Jump to content

Demonstone's and Flaubert's English Grammar for Demonlanders 101

Neil Crompton
Neil Crompton
in Melbourne Demons

Featured Replies

On 7/27/2022 at 1:40 PM, old55 said:

I could care less about spelling and grammar.

 

3 hours ago, Demonstone said:

I cringe at "I could care less", which indicates that the speaker has at least some level of care.

Surely "I couldn't care less" (I have no care) is what they mean.

 

  • Quote
    • Like 2
     
    22 minutes ago, Spirit of '87 said:

    It should more traditionally be “I”, as you are effectively saying “my brother is taller than I am…” 

    i.e. “he is taller than I am”

    hence “he is taller than I…”

    but “me” seems to be the more commonly used these days. 

    https://onlinewritingtraining.com.au/than-i-versus-than-me/

    The link asks more questions than it answers. For example, who knew that "than" could be either a conjunction or a preposition?

  • Quote
    • Shocked 1

    A lot of learnings in this thread. 

  • Quote
    • Haha 1
     
    33 minutes ago, In Harmes Way said:

    It doesn't mean a prisoner going back to jail, which is what I'm sure they'd be thinking.

    Either that or they'd think it was a Greek bloke coming down the stairs.

  • Quote
    • Haha 1

    Let me vent my spleen a little more.

    1.  "You're bias".   You can have bias, in which case you are biased.  It's a noun, not a verb.

    2.  "That's cringe".  It may make you cringe, in which case it's cringeworthy.

    3.  "Get off of".  An Americanism that just grates.

    4.  "Allot" means to distribute, to allocate.  If there is plenty of something, there's a lot of it.

  • Quote
    • Like 3
    • Love 1

    3 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

    Let me vent my spleen a little more.

    1.  "You're bias".   You can have bias, in which case you are biased.  It's a noun, not a verb.

    2.  "That's cringe".  It may make you cringe, in which case it's cringeworthy.

    3.  "Get off of".  An Americanism that just grates.

    4.  "Allot" means to distribute, to allocate.  If there is plenty of something, there's a lot of it.


    Awful, but could it be considered a malapropism rather than poor grammar? 

  • Quote
    • Author
    4 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

    Let me vent my spleen a little more.

    3.  "Get off of".  An Americanism that just grates.

     

    You hypocrite! You and Mike coined that expression in the early ‘60’s. Remember this?:

    ”hey hey you you get off of my cloud…”

     

  • Quote
    • Haha 3
     

    Take a close look at the Collingwood banner on Friday night. There should be atleast one spelling error.  Essendon would be another banner to look out for.

    Why dont the dees cheer squad do their banner in latin?

    That would P.. Off Collingwood supporters no end.

  • Quote
    • Haha 4

    13 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

    I wouldn't class that as a malapropism.

    Isn’t a malapropism a knowingly-incorrect usage of a word or term (as opposed to an ignorant one)? Or are you saying that there’s nothing “knowing” about it?

  • Quote

    Malapropism is the use of an incorrect word in an amusingly inappropriate way and may be deliberate or accidental, but is more commonly the latter.  

     

     

  • Quote
    8 minutes ago, deebunked said:

    Take a close look at the Collingwood banner on Friday night. There should be atleast one spelling error.  Essendon would be another banner to look out for.

    Why dont the dees cheer squad do their banner in latin?

    That would P.. Off Collingwood supporters no end.

    *sigh* …would thou couldst, deebunked, would thou bloody couldst.
    Sorry, that’s Old English, not Latin. 

    I can’t speak for other teams’ banners but in our case you’ll likely never see a mistake. This is partly because we have an elevated platform, the view from which makes it easier to spot anything untoward. It’s also because we’re Melbourne supporters and therefore our I.Q. is not in single digits. Nor is our tooth count, for that matter. 
    😁

  • Quote

    26 minutes ago, deebunked said:

     

    Why dont the dees cheer squad do their banner in latin?

     

    All for it. 

  • Quote
    • Like 1
    6 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

    Malapropism is the use of an incorrect word in an amusingly inappropriate way and may be deliberate or accidental, but is more commonly the latter.  

     

     

    Not to be confused with mondegreens.

  • Quote
    • Like 1
    2 minutes ago, Winners at last said:

    Not to be confused with mondegreens.

    Alex the seal?

  • Quote
    13 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

    Malapropism is the use of an incorrect word in an amusingly inappropriate way and may be deliberate or accidental, but is more commonly the latter.  

     

     

    I see.

    So what is the term for a word such as “woke”? Where a word is commonly-understood to be “incorrect”, but forges on regardless to become part of the lexicon?

    Is that just another malapropism? Seems like such a thing deserves it’s own term. 

  • Quote

    17 minutes ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

    Alex the seal?

    The definitive mondegreen. Well played.

     

    There's a bathroom on the right ...

  • Quote
    1 hour ago, Demonstone said:

    2.  "That's cringe".  It may make you cringe, in which case it's cringeworthy.

    Channelling my pedantic grumpy old man persona, I'd also like to ask when exactly 'fail' began to be used as either a noun or adjective.

