UK Book Club discussion

I posted this on another forum and people seemed interested. It has been around for a while, but it's still worth a look.

I can't decide on which side of the argument I fall.

Stephen Fry - Why I'm no longer a pedant.

Very good.

I am definitely not a pedant, what is being said is more important than how.

I definitely like the basics to be correct. Things like bad grammar and misplaced apostrophes can detract from the story.

And incorrect punctuation can kill...

I can be pedantic; bad punctuation, spelling can irritate me, I'm afraid. I've always thought I'd be a good editor, especially when I read newspaper articles with poor spelling and such. Having said that, I do find it difficult to find errors in my own documents especially if I've been working on it for awhile. I start seeing what I want to say, not necessarily what I as to what I actually wrote/ said. I do remember back in my university days, when a professor asked the time and one of my fellow students said it was 3:15 and I said, 'actually, it's 3:13...'.. I guess I can be pedantic, eh?.. :0)

I am an annoying (to myself mostly) pedant in terms of my own use of language and spelling, but other people can do what they want. Language should be dynamic and I particularly love it when slang becomes mainstream. Some things do grate when used by professional wordsmiths, particularly journalists online, such as "should of" rather than "should have", and if that ever appeared in a novel then the author and editor should be taken out and shot lol.

Ian wrote: "I am an annoying (to myself mostly) pedant in terms of my own use of language and spelling, but other people can do what they want. Language should be dynamic and I particularly love it when slang ..."

My wife gets very irritated (to the point of shouting at the TV) when she hears people say things like 'a alligator' instead of 'an alligator'.. lol..

I am a pedant and proud of it! I am intensely irritated by the use of 'should of', 'could of' etc instead of 'should have' or 'should've'. It's lazy!

And at risk of being crude, 'good punctuation is the difference between helping your uncle Jack, off his horse.....'

Hate 'could of' etc. Also hate it when my Fire 'corrects' my spelling/word choices and I don't notice until I've posted! Mixing there/their/they're too.

Helen wrote: "Hate 'could of' etc. Also hate it when my Fire 'corrects' my spelling/word choices and I don't notice until I've posted! Mixing there/their/they're too."

Helen, you should have said 'there/ their/ they're too/to/ two'.. ;0)

lol

I agree with everyone about the basics. If people get the simple stuff wrong, it makes their work hard to read and hard to take seriously. Having said that, Stephen Fry's idea of the basics is probably very different from mine... that man knows too much.

Glorious Fry, and I'm of the same opinion as Ken. :)

Elaine wrote: "I am a pedant and proud of it! I am intensely irritated by the use of 'should of', 'could of' etc instead of 'should have' or 'should've'. It's lazy!

And at risk of being crude, 'good punctuation ..."

lol

My take and I'm not very good.

http://phenweb.wordpress.com/2013/08/...

I don't know what they teach kids in school these days but I am always correcting my kids. Bad manners, grammar and punctuation are inexcusable really.

Ken wrote: "I posted this on another forum and people seemed interested. It has been around for a while, but it's still worth a look.

I can't decide on which side of the argument I fall.

Stephen Fry - Why I'..."

I must have missed this when you first posted it.....Brilliant....I agree with Stephen Fry completely.
Good language use and grammar, as well as punctuation and spelling are all very important, but I hate the sort of snobbery he's referring to.
To be honest, I've forgotten much of what I learnt at school....I do pick up on really bad grammar, but tend to put smaller things down to individual expression....having said that, I have stopped reading a couple of books because they were so poorly written, and I absolutly hate to see glaring errors in newspapers and magazines....their writers are professionals and should be able to get it right, surely....

I agree with Nikks & Susan. I think getting the basics wrong is inexcusable.

However, 'English snobbery' doesn't impress me... nor does it impress the folk who have commented here, it seems.

I wonder if other languages are the same. Do some among the French or Spanish speaking community rail against poor punctuation and bad grammar in the same way?

Wish I could work out apostrophes.....a pedant therefore I am.

Has anyone else noticed how many adverbs are mis-pronounced on the television? Rarely do they have their
-ly on the end.