General Cycling Discussion - Bicycle glossary. Note the correct spelling!

These mistakes pop up so often! Hence I feel the need to turn special attention to spelling of these words:


Pedal - pedaling (not peddling, peddles)

faster, bigger than, not then

their bikes (bikes belong to them).

there are bikes



Welcome to add more

That's not so much spelling as correct deployment of homophones.

*pulls Warriners Complete English Grammar out of her butt*

homophones.
Let's not leave out the heterophones.
;)

That's not so much spelling as correct deployment of homophones.

*pulls Warriners Complete English Grammar out of her butt*

I believe that homophones are illegal in 17 states, butt I could be wrong.

Here's another: brakes, not breaks - those things that you use to stop the bike.

it's steel..........not carbon, not titanium, not aluminum!

They're not very smart.

your -> possessive and belonging
you're -> contraction for "you are"

What bugs me even more is the prevelant use of myself inappropriately. Instead of figuring out the proper use of I and me, which gives you 50% odds of being wrong, they just stick myself in automatically and end up with a 100% rate of being incorrect... :(

Here's one: It's "rode," not "road," as in "I rode thirty miles today."

it's -> contraction of "it is"
its -> possessive pronoun

But Danno, "excessive" use of myself could well be a regional thing.
It's quite common in Ireland. Of course, I'm not sure in which way you see "myself" being used so frequently, so you could be right as well...

And it's prevalent, not prevelant... :p

I'm not too fond of the construction using "... also ... as well" in a sentence.
That usually sounds tautologous to me...

"But Danno, "excessive" use of myself could well be a regional thing. Of course, I'm not sure in which way you see "myself" being used so frequently, so you could be right as well..."

Well, I'm not sure if it's a regional thing, might be because English is such an unstructured language, coming from a mixture of German, Anglo, Saxon and various Indo-European languages. I certainly appears to be increasingly misused in the States with the common exposure of TV celebrities and news-anchors who barely passed high-school. Main problem comes in recognizing the use of nouns and pronouns and their locations in a sentence relative to the verb. I'll break this up in to a progression of 5 distinct cases so that it makes sense in how myself is so commonly and mistakenly used. Basically nouns are used in the subject of the sentence and pronouns are used in the predicate:

1. When talking about yourself in the subject, one uses I:

<noun> verb <pronoun> such as in "I gave the book to Sally." or "I kissed Sally." :)


2. When talking about yourself in the predicate of the sentence (object of verb), you use me:

<noun> verb <pronoun> -> "Sally gave the book to me." or "Sally kissed me." :)


3. Then comes the use of the conjunction and in either the subject or predicate; I and me are use in the same rules as before, I always used as the subject::

"I went to the bank." combined with "Sally went to the bank."
becomes "Sally and I went to the bank."


4. Same thing when combining in the predicate, me is used:

"The meteor fell on me." combined with "The meteor fell on Sally."
becomes "The meteor fell on Sally and me." :(


For the most part, the majority of times, I and me would be used. It's just that people aren't taught the proper usages and get confused with the conjunction and. Kids will say, "Hey mom, Billy-Bob and me caught a fish!" and mom says, "That's wonderful Billy-Joe, but you should use I instead of me in that sentence.". So the kid makes a mistaken assumption that me shouldn't be used and he goes to school and tells his teacher, "Hey Mrs. Smith, look at these fishing-poles my dad got Billy-Bob and I." and the teacher corrects him with, "That's nice Billy-Joe, you should've said, 'look at these fishing-poles my dad got Billy-Bob and me". So now the kid's all mess up and confused. Rather than trying to figure out whether to use I or me properly, he just sticks in myself by default and that should take care of everything. However, if he always uses I, he may be wrong 50% of the time, or if he uses me exclusively, he's only wrong 50%. But by using myself, he's wrong 100% of the time:

"Hey mom, Billy-Bob and myself caught a fish!"
"Hey Mrs. Smith, look at these fishing-poles my dad got Billy-Bob and myself."

as is the following incorrect uses of myself:

"Myself gave the book to Sally."
"Myself kissed Sally." :(
"Sally gave the book to myself."
"Sally kissed myself." :(
"Sally and myself went to the bank."
"The meteor fell on Sally and myself." :(


5. So when the 'ell do you use myself then? In only a very specific case when BOTH the subject and object of the verb are one and the same and it's you! By definition then, you also have to have a transitive reflexive verb as well; an "action" verb that acts back on the subject. Basically, it means that whenever you use myself, you also have to have a subject of I:

<noun> verb <pronoun>
"I kicked myself."
"I bit myself."
"I hit myself."
"I cut myself."
"I washed myself."

