irascible

[perfectbound]

This list of language annoyances is brought to you by the yoga classes I've been to lately.

• Confusing "vertebra" and "vertebrae." It harshes my mellow every time I hear someone say "one vertebrae at a time."
• Confusing "revolve" and "rotate" - look, guys, the earth rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun. This is the conventional term, but I

Comments

[sucktastic]

YES, sit bone used to bug the crap out of me, too.

[perfectbound]

i'm not alone, woot!

[nevers]

woah! i'm impressed by your fastidiousness.
i think i would naturally say vertebra, but i have also never noticed how wrong it was when other people say vertebrae (which, of course, they do). i am sort of holding my breath now trying not to let your annoyance in so i can stay oblivious :)
i also did not realize the diff between revolve and rotate.
annnnd, sit bone? what's wrong with that? don't you have sit bones? i mean, i know that it's really just the bottom part of your pelvis, but how is "sitz" more correct? what the hell is that z for?

[perfectbound]

i think more people are exasperated by my fastidiousness. i am, sometimes. :)

ok, i cannot for the life of me figure out why they are called sitz bones and that is annoying - even the oed only defines "sitz bath." hmmmm. but google does tell me that the medical term is ischial tuberosities, and that is obviously far more awesome. i actually don't even mind so much when people call them sitting bones, because it certainly makes intuitive sense; i just convinced myself somewhere along the way that people only say "sit bones" because they've misheard "sitz bones" or never seen it written. (sheesh, i am a jerk. if i were a good linguist, i wouldn't care!) the first time i heard it was from an uppity dance teacher who spelled it for us.

oh man, i just remembered that my ballet teacher used to say "heighth" instead of "height" and that always drove me crazy.

[ephemeraltoast]

"sit bones"? "sitz bones"? I never heard of either of these! I just have an ass.

[perfectbound]

and your ass has pointy bony parts which are called ISCHIAL TUBEROSITIES, but that is too long, so.

ps some guy from ann arbor who is running for the state house of representatives mailed me a thing that says "experienced. progressive. results." fired.

[ephemeraltoast]

pshyeah, I USED to have bony parts in my ass, before my ass got huge and flabby! and I'm sorry to see that "three. word. inconsistant." problem extends across the political spectrum.

[antares11]

I thought that "revolved triangle" was called "reverse triangle".

[perfectbound]

I would secretly be very happy if everyone would call it that. I hear "revolved" all the time, though. Maybe something got lost in translation.

[hokiejp]

Normally I'm all 'yay linguistic indignation', but I'm afraid in this case its not entirely justified. Revolve can also mean 'to rotate about an axis' as, for example, in the mathematical term 'solid of revolution' which are those things you find the volume of in calculus class.

[perfectbound]

I'll be damned! If I had just remembered a tiny bit of calculus, I could have been free from linguistic indignation all this time.