As I was reading a story today - one I recently stumbled upon - I noticed an error which seems to be very common and always annoys me. Apparently many authors miss this one, or perhaps I should say many editors miss it.
Many homes have a specific room set aside as the place to eat, as does mine. This room is commonly referred to as the “dining room” - but more often than not I find it spelled as d-i-n-n-i-n-g rather than d-i-n-i-n-g which is not only an incorrect spelling, but not even the same word. Dinning is defined as “making a prolonged, loud, and unpleasant sound.” Whereas a dining room is defined as “a room for consuming food.”
For whatever reason, this seems to be a very common mistake. Without wanting to make a big deal of it, I did want to bring it to the attention of those who repeatedly make the error.
Comments
I hadn't noticed that this was common
On the other hand I have had experiences at times that motivated both spellings.
People who can't even spell dining room
...are loosers!
^That's an error I've seen being made a lot in various public forums,
and in tweets by a certain self-avowed genius back in his day...
And since they're usually trying to disparaging somebody
else's intelligence I find it hilarious. If you're gonna mock
someone like that you don't get a pass on bad grammar.
Sometimes I catch myself spelling the plural for bus with 2 s's
because buses doesn't look right to me (seems like it would rhyme with fuses,
or muses, or schmoozes...) And there's a few more words where I might
accidentally double up the consonants, but somehow I never do that with dining...
~hugs, Laika
What borders on pure insanity?
Canada and Mexico.
.
Mine as Well
There's a reason one might write "busses" instead of "buses", because doubling the consonant is the rule to keep the short vowel and the consonant soft. And are we truly sure that "busses" is an incorrect alternative to "buses"? Dictionary.com gives both options -- "buses" and "busses".
"Dine" to "dining" follows a different rule, keeping the long vowel.
"Tounge" rhymes with "lounge", and it's another peeve.
As for "lose" and "loose", I'm thinking of poking everyone's goat with "looze". I chose to hose the rose with my nose, unaware that I would lose it. "Loose" is not "tight".
My most aggravating peeves are my own switches among things I know perfectly well. My brain switches circuits. I'm probably the only person to write "know" when I mean "no".
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
Close but no cigar
It isn't 'tounge' but 'tongue'!
And of course tongue is pronounced 'tung', just to be awkward.
Speaking of awkward, my dear late departed mother always used to pronounce 'tongue' to rhyme with 'lounge'. She got some looks from visitors when she did that but never noticed.
Isn't English a wonderful language?
P.
Makes one wonder
If it is because a series of busses is a passionate multitude of kisses, not a series of people transports or electrical rails, although the first can be quite tingly and electrifying?
No
Not the only one, by a long shot.
And there are a lot of "losers" (JK, folks!) that seem to have a problem with "lose" and "loose". That is high on my peeve list, but it has lots of company! Remember, just because a character has loose morals doesn't mean they lose their self-respect. ;-)
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
I could care...
...less, no, I couldn't care less.
Angharad
ah yes
one of many 'popular' errors - a simple read of what has been written should make it obvious, but seemingly not. Can't help thinking that one particular 'education' system has a lot to answer for where the written word is concerned. Its not even Les Dawson's piano playing (google it, i'm not going to try explaining), I often mangle words on purpose, but to do so you need to know the proper diction.
I vote for less 'dinning', I'm a delicate soul and prefer to eat in peace (not piece! see what I did there?).
Madeline Anafrid Bell
So you want your dinner with
So you want your dinner with less dinning, and to eat your pieces in peace?
You probably want to write your pieces in peace as well -- especially the Gaby ones.
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
I suppose that applies to
peas as well.
*singing*
All we are saaaayiiiing, is give peas a chaaaaaance ...
My favorite from the days I played Quake online
RIP as in "Rest In Pieces" :-)
And I love to troll Greanpeas ;-)
Problem is: everybody relies on spellchecker. If there is no red underlines - nobody pays attention to the actual words. I see such errors in like 98 out of 100 stories. Even though I am not a "native speaker". I had my English education mostly on books by JRRT, Heinlein, Simak, Asimov... But still those errors by natives make me cringe. ;-)
One of my deepest loves
One of my deepest loves is my love for the people who put their work out on this and other similar websites. It's fantastic to see people share their passion and their creativity with us like this. A few little errors here and there are to be expected. Most authors here do not have a staff of editors at hand. Much of the work posted is self edited. Much of it is early draft too. Much of it is also written by people who are passionate about their story but are missing the experience needed to catch stuff on their own.
Any work of sufficient size will have many errors. Most of them will be common errors. Many of them will be missed when the author re-reads and self edits their work. The author knows what it is supposed to say. She wrote it after all. Of course it's the write word.
This is a lovely site with lots of interesting content and many wonderful contributors. I just want to say thank you to you all.
But if I am going to point out the one common error that bothers me the most.
Always start a new paragraph for each new speaker. Keep all the descriptions of the speaker and her actions and thoughts all within the same paragraph as the spoken words. When someone else is nodding, smirking, etc., that’s pretty much the same as dialogue, so it is in a new paragraph.
