Author Topic: Quotes from work (Read 180669 times)

Farmgirl · « **Reply #175 on:** July 24, 2007, 11:50:35 AM »

You know how sometimes you walk into a conference room and some people are already there and chit-chatting waiting for everyone else to show up?

Sometimes that makes it so people come in during the middle of a conversation and miss the context of what is being discussed..

so it was yesterday here at my work when we walked into the conference room and two men from our department, who were already seated in there talking about the TENNIS game they had played against each other the night before. However, we had no idea they were talking about tennis. This was all we heard:

B: "so, are you still sore from last night?"
J: "yeah, it really made my butt hurt, for some reason"
B: "so, then, not tonight? Or do you feel up to it?"

Everyone else just kinda stopped and stared for a minute then burst out laughing. They still didn't understand what people thought was so funny until someone explained how that sounded. And they quickly explained they had met for TENNIS the night before (how that made J's butt hurt, I still don't know).

ROFL

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #176 on:** July 24, 2007, 12:02:14 PM »

My sister tells a hysterical story of being overheard out of context at work. She was in her cubicle, where everyone can pretty much overhear everyone else's phone conversations, and talking to the Ford dealership about renting a car for the weekend.

"I'd like to arrange for an Escort, picking up tonight after work."

"Well, I'm going to a friend's wedding in Delaware, so I might need it until Sunday night, or, depending on how I'm doing, Monday morning."

"No, I don't care about the color. I'm not picky."

By the time she had finished the call, the rumor was out and flying through the office.

Jonathon · « **Reply #177 on:** July 24, 2007, 02:06:18 PM »

*snort*

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #178 on:** July 24, 2007, 03:51:58 PM »

Hey, true story!

pooka · « **Reply #179 on:** July 24, 2007, 06:37:40 PM »

My brother refused to call the car he sold me an "Escort".

Farmgirl · « **Reply #180 on:** August 02, 2007, 02:11:33 PM »

Ha -- Just came from a meeting that included members of our Legal staff department.

The legal guy used, during the conversation This Word, and we questioned what it was (because none of us had heard the word before).

But he said it wrong -- he said it like the word "Monopoly" except starting with "Pan" -- so basically gave it an extra syllable. He was using it in the definition of "a magnificent or impressive array", but basically he was meaning "encompassing everything - the whole universe" kinda thinking.

So we all (including him) went back and looked up the word after the meeting. And he realized he had been spelling and using it a bit incorrectly.

pooka · « **Reply #181 on:** August 13, 2007, 06:04:08 AM »

Somehow "convenience store" became "connivance store." I bet someone put an a in the end of convenience and Word fixed it for them.

pooka · « **Reply #182 on:** August 24, 2007, 07:01:09 AM »

We were discussing "Shall" and "Will" back on page 6, and I ran across this in a brief today:

Quote

The legal dictionary defines the term “shall”: “As used in statutes, contracts, or the like, this word is generally imperative or mandatory.” Black’s Law Dictionary, 1541, Henry C. Black, 4th ed. (West 1951).

So it's peculiar to legal jargon.

pooka · « **Reply #183 on:** September 02, 2007, 07:06:59 PM »

This isn't really work, but I was checking some ASL because of my sister's blog:

Quote

I let you know your lesson is H and Hanukah is wrong spells and Its
actual is meaning : Hanukkah

Bye, I enjoy checking to your site is the best sign langauge.

Dear Ecdrury,
According to dictionary.com there are three accepted spellings:
"Hanukkah or Hanukah also Chanukah."
But now I have a vote from you for the longer spelling.
Thanks for sharing your comment.
Cordially,
Dr. Bill
p.s. By the way, "langauge" is actually spelled, "language." (Grin.)

Jonathon · « **Reply #184 on:** November 27, 2007, 12:37:04 PM »

Taken from an e-mail from the facilities help desk:

Quote

Objective: To provide above and beyond customer service to all FranklinCovey associates and tenants. To create a positive, proactive working relationship that will
“Deliver Case-Worthy Customer Results”

That's exactly how it appeared, including the colors and the randomly quoted and title-capped bit on the next line.

pooka · « **Reply #185 on:** November 27, 2007, 12:58:32 PM »

I'm imagining that being read aloud in StrongBad's "Monster Truck Rally Announcer" voice.

Jonathon · « **Reply #186 on:** November 28, 2007, 02:47:08 PM »

Sunday! Sunday! Someday!

Speaking of quotes from work, right now I'm editing a database of quotes for an upcoming line of planners. I came across a quote from Aristotle that looked severely underpunctuated. I'd seen the same quote before with different punctuation, so I decided to look it up to see if I could find a real source (and yes, I realize full well that Aristotle himself probably used no punctuation at all—still, I assumed there was a somewhat authoritative translation I could rely on).

