These were "reminded to me" by cousin Susan. I decided to start collecting them, and other gems by the late, great Uncle Eagle (Don) here in my blog. For those of you who never met Uncle Eagle, he was an artist, a scientist, a wordsmith, a comedian . . . a genius.
Poems and limericks
Cowboy Tom, with much aplomb
went to bed with his spurs on.
When his mother catches him,
he’ll wish those spurs had never been!
-----
The monster from the briny deep
might eat you while you're still asleep!
That crazy creature never sleeps,
That crazy creature always creeps!
. . . stay tuned . . .
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Grammar Policing is fun!
An exchange of posts from Yahoo today about the Perseid Meteor Shower.
I have to admit, I took the discussion way off topic, but it was amusing . . . for me.
Read the Perseid Meteor article on Yahoo
It all started with this:
Blah : I seen three satellites and one meteor early this morning.
Scott : I SAW three satellites and one meteor early this morning. It's called the english language. Learn it.
Joshua A : Scott, before I even looked at your reply I thought the exact same thing, LOL!!
Justin : Saw** or I have seen**
Phyl : Don't you just love the linguistic experts?? They really need to get a life!
WiseOne : Hillbilly grammer 'seen' them, grade school education 'saw' them...
Zack : Why don't these linguistic experts go teach their English class instead of lecturing people...
Knotboy : Zack, your post implies that all "linguistics experts" here teach the same class.
In fact, "classes" would be the correct word form here.
Additionally, your statement is complete, and you're posing a question, so a question mark rather than an ellipsis is the better ending punctuation.
"Why don't these linguistic experts go teach their English classes instead of lecturing people?"
Furthermore, Phyl and Zack, "linguistic experts" is presumptuous. Clearly Scott, Joshua and Justin have a better understanding of grammar than does Blah, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are linguistic experts. Linguistics covers a broad range of language disciplines, including, but not limited to structure (grammar), meaning and evolution.
Clara J : usually, if you say i seen...youre from the north...minnesota or north dakota.
Knotboy : Clara, Clara, Clara — where do I begin?
Capitalization is needed on "U", "I", "N" "M" "N" & "D"
Like so:
"Usually, if you say I seen...youre from the North...Minnesota or North Dakota."
"North" is a tricky one.
Capitalize north, south, east, west, and derivative words when they designate definite regions or are an integral part of a proper name, so in this case, capitalization is correct.
Also, it's "you're" with an apostrophe, not "youre"
The word "you're" is a contraction of the words "you" and "are", where the apostrophe is a placeholder for the absent "a".
"I seen" needs quotes, since it is spoken.
So now we have:
Usually, if you say "I seen"...you're from the North...Minnesota or North Dakota.
Again, as in Zack's post, the ellipsis is, perhaps, misused. Here you use it as a pause on either side of "youre from the north", where a pause longer than one indicated by a comma is unnecessary. An ellipsis indicates a longer pause, a missing word or an incomplete or trailing thought. Technically, the first ellipsis could be left in, if you want to imply a longer pause there, for effect.
If, however, you are specifying Minnesota and North Dakota as the particular states in the North where "I seen" is the vernacular, then an em dash, rather than an ellipsis, would be more appropriate.
So, finally, we end up with:
Usually, if you say "I seen", you're from the North — Minnesota or North Dakota.
Hmmm, I wonder if Clara wants to slap me for being such a . . .
Paul : grammar police out...get fn real your probably a know it all like sarah palin...(who knows nothing)..get over yourselves
Knotboy : Aw, c'mon, Paul, I was just rattling cages... and having some fun doing so. I intentionally made my posts waaaaay more involved and know-it-all-y than necessary, just to see who'd yell back at me.
On the other hand, where's the harm in trying to educate people who were evidently asleep all during English class -- for 12 years? If a person is spoon-fed by example, correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc., and they still choose to ignore it, and go on posting as if they quit school after 2nd grade, well, Paul, that's just lazy.
If a person has a choice between looking ignorant or looking educated, and they choose to look ignorant, well, Paul, that's just . . . ignorant. (note the correct use of the ellipsis).
Knotboy : In my first post, by saying "...'linguistics experts' is presumptuous" I am personifying "linguistics experts", which was not my intention. What I should have said is " . . . referring to grammar police as 'linguistics experts' is presumptuous."
In my second post, I use the word "looking" where "being" really is more accurate. If a person learns something new, they are educated about it, and not simply appearing to be educated, as the word "looking" implies.
