Author Topic: Quotes from work (Read 180507 times)

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #725 on:** August 09, 2010, 01:08:52 AM »

This is the best one I've read today:

Lily is a girl who loves to shop. One day, she forgot to take medicine. She went to a summer sale and bought a lot of clothes, t-shirts, dresses. It cost her about a million dollars. She used seventy of her credit cards. Then it was too heavy for Lily to carry them home. Therefore she called twenty-one taxis and sixty buses to drive her clothes home. On the way home, she was so generous that she gave thirty-two of her shirts to some panhandlers and beggers. She also bought seventy big closets and one huge closet to put her clothes. Then she took the medicine. Actually, it was her fancy daydream.

BlackBlade · « **Reply #726 on:** August 09, 2010, 01:23:00 AM »

Note Lily didn't tip a single driver in her entourage though she gave some of her clothes to beggars.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #727 on:** August 09, 2010, 01:54:27 AM »

Quote from work tonight: "Just because I don't know stuff doesn't make me ignorant!"

BlackBlade · « **Reply #728 on:** August 09, 2010, 02:10:37 AM »

Quote from: Tante Shvester on August 09, 2010, 01:54:27 AM

Quote from work tonight: "Just because I don't know stuff doesn't make me ignorant!"

It's true, maybe that stuff is just ignorant of her.

Scott R · « **Reply #729 on:** August 09, 2010, 09:05:50 AM »

Stuff would like to get to know you. He's waiting downstairs with a grin and a tea-cozy.

Jonathon · « **Reply #730 on:** September 01, 2010, 01:34:41 PM »

Our usual contract indexer really frustrates me sometimes. It seems like half the index is composed of junk entries for passing references to people or things or references to things in the endnotes. I came across this gem just now:

Quote

cows, skinning diseased, 172

Yes, that's right: the story about Wilford Woodruff skinning dead, diseased cattle and then getting sick and being healed deserves its own entry in the index.

Scott R · « **Reply #731 on:** September 02, 2010, 04:24:44 AM »

Under cows rather than healings?

Jonathon · « **Reply #732 on:** September 02, 2010, 09:23:56 AM »

Yup. It's only a paragraph-long story, so it's almost not worthy indexing, but my first thought would be to put it under something like "Woodruff, Wilford, healing of" or maybe just "healing". I just can't imagine that a lot of readers are going to think, "I wonder where that story about skinning diseased cows was . . . oh, here it is!"

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #733 on:** September 08, 2010, 09:51:04 PM »

I like dilicious food. Even I will be fat fat fat I still like.

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #734 on:** September 08, 2010, 09:53:38 PM »

I like to eat beef, cake and chocolate.

Jonathon · « **Reply #735 on:** September 09, 2010, 02:40:48 PM »

I know that I usually hate language peeving, but I really hate the use of "indicate" to mean "say", as in "Elder Brown indicated that President David O. McKay wished to see Eldon." It always gives me the mental image of someone communicating solely through hand gestures and facial expressions.

BlackBlade · « **Reply #736 on:** September 09, 2010, 04:41:23 PM »

Why does, "indicate" indicate nonverbal communication for you?

Sorry, the question is asked in all seriousness, but I couldn't resist writing it that way.

Jonathon · « **Reply #737 on:** September 09, 2010, 05:58:48 PM »

Because most uses of indicate indicate some sort of indirect or nonverbal communication. Quite frequently it's a nonhuman doing the indicating, as in "Studies have indicated that people who use indicate to mean say are ten times more likely to be social deviants." I most often see indicate used to mean say in writing that is otherwise awkward or amateurish.

BlackBlade · « **Reply #738 on:** September 09, 2010, 06:19:39 PM »

Quote from: Jonathon on September 09, 2010, 05:58:48 PM

Because most uses of indicate indicate some sort of indirect or nonverbal communication. Quite frequently it's a nonhuman doing the indicating, as in "Studies have indicated that people who use indicate to mean say are ten times more likely to be social deviants." I most often see indicate used to mean say in writing that is otherwise awkward or amateurish.

Ah, I see.

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #739 on:** September 09, 2010, 07:40:55 PM »

I read a really great passage in Bleak House last night. Esther was talking to Mr. Guppy, who works for lawyers and is very meticulous about things being said correctly.

Quote

“You were so good as to imply, on that occasion—”

“Excuse me, miss,” said Mr Guppy, “but we had better not travel out of the record into implication. I cannot admit that I implied anything.”

“You said on that occasion,” I recommenced, “that you might possibly have the means of advancing my interests and promoting my fortunes by making discoveries of which I should be the subject."

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #740 on:** September 09, 2010, 07:41:32 PM »

Oh, I guess that was "imply," not "indicate." But I enjoyed it nonetheless.

The Genuine · « **Reply #741 on:** September 09, 2010, 08:44:36 PM »

J, Does it bother you if I say that I'm going to the supermarket instead of saying that I'm driving there?

Jonathon · « **Reply #742 on:** September 09, 2010, 09:08:18 PM »

I can't imagine why that would bother me.

The Genuine · « **Reply #743 on:** September 09, 2010, 10:32:57 PM »

It just strikes me that saying something is a subset of indicating something.

Jonathon · « **Reply #744 on:** September 09, 2010, 10:40:39 PM »

I thought it was pretty clear from my previous posts that I don't consider say to be a subset or synonym of indicate, so I don't know why you'd think the problem was that I don't like using words that are supersets of other words.

pooka · « **Reply #745 on:** September 10, 2010, 10:08:46 AM »

The problem I see with indicate is that some people think of something has more syllables, it is more formal. I see this a lot in people thanking the Lord for the "moisture" rather than rain or snow. Now, if there were a light wintry mix that morning, I could maybe see "moisture" as a superior reference.

BlackBlade · « **Reply #746 on:** September 10, 2010, 11:14:20 AM »

Quote from: pooka on September 10, 2010, 10:08:46 AM

The problem I see with indicate is that some people think of something has more syllables, it is more formal. I see this a lot in people thanking the Lord for the "moisture" rather than rain or snow. Now, if there were a light wintry mix that morning, I could maybe see "moisture" as a superior reference.

Bro. Groberg gave a talk about praying for favorable winds on a rickety boat. The captain chastised him for it because there might be a boat coming in the other direction, and for God to grant them that boon he would have to inconvenience the other boat.

I've never been able to pray for favorable weather since. The best I can do is pray to God to end say a drought brought on by wickedness.

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #747 on:** September 10, 2010, 05:21:01 PM »

Passive aggressive me wants to volunteer to offer prayers whenever I get the chance just so I can express thanks for the precipitation. Moisture just makes it sound like we're all sweaty.

Porter · « **Reply #748 on:** September 12, 2010, 07:35:44 PM »

How about just thanking/asking for, you know, rain?

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #749 on:** September 12, 2010, 07:53:25 PM »

Well, I think the "moisture" thing started, at least it seemed so in the places I always lived, as a way to encompass both rain and snow. But the fact that we already have the word precipitation is what always puzzled me about it.