So, I would have to read 30 pages, then tell all the reviewers how great they are?Each year ITE holds a call for abstracts for the following year’s Technical Conference and Exhibit and Annual Meeting and Exhibit. The submitted abstracts are subject to a membership peer review prior to being used by the Technical Program Committee to develop the program. ... Each reviewer will have one week to review a maximum of 30 250-word abstracts. These individuals will compliment the representatives from the councils and San Antonio who will serve as reviewers.
English language peeve
- mntetn
- Posts: 1127
- Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 7:20 am
- Location: Nashville, TN
English language peeve
I hate it when people who should know better, make this mistake:
- ulysses5019
- Purveyor of Avatars
- Posts: 19442
- Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:52 am
- Location: Los Angeles, CA
Re: English language peeve
mntetn wrote:I hate it when people who should know better, make this mistake:
So, I would have to read 30 pages, then tell all the reviewers how great they are?Each year ITE holds a call for abstracts for the following year’s Technical Conference and Exhibit and Annual Meeting and Exhibit. The submitted abstracts are subject to a membership peer review prior to being used by the Technical Program Committee to develop the program. ... Each reviewer will have one week to review a maximum of 30 250-word abstracts. These individuals will compliment the representatives from the councils and San Antonio who will serve as reviewers.
So, is peevisity the new gratuity?
I believe in the usefulness of useless information.
- gsabc
- Posts: 6493
- Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 8:03 am
- Location: Federal Bureaucracy City
- Contact:
Re: English language peeve
First the proofreaders, THEN the reviewers! One of my peeves as well. I turn off when a presenter's slides contain typos or grammatical errors. Worst example was a presentation by a well-known QA professional which had an obvious typo in a PowerPoint slide. He had made the same presentation at various conferences around the country. The slide was dated from when he created it - nearly two years before the presentation I attended. The Quality professional can't go back and correct the mistake??mntetn wrote:I hate it when people who should know better, make this mistake:
So, I would have to read 30 pages, then tell all the reviewers how great they are?Each year ITE holds a call for abstracts for the following year’s Technical Conference and Exhibit and Annual Meeting and Exhibit. The submitted abstracts are subject to a membership peer review prior to being used by the Technical Program Committee to develop the program. ... Each reviewer will have one week to review a maximum of 30 250-word abstracts. These individuals will compliment the representatives from the councils and San Antonio who will serve as reviewers.
Too much reliance on spell-checkers and calculators nowadays, so no one can spell, write with correct grammar or do simple math.
Edited to note that it was a PowerPoint slide, and easy to correct.
I just ordered chicken and an egg from Amazon. I'll let you know.
- Here's Fanny!
- Peekaboo!
- Posts: 1299
- Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2008 7:49 am
- littlebeast13
- Dumbass
- Posts: 31531
- Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 7:20 pm
- Location: Between the Sterilite and the Farberware
- Contact:
- SportsFan68
- No Scritches!!!
- Posts: 21295
- Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:36 pm
- Location: God's Country
I have mine too, especially when I see them from folkses who should know better.
The first non-work website I ever looked in on, I was invited by a co-worker to his home-brew site. He really did a good job explaining how to home-brew beer, but I was appalled by all the typos and misspellings and offered to help him correct them. He thanked me but said that as I looked around a bit more, I would discover that his site was the norm, not the exception, so would leave it as was.
I complimented this bored a long while back on its generally high-quality grammar, spelling, and usage and still feel the same. Sometimes it's a relief to look in here. Then I read something I disagree with . . .
The first non-work website I ever looked in on, I was invited by a co-worker to his home-brew site. He really did a good job explaining how to home-brew beer, but I was appalled by all the typos and misspellings and offered to help him correct them. He thanked me but said that as I looked around a bit more, I would discover that his site was the norm, not the exception, so would leave it as was.
