Message board stuff that bugs me:

1. Not capitalizing the first word in sentences.
2. Using emoticons as punctuation. Although, might this one be an exception:confused:
3. Using "lol" as punctuation

Also, this might be a good time to confess that I sometimes correct spelling in posts that I am quoting.

I was totally with you until that one. You're sick. ;)

Language does evolve and change. "Donut" does not bother me. I've gotten over the fact that "whom" has all but disappeared from the English language. But, improperly placed apostrophes still bug (Possessive pronouns don't have them, people!); as does the omission of the final comma in a series.

I don't believe leaving out the final comma in a series is incorrect in the least.

I am one of the five last remaining users of "whom."


My constant mistake is it's and its, and I'm constantly proofreading for that and finding I've mistyped it yet again.


i often use i instead of I, 'cause i like the way it looks ... and it's a habit i acquired from ... well, best left unsaid, actually.

One may also believe that Food Fairies will put food in your refrigerator when it is needed. This doesn't make it true.

The Oxford or serial comma is completely a choice of style (though using it is more commonly American while not is more commonly British). I prefer to have it (simply because to me the ambiguity caused by absence is more annoying than the ambiguity caused by its presence).

But if I'm a descriptivist when it comes to usage of language I am outright indifferent when it comes to punctuation rules (we need them and should generally follow the agreed upon rules but they are fundamentally arbitrary and do not have any inherent rightness).

Yes, sadly, I am.

I often wished I understood the proper usage of "whom" - it is one that I seem to not be able to properly grasp.

Either way is considered correct.

Somebody (possibly someone on this board, but I cannot recall) taught me this quick reference: any time you are going to use "its" or "it's", test the sentence by using "it is." If "it is" works, then use the contraction "it's." If it doesn't work, use "its."

That's ok, the OED has acknowledged that whom has disappeared from spoken English.

But if you remember to use it when following a preposition ("to whom shall I deliver the letter", "before whom must I bow", "upon whom did the porn star ejaculate copiously") then you'll understand it better than 95% of the population.

As far as my typos go, they usually don't have anything to do with ignorance but simply that I can type too fast and my brain has an amazing capacity for homophones and just seems to randomly spit one out when possible.

Though for some reason I always have to correct "rediculous" to "ridiculous." Which is very weird because I never type "ridicule" as "redicule."

Proper punctuation and capitalization is the difference between "I had to help my uncle Jack, off a horse.." and "I had to help my uncle jack off a horse.."