Grammar Gripes and Other Psycholinguistic Squawkings

roachboy, thank you for posting 'non-errors', it was fascinating.

Here are a couple more on the same theme:

A series of articles by Tina Blue
http://grammartips.homestead.com/articleindex.html

The home page of 'The Self Appointed Grammar Police'
http://sagp.miketaylor.org.uk/

 

MI Auto News posted today: "Whose ready for some football?" Of course, they meant "Who is ready for some football?"

It really frustrates me to read how the automotive industry press mangles the language. They hire editors, but regularly publish articles that make the authors appear to be illiterate grease monkeys.

Nice links, Zen!

 

I think that, anymore, they copy/paste into a formatted layout, only editing for length. My old South Campus Journal staff had higher standards.

 

it's not like copy editing is suddenly impossible because of the net.

i know a lot of writers who put tremendous care into their surfaces. i put a lot of care into the production of the surfaces i make too. much of that follows from the simple fact that if you're trying to produce a perceptual distortion in a given piece, you can't break register. the more minimal the piece the more pressure bears on the surface.

so errors follow from a simple lack of attention to craft.

but craft is all there is.

unless you assume your audience is stupid.

but even then, you are producing a particular perceptual state when you stage the world in this way or that.

so the only ways in which such lapses in craft make sense is (a) you are in a hurry and are just spitting out stuff or (b) you assume no-one's really paying attention anyway.

but out here in the underground, no-one's paying attention. people produce objects all the time that no-one knows exist. some of those objects are really lovely. so that can't be it.

so (c) you have contempt for your audience. but not in an interesting way. rather, it's contempt in a sloppy, stupid way. so it rebounds back onto whomever is producing this stuff. why would you do that to yourself?

at this point, i no longer understand things enough to say.

 

I work at a small newspaper, that is trying to survive as a printed version. Incomes from ads are very important, we are on the mercy of marketing these days. Older journalists are usually professionals with editing their own stories, but these days they aren't given enough time to put on finishing their stories. Those, who edit news in the evenings from other sources, often have too much to do, and seem to have problems with technology. Computers and figuring out how to do stuff, when the procedures constantly keep changing, is giving them grey hair. Younger folks, I've noticed, don't get as stressed as the older over computer issues, but some of them can't handle grammar issues well enough.

 

roachboy, I suspect option "a" is more at play than the others, although "c" does happen.

I hear you, Doris. Trying to stay relevant in print in this 24 hour news cycle world puts a lot of pressure on a publication. My son was the editor of a chess magazine for a short time. The pressures of the production schedule were horribly nerve-wracking. The writers rarely sent articles in a publishing friendly form. He often was up all night re-writing and editing. I was proud of the work he produced, but I'm happy that he moved on from that gig.

 

I remember that.
damn, I'm old

 

I think it might be apt to repeat the lyrics to one of the few songs that deals with grammar and spelling as part of a love song.

Underwhelmed - Sloan
She was underwhelmed
If that's a word
I know it's not
'Cause I looked it up
That's one of those skills
That I learned in my school

I was overwhelmed
And I'm sure of that one
'Cause I learned it
Back in grade school
When I was young

She said, "You is funny"
I said, "You are funny"
She said, "Thank you"
And I said, "Never mind"
And she rolled her eyes
Her beautiful eyes

The point is not the grammar
It's the feeling
That is certainly in my heart
But not in hers
But not in hers
But not in hers
But not in hers

We were talkin' about people
That eat meat
I felt like an ass
'Cause I was one
She said, "It's okay"
But I felt like
I just ate my young

She's obviously
A person with a cause
I told her that
I don't smoke or drink
She told me to loosen up
On her way to the L.C.

She skips her classes
And gets good grades
I go to my courses
Rain or shine
She's passed her classes
While I attend mine
While I attend mine
While I attend mine
While I attend

She wrote out a story
About her life
I think it included
Something about me
I'm not sure of that
But I'm sure of one thing
Her spelling's atrocious

She told me to read
Between the lines
And tell her exactly
What I got out of it
I told her affection had two F's
Especially when you're dealing with me

I usually notice
All the little things
Once time I was proud of it
She says it's annoying
She cursed me up and down
And rolled her R's
(Her beautiful R's)

She says I'm caught up
In triviality
All I really wanna know
Is what she thinks of me
I think my love for her
Makes me miss the point
I miss the point
I miss the point
I miss the point
I miss the point
I miss the point
I miss the point

 

From my childhood. The Grammar Slammer Bammer.

 

^^ Oops, I probably make that mistake a lot.

 

I played around with 'some' and came up with the following:

Here are some logs for the fire
There are some sausages on the BBQ
There are some coins on the table

Here is some wood for the fire
There is some meat on the BBQ
there is some money on the table

The above applies 'some' to purals, and then to their collective terms.

I see another case which involves a distinction between quantity and amount:
'Some sausages' refers to more than one sausage.
One sausage can be cut up and I be given some slices.

Here is some sausage

 

or you could be referencing a sausage whose name you don't know or care about particularly to another person in the course of a conversation in, say, a publick house where for some reason you are continuously being interrupted by drunken sausages.