at 7:19 pm #636582
beachdrivegirlParticipantMaybe with the current education system it might have a bit to do with the WASL test b/c teachers do not have as much time available to concentrate on teaching anything other than the WASL test.
September 2, 2008 at 7:40 pm #636583
datamuseParticipantThe ones that get me are “baited breath” (with what does one bait it, I wonder?) and “here, here” (it should be “hear, hear”).
I’m a fan of text messaging, personally. I use it a lot when traveling because, unlike a phone call, it doesn’t need to be answered at once. Handy when I can’t keep track of shifting time zones. It’s also great in the library, where I work, because it’s less disturbing to others.
My phone has a nifty word-recognition and spellcheck feature that makes texting (yeah, I verbed a noun there, I know) a breeze, and you can even add words to it (it didn’t know “pelican”, which surprised me).
If job applicants are texting employers, that’s a problem of not understanding etiquette, not a problem with the technology per se (and that’s another one that bugs me: people who type it “per say”).
September 2, 2008 at 7:44 pm #636584
HPMemberOk just a question but post 51 says “is either of your bosses over 50 ” should that read “are either” that sounds better to me. One of my high school english teachers was so funny, he would yell at us all the time and demand respect and attention, many didn’t like him but he would do this thing and make us say things outloud that we had written and basically make us hear ourselves to double check things. He would also use the DUH thing with us alot which made us listen to him because he was speaking our language (as high schoolers) so to speak.
September 3, 2008 at 4:20 pm #636585
beachdrivegirlParticipantI know i am a bad speller etc. I do know the difference between than/then, you’re/your, there, their, they’re etc… but i have noticed that i constantly when typing end up typing your instead of you’re… it is so odd b/c i know the difference but yet still do it 95% of the time wrong. i wonder why?
September 3, 2008 at 4:30 pm #636586
JulieMemberHP: It’s “is either”, but it would be “are both”.
September 3, 2008 at 8:10 pm #636587
ZenguyParticipantLol, the stuff that drives me nuts is people spelling cannot as can not and people adding ‘s to the end of Pike’s Market and Queen Anne’s hill…hello, they do not own them.
My favorites story of misusage was at a Credit Union in Alaska where a guy came in to complain about one of checks being “insignificant”…I had to walk away to keep from laughing.
September 3, 2008 at 8:28 pm #636588
acemotelParticipantA sign on a restaurant at Alki yesterday:
“We are close do to freezer problems.”
(I love the restaurant, BTW)
September 3, 2008 at 9:17 pm #636589
mellaw6565MemberAnybody ever check out Engrish.com? pretty funny stuff! I saw a lot of it overseas.
September 3, 2008 at 9:23 pm #636590
CPMemberI love Engrish! My favorite is the “Mongorian Beef” sign in Nikko Teriyaki. They could spell it with a silent q for all I care – I love their food!!!
September 3, 2008 at 10:07 pm #636591
ZenguyParticipantReading Asian menus is a favorite of mine.
September 3, 2008 at 11:29 pm #636592
BayouMemberAs Mark Twain put it, “I don’t give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.” ;)
September 4, 2008 at 6:27 am #636593
JanSParticipantmy excuse? I have dyslexic fingers. That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it :)
September 4, 2008 at 6:27 am #636594
JanSParticipantor…you could just blame it on the keyboard ….hehehe
September 4, 2008 at 6:40 am #636595
mellaw6565MemberI saw a hair salon in Korea with a sign that said “We’ve” instead of “weave”
September 5, 2008 at 12:37 pm #636596
charlabobParticipantWhat I really mind are words I want to use a lot and can’t because I’m not sure which one to use. My favorite example:
Baited versus bated breath:
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/56550.html
I come down on the side of “bated” — because I have to go with the Bard over Harry Potter.
I can never remember how to spell “weird” and I want to use it at least 50 times a day. I had to expand my flaky memory to “i before e except after c and except in your favorite word, weird”
September 5, 2008 at 5:28 pm #636597
addParticipantEnglish translations on foreign menus – my all-time favorite, on a menu in Paris this summer: “Farm chicken and his juice”
September 5, 2008 at 8:44 pm #636598
WSratsinacageMemberengrish.com, that was funny as sh!t. Thanks Mellaw. We’ve, LOL
September 7, 2008 at 5:58 am #636599
MagpieParticipantChinglish is a very funny book that has different English translations in public places in China…it’s quite a hoot!! I say bring back nuns to teach grammar and English!! I think we get rusty because of spell and grammar check since we don’t really have to think about what we are typing.
September 8, 2008 at 7:01 pm #636600
jkboisonMemberThe one that drives me crazy is when people use the word ‘pitcher’ instead of ‘picture’ of someone…….
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