Thursday, November 4, 2010

Three Words Went In, Only One Came Out

One of these men is probably my boss.

This conversation actually happened.

60 year old partner at a law firm: "There" is spelled t-h-e-i-r. You keep misspelling it." *Points to sentence that beings There are . . .*

Me: "That's one way of spelling it, sure."

60 year old partner at a law firm: *Gives me a weird look and walks away.*

It took me several minutes to realize that my boss clearly thinks that their, there and they're were involved in a Highlander/Thunderdome style deathmatch, in which three words went in, but only one word came out. And that victorious word was "their".

He gets paid 1,000 times what I do.

11 comments:

  1. It took me several minutes to realize that my boss clearly thinks that their, there and they're were involved in a Highlander/Thunderdome style deathmatch, in which three words went in, but only one word came out. And that victorious word was "their".

    I'd pay to watch that.

    And I think it's awesome that "their" won, because I always think of it as the small but elegant judo artist, while "they're" is the big, tough wrestler and "there" is the kickboxing champion.

    I'm slightly scared that a lawyer doesn't know primary school grammar, though...

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  2. Oh, god yeah. I'm right there with you.

    I work in a hospital. Doctors often can't spell, and a few of them have handwriting that looks for all the world like it was in crayon on construction paper.

    The CEO has this tiny, cramped writing, so it's difficult enough to figure out what she wrote, and some of her "original" spellings are absolutely fascinating.

    The worst is probably the head of HR. Not just illiterate, but COMPUTER-illiterate as well. And the HR department and mine shared office space for a while during construction, and I became her go-to guy for all matters administrative or electronic.

    You would hope that their education would have the basics of communication and the like, but tehy've actually answered me with "Well, that's not what I'm paid for, is it?"

    (Liked the Highlander/Mad Max reference, btw)

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  3. "Their can only be ONE!"

    I'm sorry...

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  4. Wait, didn't I... I thought I'd commented.
    And I thought I'd said THEIR CAN ONLY BE ONE, then apologized.
    And as far as I know, I'm not Quasar. This is really worrying.
    Quasar, are you my Tyler Durden? Or am I just crazy?

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  5. Ooooh.
    I get it; it auto-previews, and I hadn't actually posted.
    Sorry.

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  6. half my journalism classes? EDITING.
    i copy-edit for friends. my favorite current mistake [comes from over-reliance on spell-check] in a 35-page story, a friend had written "sliver" instead of "silver". at LEAST 50 times [it was a vampire story...]
    so i edit for friends :)


    as a riff on the "Deathmatch" ... personal anecdote that has NOTHING to do with spelling.

    nope. it's about my dad and his INSANITY.
    see, my dad was named "Jefry Alan" by his mother. HATED "Jefry" [where are the REST of the letters? he asks, OFTEN] and went by "Alan" - but didn't like.

    when i was 8, he *VOLUNTARILY* changed his name.
    to BARNEY.

    the first thing i said to him, when i saw him after he did it, was "But you look like FRED!"
    [he really, really does, sometimes.]

    at MarCon, some years ago, i came across the *BEST* *SHIRT* *EVER*.
    Barney Rubble holding aloft the severed head of Barney the Dinosaur, dripping clamore being waved.
    underneath said picture was the phrase:
    "THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE - BARNEY!"

    and so my dad wears this shirt every year for his birthday :D

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  7. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  8. You forgot a basic truth - Possessives are nine tenths of the Law

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  9. I'm not sure why spelling mistakes really stand out for me. I notice them quickly, and they impact what I think about the person in general.

    What's worse, though, is that few people seem to care. Maybe I'm just bitter that skills like this aren't marketable. I could be a *rich* nerd...

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  10. Jonolan -

    gave me a beautiful spit-take, with that one *G*

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  11. And as far as I know, I'm not Quasar. This is really worrying.

    Great minds think... that people who call their minds "Great" via overused cliches need to stop being so damn full of themselves. Also, alike.

    ReplyDelete

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