ATTN: Copyeditors and Grammar Fiends

Osilator

Oslonaut

Praguer U

demonyms should get their own thread imo

poll demonyms

this one is just...
Aguascalientes Hidrocálido

i mean why change from latin to greek

Search & Destroy: Demonyms

Ozalid

deemsonyms

I'm creating a gif where a quote begins on one screen (I don't really know how you describe gifs) and ends on another. Where do the quote marks go? I am working on the assumption it will work in the same way as in regular prose where a quote extends across two paragraphs, i.e. first para has an initial quote mark but no end quote (to show continuation), while second para has quotes at beginning and end. So like this:

"The quote begins on one screen...

"and ends on another."

Is that right? I suppose I would just follow whatever is standard in subtitling/captioning, but I don't know much about that.

not sure there's a right/wrong here so much as a "how clearly do you feel it reads?"

myself i wd probably go with:

"The quote begins on one screen...

… and ends on another"

(reason i guess bcz the regular-prose usage is abt how the eye reads and travels and reads when things are on the same page, on one line and then the next? but as reasons go this is merely an ex post facto ratioanlisation of my preferred taste really)

if the broken paragraph was many lines long i might not do it this way, but if it's this short yr talking abt the eye taking it in in one blink

Are these captions for people speaking, or is like a silent voiceover kind of deal?

(xpost)

Hmm, I think you're right. I did it the first way without thinking when writing the script in a doc, but it looks fussy in the gif. I'll go with your suggestion, thanks.

Are the ellipsis going to be visible?

It's just a little promotional gif - no sound.

Yeah, either way, I'd have ellipses on screen as written above.

in that case I would have a space after 'screen' (but again I think that's just personal preference).

INVITE as a noun, c/d

there seems to be a history of it, but also i hate it. i mean INVITATION is right there (as is INVITEE, for even more horrifying usages)

asking a colleague if they got an “invitation” to a meeting or a zoom call feels inappropriately festive or momentous to me - “invite” sounds right to me in that situation

Either tbh

^^^canceled and cancelled xp

but maybe you're right

Bet that the aussies call it an invie or something

Theyd call british disgust at same the pommie tsks of invie maybe

the sad bells of invies

it’s a weird area

sometimes i call my work planner my “diary” and sometimes my “calendar”

people who call it their “outlook” are disgusting dogs imo

What if you are....using outlook?

Invite is even pronounced differently than invite.

Yes, it’s evolved like the noun version of embed in that regard. I’m at peace with both. In fact I don’t really see why people get het up about verbs becoming nouns.

Fuck an "invite". I'm not going.

ive probably said this before in this thread but the way words can cheekily step out of their parsed category is one of the excellent things about the english language (and it isn't just nouns and verbs)

my off-the-cuff theory is that it's bcz english doesn't really deploy word-endings as declensions or conjugations but the why of it matters less than the fact that it happens and it's poetry

also poetry: the shift of the accent in invite and invite

Naw, “invitation” is way too associated with things you want to attend, and has a valence of being something extended in honour and attended as a privilege.

The “INvite” to the cross-functional alignment meeting, OTOH, is extended in the spirit of mutual suffering and perfunctory ritual obligation, and I feel like the word reflects that.

See also: pre-sént (v) and prés-ent (n).

There way seems to be a tendency to stress the first syllable on the noun version of verb/noun words

Present, invite, embed and record all follow this, at least.

I think some people do 'access' that way too, and I quite like it, but most of us just stress the first syllable regardless.

Lots more here, in fact:
https://www.english-at-home.com/pronunciation/noun-and-verb-syllable-stress/

When they begin the beguine

When they present the present

https://moteefe.com/store/science11/48527977-YAll-Sucker-Need-Science-T-Shirt?color=black&product=men-s-t-shirt

Why will no-one correct “a myriad of” in any book, ever, anymore? Is “myriad” no longer an adjective?

*weeps*

Well, googling tells me that the noun form is fine & actually predates the adjective.

*tears of pedantry*

A myriad originally denoted the specific numeric quantity 'ten thousand'. Over time, it acquired a much less specific meaning, denoting 'an unspecified large number or quantity'. In this usage the whole amount being described is treated as a unit, and it is analogous to other unitary measures such as a bushel of peas, a handful of dust, a cup of water, or a lot of people. Used in this way it has a myriad of applications.

Apparently.

old-timey pictures of the sphinx which are terrible

^^^or shd it have been "old-timey pictures of the sphinix that are terrible"

when my if…. book came out martin skidmore said (among nicer things) that it was full of me getting the which/that choice wrong -- basically (ppl who hire proofing editors close yr eyes NOW) i go more by feel and sound and not some dumb rule (but what even is the rule lol): here i was likely just bodyswerving the repeated "th" and i'd do it again copper

I'm sure there is a proper rule, but without checking I can't quite articulate what I think it is. I'd say the thread title should be "that".

I slightly prefer “that” there but lol mark’s post otm.

Also sphinix another typo uo can use

Spinix from the ashes

Fat finger salute

Oh yeah I had a question the other day, how do people feel about the word “distaff”?