See that . . . I policed myself!
On the other hand, if a person actually is educated, and is perfectly capable of using correct grammar, etc, but chooses not to, then the ignorance is apparent, not actual — so they do "look" ignorant, when in fact, they are not.
See! It's fun!
I have to admit, I took the discussion way off topic, but it was amusing . . . for me.
Read the Perseid Meteor article on Yahoo
(My screen name is Knotboy)
It all started with this:
Blah : I seen three satellites and one meteor early this morning.
Scott : I SAW three satellites and one meteor early this morning. It's called the english language. Learn it.
Joshua A : Scott, before I even looked at your reply I thought the exact same thing, LOL!!
Justin : Saw** or I have seen**
Phyl : Don't you just love the linguistic experts?? They really need to get a life!
WiseOne : Hillbilly grammer 'seen' them, grade school education 'saw' them...
Zack : Why don't these linguistic experts go teach their English class instead of lecturing people...
Knotboy : Zack, your post implies that all "linguistics experts" here teach the same class.
In fact, "classes" would be the correct word form here.
Additionally, your statement is complete, and you're posing a question, so a question mark rather than an ellipsis is the better ending punctuation.
"Why don't these linguistic experts go teach their English classes instead of lecturing people?"
Furthermore, Phyl and Zack, "linguistic experts" is presumptuous. Clearly Scott, Joshua and Justin have a better understanding of grammar than does Blah, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are linguistic experts. Linguistics covers a broad range of language disciplines, including, but not limited to structure (grammar), meaning and evolution.
Clara J : usually, if you say i seen...youre from the north...minnesota or north dakota.
Knotboy : Clara, Clara, Clara — where do I begin?
Capitalization is needed on "U", "I", "N" "M" "N" & "D"
Like so:
"Usually, if you say I seen...youre from the North...Minnesota or North Dakota."
"North" is a tricky one.
Capitalize north, south, east, west, and derivative words when they designate definite regions or are an integral part of a proper name, so in this case, capitalization is correct.
Also, it's "you're" with an apostrophe, not "youre"
The word "you're" is a contraction of the words "you" and "are", where the apostrophe is a placeholder for the absent "a".
"I seen" needs quotes, since it is spoken.
So now we have:
Usually, if you say "I seen"...you're from the North...Minnesota or North Dakota.
Again, as in Zack's post, the ellipsis is, perhaps, misused. Here you use it as a pause on either side of "youre from the north", where a pause longer than one indicated by a comma is unnecessary. An ellipsis indicates a longer pause, a missing word or an incomplete or trailing thought. Technically, the first ellipsis could be left in, if you want to imply a longer pause there, for effect.
If, however, you are specifying Minnesota and North Dakota as the particular states in the North where "I seen" is the vernacular, then an em dash, rather than an ellipsis, would be more appropriate.
So, finally, we end up with:
Usually, if you say "I seen", you're from the North — Minnesota or North Dakota.
Hmmm, I wonder if Clara wants to slap me for being such a . . .
Paul : grammar police out...get fn real your probably a know it all like sarah palin...(who knows nothing)..get over yourselves
Knotboy : Aw, c'mon, Paul, I was just rattling cages... and having some fun doing so. I intentionally made my posts waaaaay more involved and know-it-all-y than necessary, just to see who'd yell back at me.
On the other hand, where's the harm in trying to educate people who were evidently asleep all during English class -- for 12 years? If a person is spoon-fed by example, correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc., and they still choose to ignore it, and go on posting as if they quit school after 2nd grade, well, Paul, that's just lazy.
If a person has a choice between looking ignorant or looking educated, and they choose to look ignorant, well, Paul, that's just . . . ignorant. (note the correct use of the ellipsis).
Knotboy : In my first post, by saying "...'linguistics experts' is presumptuous" I am personifying "linguistics experts", which was not my intention. What I should have said is " . . . referring to grammar police as 'linguistics experts' is presumptuous."
In my second post, I use the word "looking" where "being" really is more accurate. If a person learns something new, they are educated about it, and not simply appearing to be educated, as the word "looking" implies.
See that . . . I policed myself!
On the other hand, if a person actually is educated, and is perfectly capable of using correct grammar, etc, but chooses not to, then the ignorance is apparent, not actual — so they do "look" ignorant, when in fact, they are not.
See! It's fun!
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