I {heart} word nerds
Mar. 24th, 2005 02:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarahmichiganOn the plus side, I love that I work with a bunch of word nerds. Last week, a few of us got into a big debate about whether the word "none" is singular or plural. Would you say, "None of the customers were recognized as regulars?" or "None of the customers was recognized as a regular?" *
Even many of my friends who don't have English backgrounds have expansive vocabularies, and I love not having to dumb down the words I choose so as not to make someone feel inferior (unlike in high school when I was accused of using big words because I was trying to show off). I recently used "importune" in conversation and then kind of smirked at myself. Word nerd, indeed.
(yeah, so I'm chatty today. It's slooooooooow at work.)
*Most guides to grammar and style say either is acceptable. You can consider "none" to be short for "not one" or for "not any."
Even many of my friends who don't have English backgrounds have expansive vocabularies, and I love not having to dumb down the words I choose so as not to make someone feel inferior (unlike in high school when I was accused of using big words because I was trying to show off). I recently used "importune" in conversation and then kind of smirked at myself. Word nerd, indeed.
(yeah, so I'm chatty today. It's slooooooooow at work.)
*Most guides to grammar and style say either is acceptable. You can consider "none" to be short for "not one" or for "not any."
