Nathan "PRCog" Burgess

They’re’s a problem with are grammar (Part too)

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DictionaryAlright All right folks – let’s try this again.  As a very late followup to part won of this post, presented below are some of you’re own pet peeves when it comes to proper word youse.  And if you haven’t noticed it yet – every underlined word so far is improperly yoused or completely nonexistent.  As a reminder, I’ll repeat the notes presented in the first post –

  1. I’m not perfect, I may not know an Oxford comma from an Oxford shirt, but there are some basics
  2. We’re professional communicators!  Being able to communicate at a minimum threshold of competence is one of the essential tools in our toolbox.
  3. Typos happen.  They’re forgivable.  But when I see you’ve used the wrong form of a word I know it’s not a typo.  Either you don’t know the difference, you don’t care enough to take 10 seconds to reread your 140 characters (which should be unnecessary), or … you’re drunk.
  4. Caveat to #3 — If you’re employed and have good job security you can slip occasionally.  If you’re among the hundreds looking for a job, take the extra effort to get it write right.  Even if it means using two tweets, dropping the person an email, or changing what you were going to say.  It’s worth it — there are people out there looking for candidates without officially opening up a job posting.  Impress them with your content and form and maybe something will happen.  Turn them off to you right away and it’ll be hopeless.

Lose / Loose

  • Lose: To misplace something.  Do not lose that pen, it’s Bob’s.
  • Loose: Inappropriately fitting. Watch that top of yours when you bend over, it’s a bit loose.  There are other uses of the term loose, but we’ll skip those for now.

Waste/Waist – My goodness, really?

  • Waste: Refuse (as in trash, not as in to turn something down) or to dispose of without proper concern. Don’t waste the bad printouts, use the back for notes.
  • Waist: That thing around your navel (not naval) where your pants sit (on some people, depending on what’s in style). Remove your arm from her waist and go see the HR manager!
  • Double example: You’re wasting away, you’ve hardly got any waist left.

Through/Threw/Thru

  • Through: Any normal use of through you can think of  in which one thing goes ‘within’ another and emerges on the other side – went through heck, walked through the house, put his fist through a wall.
  • Threw: What a quarterback or “woman scorned” does.  He threw the football, She threw the vase.
  • Thru: Doesn’t.Really.Exist.  Listed as an informal use of through, though many retch at the sight of this.

Peace/Piece

  • Peace: A state of calm or the opposite of war (unless you’re a Rent fan). …hold your peace…; peace prevailed after the treaty was signed; even though he was ticked at me, he flashed me the peace sign.
  • Piece: A smaller portion of something larger or a coy reference to something illicit. Piece of cake, piece of pizza, piece of….well – y’know, or the mafioso looking guy was definitely carrying a piece, you could see its outline through his jacket.

Affect/Effect

That’s it for this edition.  If there’s anything not included in this one, or the prior post, or in any of our “Your Copy Sucks” posts, let us know in the comments.