    For example:

    The heavy defeat that Melbourne dished out to Gold Coast displayed the flaws inherent in their rebuilding process. The whole thing totally reeks of fail.

    I always thought the proper lexical item in this case was 'failure'.

     

  • Quote
    •  
    1 hour ago, Mel Bourne said:

    So what is the term for a word such as “woke”?

    To say it's a cliched, catch-all pejorative would be to risk straying into the muddy waters of politics.   

     

  • Quote
    40 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

    To say it's a cliched, catch-all pejorative would be to risk straying into the muddy waters of politics.   

     

    Ha! Fair point. Bad example! 

    Edited by Mel Bourne

  • Quote

    • Join the conversation

    You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

    Guest
    Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
    Reply to this topic...
    Go to topic listing

    Featured Content

    • PREVIEW: Fremantle

      A month is a long time in AFL football. The proof of this is in the current state of the two teams contesting against each other early this Saturday afternoon at the MCG. It’s hard to fathom that when Melbourne and Fremantle kicked off the 2025 season, the former looked like being a major player in this year’s competition after it came close to beating one of the favourites in the GWS Giants while the latter was smashed by Geelong to the tune of 78 points and looked like rubbish. Fast forward to today and the Demons are low on confidence and appear panic stricken as their winless streak heads towards an even half dozen and pressure mounts on the coach and team leadership.  Meanwhile, the Dockers have recovered their composure and now sit in the top eight. They are definitely on the up and up and look most likely winners this weekend against a team which they have recently dominated and which struggles to find enough passages to the goals to trouble the scorers. And with that, Fremantle will head to the MCG, feeling very good about itself after demolishing Richmond in the Barossa Valley with Josh Treacy coming off a six goal haul and facing up to a Melbourne defence already without Jake Lever and a shaky Steven May needing to pass a fitness test just to make it onto the field of play. 

        • Like
      • 0 replies
      Demonland
      Demonland

    • NON-MFC: Round 06

      The Easter Round kicks off in style with a Thursday night showdown between Brisbane and Collingwood, as both sides look to solidify their spots inside the Top 4 early in the season. Good Friday brings a double-header, with Carlton out to claim consecutive wins when they face the struggling Kangaroos, while later that night the Eagles host the Bombers in Perth, still chasing their first victory of the year. Saturday features another marquee clash as the resurgent Crows look to rebound from back-to-back losses against a formidable GWS outfit. That evening, all eyes will be on Marvel Stadium where Damien Hardwick returns to face his old side—the Tigers—coaching the Suns at a ground he's never hidden his disdain for. Sunday offers two crucial contests where the prize is keeping touch with the Top 8. First, Sydney and Port Adelaide go head-to-head, followed by a fierce battle between the Bulldogs and the Saints. Then, Easter Monday delivers the traditional clash between two bitter rivals, both desperate for a win to stay in touch with the top end of the ladder. Who are you tipping this week and what are the best results for the Demons?

        • Thanks
      • 9 replies
      Demonland
      Demonland

    • REPORT: Essendon

      What were they thinking? I mean by “they” the coaching panel and team selectors who chose the team to play against an opponent who, like Melbourne, had made a poor start to the season and who they appeared perfectly capable of beating in what was possibly the last chance to turn the season around.It’s no secret that the Demons’ forward line is totally dysfunctional, having opened the season barely able to average sixty points per game which means there has been no semblance of any system from the team going forward into attack. Nevertheless, on Saturday night at the Adelaide Oval in one of the Gather Round showcase games, Melbourne, with Max Gawn dominating the hit outs against a depleted Essendon ruck resulting from Nick Bryan’s early exit, finished just ahead in clearances won and found itself inside the 50 metre arc 51 times to 43. The end result was a final score that had the Bombers winning 15.6 (96) to 8.9 (57). On balance, one could expect this to result in a two or three goal win, but in this case, it translated into a six and a half goal defeat because they only managed to convert eight times or 11.68% of their entries. The Bombers more than doubled that. On Thursday night at the same ground, the losing team Adelaide managed to score 100 points from almost the same number of times inside 50.

        • Sad
        • Clap
        • Like
      • 0 replies
      Demonland
      Demonland

    • PODCAST: Essendon

      The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 14th April @ the all new time of 8:00pm. Join Binman, George & I as we dissect another Demons loss at Kardinia Park to the Cats in the Round 04. Your questions and comments are a huge part of our podcast so please post anything you want to ask or say below and we'll give you a shout out on the show. If you would like to leave us a voicemail please call 03 9016 3666 and don't worry no body answers so you don't have to talk to a human.

        • Thanks
      • 59 replies
      Demonland
      Demonland

    • PREGAME: Fremantle

      The Demons return home to the MCG in search of their first win for the 2025 Premiership season when they take on the Fremantle Dockers on Saturday afternoon. Who comes in and who goes out?

        • Thanks
        • Like
      • 203 replies
      Demonland
      Demonland

    • VOTES: Essendon

      Max Gawn leads the Demonland Player of the Year ahead of Clayton Oliver, Christian Petracca, Kade Chandler and Jake Bowey. Your votes please. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 & 1.

        • Thanks
      • 24 replies
      Demonland
      Demonland
    View All