Posted by
Andrews on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 1:36:37 PM
After all my rants about "whoa is me" ("
Short Grammar Nazi Post" and "
Woe Is Me Now for the Lord Has Added Grief to my Sorrow"), I am trying to avoid spelling and grammar complaints for a while. But today I saw the same error a few times, and just could not resist. If you are getting annoyed, something is "trying your patience", if you are a doctor and speaking to a prosecutor, they can be "trying your patients". You see "patience" is the ability to defer gratification or endure annoyances, while "patients" are people doctors see.
Now, why on Earth would anyone think the cliche "try your patience" uses the latter word? I realize people may not think through the meaning of cliches, may not realize the cliche means "test the limits of one's ability to endure difficulties", but when given the choice, why would you pick "patients" over "patience", clearly the latter has more to do with annoyance than the former. (Though my wife, the nurse, may say the opposite...)
Do people put absolutely no thought into their writing? I don't ask for great literature, just a moment's thought to avoid the worst offenses.