Defiantly VS Definitely

I’m not even sure Word Pro was a thing in 92 (still called Ami Pro back then?)

It’s borderline. I remember Ami Pro becoming Word Pro back when I worked at Time, and I started there in 1992. So it was likely renamed circa 1993-94.

Fun fact: Time’s marketing juggernaut used to advertise computers with glossy photos of boxed software and huge splashes about how many £100s worth of software came with their systems. The cost per licence Time paid for Lotus SmartSuite? 1p.

Respectfully disagree. There is only one “several tonnes of recycling,” the recycling is a homogenous mass not discrete items

Looks like we’re going to have to agree to disagree on this.
In the original newspaper headline, the ‘tonnes’ was the subject, not the homogenous mass of material, therefore there are several of them. In my mind at least. I can’t ask my old English O-level teacher as he’s sadly long gone, since that was way back in the mid 1970s. But I think I remember enough of it after all these years.

Back to defiance and definition, I suggest

Didn’t ami pro and lotus word pro run in tandem for a while, I seem to recall it depended upon how you bought it as to how it was named – eg lotus suite came with word pro, bought stand alone and you bought ami pro.

That said I was barely into double digits so unless it came bundled with a Turtles figure or whatever else I was excited about that year*, I’d probably not have known.

*Probably wolfenstein by 1992

Locoscript anyone?

Only chosen in acapulco I belive.

In the original newspaper headline, the ‘tonnes’ was the subject, not the homogenous mass of material, therefore there are several of them.

The subject is “recycling,” the “tonnes” is a quantifier.

Maybe.

That recycling? There is tonnes of it.
That recycling? There are tonnes of it.

We may indeed have to agree to disagree, I’m not convinced.

Didn’t ami pro and lotus word pro run in tandem for a while, I seem to recall it depended upon how you bought it as to how it was named – eg lotus suite came with word pro, bought stand alone and you bought ami pro.

Now you come to mention it I’m pretty certain you’re correct. I’m reasonably confident we sold both for a while.

Only chosen in acapulco I belive.

Is that where all the down comes from?

Only if you space too long

I’m not even sure Word Pro was a thing in 92 (still called Ami Pro back then?) But that definitely had a spell-checker

TBH, i had to check what it was, because i know we had the lotus bundle on the PCs at uni (lotus 123 and whatever.)
Could have been either, but still there was no spell check. Caused lots of problems for me, as i can’t spell to save my life.

so more than likely too many pints of snakebite-and-black at the Students’ Union was the factor here

I’ve never had a pint of snakebite, with or without black in my life. I was also almost completely sober for the first two years of my time at uni.

Really made up for it in the 3rd and 4th though. Nothing like leaving a club in the wee small hours and then getting to a mechanics lecture for 8:00 on friday morning having not slept since 7 am the previous day.

I do find defiantly odd. I am sure peeps who write it like that say it right I have never heard anyone say “defiantly” when they appeared to mean definitely. I think spell checking must be part of the cause somehow.

Its not like “toe/tow the line” which sound the same and make as much literal sense as each other. So quite forgiveable, but that one really annoys me for some reason.

Can’t meet you on the trials as I am rding a time trail.
Thansk

Can’t believe noone has mentioned my personal peeve here yet : ridged forks 😬

Yay! Garys back.

Its not like “toe/tow the line”

It’s not

Yay! Garys back.

Gary’s back

When I studied journalism I was introduced to style manuals and got to use a few. Lovely things, because they unashamedly set out the publication’s rules on how to write. It doesn’t matter what you were taught at school, prefer, etc – it’s the rules.

They were all printed documents then, but the mother of all antipodean manuals is the Australian Government Style Manual. I’ve since always had a copy at work to settle queries/disputes. It’s now available freely online https://www.stylemanual.gov.au/

Defiantly worth checking out if your a language nerd 😉

Can’t believe noone has mentioned my personal peeve here yet : ridged forks 😬

For extra sensation on the trails.

Libel/liable
8-/

the Australian Government Style Manual.

I can’t say as I’ve ever thought, “I need guidelines on style, best consult an Australian.”

“I’m cautious that I might not meet the deadline”.

I’m cautious of overusing conscious so this works for me.

My boss, who is an enviable stickler for detail, uses “to” instead of “too”. It’s the only thing I could pull him up on… But don’t

I dont particularly care about grammar but this thread has caused me a migraine just reading it. You lot have no buisness messing with my head!

‘business’

😁

I can’t say as I’ve ever thought, “I need guidelines on style, best consult an Australian.”

How else will you know which thongs to purchase?

I learned word processing on Borland Sprint though.

Now, “thongs” has two meanings in my head, and I sincerely hope you mean the other one.

It’s the uncertainty I was aiming for!

Do you pacifically hate it?

My Daughter is in the Caterpillar’s room at nursery. Wifebeast has vetoed me asking them to change it. I do ask how the caterpillar is though, which usually results in blank looks. Wifebeast recognised that I have found a loophole to her veto, which got me ‘the look’.

Canals having toe paths is a common one

Definitely is a word I can never spell right first time

Espresso/Expresso. Really grinds on me.

I always drop them direct into the filter basket, much less mess.

Canals having toe paths is a common one

I prefer peddling on bridalways…
😉

Argh.

There are spelling mistakes which are forgivable on a document if it’s audience isn’t far reaching but when Definitely is religiously spelt wrongly and it’s not even noticed. I cry inside.

Just reading the first page of this thread I’m already getting very twitchy! I spent many, many hours over the best part of thirty-odd years proofreading reams of text, some were books I designed and did all of the markup on, as well as repeated proofing of amendments, and proofing clients supplied text, so I’m pretty OCD about spelling, and things like kerning of text.
I’ve now got my spellchecker on my phone and tablet pretty well trained, although I can still miss the occasional word.

That littlefish promotion is inexcusable, though! 🫣🤣

I can cope with most mistakes, but when people say ‘was’ instead of ‘were’ it really makes my eyeballs curl.

As in ‘why wasn’t you in the pub yesterday’

No. I were not.

I had to stick plenty of these particular decals on cars, and, while there was nothing I could do about them because it was printed onto one sheet of clear vinyl, I had to make a real effort not to grind my teeth all of the time I was doing them! Anyone else see the problem?

Do you mean the justification on instructor leaving it just off centre enough to be awful?

Crimes against kerning.

Iocal instructor ?

😀

That’s two many kinds of wrong!

Dodgy fonts have a lot to answer for.

Anyone else see the problem?

It’s the space between the Y and o that’s annoying me the most!

You’re and your and yore
Bridle and bridal
Uninterested and disinterested
Business and buisness
Apostrophes

Does anyone who can’t spell for shit (and isn’t just dyslexic) ever use words like “yore”?

I never understood greengrocers apostrophe’s. If you don’t really understand how they work, surely it’s better to just not use them at all? Semicolons can be tricksy but you don’t see them; spuriously appear in the middle of; sentences; unless you’re Bill Shatner.