I know. :/
― max readroom (jaymc), Thursday, 16 July 2009 16:44 (fourteen years ago) link
on another subject, why is it "i'm fabulous aren't i?" when "are" does not agree with "i".
my guess: we started using it as a sonic substitute as amn't fell out of favor
my recommendation: tell people you're part Scottish and say amnae
― nabisco, Thursday, 16 July 2009 17:13 (fourteen years ago) link
Can't seem to find an answer to this by googling...when you are talking about U.S. administrations -- e.g. the Bush administration, the Reagan administration etc., does administration have a capital A? I seem to remember being told that you talk about a government but the Government, but I don't know if the principle is the same.
― Cathy, Monday, 3 August 2009 10:25 (fourteen years ago) link
I would say yes.
― free jazz and mumia (sarahel), Monday, 3 August 2009 10:28 (fourteen years ago) link
I would say no, and I wouldn't capitalize "the Government," either. But house styles may vary.
― jaymc, Monday, 3 August 2009 13:24 (fourteen years ago) link
AP says lower case for "administration".
― http://tinyurl.com/bapppp (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 3 August 2009 20:31 (fourteen years ago) link
usage question: do you think the phrase "rest assured" requires an object (e.g., "rest assured that we're working on it"), or do you think one can rest assured in the abstract? (like, just resting, feeling assured. of nothing in particular.)
― nabisco, Monday, 3 August 2009 23:08 (fourteen years ago) link
i'd say the latter. merriam-webster may say differently, but i think it's perfectly OK to use "assured" to mean a state of mind, so it'd be just like writing "rest happy"
― 8080's and internet break (k3vin k.), Tuesday, 4 August 2009 01:41 (fourteen years ago) link
m-w links assured² (noun) to "insured", but fuck that imo
― 8080's and internet break (k3vin k.), Tuesday, 4 August 2009 01:43 (fourteen years ago) link
Re the winning margin in a horse race: "two and three-quarters lengths" or "two and three-quarter lengths"? Converting to numerals is not an option, alas.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 18 August 2009 22:37 (fourteen years ago) link
Latter is more popular on Google, but the former feels more correct, since it's basically "two lengths and three-quarters of a length," right?
― jaymc, Tuesday, 18 August 2009 22:38 (fourteen years ago) link
or three fourths, yes.
― free jazz and mumia (sarahel), Tuesday, 18 August 2009 22:39 (fourteen years ago) link
Maybe it just looks jarring to people because of the two plurals right next to each other.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 18 August 2009 22:42 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh wait, new alternative:
Results 1 - 10 of about 3,050 for "two and three-quarters lengths". (0.12 seconds)Results 1 - 10 of about 66,300 for "two and three-quarter lengths". (0.15 seconds) Results 1 - 10 of about 249,000 for "two and three-quarters of a length". (0.14 seconds)
― jaymc, Tuesday, 18 August 2009 22:43 (fourteen years ago) link
three quarter-lengths
― conrad, Tuesday, 18 August 2009 22:44 (fourteen years ago) link
the only thing I can think of is that horse racing may have special conventions for stuff like that ...but on the other hand ... would you say three-quarters pound burger or three-quarter pound burger?
― free jazz and mumia (sarahel), Tuesday, 18 August 2009 22:45 (fourteen years ago) link
xxp Never mind, that's Google up to its old tricks, where it says "249,000 results" and then you click to the second page and find out that it's "omitted" some "similar" entries and that there are really only 17 hits.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 18 August 2009 22:45 (fourteen years ago) link
xp Neither, I'm a pescatarian.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 18 August 2009 22:46 (fourteen years ago) link
Quick question on US style re: quote marks and punctuation (that old chestnut). Does the "punctuation inside" rule apply even with things that aren't direct quotations, as in:
The film tells the story of the "People's Princess".
or
The film tells the story of the "People's Princess."
?
― Alba, Wednesday, 19 August 2009 10:29 (fourteen years ago) link
Yes.
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 19 August 2009 10:30 (fourteen years ago) link
I know it's hard to believe but in American English I don't really think there are any exceptions to putting periods and commas inside quotation marks.
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 19 August 2009 10:36 (fourteen years ago) link
Thanks.
― Alba, Wednesday, 19 August 2009 10:39 (fourteen years ago) link
Someone who is not my friend but whose comments I can see on facecase just wrote: "I was in main and got to see the wales to." It's like a perfect shitstorm of eye-stabbing.