So really, the ONLY time you use myself in a sentence is when you're talking about things you did to yourself. And I is ALWAYS used in the subject and myself is ALWAYS used as the object of the verb. You'd never have:

"Myself kicked I."
"Myself bit I."
"Myself hit I."
"Myself cut I."
"Myself washed I."
or
"Myself kicked myself."
"Myself bit myself."
"Myself hit myself."
"Myself cut myself."
"Myself washed myself."


It may seem silly when broken down into simple examples like these. But it's really simple and easy, you just have to catch yourself when that laziness kicks in on whether to use I or me correctly and resist the urge to use myself automatically.


Question: Which is proper?

"Not I!" or "Not me!"

(certainly not "Not myself!") ;)

Danno, great job!

Another word often misused is affect, as in "wind affects stability", vs effect, as in consequence, result. The effect of cycling is weight loss.

"But Danno, "excessive" use of myself could well be a regional thing. Of course, I'm not sure in which way you see "myself" being used so frequently, so you could be right as well..."

Well, I'm not sure if it's a regional thing, might be because English is such an unstructured language, coming from a mixture of German, Anglo, Saxon and various Indo-European languages. I certainly appears to be increasingly misused in the States with the common exposure of TV celebrities and news-anchors who barely passed high-school. Main problem comes in recognizing the use of nouns and pronouns and their locations in a sentence relative to the verb. I'll break this up in to a progression of 5 distinct cases so that it makes sense in how myself is so commonly and mistakenly used.

Here's a text I found for you that shows how Irish English differs in how "myself" is used:
http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:Dl_HoBur6ZkJ:www.abctales.com/Members/mcscraic/Irish/Irish%2520Music/view%3Fsearchterm%3DNone+myself&hl=en

I'd also like to add that a language belongs to its speakers, not to a small group of self-appointed guardians who resist any and every change. Languages constantly evolve, or they die.

If people generally feel that using "myself" in ways you find disturbing, is comfortable, then that's what will happen to English eventually. That's the only significant driving force behind changes in all languages.

English is not a finished language, perfect in every way. It's evolving, and will continue to do so until it's either dead or no longer English. I'm sure people in 17th century England had similar arguments, and just look at what's happened since then...

English is not a finished language, perfect in every way. It's evolving, and will continue to do so until it's either dead or no longer English. I'm sure people in 17th century England had similar arguments, and just look at what's happened since then...

yes, I can see it now:

"Thou taffard, how dost thou posess such nerve. Such arrogance, to use such foul slang as "line". It is queue, and shalt always be queue. Thou words digsut me."


edit: whoever added the space removal script on this board needs grammatical help...it's TWO spaces after a period!"

edit: whoever added the space removal script on this board needs grammatical help...it's TWO spaces after a period!"

I agree with you, but it's a losing battle. I've worked in the publishing business a long time, and one space seems to be the industry norm--as my copy editors tell me (again and again). :rolleyes:

Someone wants to steal his steel bicycle.

Danno, great job!

Another word often misused is affect, as in "wind affects stability", vs effect, as in consequence, result. The effect of cycling is weight loss.
I'm still confused with this. I've been confused as a kid and I'm still confused today.

How about "we'd" or "I'd" or "he'd". Those confuse me as well.

yes, I can see it now:

it's TWO spaces after a period!"
sorry, you only need two spaces after a period when setting type in monospaced fonts like courier [kate turabian notwithstanding]. when setting type in a proportional font, one space is acceptable and preferred.

"If people generally feel that using "myself" in ways you find disturbing, is comfortable, then that's what will happen to English eventually. That's the only significant driving force behind changes in all languages.

English is not a finished language, perfect in every way. It's evolving, and will continue to do so until it's either dead or no longer English. I'm sure people in 17th century England had similar arguments, and just look at what's happened since then..."

Sure, it evolves, but it's a matter of how it evolves and it's doing it much faster than just about any other language out there and all the irregularities makes it a very, very difficult language to learn. I'm very impressed with the foreigners who come here and learn English; many of them speak it much more impeccably than Americans! To this day, the way English is mis-used still bugs me, it's so... .... improper! It's like eating at a fine restaurant and cutting your food with your elbows above your ears. The French recently made a move to un-Americanize their language with the recent incorporation English terms from the internet like "Cliquez ici" :(

If the language begins to change, and a majority of the speakers adopt that change, then that change has become the new correct language. No matter how much the resisting minority objects to it...

This has always been the case. Only now, within the lifetime of people alive today, have we begun to attempt to stop this process, for various reasons. The French example is probably one of the most obvious.
Which is ironic, as a fairly large number of words in French are of Germanic origin...

Generally, the larger a language is (both in terms of speakers and geographical extent), and the more it is subjected to foreign learners, the more simplified it becomes. Look at isolated languages, like Icelandic, where the grammar is quite complicated compared to Icelandic's closest relatives, the Scandinavian languages.

