The Watering Hole, Saturday, January 17th, 2015: Gud F*cking Gramer

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Although, ages ago, in his “Ask The Grammar Guy” piece, Wayne had expertly covered these common grammar mistakes that make us cringe when we see them, here’s a pithy and profane way to remember the rules:

Fucking Grammar

Fucking Grammar

I realize that all of us here are well familiar with these rules, and are exceptional and eloquent writers who never make those mistakes (and we’re humble, too), so here’s a (very large:  300+ photos) photo gallery of “The Stunning Creatures of the White Sea.” The gallery was put together by Camille Mann and Edicio Martinez, and (as usual), is brought to you courtesy of the Weather Channel. Here’s just one of the unusual creatures:

Coryphella verrucosa

Coryphella verrucosa

Enjoy!

This is our daily Open Thread, so talk about, you know, whatever…

51 thoughts on “The Watering Hole, Saturday, January 17th, 2015: Gud F*cking Gramer”

  1. Thank you, Honey. I’ll have Monday’s post ready on time. For a change.

    That’s an additional reason (to the obvious one) why I’d make a bad professional writer. I’m not very good with deadlines. And I’m rarely satisfied with the final product, so I keep revising it. I know if I had to make a living doing it, I’d just have to settle for what came out the first time or two and then move on to the next assignment. That’s just not in my nature to do that.

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    • Deadlines and professionals … Finally got the comments from the second reviewer back, just two weeks ago, after he (and, I’m sorry, it was obviously “he”) had sat on the text we’d (my coauthor and I) had submitted to Famous University Press for TEN MOTHER FUCKING MONTHS.

      The most striking thing about his comments, besides their vagueness and overt inconsistency, was the fact that he’d not bothered to read our manuscript.

      Sorry, you said “professional” and “deadlines,” and I started screaming …

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    • Someone at work sent me the mug photo, since I’m known as the Grammar Queen. It’s wonderful–I’d like to buy one, but I don’t know if they’d allow me to use it at work. We swear all of the time at work (at least, we in Customer Service do), but we know to curb it when guests are in earshot. Having it visible is a little different. 🙂

      Last week I had found the Sea Creatures gallery, and was planning to use that for Monday, but then after I saw the grammar mug, I figured I’d just throw them together. Everybody needs some humor and some beauty in their day, right?

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  7. An amazingly horrible letter from Ayn Rand to her 17-year-old niece, who asked the famous libertarian novelist and “philosopher” if she could borrow $25. Here’s how it begins:

    “Dear Connie:

    You are very young, so I don’t know whether you realize the seriousness of your action in writing to me for money. Since I don’t know you at all, I am going to put you to a test.

    If you really want to borrow $25 from me, I will take a chance on finding out what kind of person you are. You want to borrow the money until your graduation. I will do better than that. I will make it easier for you to repay the debt, but on condition that you understand and accept it as a strict and serious business deal. Before you borrow it, I want you to think it over very carefully.”

    It gets even better. After proposing a repayment scheme, Aunt Ayn really turns on the charm:

    “I want you to understand right now that I will not accept any excuse—except a serious illness. If you become ill, then I will give you an extension of time—but for no other reason. If, when the debt becomes due, you tell me that you can’t pay me because you needed a new pair of shoes or a new coat or you gave the money to somebody in the family who needed it more than I do—then I will consider you as an embezzler. No, I won’t send a policeman after you, but I will write you off as a rotten person and I will never speak or write to you again.

    Now I will tell you why I am so serious and severe about this. I despise irresponsible people. I don’t want to deal with them or help them in any way. An irresponsible person is a person who makes vague promises, then breaks his word, blames it on circumstances and expects other people to forgive it. A responsible person does not make a promise without thinking of all the consequences and being prepared to meet them.”

    If so inclined, read the rest here:
    http://the-toast.net/2015/01/12/actual-letter-ayn-rand-wrote-little-girl/

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    • All sweetness and light is Auntie Ayn!

      An irresponsible person is a person who makes vague promises, then breaks his word, blames it on circumstances and expects other people to forgive it.
      She has defined the Republican party.

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      • One word change: ‘circumstances’ should be ‘Obama’ and then it works. She’d have done that, ‘cept Obama wasn’t born yet so she had to think of something else. Also add ‘not’ between ‘people to’ and ‘forgive it.’

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    • BBC weather experts warned they expect the cold snap to last into next week, with -14C possible in some areas of the Highlands on Monday.

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    • I remember that it snowed in January of ’69 in San Diego. I was 12, so I was in whatever school grade that merits. Classes stopped and everyone just went outside to stare in amazement at it. (Most of the kids had never seen snow in any form before.)

      Now, when I say it “snowed,” you should understand that it was what my father used to call a “Texas six-incher.” That is, one snow flake every six inches …

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      • In N. Phoenix, early December 1986, we woke up one morning in a white world. There were close to 6″ of snow everywhere, even on my grapefruit tree. I still have a pic somewhere of my then 18 mo. old daughter in her tee-tiny hooded red coat, mittens, and her “buttes” (boots) walking very cautiously on our front sidewalk. That was the one and only time in my 40 years there that that part of the Sonoran desert was so white. It didn’t last long and there was no serious frost damage — the snow was a good insulator — and by late spring, the grapefruit were perfect.

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  18. On the vaccine trail in DRC with photographer Evelyn Hockstein

    Documenting women and children receiving life-saving vaccines in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) most remote, inaccessible areas offers a potent insight into the chain of events that make the delivery of vaccines possible.

    vs

    Sick privilege: Wealthy anti-vaxxers are driving outbreaks of deadly 19th century diseases

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