I give up

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Yeah the "breaks" thing annoys me too. I also though a wheel was a rim and tire combination.

Given that some of the people on this board can't write in a way that you can even try to guess what the hell they're trying to say, a few typos don't bother me any more. If I can kind of make out the words and maybe the point you're trying to make, I won't comment. If I try to read it a few times and it's so bad that it seems like someone just accidentally sat on the keyboard and happened to post something, I'll ask for clarification.
 
I'm not so annoyed that people sometimes make mistakes, we all do. It's that sooooo many people are all making the exact same mistake. So I give up. A break is a brake now, and a brake is a break.

"A massive break fell on the road in front of me. I had to break so hard to avoid braking my face on it. I needed a brake to calm my nerves before I could start going again"

But I can't call a wheel a rim. Can't do it. That's just retarded.
 
Lightcycle said:
Sounds like you need a nice wheeljob.
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I read this story about a guy behind the rim of his 18-rimmer, apparently eating a bowl of wagon rims while watching Rim of Fortune on his Blackberry (by Wheel). At one point he drives through a construction zone and has a huge crash, the hit was so severe that his flyrim broke off and went sailing towards a construction worker, who somehow managed to cartrim out of the way just as the flyrim sliced through the rimbarrow he had been pushing!
 
You know what really grinds my gears?

"lol"

I get it. It was funny in 1997 when everybody first discovered the internet. It may even be in the dictionary as an actual word by now. But it doesn't need to be used in every post, it doesn't need to be used when something is just slightly humourous or ironic, and it certainly shouldn't be used by anyone over the age of 30.

I know, it's not a mistake, and this thread is about mistakes. But the fact that the use of this acronym is so widespread, pervasive, and intentional, is even worse.
 
Vlad said:
... neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
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I thought this too, until a few years ago when I was vacationing in Cuba.
Palm trees are pines (coniferous/evergreen). You just have to get close up and check them out to realize it.
I guess if the French can call potatoes 'apples of the earth' (pommes de terre), then pineapple makes sense.

I generally don't worry too much about spelling errors, particularly on internet forums, where it is just people shooting off quick comments (it would bother me a lot more in books, or websites presented as polished content). I start to become concerned when the meaning becomes unclear - slippery slope, I guess.

In professional communication, I even cringe at dangling participles and confusing subjective and objective pronouns:
"To whom should this be sent?" vs. "Who should I send this to?"

But one must simply let these things go, I suppose.
 
Duster929 said:
You know what really grinds my gears?

"lol"

...it doesn't need to be used when something is just slightly humourous or ironic...
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Or used as a reply to a post, all by itself.
 
jolomatic said:
I thought this too, until a few years ago when I was vacationing in Cuba.
Palm trees are pines (coniferous/evergreen).
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That's a bit of a stretch, but I can understand why early European immigrants (sic!) or invaders gave them that name.

This reminds me of butterflies. I erroneously bought into the legend that the original name was flutterby. I have to admit my dissapointment when I found out that the word really comes from butter and fly and flutterby was never used to name the familiar insect.

jolomatic said:
I guess if the French can call potatoes 'apples of the earth' (pommes de terre), then pineapple makes sense.
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Two wrongs don't make a right. :)

Duster929 said:
You know what really grinds my gears?

"lol"
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LOL in itself is not that bad, it's it's indiscriminate, incorrect and plain stupid use that is off-putting at best. First is the lower case - it's an acronym, so it should always be capitalized. Second is over-use as you mentioned - it makes the text look like ramblings from a person that loughs uncontrollably. I use it only when I really am Laughing Out Loud because that's what it was meant for - nothing more and nothing less.

int15 said:
Or used as a reply to a post, all by itself.
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Replying with any single word (or number, like "+1000") demonstrates the lack of culture, and so do some commonly used sentences. Especially when the reply quotes the entire post that has 10 pictures in it. I wish there was a way to remotely slap "over-quoting under-responders" on the back of their empty heads.
 
jolomatic said:
I thought this too, until a few years ago when I was vacationing in Cuba.
Palm trees are pines (coniferous/evergreen). You just have to get close up and check them out to realize it.
I guess if the French can call potatoes 'apples of the earth' (pommes de terre), then pineapple makes sense.

I generally don't worry too much about spelling errors, particularly on internet forums, where it is just people shooting off quick comments (it would bother me a lot more in books, or websites presented as polished content). I start to become concerned when the meaning becomes unclear - slippery slope, I guess.

In professional communication, I even cringe at dangling participles and confusing subjective and objective pronouns:
"To whom should this be sent?" vs. "Who should I send this to?"

But one must simply let these things go, I suppose.
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There is actually nothing wrong with pineapple. Using the word is not a mistake, in any sense. It's an english word, with a correct spelling and usage. There are no other "more correct" words to use in its place. So it's not really a relevant example of what the OP and others in this thread find frustrating.

You mention the dangling participle, and it's something that bothers me as well. However, some are worse than others. Ending a sentence with "to" has become so common as to be almost acceptable. It is, however, still incorrect.

What really drives me mad is people who end a sentence with the participle "at". Although just as incorrect as ending with "to", it makes the person sound far more ignorant and casual. I cringe when I hear professional people say "Where are you at?", or "I don't know where that's at". It sounds like some kind of jive talking to me. Yo, where you at?

--- D
 
Ok, I stand re-corrected.

I just checked out the wikipedia article and apparantly they are so named because they reminded the Spanish settlers of pine cones.

So, you now have my approval to hate on the piñas.
 
Duster929 said:
You know what really grinds my gears?

"lol"

I get it. It was funny in 1997 when everybody first discovered the internet. It may even be in the dictionary as an actual word by now. But it doesn't need to be used in every post, it doesn't need to be used when something is just slightly humourous or ironic, and it certainly shouldn't be used by anyone over the age of 30.

I know, it's not a mistake, and this thread is about mistakes. But the fact that the use of this acronym is so widespread, pervasive, and intentional, is even worse.
Click to expand...

Nobody over the age of 30? This seems predicated on an assumption that it has something to do with cellphones. The internet, Usenet, and BBSs required modifications to how we use written language - typing out "That was funny" or "That made me laugh" or "By jove, what a corker!" seems a little self-conscious when you take into account that was written very recently. Imagine someone saying those phrases out loud. All this "abuse" comes from hybridizing spoken and written language, because we're having conversations out here, not writing letters to each other.

E-mail however is writing letters to each other and should be treated as such. Don't put lol in office communication. Don't do it. Don't.
 
TwistedKestrel said:
Nobody over the age of 30? This seems predicated on an assumption that it has something to do with cellphones. The internet, Usenet, and BBSs required modifications to how we use written language - typing out "That was funny" or "That made me laugh" or "By jove, what a corker!" seems a little self-conscious when you take into account that was written very recently. Imagine someone saying those phrases out loud. All this "abuse" comes from hybridizing spoken and written language, because we're having conversations out here, not writing letters to each other.

E-mail however is writing letters to each other and should be treated as such. Don't put lol in office communication. Don't do it. Don't.
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No, it's predicated on the assumption that it's a stupid and unnecessary acronym that is way overused. When I see it used twice in the same sentence, I'm convinced the writer is mentally deficient.
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