Aziraphales Actually Alliterative And Awesomely Affluent Random Banter #104

[Rockphed]

"In the second edition, though, it seems as if the author was determined to..."

"Though, in the second edition, it seems the author was determined to mock Shakespeare, his book is quoted as some of Shakespeare's highest praise."

That sentence works. 'Though' takes an argument, so the comma after it in your fragment is erroneous. The comma after Shakespeare might be as well. I won't pick on your other grammatical errors or problems since they don't really matter.

If you find my sentence jarring for the use of "though", you might be hypersensitive. If you just find common usage annoying, you are probably developing a proper grammatical sense and will be able to write without needing to check grammar. Syntax gives me problems, and punctuation is a minefield, but grammar comes easily these days.

[Dragonrider]

"Though, in the second edition, it seems the author was determined to mock Shakespeare, his book is quoted as some of Shakespeare's highest praise."

Yeah...yours doesn't bother me in the least bit. It's when it's placed in the middle of a sentence that I start to go crazy.

I suspect that some people WOULD consider me hypersensitive, but I come from a family in which we had to pay our mom 25 cents every time we started a sentence with "me and him..."

...so it's not particularly surprising that I find awkward constructions irritating.

The thing that bothers me the most?

Misuse of "LESS" as opposed to "FEWER".

[ColonelFuster]

Heh.
15 items or less checkout lanes make me giggle.

[Dragonrider]

Heh.
15 items or less checkout lanes make me giggle.

EXACTLY.

People are so LAME.

It's on packaging too...
50 less calories

Makes me want to strangle something.

(Amusement? No. ANGER. GIVE IN TO YOUR HATE....)

[wadledo]

Heh.
15 items or less checkout lanes make me giggle.

*Slap up-side head*

[TwoBitWriter]

So, a day of celebratory tom-tom drumming is in order then?

Wow, I'm gone all day and three pages go by...

The Wedding is this Saturday.

But last night was pretty awesome, first it started with the $100 worth of beer (the good kind you get from Liquor Stores)

Then there were the two really hot female friends of ours who dressed in black sexy lingerie and serving drinks to all the boys and sitting in laps.

Then my DAD showed up to party with everyone.

Then they did a Roast of me, each friend got up and said mean (and funny) things about me and shared embarrassing and incriminating stories.

Then on MY turn, i got to retaliate on all of them.

Then we played Halo 3 linked to four x-boxs (with 16 players) until about 4am. I was pleasantly drunk on good beer the entire time.

[Phase]

The Wedding is this Saturday.

Congratulations. Veels geluk. Urimet. Shnorhavor. Tebrikler. Zorionak. Kung hei lei. Felicitats. Cestitke. Mazal tov. Gratulace. Tillykke. Gefeliciteerd. Gratulojn. Tillukku. Gefeliciteerd. Lokwinske. Auguri. Felisitasyon. Subhkamna. Gyung he gyung he. Til hamingju. Selamat. Congratulazioni. Mabrouk. Kyum chouee tre aw. Amashyi n'impundu. Chook-hah-hahm-nee-dah. Piroz dikim. Tibi gratulor. Apsveicu. Laimingai. Efeliciteer. Cestitki. Arahabaina. Tahniah. Congratulazzjoni. Ka nui ngaa mihi. Bayar hurgeye. Asengamhlophe. Gratulerer. Tabrik miguyam. Gratulacje. Vadaiyaan. Baxtaripe. Pozdravlaiu. In ora bona. Meala-naidheachd ort. Cestitam. Makorokoto. Wadhayoon mubarkoon. Subapaethum. Blahozelania. Zobdone. Felicidades. Ponguezi. Grattis. Paratthoukal. Kotlym sezne. Tebrikler. Mubarik ho. Tabriklaymiz. Proficiat. Llongyfarchiadau. On gwan woulo. Asengamhlophe.

CONGRATULATIONS!
(Oh, and teSQas)

[Rockphed]

On the one hand, I feel sorry for whatever slobs are doing the grunt-work of your wedding festivities. My brother and I formed a Union while moving tents for our sister's wedding. We ended up using it for everything we did that involved physical labor until he went off to college last month.

On the other hand, congrats on snagging a bride. Now remember to treat her like the goddess she is.

