I have a degree in undecidedness, which explains why I'm a tree-hugging chain saw mechanic.

I'm an unsuccessful sushi barbecuer.

Everyone here knows me as a literalist. I could completely see understand Zit's point in this comic.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned any of the "Frank and Ernest" comics here. I especially like the visits from malaprop man

My wife insists two positives cannot make a negative. Yeah, right.

That's great, Tom!

Hmmmm... Heretofore I thought a malaprop was a bad propulsive device for an airplane.

As for slurred vision, I thought that was astigmatism, but then I realized that that's when you bleed from your hands and feet.

During last night's Boston Red Sox/ Oakland Athletics baseball game, the Boston pitcher scored his first major league strikeout. He asked the catcher to save the ball as a momento of the event, and the catcher tossed it to the batboy. Jerry Remy and Don Ursillo, the TV announcers, were aghast at what happened next. The batboy handed the souvenir ball to a man in the front row and walked away. Remy and Ursillo tried to get someone to make the man return the ball, even offering to send down some hot dogs to him. But they later learned the man is an official who places some marking or seal on the equipment to prove its authenticity. Discussing what had occurred during the next game today, Remy and Ursillo had a long and fruitless discussion concerning what the man did: did he "authenticize" the ball, or did he "authentate" it, or some other mashup of the actual "authenticate."

One interesting thing about the Athletics' uniform is that their cap has "A's" on it. I don't think the apostrophe is warranted in this case.

It seems to me that the word is authenticate.

As for the apostrophe, I suppose they are using it because As would be a word. It's like "minding your ps and qs." Many add an apostrophe for clarity, though I think it's needed even more with As.

As for the apostrophe, I suppose they are using it because As would be a word.

I looked at the Chicago Manual of Style, and it allows apostrophes when pluralizing single, lowercase letters. With uppercase ones, it drops the apostrophe.

So it should be Athletic As? Being a literalist, I'd probably see it as Athletic as, the word.

quote:

So it should be Athletic As?

If you have adopted the Chicago Manual of Style, yes. On the other hand, the Oxford University Style Guide says you shouldn't use an apostrophe at all:

quote:

to clarify something which will look odd if an s is added, consider italicising it or placing it in single quotation marks

Not easy to do on a baseball cap, I suppose.

Not easy to do on a baseball cap, I suppose.

Especially since the "A" is in an old-fashioned blackletter-like font (link).

BTW, I tend to follow the Oxonian style here, except I italicize the letter before adding an -s.

Here is what I found from an online interpretation of the Chicago Manual of Style. I don't have one at home and I needed to pay for it to read it online:

quote:

DO NOT use the apostrophe to form the plural of capital letters:
What the CMS actually says is
Capital letters do not normally require an apostrophe in the plural.
One could write a sentence like this without confusing a reader:
You need to improve the formation of your Ts and Zs.
But one might be tempted to reach for the apostrophes with a sentence like this:
You need to improve the formation of your Ss, Is, and Us.

So, it sounds to me that you could use an apostrophe in the case of confusion.

So, it sounds to me that you could use an apostrophe in the case of confusion.

Sure, but remember what arnie said above. You can pretty much do as you please when it comes to these usage questions. Just be consistent.

I have to chuckle when I see or hear people arguing about whether using the serial (aka Oxford) comma is correct or not. Heck, there's even a band who had a hit (of sorts) song called Oxford Comma (link).

Oh, that is hilarious, z! Serial commas, again, is something that my editors are ferocious about. [Oh dear, and I ended that sentence with a preposition!] I sometimes think a comma is needed before the last series for clarity, but you'll never convince my editors of that!

During today's NASCAR race, one of the rednecks who formerly raced and now pontificates about racing said, "If you're at the front of the pack, you stand a good chance of winning."

I don't know if this was profound or just drivel. Any opinions?

Drivel...which, by the way, is one of my favorite words!

Here's one for you prescriptivists.

Heck, I say "Q-pon." Is that wrong?

Here is a funny one about land lines . They are disappearing, aren't they?

Heck, I say "Q-pon." Is that wrong?

Nope. It's just one of the variants: /'kuːpɑn/ or /'kjuːpɑn/.

