Punctuation
Even the humble apostrophe is not safe [spree: Arianna's smiling mug]!
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Since we are on the subject of apostrophes . . .
. . . what about its southern cousin, the unassuming comma?
I have no problems with the comma; in fact, I can't use enough of them. I especially love the serial comma, which delimits so very nicely and unobtrusively. But it has been consistently banished from the papers of some. Why? The serial comma has been blessed by Strunk and White [1], and has also been the subject of an "un-negotiable" ukase [2] from William F. Buckley, Jr. who deems its omission a capital offense. [1] WILLIAM STRUNK, JR. & E. B. WHITE, THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE 2 (4th ed. 2000). [2] WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY, JR. , BUCKLEY: THE RIGHT WORD 82 (Samuel S. Vaughan ed., 1996). |
I don't mind the occasional William Safire column, but god help you if you start quoting the Bluebook.
:bang: - NYT (I hate that wretched publication) Junkie |
I hear ya
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I hate the Bluebook[1] as well; I didn't crack one open until after my 1L year. My 1L legal writing instructor had us internalize the ALWD[2] manual, which is supposedly the enlightened alternative. The index of the Bluebook tells a fascinating anthropological story (when I am not absolutely frustrated by it). While the index of the ALWD manual is slightly less counterintuitive, I frankly can't tell which one is less evil. [1] THE BLUEBOOK: A UNIFORM SYSTEM OF CITATION R. 15.7(f), at 114 (Columbia Law Review Ass'n et al. eds., 17th ed. 2000). [2] Association of Legal Writing Directors & Darby Dickerson, ALWD Citation Manual (Aspen L. & Bus. 2000). |
writer's attic?
there's a word that sounds like "garret" that's like some little room at least sometimes used to describe a poet's lair. Isn't there? If there is, could you let me know what it is? Not remembering is buging me.
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writer's attic?
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(I know, I know, that's not it...) :confused: |
garrett room, apartment, studio
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Garrett Room, n., Small room in attic of residence used as an artist studios in late 19th century Paris. |
writer's attic?
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Curiosities in the public record
Check out The Poetry of D.H. Rumsfeld [spree: a pensive Rummy and bad poetry]
My favorite is: The Unknown As we know, There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know There are known unknowns. That is to say We know there are some things We do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, The ones we don't know We don't know. —Feb. 12, 2002, Department of Defense news briefing |
Bad poetry abounds.
The previous post reminds me of Fisher v. Lowe, 333 N.W.2d 67 (Mich.App. 1983), in which the entire opinion is written in rhyming couplets. What makes this opinion interesting, besides the bad poetry, is that it provides a stark illustration of the primary difference between Westlaw headnotes and Lexis headnotes: those of the former result from some -- at times, substantial -- amount of rewriting/processing of those parts they reference within an opinion, while those of the latter arise out of cut-and-paste operations, wherein the text is left unadulterated. Indeed, when looking at Fisher in the West reporter, one readily notices that the headnotes, as well as the summary, mimic the rhyming couplet scheme of the opinion with loving care. Lexis, by contrast, hasn't been as creative; it has only a solitary non-rhyming headnote, cut-and-pasted from a footnote.
-pc |
Bad headline
A headline on the Oregonian the other day talked about how US troops were moving "perceptively" closer to Baghdad. ARGH.
tm |
writer's attic?
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Bad headline
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What gets me ballistic is the phrase "between you and I," which is apparently seared in the collective conscious, most likely through the concerted efforts of careless 4th grade teachers who tell their students that "between me and you" sounds impolite and barbaric without telling them that it is neverthless grammatically correct. So the "me" and "you" get reversed so as to avoid sounding impolite, and the "me" gets replaced with "I" so as to avoid sounding barbaric. Compounding the problem are songs like Life is a Highway by Tom Cochrane, which managed to get unjustifiably frequent airplay many years ago: Life is a highway. I want to ride it all night long. If you're going my way, I want to drive it all night long. There was a distance between you and I. A misunderstanding once, but now, We look it in the eye. (emphasis added) |
writer's attic?
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Perhaps your opinion needs no revision, unless the Oxford American Dictionary is also a 22-volume behemoth like its English cousin. |
Bad headline
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It divides humanity into three distinct classes. At the top, people who use the word with one syllable. Then people who use it to impress but mispronounce it, with unintentionally bourgeois results. Then, at the bottom, the people who don't know what it means anyway. Alas, it's the people in the top class who have to suffer the odd and pitying looks, like they're the stupid social climbers who overreached their educations. |
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