Minor things that bother you

[tmoore952]

This may not help you at all. But I can never remember the "I before E, except after C, like bowling and brontosaurus...oh wait, neither one has an E."

That rule has so many exceptions that you might as well not try to remember it, and just concentrate on learning each word.

For many of the more familiar words, I have gotten to a point where I know if it's right or wrong by the way it looks. "Receive" is one of those words.

[roadman65]

I'm surprised that NE2 isn't joining this discussion being he is an advocate for spelling.  He's put the Fear of God into all of us who misspelled in the past with his preaching of proper grammar in writing, so I would figure he would love to put his input to this.

[1995hoo]

I find it mildly amusing that the Charlie Brown video is about spelling, yet it contains two spelling errors.

[mgk920]

This may not help you at all. But I can never remember the "I before E, except after C, like bowling and brontosaurus...oh wait, neither one has an E."

That rule has so many exceptions that you might as well not try to remember it, and just concentrate on learning each word.

For many of the more familiar words, I have gotten to a point where I know if it's right or wrong by the way it looks. "Receive" is one of those words.

At least English does not use gender in its grammar (all nouns are 'neuter'), unlike many other European languages.  in many Romance languages (ie,French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish) the gender of a noun is usually strongly hinted at by the spelling and/or pronunciation of the word.  In German (three genders, masculine, feminine and neuter), there is no such hinting and each one must be learned individually.


Mike

[Big John]

^^ With the German, the only thing consistent is that nouns concerning time are male.  Even people's genders do not fit it as Fraulein (Miss) or Mädchen (girl) have the neutral gender assigned to them.

[kphoger]

I'm surprised that NE2 isn't joining this discussion

I'm not.  He's posted a total of three times since November, and one of them was this.

[SSOWorld]

Would you like a copy of your receipt?

[Rothman]

Would you like a copy of your receipt?

Fine.  No copy for you.

[GaryV]

Would you like a copy of your receipt?

Why do they always ask if you want a "copy" of a receipt? You should be giving me the original receipt when I pay. That's what it is - acknowledgement that I paid. Whatever the seller keeps for their records is not a receipt.

[Rothman]

Would you like a copy of your receipt?

Why do they always ask if you want a "copy" of a receipt? You should be giving me the original receipt when I pay. That's what it is - acknowledgement that I paid. Whatever the seller keeps for their records is not a receipt.

Ok.  No copy for you, either.

[formulanone]

Would you like a copy of your receipt?

Why do they always ask if you want a "copy" of a receipt? You should be giving me the original receipt when I pay. That's what it is - acknowledgement that I paid. Whatever the seller keeps for their records is not a receipt.

Businesses keep a record of their transactions...if they did not offer a copy of the transaction, they wouldn't be a legitimate business for long.

[jeffandnicole]

Would you like a copy of your receipt?

Why do they always ask if you want a "copy" of a receipt? You should be giving me the original receipt when I pay. That's what it is - acknowledgement that I paid. Whatever the seller keeps for their records is not a receipt.

Ok.  No copy for you, either.

Copy that. Over and out.

[webny99]

Would you like a copy of your receipt?

Why do they always ask if you want a "copy" of a receipt? You should be giving me the original receipt when I pay. That's what it is - acknowledgement that I paid. Whatever the seller keeps for their records is not a receipt.

Businesses keep a record of their transactions...if they did not offer a copy of the transaction, they wouldn't be a legitimate business for long.

Exactly, nor would the customer be, if they're a business customer and did not obtain a receipt of the transaction.

[bm7]

Businesses that make you sign the receipt.

For instance, at one Domino's location they would always insist I sign whenever I picked up an order, even though it had already been paid for online. One time I decided to just sign with an X and the employee got upset with me for not writing an actual signature. Meanwhile, the location I go to now has never once asked me to sign.

[kphoger]

"a whole nother"

[Rothman]

Your mom's a nother.

[mgk920]

If they ask a simple either/or question (ie, "Paper or plastic?"), I'll just reply "Yes".  I know, that's mean.

Mike

[kphoger]

Would you like a copy of your receipt?

Why do they always ask if you want a "copy" of a receipt? You should be giving me the original receipt when I pay. That's what it is - acknowledgement that I paid. Whatever the seller keeps for their records is not a receipt.

