SL Survey

Or even e.e.cummings.

Pep (I still occasionally play that game)

On the contrary, it seems you are.

Pie (Making up crap from scratch I mean)

because these conventions are the online equivalent of wearing clean clothes and washing your hair

if you were einstein you could get away with looking like this

but if you want people to take you seriously online you need to do the equivalent of zipping your fly and changing your shirt with the ketchup stains on it

archy

gee, the grammar nazis are out again - can't you guys stop flogging your long-deceased equine? words are my livelihood; i write, edit, and work in the language development department of a prominent university with some of the smartest linguists this side of the equator. i've been around long enough to have seen fowler's modern english usage (1926 - hardly modern anymore) lauded, debated, derided and dismissed.

nevertheless, if i were EVER to become as anally retentive about prescriptive language as you guys, i'd just hop outside and get myself run over by a truck - metaphorically speaking, of course.

how about we criticise affectation instead, like the narcissistic practice of attaching a (usually snarky) comment in parenthesis after one's name, or suggesting there's any comparison between academic writing and forum comment, the styles of which may have little or nothing to do with each other?

pleese, giv it a rest - it hav become so tEdiOuS an mundayn

Thank you for invoking Godwin's Law. We can close this thread now.

/me whips off her skirt and waves it in salute.

ParenthesEs.

Pep (Narcissism is being in love with someone who really cares)

Would that be the Third World side of the equator?

Pep (Tallest dwarves?)

my sentiments exactly. i wish i could manage to express myself as well with words. doh.

Hoist on your own smart-arse petard, I'm afraid - check your (and my) beloved Oxford English Dictionary

Shall I save you the effort? Well, had the subject been those neat little round brackets, then of course the plural 'parentheses' would have been correct. However, the subject was 'comment' which therefore appears 'in parenthesis' (i.e. as a parenthesis or afterthought) and could just as well be marked off by dashes or commas instead of brackets. Go on, look it up, and see if you can resist the temptation to argue the toss. I won't be wasting my time responding.

/me joins LittleMe in whipping off her skirt and waving joyfully and gratefully at Argent for his admirable suggestion. Oh, and good luck ct

P.S. Had I been challenged on the use of 'equine' as a noun, I should have had to draw much bigger guns in justification... <shrugs> oh well, opportunity lost

right on dudE! blaze your own traiL. don't let the bastards get you dowN!

Two clear cut examples of how to and how not to conduct surveys today.

A) /327/92/307370/1.html
Requirements listed in post #48

B) /327/95/307340/1.html

Example A shows how to conduct yourself and the prerequisites which should be met to have a successful survey.

Example B demonstrates a much lower participation level when the suggested requirements are not met.

Ooh, wonder if Jig's watching the forums... ?

I disagree. Methinks the lady doth protest o'ermuch. Your use of "in parenthesis" qualified "comment" as you have confirmed, which would, by your explanation, have rendered the word "comment" redundant. Therefore my interpretation stands. If your intent had appeared to be to say "as a parenthesis" or implied that my parenthetical musings were rhetoric (in the modern sense of course) then I would not have pointed out your obvious fault. You were, however, generalising about a longstanding personal style and it was apparent from the context that you had made an unthinking error, or maybe even thought the plural form was the same.

Justified as a nasty (I believe, popular in the USA) habit of converting another form of speech into a noun, particularly mass nouns, or as an implicit substantive form (as in Greek), or as metonymy even? I am comfortable with all those.

Pep (So what distinction would you draw between my parenthesis and your PS as a "doorhandle" mechanism for emphasis? )

Verbing weirds language.

so much "i am holier than thou" attitude. can't people just express themselves however they want to?

Fish.

Maybe ct is doing his survey on the wrong subject.
How about a survey of who really cares about correct english in electronic media.

haha. awesome. that will my second thesis, which hopefully i'll never have to do.

OMG.. enough with the whining.. either fill it out or don't however dont waste keystrokes cutting up the guy.. geeze.. it wasn't that painful.. for the most part the replies in this forum are good, funny and or good points... but there are times when I have had enough of some of the demigogs in here.. shesh...

Glad I was able to help "OP"

and don't even bother flamming me... I am already over it... and you should be to

Would that be "demagogues"? I'd prefer to think you meant "demigods".

Pie (What *can* one think of someone who is pretentious enough to use a word like that but so inadequate they not only can't spell it, nor bother to spell check it, and thereby hold themselves wide open to this sort of ridicule?)

demigogs is a new size of Caramel Macchiato at starbucks ripoffs in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, a southern province of China...

I think "there's glory for you".

The question is, which is to be master -- that's all.

Impenetrability! That's what I say!

The curious thing is both in-world and in-forum, those whose first language is not English, and perhaps apologise for the fact(!!), get cut a lot of slack.

Those whose first language is, or should be English, are expected to use it impeccably and with precision.

On this basis, despite my finding Pies posts amusing and informative, I am claiming Political Asylum to Chad

I actually find, more often than not, that those who post apologizing for the fact that English is not their primary language are better masters of English than native English posters!