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Comment on ‘FuckLAPD.com’ Lets Anyone Use Facial Recognition to Instantly Identify Cops

Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

Upvoted and agreed, not least because I just learned that “all of the sudden,” while at present a nonstandard variant of “all of a sudden,” has valid history.

And of course it doesn’t matter in this casual context!

But in formal writing, in this era, using “a” will avoid distracting the reader from your main point.

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samus12345@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
“All of the sudden” is only valid because it’s so commonly (incorrectly) used. Much as it annoys me, that’s just how language works.

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- Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  “of the sudden” (1570) actually predates “of a sudden” (Shakespeare) according to my OED as squinted at through the nifty magnifying glass. But it’s been considered obsolete for a long time despite having all of a sudden experienced a resurgence.
  
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  - TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Can’t we just embrace adverbification and agree to write “suddenly”?
    
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    MeThisGuy@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    all of the suddenly?
    
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    Kellenved@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    No! For made up reasons I don’t understand adverbs are verboten!
    
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    samus12345@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    If “all of the sudden” becomes standard I will definitely do this.
    
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    Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Nothing wrong with “suddenly.” It’s just that sometimes you want to say “all of a sudden.” The extra time helps build the suspense. “Suddenly” is more sudden in that it just jumps in there. With “all of a sudden,” the subject isn’t ready but the listeners are.
    
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  - samus12345@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    People aren’t saying it because they’re language scholars, it’s because they misheard the proper modern usage. So it goes for many language shifts.
    
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- macaw_dean_settle@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Only if you allow the ignorant to remain uncorrected.
  
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- Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Erin: “All of the sudden, I was awake.”
  
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Bloomcole@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
Non-Anglo here.
Totally not distracted bcs my brain autocorrected it to “all of a sudden” without even noticing.
A bit like “It deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are”
Also never seen/heard the “the” variant. (Well consciously that is).

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- macaw_dean_settle@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Does not have to be Before Christ.
  
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