sounding smart

[startracer]

You know, I'm all for people sounding intelligent when they write, but there are some homophonic gaffes that rile me up. It's like trying to use a five-dollar word when a five-cent one will suffice, but then picking the wrong five-dollar word and just looking like a jackass

Comments

[bikiwiki]

agreed, as a general rule.
but... the lack of apostrophe in its isn't inconsistent, since its is a possessive pronoun -- none of which take apostrophes. (and in any case, that's a detail that doesn't seem to make it easier for people to remember...)

[startracer]

:-) You are right, of course!

[bttrflywriter]

Loose vs. lose makes me twitch every time. And it seems like the people who use that one are inevitably some people that I have the highest expectation for. It's a disappointment every time.

I also think back to the blog Hyperbole and Half where she's made up a furry monster known as "the alot."

[bttrflywriter]

On the same note, my latest rage is using punctuation on the OUTSIDE of quotation marks. I hate it. It makes me angry. But when someone uses it incorrectly in one sentence, then in the very next sentence uses it correctly... that just makes it insulting.