I complimented this bored a long while back on its generally high-quality grammar, spelling, and usage and still feel the same. Sometimes it's a relief to look in here. Then I read something I disagree with . . .

-- In Iroquois society, leaders are encouraged to remember seven generations in the past and consider seven generations in the future when making decisions that affect the people.
-- America would be a better place if leaders would do more long-term thinking. -- Wilma Mankiller
-- America would be a better place if leaders would do more long-term thinking. -- Wilma Mankiller
- macrae1234
- Posts: 2307
- Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 1:57 pm
- Location: The Valley of the Sun
- NellyLunatic1980
- Posts: 7935
- Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 3:54 am
- Contact:
- ShitSandwich
- Merry Man
- Posts: 177
- Joined: Wed Nov 28, 2007 9:33 am
- Location: In your mouth!
- NellyLunatic1980
- Posts: 7935
- Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 3:54 am
- Contact:
- silvercamaro
- Dog's Best Friend
- Posts: 9608
- Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 11:45 am
i wont call it a peeve i will call it a befuddlement when otherwise seemingly educated people write long passages without considering the possibility of using capital letters or punctuation of any kind i never know if they dont know the difference or if they simply cant be bothered to try to communicate in standard english
Now generating the White Hot Glare of Righteousness on behalf of BBs everywhere.
- gsabc
- Posts: 6493
- Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 8:03 am
- Location: Federal Bureaucracy City
- Contact:
I have learned something today. My memory says I was taught to separate the number from the "s" by using the apostrophe. That is not the current usage. I don't know if I was misremembering or if usage has changed since my grammar education days. Is it the same if it's a number rather than a date? Examples:"The temperature is expected to be in the 90s/90's." or "He's in his 80s/80's."NellyLunatic1980 wrote:Another one of my pet peeves besides it's/its is when people write "the 1990's" or "the 90's". It should be "the 1990s" and "the '90s".
I just ordered chicken and an egg from Amazon. I'll let you know.
- tanstaafl2
- Posts: 3494
- Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 4:45 pm
- Location: I dunno. Let me check Google maps.
I take it you aren't a huge fan of e e cummings then...silvercamaro wrote:i wont call it a peeve i will call it a befuddlement when otherwise seemingly educated people write long passages without considering the possibility of using capital letters or punctuation of any kind i never know if they dont know the difference or if they simply cant be bothered to try to communicate in standard english
If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
~Mark Twain
Some people are like a Slinky. They are not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs...
~tanstaafl2
Nullum Gratuitum Prandium
Ne Illegitimi Carborundum
Cumann na gClann Uí Thighearnaigh
~Mark Twain
Some people are like a Slinky. They are not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs...
~tanstaafl2
Nullum Gratuitum Prandium
Ne Illegitimi Carborundum
Cumann na gClann Uí Thighearnaigh
- Rexer25
- It's all his fault. That'll be $10.
- Posts: 2899
- Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:57 am
- Location: Just this side of nowhere
Ya know, 1 thing I can't stand is people who shout all the time.
Like on TV last night, there was this guy selling something called the Awesome Auger, and if you bought now, they threw in the drill for free!
Like on TV last night, there was this guy selling something called the Awesome Auger, and if you bought now, they threw in the drill for free!
Last edited by Rexer25 on Fri Aug 15, 2008 11:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
Enough already. It's my fault! Get over it!
That'll be $10, please.
That'll be $10, please.
- NellyLunatic1980
- Posts: 7935
- Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 3:54 am
- Contact:
Yes, it's the same. Since the numbers don't possess anything, you can't use a possessive apostrophe-S. Nor can you use apostrophe-S as in a notation of the word "is" or "has". It has to be a plural S. Temperatures are in the 90s (nineties, not ninetie's or ninetie is) and people are in their 80s.gsabc wrote:Is it the same if it's a number rather than a date? Examples:"The temperature is expected to be in the 90s/90's." or "He's in his 80s/80's."
