The better it's written, don't you mean? Also, I'm quite sure that its' (with an apostrophe at the end) is never correct. Not to mention your use of a semicolon where there should be a comma. What grinds my gears? How about people who rant about how much incorrect grammar bothers them and make three errors in the process? Hehe
You're right about the first part. That's exactly what happens when you read and hear poor grammar for so long. There was a time decades ago (which may or may not have changed), when an apostrophe was added to the end to denote possession, as peeps were writing it as "it's". The semicolon is correct in this instance, as there is a longer pause between the two thoughts. I added a word to your "rant" paragraph, just to make it a bit more lucid. You'd better start proofreading your posts! :banana: Just kidding. :bigsmile: BTW: I forget a lot...I've been out of school for 43 years.
Nope, it should definitely be a comma. Semicolons are reserved for separating two complete clauses in lieu of using a comma/conjunction combo (yay for alliteration!), and a few other, minor uses. Hehe. And good catch with the use of "then." I almost edited it in there myself, but decided against it -- it had already been edited once, and it's not technically incorrect the way it is. Anyways, [/grammar talk]
The truth is; we both seem to possess more than adequate skills in this area. The punctuation was never my "forte" (another word that's been altered). Spelling was always my strong suit in english. My gears are all ground down now. I must have a rest! :banana: BTW: never having made it past grade 8 (circumstances - not dumbness), I'm quite proud of my reading and writing abilities.
what grinds my gears is people who think typing in a forum is the same as english class. typing is alot different than writing, everyone learns to write but not all learn to type, it takes alot longer and is why we have stupid acronyms like LOL when half the time they arent even really laughing out loud. some of us have lives and like to get a post out within a reasonable time frame and not have to backspace for every little misspelling or typo. dont respond if you cant understand it now my gears have grinded to a screeching halt
Nice ending. Easy, easy, dude. Semicolons aren't used that often in English, which is why people tend not to know when to use them. Heck, even French speakers (I am one of 'em) don't really know, even though semicolons appear more often in French (especially in old texts). +1 I tend to hate making mistakes myself, but I don't mind other people making mistakes. As long as they don't use a word instead of another one because they're homophones (their/there/they're, etc) and use enough punctuation, I'm totally fine with it. Once a guy made a thread on G3D, and he was talking about how many "nats" had invaded his place or something. Turned out he was talking about gnats. If you're not a native speaker, you're not likely to get it right away — I didn't myself until the guy spelled it right. And I wasn't the only one. Granted, it wasn't much of an issue, but I think you get what I mean.
how about people who ride bicycles on the same road we drive on. They act like they are entitled to more of the road then us...get the f$%*^k out of the way pal before you get smashed!
The biggest thing that grinds my gears is stupidity. Im so tired of stupid people it infuriates me to no end. Also, indecisiveness. That is right up there with stupidity.
+1. I also hate stupid people. Cant even talk to them because i lose my temper. Another kind of person i hate is the arrogant kind. Some people think they know everything about everything. Their say is the final say, and they are never wrong. My boss is like that. What a dick. He is also a MAC fan-boy, so out of the blue he says this to me: "You know why MACS can run Windows now too?.... Because it just works!" I grind my teeth and clinch my fists while smiling and nodding at the bastard that pays my salary. Idiot.
