Skip to Content
Register · Login
About Theme

A Letterboxing Community

Atlas Quest
Search Edit Search

Read Thread: I Do Believe In Faeries...

Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89430 by Shadohart
May 1, 2007 10:42pm
Thread (disabled) Board
Spelling mistakes, punctuation errors, and incorrect grammar can annoy anyone, but what really gets me is when people don't proof-read. I guess it is a bigger eye sore in an academic paper than in a dicussion board post -believe me I've peer reviewed plenty a papers. Nonetheless, I've always felt that if you expect me to take the time to read something, I have the right to expect the same out of you. It so important to be communicate perspicaciously.

Claudia (Oooo rants are fun)

Oh and another thing, I just starting using the dash (-) in my writing. I never used it before this year. I'm not sure exactly when it is appropriate, any thoughts on the dash?
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89465 by Claudia and Alex
May 1, 2007 11:15pm
Thread (disabled) Board
any thoughts on the dash?


I love the dash. Actually, the em dash, to be precise. A short dash has not life, no character. No—it is the long em dash I love to use. Where writing a true em dash is hard or impossible, I'll sometimes take the shortcut of using two short dash (--), but it's the em dash (—) I love.

I tend to use them where most people would use parenthesis. I'm not fond of parenthesis to interject a thought of my own into a sentence—parenthesis seem to imply that "this thought isn't as important as the non-parenthesised though—but that's never true. It's a different thought—not an inferior thought.

And they're so fun to write. Just one, simple stroke of the pen. No complex turns, no T's to cross or I's that need dotting. Whoever invented the cursive G should be shot. In fact, I deliberately write my cursive G's incorrectly—the capital ones, I mean, since I have no problem with a lowercase G—because that's such a messed up letter. My capital, cursive G's look more like printed G's with a single extra stroke to connect it to the next letter—BUT I digress!

The em dash is a beautiful thing. The en dash (–) is okay, and the short dash is to be avoided. Unless it's part of a hyphenated word, of course, because the en dash and the em dash never belong within a word. They are strong symbols used to separate words. Never forget that, young grasshopper.

-- Ryan
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89468 by Green Tortuga
May 2, 2007 1:13am
Thread (disabled) Board
The em dash is a beautiful thing. The en dash (–)


How do you type them? I only seem to be able to do _ and -

Just recently I have acquired a fondness for ~ but that is more flowery and I really only use it in clue titles.

YT
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89465 by Claudia and Alex
May 2, 2007 3:30am
Thread (disabled) Board
I've reviewed plenty OF papers too. s.p.
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89468 by Green Tortuga
May 2, 2007 8:32am
Thread (disabled) Board
I happen to think cursive capital Gs are cool. Now, the cursove capital Qs are another thing.

Btw, how do you make the em dash?

TTT :o)
Re: Mad Grammar & George Carlin
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89337 by Samsonite
May 2, 2007 8:53am
Thread (disabled) Board
As a George Carlin fan, I learned quite a bit about vocabulary and usage from his routines and books; starting in the 70's with his Seven Dirty Words routine.

I can't think of a single stand-up routine or book of his that is not about words, grammar, etc.

Peruse was one of the words he learned from his mother, but had to look up, then brought her the newspaper the next day asking if she’d like to peruse it, but instead of being impressed that he learned this word she said that maybe later she'd give it a cursory glance. This sent him back to the dictionary.
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89341 by Romana
May 2, 2007 9:08am
Thread (disabled) Board
Rather than “social capital,” we call that "user buy-in” or "user investment" to indicate that the requesters of the project are behind the project and will continue to be supportive of it. Usually, because we hold some piece of data or process hostage until they agree.

I find that using punctuation marks in different ways is extremely helpful in this type of discourse (board posting). It is not the sort of punctuation that I would necessarily use when writing a letter, a memo, a white paper, a poem, technical specifications, etc.

~Perdu
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89468 by Green Tortuga
May 2, 2007 9:33am
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote I love the dash. . . . I tend to use them where most people would use parenthesis. I'm not fond of parenthesis to interject a thought of my own into a sentence—parenthesis seem to imply that "this thought isn't as important as the non-parenthesised though—but that's never true. It's a different thought—not an inferior thought.


Oh Ryan, I am so with you on the dash — it helps add ideas to a sentence and shows my train of thought (not always a good thing).

I also love the elipse for trailing off a sentence.

AND my capital G is probably the same as yours! Same with my Q — I draw the circle, do the little tag thing and connect it to the u. I always hated the weird cursive G's & Q's, too. Of course, spraining my thumb in 3rd grade when I was being graded on cursive didn't help. Probably why my handwriting looks as it does today . . .

