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Etymology and Grammar - Rules, Tricks, and Ways to Remember Things


DonRocks

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There are many words that are problematic for me, some of which I've developed my own system (a very useful system) of remembering.

For example:

breeches vs. breaches - potentially a very embarrassing mistake.

Breeches = trousers (notice how the word "looks" almost Shakespearean - it's also the same spelling as "leeches," another old-looking word). "Leeches in my breeches! Ahhhhh!!!!"

Breaches = breaking a law, a rule, or even a dam (I remember this by "Broken Reaches," as in "breaking the long arm of the law"). "Breaches" also has the same first-four letters as "Break."

If anyone has developed their own rules for remembering things, I encourage you to share them with us - I have numerous ones, but wouldn't be able to think of them all at once.

Though there is the Wilson-Kathkart Scandal which is *amazingly* useful in day-to-day living - I probably use it once a month for various reasons.

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See this post?

That's *the last time* I will ever use an apostrophe to describe an entire decade, e.g., "the 1980s." I always felt it was wrong to do so, but it just looked better with an apostrophe; however, it's incorrect from what I can see.

"Apostrophe" on the punctuationguide.com

1) Contractions

2) Plurals

3) Possessives

and that's it. The guide lists several exceptions for plural nouns, and it's worth reading to be familiar with them. 

I'm also slowly migrating towards Oxford - to heck with that newfangled Harvard - as my grammar standard, since that's more aligned with my world view of things:

"Apostrophe" on oxforddictionaries.com

From the Oxford guide (I do find it a little worrisome that they allow apostrophes for single numbers (e.g., 7's - do you *really* need an apostrophe in their example? Why should 10s be any different?) Still, it doesn't say you *must* use one; just in cases where clarity is needed - I think their example is a poor one. (I also wonder what they say about nested parentheses ... meh, fuck 'em.))

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It's very important to remember this grammatical rule.

There are one or two cases in which it is acceptable to use an apostrophe to form a plural, purely for the sake of clarity:

  • you can use an apostrophe to show the plurals of single letters:

I've dotted the i's and crossed the t's.

Find all the p's in appear.

  • you can use an apostrophe to show the plurals of single numbers:

Find all the number 7’s.

These are the only cases in which it is generally considered acceptable to use an apostrophe to form plurals: remember that an apostrophe should never be used to form the plural of ordinary nouns, names, abbreviations, or numerical dates.

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12 minutes ago, dcs said:

Were you aware that the words "flammable" and "inflammable" have the same meaning?  It's true.  Look it up.  [Note the correct use of an apostrophe.]

This is a nasty set of words, and about the only good way I can think of to remember it is by remembering "inflame," which means "to cause inflammation." 

That said, "inflammable" needs to be shown the exit. 

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On 7/11/2016 at 2:26 PM, dcs said:

Were you aware that the words "flammable" and "inflammable" have the same meaning?  It's true.  Look it up.  [Note the correct use of an apostrophe.]

"Is it flammable or inflammable?"
"Yes."
"No, I mean is it *either* flammable *or* inflammable?"
"Yes."
"Does the damned thing catch fire?!"
"Yes."
"So it's flammable."
"Yes."
"And it's not inflammable."
"Yes it is."
"You just said it wasn't."
"No I didn't."
"You said it was flammable!"
"It is."
"So it's not inflammable."
"Yes it is."
"Jesus."

Hu.jpg

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Burglary vs. Robbery

Until about two minutes ago, I didn't know the precise difference between these terms. If you think about it for a moment, it's somewhat obvious, but nobody ever thinks about it!

Burglary: Unlawful entry of premises with the intent of committing a crime (not necessarily theft!)

Robbery: Theft by force or threat of force.

So, if you're mugged on the sidewalk, you're robbed but not burglarized (hence the term "armed robbery").

If someone breaks into your house when you're out bowling, and steals your cat, you're burglarized but not robbed (hence the term "cat burglar" - hmm, maybe not).

CatBurglar.jpg

If someone breaks into a store and commits arson, they've also (by definition) committed burglary, even though they didn't take anything.

Did you know? I did not. This is one of those things you're ashamed to admit, but hell I didn't know.

