Funny; I had the same exact problem just yesterday while writing for another blog.

a bunch of 5-year-olds
or
a bunch of 5-year olds
or
a bunch of 5 year-olds
or
a bunch of 5 year olds

Hi Porsche,

I may have. Could you elaborate on that? Am I correct in saying that there were multiple systems of inflection? If so, are you saying that these multiple systems of inflection were part of the one and the only linguistic system? In other words, they didn't come from different linguistic systems.

But then, I guess this becomes a question of what constitutes a "linguistic system".

Actually, this shouldn't be so hard to do if the president of the US wanted to do this. He could for instance make the regular versions of the irregular verbs officially acceptable among all governmental communication. In other words, both versions would be considered correct in the eyes of the government. There is no need to force anyone to use the regular versions either. We just have to wait a few generations, because the public schools and parents will stop correcting our children. Like my own daughter, all the children will use the regular versions naturally. I would imagine that in a few generations, the regular versions will be more common because they will come naturally.

Actually, I've been noticing the same thing. Never mind the errors in capitalization (which cannot be caught by spell checkers, and some may even undo the correct capitalization of acronyms), there are many blatant errors, like erroneously repeating the same words. I think it's a recent phenomenon. I suspect that it's a combination of two factors:

1. Because of the popularity of the Web as the primary mode of news consumption, the news editors are pressured to publish their articles as quickly as possible. Since the Web is so immediate and instantaneous, and because everyone expects it to be so, the quicker you publish the news, the more traffic you get to your site. So, they cut corners when it comes to quality control.

2. Because of the current economic climate, the news media are cutting staff in an effort to survive. I suspect many are doing away with the proof-reading step, and relying on the writers to do their best.

I've heard "green with envy", but not "green eyes" for that purpose.

Oh, right.

It's not easy to write anything for this site; you know it will be scrutinized!

Hi Nadir,

That would be very interesting if that were true, but I'm not sure about that. As you can see below, it's quite off from where the true Pythagorean triangle should be (3-4-5 ratio). If the artist truly believed in mathematical beauty, I think he/she would have been much more precise.

To me it resembles an "acute" symbol, like the one on top of the 'e' on "café". I have a feeling that there was a functional reason.

If what is bothering you is the repetition, not the double negatives, then you could simply change it to:

There was no clause left in the sole agency contract that wasn't a source of conflict.

"There wasn't a single X left in..." is an expression with a specific effect, so if your author wants that, I would understand. Your version is certainly cleaner, but it does lack this effect.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/localhistory/journey/stars/tommy_handley/catchphrases.shtml

This is an interesting page I found. According to it, the phrase "I don't mind if I do" was popularized in the 40s through this radio program. Unfortunately, this does not clear up this issue since the addition of the "I" could have been part of this joke. If "Please don't mind if I do" was how the expression was known before this radio show, adding the "I" would make it funny. It would have turned a polite expression into a rude/selfish one, which this character apparently was.

My theory is that "Please don't mind if I do" was the original expression, and this radio show made adding of the "I" popular. Now, many people do not realize that the addition was actually a joke, and use it even in situations where they should not be joking.

It just occurred to me: If “Don’t mind if I do,” is actually a request (as in “Please don’t mind if I take a lot of chocolates.”), then the subject is not being omitted in that sentence. It is a complete sentence. This means that, even if we hear a lot of people say, “I don’t mind if I do,” and never hear anyone say, “You don’t mind if I do,” it does not prove that the “I” is being omitted or implied. It is possible that those who say, “I don’t mind...” are misusing the expression.

If the expression is supposed to be polite, then I could imagine it originating in England where a host offers a cup of tea, and the guest replies, “Please don’t mind if I do indeed want a cup of tea.” In other words, it’s a different way of saying, “If it’s not too much trouble, yes, I would indeed love a cup of tea.”