Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Fun with Homonyms....and the like

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #16
    Re: Fun with Homonyms....and the like

    The misuse of "data" and "media" bother me. Both are plural. Thus: "these data indicate. . ." not "this data indicates." "the media are. . ." not "the media is. . ." Datum and medium are the singular forms.

    The larger problem is to get subjects and objects to agree in tense and number. Let me put in my usual plug for Strunk and White here.

    Do middle school kids diagram sentences anymore? If not, that might explain some of the misuse.
    Last edited by Old Pio; 04-12-2012, 01:04 AM.
    2011 Poser of the Year & Pulitzer Prize winning machine gunner.

    Comment


    • #17
      Re: Fun with Homonyms....and the like

      Originally posted by Old Pio View Post
      The misuse of "data" and "media" bother me. Both are plural. Thus: "these data indicate. . ." not "this data indicates." "the media are. . ." not "the media is. . ." Datum and medium are the singular forms.

      The larger problem is to get subjects and objects to agree in tense and number. Let me put in my usual plug for Strunk and White here.

      Do middle school kids diagram sentences anymore? If not, that might explain some of the misuse.
      I never diagrammed sentences, and I am about the same age as you. (I never went to middle school either.)
      sigpic

      Let's Go 'Tute!

      Maxed out at 2,147,483,647 at 10:00 AM EDT 9/17/07.

      2012 Poser Of The Year

      Comment


      • #18
        Re: Fun with Homonyms....and the like

        Originally posted by duper View Post
        You have my blessing.
        I'll add a few kicks myself after Frenchy gets them on the ground.

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: Fun with Homonyms....and the like

          "We need to take a different tact."

          Avast! It's "tack," you landlubbers.
          If you don't change the world today, how can it be any better tomorrow?

          Comment


          • #20
            Re: Fun with Homonyms....and the like

            Originally posted by Old Pio View Post
            The misuse of "data" and "media" bother me. Both are plural. Thus: "these data indicate. . ." not "this data indicates." "the media are. . ." not "the media is. . ." Datum and medium are the singular forms.

            The larger problem is to get subjects and objects to agree in tense and number. Let me put in my usual plug for Strunk and White here.

            Do middle school kids diagram sentences anymore? If not, that might explain some of the misuse.
            Some do, some don't.

            Comment


            • #21
              Re: Fun with Homonyms....and the like

              Originally posted by FlagDUDE08 View Post
              Some do, some don't.
              I hated it, but looking back, think it probably helped.
              2011 Poser of the Year & Pulitzer Prize winning machine gunner.

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: Fun with Homonyms....and the like

                Originally posted by Ralph Baer View Post
                I never diagrammed sentences, and I am about the same age as you. (I never went to middle school either.)
                We had junior high and in my Chicago 'burb it was in the same building. I understand they now have actual free standing middle schools. We also went home for lunch (so we could see Bozo's Circus).
                2011 Poser of the Year & Pulitzer Prize winning machine gunner.

                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: Fun with Homonyms....and the like

                  Originally posted by Old Pio View Post
                  We had junior high and in my Chicago 'burb it was in the same building. I understand they now have actual free standing middle schools. We also went home for lunch (so we could see Bozo's Circus).
                  Where I went, we had K-12 in one building. There was more than one room.

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: Fun with Homonyms....and the like

                    Originally posted by FlagDUDE08 View Post
                    Where I went, we had K-12 in one building. There was more than one room.
                    K-12? Why did I just flash on "Little House on the Prairie?"
                    2011 Poser of the Year & Pulitzer Prize winning machine gunner.

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: Fun with Homonyms....and the like

                      Originally posted by Old Pio View Post
                      K-12? Why did I just flash on "Little House on the Prairie?"
                      Most people do. The school has 3 floors (if you include the basement). Secondary (7-12) is upstairs as well as the sixth grade classrooms, K-5 on the first floor, all the special stuff in the basement (like the library, cafeteria, etc.). This is actually not all that uncommon on the east side of the North Country of NY.

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: Fun with Homonyms....and the like

                        Someone who gives up on the college basketball team from Texas that recently was hit with three-year's worth of sanctions is a Baylor bailer.
                        "Hope is a good thing; maybe the best of things."

                        "Beer is a sign that God loves us and wants us to be happy." -- Benjamin Franklin

                        "Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy." -- W. B. Yeats

                        "People generally are most impatient with those flaws in others about which they are most ashamed of in themselves." - folk wisdom

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Re: Fun with Homonyms....and the like

                          Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Re: Fun with Homonyms....and the like

                            Originally posted by FlagDUDE08 View Post
                            Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
                            Legit.

                            It's funny when someone tries to say it isn't.
                            Never really developed a taste for tequila. Kind of hard to understand how you make a drink out of something that sharp, inhospitable. Now, bourbon is easy to understand.
                            Tastes like a warm summer day. -Raylan Givens

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Re: Fun with Homonyms....and the like

                              I can think of several three-word homonyms (you ewe yew, there their they're, and depending upon what part of the country you are from, perhaps you wed a jovial woman, or marry merry Mary), I can't recall if I've ever seen a four-word one or not.


                              I've also been in parts of the country in which you can clearly hear a pronounciation difference between "marry" and "merry" though I can't recall where.


                              Nor can I think of a three-way heteronym....like "PRAH-ject" (project) the noun or "proJECT" the verb.
                              "Hope is a good thing; maybe the best of things."

                              "Beer is a sign that God loves us and wants us to be happy." -- Benjamin Franklin

                              "Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy." -- W. B. Yeats

                              "People generally are most impatient with those flaws in others about which they are most ashamed of in themselves." - folk wisdom

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: Fun with Homonyms....and the like

                                Originally posted by FreshFish View Post

                                Nor can I think of a three-way heteronym....like "PRAH-ject" (project) the noun or "proJECT" the verb.
                                You'd have to have a word with at least 3 syllables, of course.

                                Ok, that's your challenge. Find a three-way.
                                Never really developed a taste for tequila. Kind of hard to understand how you make a drink out of something that sharp, inhospitable. Now, bourbon is easy to understand.
                                Tastes like a warm summer day. -Raylan Givens

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X