126 Comments - Uncle Sams brother - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:45 pm: alot. No further explanation required - The Other Anonymous - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:46 pm: perfidy - Saluki - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:46 pm: Oswego. - Big Joe - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:47 pm: Rauner. Can’t stand to even read his name any more. - Hoping for Rational Thought - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:47 pm: Rauner and Madigan - Chicago 20 - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:48 pm: Your absolutely wright Rich. - anon - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:48 pm: censorship i never understood why some people get so uptight about the way things are formatted on a blog - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:48 pm: How about ‘lemme” and “ya”. I know language evolves, but all evolution isn’t progress. - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:48 pm: loose (for lose) just kills me - thoughts - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:48 pm: I think it should be mandatory to drop the g off of anything ending in -ing - Anon - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:49 pm: WOW!! Your a byt tence. - Name Withheld - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:49 pm: Anonymous - Ole' Nelson - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:49 pm: “Job creators” when not used in a way describing the middle-class masses that demand and buy goods and services in the state of Illinois and country as a whole. - Scamp640 - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:49 pm: Anonymous - Just Sayin' - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:50 pm: fake news - Peter Torque - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:50 pm: “Dribble” when “drivel” is intended. - Uncle Sams brother - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:50 pm: remember folks at the place of homes, spelling wrong things isnt objective of the knight. we want grammar of badness to become ultimate winners - LibrarianRyan - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:50 pm: Here, lots. In life, working with kids, I used to ban “umm” and “like”. - Flip357 - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:50 pm: Failure to use the Oxford comma. - Henry Francis - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:51 pm: Madigan So trolls would be forced to explain the Governor’s conduct. - Casual observer - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:51 pm: Would of, should of, could of instead of would’ve, should’ve, could’ve. That’s my pet peeve. - Keyrock - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:51 pm: “Empathetic.” The word is “empathic.” And the words “impacted” and “impactful.” Only wisdom teeth should be impacted. Unfortunately, we do seem to have a shortage of empathy and wisdom in this state. - Pale Rider - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:52 pm: Their, there, they’re are not interchangeable. The misuse of the word “literally” figuratively drives me crazy. Piece out! - J IL - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:52 pm: I’d like to see capitulatin’ banned - The Old Professor - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:53 pm: Guess I’ll have to write out “factorial” now. As in, 13 factorial is equal to about 6.227 billion, which is a small number compared to the fiscal mess in the state. - 32nd Ward Roscoe Village - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:53 pm: Literally–maybe it is just in speech but I hear and read it all the time. “Less” used incorrectly, when you should be using “fewer” - McLean County - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:53 pm: There. As in ‘The kids played with there ball’. - Fax Machine - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:54 pm: “Rayner” - Clark - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:54 pm: Not really specific, but any hyper partisan talking point or comment which obviously doesn’t tell the full story of anything. In Illinois, no party is innocent. - Ned Nederlander - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:54 pm: Workmen’s Compensation. Looking at you Leader Durkin. Just say Workers’Compensation. I would prefer they stop using injured workers as a business development tool altogether, but I would settle for them not using outdated terminology. - Responsa - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:54 pm: “Right Wing” when use solely as a pejorative instead of as a descriptive policy counter to “Left Wing”. (And vice versa.) - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:56 pm: Annoying, yes. Ban worthy, nyet. - Robert the Bruce - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:56 pm: “most taxed” - A Jack - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:56 pm: Anything to do with blame. We need solutions, not whiny old blame comments. And blame comments are so totally unoriginal. It’s Madigan’s fault. It’s Rauner’s fault. It’s the teachers’ fault. It’s state employees’ fault. It’s the Union’s fault. It’s the GA’s fault. It’s the Supreme Court’s fault. Perhaps if we weren’t running around blaming each other, we could come together and develop a solution to the state’s problems. - Curl of the Burl - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:56 pm: Will you accept a Word document in lieu of a post? If forced to pick one I would go with troll. Troll is in the eye of the beholder. - Thoughts Matter - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:56 pm: Taxpayer or worker when used in the context implying that state workers aren’t taxpayers nor perform actual work. - Shemp - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:57 pm: “Governors own” - Chicago Cynic - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:57 pm: Love it. The grammar cop. How about “over” when it should be “more than?” And not understanding the difference between “less” and “fewer.” This is great and I’d put an exclamation point on it but don’t want the delay. - Leatherneck - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:57 pm: Cubs - McLean County - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:57 pm: And if I can add a phrase - I’d vote to ban ‘Now, more than ever’. Not just from this blog, but from the English language. - Ron Burgundy - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:58 pm: Anonymous - Rich Miller - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:58 pm: Leatherneck, your submission is under active review. lol - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 12:59 pm: “Rauner” and “Madigan” - it's just me - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:00 pm: I’m more bothered by the use of “mute” where the writer means “moot,” but I guess since the opposite bothers you more, mine is a moot point I’m also frequently amused by the use of “defiantly” where the writer probably meant”definitely,” but who knows? Maybe they just want to add some rebelliousness and oomph. My pet peeve of all time is the use of “which” where it should be “that,” but some of my fave folks make that blunder, so I’ve learned to let it go. - A Modest Proposal - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:01 pm: I think I’d rather see caps banned than exclamation points, but then again those using all caps will probably have an exclamation point or two… my suggestion…whatever you do - don’t ban “/snark” - Can - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:02 pm: “Hard-working families” Someone needs to stand up for the slackers and single people. And single slackers. - Last Bull Moose - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:03 pm: I hate the phrase “common sense solution”. It implies there is no need for further discussion. And the “common sense solutions” proposed are often nonsensical - Just Sayin' - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:03 pm: Snowflake - it's just me - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:04 pm: Almost forgot my real pet peeve (and I had to go back and lower-case that) is video shot vertical instead of horizontal. Do those people have vertical televisions at home? Or vertical computer monitors? - Casual observer - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:04 pm: I also don’t like “you know and I know”. Don’t tell me what I know as though it means we agree. - The Captain - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:05 pm: Press releases that include “For far too long …” at the start of any sentence/paragraph. I can’t really justify why, it’s just a cringeworthy pet peeve of mine. - AC - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:05 pm: “Democrat party” it distracts from whatever the commenter intended to say. Auto correct by default on both IOS and Android results in the governor being called “Rainer” but there’s a solution - automatically such comments until folks add Rauner to their dictionary. I’m not sure how, but the recent spam comments on the Live posts are annoying. - Shark Sandwich - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:06 pm: Personal pet peeve is any formulation of ‘drinking the kool aid’. No, supporting a tax hike to actually pay the bills of the state is not even close to analogous to a bunch of cult members being coerced into drinking poison and killing themselves. Likewise, showing support for Rauner’s various attempts at reform (work comp, term limits, etc) is also not even close to analogous to a bunch of cult members being coerced into drinking poison and killing themselves. It’s not clever anymore, it’s not cute, it’s a sick, mean cliche. - Exasperated - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:09 pm: Oswego Willy - Curl of the Burl - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:09 pm: Rich - your initial point reminded me of this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pdWAcK6Eh8 - Amalia - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:09 pm: County/ies. Used as “he won more counties than she did.” - Honeybear - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:09 pm: Snowflake - Hawkeye - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:09 pm: The phrase “the only solution is raising taxes” - UnReformed - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:13 pm: “Reform(s)” the most misused word. Falsely used as a synonym for retrograde policies and rip-offs. - Stumpy's bunker - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:14 pm: sham (replacing with “fake” is not an option. - Leadership - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:15 pm: Tax - Concerned Observer - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:18 pm: “1st Amendment”. No, you don’t have a right to say anything you want in the comments of someone else’s blog. Stop whining if your comment is moderated. Try harder, be better, or find the ‘X’ button in the upper right corner of your browser. - Ex Clam A shunned - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:18 pm: Can you ban ad hominem arguments? - Cook County Commoner - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:18 pm: I’d like to see the words “courage” or “courageous” banned when used to describe a political act. “Courage” is a quality found on a battlefield, among other situations, involving honorable men and women Instead of using “courage” or any form of it, I recommend words such as “calculating,” “devious” or “tactical” when referring to political acts. - sulla - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:19 pm: “Try