Okay, I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, so you’re all probably eager to get your usual fix of excitement, passion, and intrigue that can be found in the typical Threshold post.
By excitement, passion, and intrigue, of course, I mean me complaining about traffic and talking about taking naps.
So fasten your seat belts; you’re in for a wild ride!
On Wednesday, Scott came over for Riff Trax night. We ate at the Fuddruckers in Ashburn. Business there was so slow as to make us wonder if this was yet another place that closed up shop at 5, though things did start to pick up a little as we were leaving.
We watched the Riff of The Matrix Reloaded, and an episode of Buffy (the Emmy-nominated Hush) that Scott had never seen before and which had come up in conversation one day.
Sadly, Mike and the gang have not yet Riffed on The Matrix Revolutions, so we won’t be able to complete the trilogy any time soon.
On Thursday I had an eye appointment after work. I hate having to do anything other than just go home after work – Riff Trax nights excepted, of course – and I especially hate it on Thursdays, because all I want to do is just get home, get the night over with, and have it be Friday.
Given that I had to sit around for almost an hour before actually getting my exam done, I was more annoyed than usual by the interruption.
The upshot of the exam is that my eyes are doing fine, except for the mucus build-up on my eyelids, so I have to scrub my eyelids every day with some solution that I’m sure is nothing more than baby shampoo, go back in three weeks to see how the mucus is doing, and then go back again for my regular check-up in three months.
While I was driving to my appointment I came to the conclusion that a significant number of the people on the road either
Have no particular destination, and are just driving for the sake of driving, idly meandering their way to wherever it is that they finally end up.
or
Have a destination, but aren’t particularly interested in actually getting there any time soon.
The other possible explanation, of course, is that they’re just douchebags who are trying to ruin things for everyone else, which may actually be the likeliest explanation.
Whatever the case, I find myself continually baffled by the people who seem to be deliberately delaying themselves – and by extension, delaying others – by slowing down as they approach green lights, or waiting as long as they possibly can to start moving when the light turns green, or making last-second, disruptive lane changes (“Wait, I’m not turning right, I want to turn left. Well, I’m sure the people behind me won’t mind while I lumber my way over to the left turn lane.”).
So there’s the “complaining about traffic” portion of the excitement, passion, and intrigue.
Up next is my Friday night, which was full of excitement in the form of taking a nap and then watching a bunch of TV.
Today I went out to go to the comic shop, where, in addition to buying comics I went over the list of subscriptions I had to remove anything I don’t want to keep buying and to update my contact information. I only removed one title – a book they had auto-added a while back – as several of the comics I read are getting canceled pretty soon anyway.
After that I made a quick trip to Super Target to get as much grocery shopping done in a short a period as possible, and then stopped to gas up my car, trying to remember the last time I paid less than $2 a gallon for gas.
Once I got home and ate lunch, I resolved to not take a nap today.
My resolve lasted all of 45 minutes.
And that is your excitement, passion, and intrigue-filled Threshold update.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Even More True
To refer back, once again, to yesterday's post on grammar, I would like to add that what's true for blog posts is even more true for tattoos.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Keyword Kraziness: OMFG Edition
Just one search string in this edition of Keyword Kraziness, but trust me; it's enough:
sexy john mccain slashfic
I...I can't...what?
sexy john mccain slashfic
I...I can't...what?
Some Links
Some relevant links in support of my previous post:
The sad, sad state of college English
The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks
Unnecessary Apostrophes
and of course...
Dictionary.com
The sad, sad state of college English
The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks
Unnecessary Apostrophes
and of course...
Dictionary.com
Just A Few Pointers
I make a lot of mistakes when I write stuff.
In fact, going back and reading old Threshold posts can be downright painful given the number of typos, misspellings, wrong word choices, and sentences that just plain don't make sense that I find.
Still, it's rather the nature of the beast when it comes to blogging. After all, I don't spend a lot of time proofreading and editing after writing a post, and I'm sure the same holds true for most other bloggers. Overall, it's understandable and forgivable.
That being said, at least when I go back and see these mistakes I recognize them as being mistakes.
For many other bloggers I'm not sure that's actually the case.
So, as a service to others - and a way of being snarky even though I'm clearly a pot calling a kettle black - I present this handy guide to help others avoid some of the most common mistakes I see on other blogs and Web sites.
Note that "!=" means "is not equal to."
breath != breathe
it's != its, the possesive form of it - it's is a contraction for "it is"
loose != lose
prolly != probably (I'm willing to make an exception in text messages or IMs, but in any less time-sensitive communication it won't kill you to spell out probably. At least, itprolly probably won't.)
should of != should've, a contraction of "should have" - "should of" is utterly meaningless
there != their (belonging to them) or they're (they are)
to != too or two
UR != Well, anything, really. Sure, it works as shorthand for "you are," but there is no
circumstance under which it can be used to indicate "your" or "you're"
woman != women
your != you are, or its contraction you're
Also note that most of the time when you think you need an apostrophe you probably don't.
