Interesting, arnie, and very apropos of a program I just saw on BBC with someone from that Queen's English group and another person who argued against "proper English." They particularly were talking about splitting prepositions (the Queen's English guy said never, and she said it's perfectly acceptable) and the use of "wicked" to mean "cool." He said it muddled the clarity of the sentence, while she presented a good case on how it adds color to the language.
Some Brazilians, are, apparently, insecure about their Portuguese grammar. Rio de Janeiro state is setting up a hotline to give advice. See the Economist's Johnson blog
I shudder to think what would happen if the likes of the QES or Lynn Truss were to run an equivalent in the UK.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
I'm subscribed to a lot of language sites in my RSS reader, FeedDemon, and so can read every new post. Often they'll link to an article on another site, new to me, which, if it looks OK, goes into my subscriptions, too.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Those are great, arnie. Schiller Park is in our vicinity. They must have trouble with skateboarders...which reminds me of a new word I learned today: skitching. Apparently it's when you're on your skateboard and you "hitch" to a car that pulls you. It's, as you might imagine, very dangerous.
Below, I have posted some of the stranger rules from libraries around the country. A person not familiar with the modern public library, might think they are a joke, but they are not—when it comes to rules, librarians have no humor; indeed, I have personally dealt with all of these violations at least once.
Seattle Public Library • NO CAMPING ON LIBRARY GROUNDS. • NO USING RESTROOMS FOR BATHING OR SHAMPOOING, DOING LAUNDRY, OR CHANGING CLOTHES.
Schiller Park Public Library Examples of minor disruption: NO OPERATING WHEELED VEHICLES OR USING ANY WHEELED FOOTWEAR INSIDE THE BUILDING, I.E., BICYCLES, TRICYCLES, ROLLER BLADES, ROLLER SKATES, SKATEBOARDS, ETC., EXCEPT WHERE SUCH USE IS TO AFFORD A DISABLED PERSON ACCESS TO THE LIBRARY.
Fremont Public Library NO BRINGING FIREARMS, CONCEALED HANDGUNS AND/OR OTHER DEADLY WEAPONS INTO THE LIBRARY.
Los Angeles Public Library NO SEXUAL MISCONDUCT, SUCH AS EXPOSURE OR THREATENING TOUCHING.
South Pasadena Public Library NO ILLEGAL BEHAVIOR OF ANY TYPE.
Dallas Public Library NO STALKING OTHER CUSTOMERS OR STAFF, INCLUDING LOOKING INTO AN AREA, SUCH AS A RESTROOM, THAT IS DESIGNED TO PROVIDE PRIVACY TO A PERSON USING THE AREA.
Santa Monica Public Library NO USING THE LIBRARY IF YOUR BODILY HYGIENE IS OFFENSIVE SO AS TO CONSTITUTE A NUISANCE TO OTHERS.
Warren-Trumbull County Public Library NO ONGOING USE OF LIBRARY AS PLACE OF COMMERCIAL BUSINESS.
Middletown Public Library NO BEING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL/ILLEGAL DRUGS, AND SELLING, USING, OR POSSESSING ALCOHOL/ILLEGAL DRUGS.
Jersey City Free Public Library NO FIGHTING, HARASSING, OR THREATENING PATRONS OR STAFF.
Miami-Dade Public Library NO LEAVING INDIVIDUALS REQUIRING CARE UNATTENDED FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME OR AT CLOSING.
Waukesha Public Library NO PROLONGED OR CHRONIC SLEEPING.
West Florida Public Library INDECENT EXPOSURE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO HAVING SEX AND/OR EXHIBITING LEWD AND OFFENSIVE NAKEDNESS, IS PROHIBITED.
Central Arkansas Library System CLOTHING MUST BE ZIPPED, BUTTONED, OR FASTENED TO AVOID INCEDENT EXPOSURE.
There is an interesting post on the origin of text-speak from the Visual Thesaurus Blog: Link Read this from "An Essay to Miss Catharine Jay (1847): Link
I know I have posted here earlier about telegraphing being a form of texting, but I hadn't realized it was used in essays and poetry in the mid-1800s.
Not content with producing William McGonagall, Scotland can also boast "the world’s worst author", it seems. See this post in Futility Closet about Angus McDiarmid.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Interesting. I had not heard of him. I wonder if he really wrote his book in Scottish Gaelic and then translated it (badly) into English, or if the blogger meant Scots English.
Wikipedia has a surprisingly long article about the book and its author.
quote:
To account for McDiarmid's style, ... McDiarmid's native language was Scottish Gaelic, and in translating his writings into English, he used a dictionary extensively, choosing the most impressive word without regard to its part of speech
The article also says
quote:
An antiquarian notes that although most accept the book as authentic, one may doubt whether McDiarmid existed.[6] If he did not, "J. Ss." and "R. S. A." must have joined in the hoax, fifty years later.
Whilst I was reading the article I was reminded of English as She is Spoke, and I see that the Wikipedia author had the same idea.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
McDiarmid's native language was Scottish Gaelic, and in translating his writings into English, he used a dictionary extensively, choosing the most impressive word without regard to its part of speech
I read a couple of pages at random and skimmed about half the book. I found no problems involving parts of speech, but did find a few errors of conjugation. His English syntax is rather good and I would be surprised if he did not speak or read and write English. (In fact, it was a lot better than many foreign students I have taught.) It is a strange little book.
I was at a nursing education session tonight where a panel was looking back at how nursing education has evolved and what some of the problems have been in the last few decades. One panelist said that several years ago we worried about distance education because there was no socialization. This was before social networking hit the scene, and it has really changed that aspect of distance learning.
This isn't about the blog post itself, more about the correction of a typo.
quote:
This blog post originally stated that one in three black men who have sex with me is HIV positive. In fact, the statistic applies to black men who have sex with men.
Funny, arnie. I hadn't known about South Dakota, but here are some facts about the SD problem. Here's another story about it. It's interesting that many of the stories about it are from the UK.
Wow - I know I'm late in responding to this, but let me just say it's all true! I, too, have dealt with all of these issues and more! I just helped re-write our system-wide protocol for dealing with sexual misconduct. I've had to kick people out of my branches for all sorts of crazy things.
A few weeks ago we actually had to talk to someone about bathing in the public men's room. He said "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know that would be a problem." We finally caught on to what was going on because our custodian was having to completely re-fill the paper towels every night, rather than every few days!
Now, to try to convince people that their preschool-aged children should not be left at one end of the building while they are fully engaged with their internet computer at the other end . . . this is an endless battle.
******* "Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions. ~Dalai Lama
The term surely has roots in Europe, where terms like Dutch kaaskop and German Käsekopf are well-known and often negative. UrbanDictionary, in fact, has this:
Slang(can also be used offensively) for a Dutch person. "Kaaskop" means "cheesehead" in Dutch. Because the Netherlands is very well known for its cheese.
Interestingly, there is a huge German contingency in Wisconsin (not sure about Dutch) so that's a possibility.
I still like dawdling. Circumflatulate does remind me a little of Sarah Palin's refudidate. I've never believed hers was coined, though. That's too highbrow for her. I think it was a spoonerism, though I tend to get spoonerisms, Mondegreens, malapropisms, and eggcorns mixed up. Here is a nice description of each.
