Curiosities in the public record

[pretermitted_child]

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Thursday he does not know whether or not he has lost his mojo, as a leading news magazine suggested, because he doesn't really know what mojo is.

So what's the plural of "mojo?"

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by pretermitted_child

So what's the plural of "mojo?"

it's a mass noun, not a count noun. so no plural.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
but why would you ever have a need for plural coitus?

Well, you seem to be saying no one can tell the difference between the singular and plural of coitus anyways.

Is this based on experience, or academic research?

[pretermitted_child]

From the N.Y. Times, no less:

"Rather than simply lamenting the the economy, the Democrats now say that one good quarter does not erase three sluggish years. The growth has not caused a rebound in the job market, they note, and large budget deficits loom for years."

Tsk. Tsk.

[pretermitted_child]

For the second time this term, a lawyer appearing before the Court addressed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as "Justice O'Connor." The victim of this peculiar affliction on Oct. 14 was Jeffrey Lamken, an assistant to the solicitor general who, it might be said, should know better: He clerked for Sandra Day O'Connor 11 years ago.

[Atticus Grinch]

Since when has it been acceptable to use the term "space" to apply to markets? If I read another biz-speak article saying shit like "In 1998, TechnoCom.com was the first to realize the potential of the live B2B chat space for CRM inquiry tracking and response" I'm gonna scream.

It's a metaphor that's actually less illustrative and visual than all the words it replaces.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
Since when has it been acceptable to use the term "space" to apply to markets?

Since people in the tech. business decided not to be governed by the traditional rules of the English language. It's hellish. Have I related the story of an ad that runs in DC in which some guy is spouting a bunch of techno-jargon like "space" and "tasked" and "paradigm" and blah blah blah, and the company says something like "if you want results, and a company that speaks your language, call us. We're an IT company that talks a language you know." So effective I have no idea what the name of the company is. But it's a funny ad. If you were there, of course.

[pretermitted_child]

The Washington Post isn't safe either:

". . . farmers in recent decades have learned to grow wild rice in patties in flooded fields, which allows growers to harvest the rice using combines."

And I thought only hamburgers were grown in patties.

[pretermitted_child]

From deanforamerica.com:

". . . we've cut our state's child abuse rate nearly in half, and child sexual abuse of kids under 6 is down by 70%."

Who would've thought that Vermont had a serious problem of children molesting other children?

[pretermitted_child]

Problems (and solutions) from the First International Olympiad in Theoretical, Mathematical and Applied Linguistics.

The problems are not unlike those that the NSA gives you during a screening interview, except that the NSA's problems are less wordy.

[pretermitted_child]

http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail89.html [spree: contains audible stuff]

At the very end, be sure to click on Trogdor's arm (that muscular arm thingy sticking out next to "a> back"). When a CD cover appears, click on it (with each click, a different grammatical admonition is sung out of tune).

[Atticus Grinch]

Others add that domestic cats, if not neutered, should be kept indoors, so that they don't exasperate the problem.

Indeed.

It was corrected in the transcript, but the ears don't lie.

[Atticus Grinch]

I.e., "I might could come tomorrow."

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

I take it from the lack of activity here that everyone has learned to speak and write proper English much better since this board was first created.

So the job is done.

[pretermitted_child]

Originally posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
I take it from the lack of activity here that everyone has learned to speak and write proper English much better since this board was first created.

So the job is done.

In case you haven't noticed, this board is called Language, not English, which is a subset of the former. Therefore, until everyone has learned to speak properly every language in existence, our work is not done.