Thanks for listening to my rant.
You'd be surprised how much following just that one rule will help your readability.
Your friend
Crash
Self editing
Self editing is difficult, especially for longer works. But friends are not always available to help, nor always catch everything either. It is always aggravating to re-read stuff posted many moons prior and find yet one more typo/glitch that wasn't caught. How did I miss those?! Gah!
But what gets me really annoyed is how many mistakes are making it past professional editors and into paper-bound published works by best-selling authors of late. If I've plonked down the cash to get a hardback copy of a book and I'm finding errors, shouldn't those have been caught by the publishing house's pros?? And don't get me started on news/opinion articles on major sites which are not edited properly - if at all. Their authors clearly don't even bother to perform a single re-reading, made obvious by duplicated paragraphs from cut-and-paste mistakes and other such blatant issues. The deterioration of quality over the past few decades is alarming.
Also add
Attribution every so often. When characters are doing a back and forth using short sentences, it is easy to lose (not loose) track of who is saying what.
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
The Spartans may have been fierce...
Love, Andrea Lena
The real reason...
Love, Andrea Lena
One of my "favorites" in stories
"4 inch heals" :-) I'd love to be healed by 4 inch heals :-)
Could be worse
You're is popping up in place of 'your' way too frequently nowadays even in 'professionally' edited publications like a comic book I just got *face palm*
Their...
isn't enough time to explore these tendencies even if the evidence is right they're. Those writers seem stuck in there habits... DERP
Love, Andrea Lena
Vice Versa
I seem to see "your" in the place of "you're" a lot. Another one of mine.
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
It is much more funny when...
... you actually hear that difference in a "blockbuster" movie from some "English" teacher :-)
Will not be able to point to the exact movies. Do not remember. Had not watched a movie for some 10 years...
Wow! Didn’t expect this much feedback, lol.
I was simply expressing one of my pet peeves.
Yes, I know we can all extrapolate what the author’s true intent was, and yes, I am aware that some authors use literary license and purposefully misspell words - but it is usually obvious when that has been done.
I admire anyone who can create a story from thin air, as I do not have that talent - but it does make me despair somewhat regarding the state of education in our world.
I am amazed at the response my simple comment has wrought.
D. Eden
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
What good is a peeve?
What good is a peeve, pet or otherwise, If we cannot all hold it and pet it and give it a little love?
Peace!
Your friend
Crash
Well said……..
"I will name him George, and I will hug him, and pet him, and squeeze him……..”
Couldn’t resist!
D. Eden
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
Jumping
It feels like too many are jumping to contusions over this expression of one person’s feelings about word misusage.
The mixing up of homophones is also a cause of some exasperation for some of us. Personally, I try to get by it and enjoy the story.
Glad to see others are also affected by homophones
I believe it all depends on how they were taught to read. If someone always imagines that they have "heard" what they have read, before it gains a meaning, they will risk failing to select the "right" homophone (often from many) when they are writing. To me, the spelling of the word is what gives it a meaning when it is read, so a wrong spelling is antagonistic to the context. When I hear the same passage spoken, the word's context allows me to (mentally and immediately) select the meaning of the appropriate alternative spelling from all the possibilities which sound similar. To me the "wrong" spelling is like a kick in the "***"s (please supply your own selection for a tender part of your anatomy) and persistent authors who do it get left off my selection list.
My thanks to all out there who do not make the wrong choice
Best wishes
Dave
Homophobes? ;)
Seriously though:
While I'm not directly a fan of sloppy homophone use such use can be deliberate in some stories. I'm guilty of at least one case.
Maybe . . . .
But I know and like your writing. Although I cannot recall your admitted transgression, I believe that there is good chance that at the time I spotted and appreciated it! (That's the difference between just "writing" and your "good writing")
Best wishes
Dave
Dearest creature in creation, study English pronunciation...
I met _one_ native speaker in 30+ years who actually read through that poem without returns and/or referring to dictionaries...
It just jars me when natives can't speak their own language after years of school, high school, college, masters, and postgrad studies.
And I know that some of authors mixing roll and role hear ("wink wink", it should have being "here") had gone through the whole caboodle. How had they managed to get to the postgrad when they can't write or speak their native language? If I were making such errors in English I would have being still in high school... But I had managed to escape that 30+ years ago...
PS: Ignore my rant. My favorite stories are written by people who make like 5 mistakes per line of text. But the stories are great! So... Ask someone to proofread your story, but never hesitate to post your story out of fear that some "grammar nazi" like me will shoot you down ;-) I don't do it. And out of my 2 posted "stories" here there were more than 2 errors :-)
I found it on the internet
I found it on the internet so it must be true:
Here is a list of common errors in fiction.
https://writers.com/16-common-fiction-writing-mistakes
Just providing powder for the cannon.
Have a good day ladies.
Your friend
Crash
I am fazed
I am fazed by the number of people who use the words phase or phased when they mean faze or fazed. Even if the bad guy is pointing a phaser at you, you are fazed, not phased.
