"Your" stupid! "Their" stupid!
Thread Starter
da Terminator!
iTrader: (62)
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 9,294
Likes: 1
From: Rockville, MD
I heard myGTR was having trouble with the spellings of Soufflé. Some people werent putting the accent over the e. ANIMALS!!! Can you believe this problem is as widespread at it is?
New Member
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 52
Likes: 0
From: Pennsylvania
After years of hanging out with car people I finally broke down and feel the need to point this out. I understand education was never a requirement when posting on a car forum. But come on!!! Majority of us are way passed high school. Please stop writing "Your" when you really mean to say "You're".
Yes I MAD!
Yes I MAD!
Thread Starter
da Terminator!
iTrader: (62)
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 9,294
Likes: 1
From: Rockville, MD
No I indeed meant to say "passed" sir.
Correct me if I'm wrong as I'm known to not being able to spell my own name correctly, but my understanding is that "past" is used in the manner of time versus "passed" is used in the manner of motion/action. So when I pointed out the fact that we are way "passed" high school, I used it in the context of our level of maturity/knowledge hence classified as motion/action. Now if I simply wanted to state the fact that we have been out of high school for quite some time, the word "past" should have been used.
I am no Grammar ****, but I do dislike stupidity.
Correct me if I'm wrong as I'm known to not being able to spell my own name correctly, but my understanding is that "past" is used in the manner of time versus "passed" is used in the manner of motion/action. So when I pointed out the fact that we are way "passed" high school, I used it in the context of our level of maturity/knowledge hence classified as motion/action. Now if I simply wanted to state the fact that we have been out of high school for quite some time, the word "past" should have been used.
I am no Grammar ****, but I do dislike stupidity.
No I indeed meant to say "passed" sir.
Correct me if I'm wrong as I'm known to not being able to spell my own name correctly, but my understanding is that "past" is used in the manner of time versus "passed" is used in the manner of motion/action. So when I pointed out the fact that we are way "passed" high school, I used it in the context of our level of maturity/knowledge hence classified as motion/action. Now if I simply wanted to state the fact that we have been out of high school for quite some time, the word "past" should have been used.
I am no Grammar ****, but I do dislike stupidity.
Correct me if I'm wrong as I'm known to not being able to spell my own name correctly, but my understanding is that "past" is used in the manner of time versus "passed" is used in the manner of motion/action. So when I pointed out the fact that we are way "passed" high school, I used it in the context of our level of maturity/knowledge hence classified as motion/action. Now if I simply wanted to state the fact that we have been out of high school for quite some time, the word "past" should have been used.
I am no Grammar ****, but I do dislike stupidity.
Last edited by djamps; Jun 14, 2012 at 12:32 PM.
Registered User
iTrader: (1)
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 5,568
Likes: 0
From: Get out my way pimpin, MD/PA
Looks like the grammar police just got 
In all seriousness I write multi-page reports for a living and consistently have to focus on grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. I can't imagine most people give too much thought to their grammar when posting on a forum.
i no i dont
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 1,244
Likes: 31
From: Vancouver B C
Like the "House Of The Rising Sun", Homonyms have been the ruin of many a poor boy (and girl). We all seem to have one or two that we stumble over repeatedly. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been laughed at for writing ‘altar’ in place of ‘alter’.
Ironically Passed is the past participle of the verb pass. However, since both past and passed can be called into service as nouns, adjectives and prepositions it’s easy to get tripped up.
Out test driving a new GT-R, I passed by my old high school. I’m certainly glad to put those days into my past. English class was a b!tch, I barely got a passing grade in grammar. Understanding proper syntax was like being lost in the wilderness. Luckily Djamp’s mother, the kindly (and kinda hot) English teacher, showed me a pass through the mountains and I got past my fear of failure. That and the joint I smoked every day at half-past four. I wonder if the ancient old principle has now passed-away.
The car salesman told me to take a left just past the gas station and return immediately to the dealership. I guess he figured out that I was just a poor Joe passing myself off as a rich guy.
Ironically Passed is the past participle of the verb pass. However, since both past and passed can be called into service as nouns, adjectives and prepositions it’s easy to get tripped up.
Out test driving a new GT-R, I passed by my old high school. I’m certainly glad to put those days into my past. English class was a b!tch, I barely got a passing grade in grammar. Understanding proper syntax was like being lost in the wilderness. Luckily Djamp’s mother, the kindly (and kinda hot) English teacher, showed me a pass through the mountains and I got past my fear of failure. That and the joint I smoked every day at half-past four. I wonder if the ancient old principle has now passed-away.
The car salesman told me to take a left just past the gas station and return immediately to the dealership. I guess he figured out that I was just a poor Joe passing myself off as a rich guy.
I wish I would have passed on reading this thread. Now I just sit here and regret the past 3 minutes of my life I will never get back.
Thanks Grizz... this made me laugh.
Etan, the grandpa post makes me want to get my eyes checked. If it looks clear to you it may be time to update your prescription.
I heard myGTR was having trouble with the spellings of Soufflé. Some people werent putting the accent over the e. ANIMALS!!! Can you believe this problem is as widespread at it is?
Etan, the grandpa post makes me want to get my eyes checked. If it looks clear to you it may be time to update your prescription.
Thread Starter
da Terminator!
iTrader: (62)
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 9,294
Likes: 1
From: Rockville, MD
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/07/i_wo...o_use_poo.html
If you think an apostrophe was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus, you will never work for me. If you think a semicolon is a regular colon with an identity crisis, I will not hire you. If you scatter commas into a sentence with all the discrimination of a shotgun, you might make it to the foyer before we politely escort you from the building.
