goofy
Joined: July 24, 2006 (email not validated)
Number of comments posted: 234
Number of votes received: 232
No user description provided.
Recent Comments
on: “My writing books” or “Me writing books”?
Brus, you cannot assistance something because "assistance" i...
on: What happened to who, whom and whose?
As AnWulf has said and everyone seems to have ignored, "that...
on: Oblige to mean “force”
"You must look at the root of the word." That's the etymo...
on: Oblige to mean “force”
AnWulf, replacing one word with a completely different word ...
on: What happened to who, whom and whose?
Americans? Shakespeare couldn't get who/whom straight. Al...
on: Really happy or real happy
MDWEU on "real" as an adverb: http://books.google.com/books?...
on: “My writing books” or “Me writing books”?
From Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage: This ...
on: “for long”
There is a set of words that is usually only used in questio...
on: “My writing books” or “Me writing books”?
Hannah, I see your point. However, that is not the rule. Th...
on: LEGOs — Is the Plural form of LEGO incorrect?
I agree, the use of a word is not determined by the person w...
on: “My writing books” or “Me writing books”?
A gerund (or "ing" form if you prefer) doesn't take the synt...
on: gifting vs. giving a gift
David Teague: You're right that just because something was u...
on: “My writing books” or “Me writing books”?
My car proves that I am a fast driver. *Me car proves that...
on: “My writing books” or “Me writing books”?
@scyllacat I think you're missing my point. The usual argume...
on: “My writing books” or “Me writing books”?
According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, ...
on: Stood down
It's in the OED, with citations from The Daily Telegraph and...
on: “I’ve got” vs. “I have”
First of all: I made a mistake in my earlier post. "Have got...
on: “I’ve got” vs. “I have”
Jim, of course "have" and "got" belong next to each other. "...
on: “I’ve got” vs. “I have”
"redundant" does not mean "incorrect". Merriam-Webster's...
on: to-day, to-night
The OED has the spelling "to-day" up to 1912. But it was als...
on: Use of “Referenced”
The first citation in the OED is 1957....
on: gifting vs. giving a gift
"gift" has been a verb since at least the 1600s. Which means...
on: Can every letter be used as a silent letter?
Er, of course the L in "walk" and "talk" is silent. Who pron...
on: Correct preposition following different?
http://motivatedgrammar.wordpress.com/2008/07/10/different-t...
on: Canadian pronunciation of “out and about”
I meant "voiceless", not "voiced". The raising occurs before...
on: Canadian pronunciation of “out and about”
porsche, I think canconned's point is the same as mine: Cana...
on: Can every letter be used as a silent letter?
james, you're assuming that spelling determines pronunciatio...
on: Can every letter be used as a silent letter?
Y is not silent in "yclept" or "coccyx"....
on: Canadian pronunciation of “out and about”
It's called Canadian raising, where the diphthong /aw/ is ra...
on: all _____ sudden
I'm sorry to inform Patricia that the English languages has ...
on: “Anglish”
"But then, what’s so bad with proposing a little change?, af...
on: He and I, me and him
I don't think there is a proper order. I've heard some peopl...
on: “Anglish”
Actually "wrong" was borrowed from Old Norse. I don't thi...
on: “she” vs “her”
http://www.stanford.edu/~zwicky/Grano.finalthesis.pdf...
on: spay, not spade
"spade" is an obsolete form of "spay" according to the OED. ...
on: “Zen” as an Adjective
It's listed as an adjective in the OED....
on: Fora vs Forums
Dave Johnson: It's the "the true scholars of English, the wr...
on: A piece of irony
One of the entries in the OED for "ignorant" is "5. dial. an...
on: why does english have capital letters?
I'm not convinced that the reason English has capital letter...
on: mines
According to the OED, it's "regional (chiefly Scottish)"....
on: “This is she” vs. “This is her”
I'd be wary of trusting Elements of Style. The books written...
on: “This is she” vs. “This is her”
“Lay” has been used intransitively to mean “lie” since 1300....
on: “This is she” vs. “This is her”
"Lay" has been used intransitively to mean "lie" since 1300....
on: “This is she” vs. “This is her”
I looked up "gay" in the OED. Here is a selection of meaning...
on: “This is she” vs. “This is her”
Yes the Biblical quote is a translation, but that's not real...
on: “This is she” vs. “This is her”
Well here are some citations to demonstrate how old the "ang...
on: “This is she” vs. “This is her”
"Yes, but the rage that accompanies madness." The entry i...
on: “This is she” vs. “This is her”
Then I'm not sure what your point is. As for "mad"... there ...
on: “This is she” vs. “This is her”
"irritate vs aggravate, uninterested vs disinterested, and f...
on: “This is she” vs. “This is her”
"Beat" has two forms for the past participle: "beat" and "be...
on: “This is she” vs. “This is her”
Yes, "this is she" is standard, and "this is her" is also st...
on: “This is she” vs. “This is her”
Marilyn Rowan: "Why must a triangle be a figure three sides...
on: “went missing/gone missing”?
