Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Thursday, April 16. 2009

A few highly useful links

- Everybody ought to know this stuff too, which we linked last night: Class: A Guide Through the American Status System. Essential reading for social climbers and social descenders. Not necessary for others.


- Corporate and financial jargon and slang, via Latham & Watkins. Everybody should know these terms. (h/t, Tiger)


- Men and women: The things you do wrong. Villainous. Guys: Go out and kill some meat for her, and you will be rewarded - more likely to get lucky. (But did you know that marriage is now termed "opposite-sex couples"? It makes it sound perverted somehow.)


- Another take on Strunk & White, which is at least worth considering. 50 years of stupid grammar advice


 

Posted by The Barrister in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 10:07 | Comments (6) | Trackbacks (0)

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Is it really the case that all the online attacks on Strunk and White are written by authors of other (less successful?) grammaria? Given the nature of language, no guide or advice can be omniscient or permanent, but the bitterness of these recent reviews/attacks seem as if they "doth protest too much."

Your mileage may vary, of course.
#1 David Smith on 2009-04-16 10:39 (Reply)
Yes, well, I was raised on S&W - not that it shows.
#1.1 Bird Dog on 2009-04-16 10:50 (Reply)
Re: S&W attack, sorry couldn't read all the whining. S&W has been an excellent guide.

BD, whether it shows or not, your writing is very enjoyable
#1.1.1 grant1863 on 2009-04-16 19:50 (Reply)
For what it's worth, BD, this professional writer and editor has used S & W all during her working life -- along with the Columbia University Style Book, the OED, many other dictionaries, both American and English, and "Piloting Seamanship and Small Boat Handling." I'm considering obtaining a copy of the U.S. Navy's Rules of Engagement, which validate the right of Captains in the Navy to protect and defend American citizens in every way needed against pirates and other scum, which proves they don't need "permission" from That Person in the White House to do what they were trained to do. And he wasn't.

Those meretricious newspapers which congratulated Mr. Obama on his "military victory" should be keelhauled under a carrier. Deck Apes!

There! I feel better.

Marianne

P. S. Isn't meretricious a wonderful word? Lots of people think it's a compliment, until I explain that meretrix is the Latin word for prostitute. MM
#2 Marianne Matthews on 2009-04-16 23:26 (Reply)
Meretricious is a great word, Marianne. Most people probably hear it and think something worthy of merit. For sure that is not Obama and his "military victory". What choice did he have - let pirates kill an American? As for those touting his decision to do the only possible thing to do, I say a good flogging around the fleet would be just the thing. And make sure that snarky CNN wench is in the boats after the captain gives her a nice cup of tea.
`
#2.1 Meta on 2009-04-17 10:02 (Reply)
Other than the dates of my marriage and births of my children, grandchildren and (my heaven) two great grandsons, one of the happiest days of my life was when I found a 1925 one (large) volume OED on a curb about to be recycled. G_d bless our twisty, turney, infinitely interesting language!

And G_d bless the Seals!
#2.2 David Smith on 2009-04-17 16:54 (Reply)

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