to keep up.” “Your ignorance of [ ] is noted.” Both are smarmy, condescending and ultimately facile methods of avoiding actual substantive discourse on issues. - wordslinger - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:19 pm: “reforms” unless specifically detailed with their projected benefits. - illinoised - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:19 pm: Turnaround - DuPage Dave - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:21 pm: commonsense. It’s usually means “my idea is great because I say so”. - Hyperbolic Chamber - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:21 pm: “Massive”, not only from the blog, but all media outlets. - pcjocky - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:24 pm: “grow jobs”. The expression gives me hives. Along with everything else Rauner repeats over and over…. - Columbo - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:24 pm: Impact, Impactful, Impacted. All I can picture is an airbag opening every time I see those words. - Slugger O'Toole - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:25 pm: “Middle class families”. Anyone who refers to protecting them is typically directly involved with eliminating them. - Thomas Griffin - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:25 pm: Business friendly reforms Structural reforms AFSC-ammy These are just buzzwords for trickle down economics which never trickles down. Public sector workers choose to work for less pay than their private sector counterparts, because we need the legally guaranteed equality of opportunity and desire to serve the public. - Texas Red - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:26 pm: Governors Own - Cubs in '16 - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:27 pm: “It goes without saying” is always followed by the thing that supposedly goes without saying. - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:31 pm: sulla at 1:01, you are so right, much like lol when you can’t dispute the facts that have been presented. - Gooner - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:38 pm: “Loose” rather than “lose” bothers me way too much, to the extent that I would like to see both banned, just in case. On a more state-politics centered note, “democrat party.” When it comes to open threads, there is no reason ever to see “Tottenham” on this page. Instead, “that side that Arsenal has long dominated except for a bizarre 2016-2017 quirk which shall not be repeated” should suffice. - OldIllini - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:40 pm: Excessive use of periods, as in N.o. m.o.r.e. p.e.r.i.o.d.s. - Wensicia - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:44 pm: Any word ending in “ing” that drops the g. - Trillinois - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:48 pm: /s. People on here are rarely funny. - Smitty Irving - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:52 pm: “Free market” - as Adam Smith conceptualized it about the only thing to meet that definition is garage sales. Nearly every dollar I spend is with a monopoly, oligopoly, or monopolistic competition. - SAP - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:56 pm: “The legislator” instead of “the legislature”. - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:57 pm: your instead of you’re and to instead of too - Markus - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 1:58 pm: “Job creators” when referring to businesses paying less than the MIT living wage and providing no benefits. - John-on-the-spot - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 2:00 pm: Drury - illinikid - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 2:01 pm: Intentional/cheeky, misspellings of Rauner’s name - Annonin' - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 2:01 pm: Seems like you are becomin’ a grumpy, hateful old man. Let’s play a new game…what state/city is Gov. Happy JUnk in this afternoon (pix from Dannenberger Winery welcome) - Lucky Pierre - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 2:03 pm: Good try thou Incorrectly confused regularly with old English “where for art thou Romeo” by a certain prodigious commentator here Also, protecting middle class families from an extreme right wing agenda. Governor Rauner is a lot of things but an extreme right winger is not one of them. Can we also try to protect these same families from an extreme left wing agenda that is taxing them out of Illinois? Being reasonable requires more than just empty words. True compromise is required. That has been missing for the past two and half years in the House. One more from the Speaker asking for the Governor to be reasonable but not holding himself to the same standard. When you combine total compensation including pension and health care benefits, tier one public sector workers certainly make more than similar jobs in the private sector. - JS Mill - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 2:12 pm: taxpayer lucky pierre - Demoralized - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 2:15 pm: LOL. Lucky always there to go off on some tangent completely unrelated to the conversation at hand. To the post: I would also ban the improper use of there and their. I’m guilty of it sometimes. Drives me up the wall when I catch myself doing it. - Lucky Pierre - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 2:16 pm: Since you are JS you can call me LP. Your comment dismissing the concerns of “taxpayers” who bear the highest middle class tax burden in America is duly noted and sadly shared by the majority in the General Assembly and Chicago city council. - Bruce (no not him) - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 2:16 pm: ban grammar and punctuation. i just type like i talk - Curl of the Burl - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 