Posted on 01/10/2005 10:26:26 PM PST by nickcarraway
Terry Southern? I don't know how to process that...stunned and speechless.
I need a couple minutes to recover...
I don't mind honest typos, or various colloquialisms, but posts with mistakes that reveal a lack of knowledge of basic English only help make FreeRepublic look bad. It gives lurkers who may have bought into the stereotype of "ignorant, redneck conservatives" an excuse to feel they were right all along.
It's a lost cause trying to prod everyone into proofing their posts more carefully, but at the very least I like to alert the moderators to mistakes in thread titles, so that the "latest threads/posts" indices won't look shoddy to anyone who surfs into FreeRepublic for the first time. I once wondered whether the moderators found such alerts helpful or annoying, so I asked them, and was told to keep it up -- they like to keep the front pages cleaned up too.
I'm sorry but I'm with the "liberal linguists" on this one. Languages change over time. The question is how much voice recordings will act to push back that change.
Go into your job interview with that one.
I'll stay right here and wait for you when you're out, just to see how you did.
Yeah...YOU wouldn't say "axe." Let the OTHER guy say it and relegate himself to an underclass.
I am completely aware of how Shakespeare used slang, etc. Do NOT misunderstand that speech and diction are a progenitor of achievement.
I hear you.
Have you ever tried streaming chatrooms? It's even worse there! At FR, at least we can preview before we post.
Oh, and that first sentence reminded me of something I've seen posted on FR many a time: "Here here". Agh!! :-Þ
Oh yes...and El Cid was NOT written 1,000 years ago,either.
How many different ways did Shakespeare spell his own name? What most people don't realize is that the editions of Shakespeare that we get from publishers have often had the spelling and language regularized. Spelling was incredibly inconsistent until literacy became more widespread and publishing helped standardize it. Unfortunately, the spelling started to be standardized while people were still speaking Middle English so we're left with all sorts of unusual spellings and silent letters that were once served a purpose.
William Safire's Rules for Writers:
* Remember to never split an infinitive.
* The passive voice should never be used.
* Do not put statements in the negative form.
* Verbs have to agree with their subjects.
* Proofread carefully to see if you words out.
* If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal of repetition can be by rereading and editing.
* A writer must not shift your point of view.
* And don't start a sentence with a conjunction. (Remember, too, a preposition is a terrible word to end a sentence with.)
* Don't overuse exclamation marks!!
* Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents.
* Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
* If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
* Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors.
* Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
* Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.
* Always pick on the correct idiom.
* The adverb always follows the verb.
* Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague; seek viable alternatives.
That it is!
Euphemisms are always valuable.
Ummm... :-)
*LOL*!! Nice ones.
Of course,neither she nor I live in California and we do not "make a mess of it". LOL
Huh?
Your teacher was at the DESTINATION. "Bring your homework."
Your mother was at your DEPARTURE: "Take your homework."
Thus, if I'm not there yet, don't tell me to bring 'it', unless you ARE there and are sending me a message from there.
How is that hard?
He has a dreadful accent!
May=permission.
Can=possibility.
They're both 'P' words.
I've heard that the BBC and the RSC commissioned a person to go around and tape record people speaking RP. It was so that their younger actors could use it for reference to do a proper RP accent in older plays as so many did not know how to do one, having never been taught.
Another good catch!
Is fairy the homonym of ferry?
And let's not forget that we have a man who was elected president, twice, who can't seem to pronounce "nuclear" properly.
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