And I want to have sex with Grace Kelly, but I suppose that would be a separate issue.

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Geoff Manaugh gets into pages and pages of the implications of this in his book "A Burglar's Guide to the City", published this year. An excerpt:

Quote

In California, burglary can be charged of anyone “who enters any house, room, apartment, tenement, shop, warehouse, store, mill, barn, outhouse or other building, tent, vessel … floating home … sealed cargo container … or mine or any underground portion thereof, with intent to commit grand or petit larceny or any felony.” Think about this: if you step into an abandoned mine “or any underground portion thereof” with no plans to steal anything, but instead simply intending to shoot an unlicensed handgun (a felony), you are legally guilty of burglary. Why? Because it took place inside a legally recognized artificial structure (the mine).

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On 8/28/2016 at 6:08 PM, DonRocks said:

Burglary: Unlawful entry of premises with the intent of committing a crime (not necessarily theft!)

Robbery: Theft by force or threat of force.

I learned this for the first time in law school. Burglary is a crime against property and robbery is a crime against the person. Kind of like smuggling is a crime against a border and trafficking is a crime against a person.

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I'd forgotten what "venal" (rhymes with "penal," as in penal colonies you fucking *perverts*!) meant. 

It means "susceptible to bribes," or essentially, "for sale," so remember "VENding." Not sure if it's the same root prefix, but works with me either way.

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On a similar note, remember that "venomous" is not the same as "poisonous." Arsenic is poisonous (a tough word to spell!), but not venomous. A rattlesnake is venomous because it secretes poison via biting - you can remember venomous by remembering "venous," (rhymes with "pe ...," oh, never mind). "Venous" means "relating to veins" (which venom is generally injected into via a bite) - I'm pretty sure that, by extension, anything that's venomous is alive, but depending on what it is, you won't be if you get bitten.

So, are jellyfish venomous or poisonous? I honestly don't know.

Mushrooms are poisonous. Sometimes.

---

Aren't I fun?

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2 hours ago, porcupine said:

If it bites you and you die, it was venomous.

If you eat it and you die, it was poisonous.

Jellyfish (some) are venomous..

¡Momiento!

(Sorry, finishing up "Narcos")

The odds of me dying from eating a jellyfish are infinitely (literally) higher than me dying by being bitten by one. 

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On 7/13/2016 at 9:05 AM, NolaCaine said:

It is COLD as a witch's !@# up there

I've always wondered about the etymology of "Cold as a witch's tit." Why are witches tits cold? They stand in front of bubbling cauldrons, chanting, "Double, double, toil and trouble"; they should be uncomfortably warm. Maybe it's when they're flying around on their broomsticks at 10,000 feet? And when they're up there, how do they not get mistaken for drones and shot down by the USAF? But why a tit in particular, as opposed to a more distal body part such as a finger, or a toe, or even their nose, which would seem to bear the brunt of the wind head-on. And how do their hats not fly off?

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2 hours ago, DonRocks said:

I've always wondered about the etymology of "Cold as a witch's tit." Why are witches tits cold? They stand in front of bubbling cauldrons, chanting, "Double, double, toil and trouble"; they should be uncomfortably warm. Maybe it's when they're flying around on their broomsticks at 10,000 feet? And when they're up there, how do they not get mistaken for drones and shot down by the USAF? But why a tit in particular, as opposed to a more distal body part such as a finger, or a toe, or even their nose, which would seem to bear the brunt of the wind head-on. And how do their hats not fly off?

It is because they are not very loving.

I first heard the phrase uttered by one of the boys on Monty Python's Flying Circus in the 1970s.  Eric Idle, I believe.  I always assumed they made it up, but it probably goes back further.

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On 12/26/2016 at 4:59 AM, DonRocks said:

I've always wondered about the etymology of "Cold as a witch's tit." Why are witches tits cold? They stand in front of bubbling cauldrons, chanting, "Double, double, toil and trouble"; they should be uncomfortably warm. Maybe it's when they're flying around on their broomsticks at 10,000 feet? And when they're up there, how do they not get mistaken for drones and shot down by the USAF? But why a tit in particular, as opposed to a more distal body part such as a finger, or a toe, or even their nose, which would seem to bear the brunt of the wind head-on. And how do their hats not fly off?

