Author Topic: Quotes from work (Read 192004 times)

Jonathon · « **Reply #1700 on:** May 30, 2019, 09:09:42 AM »

Today in the annals of Unintentionally Funny Sentences That I've Edited:

Quote

Mr. Stevenson is the author of Letters from an American Husband and Father: Championing Virtue as the Most Durable Empire, a compilation of his letters to the editor and essays written between 1998 and 2012.

Jonathon · « **Reply #1701 on:** June 12, 2019, 04:07:01 PM »

Quote

The purpose of this document is to describe the unifying set of statements that provide an umbrella for the statements and activities of university administrative departments.

rivka · « **Reply #1702 on:** June 12, 2019, 04:21:42 PM »

Including the Department of Redundancy Department?

Jonathon · « **Reply #1703 on:** June 12, 2019, 07:33:50 PM »

Worse—human resources.

rivka · « **Reply #1704 on:** June 13, 2019, 12:43:08 AM »

Jonathon · « **Reply #1705 on:** January 14, 2020, 03:13:32 PM »

From some employee bios I'm editing:

Quote

Something unusual about me is that I love to tie flies and catch fish with them!

Wow, how unusual! I bet there aren't that many people out there that share this strange and unheard-of hobby!

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #1706 on:** January 15, 2020, 09:39:23 AM »

I love to tie spiders and catch flies with them.

Jonathon · « **Reply #1707 on:** January 16, 2020, 10:03:05 AM »

Sometimes when I see comments from the client to the designer, it really makes me glad I'm not a designer.

"Logo ... looks kind of out of place ... is there a way to make it look like it belongs?"
"We talked about adding the [name] logo in a subtle, more designer way."
"Can you drop this into an amazingly inspiring layout and send the pdf to me ... today?"

Brinestone · « **Reply #1708 on:** January 16, 2020, 12:50:43 PM »

*backs away slowly*

rivka · « **Reply #1709 on:** January 17, 2020, 12:17:21 AM »

Yeah, designers are telepathic AND magical, donchaknow?

Jonathon · « **Reply #1710 on:** January 17, 2020, 11:16:08 AM »

*nods*

Ela · « **Reply #1711 on:** January 20, 2020, 05:51:58 AM »

Pet peeves of graphic designers.

Also, this is unusual?

What else would you tie flies for if not to catch fish?

Quote from: Jonathon on January 14, 2020, 03:13:32 PM

From some employee bios I'm editing:

Quote
Something unusual about me is that I love to tie flies and catch fish with them!

Wow, how unusual! I bet there aren't that many people out there that share this strange and unheard-of hobby!

Jonathon · « **Reply #1712 on:** January 30, 2020, 04:18:30 PM »

Quote

“I’m not very exciting,” claims [professor]. “I’m just kind of a normal person that comes in and gets her work done.” But anyone that knows about her dedication, her compassion, and her love of service finds the opposite to be true.

So she's an exciting but abnormal person who doesn't come in and doesn't get her work done?

rivka · « **Reply #1713 on:** January 30, 2020, 06:20:03 PM »

*snicker*

Jonathon · « **Reply #1714 on:** February 07, 2020, 11:56:33 AM »

One of my clients likes to write really complex sentences that don't actually make much sense or at least don't really say that much:

Quote

By acting upon the promptings and inspiration that the gospel brings to those who trust in the Lord, your generous gift demonstrates your love for God and His children.

The gift acted upon the promptings and inspiration? Why do we need to separate out promptings and inspiration? Why do we need to specify that these promptings and inspiration come to those who trust in the Lord? Is it really accurate to say that the gospel brings the promptings and inspiration, or does the Lord or the Spirit bring those things?

Quote

Thank you for creating the life-affirming hope that comes to those who now have the ability to become self-reliant in spiritual and temporal matters.

What does it mean for this hope to be life-affirming? Why do we have to say that the donor created the hope and that the hope then came to those people? Why can't we just say that the donor gave them hope? But if we just say that the donor gave them hope by helping them become self-reliant, which is the most direct way to say it, then it kind of undercuts the message that these people are self-reliant, because they relied on someone else to become self-reliant. (The way the LDS Church talks about self-reliance is probably a whole other can of worms.)

Dobie · « **Reply #1715 on:** February 08, 2020, 01:36:35 PM »

Quote from: Jonathon on February 07, 2020, 11:56:33 AM

One of my clients likes to write really complex sentences that don't actually make much sense or at least don't really say that much:

Quote
Is it really accurate to say that the gospel brings the promptings and inspiration, or does the Lord or the Spirit bring those things?

Your opinion on the accuracy of a statement really has nothing to do with whether the statement makes sense or "says much".

Quote

Quote
Thank you for creating the life-affirming hope that comes to those who now have the ability to become self-reliant in spiritual and temporal matters.

What does it mean for this hope to be life-affirming? Why do we have to say that the donor created the hope and that the hope then came to those people? Why can't we just say that the donor gave them hope? But if we just say that the donor gave them hope by helping them become self-reliant, which is the most direct way to say it, then it kind of undercuts the message that these people are self-reliant, because they relied on someone else to become self-reliant.

"These people are self-reliant," is present tense; it means they are self-reliant now.
"They relied on someone else..." is past tense; at some previous time they presumably were not self-reliant.
I don't see the contradiction.

Jonathon · « **Reply #1716 on:** February 10, 2020, 10:32:31 AM »

I think I've asked you this before, but what do you get out of posting here, Dobie? Do you enjoy being just enough of a troll to be annoying but not enough of one to get banned?

Jonathon · « **Reply #1717 on:** April 07, 2020, 02:25:23 PM »

A proofreading query from one of my coworkers:

Quote

At the very bottom there is a 4/20. What does this indicate? If it's a date, can we change it to 4/19 or 4/21 instead?

Yes, it is a date, and no, we can't change it to 4/19 or 4/21, unless you have a time machine so we can go back and publish it in April of last year or you want to hold off publishing it until April of next year.

I appreciate the vigilance in avoiding possible drug references, but sometimes a 4/20 is just a 4/20.

rivka · « **Reply #1718 on:** April 07, 2020, 04:26:20 PM »

Ela · « **Reply #1719 on:** April 08, 2020, 07:16:39 AM »

4/20 is a drug reference?

rivka · « **Reply #1720 on:** April 08, 2020, 08:06:32 AM »

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/420_(cannabis_culture)

Jonathon · « **Reply #1721 on:** May 15, 2020, 12:24:18 PM »

Quote

When we received the news for your new assignment, we all chanted, “Perfect, perfect, perfect.”

Am I the only one who finds this super creepy?

Brinestone · « **Reply #1722 on:** May 15, 2020, 05:11:40 PM »

Nope.

rivka · « **Reply #1723 on:** May 17, 2020, 10:02:26 PM »

I'm curious about the context, but it does strike a creepy vibe to me too.

Jonathon · « **Reply #1724 on:** May 18, 2020, 09:24:48 AM »

It's from a letter thanking someone for his service in his current role after hearing news that he will be leaving that role to serve as a mission president.

It is less creepy in context, but the idea of a a couple literally chanting "perfect" over and over is still super creepy to me.