Tag Archives: grammar

Airport Lingo continues

December 18, 2009 – 5:47 am

On the plane now. A quote from the safety lecture: “We never anticipate a change in cabin pressure, but in case we do…”

Well, I would hope you anticipate a change in pressure as a possibility. In fact, you DID anticipate it, which is why you’re providing us with oxygen masks. Anticipation is the hallmark of good safety.

The word you’re looking for is expect. We don’t expect a cabin pressure change.

And while we’re at it, what is a cabin pressure change, anyway? Is there any chance we’re talking about the pressure increasing? How about, “While we don’t expect the air to suddenly become unbreathable, oxygen masks will pop down in front of you if it does.”

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Airport lingo

December 18, 2009 – 3:51 am

George Carlin wasn’t wrong when he used to complain about the tortured language used during air travel.

I just heard part of an announcement over the loudspeaker here in Phoenix: “…For your convenience, please use the adjacent parking facility.”

For your convenience, please use? What the hell does that mean? At least put a subject in there. “An adjacent parking lot is available for your convenience.” That’s still a lie, but at least it’s a sentence.

How about “No Parking here. Park over there” Plain. Simple. Direct. Not rude, just honest. No parking.

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Grammar is one of those things that matters A LOT to some people and not at all to others.

October 13, 2009 – 9:43 pm

I just discovered a new blog called ignorethecode.net. Not only is it well-written and interesting, from a tech point of view. It also presents a brilliant solution to an-age old problem with web sites that allow comments.

We’ve all encountered the grammar police from time to time, whether we write our own blogs or just spend time in the forums. It never fails that at least one person will feel it is his or her duty to let the author and other commenters know that several words were misspelled, or the wrong form of a pronoun was used, or an infinitive was split, etc. 

There must be some sort of group, like the Gideons, assigning members to every blog and news source on the Internet, spreading the good word and abolishing poor usage. 

Anyway, rather than simply accepting these corrections in the comment section, which is usually the only place where these users can vent their frustrations with comma splicing, author Lukas Mathis asks his Strunk and White Witnesses to contact him directly via email or his issue tracker for any grammatical corrections that may be necessary. 

This keeps the forums free from these kinds of comments (and the scores of comments spawned from these comments) while not belittling the importance of these contributions in the eyes of his well-meaning users. It’s a perfect solution, because now you’d have to be a complete nimrod to correct his spelling in the comment area.  You’d be in essence admitting that you’re only pointing out his errors as a way to pump up your own self-esteem. And you’d be demonstrating your own inability to comprehend the instructions provided. 

Foiled by his own compulsions for following the rules. I love it. 

Grammar is one of those things that matters A LOT to some people and not at all to others. So best to keep those two groups of people away from one another whenever possible. 

 
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This alone convinced me that the author of this blog probably has something of interest to say. I can’t believe I haven’t seen this approach in other places. 

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