Re: Misspelling in error message

Actually, I think all three sentences are grammatically correct, although the last sentence may be a bit inappropriate when only only one of the persons who are reading it are in a position to refer someone undergoing medical treatment, and the wording of the penultimate sentence may be stylistically poor.

Of course, if the word "patients" should be "patience," then the "you're" should be "your," and the comma should be removed. In doing so, sentence becomes one of expressing gratitude for your willingness to wait, as opposed to the generous act of referring clients who are receiving medical services from you.

I think it's deliberate, like "stumbit" in some another location within this site.

Information about American English usage here and here. Floating point issues? Please read this before posting. — emc

Comment on Re: Misspelling in error message

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Re^2: Misspelling in error message (analysis) by tye (Sage) on Mar 26, 2009 at 04:10 UTC
Thank you for the careful analysis. Of course, [one change implies two more changes]. In doing so, sentence becomes one of expressing gratitude for [...], as opposed to the generous act of referring clients who are receiving medical services from you. Without the three changes, the sentence is (the original) "We thank you, for you're patients." I don't know how that could be "gratitude for referring clients" which might be expressed as "We thank you for your patients" (requiring two not zero of the three changes, though I think `s/your/our/` would be an even closer match). The original message is doubly polite for both overtly expressing gratitude and also for going almost to extremes in stretching normal usage in order to avoid more traditional and derogatory terms used to refer to the, um, non-employees of, for example, an asylum. (Not to mention acknowledging that more than one such person might have been impacted by the unfortunate mishap.) But not all, um, non-employees always appreciate such effort at courtesy. - tye	[reply] [d/l]
Re^3: Misspelling in error message (analysis) by swampyankee (Parson) on Mar 27, 2009 at 20:47 UTC
My kids accuse me of being a grammar nazi, which I may be, but I'm not very good at it. Information about American English usage here and here. Floating point issues? Please read this before posting. — emc	[reply]