Modern Vespa

Heh. There are some lovely examples of Muphry's Law on this thread.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muphry's_law

Or, to make it easier:

John Bangsund of the Victorian Society of Editors (Australia) identified Muphry's Law as "the editorial application of the better-known Murphy's Law" and set it down in 1992 in the Society of Editors Newsletter.

The law, as set out by Bangsund, states that:

(a) if you write anything criticizing editing or proofreading, there will be a fault of some kind in what you have written;
(b) if an author thanks you in a book for your editing or proofreading, there will be mistakes in the book;
(c) the stronger the sentiment expressed in (a) and (b), the greater the fault;
(d) any book devoted to editing or style will be internally inconsistent.

I think I am making this my new tag-line!

Brits who cannot spell "tire" correctly and spell it "tyre".

After all, it was a Scotsman who invented it, Robert W. Thompson, and he spelled it "tire" in his patent.

http://v3.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/originalDocument?CC=US&NR=5104&KC=&FT=E

Yes, as far as I know, you should never use a proposition preposition to end a sentence with.

I try to follow this one, especially in documents and mostly in work emails. However, it does get tiring and tedious to try to do it on a message board. I think the problem really stems from my declining knowledge and usage of the English vocabulary. I usually find that anytime I can't seem to end a sentence without a preposition that I really should be using other words.

Oh, o.k., I was thinking it must be out Campbelltown way.....

Yanks who cant spell colour, kilometre, cheque, favourite, traveller,
recognise................ I could go on ... i think its you who have bastardized a perfectly good language........................ ohh and your lass has her fanny on the wrong side

Now now, we are NOT going to get into a pissing contest over UK/US spellings - they are as they are. And for what it's worth it's usually the UK spelling that has changed whereas the US spelling remains closer to the original 17th century UK English...

This is like justifying road rage. I hate when someone doesn't signal, cuts me off, runs a yellow, does 45 in a 50 zone. I forget sometimes all the spelling or grammatical rules that roll around in my head with several different languages. I can communicate and when someone yells at me for not signalling or is honking his obnoxious better then though horn at me, I usually role my window down, in my best (grammaire), depending where I am, Yell
PUNTA MADRE, FUCK YOU or MANGE DE LA MERDE ESPECE DE CON while signaling with the adequate hand gesture, drive off, smile and turn up the music. This thread although on the surface has some semblance of well educated, is ignorant rantings of the annal retentive.
Language is in evolution join the creative and help build a new one. Education puts you in a box, you have to step out to learn something.

If that is the language we are evolving to, you can count me among those proud to be an evolutionary dead end.

i'm pulling my hair out in tufts

i think this thread is no more painfull than others.

i tell my wife that i get free grammer/spelling lessons.

she rolls her eyes and goes back to facebook

Another one, if someone is executed they are hanged not hung!

I feel much better now.

The SI units were sorted by the frence therefore the unit of measurement is a metre not a meter.

At the risk of being banned, Jim, you may like this one;

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/chaser/#/videoarchive/chaser_09_03_07_english/

Personally, I like it when people can't differentiate between affect and effect.
I am laughing about it, but they can't tell, due to my blank affect.
Also I grind my teeth when I hear the flight attendants call on passengers to 'deplane' or 'preboard'.
But that's a whole other thread about expressions unique to certain professions.


A patient with severe asthma looked at his chart one day while the doctor had stepped out of the exam room. When the doctor returned the patient said to her; "I think it's very rude to make negative comments about personality, and I ought to sue you for defamation of character."
The doctor regarded the patient in astonishment and said "What are you talking about? I would never make disparaging comments on a medical record!"
When the patient showed the doctor the chart, the notation SOB was written as part of the physical examination.
"You wrote this about me," the patient accused.
The doctor burst out laughing and the patient got even redder in the face.
"SOB means shortness of breath," the doctor explained. "It's not a commentary of your character."

I guess the French put us on the fence with those.

Hey, this is the US, and as long as you have yourself legally covered with some weasel words you can get away with anything, even spelling errors! (Like doubling the interest rates on credit cards. If it's in the fine print, it's legal.)

And what the heck are "SI" units for anyway! They drive us nuts here at work! Go Metric or Standard. Pick one!

Ummm, I thought SI units were metric?
At least the medical SI units (like those for white blood cell counts, glomerular filtration rates, etc.) are metric.

length meter m
mass kilogram kg
time second s
electric current ampere A
thermodynamic temperature kelvin K
amount of substance mole mol
luminous intensity candela cd

You think we screwed up the english language?

Please tell me what language Brad Pitt is speaking here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfNb9Qrbfz4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LJw6PAi5Q8

Of course there is always RPMs.

And, RPM is not an acronym.

Al

That's Pikey. And if you own a shop in London you better be fluent. Otherwise you may not own it for very long.

Gold, pure gold. Every now and then your posts completely sneek up on me. I just spat my tea all over my keyboard

the problem with that is a smart a-- like me will come along and say it takes one to know one, doesn't it.

you have to be anal to know anal

Everything is kinky until you've tried it - or so I'm told...

You mean it's not pronounced urpums?

This thread is almost as funny as the infamous cupcake thread!! I think I understand most of it ,except why aren't Koalas edible??? Aren't they made out of meat? Can one of the Aussies shed some light on this?
Thanks.

yeah right OG, Idiot or Savant

hey smartass You don't have to be anal to know anal. My sisters husband's cousin was anal that is how I can tell.

oh shite

your write

What about this language?

Is it English?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khrpy4V0-U4

I didn't look through all the responses, but just in case...

"K" instead of "G": anythink, somethink GGRRR

Even some of the Oz radio and TV announcers are guility!

Non-scooter related threads that are not tagged as [NSR]. That's what makes my bile rise.

That and the grammar and spelling Nazis of course. (Get 'em at Cafe Press).

Ooo... Kaaay.

Godwin's Law has been invoked: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law

I was wondering when the thread would go south. Just when we were having some fun.

Gee, thanks, scoot_in_VA!

Bugger Godwin in this thread. Though I confess I thought about it for a minute or two.

The issue is I suspect about lack of respect for those (the 'many') who have to read the duff verbage of the few (the posters who don't give a damn).

maybee i couldnt locate the sarcasm on/off buttoon.

Wow, you folks must be really bored today. Go out and ride your scoots. Now!

Am I the only one amused by the misspelling of "anal" and "sneak" in both these posts? Particularly in light of the thread subject-matter?

For the record, I am not particularly concerned with the degree to which we adhere to good spelling and grammar on the forum, it just struck me as amusing... back to scooter stuff!

Who you calling an anal sneak

For the record it's always best to ask permission, you don't want to get a nasty shock