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17052. Magoseph - 10/17/2005 7:57:04 PM Or, more likely, no e-mail then? 17053. The Summer Woman - 10/18/2005 3:17:48 PM judith - I am in Dallas. I will be here until Nov. 2. Maybe we could get together. I will get a day off at some point (or crack up first) - no joke. I am working long ours in an extremely stressful situation. 17054. alistairconnor - 10/18/2005 5:10:51 PM Looks like I'm going to be in Madrid for a couple of days a week in November and December.
I don't expect to meet anyone I know there...
I really ought to start learning Castilian really fast. 17055. judithathome - 10/18/2005 5:39:53 PM Summer Woman...you've got mail! 17056. Neato - 10/19/2005 1:19:10 AM I eat my peas with honey
I've done it all my life
It does look rather funny
But it keeps them on my knife 17057. judithathome - 10/19/2005 1:25:47 AM Heh...I've always heard the third line as "It makes my peas taste funny". 17058. Neato - 10/19/2005 1:29:02 AM I think you're right 17059. judithathome - 10/19/2005 1:32:46 AM Either way works fine as a visual, though. ;-) 17060. Magoseph - 10/19/2005 9:36:48 AM http://chantaclair.com/Travel/dub%20guard.jpg
Hello, Mac.
17061. Macnas - 10/19/2005 9:44:05 AM Here's a funny thing.
I just wrote a quick note to Seamus in the poetry thread. Nothing funny about that you might say, and you'd be right. However, straight away afterwards I made a call to an engineer who wants me to help him with some drawing interpretation (for that read: he cannot read drawings), and, after letting the 'phone ring on, left a message for him.
But it's only after I realised that I had used my very "regional" accent on it. Usually, to make myself understood, my accent is, by Irish standards, pretty flat. My home tongue is very different, and only comes out properly when I'm talking with my family, old neighbours, and strangely enough, dogs. Dogs seem to respond better to that accent, don't know why.
Anyway, he'll have a bit of a laugh when he hears me tell him to "sure gi's a ring at 9 a chlack if tis any use t'yu".
17062. Macnas - 10/19/2005 9:56:58 AM Hello Mago!
You don't see those fellows very often! They're a unit of the cavalry corps, who usually provide escort to the President and visiting brass. They're called the Blue Hussars. 17063. Magoseph - 10/19/2005 11:50:13 AM Now it turns out that a Supreme Court nominee doesn't even need to always be a lawyer in good standing.
Would this sentence be less or more pungent if Maureen had avoided the split infinitive? 17064. Magoseph - 10/19/2005 11:50:54 AM Grammar Gurus, please answer. 17065. wonkers2 - 10/19/2005 1:41:25 PM IMO, it would be better if she had omitted "always." The split infinitive is awkward also, but I believe acceptable in current usage. How about it, Arky? 17066. PelleNilsson - 10/19/2005 1:50:32 PM I second wonkers. The 'always' is implicit. A bit of sloppy writing against a deadline, I suppose. 17067. Macnas - 10/19/2005 1:54:34 PM Yep, awkward. 17068. Magoseph - 10/19/2005 9:21:44 PM Ok, thank you, you all about Maureen's phrasing, but I still want Arky's input on this.
Ali, Spanish is very easy to learn--the pronunciation especially. 17069. wonkers2 - 10/19/2005 11:12:38 PM When you can pronounce the double and single r's in this one like a Spaniard you'r pretty good:
r con r cigarro,
r con r barril
cuatro carros cargados de ruedas
en el ferrocarril. 17070. arkymalarky - 10/20/2005 12:25:43 AM I agree it's awkward and not because of the split infinitive, but my opinion's no more or less informed than most here.
I've told this before, but my dad's a prof emeritus who taught college English for many years. He sent some sort of memo with a phrase something along the line of "...to better prepare students...." to the local high school English dept, whose chair curtly included in her reply that she didn't split infinitives. I'm sure she was smugly satisfied with herself for correcting a college professor's grammar, never realizing 1) how petty and unprofessional she looked or 2) that she, in not bothering to keep up with changes in acceptable grammar, looked very out of touch--all in all, the opposite of the effect she evidently assumed she had achieved. 17071. Magoseph - 10/20/2005 10:08:11 AM Split infinitives
For the hyper-critical, “to boldly go where no man has gone before” should be “to go boldly. . . .” It is good to be aware that inserting one or more words between “to” and a verb is not strictly speaking an error, and is often more expressive and graceful than moving the intervening words elsewhere.
One of my grammar guru in this excerpt above agrees with you, Arky.
Hello, Mac.
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