[Nychta]

You know another cool word? Eponymous. (As in, Sweet Tooth is the eponymous song of The Electric Confectionaires' debut album.)

My friend uses it all the time! At least twice a day.

On 'few' v.s. 'lesser': It's election time here in NZ, and a highly amusing National ad reads "More doctors, more nurses, less bureaucrats." (bolding mine). I laughed when I read it, but really, it's pathetic.

I made muffins just now! I'm waiting for them to cool so I can ice them.

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I think I'll ice one with cat-ears and a tail. I would use it for Catmuffin week if Dr. Bath hadn't already drawn me a Kiwi-muffin made out of win.

EDIT: Seeing as I completely missed it... Congratulations, TwoBitWriter! I wish you guys every happiness and hope that your lives are never lacking in (warning, Kiwi words approaching in the spoiler)

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fush n' chups.

[Dragonrider]

Here...if they're frosted/iced...we call them cupcakes.

[Zakama]

Those look super delish!

[dish]

On 'few' v.s. 'lesser': It's election time here in NZ, and a highly amusing National ad reads "More doctors, more nurses, less bureaucrats." (bolding mine). I laughed when I read it, but really, it's pathetic.

I spy some linguistic prescription. I prefer descriptive linguistics myself (although the two do not necessarily have to come into conflict).

[Rockphed]

As to the "More, More, Less", it works that way since it is implying a "Than Normal" after Nurses, Doctors and Bureaucrats. I don't see the problem with the "15 or less" thing, but it has existed since I was 5, so it might just be ingrown. On the other hand, my dictionary from 1988 lists less as both an adverb and adjective. I suppose the best way to reword those signs would be, "At most 15 items." There is something to be said for their efficient conveyance of information.

[dish]

As to the "More, More, Less", it works that way since it is implying a "Than Normal" after Nurses, Doctors and Bureaucrats. I don't see the problem with the "15 or less" thing, but it has existed since I was 5, so it might just be ingrown. On the other hand, my dictionary from 1988 lists less as both an adverb and adjective. I suppose the best way to reword those signs would be, "At most 15 items." There is something to be said for their efficient conveyance of information.

Grammatically (if one is being prescriptive) less refers to uncountable nouns - water, rice, shopping, etc, while fewer refers to countable nouns - doctors, nurses, bureaucrats, items, etc.

However, a descriptive linguist would note that the English language is a constantly changing beasty, and that the term less is currently expanding to encompass countable as well as uncountable nouns.

[Nychta]

Grammatically (if one is being prescriptive) less refers to uncountable nouns - water, rice, shopping, etc, while fewer refers to countable nouns - doctors, nurses, bureaucrats, items, etc.

However, a descriptive linguist would note that the English language is a constantly changing beasty, and that the term less is currently expanding to encompass countable as well as uncountable nouns.

You're right, however, I'd still prefer that they use the grammatically correct one. It just seems... wrong.

[Zakama]

I am feeling ridiculously badass right now. That would be because I'm listening to this.

I wanna go... Save some people from bad guys!

[banjo1985]

Wow...on my way into work today there were firearms police patrolling one of the main roads I have to cross. Seeing people wondering around with machine guns 200 yards from your work place doesn't fill you full of confidence.

No idea what's going on, but I've been hearing sirens for the last 20 minutes...maybe someone's tried to eat Birmingham?

[dish]

Wow...on my way into work today there were firearms police patrolling one of the main roads I have to cross. Seeing people wondering around with machine guns 200 yards from your work place doesn't fill you full of confidence.

No idea what's going on, but I've been hearing sirens for the last 20 minutes...maybe someone's tried to eat Birmingham?

If they did, I am sure they would be punished by horrible, horrible indigestion.

I hope the armed police are only doing a training exercise.

[banjo1985]

I now have an image of my mind of Godzilla slouched in the middle of Birmingham with his claws on his tummy.

"That's fer tryin' ta eat us, ya big green bag 'o' guts!"

I have no idea why it's a Scotsman that's just visiting the place that's shouting out...

More sirens...maybe they're transporting a murderer to court and they've heard rumour of someone planning to break them out. Wouldn't surprise me to be honest.

