Timothy Zahn used them for the speech of a Wookie who was able to approximate Basic better than most in Star Wars: Heir To The Empire.
Note from a cranky editor
- Thread starter Greg Cox
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Timothy Zahn used them for the speech of a Wookie who was able to approximate Basic better than most in Star Wars: Heir To The Empire.
So here's another thing that makes me cranky: It's multiple exclamation points. I mean, every now and then for something really huge is OK (in informal writing - never in formal or professional writing), I guess, but all this !! and !!! and !!!!! just makes me cross.
Also, when you ask a question, why not use a question mark? Isn't that what they're for?
Also, when you ask a question, why not use a question mark? Isn't that what they're for?
One thing that's really started to bug me recently is the use of "This" as a complete sentence.
Cheers,
-CM-
Cheers,
-CM-
Kate!!!!! Really???? You don't care for these at all???!!!??? 
^This.
Ain't I a stinker?
My latest irritation comes from the misuse of the words "imply" and "infer." Generally, the error shows up as the use of "infer" when one means "imply."
Imply - to give the impression of...
Infer - to draw the conclusion that...
Also - and I could look this up, but I thought it'd be fun to ask the question here - is there a distinction in the usage of the words "career" and "careen"? It seems in my experience that they are used interchangeably, but "career" always sounds wrong to my ear - as if the speaker has simply used the wrong word.
Enlighten me, oh wise ones.
Well, for one thing they're completely unrelated words. One refers to a professional job track; the other refers to an out-of-control vehicle.
Granted, a NASCAR career may involve a fair amount of careening.
"Career" can also be used in place of "careen". It's in the dictionary.
it's prolly more of an English thing.
No, "career" has that meaning in American English as well. It's in Stephen Sondheim's song "I'm Still Here" from the musical Follies:
Actually "career" as a verb doesn't have the same meaning as "careen," though they're close enough that they're often used interchangeably. To careen is to tilt to one side, sway back and forth, or move rapidly and erratically. To career is to make rapid forward progress, to race ahead at high speed. It is possible to careen while you career, but you can do them separately too. A drunk staggering back and forth is careening, but definitely not careering. A bullet train roaring down a straight track is careering but not careening.
(Sondheim's use of "career" as a verb seems to be closer to the literal meaning of "careen," though, since "career from career to career" implies bouncing back and forth more than racing forward, considering that it's the lament of an aging actress who's probably slowing down.)
Actually "career" as a verb doesn't have the same meaning as "careen," though they're close enough that they're often used interchangeably. To careen is to tilt to one side, sway back and forth, or move rapidly and erratically. To career is to make rapid forward progress, to race ahead at high speed. It is possible to careen while you career, but you can do them separately too. A drunk staggering back and forth is careening, but definitely not careering. A bullet train roaring down a straight track is careering but not careening.
(Sondheim's use of "career" as a verb seems to be closer to the literal meaning of "careen," though, since "career from career to career" implies bouncing back and forth more than racing forward, considering that it's the lament of an aging actress who's probably slowing down.)
Some playwrights end questions in their scripts with a period. Octavio Solis is fond of this. For example, it'll be written something like this:
Kate: Also, when you ask a question, why not use a quotation mark.
Me: Isn't that what they're for.
It's done to inform the actor, iirc, to say the lines as a statement rather than a question, so as to give them a different, flatter intonation.
Kate!!!!! Really???? You don't care for these at all???!!!???
Why, no. I don't. ::she said with quiet assurance::
One of my sisters not only uses multiple exclamation points and question marks and, of course, smilies, but she also uses caps and underlines and italics and boldface and different fonts and fonts of a different color (which is like a horse of a different color but a lot more annoying, graphically speaking), and she uses alllllllllll of this stuff in the same email, sometimes the same paragraph, and maybe even (though I won't swear to this) the same sentence.
She's just as sweet as she can be, but her emails look as though they were written by someone in serious need of some lithium, or perhaps padded restraints.
However, even the most insane-looking emails from my dear sister don't bother me nearly as much as when some in-laws, who are also just as sweet as they can be, don't know how to pluralize their very own last name. I mean, I know it ends with an "e," but still, what's so dang hard about just adding an "s"? Why write it Joyce's when Joyces is(name changed to protect the guilty) correct and incidentally prevents you from looking like an ignoramous? Why? Why? Why?
I'd better stop before somebody suggests that I need some padded restraints. Besides, in this thread, I know I'm preaching to the choir.
Christopher said:
This is exactly how I differentiate between these two words as well. Oh, and I agree with Sakrysta about infer and imply, too.
Yes, I realize there are specific instances, such as dialogue, when there is a good reason to not use a question mark. But I'm just saying that when somebody asks a question on - to pull a random example right out of my head (yeah, right
) - a Trek bulletin board, that person should use a question mark. You know. To show that it's a question, not a statement.
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Exactly correct.
"What?" and "What." Are spoken with completely different inflections and have completely different interpretations.
Example.
MARY: Bob?
BOB: What.
Bob is replying that he is expecting Mary to say something else.
MARY: Bob?
BOB: What?
Bob didn't hear Mary, or Bob is annoyed at Mary for apparently being too insistent on telling him something.
--Ted
I'm going to start using 'that' for posts I agree with to see how long before it becomes ubiquitous.
Indeed. "Careering all over the road" is common usage in the UK.
Is spartan / Spartan supposed to be capitalised?
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