Pet peeve: somebody, everybody, anybody, nobody

[Vanuslux]

Since "no one" is defined in the American Heritage Dictionary as "No person, nobody" I am confused as to how one can use "no one" when "nobody" would be grossly inappropriate.

 

[RangerWickett]

Not grossly inappropriate, just not the best choice. It's the difference between, say, fat and overweight. They mean pretty much the same thing, but I doubt you'll see many health journals discussing the healt effects of being fat.

 

[Algolei]

Then we must WRITE those health journals!

*begins immediately*

 

[diaglo]

the line is:

WHere no MAN has gone before.

James Tiberius Kirk was right.

all these other Star Treks don't exist.... i disbelieve

 

[Mystery Man]

It's the flu.

 

[Eremite]

You call that a pet peeve?

What about the abuse the poor apostrophe has taken on these boards over the years. I mean, there are only about a dozen people who know that "its" is the possessive form of "it" and that "it's" is "it is" contracted.

And don't get me started on those Int 3 posters who use an apostophe before the letter "s" to denote the plural.

Save the apostrophe! Now that's cause worth supporting....

 

[Mercule]

Here I thought you were going to complain about people who said stuff like, "There ain't nobody there."

 

[Marius Delphus]

Here I thought you were going to complain about people who said stuff like, "There ain't nobody there."

Well, "There ain't no one there" *does* sound better....

Homophones! To take two example pairs, "hoard" vs. "horde" and "rein" vs. "reign."

 

[RangerWickett]

Add the confusion of "loose" and "lose" to my list. *grin*

I love slang, when done well. "Ain't nuffin'" and similar phrases are music to my ears. Down with standardized linguistics, I say. Let language be the ever-fluid living artform it was designed to be.

 

[BOZ]

you know, everybody does that. nobody will listen to you.