The OED has, under "go": 44. To pass into a certain condi...
on: “Verbiage” used instead of wordiness or excessively long writing
There is no misuse of "verbiage" here. The word has been use...
on: me vs. myself
I agree with Merriam-Webster’s “Dictionary of English Usage:...
on: Twenty-ten vs Two thousand-ten
Are we going to run out of syllables if we don't start savin...
on: all _____ sudden
Sorry Pat, you're 400 years too late to save English. The OE...
on: Fora vs Forums
Douglas wrote "In ‘The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguis...
on: Fora vs Forums
"I agree with you 100%, as shown in my previous posts." E...
on: Fora vs Forums
Douglas wrote: “The etymological fallacy holds, erroneously...
on: Loose = Lose?
It's much older than the past year. 1598 SHAKES. Merry W....
on: Fora vs Forums
"I am forgetting why we are arguing about “stamina”. It seem...
on: Fora vs Forums
Douglas wrote: "I’m not sure why these are even mentioned. ...
on: Fora vs Forums
"I would say that treating those words as singular would be ...
on: Fora vs Forums
"Cactus" is of Greek origin, but it was borrowed into Englis...
on: Why have media changed our words?
Oh yes, it's Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage t...
on: Why have media changed our words?
1662 FULLER Worthies (1840) I. 276 He efforted his spirits w...
on: Why have media changed our words?
Wait, I got that backwards. Ron isn't complaining about "ple...
on: Why have media changed our words?
"pled" is a standard past tense form of "plead"; it's been a...
on: obstinacy vs. obstinancy
I guess I wasn't clear enough. Easily confused or misused wo...
on: obstinacy vs. obstinancy
Douglas, the examples you give are spelling errors, not exam...
on: obstinacy vs. obstinancy
You haven't really demonstrated that using "obstinancy" will...
on: obstinacy vs. obstinancy
You might be right that some people don't like the word, but...
on: obstinacy vs. obstinancy
douglas, I've provided evidence that "obstinancy" is a word....
on: obstinacy vs. obstinancy
Of course "obstinancy" is a word. Dickens used it, and it ha...
on: Texted
Texted everything is changing from kindle to none use while ...
on: Plural of “insurance”?
French is not a Germanic language that crossbred with Latin....
on: Plural of “insurance”?
Peter: by that logic, English doesn't belong to English spea...
on: Plural of “insurance”?
The OED has cites for "insurances" from the 1800s. There are...
on: “This is she” vs. “This is her”
I agree that "I" is nominative and "me" is accusative. What ...
on: “This is she” vs. “This is her”
Again, you haven't provided any evidence that "it is me" is ...
on: “This is she” vs. “This is her”
Of course there are situations where the proper answer to "w...
on: “This is she” vs. “This is her”
"Language is a representation of thought. Poorly formed lan...
on: My mother wishes my child be like me.
Porsche, yes. But "be" after "wish" or "if" (where we'd use ...
on: My mother wishes my child be like me.
"like" used as a conjunction (that is, used to introduce a c...
on: My mother wishes my child be like me.
It sounds extremely archaic to me....
on: Infinitive without “to”
...except for "ought". Other auxiliaries are "can", "will", ...
on: Infinitive without “to”
This is the use of "need" as an auxiliary, like "ought" or "...
on: One of the most...
So you're saying that "one of the tallest" is ambiguous betw...
on: One of the most...
You still have not provided any evidence to support your ass...
on: One of the most...
How do we determine what the rules are? As with any other fi...
on: One of the most...
"comprehensibility is not remotely associated with assessing...
on: One of the most...
This issue isn't in MWDEU and I can't find any online gramma...
on: Why Don’t We Abolish Irregular Verbs and Nouns?
Some English verbs have become irregular when they didn't us...
on: as best he can
Dave, it's meaning is clear. According to MWDEU some usage c...
on: as best he can
This issue is discussed in Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of E...
on: On Tomorrow
Let me revise: "on" is used with other expressions of time: ...
on: On Tomorrow
We are in God's hand, brother, not in theirs. March to the ...
on: Texted
What is the difference in pronunciation between "text-ed" an...
September 26, 2011, 9:08am • 5 votes
on: “If I was” vs. “If I were”
My idiolect doesn't make any difference in meaning between ...