Sloppy language

Yes indeed. I am annoyed when people don't differentiate between disinterested and uninterested. Again, there is a difference which clarifies meaning.

Please, if you think that these things are not worth worrying about, will you note that this is a thread for Pedants and that we like to discuss such things, which you think are trivia. Please don't bother to tell us that you think that! Thank you

I think that!

Well said Wheniwasyourage. I hope folk take notice. I would prefer not to be accused again of starting a thread about trivia

I wish people wouldn't say.....
"The proof is in the pudding."
The saying is, "The proof of the pudding is in the eating."

That annoys me too * rockgran*.

And why do people say "can I" when they ought to say " may I".

When I think back to my childhood, I must have had a pedant for a mother. ?

Off of drives me mad ?

I do enjoy the pedant? pedantic ? threads.
I'm afraid to choose one or the other term. Perhaps someone can clarify.
Keep them coming Greenfinch

Marydoll
Dissatisfied is a strong word meaning annoyed or angry while unsatisfied means not entirely satisfied.

Greenfinch, I meant I was unsure of the use of the words pedant and pedantic in describing the threads.?

I was a super pedant when I was teaching. I drove my colleagues mad!

"For free!"
It should be "Free" or "For nothing" ........Grrrr!

Sorry Marydoll I misunderstood. Didn't read carefully enough.

I'm the " silent pedant " otherwise I'd have no friends. There's not a day goes by that I couldn't pick someone up about their grammar or pronunciations. I can only blame my English teacher 68 years ago.

I have marvellous self-control too to stop myself becoming paranoid.

NanKate it drives me mad too.

Oh the damn pudding thing! I sometimes wonder if it's the most often misquoted saying! (That doesn't look quite correct, grammar wise )

Kirsty (or Kirstie) Allsopp (or Allsop) actually said "the proof is in the pudding" during an episode of "Location, Location, Location"

Mr P nearly had to fan me with a copy of the Racing Post, I was so incensed that he feared for my blood pressure!

The other saying usually misquoted is - money is the root of all evil
It is actually - the love of money is the root of evil. Which is quite different.

The thread is pedantic and is for the enjoyment of pendants.

To clarify further, pedantic is an adjective and pendant a noun, so if we are really fussy we are pedantic pendants!

I thought for years that my mother was the only person who thought the expression was "helping lame ducks over stiles" when she meant "helping lame dogs over stiles".

I assumed that she, like all Danes, had been unable to hear the difference between "duck - dog", "luck - log" or "fuck- fog" when learning English and that nothing anyone could say ever convinced her that ducks if they wanted to cross a stile would probably fly.

However, latterly, I have heard others who said "helping lame ducks over stiles"

I have heard of lame ducks but not helping them over stiles.Nor dogs for that matter.

I have marvellous self-control too to stop myself becoming paranoid

Paranoid? Without the self-control would you think people were plotting against you? Why?

I've just heard yet another author use 'into the eye of the storm' incorrectly.
This one about evacuee children coming from the safety of Wales into a Blitz area, in other words into danger.

The eye of the storm is the peaceful centre - it is not chaotic, far from it.
How does that get past so many people before publication?

Sloppy (or no) research

Has anyone else noticed how many people use 'empathise' when they mean 'sympathise'?

Yes, Nanny27 and I very much doubt any of them can actually feel my pain.

Yes, Nanny27, but you can use both in the same sentence.

What about ambiguous and ambivalent? People often confuse them too.

Well I'm pleased to see you've highlighted 'paranoid' BradfordLass. I've long been puzzled as to why this word has taken on a very different meaning to its dictionary definition. It seems to be in general use now as a synonym for neurotic or over anxious. I wonder why that has happened?

Yes I agree but the other day on the news someone was 'empathising' with a couple who had tragically lost their son in a road accident. It seemed highly unlikely to me

It irritates me when the weather forecasters say ‘the remernants of a storm’ etc instead of remnants. I heard it said three times last week. Isn’t there someone in the BBC to give advice to the presenters ?