― that stupid-ass cannibal pen-pal of yours (Laurel), Tuesday, 15 September 2009 22:38 (fourteen years ago) link
I would friend that person just to berate them, then unfriend.
― Mario Brosephs (Pancakes Hackman), Tuesday, 15 September 2009 22:49 (fourteen years ago) link
Corduroy wales, surely.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 15 September 2009 22:53 (fourteen years ago) link
"to" is Welsh for "roof" and "main" is Welsh for "lean" -- maybe it's a complicated pun
― nabisco, Tuesday, 15 September 2009 23:06 (fourteen years ago) link
facecase!
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 16 September 2009 02:02 (fourteen years ago) link
facecase.
Supposed to edit the questions for a multiple choice test. For the answer choices, complete sentences end with a period, fragments/numbers/etc. don't end with punctuation. What about choices such as "Yes" and "No"?
― Super Smize (Leee), Saturday, 26 September 2009 05:15 (fourteen years ago) link
Have any of you ever heard or used the word "timeously"?
― Maria :D, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 23:49 (fourteen years ago) link
Not until just now. Seeing as it's just about universally defined as the exact same as "timely," perhaps you can be one of the last speakers of English to help euthanize it.
― nabisco, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 23:59 (fourteen years ago) link
I just came across it in a translation. "Timely" has the problem of being an awkward adverb. I always end up using "in a timely fashion" (in contracts and official documents).
― Maria :D, Thursday, 1 October 2009 00:17 (fourteen years ago) link
oh right, that's completely true -- that's a big point of utility for it. (and makes defining it as just "timely" sort of ... bad, actually.)
― nabisco, Thursday, 1 October 2009 00:31 (fourteen years ago) link
I thought it was even more wussy than "timorously."
― Beth Parker, Thursday, 1 October 2009 14:29 (fourteen years ago) link
so you know how everyone has that one grammar thing that they can't ever get right? your/you're, who/who, it's/its etc. well mine is effect/affect. can someone help me 2 understand :-/?
― baby girl lemme snrub up on you (J0rdan S.), Friday, 2 October 2009 20:41 (fourteen years ago) link
ha - who/that**
WHO THAT
― wH1N1 g. swinegarten (k3vin k.), Friday, 2 October 2009 20:43 (fourteen years ago) link
affect is usually a verb, ie "[x] affects [y]"effect is usually a noun, ie "[x] has an effect on [y]"
that's the simplified version i guess
― wH1N1 g. swinegarten (k3vin k.), Friday, 2 October 2009 20:45 (fourteen years ago) link
Copyeditors and Grammar Fiends, we that
― baby girl lemme snrub up on you (J0rdan S.), Friday, 2 October 2009 20:45 (fourteen years ago) link
thank u kev
it gets really fun when you realize that "to effect" can be a transitive verb meaning "to bring about" ie "obama hopes to effect change..."
also forms of "affect" can refer to emotions, ie someone's "affective state"
― wH1N1 g. swinegarten (k3vin k.), Friday, 2 October 2009 20:48 (fourteen years ago) link
UH so i'm doing a GROUP PROJECT *searches desk drawer for bullets* and this girl sent me this part of the project that she was responsible for. and it included this sentence (the project is about urban legends, ours is the bermuda triangle) (college!!):
Our conclusion is that the Bermuda triangle could be a supernatural but then the events having occurred in other similar areas is either aliens also or they shake the foundations of the legend.
― bighoos (steen) (J0rdan S.), Monday, 12 October 2009 02:43 (fourteen years ago) link
like....whaaaaatttttttt
for the record: i am in college
― bighoos (steen) (J0rdan S.), Monday, 12 October 2009 02:44 (fourteen years ago) link
That's fucking poetry.
― kshighway1, Monday, 12 October 2009 02:45 (fourteen years ago) link
college as in university?
― Not the real Village People, Monday, 12 October 2009 02:48 (fourteen years ago) link
Don't edit any of that. Just pass it in as is.
― kshighway1, Monday, 12 October 2009 02:48 (fourteen years ago) link
xpost
http://www.killahbeez.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/miss-teen-south-carolina.jpg
― bighoos (steen) (J0rdan S.), Monday, 12 October 2009 02:48 (fourteen years ago) link
yes, as in, you had to apply and be accepted to be allowed to take classes
― bighoos (steen) (J0rdan S.), Monday, 12 October 2009 02:49 (fourteen years ago) link