• Member Since 27th Mar, 2012
  • offline last seen Apr 9th, 2019

Jot Jiggety Jog


More Blog Posts14

  • 581 weeks
    On the Subject of "Pegasi"

    All right, everypony, gather 'round! Jot's going to run a little class here.

    Read More

    17 comments · 1,337 views
  • 581 weeks
    Damn it...

    Like I needed another story idea in my head.

    Well, okay, less a story idea and more of a title.

    Which is a pun.

    I'm sorry...

    "Lust for Sidekicks"

    12 comments · 591 views
  • 583 weeks
    The Model (Warning: Pony panties inside)

    Oh gosh, I am blushing so hard right now... You know ECMajor? That really awesome artist with the incredibly detailed lingerie? Nackte Hintern brought this to my attention:


    This was inspired in part by Ribbons and Lace, which is a good story if you're into reading shipping fics.

    Read More

    11 comments · 1,420 views
  • 596 weeks
    Completion

    And it's a twofer! I split the last chapter of R&L at DirigibleQuixote's suggestion, so you get... um... two chapter titles instead of one, but the same number of words.

    A big thanks to DirigibleQuixote and Steel Resolve for helping me polish this out. It wouldn't have been nearly so good without you guys.

    Read More

    8 comments · 694 views
  • 597 weeks
    Ribbons & Lace: Final Update

    As of last night, it is "finished". I'm addressing some of my pre-reader's comments now, but if everything goes well, I might be posting the ending tonight. :twilightsmile:

    Edit: Thirteen thousand mother-bucking words! :pinkiegasp:

    More Edit: Boy did I bust that deadline. Everything did not, as you might guess, "go well", and I'm revising a key scene. But it'll be better than it was before!

    14 comments · 559 views
Jan
27th
2013

On the Subject of "Pegasi" · 4:04pm Jan 27th, 2013

All right, everypony, gather 'round! Jot's going to run a little class here.

There's a mistake I see a lot in FiM fanfiction that I'd like to address. This is probably a futile gesture, since I suspect everyone who reads this knows what they're doing and the bulk of the errors come from our non-English-speaking friends, but... I dunno, maybe you can link people to it or something. If you're a grammar nazi like me, anyway.

Okay, so. Can you spot what's wrong with this sentence?
"I want every pegasi in the air five minutes ago! Move!"
That's right, "pegasi" is plural, and it doesn't fit here. I should have used "pegasus" instead. I see this a lot with people who I wouldn't think would ordinarily make mistakes like that, so I have to assume the -i ending is throwing people. It works just like any other plural, folks.

But you're talking about a group of pegasi, right? Shouldn't you use the plural form?
Well, sort of. Some phrases, like "every", turn it into a singular because you're applying the rest of the sentence to each individual member of the group. It would have been correct if I said,
"I want all pegasi in the air five minutes ago! Move!"
Other phrases pick out some specific member, like "the last". For example,
The last pegasus to leave turned out the lights.

You do have to be careful with some phrases, though, because they can go either way depending on how you use them. For example, compare:
The first pegasi through the classroom door stopped in shock.
to
The first pegasus through the classroom door stopped in shock.
Both can be correct, depending on whether you're talking about the first group of pegasi to enter the room, or only the very first student. If you're not sure, just test it with another plural word -- say, "ponies" -- in place of "pegasi". To go back to my first example,
"I want every ponies in the air five minutes ago! Move!"
Obviously wrong, right? Right.

Well, that's pretty much all I have to say on that subject. Class dismissed. Now go do it right, or next time I'll tell you why you're wrong about the Oxford comma.

Edit: Oh yeah, and here's one I forgot: if you're using "pegasus" as a modifier to another noun, it's always singular and you pluralize the "main" noun as necessary.
Celestia's pegasus guards bowed.
Again, it would be clearly wrong to say, Celestia's unicorns guards bowed, so "pegasi" would be wrong as well.

Report Jot Jiggety Jog · 1,337 views ·
Comments ( 17 )
Spacecowboy
Moderator

:rainbowlaugh:
Preaching to the choir indeed!

