Are you a person of information?

[prillalar]

You know those things that people get wrong and it really annoys you? I'd like to hear two of them. Preferably, one should be more specialized knowledge that you'd like to educate people about. Here are mine:

Everyone ought to already know: Bees do not bite. They sting.

I'd like you to know: There's no such thing as a "kudo". Kudos is a Greek word, right out of Homer. It's singular, not plural. It means glory or renown. So, you can say "Kudos to you" but not "I give you one kudo".

Go on, educate me!

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_inbetween_/]

every fetus is initially female.

"fuck" was never an acronym for "fornication under the consent of the king".

[cyprinella]

My mother always claimed it was "forbidden use of carnal knowledge".

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

Everyone ought to already know: It's a lot. Not "alot".

I'd like you to know: Particulate is an adjective. Particle is a noun. Particulate matter is made up of particles.

[tripoli8.livejournal.com]

Everyone ought to already know: Woman is a noun. Female is a noun and an adjective. A "woman doctor" is not the same thing as a "female doctor". Think I'm kidding? Call AT&T asking to speak to a man operator and see how far you get.

I'd like you to know: The plural of octopus is octopodes, not octopi. Declining the singular -us to the plural -i *is* correct, in Latin, but octopus is Greek.

(Although come to think of it, Hal, you read Greek and Latin, don't you? So you probably already knew that.)


There are a lot of grammar fundamentalists on this flist :-D

[kelly-yoyo.livejournal.com]

My octopus friend would like to thank you for clearing that up.

[supergrover24.livejournal.com]

Hmm.

There is never an 's' at the end of anyway.

The easy way to remember the difference between principal and prinicple is that the princiPAL will be your PAL. (I learned that in a Beverly Cleary book.)

[marinarusalka.livejournal.com]

The Immaculate Conception refers not to the conception of Christ, but to the conception of the Virgin Mary.

Galileo didn't invent the telescope.

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

with regard to the first one - what? Can I have more info?

Ooh, cool thread!

[sherrold.livejournal.com]

Not all cool prehistoric monsters were dinosaurs -- Neither pterodactyls, sea-serpents, giant lizards, nor pelycosaurs were dinosaurs.

You can use till and until interchangeably in both writing and speech -- they mean the same thing, and both words arose at approximately the same time. Therefore, using 'til is just silly, when the word till already exists to serve that task.

Re: Ooh, cool thread!

[manynames.livejournal.com]

Not all cool prehistoric monsters were dinosaurs -- Neither pterodactyls, sea-serpents, giant lizards, nor pelycosaurs were dinosaurs.

Ha, yes. When I was younger, I used to bet people that plesiosaurs and pterodactyls weren't dinosaurs. I won every time. That was my main source of income at seven.

[phoenixw.livejournal.com]

Everyone ought to know: Less is a unit of measure applied to indiscrete units: things you don't count individually. Fewer is the unit of measure applied to discrete units: things you do count. So it's "less money" but "fewer dollars". I wish more journalists would remember that before writing "Less People Attend College".

I'd like you to know: The current statutory rate for a US copyright is 7.1 cents per song. (http://law.freeadvice.com/intellectual_property/music_law/calculation_royalties.htm)

[wildreality.livejournal.com]

Your everyone ought to know is my everyone ought to know. Advertisers are almost as bad as journalists, and seeing as how both groups have editors, there's really no excuse.

I'd like you to know: "almond" is properly pronounced with a silent l, like calf and salmon. However, much like February, constant mispronounciation has gotten the other version into the dictionaries.

[millefiori.livejournal.com]

1) Gentlemen are supposed to remove their hats whenever they enter a building.

2) The term "Mrs." should never be used with a woman's first name, as "Mrs." means 'the wife of.' Therefore, Alice Longbottom would be "Mrs. Frank Longbottom," but "Mrs. Alice Longbottom" would be some unknown woman married to Alice.

[rainbow-goddess.livejournal.com]

Actually, it is acceptable for a widow to use her first name and her late husband's last name.

[the-star-fish.livejournal.com]

Everybody ought to know: the term "light-year" is a unit of distance, not time.

I'd like to you to know: the word moot means "a point worthy of discussion" in the British idiom, and exactly the opposite in the American idiom. Weird.

[jacquez.livejournal.com]

Everybody ought to know: the term "light-year" is a unit of distance, not time.

as is "parsec", paging George freakin' Lucas.

[kelly-yoyo.livejournal.com]

There is no such word as "wonderment."

Baseball caps are the ugliest headwear ever invented and should be banned. Banned I say!!

[rainbow-goddess.livejournal.com]

Eating too much sugar does not cause diabetes.

Prince Charles' late wife was not Princess Diana. She was Diana, Princess of Wales.

[millefiori.livejournal.com]

I'm fuzzy on this, so I won't swear to it, but I once read that a correct form of address for Diana would've been Princess Charles (a la Princess Michael of Kent), but it wasn't pursued because the people wouldn't stand for it.

