Carleton, Likewise, getting it wrong for the personal pronouns: *he and she* versus *him and her.*
Even many national TV commentators don't know the difference between the subjective and objective cases. Eugene Mechtly ________________________________ From: owner-u...@colostate.edu [owner-u...@colostate.edu] on behalf of Carleton MacDonald [carlet...@comcast.net] Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2013 8:56 PM To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:52473] Re: Use of the Word "Metric" The latter is particularly annoying, especially when companies like Shell and Ford get it wrong in the advertising. Farther = Distance Further = Time Carleton From: owner-u...@colostate.edu [mailto:owner-u...@colostate.edu] On Behalf Of Phil Chernack Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2013 19:04 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:52472] Re: Use of the Word "Metric" That's because people don't know the difference between affect and effect. They also don't know the difference between further and farther. Of course, the great irony is that "verb" is a noun. :) It doesn't matter anyway, we're about 30 years late but we will all be speaking Newspeak soon enough. :) (the funny thing is I think Orwell used metric in "1984") Phil On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 5:59 PM, Carleton MacDonald <carlet...@comcast.net<mailto:carlet...@comcast.net>> wrote: Two particular annoyances: An impact is what happens when one thing strikes another. It has now been "verbed" and is the new trendy business buzzword for "affect". "Leverage" is a financial term involving using borrowed money for a purpose. It too has become THE new trendy word as both a noun and, unspeakably, a verb. I edit documents at work and have a rather notorious reputation at editing out both words whenever I see them used inappropriately. Carleton -----Original Message----- From: owner-u...@colostate.edu<mailto:owner-u...@colostate.edu> [mailto:owner-u...@colostate.edu<mailto:owner-u...@colostate.edu>] On Behalf Of c...@traditio.com<mailto:c...@traditio.com> Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2013 14:56 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:52464] Re: Use of the Word "Metric" Re: [USMA:52457] Reuse of Word An interesting point. The venerable Webster's Unabridged Second Edition, which is still used by careful writers, does not list "metric" as a noun. The Third Edition does, so the word gained recognition after 1960. Accurate writers now use "SI Metric" to designate the Modern Metric System. The usage that really bugs me is the run-away usage of "vouns," that is, verbs used as nouns. We are commonly hearing now, except from the most careful broadcasters, "the sequester" instead of "the sequestration." We have long heard in recent decades about doing "an install" instead of "an installation." This confusing peculiarity of English works the other way too. For example, some would "mustard" their hot dog, using the noun as a verb.