As for the comic: unfunny twaddle.

Nothing wrong with Q-pon. It's the "less inexpensive" that fascinated me. Talk about double negatives.

quote:

As for the comic: unfunny twaddle.

Amen!

Yes, Proof, I was confused by that double negative because it really means it would be more expensive with a coupon, doesn't it?

I've never heard "less inexpensive" in the wild. Has anybody? I think the peeving comician made it up.

I looked the phrase up online, and it isn't used much. There were sites for Less: Inexpensive or "less, inexpensive." However, when I did find "less inexpensive" (usually on Answers.yahoo.com), it seemed to mean "cheap." To me, an acknowledged literalist, it should mean "expensive." "Less expensive" would mean "cheap," but "less inexpensive" should mean "expensive."

I later did a googling of "less inexpensive" and did find it on a few pages to mean 'cheap". I guess it's a kind of double negative as you suggested, K.

We were talking about Dilbert on Saturday's chat, and I was saying how I've never thought it that good. Arnie, zmj and Geoff all like that comic, as do a lot of people. So, for the record, I found it somewhat funny today. At least I didn't shred the paper and stuff it in the garbage when I read it.

Do you suppose more men than women like Dilbert? One of my complaints about it is that it seems so redundant - it's always about the same thing.

Do you suppose more men than women like Dilbert?

I think the breakdown goes more with folks in IT / computer technology / Internet-Web businesses liking it better than folks unfamiliar with the day-to-day of high tech. Though there seem to be more men than women in those fields, the number of women has been growing in the past couple of decades.

That's a good point. That may be it.

After the chat, I was thinking about the TV show "The Office," which is similar to Dilbert in that it's a spoof on work. I never could get into that program either (much like Dilbert), and because so many people liked it, I tried.

I too tried. My sons love The Office but I find it too ironic. I much prefer Scott Adam's frontal attacks on bureaucracy. I spent a decade in the paper-pushing end of power-plant engineering '73-'83; tho it was indeed a man's world I loved Dilbert. Long before he arrived, my dh (still an engr in that biz) & I entertained ourselves sketching funnies featuring jars of jelly beans, eagles & turkeys, etc

Given Dilbert or "The Office," I agree; I'd take Dilbert.

Very funny!

The word decider.

Oh, those are both so funny! I've seen the comic you linked to, arnie, but I don't think the one Bob linked to is here in the U.S. Your comics seem a little more intellectual than ours, though it's hard to tell because of selection bias.

This Dustin comic definitely shows how you can use word meanings to suit your needs.

So that's how they do it.

Seems as good as any other explanation.

That doesn't explain why so many now start with "X."

Um - I hate to burst your balloon, but it isn't really the way they come up with names.

Word-related fact: Ben Franklin printed the paper currency for Delaware and Pennsylvania. To deter counterfeiters, he deliberately mis-spelled Pennsylvania on his notes, thinking anyone copying them would correct his mistake, thus proving their bills were bogus.

I thought you were drinking the Koolaid, but I see you are right.

I could not find this comic online. I love Joe Fournier comics anyway, and this one about ex-President Clinton was great. In each of four frames Clinton is talking:

For every other foundation there is one set of rules, but for the Clinton foundation there's another. Where does this rabid compulsion to scrutinize every single thing Hillary and I say or do come from?

Granted, our sentences are a combination of a 16th century maze garden and a game of three card monte, with their actual meaning revealed only after long, protracted stretches of parsing, meditation and the aid of a spiritual guide.

Still, why our every utterance is placed under a microscope is anyone's guess.

(Though I suppose the statement "is anyone's guess" hinges on what my definition of what the word "is" is.)

Then funny thing is, as I've said here before, I completely understood Clinton's questioning the word "is" in that context. He, like me, is probably a literalist.

Not quite a "comic", this is still pretty comical. Please disregard the offensive commercial that runs before the main feature.

A bit weird, that's for sure. And the commercial was very sad.

This isn't really word related, but it sure is funny!

Does that mean they're taking his Viagra away, then giving it back?

I was thinking open heart surgery and putting him on a cardiopulmonary bypass pump.