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Free Republic Network ^ | 3-5-04 | Bob J

[Bob J]

As most are aware, the Free Republic Network runs a feature called "Columnists' Corner" on it's website. Due to our affiliation with Townhall, our articles are picked up and printed on their website.

All FReeper writers and columnists are encouraged to submit articles for potential publishing an "The Corner". We can't guarantee that all submissions will get posted, but will do our best to make sure the best get some exposure.

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[prion]

"Virius" is a typo (from the original source document, here, "suchofa" is an affectation, and not being able to remember the difference between "it's" and "its" is illiterate. Can you appreciate the distinction, or would you like that engraved on something?

[Bob J]

I like it..."How Kerry Can't Fix the Economy", or something of that nature. You going to work in it?

[Bob J]

Twenty lashes to me!

[TheSpottedOwl]

The Spelling Nazi is loose!

This could turn into a flame war worthy of yesterday's Martha Stewart thread ;-)

[TheSpottedOwl]

My problem is using too many commas. The other problem is the occasional glaring run on sentence ;-)

[Rabid Dog]

Hey SpottedOwl

I've noticed some liberal tendencies:

First: slamming someone who is trying to do something constructive
Second: using the "victim" defense when reproached
Third: blaming someone else for his error.

I hope someone tipped him off that Bob J. is one of the hardest working freepers and does an incredible amount of good for our cause.

[TheSpottedOwl]

The funny thing is that I do proofreading and I missed that little old typo, heehee! Probably because I was more interested in the subject than looking for boo boos.

I hope someone tipped him off that Bob J. is one of the hardest working freepers and does an incredible amount of good for our cause.

Not to mention that he and Dio throw a mean bbq :-)

[Agamemnon]

"Virius" is a typo (from the original source document, here,...

And THAT'S your excuse for your illiteracy? Face it. You did not know how to spell the word, virus.

Had you actually been more literate, you would have known that if one chooses to quote from a source with a mis-spelled word in the quotation, that word is followed by the abbreviation, [sic.], as it appears here,

"...virius [sic.]...."

As a literary construct, this insertion is made so that the reader will not make the mistake of thinking that the person quoting the mis-spelling did so without noting the error himself.

You did not do this. You did not recognize the error, but carelessly repeated it. You went on to include a silly "affectation," as you call it, which no one with even a semi-literate command of the English language would ever recognize.

You failed in rebuttal, because your behavior was inexcusable.

You are illiterate.

[prion]

Yo, Mister Literacy Person: there's no period after "sic" - it's not an abbreviation, it's one word of a two-word phrase.

[MissAmericanPie]

Your desk side manner needs work, teach.

[BluegrassScholar]

I don't have any pithy political commentary, but I did have an encounter with a dead squirrel.

Last week I awoke just past noon (having slept the sleep of the redundant) and stumbled into my yard to retrieve the morning paper and noticed a dead squirrel near my aspidistra (and, no, that's not a dirty word). Being a native Mississippian, I am, of course, immediately intrigued by anything having to do with a dead animal, whether I killed it or not. After closer inspection and repeatedly poking the squirrel with a stick, I could discern no evidence of blunt trauma nor wounds that would point to an attack from the neighborhood ninja kitties. It appeared the squirrel had simply ignored the pleadings of Dylan Thomas and chosen instead to go gently into that good night.

I was faced with two choices - dispose of the squirrel properly (although I'm not sure what that entails) or sling it over my fence into the neighbor's yard. I opted for the latter and with Einstein-like prowess, mentally computed in mere moments the calculus and algorithms necessary for the proper velocity, trajectory and flight path to carry the squirrel from my yard approximately 40 feet into my neighbor's yard. I suppose I could have simply picked up the squirrel, walked over to the fence and dropped it on the other side, but how often does one have the opportunity to fling a dead squirrel? Sometimes you just gotta carpe diem. I should interject at this stage of the story that the neighboring house is on the market and otherwise unoccupied. I mean, I still would have chunked the squirrel over the fence even if someone was living there, but perhaps more surreptitiously.

