| Hello Obligatory Inaugural Post |
[22 Jul 2008|10:56pm] |
No reason for posting this other than I have to. My name is Nikk, the only time you will ever see me use any variation of noobspeak is in my username, and I have problems with run-on sentences. I am also a bit of a lurker (I hope I don't get banned for that).
Thank you and good day/ night/ what-ever-else-your-timezone-is.
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| Observe the eggcorn in its natural habitat |
[22 Jul 2008|11:05am] |
Seen on Things Younger than John McCain: "[This country] is actually a hare’s breath away from electing an African-American president."
I actually find this one delightful. I'm picturing Elmer Fudd falling into a dark hole and striking a match to reveal Bugs Bunny standing just over his shoulder, breathing menacingly.
Explanation of eggcorns and many more examples available here.
Cross posted to ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) grammargasm.
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| Argh. |
[19 Jul 2008|05:13pm] |
I keep seeing this ad pop up in my Gmail (url redacted):
Pirate Girl Booty - Girl's are Pirates Too! Lot's of Booty for Gal's, T's+Jewelry
*headpalm*
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| On the night of Keith Olbermann's triumphant return... |
[16 Jul 2008|11:17pm] |
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music |
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rain outside my window...yet again... |
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Olbermann: "Li-barry."
Not once, but twice -- during the Bushed segment while discussing the Bush Presidential Library that is to be built once our esteemed leader leaves us and the rest of the world alone office.
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[10 Jul 2008|06:12pm] |
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My friend asked me which of these two sentences is correct:
You keep me sedate.
or
You keep me sedated.
I said it's the latter, but when he asked me why the former was wrong, the only reason i could come up was that it just sounded wrong.
Can someone please help me explain (what grammatical rules apply, etc.)? That, or correct me if I'm mistaken.
Thanks!
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| Good job, sign guys. |
[08 Jul 2008|03:23pm] |
One side of the sign:
The other side of the sign:
0-for-2!
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| Collective Nouns questions |
[07 Jul 2008|01:52pm] |
Poll #1219303 Collective nouns.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: AllWhich sounds best? Which sounds best? Which sounds best? Which sounds best?
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[04 Jul 2008|01:55pm] |
I'm currently editing a book that is to be published by my university soon, and something has been troubling me. My professor seems to think that when quotations are used, the period should be kept within the quotation marks:
Labov (1972) has referred to this phenomenon as "the observer's paradox."
instead of
Labov (1972) has referred to this phenomenon as "the observer's paradox".
Is this right? I'm extremely frustrated because I've always learnt that the period should be after the quotation mark, but my professor claims that it is the convention to put it within quotation marks.
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| Should I trust these editors? |
[30 Jun 2008|06:49pm] |
All submissions must be previously unpublished. We do accept stimulus submissions, but please notify us as soon as possible if your work will be used elsewhere.
Maybe they're just waiting for extra checks from the IRS.
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| The obligatory inaugural post. |
[28 Jun 2008|02:35am] |
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*wave* The community rules said that I needed to make an inaugural post, so here it is. (Actually, I've posted an introduction here before, but the account that I was posting under has since been deleted.)
I'm ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) recreated, and I have a host of grammar pet peeves, including misused "apostrophe's," "misused" quotation marks, the word "cannot" written as "can not," the letter "u" used for the word "you," and "literally" meant figuratively. "Can not" is my current biggest bugbear, unfortunately.
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| Power of prepositions |
[27 Jun 2008|02:56pm] |
A Yahoo headline reads, “Woman makes plane home.”
How is that news? Women fly home every day. It turns out that the woman is converting an airplane into a home.
Ah! Sometimes prepositions are vital in headlines.
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[26 Jun 2008|09:44am] |
Apparently the New York Times doesn't know the difference between a blog and a message board.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/nyregion/26bayridge.html?th&emc=th
Most neighborhoods in Brooklyn have at least one blog — and in some places, there seems to be one in every house, every bedroom — but not many read like BayRidgeTalk.com, where the subjects over the last year or two veered away from apartment sales and plumbing tips and block parties and sounded more like rat-a-tat police reports.
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[17 Jun 2008|03:36pm] |
I found this on: http://grammarsnobs.com, under "Language tip of the day".
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"You can use "that" in reference to people.
A lot of people think "that" is for things, "the car that I was driving," and that you can only use "who" or "whom" for people, "the man who called you." Not true. The major style guides all allow "that" for people, "the man that called you," but say that "who" is often the better choice, anyway. "
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Really? The English teacher (who is now on a national committee that puts together English text books for school students) at my school told us that "that" is for things and "who" is for people.
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| A copy editor would work wonders here. |
[16 Jun 2008|11:00am] |
From The Swamp:
Sen. Barack Obama may be virtually tied with Sen. Barack Obama in Gallup's national tracking poll which seeks to gauge which candidate voters support.
Yes . . . I would expect he would be.
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[13 Jun 2008|11:12pm] |
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Ah, parallelism and irony, two of my favorite things. As seen in a recent advertisement:
The Martinsville Bulletin...seeks a copy editor experienced in news desk work, knowledge of Baseview, Quark Express and a flair for page layout and design.
On a whim I corrected it in my cover letter and then received a call from the editor less than an hour later. Fingers and tossed crossed for the position!
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| Living in the 2nd dumbest city in the country makes me sad. |
[13 Jun 2008|09:32am] |
There's a construction site about a mile from my house with a big banner that says:
"Coming Soon - St. Joseph's Future Sanctuary"
As cool as I think a "future sanctuary" would be, with the silver jumpsuits, hover cars, and time travel, I doubt that's what they really mean.
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| too good not to share. |
[13 Jun 2008|09:59am] |
From a listserv which shall remain anonymous to protect the annoying:
"Hey I may be new to the group but I find the joke offensive and racist. I DID NOT JOIN THIS GROUP FOR PERSONAL POLITICAL VIEWS. NOR DID I JOIN FOR OBESITIES LANGUAGE" [...]
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[12 Jun 2008|08:43pm] |
From the blurb on the back of a book I'm reading:
Only a writer with the prodigal narrative gifts of Martin Amis could give us a novel that not only rethinks history but drastically revises our notion of time itself.
His narrative gifts can't keep to a budget? Or did they leave home, fall on hard times, and eventually return to a forgiving father?
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confused
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