KuKu
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89538 by Samsonite
May 2, 2007 10:05am
Thread (disabled) Board
As a personalization artist / Calligrapher, I love letters

I like my G's and Q's
They are modified C's and O's, easy enough

But finding a good capital 'I' has always been tricky for me.

Mebbe I should post my work

=0)

S~N~K
scribe
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89474 by The Yorkshire Tortoise
May 2, 2007 10:13am
Thread (disabled) Board
How do you type them? I only seem to be able to do _ and -


You type — or – to make the em dash (—) and en dash (–).

It's basically HTML code since there isn't a key on the keyboard to do it directly.

I have acquired a fondness for ~ but that is more flowery


Yes, that is a bit flowery. I can't use anything too flowery—people might get the wrong idea about me. ;o)

Same with my Q — I draw the circle, do the little tag thing and connect it to the u.


Yep, that's how I do my Q's as well! =) I forgot about the cursive capital Q—probably because I don't use it very often.

— Ryan
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89574 by Green Tortuga
May 2, 2007 10:18am
Thread (disabled) Board
My cursive capital Q always ends up looking like a 2. I've given up trying to do them right.
Re: Mad Grammar & George Carlin
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89545 by Perdu
May 2, 2007 10:23am
Thread (disabled) Board
That's funny! Language is so interesting!

TTT :o)
Re: VP Easter Egg
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89351 by wassamatta u
May 2, 2007 10:43am
Thread (disabled) Board
OH - that is just tooooooo funny!!!! I am splitting a gut laughing!!!! I wish I could have seen it!!!

LtW1
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89579 by 3Bears
May 2, 2007 10:46am
Thread (disabled) Board
I have always crossed my 7s and Zs. When people would ask why I would say "That's the way my dad does it. I guess I learned it from him."
Sometime in my mid 30s I was watching my dad write something and I noticed he didn't cross his 7. I asked him when he stopped doing it. And he told me he never did. (And he didn't cross the Zs either.)
I was so confused. Now I have no idea where I learned it from. But it always winds up being a conversation starter.
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89598 by Mn8X
May 2, 2007 10:51am
Thread (disabled) Board
I picked up the habit of crossing 7s and Zs when I lived in Germany. I still do it when I address letters to friends there. Crossing the 7s cuts down on confusion between 1 and 7 and crossing the Z cuts down on confusion between 2 and Z. At least, that's what I was told.

Did you perhaps learn it from a European grandparent?

Knit Wit
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89567 by Sits N Knits
May 2, 2007 12:33pm
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote Mebbe I should post my work


Please do post your work!

I do calligraphy too — actually, just dabble in it.

If people ask me what font I have done, I tell them it's a modified Johnsonian font. (My last name is Johnson and I have just kind of modified a basic font with my own things.)

Getting my capital I to come out looking good has also been a struggle for me!

KuKu
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89599 by knit wit
May 2, 2007 12:37pm
Thread (disabled) Board
All of my grandparents passed away before I was born, except one and we did not live close to her.
None of my brothers or my parents do it.
I had several teachers from Latin American and Spain when I was in college, but I started the habit long before then.
I also put a diagonal cross through my 0s.
My students from Europe think its cool. I guess it reminds them of home. I just have to be real careful that I don't teach my younger students to do it. The district would frown on that!
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89468 by Green Tortuga
May 3, 2007 10:15am
Thread (disabled) Board
My capital, cursive G's look more like printed G's with a single extra stroke to connect it to the next letter


Mine looks like a lower-case g...only taller. I find many people "cheat" on many of the capital cursive letters, either using a taller lower case one, or a print version that's connected to the rest of the word...so don't feel strange or furtive when you do so. Many of the cursive ones don't attach anyway, and most of them look stupid.

I always wonderd who thought of using a curly number 2 for a capital Q when it was a lot easier to make a circle then join the cross-part to the next letter.

and I love the em dash also--I feel as you do, that it emphasizes, rather than de-emphasizes the parenthetical thought.

night writer
Re: Mad Grammar - Capital Gs
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89796 by Romana
May 3, 2007 10:28am
Thread (disabled) Board
This conversation has been lots of fun, making me question the whys and hows I write. The standard joke here is that the only 'needs improvement' in grade school was handwriting. The topic of Gs in caps made me laugh, though, as I've always thought those big Gs with the two loops in either corner at the top gave them a horned owl appearance. As for the Qs, they're just like starting an O in the upper left corner, then bringing the slash down across the whole letter diagonally in one continuous swoop.

