If I was a gambling man...

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Sinned
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Re: If I was a gambling man...

Post by Sinned »

I agree with you UA. The book, "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Lynne Truss is an excellent primer on the topic of punctuation. The addition of the comma in the phrase taken from an excellent joke makes all the difference in its meaning.
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Re: If I was a gambling man...

Post by crfriend »

Sinned wrote:The book, "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Lynne Truss is an excellent primer on the topic of punctuation.
It's also a delightful read. Ms. Truss is an excellent writer with a great sense of humour.

Highly recommended.
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Re: If I was a gambling man...

Post by pelmut »

In a 'write-once-read-many' situation, such as a forum, the person posting the message should be prepared take extra trouble to make their meaning as clear as possible so that the many people reading it don't have to (collectively) waste a lot of time trying to work out what it was supposed to mean.  In a one-to-one situation it may not matter as much, but when posting to a group, clarity and ease of reading are important, so the rules of punctuation and grammar need to be followed.
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Re: If I was a gambling man...

Post by moonshadow »

pelmut wrote:In a 'write-once-read-many' situation, such as a forum, the person posting the message should be prepared take extra trouble to make their meaning as clear as possible so that the many people reading it don't have to (collectively) waste a lot of time trying to work out what it was supposed to mean.  In a one-to-one situation it may not matter as much, but when posting to a group, clarity and ease of reading are important, so the rules of punctuation and grammar need to be followed.
Come on now... did the title [if I was a gambling man] really throw off the group that much? I didn't even notice it, and had no trouble comprehending what it meant.

No, 99% of the posts here are legible enough. I think some people just like showing off.... "look at me... I know perfect grammar... this other guy... he's an idiot...."


No...

But do what you want... I still think it's pompous, rude, and a little arrogant to call people out in the open for something as petty as slightly improper grammar.
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Re: If I was a gambling man...

Post by moonshadow »

You know, it was probably just a typographical error anyway. You know, a simple mistake. All humans make them, that's why we have erasers on pencils, backspace keys, and sometimes edit functions.

And I've caught even the most advance writers here make them, though I never felt the urge to call it out.

As for me, I've been known to think one word and type another. Sometimes not even noticing it until the next day. Actually it kinda freaks me out a little and makes me think I'm losing my mind.
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Re: If I was a gambling man...

Post by beachlion »

I'm not much of a party in this conversation because English is a secondary lingo for me. They gave me an overdose of technical English so I could read technical manuals with the very basics of grammar. My feel for the language came from reading books. When I read English, sometimes the wording does not seem right to me but don't ask me why. When I write in English, the same thing happens. I have to juggle with some words until it looks like English in my opinion.

I wrote quite a lot of technical manuals in Dutch and English. They should be easy to follow (step by step), technically 100% correct and with the minimum amount of words. The main thing is: get your message over the way you intend to, with no room for error. Then Dutch becomes your enemy because of the differences in grammar.
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Re: If I was a gambling man...

Post by pelmut »

moonshadow wrote:
pelmut wrote:In a 'write-once-read-many' situation, such as a forum, the person posting the message should be prepared take extra trouble to make their meaning as clear as possible so that the many people reading it don't have to (collectively) waste a lot of time trying to work out what it was supposed to mean.  In a one-to-one situation it may not matter as much, but when posting to a group, clarity and ease of reading are important, so the rules of punctuation and grammar need to be followed.
Come on now... did the title [if I was a gambling man] really throw off the group that much?
No, I only commented on it because Dillon seemed surprised there hadn't been a flame war -- so I thought I would pretend to start one.

I'm sorry if you thought I was ridiculing someone for imperfect grammar, I only intended to make a general point that it's worth taking extra trouble when posting on a forum, so as to make life easier for the other members.  The general standard of grammar on this forum is much better than many on the Web.
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Re: If I was a gambling man...

Post by Ray »

Grammar is the difference between knowing your sh1t and knowing you’re sh1t.

Ray
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Re: If I was a gambling man...

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beachlion wrote:[...] Then Dutch becomes your enemy because of the differences in grammar.
One of the prerequisites of being a good translator is the ability to think in the languages one it translating -- not just from -- but especially to. In a very real sense, one's language in large part determines what one is able to think.

The above in the primary reason why PC is so incredibly corrosive -- it's a blatant attempt at mind control. By removing certain words from the colloquial language and redefining others our thought patterns are changed. Redefinitions are especially bad as they have the effect of effectively removing the word from use because it's viewed as "offensive". For instance, the once approving remark of, "What a gay outfit you have on today!" is today likely to get one slapped or punched. Calling a forward thinker a "conservative" today is like calling him a National Socialist; likewise, calling somebody a "liberal" is like using the old US-coded remark of "pinko commie". Even the term "intellectual" (i.e. one capable of using his intellect) has become a slur.

I don't think any of the above is accidental -- and it's all purely evil.

Resist the redefinition movement. Your brain will thank you a few decades hence.

But, then, I'm just an intellectual who uses his brain to make a living so I can pay the rent and buy the beer.
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Re: If I was a gambling man...

Post by dillon »

Ray wrote:Grammar is the difference between knowing your sh1t and knowing you’re sh1t.

Ray
Then also between your welcome and you’re welcome...right?

You’re welcome for still speaking English, and not Deutsche.
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Re: If I was a gambling man...

Post by Ray »

Easy, tiger. My quote was from a T-shirt I saw once - it wasn’t an ad hominem attack. It amused me. Hey ho.
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Re: If I was a gambling man...

Post by Fred in Skirts »

Language is a moving target!! :shock:

Every country has it's own language and they change all of the time, most of the time for the worst and just once in a while for the better. English is the worst as there are many different versions of it around the world. there is the King's English, American English, and a variety of other versions depending upon what country you are in.

So lets not be criticizing anyones version of English used here. We all come from many different parts of the world, even with in a country there are many different versions of English spoken.
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Re: If I was a gambling man...

Post by Sinned »

The phrase "If I was a gambling man ...." is an example of where colloquial English breaks the rule in written English. But then if we really analyse it colloquial and written English are two different languages with different rules of grammar. I say many things that seem nonsense if actually written down. For example "I don't like nothing." as a negative emphasis colloquially but analysis is a double negative that means that I do like something, which isn't actually what I was trying to communicate.

As for critique of member's posts 99.9% of the time meaning is clear and broken grammar rules I skip over. They could be accidental or just not proof reading the entry before posting. I do that a lot which is why you'll see sometimes several amendments to my posts for spelling mistokes and son on.
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Re: If I was a gambling man...

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Re: If I was a gambling man...

Post by dillon »

pelmut wrote:In a 'write-once-read-many' situation, such as a forum, the person posting the message should be prepared take extra trouble to make their meaning as clear as possible so that the many people reading it don't have to (collectively) waste a lot of time trying to work out what it was supposed to mean.  In a one-to-one situation it may not matter as much, but when posting to a group, clarity and ease of reading are important, so the rules of punctuation and grammar need to be followed.
I cannot speak for the interpretative abilities of the British, but, here, no one would have difficulty discerning meaning between “I was” and “I were.” Did you?
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