posted
In the spirit of the catch-all dobie threads, catch-all out-of-context threads, and other thread-derailment-prevention threads, I offer here, for your enjoyment and delight, a place for those of you who revel in exposing the liguistic incompetence of the masses a special place, all your own, where you can mercilessly taunt and mock your lessers as they attempt to communicate with each other in the other threads.
When those heathens are feeling particularly receptive to your insights, they can open this thread and discover what errors they have been making in ingorance at a time when they're ready to receive them and become converted to the proper use of the semicolon and the ellipses. In the meantime, this thread can serve as a place for those of you "in the know" to remind each other of who you are, so that you may skip the posts of the others on those days when you are not feeling up to the task of trying to bring the heathen typists into the light of the One True Usage.
It is my privledge to be of service.
Posts: 241 | Registered: Nov 2001
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posted
Wow. Was this thread made just especially for me? I feel so honoured.
Yes, it's "honoured", not "honored", you rebellious heathens South of the Border. Skipping letters does not make you cool.
Posts: 1996 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
:: Runs back in, weilding two by four covered in barbed wire, wiping eyes hurriedly ::
I am tough. No one saw that.
Yes, digging_holes, this thread was created for you. Prior to today, no one has ever corrected the spelling and/or grammar of anyone on Hatrack. I thought I'd begin to address the controversy the first time it appeared, because such events have been known to cause the destruction of forums that were bound together with bonds of friendship even tighter than this one.
Posts: 241 | Registered: Nov 2001
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posted
[whispers] Honestly, I probably shouldn't try to be funny when I'm running on as little sleep as I've had this week. I honestly didn't mean anything by any of this, so if it came across as if I'm being mean, I'm sorry. I really was trying to create a useful thread, and be clever about it. If I blew it, my bad.
But don't tell anybody I apologized. I'm trying really hard to be a two-by-four weilding meanie. [/whispers]
:: Growls loudly in case anybody is listening in ::
Posts: 241 | Registered: Nov 2001
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posted
Funny, that somebody also managed to have the same member number as you. My, but these impostinators really are getting clever these days.
Posts: 1996 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
Since a whole bunch of people on this forum are quite a bit older than me, I can't really picture myself calling them "kids". Of course, they do read the Ender novels.
Oh, wait, so do I... nevermind.
Posts: 1996 | Registered: Feb 2004
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quote:Originally posted by digging_holes: Wow. Was this thread made just especially for me? I feel so honoured.
Yes, it's "honoured", not "honored", you rebellious heathens South of the Border. Skipping letters does not make you cool.
And capitalizing words that don't need it and putting your commas on the wrong side of the quotation marks doesn't make you cool. Also, the omission of the u in words like that originated in Britain. Gasp!
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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In America, land of the free and home of the brave, we always put them inside the quotation marks. Unless you're fugu. Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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Hey! I only did that ONCE in quite a long time of posting, and only on the ONE usage mistake that absolutely drives me bonkers when I read it in something I have to edit.
posted
It means that the Americans didn't come up with it, so it's sort of silly to look down your nose at Americans for it.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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quote: so it's sort of silly to look down your nose at Americans for it.
First of all, Americans are the principal practitioners of letter-dropping. It may have started in Britain (or so you say, I have no way of confirming this) but it is certainly not taught there; only in the U.S. is it the norm rather than the exception. That is why it is generally called "American spelling" as opposed to "British spelling".
Secondly, I am not "looking down my nose" at Americans. I certainly have my own rather inconsistent preferences, which do tend to lean towards the British spelling most (but not all) of the time, as all good Canadian spelling does; expressing those preferences in a humourous way does not constitute "looking down my nose" at anyone.
Finally, it would be hard for me to look any direction but down when looking at Americans, since you are underneath us on the map. Posts: 1996 | Registered: Feb 2004
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I think what he was saying was that when the colonies were first planted, neither place had standardized spelling, and by the time we did there was no longer any reason (for Americans, at least) to adhere to the British rules.
Houwever, if it will make youu happuy, I will gladuly add many superfluouus letter u's to my pousts. Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Well, can't we have a series of standardized tests before a person is allowed to dream of being a professional writer? Posts: 1735 | Registered: Oct 2004
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