Thanks, Neuroman, for the illuminating hijack. I enjoy Atlantic Monthly’s Word Court column. It makes a worthy treat at the end of a superb magazine, but I hadn’t thought to check for an online presence. Now I have an impressive certificate to show for my ranting.
NoClueBoy and Coosa, well done, though as kabbes pointed out, you were pushing the envelope as much as I was.
Dogzilla, thanks for bringing me up short. Even as I was thundering so ineptly, a small nagging voice inside was warning me of the chance one of the real editors on the boards would swoop down for poetic justice. I should have listened to that voice. Yes, I do work as a copy editor/reporter, though only for the last 18 months. Prior to that, I spent eight years in ad sales and four years in the composition department.
I believe I will gather some more seasoning before I rant again.
And to the rest of you, I appreciate the gentle tweaks. They are deserved.
"So then I go “Oh, yeah?,” and then he goes “Yeah!”
Just as often, I hear “goes” used in the same dumbass way that “like” is used, as in the above dialogue.
What like gets like my like goat like is like when like like is like used like as like a like filler like word like meaning like "My vocabulary is stunted so I say “like” or “yo” instead of DUH.
Theres linguistic creativity and freedom, and then there’s just sounding like a junior high dropout.
Usage Note: Traditional critics have insisted that nauseous is properly used only to mean “causing nausea” and that it is incorrect to use it to mean “affected with nausea,” as in Roller coasters make me nauseous. In this example, nauseated is preferred by 72 percent of the Usage Panel. Curiously, though, 88 percent of the Panelists prefer using nauseating in the sentence The children looked a little green from too many candy apples and nauseating (not nauseous) rides. Since there is a lot of evidence to show that nauseous is widely used to mean “feeling sick,” it appears that people use nauseous mainly in the sense in which it is considered incorrect. In its “correct” sense it is being supplanted by nauseating.
At one of the train stations I used to use someone had spray-painted a complaint about “facist governments.” I kept having this image of a country which discriminated against ugly people.
Well, that was a nice thing to say. I’m one of the real editors! It’s like finding out you’re invited to a party where only the cool people are invited. (Yes! I’m one of the cool people! Whoo-hoo!)
I was just tryin’ to keep you in line – and was testing your knowledge of AP Style. If you’re going to rant about grammar or spelling around here, you have to make sure your OP is pristine and perfect… so we don’t have to crucify you for your own teeny mistakes.
And just so there’s no hard feelings:
(That was a big smooch on the cheek. We don’t have a kissy smiley, do we?)
No person has the right (or power) to change our language to fit their needs or ignorance.
BTW, if I see the word anyways one more time I will scream. If I hear someone use it in conversation I very openly remind them that it is not a word. Perhaps we should do so here as well.
More on “like” – aside from the difference in meaning between “like” and “said” already mentioned, “like” is sometimes used to indicate that the speaker is using invented dialogue to describe someone’s thoughts or nonverbal reactions. For instance, “She was like, ‘Ohmigawd!’” could mean “She reacted with a look of surprise and horror and I suspect she was thinking ‘Ohmigawd!’” So as with “like” as an indication of paraphrasing, it was as if (or “like”!) she had said “Ohmigawd!”, although she did not actually say it.
It wasn’t a missing “o”, it was a capitalized “o”, boldly sitting right out there in the open sticking it’s tongue out at everybody and daring someone to say something. I just demoted it!
Heavens, I don’t actually care - I was just teasing Hometownboy; that’s why I put that itty-bitty apology at the bottom. I’m sure I wouldn’t recognize proper grammar if it hit me in the head with a two-by-four.
And you completely ignored the period I added to the closing statement! Don’t I deserve a point for that?
Hometownboy said
All in fun, Hometownboy - I guess I should have tacked a smiley on at the bottom. Will you accept a big smooch like the one offered by Dogzilla to make up for it? I’m not the editor of anything except my own posts - I’m just an incurable smart ass.
Well, my goodness gracious! BLUSH. :: tugs forelock, scuffs toe in the dirt:: I never would have guessed when I woke up this morning that the highlight of my day would be receiving my first and second virtual kiss – in the Pit, no less! Is it hot in here, or is it just me?