- TheCalvinator24
- Posts: 4886
- Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:50 am
- Location: Wyoming
- Contact:
Ah, but The temperature is in the 90s, and he is in his 80s.NellyLunatic1980 wrote:Yes, it's the same. Since the numbers don't possess anything, you can't use a possessive apostrophe-S. Nor can you use apostrophe-S as in a notation of the word "is" or "has". It has to be a plural S. Temperatures are in the 90s (nineties, not ninetie's or ninetie is) and people are in their 80s.gsabc wrote:Is it the same if it's a number rather than a date? Examples:"The temperature is expected to be in the 90s/90's." or "He's in his 80s/80's."
I, too, remember being taught to use an apostrophe when pluralizing numbers. I believe it was considered to be more aesthetic, despite the fact that it was syntactically incorrect.
It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. —Albus Dumbledore
- ulysses5019
- Purveyor of Avatars
- Posts: 19442
- Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:52 am
- Location: Los Angeles, CA
- SportsFan68
- No Scritches!!!
- Posts: 21295
- Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:36 pm
- Location: God's Country
Yes.ulysses5019 wrote:Should my avatars consider using spellcheck?

-- In Iroquois society, leaders are encouraged to remember seven generations in the past and consider seven generations in the future when making decisions that affect the people.
-- America would be a better place if leaders would do more long-term thinking. -- Wilma Mankiller
-- America would be a better place if leaders would do more long-term thinking. -- Wilma Mankiller
- littlebeast13
- Dumbass
- Posts: 31531
- Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 7:20 pm
- Location: Between the Sterilite and the Farberware
- Contact:
TheCalvinator24 wrote:Ah, but The temperature is in the 90s, and he is in his 80s.NellyLunatic1980 wrote:Yes, it's the same. Since the numbers don't possess anything, you can't use a possessive apostrophe-S. Nor can you use apostrophe-S as in a notation of the word "is" or "has". It has to be a plural S. Temperatures are in the 90s (nineties, not ninetie's or ninetie is) and people are in their 80s.gsabc wrote:Is it the same if it's a number rather than a date? Examples:"The temperature is expected to be in the 90s/90's." or "He's in his 80s/80's."
I, too, remember being taught to use an apostrophe when pluralizing numbers. I believe it was considered to be more aesthetic, despite the fact that it was syntactically incorrect.
Incorrect usage or not, I think it looks better to add the apostrophe to the S in the cases you mentioned such as 80's and 90's. I do the same thing for abbreviations like RBI's (And don't get me started on how much it pisses me off when I see the plural of RBI's written as just plain RBI, and that may very well be correct usage too, but it just doesn't look right).
I'm all for using correct grammar and such when applicable, but just like when people use the word ain't, there are times when the wrong word/syntax/grammar just looks and sounds better than the correct way.... and I would imagine it's chages like this that have caused language to evolve over the centuries in the first place....
lb13
- silvercamaro
- Dog's Best Friend
- Posts: 9608
- Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 11:45 am
Actually, I do like ee cummings, who used or ignored capital letters and punctuation for special purposes and wrote with rhythm and an internal structure. That's why it's poetry. Writing any number of dull words in a row does not qualify for that designation. Brief example from cummings for demonstration purposes:tanstaafl2 wrote:
I take it you aren't a huge fan of e e cummings then...
who knows if the moon's a balloon,
coming out of a keen city in the sky--
filled with pretty people? (and if you and i
should get into it, if they should take me
and take you into their balloon, why then
we'd go up higher with all the pretty people
than houses and steeples and clouds:
go sailing away and away sailing into a keen
city which nobody's ever visited,
where always it's Spring) and everyone's
in love and flowers pick themselves
Now generating the White Hot Glare of Righteousness on behalf of BBs everywhere.
- andrewjackson
- Posts: 3945
- Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 12:33 pm
- Location: Planet 10
Not to the level of a peeve but what happened to the last comma in a list?
