  Neilr Member Username: Neilr Post Number: 705 Registered: 06-2005 |
Looks like big troubles ahead for your pal the semicolon. Sorry to pass on bad news; but being forewarned is to be forearmed. If it can happen in France, it can happen here. http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl d/2008/apr/04/france.britishid entity?gusrc=rss&feed=10 | ||
Jimg Member Username: Jimg Post Number: 1001 Registered: 10-2003 |
Nonsense, they'll give those dolts a semi-colonic and purge those nasty thoughts... First Pluto, now the semicolon? Is there no justice? | ||
Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 2195 Registered: 01-2006 |
Neilr, I will never be able to thank you, enough, for sharing that article with me. I deeply appreciate the apparent fact that you thought of me when you saw the piece. It was very interesting and, at times, quite funny. I enjoyed the disdainful quote from Kurt Vonnegut, with whom I, of course, vehemently disagree on this matter, but for whom I have such affection that it is impossible for me to feign annoyance. I am fascinated by the popularity of the notion that the semi-colon is nothing more than a comma which has been using steroids and lifting weights. To my way of seeing, and using, it, the little darling has absolutely no relationship to the comma, and is to be used for an entirely different purpose. Actually, there is a quote, in the piece, from a guy named Saunders who describes its use in (pretty much) exactly the way I would do so. I am also amused, and somewhat righteously annoyed, by the folks who seem to think of it as providing a pause, like a "breather," in the middle of a long sentence. What? I don't punctuate my sentences with folks' comfort in mind. I punctuate them so they will be grammatically correct. Of course, the entire reason for correct grammar is to ensure clarity of meaning, and one cannot be comfortable in reading sentences which are unclear in meaning, so I suppose it is true that I do, in fact, punctuate my sentences with the reader's comfort in mind. (That is a bit of a stretch, though; perhaps I should say that I'm not interested in, or committed to, holding the reader's hand and walking him, or her, through the occasionally dense thickets of my admittedly near-obese sentences.) I may rejoin this topic, inside this thread, later, but I'm about to watch one of the few TV shows with which I bother to keep up. Thanks, again! One last comment, however: You say, "if it can happen in France, it can happen here." Not so, mon ami! WE never believed that the slapstick-peddling Jerry Lewis was anywhere NEAR being a comedic genius. | ||
Tponetom Member Username: Tponetom Post Number: 292 Registered: 06-2007 |
Ravine: Perhaps we should do the folowing: Eliminate all punctuation. (To save time.) Eliminate those infernal spacings between words. (To save paper.) Eliminate capital letters. (To save ink.) Also, lets eliminate indentations and, in particular, lets eliminnatte speling corektions. thoseimprovmentswouldcertinlyc lariphyandcertanlyabreviateany andallcomunikations. WhoopsdammitIwastedaperiod | ||
Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 2196 Registered: 01-2006 |
Har! Tponetom, you're a card! Funny thing is... I read through that last paragraph almost as easily as if it had been normal. I noticed, in the linked article, that Gertrude Stein wrote non-punctuated sentences. Her only true motives, I suspect, were to be different and to challenge convention. After a couple of sentences, I felt irritated by it. But I would. | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 2967 Registered: 01-2005 |
Nicht ausmachen mit der umlauts! | ||
Pam Member Username: Pam Post Number: 3879 Registered: 11-2005 |
Double posting from the Non-D side, in case you missed it. http://www.boston.com/news/loc al/articles/2008/03/29/on_the_ road_looking_for_typos/ | ||
Eriedearie Member Username: Eriedearie Post Number: 1255 Registered: 08-2007 |
quote: "Funny thing is... I read through that last paragraph almost as easily as if it had been normal." Oh No! I must be spending too much time on here cause the same thing happened to me! | ||
Tponetom Member Username: Tponetom Post Number: 293 Registered: 06-2007 |
Ray: Do 'umlauts' come in the vertical position as well as the horizontal? I thought they had to be deep fried! Are we talking about diaeresis or diarrhea? When my mother got tough with me, she would give me a withering 'look' and using her psuedo German, she would say, "Nix cumraus in der deutschmans haus!" (Ma was, in fact, an American 'flapper.' Additional thought on the punctuation thing. We are quickly becoming converted to the sole use of 'acronyms' in P. O. W.??? I feel like the old grandfather in the movie, "Moonstruck," where he gets that bewildered look and says, in great despair, "I don't understand,,,,, | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 2974 Registered: 01-2005 |
Pigeon German, I think it's called, Tp. Me and my brother did a lot of it. Our maternal grandparents were German, emigrating to Detroit in 1923. We both picked up a bit of german, but we'd improvise when we needed a German word we didn't know. It all sounded good. We both still say "Machs nicht" to each other (literally, "makes nothing", but means "Doesn't matter" to a German). When an umlaut becomes vertical, it becomes a colon. Machs nicht. | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 12255 Registered: 12-2003 |
I've got a friend, on this very board in fact, who uses acronyms without defining them first...throws them around as if they were words. I stop him on it EVERY TIME, even when I know what he's talking about. Speak English, fluently and thoroughly! Say NO to Newspeak, in all it's lazy forms. | ||
East_detroit Member Username: East_detroit Post Number: 1671 Registered: 11-2003 |
"...walking him, or her, through the occasionally..." Why all the extra commas? Either make it parenthetical or use the minimalist design that you imply is better. | ||
Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 2198 Registered: 01-2006 |
The commas are not extra. The commas are there to connect both pronouns to "through." Without the commas, I could be merely taking him for a walk, while walking her through. Making it parenthetical would be fine, too, but I already write some fairly long sentences, so (believe it or not!) I try to hold stuff like parentheses to a minimum. But, East_detroit, I am curious... Why do you say that I imply an endorsement of minimalist design? I would more expect to be accused of the opposite. | ||
Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 2199 Registered: 01-2006 |
Arrh! Pam, please excuse my thoughtlessness. Thank you for that link, ma belle dame. (French for "the broad who works for the old phone company.") | ||
East_detroit Member Username: East_detroit Post Number: 1672 Registered: 11-2003 |
Ravine, no offense but I think a sentence could be better formed if there is confusion as to C-commands. Then again, with my own design I would have dropped "and walking him, or her," completely. My thoughts about your implied minimalism is that you stated your punctuation serves only as a grammatical tool rather than one which would be associated with flourish and drama. | ||
Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 2202 Registered: 01-2006 |
Ah! I see what you're meaning, now. Thanks. Actually, a little honesty, here... While it is true that I use punctuation only as a grammatical tool, I would be a Big Fat Liar if I claimed that I never give a thought to flourish and/or drama. |
