Author Topic: New column-type thingy (Read 112256 times)

BlackBlade · « **Reply #425 on:** June 08, 2012, 05:08:05 AM »

I find it amusing to see people respond to me when I put actual estimates or qualifying statements where hyperbole usually goes.

"I swear I have told that guy about four times that..."

"Did you see that movie? Ah, man! It was the best superhero movie in at least the last five years."

"This bag feels like it weighs one hundred lbs, and I've been carrying it for several minutes."

Don't get me wrong, I like hyperbole, but it loses its punching power when we use it to excuse our laziness in actually describing something.

pooka · « **Reply #426 on:** June 08, 2012, 07:07:44 AM »

Quote from: Jonathon on June 06, 2012, 09:37:31 AM

Well, he's a professor of linguistics and English language, so yes, this is what he does for a living.

I don't think it's at all surprising that a large number of the rules are one-offs. It seems like pretty much everyone who writes a usage handbook or dictionary puts in their own pet peeves, which may be highly idiosyncratic. And a lot of people have written about usage in the last 200+ years.

But does he keep a spreadsheet? I was pretty sure he is a professor in English or language.

Jonathon · « **Reply #427 on:** June 08, 2012, 08:55:27 AM »

Yes, I'm sure he has some sort of spreadsheet or database.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #428 on:** June 08, 2012, 09:51:03 AM »

Does it surprise you that of the whole column, the part that impressed us the most was the offhand comment about the nutty professor?

Jonathon · « **Reply #429 on:** June 08, 2012, 10:21:36 AM »

He's not nutty! It's research!

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #430 on:** June 08, 2012, 10:39:11 AM »

Oh dear. He reads here, doesn't he.

I'm sorry, Professor. It wasn't fair of me to judge you on that one offhand, out-of-context remark from Jonathon. It just produced a ridiculous image in my imagination, although I can understand how someone devoted to research and meticulous in its execution could gather such an impressive data set.

Jonathon · « **Reply #431 on:** June 14, 2012, 08:02:23 PM »

Take My Commas—Please

rivka · « **Reply #432 on:** June 14, 2012, 08:23:05 PM »

How prescriptivist of you.

Also, I agree that those commas should be avoided.

Jonathon · « **Reply #433 on:** June 14, 2012, 08:28:45 PM »

What part was so prescriptivist of me?

rivka · « **Reply #434 on:** June 14, 2012, 09:28:04 PM »

You don't quite say "omit these commas", but you come really close.

Jonathon · « **Reply #435 on:** June 14, 2012, 09:58:55 PM »

I think I just don't care enough about nitpicky things like this to make absolute pronouncements anymore. I find the problems interesting intellectually, so I like talking about them, but I usually don't feel strongly enough to try to foist my preferences on others.

rivka · « **Reply #436 on:** June 14, 2012, 10:51:23 PM »

You're probably just not old and crotchety enough.

Give it time.

Jonathon · « **Reply #437 on:** June 14, 2012, 10:56:07 PM »

I was crotchetier when I was younger.

Is it supposed to come back at some point?

rivka · « **Reply #438 on:** June 15, 2012, 01:18:32 AM »

That's been my exp--

That is, so I've heard.

pooka · « **Reply #439 on:** June 15, 2012, 06:01:13 PM »

You only think you're less crotchety. You've just gotten beat down.

Marianne Dashwood · « **Reply #440 on:** June 21, 2012, 10:59:09 AM »

Quote from: BlackBlade on June 08, 2012, 05:08:05 AM

I find it amusing to see people respond to me when I put actual estimates or qualifying statements where hyperbole usually goes.

"I swear I have told that guy about four times that..."

"Did you see that movie? Ah, man! It was the best superhero movie in at least the last five years."

"This bag feels like it weighs one hundred lbs, and I've been carrying it for several minutes."

Don't get me wrong, I like hyperbole, but it loses its punching power when we use it to excuse our laziness in actually describing something.

At some point, I decided to adopt 87 as my hyperbolic number of choice. I'll say things like "yeah, it was pretty funny the first 87 times I heard it." I think it makes things a lot funnier when you use an oddly specific large number for your exaggerating. 147 works well too. It always sounds good when they end in 7.

Porter · « **Reply #441 on:** June 21, 2012, 11:35:59 AM »

Weird Al chose 27 as his weirdly specific number.

Quote

I find it amusing to see people respond to me when I put actual estimates or qualifying statements where hyperbole usually goes.

I do that fairly frequently with statements such as "That's the saddest thing I've heard this morning".

Brinestone · « **Reply #442 on:** June 21, 2012, 12:18:59 PM »

That reminds me of a speaker in church a few weeks back who said, about the sacrament, "We are figuratively eating Christ's flesh and drinking his blood." It was exactly the intonation people use when they say "literally" incorrectly. I just about applauded.

SteveRogers · « **Reply #443 on:** June 21, 2012, 01:12:40 PM »

I just think of Rob Lowe's character in Parks & Recreation.

Brinestone · « **Reply #444 on:** June 22, 2012, 08:36:18 AM »

That is littrally what I think of too.

Marianne Dashwood · « **Reply #445 on:** June 22, 2012, 04:11:07 PM »

BlackBlade · « **Reply #446 on:** June 24, 2012, 10:03:04 PM »

Quote from: Porter on June 21, 2012, 11:35:59 AM

Weird Al chose 27 as his weirdly specific number.

Quote
I find it amusing to see people respond to me when I put actual estimates or qualifying statements where hyperbole usually goes.
I do that fairly frequently with statements such as "That's the saddest thing I've heard this morning".

Exactly.

Also the weirdly specific number sounds pretty close to what I do except I try to make it reasonably accurate.

Jonathon · « **Reply #447 on:** July 30, 2012, 07:22:02 PM »

The Data Is In, pt. 1

dkw · « **Reply #448 on:** July 31, 2012, 01:18:02 AM »

I'm looking forward to Part two.

I think you have a typo: "Isn’t all data—whether you think of it as a count of a mass noun"

Jonathon · « **Reply #449 on:** July 31, 2012, 09:35:48 AM »

Yes, I do. Thanks!