Equestrian Court of Grammatical Peeves

[RMJacobs]

The one on this forum that makes me cringe is tenants when tenets is the proper word. I try to be charitable and blame it on autocorrect.

I was trying to text my daughter about a medical condition I have, and my phone just would not allow me to use the proper word for an internal body part. I finally beat the phone into submission after four tries.

Rebecca

[furlong47]

Horse chair may just be the result of somebody who knows nothing about it. They inherited the saddle or they buy storage units to resell and it was in there. I’ve seen some ads with pretty hilarious descriptions of girths, stirrups, etc by people who just don’t have a clue.

[S1969]

@furlong47

Horse chair may just be the result of somebody who knows nothing about it. They inherited the saddle or they buy storage units to resell and it was in there.

And also must be someone who has never read a book. I get not knowing the terms for stirrups or girth, but saddle is not an uncommon word for anyone that went to school.

[hoopoe]

or English as a second language where they don’t know the English word and literal translation from their language yields Horse Chair

[jvanrens]

@S1969

@furlong47

Horse chair may just be the result of somebody who knows nothing about it. They inherited the saddle or they buy storage units to resell and it was in there.

And also must be someone who has never read a book. I get not knowing the terms for stirrups or girth, but saddle is not an uncommon word for anyone that went to school.

I another discussion here, there was a comment about an adult not knowing chickens were birds, so I can definitely understand people who are clueless about horses not knowing what a saddle is called.

[furlong47]

@S1969

And also must be someone who has never read a book. I get not knowing the terms for stirrups or girth, but saddle is not an uncommon word for anyone that went to school.

I’ve met an awful lot of people in this world with a surprising lack of vocabulary and no excuse for it. (English is not their second language, they weren’t raised in some insular community, they somehow graduated from high school, etc.)

[S1969]

I might argue that the person is more likely to be functionally illiterate. A lot of adults are functionally illiterate but they can hide it very well. Within their normal world, they do have a reasonable, if not extensive vocabulary. But they don’t necessarily know how to read/write well at all, and maybe don’t have to demonstrate that lack of knowledge often.

A friend of mine has published a book series of beginner readers for adults because many adults want to learn to read but are mortified by having to read children’s books.

[S1969]

@jvanrens

I another discussion here, there was a comment about an adult not knowing chickens were birds, so I can definitely understand people who are clueless about horses not knowing what a saddle is called.

That was also me; I won’t go so far as to argue that the person in question was illiterate, but I have a hard time believing an educated adult doesn’t know that a chicken is a bird. Whether they understood that chicken on the plate is the same as chicken in a barnyard…well maybe.

[Rackonteur]

One I see a lot (including here): LOOSE when LOSE is meant. To loose the horses may lead to losing the horses but it’s still not the same thing.

And my old enemy: LAY for LIE. Where do people get this “I’m going to lay down” and “I laid down” when they’not talking about laying down their burdens? Sigh.

PROLLY for PROBABLY. Why are American young people suddenly posting in baby talk? CRAY-CRAY? Crazy for anyone over the age of 4.

[Rackonteur]

Well done!
If a website, or my phone, refuses to accept a word I want to post, I sometimes spell the word with spaces between the letters. Very useful for websites that asterisk-out such words as t i t s (the birds!),

[Rackonteur]

If it was set in a restaurant, I imagine the customer would be horrified, the waiter would be horrified and mortified, and the chef would be mortified and horrified.
The grasshopper might be mortified, in the older sense in which Mark Twain used it in Tom Sawyer (when I learned the word after I asked my dad what it meant).

[Rackonteur]

@Alterration

And add me to the list of people who become incredibly aggravated when people go on very confidently about things they don’t actually know in the horse world. It’s on my list of New Year’s Resolutions to not let it bother me so much.

Let me know if it works! I have 2 neighbors I used to try to talk horses with but I got too irritated to just sit and listen any longer.

[Rackonteur]

Actually before that it meant gangrenous.

mortified | Etymology, origin and meaning of mortified by etymonline

[Scribbler]

@Rackonteur

Actually before that it meant gangrenous.

https://www.etymonline.com/word/Mortified?ref=etymonline_crossreference

Oh yes, right! In 19th century novels they say “unfortunately mortification set in” when a character dies of gangrene or blood poisoning (a constant risk before antibiotics).

[anon40672407]

@S1969

I might argue that the person is more likely to be functionally illiterate.

That’s very likely. We’ve all seen ads for “sattles”, right?

[Rackonteur]

@Janet

Your horse may not be a Paint with a capital “P” but she is is definitely a “paint” with a small “p”. ESPECIALLY if she is an eventer. The term “pinto” is traditionally reserved for Western horses (because it comes from Spanish).

@equinelibrium

I’ve never heard of using lowercase “p” paint to describe a pinto but I know local dialects differ greatly. I guess it doesn’t bother me as much as I claimed/thought it did. You can’t tell if someone is calling her a capital “P” Paint or a lowercase “p” paint when talking.

I don’t understand why Americans don’t just follow the English practice of calling them piebalds and skewbalds. Piebald – white and black. Skewbald – white and any color other than black.
I also don’t understand why in America a “spotted” horse means a pinto/paint/piebald or skewbald when elsewhere it means a horse with spots (polka dots, e.g., an Appaloosa).

[Larksmom]

maybe this belongs on the movie thread, but when I see horses in movies, I almost always grimace, because they are almost always wrong about most everything. Case in point:International Velvet. SHOULD be a great movie, heck a young Anthony Hopkins, a movie about EVENTING…What could go wrong? Well, when Sara is doing her dressage test, ‘Only three mistakes so far!’ They don’t show her actually jumping anything and when they do, jump is very small. But she DID learn to ride and it is still a guilty pleasure. The only horse movies without mistakes at all in my opinion are the Black Stallion, (on Sunday evening on TCM,) and Man from Snowy River. And even Snowy River has a shot of a driver with the ‘wild horses.’

[Janet]

@Rackonteur

I don’t understand why Americans don’t just follow the English practice of calling them piebalds and skewbalds. Piebald – white and black. Skewbald – white and any color other than black.
I also don’t understand why in America a “spotted” horse means a pinto/paint/piebald or skewbald when elsewhere it means a horse with spots (polka dots, e.g., an Appaloosa).

“Two peoples separated by a common language.” The same reason Americans call the legume hay “alfalfa” instead of “lucerne”

[Salty]

I am truly exasperated by all the rain though

[Mondo]

@Alterration

And add me to the list of people who become incredibly aggravated when people go on very confidently about things they don’t actually know in the horse world. It’s on my list of New Year’s Resolutions to not let it bother me so much.

I feel you there. OMG. I got so annoyed at someone’s totally clueless comment on my FB post. I mentioned wearing spurs, and the comment was, “Spurs?!!” This from a 100% non-equestrian. I know the person well enough to know that what they meant was, “Surely you don’t use such a cruel torture device?!?” It made me way too angry, so instead of replying and/or trying to educate them on the proper use of spurs, I just deleted their comment. LOL