[phineasjones.livejournal.com]

well, since the immaculate conception is taken, i'll just pass along that j.s. bach did not write the famous toccata and fugue in d minor.

[nestra.livejournal.com]

Who did, then?

[derryderrydown.livejournal.com]

Ethelred was called the Unready because he was without Rede, or counsel. Not because he was late.

To be truly classed a ship, a vessel must have at least three masts and be square-rigged on each.

shipping wars :-)

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

Heh, I think that's been superseded. In the American Navy, all vessels are "ships" except for submarines, which are "boats". Although I suppose they all have masts, of a sort, none of them are square-rigged.

Technically, a "yacht" is any vessel used exclusively for pleasure. So you could classify your kayak or rowboat as a yacht, I suppose!

Finally, a sailboat with one mast and one headsail is a sloop; a sailboat with one mast and two headsails is a cutter. A true cutter has the forestays set differently than a sloop, so when a few manufacturers came up with the idea of putting a removable forestay aft of the main one, cutter purists called these boats "slutters" instead. Almost my favorite boat type name, losing out to the "hermaphrodite brig" which is a sort of cross between a schooner and a brigantine.

[meret.livejournal.com]

If you bite (ingest) something and you get sick it's poisonous. If something bites you and you get sick it's venomous.

No where in the bible does it say Mary Magdelene was a prostitute. It says she was possessed by demons, and Jesus cast them out of her. The catholic church came up with the prostitute story because she was too popular a figure. According to the gnostic gospels, she was Jesus's head disciple, and the head of the church in Jerusalum after his death.

[wisdomeagle]

*loves on you for #2*

[wisdomeagle]

1. "Nauseous" does not mean sick to your stomach. It means that you cause other people to be nauseated, which is what you are when you see something icky (or nauseous).

2. Catholic != Christian. Likewise, Protestant != Christian. Both are subgroups of Christianity. I haven't heard this one so much since high school, but it still causes me stress to remember.

[thepouncer.livejournal.com]

I am a defense policy analyst. I go crazy at any movie, TV show, or novel that attempts to depict an immediate reaction to a biological weapons attack. Bioweapons, just like colds, flu, and strep throat, must incubate before symptons appear. The three main types of bioweapons are: bacteria (anthrax), viruses (e.g., smallpox or Venezuelan equine encephalitis), and rickettsia (typhus). Any weapon that has an immediate effect would be a chemical weapon, which includes four main classes: choking, blister, blood, and nerve.

Examples from each class -
Choking: ammonia, chlorine
Blister: mustard gas, phosgene
Blood: cyanide
Nerve: sarin, soman, tabun, VX (the most deadly class of chemical weapons. From the CDC - All the nerve agents cause their toxic effects by preventing the proper operation of the chemical that acts as the body’s “off switch” for glands and muscles. Without an “off switch,” the glands and muscles are constantly being stimulated. They may tire and no longer be able to sustain breathing function.

There are also toxins such as ricin, which is an organic poison processed from castor beans.

The thought of any of these weapons being used gives me nightmares. If a writer wants to include them, by god, get the details right!

Monterey Institute of International Studies CBW resource page: http://cns.miis.edu/research/cbw/tech.htm
CDC Emergency Preparedness page, with links to fact sheets: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/index.asp

[reginagiraffe]

And typhus is not the same as typhoid fever, which is caused by Salonella typhi, which is not carried by fleas, like typhus.

[jennifus.livejournal.com]

All multiples of nine, when added together, equal nine. (9x9=81 8+1=9) I know it should annoy me when people can't multiply 9x4 (since humanity seems to continue to devolve), but it does, because I assume that everyone should know the same stupid tricks that I do.
Also, April 20th was NOT Adolph Hitler's birthday, and it is not (except in the stoner underground) National Pot Smokin' Day.
Blah.

[octopussy.livejournal.com]

I could have sworn the man was born April 20, 1889.

[wickedcherub.livejournal.com]

The Brontosaurus does not exist. The guy that discovered the Bronto's bones got the body of one dinosaur and the head of another and figured they fit together to make a Brontosaurus. Pity, because when I was a kid, that was my favourite dinosaur.

I have nothing else to add off the top of my head. I would, however, like to know about Alexander the Great being bisexual. I thought it was a given. Why are Greek Lawyers contesting it?

Alexander the Gay, uh, Great!

[starshine24mc.livejournal.com]

Last I heard, his lover, Hephastion (I don't know if I spelled that right) was heard to declare: "My Alexander is gayer than a clutch purse at the Tonys!"

I swear it's true! ;)

[mad_maudlin]

Everybody ought to already know: The 1812 Overture wasn't written about the War of 1812; it was written about Napoleon and his ever so clever idea of invading Russia in the winter. (And the US didn't win that war, either--we just didn't lose, which is different.)

I'd Like you to Know: The majority of the "rules" of English grammar have no basis in reality. Sentence-ending prepositions, split infinitives, double negatives--all of these were made up in the Early Modern English period by pedantic philosphers and clergy, and prior to that, violated freely without consequence or lack of clarity. The works of Shakespeare, Marlowe and Chaucer are loaded with these sorts of "errors"--Shakespeare especially didn't seem to know or care about the alleged case differences between "I/me" and "who/whom," et cetera.