Apostrophes do two things: they indicate possession or that a word is a contraction.
Examples:
Tom's house (the house belonging to Tom)
That's a spicy meatball (That is a spicy meatball)
Of course, this does lead to the its/it's confusion, but really, it's just a matter of remembering that when you say that something belongs to it you don't need an apostrophe, which doesn't strike me as being all that difficult. Its is a possessive noun just like his, hers, yours, and theirs. Apostrophes need not apply.
Now, bearing in mind that apostrophes are only necessary in two specific instances, it should come as no surprise that you don't need it to do something such as indicate plurality.
Example:
I borrowed some DVDs from Mike. Correct.
I borrowed some DVD's from Mike. Incorrect.
People like to use the apostrophe to indicate plurality (meaning that there is more than one) because they think it provides a visual cue that might otherwise be lacking.
Nonsense.
Is a sentence such as
"I got sick because I ate ten taco's."
Any clearer than
"I got sick because I ate ten tacos."
Or does the apostrophe in the first sentence make you wonder "Ten taco's what? What possession belonging to the ten tacos did you eat?"
Note also that even if you were indicating something that belonged to ten tacos the apostrophe placement would be incorrect, as when there is more than one of something, the apostrophe goes after the "s."
Given the context of a sentence, people are going to be able to figure out what you mean when you write DVDs, or even dvds, or tacos, or lemmings, or...well, pretty much anything.
To summarize, Apostrophes: You're probably doing it wrong.
As an example of making several of the above-mentioned mistakes, I'll restate that:
Apostrophe's: Your prolly doing it wrong.
Keep these things in mind when making blog posts and you'll find yourself considerably less likely to be attacked by Grammar Nazis in the comments. You'll still make mistakes - we all do - but at least they'll be honest mistakes.
For more information, check your local library, or, you know, just remember the basic rules of grammar that you should have learned in school.
In fact, going back and reading old Threshold posts can be downright painful given the number of typos, misspellings, wrong word choices, and sentences that just plain don't make sense that I find.
Still, it's rather the nature of the beast when it comes to blogging. After all, I don't spend a lot of time proofreading and editing after writing a post, and I'm sure the same holds true for most other bloggers. Overall, it's understandable and forgivable.
That being said, at least when I go back and see these mistakes I recognize them as being mistakes.
For many other bloggers I'm not sure that's actually the case.
So, as a service to others - and a way of being snarky even though I'm clearly a pot calling a kettle black - I present this handy guide to help others avoid some of the most common mistakes I see on other blogs and Web sites.
Note that "!=" means "is not equal to."
breath != breathe
it's != its, the possesive form of it - it's is a contraction for "it is"
loose != lose
prolly != probably (I'm willing to make an exception in text messages or IMs, but in any less time-sensitive communication it won't kill you to spell out probably. At least, it
should of != should've, a contraction of "should have" - "should of" is utterly meaningless
there != their (belonging to them) or they're (they are)
to != too or two
UR != Well, anything, really. Sure, it works as shorthand for "you are," but there is no
circumstance under which it can be used to indicate "your" or "you're"
woman != women
your != you are, or its contraction you're
Also note that most of the time when you think you need an apostrophe you probably don't.
Apostrophes do two things: they indicate possession or that a word is a contraction.
Examples:
Tom's house (the house belonging to Tom)
That's a spicy meatball (That is a spicy meatball)
Of course, this does lead to the its/it's confusion, but really, it's just a matter of remembering that when you say that something belongs to it you don't need an apostrophe, which doesn't strike me as being all that difficult. Its is a possessive noun just like his, hers, yours, and theirs. Apostrophes need not apply.
Now, bearing in mind that apostrophes are only necessary in two specific instances, it should come as no surprise that you don't need it to do something such as indicate plurality.
Example:
I borrowed some DVDs from Mike. Correct.
I borrowed some DVD's from Mike. Incorrect.
People like to use the apostrophe to indicate plurality (meaning that there is more than one) because they think it provides a visual cue that might otherwise be lacking.
Nonsense.
Is a sentence such as
"I got sick because I ate ten taco's."
Any clearer than
"I got sick because I ate ten tacos."
Or does the apostrophe in the first sentence make you wonder "Ten taco's what? What possession belonging to the ten tacos did you eat?"
Note also that even if you were indicating something that belonged to ten tacos the apostrophe placement would be incorrect, as when there is more than one of something, the apostrophe goes after the "s."
Given the context of a sentence, people are going to be able to figure out what you mean when you write DVDs, or even dvds, or tacos, or lemmings, or...well, pretty much anything.
To summarize, Apostrophes: You're probably doing it wrong.
As an example of making several of the above-mentioned mistakes, I'll restate that:
Apostrophe's: Your prolly doing it wrong.
Keep these things in mind when making blog posts and you'll find yourself considerably less likely to be attacked by Grammar Nazis in the comments. You'll still make mistakes - we all do - but at least they'll be honest mistakes.
For more information, check your local library, or, you know, just remember the basic rules of grammar that you should have learned in school.
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