BarbBrooklyn Posted September 2019
Moot vs mute
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https://www.grammar.com/moot_vs._mute
The use of mute for moot has been making me nuts recently....
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This will be a wonderful thread Barb! I love looking into grammar, and I am sure that I have a lot to learn.
I try to leave the grammar lessons out of the forum. I've noticed a few slip-ups in my own posts when I reread.
I'm not the grammar police and I did this as a discussion rather than pointing out any one poster's error so as not to be thought unkind or pedantic (when in fact...)
I remember moot by thinking of a lot of bearded Vikings sitting about a fire, quaffing ale and looking judicious.
Or, for Tolkien fans, the ent moot. See? - I had to knock autocorrect down three times just then to make it obey me! No I did NOT mean "end mood"!
I might spend some time over there, for my own education.
I am often reminded that people do not like to be corrected, or even "taught", or
"preached" to, especially on a public forum. When I use a word, my husband corrects me, using his choice of words instead. I am not "wrong" in my choice of
words, but his are better in his opinion. I call it arguing semantics. It distracts from the idea or thought I was trying to express, having been interrupted in that way.
That does make me nuts.
Have you also noticed that once the word "moot" is used that several other posters will use it again in another thread? Just an observation.
I am grateful to my ex husband (no, really, I am grateful - the "ex" has nothing to do with this!) for correcting me on the fine-toothed comb point, which trips up a lot of people, such as my younger self, who end up talking about tooth-combs when they are describing a careful search. "What's a tooth-comb?" he said, with a twitch at the corner of his mouth. "Is that, what, to go with a toothbrush or something?" He then mimed combing his teeth, which was too funny for me to be offended by being pulled up on it.
Yes, I was taught proper English in school. My state of birth and residency has nothing to do with my mistakes.
Unfortunately, where I live our use of proper English is fluid as to what social setting we find ourselves participating.
I try in this setting to do my best. I have not gone back to read my post but I am 99.9 percent sure I made the mute/moot flub.
My apologies for my flub.
I know how annoying this can be to others. I have a problem with the their/there flub.
https://www.vocabulary.com/articles/chooseyourwords/accept-except/
However, the point is to communicate. If I understand what the person is meaning. then I do try to focus on the message and accept that I can’t block the subliminal judgment as I’m human.
Except when it’s a mean spirited comment ....
Right.
The saying is "the proof of the pudding is in the eating."
Which means, which is to say, that it is not until you get to taste the pudding that you find out whether it's a good 'un or not, and as nourishing and generally fit for purpose as you might wish.
Young People Today, and some of them not so very young, have turned this fine old adage into an often jocular and excitable "...the proof is in the pudding!" I have no idea what they even think they mean.
To point the finger at myself, I recently learned that it's "anchors aweigh" not "anchors away".
And then there is "peaked my interest" (as opposed to "piqued")
A good friend from college (and from Georgia) explained "y'all" to me; English has no second person plural, which leads to much confusion. Y'all solves that problem neatly.
Correction: ooh, not oooh
On 9/11, a few moments after the first plane hit, my (well trained) eldest child who had just started a job on Wall Street called to tell me that she was fine, not in Lower Manhattan and had talked to her dad (my ex) and that he was fine too. The second plane hit a few moments later; I knew she was okay; ex called several hours later, weeping, to tell me what he'd seen (he WAS in lower Manhattan), and that he was fine. Ironically, one of his brothers saw the plane that hit the Pentagon.
A few minutes later, my middle child, who was at home from college, because it was primary day in NYC, called to say that she had called the Department of elections; while the clerk was on the phone with her, the second plane hit the tower and word went out in the office "run, run for your lives". My daughter was beside herself. She was home alone. I believe she still has some PTSD from this experience.
I spent the rest of the day trying to get in touch with my son, at that time a student at a NYC HS near Lincoln Center. He was in class/rehearsal and news about the attacks did not get to them until late in the afternoon. A friend of Middle Daughter walked down from the upper west side to the HS, found my son and said "dude, call your parents". Which he did.
I called my mom early in the day and told her that all my kids were accounted for and fine. Hardest lie I ever told. But what I needed to do.
Thank you all for listening.
All this week, I was torturing myself about 9/11 events. Mulling it over in my mind.
Grieving. And afterwards.....did I do enough?
My dH and I were camphosts in a State Park on the West Coast. About two nights before that dreadful day, there was a large gathering. In a private campsite.
We heard whooping and hollering and went to investigate. Men dressed in red/white tablecloth-type headdress, long white robes. Late at night, small groups were leaving, going into the hills.
Our job was to report to the Park Rangers, and we did. It still bothered me, and I was told by others (Park staff), that it was ok, they were Israeli's, not terrorists.
I even recall the name the group registered under. It was in the camphost notes on the computer.
Since then, I have learned it is the dress of others who may have been terrorists.
No one would listen. I was ignored, shut up, dismissed, and belittled. It still weighs heavily on my mind. I ask myself, were the terrorists having a rally?
I just thank you all for letting me tell what is making me agitated today. Making home-made pasta right now. Getting phone calls from daughters about grandkids' school issues.
Life goes on, for some of us.
If you want a wonderful tale, Google "Consider It Pure Joy". Jen was one of my neighbors and babysitters back in the day. Her recollection of 9/11 and its aftermath is what you want to read.
But as far as nuts, you can't hold a candle to me. Last night I answered a post that isn't there on a post that is, so of course it made little sense to anyone at all. Least of all to me.
I am about to sign up for the testing.
I love the word things that drive us crazy, because it always makes our teeth go clenched, and no one understands why.
As for adding a pet peeve, I’ll go with “could care less” If a person could care less then he or she is capable of caring less than the person already does. If you want to express that you’re truly over something, you should say you “couldn’t care less” as that means you’re not capable of caring any less than you presently do.
My bad!