English only has two cases, essentially no gender and almost no complex rules that are vital for basic understanding. That makes it relatively easy to learn. Try Czech or Hungarian instead, and you're in for a ride...

Either you accept change or you resist futilely...

This joke could be referring to me:

So, this tight-assed grammarian dies and goes to heaven. He knocks on the pearly gates, and St. Peter says, "Who's there?"

The voice answers, "It is I."

St. Peter says, "Go to hell. We have enough tight-assed grammarians up here."

it's -> contraction of "it is"
its -> possessive pronoun

But Danno, "excessive" use of myself could well be a regional thing.
It's quite common in Ireland. Of course, I'm not sure in which way you see "myself" being used so frequently, so you could be right as well......

And then there is excessive use of myself as a mental thing. When everyone inside myself is clamoring for time at the keys (you know, me and that other guy, I ) I have to differentiate myself from the others. So, when you see myself posting, you will know it was not me. Nor was it I.

"The voice answers, "It is I."

St. Peter says, "Go to hell. We have enough tight-assed grammarians up here.""

Glad to see someone getting just punishment for poor grammar... ;)

A rider loses control. He does not loose control.

English only has two cases, essentially no gender and almost no complex rules that are vital for basic understanding. That makes it relatively easy to learn. Try Czech or Hungarian instead, and you're in for a ride...
I think the ease or difficulty of learning english depends a bit on your native language. I work with a good number of South Americans, and from experience Spanish speakers have quite a bit of difficult grasping the language, thanks to all the lovely homophones, illogical grammar rules, and pronunciations.
_____________________________________________________

21 Reasons Why The English Language Is Hard To Learn:

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Funny but TRUE :p

Yeah, I can certainly tell you that English was and still is by far the hardest language I learned. Spoke Vietnamese and French before coming to the US and managed to pick enough English to get by, I'm still learning to this day. However, Russian and Tagalog after that was much, much easier.

My son and I email back and forth in "leet" just to keep our minds agile. After that, reading the posts by even the worst spellers in this forum is easy.

I know there's a lot of misspelling on this forum and it's too bad. In this environment, our intelligence is judged by others on how well one spells.

Some of us just can't spell, but still have some very good information to post. Or maybe English is a second or third language...

Instead of driving yourself crazy, just go with it.

I guarantee our member fees will not go up :D

Pedal - pedaling (not peddling, peddles)

So, "pedaling my butt all over town" is not the same as "peddling my butt all over town"? :eek:

Here's a text I found for you that shows how Irish English differs in how "myself" is used:
http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:Dl_HoBur6ZkJ:www.abctales.com/Members/mcscraic/Irish/Irish%2520Music/view%3Fsearchterm%3DNone+myself&hl=en

I'd also like to add that a language belongs to its speakers, not to a small group of self-appointed guardians who resist any and every change. Languages constantly evolve, or they die.

If people generally feel that using "myself" in ways you find disturbing, is comfortable, then that's what will happen to English eventually. That's the only significant driving force behind changes in all languages.

English is not a finished language, perfect in every way. It's evolving, and will continue to do so until it's either dead or no longer English. I'm sure people in 17th century England had similar arguments, and just look at what's happened since then...

Every time a discussion of grammar comes up, this lame excuse is trotted out. While it is certainly true that language changes, that is not license to completely disregard literate usage. Effective communication absolutely depends upon a common understanding of the language and its usage. Correct grammar parses better for the reader and if you really want your message to get across, you don't want to make your reader work for it.

Perhaps the greatest change in language in recent history is actually the increase in formal rules that became important with expanded literacy and the rise of the middle class. So language changes, but it is primarily to enhance expressiveness, not reduce it to rudimentary semi-random noises.

I really don't think we'd be better off if we devolved to leet speak.

Not too many of these posts are going to end up in the New Yorker. I wouldn't worry too much about grammar. Half of the posts on this site are typed up in a matter of seconds as people respond to what they've just read.

OR

Knot two mini of these posts our going too end up in the Knew Yourker. Eye wood dent worry to much a bout grammar. Half of the post's on this sight our typed up in a matter of second's as people respond too what they've just red.

Huh??? It is vrey diffcuilt to read waht you jsut wrote. It is amzanig taht we can undreesatnd the laugnage so well taht we can even raed mispsleled wrods.

Here's a list of my favourite tools:

allan wrench
ratsh1t wrench
cresent wrench
tire leavers
chain braker

All you need to know about proper English spelling is: If you have an "s" at the end of a word, put an apostrophe before it. You can never be sure whether it's possessive, plural, or a present tense third person verb; better to be safe and include some apostrophe's!

:beer:

All you need to know about proper English spelling is: If you have an "s" at the end of a word, put an apostrophe before it. You can never be sure whether it's possessive, plural, or a present tense third person verb; better to be safe and include some apostrophe's!

Sounds kind of like Dave Barry's punctuation cannon.