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Does anyone see anything wrong with the title of this new movie that just came out?  I love Dr. Seuss. His use of words was magical, and my children and I were mesmerized by his stories. Therefore, there is no way I could see this movie. According to the critics, they have added "burps, farts and dog pee" when they surely wouldn't have had to. They added political correctness, by including a baby sitter, apparently fearing the audience would think the mother lax if she left her kids alone. However, the worst criticism is that it includes little of his language and even less of his wit. | ||
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quote: ...er... "Dr" doesn't need a full stop? (Well it doesn't this side of the Atlantic anyway!) (Yes, yes, I know about the other error.) Why should I let the toad work Squat on my life ? Can't I use my wit as a pitchfork And drive the brute off ? Read all about my travels around the world here. Read even more of my travel writing and poems on my weblog. | |||
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The rule concerning the use of the full stop (period) in abbreviations used to confuse me. However, I have now found a rule which (unlike so many rules of English) seems to have few, if any, exceptions. It is this. If the abbreviation does not contain the final letter of the abbreviated word (company, concentrated) then it needs a full stop (Co. Conc.). If the abbreviation does contain the abbreviated word's final letter (mister, doctor) then no full stop is required (Mr Dr). Now, just think how much ink you'll be able to save from now on by omitting the full stop from "Mr." Richard English | |||
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quote: A notable review of this film pointed out that there is so very little Seuss in it that the entire licensing process could have been avoided by simply (and accurately) naming the movie "Mike Meyers - A**hole in Fur." The ads, of course, say it's wonderful... | |||
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CJ, have you seen it? I am curious, but not enough to see it. quote:Ads maybe; critics no. It is getting one and a half stars. | |||
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quote:Well, your exclamation is a bit different from before ("Holy sweet Jesus on a Moped"), but I still love it!  I thought negatory was another CJ coinage, but, I find that it is a word! | |||
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"Negatory" was sardonic pseudo-military radio jargon where I was. | |||
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You're both correct. (Jeeze, I'm misquoting myself! Oh, the ravages of old age!) | |||
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Please forgive this long post, but I am not able to link to it unless you all subscribe to the Chicago Tribune. I liked this take-off on "The Cat in the Hat," by Martin Kimel and with apologies to Dr. Seuss: The Flack in the Hat Sally and I had nothing to do. We stared out the window. We were bored with the view. So we turned on the tube, and what did we see? The Cat in the Hat! He was there in TV! He was on Ch. 2! He was on Ch. 4! He was peddling goods in commercials galore! "These burgers are good for you kids, said the cat. "They are good for you, yes, "Though they'll make you grow fat. "Have plenty of soda, potato chips too. "Your mother won't mind it at all if you do." But our fish did not like it. Not one little bit. He loudly complained. He would not let it sit. He said, "You wouldn't be selling out all we hold dear "If Theodor Geisel--Dr. Seuss--were still here!" "Look at me!" said the cat. "Yes, it's fun to be funny. "But in the real world, you have to make money. "For a reasonable fee, "I'll pitch what you wish. (Just get me away from that bothersome fish.) "I can plug Mr. Clean. "Or push dishwater soap. "I can sell you 10 kinds of Jam-jigger-roo rope. "I'll sell digital toys. "Or girls' clothes for boys. "Or useless devices that make funny noise. "But I am not through. "No, I am not done. "If you like, I can sell you Thing Two or Thing One!" Then the cat turned to pick up a rake he had bent. On his back was a sign read- ing, "This space for rent." With a tip of his hat, The famed cat got a wave. And he left Dr. Seuss to spin, spin in his grave. | |||
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quote: I somehow missed this when you first posted it, R.E. Is this actually the rule for full stop use in the U.K.? Interesting but (big surprise) not how we do things over here in the U. S. of A. I was taught that any abbreviation rates a period/full stop so that both "Mr." and "Co." would be correct. On the other hand, the feminine honorific "Ms" has no longer meaning of its own and so takes no period/full stop. Also, Harry Truman had no middle name, only an initial, and so "Harry S Truman" is correct. Sounds logical to me. To cross-thread a bit, I recently saw a website with a section entitled "F.A.Q's" - Is that a poke in the eye or what?! (Excellent Dr. Seuss parody though, K.) | |||
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My reference was Michael Temple's "Guide to Written English" - now, I fear, out of print. It is a guide to UK English and it may well be that things are different in the USA. It is certainly the way we do things here. I would like to find a reference to learn whether it is a genuine UK/US difference or just a common US error. Richard English | |||
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I don't have a reference but I believe it to be a genuine US/UK difference. I have certainly encountered it before. Why should I let the toad work Squat on my life ? Can't I use my wit as a pitchfork And drive the brute off ? Read all about my travels around the world here. Read even more of my travel writing and poems on my weblog. | |||