I had expected the real highlight to be my interview with Marv Ross of the legendary 80s band Quarterflash . He and his wife Rindy (she of the killer sax riffs and powerful, sultry voice) will be playing an acoustic set in our town next week, and he graciously gave me a full hour phone interview. (Delayed gossip: the group opened for a number of others in their heyday. Ross reported Elton John was incredibly nice to work with, that Linda Ronstadt was friendly but aloof, that Jefferson Starship’s Craig Chaquico went out of his way to be nice, but that Sammy Hagar and Loverboy were “assholes.”)
But imagine my surprise when I dropped in for a quick check on the thread and found the above osculatory embellishments. I will be whistling all the way home.
Four letter words are not necessary. Perhaps, giving a person the benefit of the doubt first before flying off the handle and screaming the ole’ “F” word at them?
Anyway, I pondered that the next day after I posted (was posting on 3 weeks running of about 2 hours of sleep a night), was sick the entire weekend after I posted it (probably due to aforementioned lack of sleep) and then the next time I turned on my computer could not remember the name of this thread to find it and to put in an apology.
Now here’s my chance. I do apologize. A whole other phrase and meaning other than fat was intended, but as I was stupid with lack of sleep and impending cold and that’s what came out. And stupid with sleep enough not to rethink it until much later.
I will now accept my fine for TWC (typing while comatose). But please, don’t swear at me without at least giving me a chance to explain any possible stupidity I might have committed.
I don’t care how much sleep you had. I don’t care how hard your life is. If you meant a whole other phrase and meaning other than fat (do tell what phrase, I’m fascinated, truly) it doesn’t matter. You typed fat and you let it post and you let it stand. There’s no obligation here for us to say, oh well, we will let that slide because, geez they’re probably having a hard day or whatever.
Please don’t post stupid offensive shit and expect people to ask you to explain. If you know you are tired, then it’s simple. Don’t post. If your fingers are likely to slip and type some unfortunate phrase, then spare us all and only post when you are capable of saying what you mean. On a messageboard, words are all we see.
And Millier didn’t fly off the handle. Miller flying off the handle is a whole other kettle of shit.
Nah, I’m not overreacting. Perhaps Miller and I could do a demonstration of overreaction for you some time soon? Why should I lighten up? I don’t think you’re a special unique snowflake who can post stupid shit (a clue here, Sunshine, some of us would never make that ‘mistake’ of using the word, fat because it is not part of our thought processes to judge fat people that way. Insert the word black in your sentence and see how it reads? yeah, you come across as a right winner).
Hmm. My pet peeve (I have to edit copy on a daily basis) is when I have to sit and carefully go through all the titles of a long document to correct the very interesting use of capitalization in the titles.
Please note: the rule is NOT “capitalize all the ‘big words’ and leave all the ‘little words’ uncapitalized.” It doesn’t work that way.
P.S.
Em dashes have a specific function. You can’t use them instead of colons or semicolons because “it looks prettier.”
I no longer get upset about it anymore. They’ve broken my spirit.
I feel your pain, Eats_crayons. My SO writes speculative fiction and he is very creative with his capitalisation and his use of colons, semi-colons and em dashes has to be seen to be believed.
However he’s making progress. He used to use hyphens where he needed em dashes.
We must have a few fans of Regency England among those who submit to our paper, because there is an unfortunate tendency to capitalize nearly every Noun. For spice, we get the occasional person who believes quotation “marks” are an approved emphasis-adding device. It always adds a touch of surreality to my day. I am a big fan of speculative fiction, and sometimes I wonder if the occasional person has wandered in from an alternative timeline, where the rules of the language developed along different lines.
Mr P believes that it is perfectly correct to use ?!! No matter how many times I beat him around the head with the Style Manual he persists in thinking it adds a certain je ne sais quoi to his writing.
The new Style Manual released last year is bigger and heavier than the previous AGPS manual so I am hoping that I manage to do more damage this time and he reforms.
