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Here I thought FSK was foretelling a miracle in which a popular, blind '60s
singer/guitarist regained his sight.
" JosÃ, can you see..."
Chris Morton https://linktr.ee/IsntThatWrite
â Substantive Editing â Technical Writing â Proofreading
â B2B/B2C â Marketing Expertise â Mentoring
On Tue, Feb 21, 2023 at 9:55 AM Ken Poshedly <poshedly -at- bellsouth -dot- net> wrote:
> Gang again:
> Besides bosses who had (or probably still do have) major pyscho
> tendencies, I -- like at least some of you -- have worked for various
> bosses in the past who had the English language by the throat.
>
> One boss -- a kindly old soul, now long deceased -- proudly argued with me
> and a fellow worker on how to pronounce the word "kiln": Is it "kil" or
> "kiln"? He demanded that it is "kil" and NOT "kiln", yet the Webster's
> dictionary we had on hand said both pronunciations are considered correct.
> He said "kil" because it was presented before "kiln" in the pronunciation
> guide for the word in the dictionary, while I said that was only because
> "kil" is three letters and "kiln" is four letters.
>
> Perhaps this kind of stuff is what turned me into a grammar (or
> punctuation) nazi. So just to add "fuel to the fire", advertising is not
> the only place where people like us notice "incorrections." (Is that a
> word?)
> For instance, the introductory phrase often (supposedly) used by certain
> British speakers a long time ago, "Oh, I say, Mr. Smith, . . ." (at least
> it's what _I_ remember.) Well, it turns out that the words to our own
> national anthem are displayed on a huge screen at every Georgia Tech
> football game. (My daughter is a proud "Yellow Jacket" grad of 2017, so my
> wife and I attended every home-game to watch her as one of the color guard
> ladies.) And, for the life of me, I believe the first phrase as displayed
> at those games is punctuated incorrectly:
>
> - Currently -- "Oh, say can you see . . ."
> - My opinion -- "Oh say, can you see . . ."
> - I've also seen it as -- "Oh say can you see, . . ."
> Yep, I DO have too much time on my hands (at least until the game starts).
>
> I base my opinion on my believe that, due to our country still being so
> young and British-influenced when this was written in 1814, even
> American-born Francis Scott Key (and probably many others at least in the
> early 1800s) still incorporated parts of "British-speak" in their
> conversations. And the phrase, "Oh, I say, can you . . ." might have been a
> totally normal way to start a sentence.
> So it ain't computer code, but it keeps this thread going.
> -- Ken in Atlanta
>
>
>
> ****************************************************************************
>
> On Saturday, February 18, 2023 at 10:01:39 AM EST, Ken Poshedly <
> poshedly -at- bellsouth -dot- net> wrote:
>
> With -- as far as I can tell -- no message traffic here for some time, I
> thought I'd start a little grammar skirmish just to see if anyone is paying
> attention.
> 1. Does anybody here (other than me) raise an eyebrow (or even cringe)
> when the Liberty Mutual Insurance adverts proclaim "You only pay for what
> you need"? Well, I ask, what else could you do other than "pay" for what
> you need? Not pay? Well, then, you wouldn't have any insurance, eh? My
> point is that it was surely the Marketing Group that came up with this
> incorrectly stated sentence which SHOULD state, "You pay for ONLY what you
> need."
> 2. I believe this group should have its own teeshirt for members. My
> choice can be viewed at
>https://images.kingtees.shop/teephotos/2019/08/Grammar-police-to-serve-and-correct-shirt.jpg
> Finally, yeah, I know, there are "bigger fish to fry" and other minute
> grammar stuff to bitch about, but this list seems dead lately.
> -- Ken in AtlantaWhere it's 37 degrees F and sunny at 10 am on this date
> (whoever said it's always hot down here hasn't lived here)
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