Is this now correct? For lunch I ate a hamburger, a cheeseburger and a hot dog.
I could have sworn I was taught that it should be: For lunch I ate a hamburger, a cheeseburger, and a hot dog.
I see many people doing it the first way now and not the second. It just looks wrong to me every time. Why wouldn't there be a comma before the "and" the last item?
Is this now correct? For lunch I ate a hamburger, a cheeseburger and a hot dog.
I could have sworn I was taught that it should be: For lunch I ate a hamburger, a cheeseburger, and a hot dog.
I see many people doing it the first way now and not the second. It just looks wrong to me every time. Why wouldn't there be a comma before the "and" the last item?
No matter where you go, there you are.
- Rexer25
- It's all his fault. That'll be $10.
- Posts: 2899
- Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:57 am
- Location: Just this side of nowhere
I was taught that the last comma is optional, and chose not to use it. I was not aware I had affected the writing community to such an extent.andrewjackson wrote:Not to the level of a peeve but what happened to the last comma in a list?
Is this now correct? For lunch I ate a hamburger, a cheeseburger and a hot dog.
I could have sworn I was taught that it should be: For lunch I ate a hamburger, a cheeseburger, and a hot dog.
I see many people doing it the first way now and not the second. It just looks wrong to me every time. Why wouldn't there be a comma before the "and" the last item?
Enough already. It's my fault! Get over it!
That'll be $10, please.
That'll be $10, please.
- andrewjackson
- Posts: 3945
- Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 12:33 pm
- Location: Planet 10
So that covers you in the past. What do you do now?Rexer25 wrote:I was taught that the last comma is optional, and chose not to use it. I was not aware I had affected the writing community to such an extent.andrewjackson wrote:Not to the level of a peeve but what happened to the last comma in a list?
Is this now correct? For lunch I ate a hamburger, a cheeseburger and a hot dog.
I could have sworn I was taught that it should be: For lunch I ate a hamburger, a cheeseburger, and a hot dog.
I see many people doing it the first way now and not the second. It just looks wrong to me every time. Why wouldn't there be a comma before the "and" the last item?
No matter where you go, there you are.
- Rexer25
- It's all his fault. That'll be $10.
- Posts: 2899
- Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:57 am
- Location: Just this side of nowhere
I leave it out.andrewjackson wrote:So that covers you in the past. What do you do now?Rexer25 wrote:I was taught that the last comma is optional, and chose not to use it. I was not aware I had affected the writing community to such an extent.andrewjackson wrote:Not to the level of a peeve but what happened to the last comma in a list?
Is this now correct? For lunch I ate a hamburger, a cheeseburger and a hot dog.
I could have sworn I was taught that it should be: For lunch I ate a hamburger, a cheeseburger, and a hot dog.
I see many people doing it the first way now and not the second. It just looks wrong to me every time. Why wouldn't there be a comma before the "and" the last item?
Enough already. It's my fault! Get over it!
That'll be $10, please.
That'll be $10, please.
- Bob Juch
- Posts: 27071
- Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 11:58 am
- Location: Oro Valley, Arizona
- Contact:
See the book "Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation". Just the title should tell you that the comma is necessary at times.Rexer25 wrote:I was taught that the last comma is optional, and chose not to use it. I was not aware I had affected the writing community to such an extent.andrewjackson wrote:Not to the level of a peeve but what happened to the last comma in a list?
Is this now correct? For lunch I ate a hamburger, a cheeseburger and a hot dog.
I could have sworn I was taught that it should be: For lunch I ate a hamburger, a cheeseburger, and a hot dog.
I see many people doing it the first way now and not the second. It just looks wrong to me every time. Why wouldn't there be a comma before the "and" the last item?
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
- Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)
Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere.
Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and, when he grows up, he'll never be able to drive in New Jersey.
- Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)
Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere.
Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and, when he grows up, he'll never be able to drive in New Jersey.