The Joys of Good Grammar

The joys of good grammar include clearer communication, but also include the “joy” of sometimes making an otherwise enjoyable set of lyrics grating to the ear. *heh* For example, John Jacob Niles should be retroactively slapped upside the head for,

I wonder as I wander out under the sky,
How Jesus the Savior did come for to die.
For poor on’ry people like you and like I…
I wonder as I wander out under the sky.

No, “like you and like I” has the pronouns in the objective case position, not subjective case. The often made lame excuse of adding a mental “are” is no better than correcting it to “like you and like me.” In fact, it’s worse, apart from “like you and like me” ruining Niles’s rhyme scheme.

It’s unfortunate that Niles died in 1980, because he really deserves a dope slap for this abomination. I’d offer remediation for this stanza, but then I’d have to fix the rhyme schemes of the other two verses to match, and I’m not quite sure it’d be worth the effort. Of course, that would afford the opportunity to fix the really awkward last line in the second stanza. . .

Nah. I’ll just pass on the whole thing.

As Seen on Farcebook

Seen on FarceBook: “bordum.” No, cupcake, for you that’s “bore-dumb.” For everyone else, it’s “boredom.” *sigh*

Anyone Else Like This?

I have a quirk, I guess one might say. An example might be, I need to have my cooking utensils hung in EXACTLY the right place–the place where I expect them to be. If a spoon I need to stir a soup is hung just two places off from its place, I have a devil of a time finding it, sometimes (OK, oftentimes). I’ve been known to look all through the kitchen for the RIGHT spoon, because not only is it not in its place, but imagining it being in another utensil’s place is just. . . wrong.

I have experienced something similar if someone referred to “The Messiah” (as a musical work). I am–or was for years–prone to ask “Who is that by?” since Handel’s work is “Messiah.” Now, I know every single note of the Spicker score for “Messiah,” but for years “The Messiah” used as reference to that work kinda threw me. *shrugs* Of course, this usually only causes problems with things I know well.

No, I do not fit the loosey-goosey DSM-IV OCD diagnostic criteria.

Genius? Notsomuch

One thing that’s sometimes irritating is reading a book or watching a show written by someone who’s merely bright and trying to write about/write dialog for a “genius.” Unfortunately, the merely bright writer quite often just cannot grasp the flower of “genius” that’s within the nettle of his muddled idea of genius.

Note: I am only “merely bright” and in no way a “genius” (tested out on the low end of the MENSA IQ quals which in NO WAY define “genius”). However, I have been blessed to know and benefit from association with more than a few folks who are so bright they almost make my eyes bleed, *heh* hence my dissatisfaction with fictional representations of “genius.”


10 points for the (scrambled and adapted) literary reference. Points may be redeemed for “pie in the sky,” as it were. Or bragging rights. Quisquis/whatever. *heh*

Considering Hermitry

Recently, someone got a wee tad miffed with me cos I will NOT “text” them. Perhaps I need to just become a hermit. Easier on everyone.

I’m Tempted

But I just might resist temptation. . . this time.

I’m tempted to take either a Linix Mint box with a fairly generous amount of RAM or a similarly-configured Win10 box and play VM games on ’em like I did several years ago when I installed a WinXP VM inside a Linux Mint box and then installed an Ubuntu VM inside the WinXP VM. Ju-u-u-st for fun.

I dunno. Maybe. Ju-u-u-st for fun. After all, I never did go more than two VMs deep. *heh*

I Hate Spring Pollens

I know they’re a part of the freakin’ “circle of life” and all that, but I’ve been coughing up a lung or two for a couple of weeks now. It’s not all that bad except when a cough surprises me while I’m in the process of swallowing something seasoned with ghost pepper. Then, it’s getting the stuff out of my nasal cavity. . .

I hate Spring pollens.

Please, Make It Stop!

File it under “TMI,” I’m sure.

Son & Heir’s (otherwise _perfect_ pooch) just filled the room with a “gaseous aroma” that is several orders of magnitude worse than a cat dead three days, left out in the sun to rot. After recovery and airing the room out, I’m still almost afraid to breathe. . .

May I? Please?

May I dope slap someone for using “abit” to stand in for “a bit”? Please? Pretty please with sugar on top? Would it help my case if I told you the same folks used the adjective “backdoor” when they meant “back door”? Hmm?

[excessively polite mini-rant /off]