I just read this article on CNN and dead English teachers everywhere are rolling in their graves.
Does this make it okay to include these words in essays and school applications? I don’t think so. I would advise anyone who would consider using these words such as LOL and BFF to think twice and consider the intended audience.
It makes me sad to see stuff like this make it into everyday usage. This banner ad promotes a show on ESPN2 that highlights mistakes and bloopers.
Do you see what’s wrong?
Look up fail in the dictionary, and what do you see?
Fail is a verb, not a noun or adjective.
When something goes wrong, it should be labeled as a FAILURE not fail.
Sadly, use of this internet meme is a failure in the English language.
Which other incorrect terms have you seen appear in everyday usage?
No, this isn’t a post about sexual orientation. What I’m referring to is homophones.
Don’t know what a homophone is? Hint, it’s not a phone for gay and lesbian folks.
Homo = same, phone/phonetic = sound
You probably learned about homophones in grade school. A homophone is a word that sounds the same as another word but differs in meaning.
Here’s some examples:
Role Roll
The role of Romeo was played by Leonardo di Caprio in the 1996 movie.
When playing craps you roll the dice.
Rain, reign, rein
I love the rain. It’s perfect weather for staying indoors.
The dictator’s reign came to an end after the coup.
A rider needs to grab the reins on a horse to control it.
These are just 2 sets of homophones. What other homophones are there?
To be or not to be? That was William Shakespeare’s question, but a follower of the Elegant Editor was on a plane flight and contemplated a similar question.
Check out her boarding pass from AirTran Airways:
Boarding pass MUST be presented at the Gate not later than 10 minutes before departure.
It doesn’t appear to be proper English usage. Is it supposed to be “Boarding pass must be presented at the gate NO later than 10 minutes before departure”?
I’ll leave this up to my readers to contemplate for now, and I will comment on this later.
Greetings, and welcome to the Elegant Editor’s blog.
On this page, I’ll post tips and common errors. I’ll also use this page to highlight punctuation, grammar, and spelling errors that I find in my day-to-day life.
Readers, feel free to submit any errors that you find too!