<p>^Who says there can’t be form and substance?</p>
<p>Another pet peeve: Any sentence with the structure “just because…doesn’t mean”.</p>
<p>Form IS important. When I was in high school, any paper that had more than 5 grammatical mistakes earned a zero, no matter what the topic. Of course, it was not an American high school.</p>
<p>"Ce qui se con</p>
<p>« Ce qui se conçoit bien s’énonce clairement
Et les mots pour le dire vous viennent aisément »</p>
<p>PS This is a bit on an inside joke … so do not jump on me!</p>
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<p>Grammar Fascists? HAH!</p>
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<p>Indeed, the form is trite, and in logic you will discover many forms that are often utilized to signify premise transitions, reductions, and conclusions. They will be repetitive, but for the purposes of truth-functional and quantificational clarity, they serve their purpose.</p>
<p>However, many posters do not understand how such forms conduce to truth-functional and quantificational clarity, but instead use it for the purpose of appearing intellectual.</p>
<p>How foppish. They are worse than those who cannot utter a phrase without using the terms ‘like’ and ‘y’know’.</p>
<p>Xiggi:</p>
<p>No such luck; I just lifted the quote from another site.
This was my teacher’s mantra and her rejoinder whenever students complained they had trouble putting thought to paper… She would not have cared for Derrida, Foucault, and their ilk.</p>
<p>nspeds: I’d be fine with “the fact that […] doesn’t mean […]”. ;)</p>
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<p>I do not see how anyone could…</p>
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<p>Yes, there are many other acceptable forms. I also prefer the excision of contractions.</p>
<p>And I might throttle the next thousand people who begin every third sentence with “that being said”.</p>
<p>This bizarre sentence structure which seems to be unique to Kansas (at least I’ve never heard it anywhere else we’ve ever lived and almost everyone here seems to use it):</p>
<p>The car needs washed (instead of “The car needs washing” or “The car needs to be washed.”).</p>
<p>Berurah, that form is very common in Pittsburgh and neighboring Ohio.</p>
<p>mardad~</p>
<p>I was wondering about that…I am a native Texan (known for the “fixin’ to” or “fixin’ ready to” structure), and have lived in several different places in the U.S., but Kansas is the first place I’ve come across the structure I mentioned. It drives me NUTS!!! ~b.</p>
<p>Beruah – I grew up in Erie, PA – When I was in college people had to explain to me what was wrong with saying something like, “This room needs cleaned.” I really had no idea. Very common and accepted there. Now, after 20 some years away, it sounds odd to me, but I hear it every time I go home. I’m a little chagrined to learn that Erie doesn’t have exclusive rights to it, though. :(</p>
<p>Can we add the Nixonian era’s infamous “at this point in time” to our list of objectionable turns of phrase?</p>
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binx~</p>
<p><em>lol</em> That’s how I feel about finding that this structure is common outside of Kansas!!! I was kind of hoping that it was a contained phenomenon, and that Kansas could claim it right up next to infamous murderers (BTK, the Carr brothers), the “Summer of Mercy”, and the promotion of the teaching of ID in the public schools <em>lol</em>. ~berurah</p>