Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Hawkmoon on January 14, 2019, 12:18:48 PM
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Along with the English language.
https://grammarist.com/usage/rack-wrack/
The subject is the burning down of the American Shakespeare Theater in Stratford, Connecticut. (I remember attending performances of Shakespeare there when I was in high school.) In the article, they quote a resident as having said, "“It was a wonderful facility and it’s just so devastating that the state and then the town let it go to rack and ruin,” Guggenheim said. “Hopefully they’ll preserve it as a park.”
Neither the purported journalist not the editor who should have reviewed the article picked up on the use of thr wrong word in the expression. It should have been "wrack."
https://grammarist.com/usage/rack-wrack/
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Well, learn something new every day. That's a phrase I've never heard.
Brad
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Fifty nerd points for thee, Hawkmoon. I would not have spotted that.
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Fifty nerd points for thee, Hawkmoon. I would not have spotted that.
Same here. I may have wondered what "rack and ruin" means, and I still do, but I would not catch the error.
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I'm more into wrath and ruin myself.
https://youtu.be/kzvAAAHVFBI?t=63
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Fifty nerd points for thee, Hawkmoon. I would not have spotted that.
Thank you, Sir.
It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it. :police:
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I was getting ready to correct it as "wrack and wruin."
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Thank you, Sir.
It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it. :police:
Gotta? Turn in your badge, Loomis.
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That is a phrase I think I have heard or read, but never used. Might have to fit it in somehow.
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Gotta? Turn in your badge
Literary license.
This does, however, bring to mind another foible of today's so-called "journalists": They use trash language when quoting serious speakers. Someone may, for example, say in a speech, "I'm going to change the world!" Almost without fail, it will be reported as, "I'm gonna change the world!"
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I beg to differ! I grew up not too far from there and spent a lot of time on the Housatonic River right near there.
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/wrack+and+ruin
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I beg to differ! I grew up not too far from there and spent a lot of time on the Housatonic River right near there.
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/wrack+and+ruin
This is why you'll not find me citing the Free Dictionary. It's worthless. Instead of discussing the fact that "rack and ruin" is an incorrect usage -- they perpetuate it and equate it fully with the correct usage.
Thus endeth the English language. R.I.P.
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Along with the English language.
https://grammarist.com/usage/rack-wrack/
The subject is the burning down of the American Shakespeare Theater in Stratford, Connecticut. (I remember attending performances of Shakespeare there when I was in high school.) In the article, they quote a resident as having said, "“It was a wonderful facility and it’s just so devastating that the state and then the town let it go to rack and ruin,” Guggenheim said. “Hopefully they’ll preserve it as a park.”
Neither the purported journalist not the editor who should have reviewed the article picked up on the use of thr wrong word in the expression. It should have been "wrack."
https://grammarist.com/usage/rack-wrack/
I used to live in Connecticut and have seen several plays at that theater! When did it burn down? Sad!
Next someone will tell me the Westport Country Playhouse burned down!!!
That proper English is dead is not news. Methinks thou dost protest too much ......
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That proper English is dead is not news. Methinks thou dost protest too much ......
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune journalism
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles functional illiterates
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep--
No more--and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep--
To sleep--perchance to dream be finally rid of the pox of illiterate "journalists": ay, there's the rub,
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This is why you'll not find me citing the Free Dictionary. It's worthless. Instead of discussing the fact that "rack and ruin" is an incorrect usage -- they perpetuate it and equate it fully with the correct usage.
Thus endeth the English language. R.I.P.
It seems as if both spellings are accepted by the authorities on the subject.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/rack-vs-wrack
Perhaps next thread we can discuss the proper use of pedant.
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It seems as if both spellings are accepted by the authorities on the subject.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/rack-vs-wrack
Perhaps next thread we can discuss the proper use of pedant.
A luke-warm acceptance, at best. Your citation concludes with the following:
If you choose to toe the line drawn by the commentators, however, you will want to write nerve-racking, rack one’s brains, storm-wracked, and for good measure wrack and ruin. Then you will have nothing to worry about being criticized for—except, of course, for using too many clichés.
So I'm a line toer. I can live with that.
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(1)
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/wrack+and+ruin
"Rack" here is a variant spelling of "wrack," a now-archaic word meaning wreckage or destruction. Used especially in the phrase "go to rack and ruin."
