__word crimes by weird al yankovic

Tags

animation, comedy, funny, grammar, humour, mistakes, music video, spelling, stories, weird al yankovic, word crimes, writers, writing, youtube

I’m not a grammar nazi. Maybe it’s because I know I make mistakes all the time? I’m sure there are mistakes in the post. I think in professional work, it’s necessary to write well. I like when I see well-written status updates but to be honest, I don’t think less of people because of their ability to spell or use grammar. Some people don’t care. Some people hated school. Some people didn’t get the same educational opportunities. For many people in my social circle, English is their second language. In casual social-media settings, as long as I can understand you, I’m happy. But I sure do appreciate someone who knows how to write English properly.

I found this video by Weird Al Yankovic hilarious (he’s been making a whole bunch of new songs recently, it’s great!) and had to share. We may have some readers who hate word crimes with a passion and can relate. Even as someone who is relatively lax, I found myself laughing.

Warning: the damn catchy tune of ‘Blurred Lines’ is the musical backdrop. So you may have that tune stuck in your head for a while! I’m just glad I can enjoy this song without thinking about the original horrifying lyrics.

What did you all think? Did you find it funny? Do you hate word crimes or are you pretty chill about it all?

– Ermisenda

Spelling matters

Tags

auto-fill, Google, grammar, punctuation

There’s a meme going around that Google is female because it won’t let you finish a sentence before offering multiple suggestions. That reminded me of another meme where you see the different Google suggestions based on how you phrase a question. My results weren’t as dramatic as the meme that started it, but it does show a distinct difference.

Not surprisingly, people who type full words also type in complete questions (area of a triangle vs area). Not sure what flappy bird is, but apparently pink eye is a concern for the literate and illiterate.

  

Apparently love and pregnancy are mysteries to us all. Gotta point out “your pregnant,” with a displeased sigh, but it’s still better than “ur.”

Try this yourself and tell us your favorite auto-fill.

-Eliabeth

Affect or Effect

Tags

affect, effect, grammar

Have you been using the wrong word? Pin it so you can check it later.

Affect
verb
1. have an effect on; make a difference to.

Effect
noun
1. a change that is a result or consequence of an action or other cause.

What are some other words you’ve seen commonly misused?

-Eliabeth Hawthorne

__be a better writer

Tags

be a better writer, capitalization in dialogue, dialogue capitalization, dialogue speech after comma, dialogue troll, editing and writing, editing reference, grammar, speaker tag before speech, why you no easy to punctuate, writing tips

Going through and editing my stories, I have found this webpage to be a great tool for punctuating dialogue. It’s so easy to read, simple to use, and I love that there are subheadings. I was able to remind myself of how capitalization works within dialogue when the speaker tag comes first. This page was shared to me by Anne Schilde and I found it also simple and easy to use.

When you’re writing, you don’t want to have to read a novel of grammar rules. We want something easy and simple to flip to. If not, the flow of our writing and/or editing will be severely interrupted. For any writer who wants an easy reference on how to punctuate dialogue, visit ‘Be a Better Writer‘ or ‘Absolute Write‘. It’s always important to triangulate your information. In other words, make sure other sources of information also agree.

So much of a writer’s life is taken up by editing. We may as well get it right! Do you have any easy-to-use editing reference webpages to share?

– Ermisenda Alvarez

Inigo Montoya on Grammar

Tags

grammar, humor, inigo montoya, Princess Bride, writing

I stumbled across a post about 16 words that may not mean what you think they mean. While I knew most of them, I did learn a few things, including:

“Less is often confused with fewer. Use less to refer to quantities that can’t be counted and fewer to refer to numbers. There were less people in the office today is incorrect, because people can be counted. Instead say: There were fewer people in the office today.”

Nerd Girl Problem – Correcting Nerd Girl Problems

Tags

grammar, nerd girl problem, Pinterest, spelling

I was having fun repinning these to Pinterest, and well… you know you have Nerd Girl Problems when you’re correcting nerd girl grammar.  Not that I can ever catch my own spelling mistakes.

-Eliabeth

Edit: *Facepalm* so as many of you may have caught, there’s nothing wrong with “unexplainable,” but when I was first writing this I read it as unexplicable.  You may commence the pointing and laughing now.

It’s all in the phrasing

Tags

grammar, language, multi-lingual, punctuation

I read an article months ago, loved it, bookmarked it, and can’t for the life of me find it now, so if anyone knows what article I’m trying to reference, leave a link in the comments so I can put it in the original post, please!

The article was about how language changes our interpretation of a situation.  I thought about it again because Ermisenda and I were writing a scene last night, and it didn’t quite feel right.  It came down to the difference between “she’s my girlfriend” and “I’m the boyfriend.”  While they technically say the same thing, the first sounds possessive where the second sounds like a position of honor.  It reminded me of the article, which is when I went looking for it and couldn’t find it.

__art: letters

Tags

art, grammar, letters, photography, writing

I found these letters thoroughly amusing! I know I’m not very good with grammar but I’m trying to become an expert. 😉

These works have been made by Lisa Krowinski.

Is there a letter inside of you that you’d like to address to a certain someone or something?