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#pedantry — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #pedantry, aggregated by home.social.

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  1. PSA: It’s “toeing the line”, not “towing the line”.
    The metaphor maybe comes from sports like darts, where standing with feet correctly placed is important.
    Edit: @nolitimere suggests the origin may be nautical: see their toot below. That feels more likely, to be honest.
    Either way, it’s toeing, not towing.
    #pedantry

  2. PSA: It’s “toeing the line”, not “towing the line”.
    The metaphor maybe comes from sports like darts, where standing with feet correctly placed is important.
    Edit: @nolitimere suggests the origin may be nautical: see their toot below. That feels more likely, to be honest.
    Either way, it’s toeing, not towing.
    #pedantry

  3. @ziphi in many 12-step tuning systems (I'm specifically thinking of 12TET and well-tempered tunings), C flat is enharmonically interchangeable with B natural.
    However, in a bunch of contexts (e.g. classical music theory), musical orthography matters. The interval between A flat and C flat is a minor third, whereas A flat to B natural is an augmented second. Which is why an A flat minor chord is written with a C flat, at least in classical music.

    #MusicTheory #pedantry

  4. @ziphi in many 12-step tuning systems (I'm specifically thinking of 12TET and well-tempered tunings), C flat is enharmonically interchangeable with B natural.
    However, in a bunch of contexts (e.g. classical music theory), musical orthography matters. The interval between A flat and C flat is a minor third, whereas A flat to B natural is an augmented second. Which is why an A flat minor chord is written with a C flat, at least in classical music.

    #MusicTheory #pedantry

  5. @tante Voted no, but 'computer vision' is an overly AI-ish way of describing OCR; maybe 'pattern recognition'?. #pedantry , sorry.

  6. @tante Voted no, but 'computer vision' is an overly AI-ish way of describing OCR; maybe 'pattern recognition'?. #pedantry , sorry.

  7. @HamonWry Either wisdom teeth are misnamed, or you'd already hit a lower limit. I'm confident it was the former. 😜 ✌️

    #pedantry

  8. @HamonWry Either wisdom teeth are misnamed, or you'd already hit a lower limit. I'm confident it was the former. 😜 ✌️

    #pedantry

  9. @WestLawns

    Is that a trap for pedants?

    [Drawn like a moth to a flame]

    #Pedantry #Pedantrydon

  10. @WestLawns

    Is that a trap for pedants?

    [Drawn like a moth to a flame]

    #Pedantry #Pedantrydon

  11. @MonaApp "The default Mastodon app for everyone."

    Everyone, except people who do not use an iPhone, iPad or Mac computer still running sufficiently recent versions of their original OSs.

    #pedantry #marketing

  12. @MonaApp "The default Mastodon app for everyone."

    Everyone, except people who do not use an iPhone, iPad or Mac computer still running sufficiently recent versions of their original OSs.

    #pedantry #marketing

  13. Just back from checking notifications on my bots BobTheTraveler and ConanTheSysadmin after letting them accumulate for a month. Now caught up. Except for the one guy who seems very insistent that OF COURSE the Coriolis Force MUST make drains swirl the opposite direction, and I need to do the research to come up with the precise numbers. I suspect that I'll hear from him again.
    #physics #pedantry

  14. CW: Iran, pedantry

    Relentless bombardment shows no sign of relenting, you say?

    Huh.

    #pedantry #language #TheGuardian

  15. Today's, slightly pedantic, grammar/vocabulary query. How and why has it become fashionable to use adverbs with no intrinsic indication of size or speed to imply something is big and fast?

    Examples include: at scale, at pace, at speed. There are probably others. They don't mean what the speaker/writer seems to be implying.
    /rant
    #grammar #pedantry #vocabulary

  16. Today's, slightly pedantic, grammar/vocabulary query. How and why has it become fashionable to use adverbs with no intrinsic indication of size or speed to imply something is big and fast?

    Examples include: at scale, at pace, at speed. There are probably others. They don't mean what the speaker/writer seems to be implying.
    /rant
    #grammar #pedantry #vocabulary

  17. @static @jpm Nope, wrong!

    Under Australian law, no one has "right of way".

    Instead, the road laws state who must give way. It's very much obligation vs entitlement, and an important distinction in legal terms.

    #pedantry

  18. @static @jpm Nope, wrong!

    Under Australian law, no one has "right of way".

    Instead, the road laws state who must give way. It's very much obligation vs entitlement, and an important distinction in legal terms.

    #pedantry

  19. A quotation from Emerson

    A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.

    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
    Essay (1841), “Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series, No. 2

    More about this quote: wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #ralphwaldoemerson #littleminds #clergy #consistency #details #focus #inconsistency #littlepeople #littlethings #nitpicking #obsession #organization #particular #pedantry #philosopher #politician #trivialities

  20. @Remittancegirl
    (Strictly, since it is derived from the geometry set sort of compasses rather than the geography sort, and shortened from encompasses, the trouble is with those whose moral compass does not exclude anything. Too much rather than nothing.

    But pointers to behaviour, I agree.)
    #pedantry

  21. @Remittancegirl
    (Strictly, since it is derived from the geometry set sort of compasses rather than the geography sort, and shortened from encompasses, the trouble is with those whose moral compass does not exclude anything. Too much rather than nothing.

    But pointers to behaviour, I agree.)
    #pedantry

  22. RFC: When using them as a modal verb, prefer:

    * "may" to express permission

    * "might" to express possibility (subjunctive mood)

    #Pedantry

  23. RFC: When using them as a modal verb, prefer:

    * "may" to express permission

    * "might" to express possibility (subjunctive mood)

    #Pedantry

  24. Allow me some #pedantry .

    There is no such phrase as "runs the gambit". It's "gamut". Yes, I know you don't know what a "gamut" is, but that's the actual correct word, so use it. Stop saying "runs the gambit", particularly if you are on TV or in a printed work or something where there should be editors around who know better.

    First offense: I will take a cardboard tube from inside a roll of paper towels and bop you on the head with it, several times.

    #LearnVocabulary #English #MFDoYouSpeakIt
  25. Allow me some #pedantry .

    There is no such phrase as "runs the gambit". It's "gamut". Yes, I know you don't know what a "gamut" is, but that's the actual correct word, so use it. Stop saying "runs the gambit", particularly if you are on TV or in a printed work or something where there should be editors around who know better.

    First offense: I will take a cardboard tube from inside a roll of paper towels and bop you on the head with it, several times.

    #LearnVocabulary #English #MFDoYouSpeakIt
  26. Happy new year from the one appliance that represents time properly:

    #pedantry

  27. Happy new year from the one appliance that represents time properly:

    #pedantry

  28. @JessTheUnstill @IsabelB No, the FY from the Scots was overlaying St. Andrew over St. George - in essence "crossing out the English" - which some Scots did under James VI, though that was never the official design.

    The whole idea of counterchanging was established heraldry at the first Act of Union in 1801. #pedantry #FlagGeek
  29. Hi #pedants I'm seeing 'normalcy' online where I would have used 'normality'. Is this because the writer is American or trained in US English or just because I'm old? Is normalcy the new normality now?
    #pedantry #English