In searching for a source, I quickly came across this. Surprise—the quote isn't from Aristotle at all. It's from a guy who was writing about Aristotle's Ethics. I suspect that if we really dug for sources, we'd find that an appallingly large number of our quotes are spurious. Our sources consist of compilations of quotes, and of the couple dozen or so books in my office, I think there is only one that actually gives references. All the rest are, in my opinion, completely untrustworthy. But what can I do?

*sigh*

pooka · « **Reply #187 on:** November 29, 2007, 09:16:35 AM »

I've heard of Wil Durant. He's kind of famous. Why not just ascribe the quote to him?

Jonathon · « **Reply #188 on:** November 29, 2007, 09:24:14 AM »

I will. The problem isn't that I don't know who to assign the quote to, but that our sources are so unreliable. Sometimes I feel like we'd be almost as well off trawling random MySpace pages for quotes.

I find the problem of incorrect attribution interesting. The last couple times I've driven past Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, their sign has included a few cheesy motivational quotes; one is attributed to "anonymous," one to "source unknown," and the third to "bumper sticker." Seriously. Of course, those all effectively mean the same thing: "We don't know who said it and we can't be bothered to find out."

Porter · « **Reply #189 on:** November 29, 2007, 09:27:02 AM »

In a situation such as that (Thanksgiving Point), I'm not sure it's so bad that they don't know who said it and can't be bothered to find out.

Jonathon · « **Reply #190 on:** November 29, 2007, 09:28:36 AM »

*shrug* I still think it makes them look lazy. And quoting a bumper sticker just looks stupid.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #191 on:** November 29, 2007, 01:23:49 PM »

Ages ago, there was an episode of "The Odd Couple" where Felix enrolled in a writing class that guaranteed that by the end of the class you would be a published author. Lands up, most of the publication was on bumper stickers.

I just love the idea of a writing class for bumper sticker writers.

Amilia · « **Reply #192 on:** December 05, 2007, 05:43:30 PM »

I am currently working in the office of an art glass studio. My boss asked me to proof a bio of one of our artists. I like to think that I am OK at this sort of thing, but I generally just go by what sounds/feels right. So I would like to ask those of you linguists here, who really do know what you are doing, if I missed anything glaring. Did I add in too many commas? Do I need to cut the second "key artist?"

Quote

Treavor Holdman is an artist with a passion for glass. He grew up in a family of artists and teamed up with his brother Tom to become part of Holdman Studios at the age of 15. Since then Treavor has been one of the key artists for many large art glass installations. Several of the pieces he has been heavily involved with as a key artist have priced at over a half million. His work is literally seen by thousands everyday in many public spaces including churches, universities, and city centers all over the globe. Treavor has the unique ability to let the glass sing the song it was destined to sing. In his own words, "I let the glass speak for itself. As the fire and flame take hold of it, I feel what direction the glass would like to go to shine, and I take it on that journey. Then, in the end, the glass will do a much better job of taking your breath away then I ever could." Treavor has truly found his life's journey and invites us all to come along.

Thanks.

Jonathon · « **Reply #193 on:** December 05, 2007, 05:56:29 PM »

The punctuation looks fine to me. I think I would cut "as a key artist"—it sounds repetitious, and I don't think it's really necessary. Also, you should only use one space between sentences.

theCrowsWife · « **Reply #194 on:** December 06, 2007, 06:00:23 AM »

I would dump the "literally." If it absolutely must stay, move it so that the sentence reads, "His work is seen by literally thousands everyday." The number is what is literal, not the act of seeing.

Otherwise, what Jonathon said and it'll look good.

--Mel

Amilia · « **Reply #195 on:** December 06, 2007, 07:47:50 AM »

Lovely! Thank you.

Jonathon · « **Reply #196 on:** December 06, 2007, 07:49:56 AM »

The act of seeing is literal too.

And I think anyone reading it would take "literally" to have wide scope over the clause, so I don't think anyone is going to have trouble understanding it. Such is the beauty of adverbs.

Neutros the Radioactive Dragon · « **Reply #197 on:** December 06, 2007, 08:00:15 AM »

Quote

The punctuation looks fine to me. I think I would cut "as a key artist"—it sounds repetitious, and I don't think it's really necessary. Also, you should only use one space between sentences.

As a typist who learned, very, very long ago, to put two spaces after the end of a sentence, I still have a hard time just using one space.

Porter · « **Reply #198 on:** December 06, 2007, 08:01:29 AM »

I still use two spaces. And I don't feel bad about it.

Jonathon · « **Reply #199 on:** December 06, 2007, 08:09:29 AM »

I think I broke the habit in only a few weeks. *shrug*

But even if it's impossible for you to stop typing that way, they should be removed before the text is typeset and printed.