Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Banes of Civilization

Sarah Weinman linked to an article on English exams where spelling will not count. As a college English prof and tutor, I see this as another of society's attempts to bolster self-esteem by ignoring harsh realities. Here are a few more concessions to the ego that annoy me:

- Contests where winners and losers get the same prize

- Bowling without gutters

- Weighted grades

- The option to continue a video game at the exact spot you died in a previous game

- Technology that extends the workday (cell phone, PDA, laptop, etc.)

- Technology that leads to excessive abbreviation and ignorance of proper punctuation (e-mail, instant messaging, etc.)

- Singers who recite more lyrics than they sing

Add your own pet peeves in the Comments section.

9 comments:

Dave White said...

People who say "I could care less" when logically it should be "I couldn't care less."

John DuMond said...

It's definitely "definately". It seems to be a common typo on the web. I did a Google search for it the other day and got about 2.5 million hits.

Graham Powell said...

Sportswriters who say, "He couldn't get untracked." It's ON-TRACK, FUCKTARDS*!!!!!!

Oh, and your rant brings to mind my favorite Simpsons quote: "In once sense, you're both winners! In another, more accurate sense, Barney is the winner."

* The word "fucktard" temporarily on loan from Tod Goldberg.

Anonymous said...

This is a bit of inside baseball, but I hate it when a bad guy in a book or a movie screws a silencer onto a revolver.

Oh, and I just read Company Man by Joseph Finder and he lists classic jazz piano players and includes Charlie Mingus. ARRRGGHH!

Drives me crazy...

Ray Banks said...

The inappropriate use of apostrophe's (sic).

Dave White said...

People who complain about the misuse of apostrophes.

Oh... um...

Ray Banks said...

That's it, Dave. You an' me, we's gonna rassle.

Anonymous said...

Brutal murder.

--Harry

Dave White said...

Is it any surprise that Jim has the longest list?