[bosssmiley]

But...
But it's a job.
I'd have to give my moral high ground...

(Plus there aren't any around here now. They've all been filled by students, and the only time there will be jobs is when all the Uni students come back and take them)

(No I'm not just making excuses)

Moral high ground? You're 1) a teenager and 2) a student.

Don't go to Bangor, it's in Wales. No more need be said.

I now have an image of my mind of Godzilla slouched in the middle of Birmingham with his claws on his tummy.

"That's fer tryin' ta eat us, ya big green bag 'o' guts!"

I have no idea why it's a Scotsman that's just visiting the place that's shouting out...

Link very related. Remembered for the classic line "Barrow-in-Furness Bus Gateau" in one of the other ads in the campaign.

[Nychta]

It's the Australian invasion. They're coming in to collect your rainwater for their crops.

[banjo1985]

It's the Australian invasion. They're coming in to collect your rainwater for their crops.

No way am I standing for that! We suffer for all this rainwater! If it drop son our heads and gives us colds, then we should be the ones using it.

[Nychta]

Moral high ground? You're a parasite on the body politic: from whence do you derive the idea that you have the moral high ground?

Don't go to Bangor, it's in Wales. No more need be said. Stick to a proper country.

Aw man, we were studying a play in English which had this line "I'm taking her to Bangor on Saturday."
Completely reasonable in context, but we were reading it out and someone mispronounced Bangor as... uh, "bang 'er".

We made our English teacher laugh for a whole minute. Longest time he's laughed so far.

[bosssmiley]

It's the Australian invasion. They're coming in to collect your rainwater for their crops.

And to think, we all thought Mad Max 3 was about oil scarcity

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"The Aussies are coming! Hide your reptiles! Watch out for the backpacks!"

An Australian water bowser truck, yesterday

[Phase]

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An Australian water bowser truck, yesterday

...

Awesome...

[CurlyKitGirl]

Eeeh.
Bally insomnia.
If I could speak to him (for I am certain that such a vexing fool would be male) do you know what I would say?
Thief of Morpheus! A malodourous, malcontented, illegitimate son and heir of a mongrel bitch; a wastrel clad in worsted whose only joy in his worthless life is the tormenting of people blessed by the Gods' good humour.
And so on and so forth. Seriously, I slept in so late I missed the only bus to college and were it any other day I'd have caught another bus up. However, the next bust wouldn't get me there until quarter past twelve and, as much of an academic freak that I am, I'm not content to stroll into college or an hour of French at three fifteen.
So today is the day of Koorly doing her homework. And not sleeping.
Or so it was meant to be. Great Auntie Dells' funeral was today. She's not a relative I knew, don't ever recall talking to her really; but she was Granddads' only elder sibling and she was eighty.
It was expected really. She had skin cancer; found out very late and in the end she stopped treatment. Said it hurt too much.
But I was out on an errand so I missed my aunts' coming to pick up mum for the funeral so I didn't go. I bade her farewell from home.
I feel like I should feel sadder; but I never knew her. Not really.

[Skippy]

*Coughs, makes gestures to Curly trying to tell her he's really sorry about her Great Auntie*

*Coughs again, making gestures about also being unable to sleep last night, because of the coughing*

*Coughs again, trying to say that the medicines he took were good for nothing*

*Coughs and leaves*

[TwoBitWriter]

*Coughs, makes gestures to Curly trying to tell her he's really sorry about her Great Auntie*

*Coughs again, making gestures about also being unable to sleep last night, because of the coughing*

*Coughs again, trying to say that the medicines he took were good for nothing*

*Coughs and leaves*

You should probably get that nasty cough checked...

Sorry to hear about your Auntie, Curly. I have had tons of relatives I never knew die. It usually upsets my Dad, but its people he abandoned in California years ago.

[Skippy]

*Coughs, points at new bottle of cough drops, gives thumbs ups*

*Leaves, coughing again*

[CurlyKitGirl]

Hot honey and lemon's the best way to go.
On the illnesses theme; part of the curse of Insomnia last night was an unaccountable tingling, cramping pain in all the joints in my left arm from the shoulder down.
For hours.
Shoulder, elbow, wrist, fingers. I swear by Hera herself that my nails were hurting.