The pedants were operating under three false assumptions: one, that language has one inherently pure state and will tend to decay from that state if not defended vigorously by pedants; two, that languages are or should be goverened by classical logic; and three, that Latin is the world's perfect language. While a standard language is undeniably useful, the attendent linguistic snobbery is counterproductive.

(And, incidentally, I see nothing wrong with kudo; it's just a case of reanalysis. If you're going to campaign against that, then you'd better start talking about naprons and nadders and icknames, too.)

[cellia.livejournal.com]

Aren't the split infinitive and not-ending-sentence with a preposition "fake" rules? I.e. no respectable grammar teacher or book worth their salt teaches them? I learned all about gerunds and subject-verb agreement and other very handy grammar rules in school, but I never learned these.

(btw there's a great little essay on the split infinitive in Teresa Nielsen Hayden's (http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/) Making Book. And the sentence-preposition thing I thought was mainly enforced because people tended to get the object of the preposition wrong. But, as you say, a preposition is a fine thing to end a sentence with.)

[cyprinella]

A pony is not a young horse. A foal, colt or filly is a young horse. A pony is a smaller horse, usually with distinctive conformational differences/proportions from a full-sized horse.

Splenda is sugar that has the -OH (alcohol) groups removed and replaced with -Cl (chlorine). It also foams in water and this creeps the shit out of me.

foaming

[jacquez.livejournal.com]

does it? it sure doesn't foam in iced tea. (not that i sweeten my iced tea, because ew, but my husband does.)

[nestra.livejournal.com]

Lousiana has parishes, not counties. Also, every day is not Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

If you're comparing two things, one is "more" than the other, not "most", or "older" and not "oldest". Most and oldest require three items.

[wisdomeagle]

Oooh, ooh, I have another one. *bows head in shame, but only just remembered how crazy-making it is*

According to the MLA, the only system, as far as I know, that has a rule for such things...

The names of TV shows should be italicized. Episode titles go in quotation marks. They are not italicized. They are not bolded. They go in quotation marks.

Thus:

In "Paradise Lost," an episode of Stargate: SG-1, Jack and Harry were quite obviously having sex off-screen.

It is quite fine to use no kind of punctuation at all (as this is in fact the internet and notorious for such things) but to use the wrong punctuation/emphasis is, well, wrong.

[diviana-nyx.livejournal.com]

Everybody ought to already know:
"Frankenstein" was the name of the Doctor in Mary Shelley's popular story. The monster himself was unnamed.

Uranus is pronounced "ur-unus", not "your-anus".

There is no sound in space, so ships do not make sound when flying through it.

In the vacuum of space, one's body would implode, rather than explode.

It's impossible to hold your breath until you die, but it's funny to watch little kids try it.

Eating Pop-Rocks and drinking soda will not make your stomach explode. It will just make you really gassy and unpleasant. (for those who don't know, Pop Rocks are carbonated candies that fizz when you eat them)

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Uranus is pronounced "ur-unus", not "your-anus".

Really? I was always taught that this was an example of a difference in British and US usage, with the former used in the UK and the latter correct in the United States.

[bouncy-penguin.livejournal.com]

Damn, somebody did my one about the octopodes, though I think octopuses is also valid.

People who are going to misquote Douglas Adams should know: Forty-two is NOT the meaning of life. It is nothing to do with the meaning of life; he never said anything particularly significant about the meaning of life that I'm aware. Forty-two is the Ultimate Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything.

Also, in the same vein as the "fornication under the consent of the king" fact: golf never stood for "Gentlemen only; ladies forbidden", and nor did posh derive from "Port out, starboard home". It'd be fun if they did, but they didn't.

[ruric.livejournal.com]

Everyone ought to know: That if you recycle paper you are NOT "saving the rain forest" because tropical hardwoods are NOT used to make paper ona commerical scale. If however, you refuse to buy maghogany furniture, sapele windows, iroko garden furniture and other hardwood products - unless they come from a guaranteed sustainable source - you may just be making a contribution. And yes - well cared for timber will outlast crappy plastic any day. (Takes off forestry hat and sighs with relief).

I'd like you to know: Works excepted from the usual copyright protections in the UK are The Bible, the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England and Sir James Barrie's Peter Pan. Yes - Peter Pan.

The Authorised Version of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer are printed under patents issued by the Crown and are therefore under perpetual copyright. Modern versions of the Bible must be treated as published works which are anonymous whatever your theological pov. The Authorised Version of the Bible and the BCP cannot be copied because they are outside the copyright law - however permission is given for small quotations in published versions and photocopying of various portions for research/private study and reading in church/chapel.

The Copyright Act brought in perpetual copyright for Peter Pan for the benefit of the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London, provided it remains a hospital. The hospital owned the copyright of the play until 31st Dec 1987 when it expired. Parliament decided to continue this privilege and any commerical publication or performance of the work attracts a royalty for the hospital.