tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7849311.post6235339780816241240..comments2024-03-10T13:45:03.600-04:00Comments on katycrossen.com: Grammar Police: Volunteerism vs. VoluntarismKate The Greathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11338756563094735525noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7849311.post-66419608208307825352014-11-18T03:08:33.480-05:002014-11-18T03:08:33.480-05:00Hi Kate,
Thanks for saving yourself by self-corre...Hi Kate,<br /><br />Thanks for saving yourself by self-correcting your wrong "it's". As an English teacher and nerdy (okay, pedantic) grammarian, I was about to hit you on that one!<br /><br />More substantively, my reading of other articles and definitions on 'volunteerism' vs 'voluntarism' suggests that the former has come/is coming into common, ie accepted usage. And one of the things I have had to accept as an English teacher is that English changes; it modernises; and what may have been unacceptable ten or twenty years ago, can become accepted usage today. We do not have an 'Academie de l'Anglais' like the French have to police and decide what is correct (thank goodness - because it does not work for French either). So shouldn't we accept 'volunteerism' as a - perhaps slightly different - variant of 'voluntarism'?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06305910248346634921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7849311.post-38317371900844309872010-05-06T13:39:35.891-04:002010-05-06T13:39:35.891-04:00Ha, and there I go not paying attention and using ...Ha, and there I go not paying attention and using "it's" instead of "its." Sheesh.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15535535188893078714noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7849311.post-29579682907451071222010-05-06T13:38:48.195-04:002010-05-06T13:38:48.195-04:00I appreciate your article. I am also in an organiz...I appreciate your article. I am also in an organization with heavy emphasis on "voluntarism" and it always rubbed me the wrong way because I didn't know it's meaning. After some Internet research and reading your article I'm hoping I'll be less irked every time I see it... though I'm sure I'll be irritated when people swap in "volunteerism" into PowerPoints and handouts. :)Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15535535188893078714noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7849311.post-51225987800796575492010-05-06T13:38:19.689-04:002010-05-06T13:38:19.689-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15535535188893078714noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7849311.post-90518716794160546712010-04-14T22:38:09.884-04:002010-04-14T22:38:09.884-04:00My peeve is the express lane for "15 items or...My peeve is the express lane for "15 items or less." Argh! It's /fewer/ items.<br /><br />Fewer = not as many<br />Less = not as much<br /><br />You'd never say, "I have not as much items," so you should never say "I have less items," either.<br /><br />If you're interested, an author friend of mine has an entire page dedicated to <a href="http://www.dvorkin.com/essays/anglophonia/index.htm" rel="nofollow">linguistic pet peeves</a>.TGirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05296761462380289467noreply@blogger.com