Here comes the set up:

What do you get when you add 5Q to 5Q?
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89474 by The Yorkshire Tortoise
May 3, 2007 10:54am
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote How do you type them? I only seem to be able to do _ and -


On a Mac, you just hold down option and the hyphen key to get an en dash ( – ), and option+shift and the hyphen key for the em dash ( — ).

On a PC you hold down the Alt key and type 0150 on the right-side keypad for the en dash, and Alt + 0151 for the em dash.

-AG
once a typographer, always a typographer....
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89478 by simple pleasures
May 3, 2007 11:11am
Thread (disabled) Board
good call. hee hee

Claudia
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89320 by Dewdrop
May 5, 2007 4:22pm
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote I hate it when people say "That's a mute point." I got this all the time at work and people thought they were being so cool to say it and I wanted to jump up and scream MOOT, PEOPLE, it's MOOT!!


I agree on this one...it's enough to make me want to cut one of my main articles and bleed to death, but why fight it? I mean, irregardless, it won't come to any sort of fruitation. :-D
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #90270 by Sprite and Highlander
May 5, 2007 4:27pm
Thread (disabled) Board
I hate it when people say "That's a mute point." I got this all the time at work and people thought they were being so cool to say it and I wanted to jump up and scream MOOT, PEOPLE, it's MOOT!!


Or maybe it is a moo point - like a cow's opinion, it doesn't matter! (Any Friends fans out there?) ;)

TG
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #90272 by Trekkie Gal
May 5, 2007 5:21pm
Thread (disabled) Board
>>>I hate it when people say "That's a mute point." I got this all the time at work and people thought they were being so cool to say it and I wanted to jump up and scream MOOT, PEOPLE, it's MOOT!!

>>>>Or maybe it is a moo point - like a cow's opinion, it doesn't matter! (Any Friends fans out there?) ;)

BUT WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO "HEAR" A MUTE POINT??? HEY, MAYBE YA GOTTA FEEL IT!!!!
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #90270 by Sprite and Highlander
May 6, 2007 11:33am
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote irregardless


The most commonly use word that is not in fact a word... I know it has made it into the dictionary, but so has ain't and that is still not a word either. Something is either regarded or it is regardless, but irregardless is a double negative and therefore not a word to the grammer police =o)

Not that I qualify as the grammer police, but this one makes my skin crawl (please do not take offence, I am not picking on you... we are just on the subject of grammer =o)

Cheers!
Rhea
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #90279 by zoemomma
May 6, 2007 11:52am
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote I hate it when people say "That's a mute point."


Oh, me too, and my husband says this ALL the time!

DebBee
Re: Voice Mail message I've never done
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89368 by KuKu
May 6, 2007 12:12pm
Thread (disabled) Board
We used to put two on for the Highlander during duck season:

During hunting season: (sounds of the Highlander in the background whooping it up and a heavy tinge of disdain in my tone) You've reached the Burke residence (I don't know WHERE your shells are!). It's hunting season (you put the waders upstairs, remember?), so if you want to talk to Kevin, you'd better already be in the swamp. (do I LOOK like a decoy locator???) For an extended conversation that WON'T involve being shot in the butt, do NOT wear feathers (stop BLOWING that thing in the HOUSE!). Leave your condolences for ME at the beep. Beeep!"

And after the season: (sounds of the Highlander sobbing loudly and the delight in my voice is obvious) You've reached the Burke residence. Hunting season has finally ended, so if you want to talk to Kevin, you might want to wait until he's had time to properly grieve. Otherwise, leave a message for me at the beep (there, there, it's okay...there'll be OTHER hunting seasons, sweetie!)! Beeep!"
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89320 by Dewdrop
May 6, 2007 12:14pm
Thread (disabled) Board
One of the funniest things that I hear people say is something like this:

"Grammar is not a challenge for James and I."

Okay. I don't want to hear: "James and me use correct grammar." But, I really cringe when I hear the overcorrection.




Mama Cache
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89430 by Shadohart
May 6, 2007 12:17pm
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote Hi... My name is Teressa.... and I'm an ellipse-aholic


Same here...(plus I use parentheses like I own stock in the company!)

The (have to use parentheses to show all my little goofy thoughts) Sprite and the (doesn't actually use any of this stuff because he's rarely on a computer, anyway) Highlander
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #90373 by Sprite and Highlander
May 7, 2007 3:21pm
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote
Same here...(plus I use parentheses like I own stock in the company!)


This made me grin because I used to write letters to a high school friend and we had contests to see how many parentheticals we could nest in a single sentence. Sometimes the letters were only a sentence long, though they went on for pages of parentheticals within parentheticals. Perhaps it's time to send a letter (parentheticals don't work nearly as well in telephone conversations) her way.

Webfoot