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quote: Once again you refuse to accept me as a reference but, the holiday season being what it is, I'll magnanimously overlook the slight. I'll also hunt up a legitimate source (since you see me as the opposite which I, of course, deny - my parents were married long before I was born) but will probably not have time to post it until after the holidays are over. | |||
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In the headline "Dr. Seuss' Cat in the Hat" we see the period following the Dr abbreviation, plus the s-less possessive. Can we assume that the apostrophe here is pronounced [z] ?? | |||
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I have never seen the headline in a journal but, if it is, as has been quoted in these postings, "Dr. Seuss' Cat in the Hat" then it is grammatically incorrect in both the respects cited. However, since headlines and titles are so often wrong, I fear there is little to be said on the subject. Richard English | |||
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I will be happy so to do providing, of course, that you extend the same courtesy to me. Otherwise we shall both have to revert to lesser-known lexicographers such as Fowler and Roget. Richard English | |||
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quote: Now, Richard (you know me, the literalist!), the way I read this quote is that the period after Dr. is not required, but certainly acceptable. Yet, you say, quote:which seems to indicate that you consider the use of the period after Dr grammatically incorrect. In the U.S. we do use a period after Dr. and Mr. In England is the period "not required" or "grammatically incorrect?" | |||
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In UK English it is not required and is therefore grammatically incorrect. Just as the apostrophe is not required in the possessive form of it and thus "it's", too, is incorrect. I don't know whether the US full-stop usage is now considered acceptable by most authorities or whether, like the non-standard possessive of words ending in "s", it is simply a common US mistake. Authoritive quotes, please? Richard English | |||
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I will look for a source, Richard. It very well could be like "boss'", in that the prevelant misuse of that apostrophe has made it seem acceptable. I can only tell you that I work a lot with work done by physicians or people with doctorates, and there is always a period after "Dr." I am looking at an article in the "Journal of Professional Nursing," as I write this; it says to "address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Romyn, Centre for Nursing and Health Studies, Athabasca University, Alberta Canada." However, maybe I am a dunce....but, when someone says to me that an apostrophe or period or whatever "isn't required," to me that means that it is perfectly acceptable, just not required. Does everyone else read it like Richard does, i.e., that "not required" means that it is grammatically incorrect? | |||
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I should perhaps make it clear that the quotation about whose meaning we are arguing was my own! It was not the way that Temple had expressed it in his own work. I meant it to mean that it was wrong to put a full-stop after an abbreviation whose final letter was the same as the abbreviated word. My choice of the term "not required" was, perhaps, not entirely clear; my meaning, though, is as I have stated, and as Temple suggested. Richard English | |||
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Okay, I was just wondering if I was out in left field.  Thanks for the clarification.Today I saw a sentence (in the local newspaper) using the possessive of Illinois, as "Illinois'." Since the "s" is not pronounced in "Illinois", it definitely needs the "s's", right? BTW, I hate it when people pronounce Illinois with the "s". Every so often you will hear that. | |||
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Had he lived, Dr. Seuss would have turned 100 yesterday. Of course, the Mike Meyers movie would have killed him but that's another matter. | |||
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Just up on a trivia website and picked up the following semi-interesting factoid: Dr. Seuss pronounced his name to rhyme with "rejoice." Odd... | |||
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On-line, taken from the campus newspaper of Dr. Seuss's alma mater, is this explanation of how his pseudonym came to be. Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel was quite the prankster back in his Dartmouth College days. Geisel, a member of the class of 1925, spent the majority of his time at Dartmouth writing and partying. Geisel's pseudonym, "Dr. Seuss," originated at Dartmouth after he was punished for an alcohol violation. After being caught with a bottle of gin in his room, Geisel was put on probation for violating the laws of Prohibition (and on Easter evening, no less). Geisel defended his position, however, claiming "We had a pint of gin for ten people, so that proves nobody was really drinking." As a result, Geisel was banned from all extracurricular activities, including his role as editor in chief of the Jack-o-Lantern. Thus, in order to continue to write for the Jacko, Geisel wrote under different pseudonyms until he finally stuck with "Seuss," his middle name. A member of the faculty at the time of Geisel's evolving pseudonym submitted the following poem to The Dartmouth: ..........You're wrong as the deuce ..........And you shouldn't rejoice ..........If you're calling him Seuss. ..........He pronounces it Soice. Geisel attributed much of his success as a writer to his Dartmouth education. Geisel is said to have written "Green Eggs and Ham" after attending an alumni function where the food was dyed green. [This message was edited by Hic et ubique on Mon Mar %75, 2004 at 17:50.] | |||
