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See what a missing letter can do to a sign!
I don’t need to tell you where I got this sign, right?
My “funny signs” instinct got the better of me, so I read the other signs at the “eloping” center and noticed this most-often-but-ungrammatical use of the word layout.
Notice what’s wrong with the word? The correct term is laying out, although I have to concede that the term layouting is now popularly used, and that in due time it will find its way in the English dictionary.
On a related note, you cannot say that a page has been layouted, because the correct term is laid out; in the same way that a person who gets fired is not layoffed but laid off.
That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!
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2 responses to “Funny signs at an `eloping’ center”
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i’m not an english teacher, but i think layouting is okay when used as a noun, but not as a verb. “i am layouting” doesnt sound right to me.
Reply: Whether used as a noun or a verb, the word still doesn’t sound right to me, though I have to admit that, in the future, it will be deemed grammatically correct due to its wide usage, very much like “prioritizing.”
so how should we call a class that teaches students to lay out pages? ;)
Reply: You’re aware that the course title of Journalism 122 you took at UP CMC is “Publication Design and Layout.” The latter could have a dash (e.g., “lay-out”) though my personal preference is without one. If you want to give a seminar titled “Designing and Laying Out Publications,” I think there’s nothing wrong with that. Hope this helps.