PresentPerfect
Author Interviewer

It doesn't matter anyway because the proper plural is pegasudes. :V

This is probably a futile gesture, since I suspect everyone who reads this knows what they're doing

This is likely true.

and the bulk of the errors come from our non-English-speaking friends.

And this is patently untrue. Native English speakers, especially the ones to be encountered on the internet, are horribly sloppy. Granted, your followers are likely not them, but it doesn't change the fact on average the knowledge of proper grammar and spelling amongst native users of English is abysmal. Actually, one of the best ways to get tips on proper English is to ask a well-educated non-native speaker, because the familiarity with the actual rules of the language is fantastically better.

And while we're on the subject of supposedly native supposedly English speakers, America, please stop making up new corrupted words for things that already have perfectly servicable words for them. It's "alternative version", not "alternate version", for Celestia's sake. "Alternate" is a verb, or when used as an adjective, limited to the very specific meaning of "occuring in an alternating pattern". The word you're looking for is "alternative", just as it's "aluminium", not "aluminum", just like every other Latinate element name. The single exception of "platinum" is there because it's derived from Spanish (platina) and not directly from Latin.

757834
"-udes" is not a proper greek plural. Now, if the original word was "pegasis", the plural would be "pegasides". But it's not. :twilightsmile:

757860
It is if Pegasus isn't a proper noun. Which it isn't in Equestria.

758402
We'll stop saying "aluminum" when you stop saying "leftenant".
Also: molybdenum, lanthanum, tantalum. And seeing as "aluminum" is derived from "alumina", I'm going to use your own special pleading for "platinum" right back. And the discoverer named it aluminum, anyway.

758674

See, no, that's not how it works. You can't start pronouncing a word wrong, and then say "we'll stop making that other mistake when you start making this one". Same with Edinburgh, for that matter.

Comment posted by Jot Jiggety Jog deleted Jan 28th, 2013

757928
I just thought as long as we were being grammar nazis...

PresentPerfect
Author Interviewer

758674
I'm just quoting what I've read, but that factoid might explain how they came to that conclusion...

759872
Yeah, I don't know of any pluralization that would result in "pegasudes". I did find some references to a class of nymphs called pegasides who inhabited wells and springs, so named because Pegasus could cause springs to well up by stomping the ground with his hoof.

And now I've said "pegasus" so many times the word has lost all meaning.

"I want every pegasi in the air five minutes ago! Move!"

Okay, you are right about the "pegasi" part -- it should be singular. But there's another thing that's wrong:
Verb tense.

The sentence should either be:
"I wanted every pegasus in the air five minutes ago! Move!"
OR
"I want every pegasus in the air in five minutes! Move!"


Except for that, I Approve of this blog.

802480
"I want X five minutes ago" is a figure of speech that means "right now". As in, "I didn't even give the order yet and you're already late."

The origin of the term is Herakles' winged horse Pegasos, capitalized since it's one of a kind and that was his name; there originally was no plural. Transformed into a general greek noun pegasos, the plural would be pegasoi. While still technically incorrect, since the show itself has established "pegasi" at this point, based of course on the Latin adaptation of Pegasos - pegasus, which also uses the o-declination and therefore the plural -i, I would be kind of impressed if I stumbled across "pegasoi" in a story. Though I guess if it was used alongside the regular "pegasus", I would have to deduct points for inconsistency.

There was absolutely no point to writing this. I really just stumbled in here from reading "Ribbons and Lace".

Why can't I thumb-up blog posts like this? I cringe every time I see this error in the wild. This blog post needs a feature on EqD and DHN.

I've said this so many times I oughta have it on speed-dial (er, copied to the clipboard? Or something...) - why the buck can't I favorite blog posts? I'm srsly tempted to copy important points with links to source from all my favorite posts into one big sticky post on mine, just so I have it. Or hell, put it in a "story" to go in my faves (not that it would be approved, but whatevs).

Point is, this is most excellent. Thank you, dear sir/ma'am/thingy, for sharing, and may your words of wisdom be heard 'round the... er... site. (Dear god please...)

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