It is new year's eve and I am reflecting on my year.  I regret to admit that the quote Don's quoting, was mine. It does not matter from where this phrase originated.  What matters is that I posted a phrase that normalizes the molestation of a person and judges harshly her attributes. Why is a cold body part necessarily bad?  Why should anybody grab anybody's anything?  Why call a body part something many find offensive? I feel very bad about this.

I will not, in 2017, grab anyone, witch or not, against his or her will.

I will accept all people, hot, warm, cold, and those in between, as valuable.

Also, since I am confessing, my 3 year old just called me a "ditch" because I am "computering". So I'll stop now. Happy New Year.

 

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On 7/13/2016 at 9:05 AM, NolaCaine said:

It is COLD as a witch's !@# up there

I'm quite confident that nobody would accuse you of normalizing molestation of a person because of this. :)

And if they do? Fuck 'em.

Men's testicles are stored in the scrotum for the precise purpose of keeping them cool.

Happy New Year to you, too, Nolacaine.

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Forget Etymology and Grammar.  Step back a bit for those who need remedial help on the most basic elements of English.  I can't spell.  Never could.  Never focused on spelling.  I'm simply atrocious.   Fortunately I've gotten into the habit of researching spelling all the time.  I now do it religiously.  Of course spellcheck helps as invariably I see whatever I've spelled as wrong.

How bad is it???

I'm in the midst of updating adwords advertising campaigns for some of the websites I handle.  Adwords is an advertising element on search engines that enables a website to show higher on a computer screen.

In the course of reviewing this I noticed a two word phrase that quite frankly I would spell incorrectly.  OMG.  I'm in a terrible minority of horrific spellers.  Over several years this campaign showed over 11,000 times for the phrase spelled correctly and 27 times for the phrase spelled incorrectly.  

I would be in the minority.  That is horrific.  Thank God for spellcheck and training myself to research the spelling of everything!!!!   
 

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2 hours ago, DaveO said:

Forget Etymology and Grammar.  Step back a bit for those who need remedial help on the most basic elements of English.  I can't spell.  Never could. 

1 hour ago, dracisk said:

I think many of us will be joining you as bad spellers. I used to be an excellent speller, but I blame spellcheck for my gradual decline in spelling ability.

You both spell just fine - it's when people's brains work faster than their fingers that mistakes creep in. I'm convinced spelling is more concentration than anything else (yes, there's some rote memory involved, too) - I also think that reading challenging literature helps.

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On 3/19/2018 at 4:19 PM, DonRocks said:

You both spell just fine - it's when people's brains work faster than their fingers that mistakes creep in. I'm convinced spelling is more concentration than anything else (yes, there's some rote memory involved, too) - I also think that reading challenging literature helps.

Not me.  I've been a terrible speller for decades.  Unlike dracisk spellcheck has probably improved my spelling, but the big difference is I look up the spelling of everything.  I mean everything.  As bad as I've been I was floored to see that in a universe of 11, 000+ users of a phrase my poor spelling would have put me in a teeny minority of 27 that misspelled a word.  Admittedly that is terrible.

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I learned to read on a whole language premise, not phonics.  I am now and always have been a very fast reader, and writer, with a more photographic memory, but it really wreaked havoc on my spelling skills.  I learned more phonics and grammar in learning foreign languages which I think helped my spelling somewhat, but my Mom has always been upset that I learned via whole language.  

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40 minutes ago, ktmoomau said:

I learned to read on a whole language premise, not phonics.  I am now and always have been a very fast reader, and writer, with a more photographic memory, but it really wreaked havoc on my spelling skills.  I learned more phonics and grammar in learning foreign languages which I think helped my spelling somewhat, but my Mom has always been upset that I learned via whole language.  

Ditto me and music - I have perfect pitch, and something of a freakish memory. As a result, I never bothered to read music when I was young - because of that, I need to memorize pieces to play them, and - worse - I will *never* be able to play chamber music, which sucks more than I can describe.

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