Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Username

goossun

Member Since

February 12, 2004

Total number of comments

86

Total number of votes received

110

Bio

Latest Comments

“Tilting at Windmills”

  • December 6, 2004, 4:41pm

...and Don Quixote was considering the windmills akin to Satan....
Speedwell it is completely clear in the book what Don was thinking when he was "tilting at windmills." Unless you are agree with me that he is not out of his mind as it usually is accepted.

Go + noun? Idiom or bad grammar?

  • November 12, 2004, 3:37pm

Perenna, I guess that has to do with a Scandinavian symptom that came to exist during 60's and 70's. Although Finland may not be consider "Scandinavian", however it was and is fashionable to upload the native language with English words or phrases. Yet not all the Kaurismäki's films have English title,some are in finish. It is not for poster either because they have to print it differently anyway in different countries. It is even sometime awkward. For instance I would say "I hierd a hitman" rather than a "contract killer."

The Term “Foreigner”

  • November 12, 2004, 3:26pm

Guys I'm the expert on this matter. "People" call me (or people like me) "foreigner" here in Denmark. "We" foreigners call other non-Danish folks "foreigners" too. Danish Constitution Act calls us all "aliens." (as if the Act was written by Ridley Scott!) Danes have words that can't be translated such as "perker." mostly used by non-Danishes like the word "nigga'" is used by black people. Some politically corretct calls some of the "foreigner" "new Danish peopel." or "ethnic Danes." Some consider themselves "outsider" and call themselves so. But no Danes say that. There is a band called Outlandish. If you you put a line right in the middle of Europe what stands on the left side is where provides "imigrants" coming to DK. People from the right side are called "refugees" no matter why and how they came to DK. And we also have the word "asylum seeker" which is refugee who is not refuged yet and might be kicked out soon. And we also have "well-integrated foreigners" who are half-way through being "new Danes."
I personally call myself "stranger" if need be.
However it all comes down to what is not-OK as Speedwell said: FOREINERS!

Go + noun? Idiom or bad grammar?

  • November 11, 2004, 1:27pm

I like Kaurismäki, no matter how he titles his films! :-)
I know that he meant "... go America" in the same way one may say "... go crazy." But just wonder is the title just the same in Finnish? Or had it been released with a Finish title?

silent autumn

  • November 8, 2004, 9:20am

Once again, I think whatever answer one may come up with will in some way or another have to do with a great consideration on spelling. The French language has historically played the role of pimp for the English to borrow the latin and ancient greek words. Some call the French "Bastard Latin." So one can say that the Latin vocabulary was used by the "book-people", the upper-class English people who gained this vocabulary through texts and it was a luxurious way of speaking and writing English uploaded by Latin. One can still trace this attitude in the English translation of Itanian texts even today.
Funny enough there are equvalents for the Latin words in "English." But especially when it come to Human Scince terminology almost all the terms are Latin-rooted which are borrowed through French.
(One more strange thing is that although two consonates can begin an English word with no difficulty, it does not work in the end of the words. i.e. speak. A Spanish would pronounce it "Espeak"!)

And I don't think it is a good idea to have access to our previous post. Our mistakes are our history; let'em be the way the are.

Realize or realise?

  • November 4, 2004, 4:52am

As a non-English speaker who spant ages to pronounce the word, "word" properly, I can say that that R is not droped in British accent, its just pronounce diferently than American. I have listen very very carefully to many people saying this word.
As an Persian speaker the letter R to my native ear sounds the way it is pronounced in Spanish. Neither Englishs nor American sound like that.
Can someone discribe the position of tongue in the both American and British way? I know how it is but can't discribe it.

couple vs couple of

  • November 1, 2004, 9:10pm

Dave, don't try that at home! :-)
In Roger Waters' The Pros And Cons Of Hitchhiking we here him saying: "Hello...ya wanna cup coffee? [...] I'm sorry, would you like a cup of coffee?"
I think it's just a matter of how much one has got sleep the night before. Some people don't wanna speak too much so they use the of-free version of "couple of X."

silent autumn

  • November 1, 2004, 8:58pm

Speedwell!
I guess you've been influenced by some bad companies. :-) You are not answering Marta's question. The question is WHY that N is mute.
It is curius: the words ending with the mute N such as autumn (autumnus), damn (damnum), solemn (sollemnis), column (columna) have a vowel after the N that is more conviniant for the Indo-European languages to pronounce. [letalone the P you mentioned in their French version which make it more complicated.]
To answer the WHY it is important to trace the changes in the spelling, from the old English to that of the modern one.
I don't know much about the spelling development but found it an interesting thing when I tried to compare the Beowulf's modern to the original texts.
so some one tells of WHY, if you please.

Fuff

  • October 2, 2004, 5:27am

fuff Dave! That was funny.

Mixing

  • October 1, 2004, 7:49am

Just thought it sounded cool! And also being a none-adjective in a short manner. Let alone the show-off!

Questions

People(s) February 10, 2004
Gerund and Present Participle February 12, 2004
Pronounciation of TH+S February 16, 2004
Weird name February 16, 2004
Any reference? February 17, 2004
un/ir February 17, 2004
Have/halve February 18, 2004
More than a pain in the English! February 26, 2004
00′s March 3, 2004
- March 25, 2004
S April 14, 2004
Term April 14, 2004
114 April 19, 2004
Who’s this Joe? April 19, 2004
Following the Joe April 23, 2004
English schools April 26, 2004
Gerontophile? April 28, 2004
Semtex April 29, 2004
Isn’t it odd? May 6, 2004
ir May 9, 2004
G-string May 9, 2004
Be-martyred May 10, 2004
Oral vs. Aural May 11, 2004
ta-ta & ho-ho May 15, 2004
Para June 1, 2004
Am I L-deaf? June 9, 2004
Punctuation June 13, 2004
P & K June 15, 2004
...t you June 18, 2004
F word June 18, 2004
negating June 21, 2004
The June 22, 2004
Pawshop July 2, 2004
Lacking Smell July 2, 2004
At or in July 8, 2004
Y2K July 12, 2004
Example July 23, 2004
Looking for a word July 29, 2004
OK July 29, 2004
ab August 26, 2004
Mixing October 1, 2004
Fuff October 1, 2004
V-cards November 1, 2004
Bios December 6, 2004
Hairy December 11, 2004
Ya’ese December 11, 2004
BCC December 12, 2004
Films December 26, 2004
all December 31, 2004
Credit card January 6, 2005
B4 Dickens January 14, 2005
L January 30, 2005
Joke June 19, 2005
Dick & Bob July 26, 2007
Frowing October 12, 2007
Head shot October 19, 2007