Some might call my approach to grammar extreme, but I prefer Lynne Truss's more cuddly phraseology: I am a grammar "stickler." And, like Truss — author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves — I have a "zero tolerance approach" to grammar mistakes that make people look stupid.
Now, Truss and I disagree on what it means to have "zero tolerance." She thinks that people who mix up their itses "deserve to be struck by lightning, hacked up on the spot and buried in an unmarked grave," while I just think they deserve to be passed over for a job — even if they are otherwise qualified for the position.
Everyone who applies for a position at either of my companies, iFixit or Dozuki, takes a mandatory grammar test. Extenuating circumstances aside (dyslexia, English language learners, etc.), if job hopefuls can't distinguish between "to" and "too," their applications go into the bin.
Of course, we write for a living. iFixit.com is the world's largest online repair manual, and Dozuki helps companies write their own technical documentation, like paperless work instructions and step-by-step user manuals. So, it makes sense that we've made a preemptive strike against groan-worthy grammar errors.
But grammar is relevant for all companies. Yes, language is constantly changing, but that doesn't make grammar unimportant. Good grammar is credibility, especially on the internet. In blog posts, on Facebook statuses, in e-mails, and on company websites, your words are all you have. They are a projection of you in your physical absence. And, for better or worse, people judge you if you can't tell the difference between their, there, and they're.
Good grammar makes good business sense — and not just when it comes to hiring writers. Writing isn't in the official job description of most people in our office. Still, we give our grammar test to everybody, including our salespeople, our operations staff, and our programmers.
On the face of it, my zero tolerance approach to grammar errors might seem a little unfair. After all, grammar has nothing to do with job performance, or creativity, or intelligence, right?
Wrong. If it takes someone more than 20 years to notice how to properly use "it's," then that's not a learning curve I'm comfortable with. So, even in this hyper-competitive market, I will pass on a great programmer who cannot write.
Grammar signifies more than just a person's ability to remember high school English. I've found that people who make fewer mistakes on a grammar test also make fewer mistakes when they are doing something completely unrelated to writing — like stocking shelves or labeling parts.
In the same vein, programmers who pay attention to how they construct written language also tend to pay a lot more attention to how they code. You see, at its core, code is prose. Great programmers are more than just code monkeys; according to Stanford programming legend Donald Knuth they are "essayists who work with traditional aesthetic and literary forms." The point: programming should be easily understood by real human beings — not just computers.
And just like good writing and good grammar, when it comes to programming, the devil's in the details. In fact, when it comes to my whole business, details are everything.
I hire people who care about those details. Applicants who don't think writing is important are likely to think lots of other (important) things also aren't important. And I guarantee that even if other companies aren't issuing grammar tests, they pay attention to sloppy mistakes on résumés. After all, sloppy is as sloppy does.
That's why I grammar test people who walk in the door looking for a job. Grammar is my litmus test. All applicants say they're detail-oriented; I just make my employees prove it.
Some might call my approach to grammar extreme, but I prefer Lynne Truss's more cuddly phraseology: I am a grammar "stickler." And, like Truss — author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves — I have a "zero tolerance approach" to grammar mistakes that make people look stupid.
Now, Truss and I disagree on what it means to have "zero tolerance." She thinks that people who mix up their itses "deserve to be struck by lightning, hacked up on the spot and buried in an unmarked grave," while I just think they deserve to be passed over for a job — even if they are otherwise qualified for the position.
Everyone who applies for a position at either of my companies, iFixit or Dozuki, takes a mandatory grammar test. Extenuating circumstances aside (dyslexia, English language learners, etc.), if job hopefuls can't distinguish between "to" and "too," their applications go into the bin.
Of course, we write for a living. iFixit.com is the world's largest online repair manual, and Dozuki helps companies write their own technical documentation, like paperless work instructions and step-by-step user manuals. So, it makes sense that we've made a preemptive strike against groan-worthy grammar errors.
But grammar is relevant for all companies. Yes, language is constantly changing, but that doesn't make grammar unimportant. Good grammar is credibility, especially on the internet. In blog posts, on Facebook statuses, in e-mails, and on company websites, your words are all you have. They are a projection of you in your physical absence. And, for better or worse, people judge you if you can't tell the difference between their, there, and they're.
Good grammar makes good business sense — and not just when it comes to hiring writers. Writing isn't in the official job description of most people in our office. Still, we give our grammar test to everybody, including our salespeople, our operations staff, and our programmers.
On the face of it, my zero tolerance approach to grammar errors might seem a little unfair. After all, grammar has nothing to do with job performance, or creativity, or intelligence, right?
Wrong. If it takes someone more than 20 years to notice how to properly use "it's," then that's not a learning curve I'm comfortable with. So, even in this hyper-competitive market, I will pass on a great programmer who cannot write.
Grammar signifies more than just a person's ability to remember high school English. I've found that people who make fewer mistakes on a grammar test also make fewer mistakes when they are doing something completely unrelated to writing — like stocking shelves or labeling parts.
In the same vein, programmers who pay attention to how they construct written language also tend to pay a lot more attention to how they code. You see, at its core, code is prose. Great programmers are more than just code monkeys; according to Stanford programming legend Donald Knuth they are "essayists who work with traditional aesthetic and literary forms." The point: programming should be easily understood by real human beings — not just computers.
And just like good writing and good grammar, when it comes to programming, the devil's in the details. In fact, when it comes to my whole business, details are everything.
I hire people who care about those details. Applicants who don't think writing is important are likely to think lots of other (important) things also aren't important. And I guarantee that even if other companies aren't issuing grammar tests, they pay attention to sloppy mistakes on résumés. After all, sloppy is as sloppy does.
That's why I grammar test people who walk in the door looking for a job. Grammar is my litmus test. All applicants say they're detail-oriented; I just make my employees prove it.