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Excellent trivia, Hic! Really first rate. This is just the kind of thing that so frequently gets me tossed out of bars. Can't wait to try it out! | |||
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Hic: Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel ... is said to have written "Green Eggs and Ham" after attending [a Dartmouth] alumni function where the food was dyed green. By the way, Dartmouth's school colors are green and white, and its football team is called the "Big Green". | |||
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CJ, thanks to your kind words I looked further today when my eye fell upon a book prominently displayed in the bookstore: The Seuss, the Whole Seuss, and nothing but the Seuss. It is wonderful, and I highly recommend that you treat yourself to a look. But it tells that the story I gave above is not quite accurate. Ted Geisel was indeed caught hosting Easter-eve collegiate drinking, and was by that suspension as editor-in-chief of the college humor magazine, and soon used the Seuss name - but the story goes further. Pseudonyms were nothing new to Ted. He'd used them regularly (examples: L. Burbank, L. Pasteur and D.G.Rosetti, plus a lot of nonsense ones) even as far back as high school. (Why? The book reasons that extra names blunted any appearance that, as magazine editor, he was favoring himself as contributor. My guess though is that extra names made it look like the magazine had a broader circle of contributors.) He was suspended late in the school year, with two issues of the magazine remaining, the first of them due out very soon. In the first he used several pseudonyms (including Seuss); in the second and final every story and cartoon ran without the name of its author. If Ted was plotting to dodge his punishment, why use two separate dodges? The book concludes that by the time of the suspension the first issue had already gone to the presses (the drinking party may have been to celebrate putting the issue to bed); and that only the last issue was ducking Geisel ducking his punishment. So the "Seuss" name did not arise from the drinking incident. Why did that particular pseudonym survive, rather than the others? Though the book doesn't comment, it notes that many other college humor magazines did cartoons in parody of Geisel's style, running them under names like Souss and Sousse. I speculate that they favored the "Seuss" pseudonym because it led to a prohibition-era pun on the word "souse", and it is that further use that made this particular pseudonym stick. | |||
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Higgledy Piggledy Theodore Geisel was Pseudonymiacal, Drank himself flat. Apotheocizedly, Some of my favorites: Green Eggs and Ham and The Cat in the Hat. Okay, okay. It is late, and I wanted to finish it. Still, I had fun! | |||
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hic: a book prominently displayed in the bookstore: The Seuss, the Whole Seuss, and nothing but the Seuss. Thanks, hic; it was fun. I particularly enjoyed when Seuss, despairing of poor spelling, attempted to create a good speller by crossing two animals: ....................a spelling bee, and ....................an elephant that never forgets. | |||
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Hey, can I assume you've all seen the April 2004 Playboy? No, I don't subscribe but the father of one of my grandsons does and I'm here babysitting and, well... Long story short, Dr. Seuss was mentioned on a list of deceased celebrities who made the most money in 2003. The good doctor was tied for fifth place with George Harrison. #4 was John Lennon, #3, J. R. R. Tolkien, #2 was Charles Schultz (creator of "Peanuts" comic strip) and Number One last year and probably most years, the King himself, Elvis. Dead for more than two decades, Presley made more last year, $40 million, than I would see in a dozen lifetimes. Depressing... | |||
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A fascinating list: three English and two with no talent whatsoever. Is Playboy really so respectable that you leave it out for your father-in-law to read? | |||
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Trying to figure the second one with "no talent whatsoever." Surely the first is Elvis. No, you don't leave Playboy around for fathers-in-law to see! | |||
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quote: First off, you misread my post. The magazine belonged to the father of one of my grandsons AKA my daughter's live-in boyfriend (see new thread elsewhere) and not anyone's father-in-law. And regarding talent, while I agree that "Peanuts" ended up being one of the lamest comic strips that trees ever gave their lives for, when it first came out in the 1950's it was amazingly fresh and innovative. The concept of children addressing adult feelings and situations (for example, the new science of psychotherapy was frequently discussed) was unheard of back then. "Peanuts," believe it or not, was the "Far Side" of its time. | |||
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Okay, I give. Why Chris J. Strolin now? Did you not like your avatar and wanted to get rid of it? CJ, I don't think either Graham or I misread your post. You were reading the magazine because it was left out, and we thought you were the father-in-law. Graham asked if "Playboy" should be left out for a father-in-law to see. While I am sure you are a cool father-in-law  , not all fathers-in-law are! That was the point.I figured the second was "Peanuts," but I do agree with CJ at that one. CJ, I couldn't have said it better. | |||
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