 I Like To Scale Mountain Piques, Too.
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Apr. 3rd, 2008 @ 10:47 am 
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For the past week, I've been communicating with a person in the internet who I've never met (she handles marketing for a speaker I've been trying to court for an upcoming event). She has sent me maybe five emails total in my whole life. In two of the five emails, she has used the phrase, "peaks your interest."
Livejournal Land! A conundrum!
Should I tell her she's spelling it wrong? On the one hand, she's just a random person in the computer. She cannot harm me physically if it pisses her off that I corrected her spelling. On another hand, since it's an internet discussion, it will probably come off all wrong no matter what nice phrases I couch it in (possible nice phrase: "other than this disastrous fuckup you do seem to have a somewhat basic grasp on the English language"). On a third hand, I know if it were me, I'd want to be told that I was spelling it wrong, and she clearly uses it often since she's said it twice in the week that the two of us have been internet friends. On a fourth hand, this one time, I was at a cookout at my parents' house and my cousin's husband referred to something as a "chaise lounge," and Zach offered, "Actually, as Angela will tell you, it's actually spelled l-o-n-g-u-e, chaise longue," and I was alternately pleased and mortified. Pleased because Boyfriend WordNerd knows "chaise lounge" is one of my biggest lingual pet peeves because it is the HEIGHT of lazy usage becoming actual dictionary usage, and mortified because I swear it was like in a movie or something, everyone did this slow head swivel toward us as though they were just seeing us for the first time and did not much like the view. On a fifth hand, don't wish to compromise professional standing by being a dick about spelling blar blar blar. On a sixth hand, I'd actually be doing her a favor. On the seventh hand, Jamba Juice. Mmmm.
What would Livejournal Land do?
Hey, you guys remember that time I was working for Abs'n'Sex (n'Abs) magazine (hint, may or may not be the publication's actual title) and the editors used the word "toothsome" to refer to something being ferocious, like a shark, I believe the phrase was "ever more DANGEROUS AND TOOTHSOME" and I practically had to burn the building down to get them to change it? That was awesome, wasn't it? |
Maybe you should send her an e-mail and mention that something might peek her interest, and then she'll say, "oh!", and look it up and then discover that you were both wrong.
that seems like a diplomatic way to go about it, however she might just say "YOU'RE WRONG" Without looking it up.
i have a friend that writes "looksy" instead of "look-see", which has been a source of devastation for me but i can't think of a way to bring it up.
p.s. ang, i was so proud of you regarding the toothsome situation.
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| From: | ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) anneth |
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April 3rd, 2008 04:50 pm (UTC) |
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Toothsome like the mighty shark!
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Honestly, I'd not mention it (the "peak/pique" issue) at all. The least confrontational option is to drop the correctly-spelled phrase in a response to her, but that's also really passive-aggressive and irritating. If it bugs you that much, though, just tell her. It took me a year to tell my boyfriend that he misused "I" and "me" occasionally (and his mother an English teacher! For shame!*), and I did it by just outright telling him, which he appreciated. Your read of the situation is surely best.
* She misuses it too, a la "the gift was for John and I." Woof.
I'm of two minds on this. My natural inclination and my instincts tell me you should give this one a pass. Chances are you're not likely to have much interaction with the person beyond the speaker-chasing, so this little irritation will be out of your life very quickly. Also, there's much more potential for damage to your networking abilities if she should happen to take offense.
My second mind looks at all these hands you've got and says you must be Shiva, Destroyer of Worlds. That being the case, I'd say go to town on her ass and make her cry like a toddler for her linguistic ignorance.
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| From: | iskew |
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April 3rd, 2008 05:22 pm (UTC) |
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Wait til she signs the contract and then make her feel like an asshole.
OR
Sneak it into the contract that she and her client must spell "pique" correctly!
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| From: | kip_w |
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April 3rd, 2008 07:45 pm (UTC) |
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I'm with you on the chaise longue thing. I corrected that at work so many times (our place sold outdoor furniture).
On a related note, there was a local lounge here that had a huge sign up on the side that said LUONGE. They finally fixed it last year, and then they took the whole thing down and tried to rebrand.
I almost think I prefer Luonge. At least that's just very, obviously, wrong. "Chaise lounge" is in the freaking dictionary now! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!
Another one I have learned to hate: jodphur instead of jodhpur. I worked for a fashion designer here and on every single mock up board, the designers wrote Jodphur. Classic Jodphur. Twill Jodphur. Jodphur, jodphur, jodphur. This wasn't just one designer, either, it was like an across-the-board zeitgeist kind of thing. I almost started wondering if they were trying to rebrand it that way on purpose for some reason. But probably they were just being lazy asses.
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Look out for that buss!!!
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You would be committing pedanticide. I just made it up but it's when a pedant expresses something pedantic and it needlessly kills them.
Let it go......
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| From: | angelalala |
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April 3rd, 2008 08:11 pm (UTC) |
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Re: Look out for that buss!!!
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You are quite right. I like all the advice but there is no way I would ever actually correct her, because there is absolutely no way to not sound like a tool when doing it. I do wish I could somehow implant it in her brain though, just so she wouldn't be walking around being all dumb.
How dare you call me a pedant!!!!! Heeee.
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Re: Look out for that buss!!!
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Pedanticalness is sew bad four ewe! Carlos and eye halve fightz over silly crap awl the thyme.
I mean, hoo gives a shiite if yuu misspel and wrongly use things like worts?!?! As long az the msg gitz out, rite??? *SQUEEEEEE!!!*
This shit drives me nuts, too. In a future correspondence to her, I'd work it in, like "Yes! My interest is VERY piqued!" And maybe put it in bold. And italics. And 45673 point Book Antiqua font.
Of course, I'm still annoyed that the sub that was in my class yesterday thought "cammanation" was the correct spelling of "combination". I wish I was kidding.
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I hate your colleagues
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How does this woman even talk? Can you maybe at least tell me that English is her second language? It doesn't have to be true, it's just that if I get caught weeping at my desk for the future of this country one. more. time. my boss is going to have a fit.
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| From: | angelalala |
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April 4th, 2008 05:35 pm (UTC) |
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Re: I hate your colleagues
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Since we're talking about charming/grating North Carolinian tics, I once knew a woman who lived in Currituck (she called it "God's Country") who, instead of saying "my husband and I," would say "I and the husband." I and the husband went to the store. It's awesome.
Yeah, correct her spelling. And while you're at it, tell her that orange is not her color, and that she's got something stuck in her teeth right _there_. Then punch her in the boob for good measure. DO IT!
This is very good advice, but only if it ends up on YouTube.
I vote for the "repeat it back in an e-mail and spell it correctly" approach.
"Why, yes, [insert topic] DOES pique my interest! Thank you so much for asking, friend!"
Get the point across without being wanky, and if you got called on it you could claim not to have noticed her spelling it differently.
You should absolutely NOT tell her. Let a friend tell her. In this case, there's just no use in telling her other than your own personal edification. Meh, not worth it.
And if you think about it, to pique someone's interest and to peak someone's interest are the same thing. Peak can be used as a verb, after all, and if your interest is "peaked," you're obviously at a high point of interest.
The misuse/un-use of pique drives me up the wall. But in this case, I think it should be let slid.
This is coming from the person who came up with theme candy. You know that person can't possibly be wrong.
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