OK, so "rack" is a variant spelling of "wrack," like "gage" is a variant spelling of "gauge."
(2)
Is it legitimate to say "to wreak wrack and ruin"?
(3)
Someone may, for example, say in a speech, "I'm going to change the world!" Almost without fail, it will be reported as, "I'm gonna change the world!"
The speaker may well have actually said "gonna."
I like to use "gonna," "gotta," "wanna" and the like merely as stylistic mannerisms, but certainly not in formal writing.
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(3)
The speaker may well have actually said "gonna."
I like to use "gonna," "gotta," "wanna" and the like merely as stylistic mannerisms, but certainly not in formal writing.
They may. But I have listened to speeches where the speaker said "going to" and it was reported as "gonna."
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It seems as if both spellings are accepted by the authorities on the subject.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/rack-vs-wrack
Perhaps next thread we can discuss the proper use of pedant.
Bazinga!
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(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1797/43895021651_c60b4af9dd_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/29SRsE8)
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Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune journalism
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles functional illiterates
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep--
No more--and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep--
To sleep--perchance to dream be finally rid of the pox of illiterate "journalists": ay, there's the rub,
THREADWIN!!!!! =D
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I think a lot of folks forget that English is a flexible language and constantly changing, even with respect to old words, let alone new ones. Nevertheless, it is good that we pedants stick to our gonnes.
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I think a lot of folks forget that English is a flexible language and constantly changing, even with respect to old words ...
Some words now mean the opposite of former definitions.
Words like good, true, beautiful and evil.
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"Gonna" doesn't bug me in common speech.
"Fittinta" (fixing to) drives me up a wall!
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"Fittinta" (fixing to) drives me up a wall!
I haven't encountered that one yet. Sounds like a name for a new drink made with Tequila.
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I haven't encountered that one yet. Sounds like a name for a new drink made with Tequila.
Well, North Louisiana Rednecks, what can I say? :old:
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I generally don't care about "language discrepancies" in common speech, Internet forums, etc. I've got bigger things to worry about.
I will say that members of Congress saying "Who dis?" is getting on my nerves.
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I will say that members of Congress saying "Who dis?" is getting on my nerves.
If you can't speak PROPER ENGLISH, HTH did you get to Congress in the first dang place?!?! Just how stupid ARE the id10ts that voted you in?!?!
Do I use "y'all", "gimme", "yer" and the like? Sure do! I also know when to use PROPER English in speech and writing! Put me in front of a bunch of people in a club full of North Louisiana folks and I will talk like they do. Put me in front of the officers of a Fortune 500 company and I will speak like THEY do. Put me in front of a judge and I will speak clearly and properly and not use words I don't know to try to impress anyone, and yes, I have done all of the above. Knowing how and when to speak properly is important. That isn't taught enough, if at all.
:old:
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As a measure of intelligence, I find openly espousing Socialism to be more telling then using silly colloquialisms.
Jus' Sayin'.
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As a measure of intelligence, I find openly espousing Socialism to be more telling then using silly colloquialisms.
Jus' Sayin'.
Yeah, but she gives me the two for one deal. =D
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If you can't speak PROPER ENGLISH, HTH did you get to Congress in the first dang place?!?! Just how stupid ARE the id10ts that voted you in?!?!
Do I use "y'all", "gimme", "yer" and the like? Sure do! I also know when to use PROPER English in speech and writing! Put me in front of a bunch of people in a club full of North Louisiana folks and I will talk like they do. Put me in front of the officers of a Fortune 500 company and I will speak like THEY do. Put me in front of a judge and I will speak clearly and properly and not use words I don't know to try to impress anyone, and yes, I have done all of the above. Knowing how and when to speak properly is important. That isn't taught enough, if at all.
:old:
I was fixin to say the same thing, but ya beat me to it. =D
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"Perhaps next thread we can discuss the proper use of pedant."
Would the pedant be into pederasty?
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For those who don't know, "who dis" is more of a slang term than a grammatical/spelling error. It's similar to the way OK stands for "all correct."
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/new-phone-who-dis
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For those who don't know, "who dis" is more of a slang term than a grammatical/spelling error. It's similar to the way OK stands for "all correct."
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/new-phone-who-dis
Well, I've decided that "who dis" is better than "run train".
https://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2019/01/16/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-just-used-a-phrase-that-you-have-to-look-up-on-urban-dictionary-to-understand-and-yes-its-really-bad/