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Parking pro tip: Always set your emergency brake when you decide to drive over to Jamaica Pond for a walk
By adamg on Fri, 04/07/2023 - 9:58am
Jamaica Plain News reports somebody who apparently went for a walk around the pond forgot to do that and so his or her car rolled onto the Jamaicaway, where, no, it didn't cause a 17-car pileup, but did just sit there for 20 minutes until some passing garbagemen and a state trooper pushed it out of the way.
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I'm confused
Did they also not put it in park?
Park?
They were at the park.
If they were driving a manual, there is no "park" to put it into. Best to not put it in second or neutral in case the PARKing break fails.
in case the PARKing break
Gimme a brake. It won’t fail unless the mechanic who worked on it is a looser.
Manual Transmission?
Or failure to put it into/stay in park?
Having used a manual much of my driving years I still use the parking break out of habit. Probably a good thing.
Their
Use “their car” when referring to someone of unknown gender. The construction “his or her” is outdated and suggests that people of other genders don’t exist or matter. Trans/nonbinary folks notice when someone doesn’t use inclusive language.
It’s a battle…
…. My desire to use current, inclusive language on one side, and longtime habit, enforced by the stern ghost of my 3rd grade teacher on the other… sometimes the ghost of Mrs. K wins. I can still hear her correcting “did everyone get their lunch” by asking whether the “one” in “everyone” was singular or plural.
Mrs. K
Had a pet peeve, it seems. Sadly, it was worthless.
Her job…
Her job was to teach us standard written English. Her correction was completely in line with Fowler, the MLA, the Times style manual, etc.
Language is a living thing. “Their” and “they” as singular is becoming part of mainstream use now, but it wasn’t back then.
Jane Austen....
...used singular "they" on occasion. So, it's not like it's a new thing.
Oh, it's been around for time out of mind
but it wasn't "standard", so it wasn't taught in schools, hence this thread.
It's not necessarily intentional
Lots of people have ingrained habits from *decades* of "his or hers" being the standard. You do something for half a century, it can not only be hard to change, it can be hard to even notice you're doing something.
If someone does it intentionally, though, I have a lot more of a beef with them.