2:17 pm: I would also say that drive-by comments and nationalized talking points should be verboten. - @misterjayem - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 2:18 pm: Anonymous. – MrJM - Harry O - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 2:20 pm: I second “perfidy”. - NorthsideNoMore - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 2:20 pm: I cringe when I hear someone say Irregardless. Nails on a chalk board - Demoralized - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 2:22 pm: Can we ban comments that have absolutely nothing to do with a post? Stay. On. Topic. Lucky. - Fan of Cap Fax - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 2:23 pm: Conversate, and the phrase, “at the end of the day”. Burns my behind. - ryan - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 2:26 pm: “Democrat” when used as an adjective. - Harry - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 2:37 pm: “disinterested” when it is used to mean “uninterested” - Jake From Elwood - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 2:48 pm: You’re blog, you’re rules. Your the best, Rich. - Dr X - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 2:53 pm: Libbies - Mac - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 3:10 pm: Were you educated by nuns? You’re insisting on good grammar and spelling?—-What a breath of fresh air–Thank you - NobodysAccountable - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 3:14 pm: To in place of too. - JoanP - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 3:40 pm: The misuse of “beg the question”. Drives me nuts. - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 3:55 pm: Anonymous - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 3:55 pm: Up yers - Demoralized - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 4:04 pm: Bankruptcy Can’t happen but that doesn’t stop some from constantly bringing up the subject. And while we’re at it why don’t we ban any references to Puerto Rico, Detroit, Greece or any other number of places people try to “compare” things to - ehh - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 4:05 pm: At the end of the day - Streator Curmudgeon - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 4:16 pm: gonna Except when used in a quotation or caption contest, it has no place in written English. - Rich Miller - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 4:16 pm: ===Were you educated by nuns?=== My mom was an English major and a school teacher and my father was an… let’s just say he was a bit on the strict side. - Way Way Down Here - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 4:24 pm: My favorite style guide is “Wilson Follett Modern American Usage”. Very easy to use. I have the 1966 edition and it’s actually fun to read. Yeah, I know, I’m a big nerd. - Papa2008 - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 4:55 pm: That there: As used in sentences like “She knew that there was gold in them there hills”. Drives me crazy. - JPC - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 5:00 pm: I think I just fell afoul (in another thread) of this new rule with what I would consider a perfectly reasonable use of the exclamation mark. Rules are rules. Anyway–I’d ban the phrase “tax hike” if I could–at least from reporting on the matter. Reason: it casts such a tax increase with an aura of illegitimacy. - A guy - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 5:25 pm: Victim. Please ban the word and anyone who is one; perceived or actual. Please praise me for the proper use of a semi-colon. I learned today that you do that. lol - A guy - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 6:07 pm: Now that I’ve reviewed other posts, can we please deep six the use of the phrase that concludes “adult in the room”. You could also ban “bite me”, but it would only affect one guy. The wrong guy. lol. - Winnin' - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 6:13 pm: Pithy - Lynn S. - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 6:15 pm: All sorts of autocorrect fails. “It’s” when the commenter means “it’s”. Your vs.you’re; their, they’re, there. And it’s ” y’all”, not “ya’ll”. - James - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 6:24 pm: I’d ban the phrase “I’m banning the use of exclamation points in comments.” Censorship, regardless of its purpose, has no place on the Internet. - James - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 6:26 pm: I understand the irony of such a statement, and would emphasize that the first sentence is tongue in cheek. - Anon - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 7:52 pm: Rich - justacitizen - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 8:44 pm: “Willy”-speaks for itself - Arthur Andersen - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 10:49 pm: “Seen” instead of “saw,” e.g. “I seen that on the internet.” - West Side the Best Side - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 10:58 pm: James - He who runs the blog owns the blog and can apply what he or she wants as the standards. Rich has set standards that keeps CapFax from becoming a toxic place like others are. If you think that’s censorship that’s fine, but I really prefer a place with rules that provide for civilized discussion, even on the internet. (I would ban ALL CAPS, which probably is censorship,but it does seem like being screamed at in print.) - Rabid - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 7:22 am: Shark sandwich, you should expand your mind, try reading the electic Kool-aid acid experiment - Soccermom - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 10:36 pm: Rein and reign being misused. It’s happened so often, I now have to stop and think about which is which. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.