Grabbing the squirrel by the tail, I began spinning it over my head to work up the required centrifugal forces necessary to cover the 40 feet. However, too late I discovered that my calculations failed to account for the rate of biological decomposition as the body of the squirrel separated prematurely from the tail and deviated from the planned flight path. In fact, the squirrel deviated right into the street just as a perky realtor drove up with a young couple looking for that perfect starter home, and thudded soundly on the hood of her Pacific green Volvo and slid to a stop spread-eagled (spread-squirrelled?) against her windshield. I'm not sure the English language has a vocabulary extensive enough to convey the sense of shock on the faces of the realtor and prospective buyers as they gazed first at the squirrel with no tail and then at me, standing there shirtless, wearing World Wrestling Federation pajama bottoms and a pair of white shrimping boots (also known as "Bayou Reeboks"). I think you can guess the house didn't sell that day. I'm surmising the young couple did not want to live next to a half-naked man that throws dead animals at passing cars.

[WOSG]

Sent you private email on this. Just let me know the procedure. I have a few on deck.

[anymouse]

Cowboy up! :)

[MamaLucci]

...trailer park grammar error in the advert.

There are worse things than grammatical errors. You need to get over yourself.

[Agamemnon]

Yo, Mister Literacy Person: there's no period after "sic" - it's not an abbreviation, it's one word of a two-word phrase.

Yo, Mister Guy who insists on continuing to be the turd in the punch bowl on this thread:

The word, "sic," is from the Latin, which, when translated, means, "thus." It is an abbreviation of the full sentence, "sic scribit," translated, "thus, he writes," or loosely, "thus, it is written," not a "phrase" -- but I'll not extend to you the benefit of the doubt as to whether you happen to know the difference between what constitutes a phrase and what constitutes a full sentence.

You have already revealed yourself to be illiterate in the matter of spelling. There is no surprise that you continue to remain so in your knowledge of the English language and its usage when it comes to parts of speech.

Because it is actually an abbreviation of a full sentence, it may and often does appear with a period, bracketed within a narrative. It is justifiably free to appear either way, however, with a period, or without. Whatever the case, clearly, it appears that you have not yet mastered what is in this day a pre-school level accomplishment, nor grasped what is generally known by most children at that age: full sentences end with periods.

Thus... the parenthetical insertion appears as [sic.], [sic], sic., sic, (sic.), and (sic).

Since you evidently did not know such a term or convention existed, and by your own definition above demonstrate that you don't understand the term, then by extension don't know how to use the term, one may easily conclude that your command of the English language is significantly less than those whom you castigate for theirs.

We now stand back and laugh as you gesticulate with that cumbersome tick that develops when you are annoyed by being shown up for the infantile, fatuous twerp-critic you have become. You stepped in your own criticism, and now, as you try to wipe it off your shoe, the odor becomes that much more odious, as it engulfs every other posting you have made so far.

You continue to impress us all the more with each posting you make with exactly how little you know and how childish you can be in proving it.

And guess what… after all that, YOU are still illiterate!

[Bob J]

"If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself."

[prion]

Actually, Mister Wizard, the Latin phrase wanted here is sic passim, or "thus is it throughout." And I leave it to the esteemed lurkers to decide who is becoming more hysterical with each post.

[Agamemnon]

Actually, Mister Wizard, the Latin phrase wanted here is sic passim, or "thus is it throughout." And I leave it to the esteemed lurkers to decide who is becoming more hysterical with each post.

Correct to the point that the error is repeated throughout a text and upon its first appearance the error is noted, making it unnecessary to continue to insert [sic.] repetitively throughout a challenged text. This would undoubtedly be the meaning, if, for instance you were to attempt to wow us much further with what you pretend to know about the "virius."

For the singular error, "sic scribit" suffices.

[prion]

Ah, when I was young, the vast, honey-colored plains were darkened by restless herds of virius. 'Course, in them days, two words were often a phrase if'n there weren't no verb, but one word was never a whole sentence. Unless it was "yikes!" Or "geronimo!" Or "dinner!"

[headsonpikes]

Thanks for the entertaining discourse. It's a regular collegium philosophiae here.

prion - you are a peculiarly graceless creature, on first observation; but I'll keep my mind open, for now.