Comments on: Two rants for the price of one

By: Croila

Croila — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 17:58:56 +0000

dictionary.com should be indelibly printed on everyone’s forehead. It really is soooooo easy to find out how to spell things these days! Typos, fine, everyone’s prone to human error, but spelling mistakes are just products of laziness. So there!

By: Gordon

Gordon — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 13:04:13 +0000

Try being a technical author in a software department. We are the ‘word’ ones so get asked spellings all the time.

It’s taken me a few years but they’ve stopped asking me so I presume they are looking things up on their own now. Either that or they are sick and fedup of having my dictionary thrown at them…

By: daisy

daisy — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 10:13:06 +0000

Forgot to say, Richard, I thought it was illegal too but I can’t find any supporting evidence on the interweb (but maybe I *ahem* wasn’t googling the right vocabulary).

Em, thank you for that Wiki link, interesting eh?

While I’m on here: the only thick yanks this blogger has a problem with are in the Whitehouse and at Faux News. They should be thanking their lucky stars that there are plenty of decent Americans out there blogging, metafiltering and so on, otherwise I think the tide of hatred toward all thinks American would be moving far swifter than it is right now.

By: daisy

daisy — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 10:11:00 +0000

ROFL*

Jann, I know what you mean about MSN. I tend to do a bit of txtspk when talking to teenage nieces and nephew and I can see how easy it is to carry that on when emailing and so on. But it always reminds me of those adverts for “shorthand” (not Gregg or Pitmans, can’t remember the system) you used to see:

If u cn rd ths u r on yr wy to a prftble career in…

Re the carrots – oh yes I agree about the smell. And the leek section is practically orgasmic. But they often have special offers on the bagged vegetables so I keep an eye on the prices.

* if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

By: Em³

Em³ — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 09:11:20 +0000

Talking of "thick Yanks", it amuses me when some Brits comment on the American use of "Fall" for Autumn as if the colonials had for some reason 'simplified' the name of the season when, in fact, the Americans have stuck with one of the original names for the season while we simply stuck with the other [Wiki].

By: Jann

Jann — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 09:05:46 +0000

lol. I recently yeilded to certain abbreviations. I find it impossible to hold out when I’m MSNing colleagues almost all day long (the joys of remote working).

Re the carrots: Why even consider bagged ones anyway? They’ll *always* be more expensive and you can’t buy carrots without smelling them, can you? Carrots smell great. Yeah, I know. I’m missing the point, aren’t I?

By: Gert

Gert — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 21:51:38 +0000

Or the thick Yank who goes:

“Pyjamas, pyjamas, I don’t even know what pyjamas are” or “why spell it honour…just to show your snobbish…why not spell it properly…you snob”

By: Richard

Richard — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 20:54:30 +0000

Isn’t it illegal these days to price veg per pound? I mean, what’s the EU for, if not driving out these daft ancient weighing systems. :-)

On another note, I remember doing a whole philosophy course at university about how words get their meaning:

“I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory,’ ” Alice said.

Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. “Of course you don’t – till I tell you. I meant “there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!”

“But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean “a nice knock-down argument,” Alice objected.

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in a rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.

By: Em³

Em³ — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 20:48:46 +0000

I don’t know what irony means LOL

;-)