If, however
The bad guy pulls the trigger, then you will truly be "phased" right out of existence! (Does anybody believe the bad guy will set his phaser on "stun?!) Unless it's a Klingon Disruptor, which is said to be a very painful death due to the way it disrupts the body. But then, what else would you expect from the Klingons?
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Pet peeve
Peeves do make wonderful pets. I trained mine to get my goat.
アンその他
However.
It does seem that, Dinning, is very common during Dining. :D
>i< ..::: . . . : : : : : : : :
True Word
Go to your local 24 eatery (Denny's, IHOP, etc.) at bar-closing time and dining will be very much a dinning experience! ;-)
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Thank you for the chuckles
I was recently talking with a friend about the English language and played them a clip from My Fair Lady. I love how Professor Higgins complains that the English do not teach their children to speak their language. In fact, in America they have not spoken it in years.
For me, I always struggle with spelling "the" correct. It normally winds up "teh".
However, all that being written, thank you for the many authors who write phenomenal stories and use proper English to tell their story. Spelling and punctuation errors can sometimes detract, but it reminds us that we all are human. After all, to err is human, to really foul up requires a computer.
Melissa
In the words of George Bernard Shaw…….
We are truly “two nations separated by a common language.”
During my lifetime, and in my travels, I have always been amazed by hearing the Queen’s English spoken in countries around the world. It is funny how we Americans outnumber the English so greatly, yet the world still learns how to speak “proper English”.
Of course, you do also hear words like OK, and many other Americanisms all over the world - even being spoken by those who cannot speak English in any form. We, as a culture, seem to have contaminated the entire world - which always seems to piss off the French, lol.
Lafayette, we are EVERYWHERE.
D. Eden
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
Macy's
You are correct, but it's just another of those things that we put up with when we read amateur works. (Though some are better that the pros.)
Interestingly enough Macy's sells "Dinning Room" furniture. ( https://www.macys.com/shop/featured/dinning-room ) as does Oak Furniture USA ( https://www.oakfurnitureusa.com/product-category/dinning-room/ )
Doing a search in Macy's search bar on Dining Room leads to the same page, a search on Oak Furniture USA results in "No products were found matching your selection." ( https://www.oakfurnitureusa.com/product-category/dinning-roo... )
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
Dinning
I took my late father to the North Welsh mountains in the early 90s, and we stayed with a friend who ran a youth hostel. There was a large school group there as well, and evening mealtimes became cataclysmically noisy. Partway through one, my father, a former sergeant major, suddenly screamed at the top of his voice. Dead silence fell, all the teenagers staring at him. In a casual tone, before calmly carrying on with his meal, he simply said "Now you know what you sound like".
Wild peeves…
As different than pet peeves. The problem with many wrong words are the ones that jar you out of the flow of the tale. Two of mine are character names switching about so you have to work out who is really who, and assuming school experiences are universal rather than unique. Please my British friends! American grade school has recess not break, middle and high school don’t have either, and we eat in the cafeteria instead of the canteen.
Yes, the amount of blatant errors I find in published works is appalling. Still, my peeve is being jarred out of the flow of the tale.
BAK 0.25tspgirl
I call it "spellchecker error"...
Dinning is a valid word. So electric spellchecker we all rely on will nor highlight it as a spelling error.
There are millions (it should have being hundreds, but spellchecker had no idea what I am writing about...) of those I see every day.
"Role call" in place of the "Roll call"... about 99 out of 99.0000009 stories about school or army...
And "Billy on steroids" other examples of bad education, dyslexia or reliance on spellchecker every day.
And some of my favorite authors make like a hundred of those per fifty wards of text... (had you caught it? wards-words? ;-) )
So... I have by now enough experience with written word in English so I just skip those things. If I was writing about every one of those errors I would have been still reading stories posted 10 years ago. (I am rereading stories from 10 years ago quite often, some of them are very good... I feel like I need to reread "Being Christina Chase" again... One of my favorites!)
Mine as well…….
I have lost track of how many times I have read it.
One of the things I miss about real, hard cover books is the ability to just pull one off a shelf and re-read it whenever I want to. Yes, you can often do the same with stories posted on-line, but too many of my favorites have disappeared without notice - lost forever.
D. Eden
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
If you have many friends - dead wood is not a panacea.
I have my favorite author... and I bought everything that I could get my hand on in "dead wood" format... But over the years I given some of the books to friends or family... and not all of them remembered to return those... and in some cases i don't remember who took which particular book... So now I have about half of the original stock of books. And some of them are old enough or not popular enough to get reprints.
On the other hand there is Adobe... And there was their publishing system... And I bought several of the books by Maddy Bell through that system. But one day when I decided to reread one of those books... I found that Adobe killed that part of their business. And I was left without any way to read books bought through it... (just the usual - "We received your money. Now go and die quietly.") No way to recover books, no way to refund money...
Now my pet phobia is that Amazon will come and kill my Kindle library because some bozo in my government decided that reading about transgender people will corrupt me...