Businesses keep a record of their transactions...if they did not offer a copy of the transaction, they wouldn't be a legitimate business for long.

Then either the slip of paper that comes out of the gas pump isn't actually a receipt (but merely a copy of the receipt), or else the correct response to the question is this:

— Would you like a copy of your receipt?
— No, thank you, just the original will suffice.

... also ... is there a difference between "the receipt" and "your receipt"?

[wanderer2575]

... also ... is there a difference between "the receipt" and "your receipt"?

Not any more than the difference between "How are you feeling today?" and "How are we feeling today?"

[JayhawkCO]

... also ... is there a difference between "the receipt" and "your receipt"?

Not any more than the difference between "How are you feeling today?" and "How are we feeling today?"

Eh, I'd argue there is. A/the/your receipt is interchangeable. "How are we feeling today?" seems inappropriate if the semantically correct response would be "Great. How are we?".

[kphoger]

Eh, I'd argue there is. A/the/your receipt is interchangeable. "How are we feeling today?" seems inappropriate if the semantically correct response would be "Great. How are we?".

My wife operates a home daycare.  Sometimes, when a parent comes to pick a kid up, I'll catch my wife saying something like "We had a MASSIVE poop this morning."

[webny99]

Eh, I'd argue there is. A/the/your receipt is interchangeable. "How are we feeling today?" seems inappropriate if the semantically correct response would be "Great. How are we?".

My wife operates a home daycare.  Sometimes, when a parent comes to pick a kid up, I'll catch my wife saying something like "We had a MASSIVE poop this morning."

I guess when it's impossible to avoid a negative connotation, including oneself does help make the tone a little less accusatory. 

[Scott5114]

About six months ago my dad gave me a desk. It's a big, solid, sturdy, 1970s-era US government desk. It has a very dense, heavy desktop much like a countertop, with steel drawers. It was a bitch and a half to drag across two time zones.

...And it doesn't fit in my apartment so I'm going to have to get rid of it.

Oh, that's too bad.  Measure twice, haul once.

Unfortunately, that wasn't much of an option, since due to the particulars of the move we were basically picking a place out through pictures on the Internet and we didn't actually set foot in the apartment until the truck was there ready to be unloaded. (Obviously not the smartest plan, but we didn't really have the luxury of being able to come out and inspect and measure things before packing the truck.)

A/the/your receipt is interchangeable.

Depends on the receipt. At the first casino I worked at we had triplicate paperwork on carbon paper where accounting was very particular about the white copy going to the cashier, the yellow going to accounting, and the pink going to the customer, and God help you if you mixed up which color went to who.

Obviously, for computer-generated receipts where you can print thousands of copies if you want, they're interchangeable, though.

Businesses that make you sign the receipt.

For instance, at one Domino's location they would always insist I sign whenever I picked up an order, even though it had already been paid for online. One time I decided to just sign with an X and the employee got upset with me for not writing an actual signature. Meanwhile, the location I go to now has never once asked me to sign.

A customer who signs with an X when that is not their usual signature on file can theoretically dispute the charge with the credit card company and get it reversed by saying "that's not my signature". Obviously, this isn't likely to happen with a small potatoes purchase like a pizza, but I rolled my eyes at people who were too lazy to provide a proper signature on a $2,000 casino transaction and would put more effort into not signing than signing would be.

This is one of the reasons I'm glad chip/tap and pin is catching on in the US, since people get unbelievably stupid about the zero effort that signing their name takes. Nobody's asking you to be Francis Spinner; just make it match what's on your driver license.

[JayhawkCO]

A/the/your receipt is interchangeable.

Depends on the receipt. At the first casino I worked at we had triplicate paperwork on carbon paper where accounting was very particular about the white copy going to the cashier, the yellow going to accounting, and the pink going to the customer, and God help you if you mixed up which color went to who.

Obviously, for computer-generated receipts where you can print thousands of copies if you want, they're interchangeable, though.

Yeah, there's always a time where there's an exception.

But this is the dumbest two person interaction I could have ever heard:

Person A: "How are we today?"
Person B: "We're great thanks. How are we?"
Person A: "We're great too."

[kphoger]

But this is the dumbest two person interaction I could have ever heard:

Person A: "How are we today?"
Person B: "We're great thanks. How are we?"
Person A: "We're great too."

— How are we today?
— You go first.