#pedantry — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #pedantry, aggregated by home.social.
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The word UNIQUE is self-descriptive. Among other reasons, it does not accept modifiers; nothing like “somewhat unique”, “totally unique”, “a little bit unique” etc…
Either the object is, or is not unique.
Thank you for indulging my #pedantry. Now here’s a small reward for that; a #riddle!
Q
How do you catch a unique rabbit?A
Unique up on it!! -
RE: https://graphics.social/@metin/116929283984909484
This article makes some very good points, but I also like that the author treated the word "data" as the countable plural of "datum", not as a mass noun. Hence: "fewer data". Perhaps slightly old-fashioned, but both correct and elegant.
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I Sit In Solidarity With The Norway Fan Who Refuses To Do The Viking Row
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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 -
The number of people who pronounce "camouflage" as "camel-flage" is too damned high.
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@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. -
@amenonsen An arthropod, but not an insect.
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@HamonWry Either wisdom teeth are misnamed, or you'd already hit a lower limit. I'm confident it was the former. 😜 ✌️
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Charlatans & Bores | Clare Bucknell | The New York Review of Books
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/14/charlatans-bores-on-pedantry-visser/ -
@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.
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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 -
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 -
RE: https://mastodon.social/@anon_opin/116210644218459297
The correct use of an ellipsis is "…" and not "...". #typography #pedantry
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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. 2More 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
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@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 -
@dkmcf @galacticstone You forgot to tag your post with #pedantry.
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RFC: When using them as a modal verb, prefer:
* "may" to express permission
* "might" to express possibility (subjunctive mood)
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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 -
Happy new year from the one appliance that represents time properly:
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In an effort to post something cheerful and non-screechy today ... here's my new favorite Christmas-themed video, via my son (who knows me too well).
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@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