Well, I stay clear of the likes of the "Dominant1" - his post says it all! Even though bikes have the same road privileges as auto*******, I prefer to ride in a manner that's the safest for me. I DEFINATELY NEVER ride on a main street, where there is a lot of traffic on the left and cars parked on the right...wayyyy too much possibility of getting hit. I actually had some idiot open his car door right in my face as I was riding past; and it was just a small side street - people don't look (or think) before they act! :knock: Anyway, after picking up my bike off the ground and this 'University' genius telling me it was all my fault and that I should have been riding in the "middle" of the road - I kicked a nice dent in his door - not for opening his door in my face - but, for being such an idiot that he doesn't see anything wrong with swinging the car door open without first checking for traffic (and then blaming me for it) - and this is commonplace!!! I was actually on a bus once when another idiot did this - and lost his door! The bus ripped it right off. :banana: Anyway, I ride my bike mostly on the "Bicycle Routes" and the less traveled roads. If I must travel along a major artery, I'll use the sidewalk (so give me a ticket ) I am; however, very respectful and considerate of pedestrians. A word of advice to pedestrians and cyclists; assume that every single driver is trying to hit you and that should (hopefully) give you enough awareness and focus to keep you safe. Trust me! I've rode bicycles for 51 years and I've seen it all. It gets more dangerous every year. These days, vehicles can be coming from any direction and most of the drivers are oblivious. It only takes a split second to become the next casualty! One poor guy was trying to turn a corner at speed (don't know if he had the light or not) and he slid right under a fully loaded dump truck - which ran over both legs. You can guess the rest. ;( I still miss my Goldwing. ;( :bigsmile:
This happened to me once too. The guy came out of the car blaming it all to me, who was unable to avoid the door because he just did it 10cm in front of me and gave me no time. Alright, no big deal, accidents happen. But this guy acted like nothing, I was injured on the floor and refused to help me, so I got really angry and I grabbed the chain I use to tie my bicycle and smashed his car's hood. Fixing my bycicle, $50. Fixing the car's hood, $300. Seeing the guy's face when he saw his car, priceless You had a Honda GoldWing?. That's great!!!. I love that bike. Gonna get a Honda Storm SDH-125 soon:
Oh; you gonna get flack for dat one! :banana: Perhaps it was faster to type. At least I know I'm not the only one who gets frustrated by this. "If you change the word - you change the meaning." This sometimes makes it difficult to understand the text. I'm not the "grammar police"; but, I get enough headaches without straining my brain to try to understand what I'm reading...and I prefer to think that I have fairly good comprehension. Those of you who are just learning English - don't sweat it. At least you're learning. I have friends who are Chinese; who speak Mandarin (zhong guan hua) - my 'Pinyin' sucks. Ni hao Ma? Anyway; even though they often ask me to correct their grammar and spelling, they write quite well and better than many peeps for whom English is their native language! No need for any defensive anger or hostility here. It's just discussion. I speak some 'Japanese' as well as 'Mandarin'. Ni xi huan ma?
That bike was a dream! I couldn't believe the balance of this monster (fully loaded). It was an '83 and I got it for $2000. I paid quite a bit to fix it up - including $2500 to rebuild the engine ; but, it ran like a brand new bike! Man; that thing had some power. I used to ride with my young friend on his 'Ninja and he didn't stand a chance in a race. Those were good times. :bigsmile:
I can't stand it when people bike right in the middle of the road, between the 2 opposing lanes and don't follow any road rules. Of when they feel the need to cut in front of you suddenly because they need to turn right and they're in middle. Sure they have the same right to the road as cars, but that doesn't mean they should feel invincible because everybody in cars is too afraid to touch them. There's also those people that go walking speed on a bike on a busy road with not enough room to pass, slowing traffic down to a crawl on their side. do they not realize that there's a 20 metre long line of cars behind them and not a single car in front? Whenever I get near those people I just honk at them and drive really close to scare them into moving over.
Ever heard of sidewalk, or designated bike paths.....the other day i saw an accident. i drove by just after it happened cops and paramedics weren't there yet. some guy on a bike got hit by a car and he got smashed, somehow he lay there like a squirrel hit by a pellet, jerking around on the ground. He was in that part of the road where bicyclers shouldn't be. i couldn't help but to think that he was at fault laying in the middle of the road....but i could be wrong...nevertheless 3500 lbs has the right of way over 300lbs...so stay the F&*^k out of the way or suffer the consequences!
Just remember this: Idiots on bicycles, will still be idiots in cars and even as a pedestrian. It really has nothing to do with cars vs. bikes, etc. You can bet that the same person who parks on the opposite (wrong) side of the road (facing traffic) and runs red lights, is the same person who will cycle the wrong way at a roundabout (as do drivers)...when I think of the millions of dollars wasted on traffic signals and signs and turn signals; which are mostly ignored by drivers. :bang:
