Archief voor November, 2007
Een krantekop in mijn lokaal vod, De Tijden van Los Angeles, gezegd in het herzien a reprise van 25 éénjarigenmovie dat het de grootste directeur „, en slechts, klap.“ was
Ahem. Om het grootst te zijn, moet iets in de concurrentie met minstens twee anders zijn iets. Als het enkel met één andere movie, bijvoorbeeld concurreert, kan het een grotere klap zijn, maar het grootst te zijn, vereist het minstens twee concurrenten.
Zo, als deze directeur slechts één geraakte movie had, dan dat kon movie niet of groter of het grootst zijn, maar enkel „zijn enige grote klap.“
O.k., geeft niemand, maar ik dacht ik het omhoog hoe dan ook als voorbeeld van het misbruiken van Engelstalig zonder iedereen brengen zou die het opmerkt behalve waarschijnlijk me.
Het kinetisch gedrag en andere nonverbal richtsnoeren (gewoonlijk) delen meer dan één vaak gesproken woorden mee. Jammer genoeg, is het niet zo gemakkelijk strategize zijn lichamelijke bewegingen; zij zijn af en toe bijna onvrijwillig, en dat is waarom zij zo revelatory zijn.
In elk geval, geeft guru Tonya Reiman van het horlogekinetisch gedrag u sommige uiteinden:
Ik had een harde tijd antwoordend op het oude posten „stel van de Grammatica van de Vragen“ wegens sommige ingebouwde beperkingen op mijn blogging software, zodat heb ik een forum in plaats daarvan opgezet.
Als u een vraag hebt, gelieve enkel te gaan naar Het Forum van de Vragen van de grammatica en typ binnen het. Ik zal vaak controleren en zal in de antwoordbrigade toetreden. Anderen kunnen vrij voelen eveneens te antwoorden. Nochtans, gelieve te doen dit ernstig en slechts als u iets waardevol hebt om aan de bespreking toe te voegen. Het is geen praatje of grappenruimte.
Ik kreeg een goede lach op Maandag toen [markering] Billy Martin [/tag], de advocaat voor de nu-gevangen gezette strateeg van de Valken van Atlanta [markering] Michael Vick [/tag], een verklaring zeggend uitgaf dat zijn cliënt " zich had zelf-overgegeven“ om met zijn termijn van de onbepaald-in-lengtegevangenis te beginnen.
Martin’s statement went on to further praise Vick for his “self-surrender.”
Now, to surrender is something you do voluntarily anyway rather than (usually) facing some more horrendous consequences, such as being shot dead on the spot. Therefore, it is always an act of the “self.”
Taking Martin’s usage to my more unfamous and mundane self, since I pen this blog voluntarily without compensation and with no gun at my head, I must “self-write” it, and it is therefore “self-written.”
Did you just “self-read” that?
Recently, I blogged about the difference between me and myself, the latter being unable to stand alone as a pronoun.
However, Yankee scion Steinbrenner Lite (prodigal son Hank) managed to screw it up in this quotation about negotiations with Alex Rodriguez:
"He [A-Rod] wanted to make sure myself [sic] and my brother knew that he was sincere and serious."
I guess Hank didn’t read my post this week about the uses of me and myself.
Of course, if you’re next in line to inherit the New York Yankees, it doesn’t realy matter how grammatical you are.
My friend Jill, who is Chinese but knows English well and teaches it in Taipei, wrote to ask me about the use of the prepation to (the swift, etc.) in this quote from Ecclesiastes:
“I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.”
Later, I found this bureaucratese (modern) rendition of the same famous passage as satirized by George Orwell:
“Objective consideration of contemporary phenomena compels the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account."
"Just so," as my Irish ancestors would say. We’re in a bad way. ("Awesome," I should say. LOL)
As reported by Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times, here is a conversation between Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith on TNT’s "Inside the NBA":
Barkley: "I was reading that heavy drinking is not good for your health, so I have to stop."
Smith: "Stop drinking what?"
Barkley: "No, I gotta stop reading."
I agree with the message, but the gotta has gotta go.
it’s just ignorantly wrong.
Myself is a reflexive pronoun that must appear with the use of me; it cannot be substituted for me.
If you don’t want to talk about yourself because you feel it appears arrogant, feel free never to talk about yourself. However, if you’re just trying to paper over the ego thrill of talking about yourself, myself ain’t the solution. It just shows you’re stupid.
I’m hearing people use the phrase “throw under the bus” so frequently that I began wondering about its origin.
Best answer I can find is that the origin is either unknown or unfindable.
Here’s one:
From Slang: the Authoritative Topic-by-Topic Dictionary of American Lingoes from All Walks of Life by Paul Dickson (Pocket Books, New York, 1990), under “Automotive Slang,” “throw under a bus — Sales talk for selling someone a car or van with all the extras and options at full sticker price or better.”
Here’s another from Grant Barrett:
“Despite the Urban Dictionary entry (which, like all such dubious etymologies, lacks details–call letters? station manager name?) I was only able to take it back for certain to 1991, when it appeared in a courtroom context. There is also a bracketed quote from 1984, which, as in HDAS style, means that it’s not certain to perfectly epitomize the term being defined, from the rock-and-roll industry. It has it only as ‘under the bus’ not ‘throw under the bus’ or ‘put under the bus’ (which is a less common variant).”
Anybody else want to weigh in?
One of my pursuits in life is figuring out how Internet search engines do their thing and rank Websites on the search results. This all falls under the category of Search Engine Optimization, or SEO (caps not needed when spelled out, but SEO folk consider themselves rather important).
While doing some SEO research today, I came across a telling quotation about creativity:
…too many people believe creativity is a talent with which some people are born and the rest can only envy. This is a negative attitude that is completely mistaken.
So, how does one tap creativity? That’s a huge topic that I’m not even going to broach today, but words–and brainstorming–play a huge role in creativity.
Therefore, I introduce you to the Random Word Generator. It’ll give you a word when you arrive. Hit refresh, or F5, and it’ll give you another word.
Words are the building blocks of creativity. Take a few random words and see what you can come up with.