Author Topic: Quotes from work (Read 191867 times)

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #250 on:** February 01, 2008, 11:44:04 AM »

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I can see why people think they need quotes for emphasis or for whole slogans. I just don't think they really do, because sometimes it causes unintentional alternate readings, and sometimes it's just visually distracting. I think that in general, the average layperson overestimates the amount of visual emphasis or adornment they need to apply to text.
I'd agree with that. I still like them tho.

Bah! You're both nutty descriptivists!

goofy · « **Reply #251 on:** February 01, 2008, 01:14:32 PM »

And it feels good. Join us!

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #252 on:** February 01, 2008, 01:34:43 PM »

I'll think about it.

Where do you fall on the "lands up" vs. "winds up" or "ends up" controversy?

goofy · « **Reply #253 on:** February 01, 2008, 02:00:27 PM »

There's so many usage controversies I can't keep track of them all. Which one is this exactly?

Jonathon · « **Reply #254 on:** February 01, 2008, 02:06:26 PM »

All I know is that Tante says "lands up," and some people have given her a hard time about it. I use both "ends up" and "winds up" fairly interchangeably and am not very familiar with "lands up." I suspect it's a regional thing, but that's just a guess. I don't recall ever hearing about it or seeing it in a usage manual before.

goofy · « **Reply #255 on:** February 01, 2008, 02:36:43 PM »

I suspect it's regional as well. I don't know if I've heard it before. There's nothing about it on the ADS.

rivka · « **Reply #256 on:** February 01, 2008, 04:16:24 PM »

It is definitely regional. I know other people who say it, but IIRC they are all from the area near Tante.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #257 on:** February 02, 2008, 03:48:50 PM »

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It is definitely regional. I know other people who say it, but they land up being from the area near Tante.

I'm campaigning to expand the region.

rivka · « **Reply #258 on:** February 03, 2008, 09:34:26 AM »

I would appreciate it if you'd stop editing my words.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #259 on:** February 03, 2008, 10:17:38 AM »

Jonathon · « **Reply #260 on:** February 05, 2008, 11:16:28 AM »

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The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called “truth.”
—Dan Rather

I wonder if he said this before or after Rathergate. I'm guessing before.

Sheila · « **Reply #261 on:** February 15, 2008, 11:57:27 AM »

This quote is the only note I took during an hour long meeting today:

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If you're in a cave and you have a candle and someone comes along with a flashlight, you think you're in tall cotton.

Jonathon · « **Reply #262 on:** February 15, 2008, 12:04:32 PM »

I'm guessing that "you'll think you're in tall cotton" is some sort of Southern saying?

Sheila · « **Reply #263 on:** February 15, 2008, 12:13:45 PM »

is it? o_O

edit: does that mean the cave part makes sense to you? o_O

Jonathon · « **Reply #264 on:** February 15, 2008, 12:25:03 PM »

I'm just guessing. My take is something like "If you're in a cave and you have a candle [meaning you can't see very well] and someone comes along with a flashlight [so now you can see much better], you think you're in tall cotton [in hog heaven? something like that]." I don't know what it means out of context, and I've never heard "in tall cotton" before.

Brinestone · « **Reply #265 on:** February 15, 2008, 12:25:32 PM »

I'm guessing being in tall cotton is good. Which means that you'll be extremely glad that someone came along with a flashlight to help you through the cave. I'm not sure why the heck it was said.

(I have a pretty good idea of what sort of person would say such a thing, though.

)

Sheila · « **Reply #266 on:** February 15, 2008, 12:29:30 PM »

He consistently uses metaphors that are either nonsensical ones like this or are potentially offensive ones like, "it's time for us all to open up our kimonos and let us all see what we have." I think writing them down is the only way I'm going to be able to continue attending meetings with him. I very nearly burst into laughter at today's.

Noemon · « **Reply #267 on:** February 15, 2008, 12:30:25 PM »

A coworker of mine announced once that he was "happy as a pig in tall cotton" once. Of course, he's pretty much the Malapropism King of SW Ohio, and he loves to do cliche mashups. "In tall cotton" basically = "really favorable circumstance", and he was combining that with "happier than a pig in [word that would be much more apporpriate at sakeriver]".

Another of his more memorable utterances was "that's the greatest thing since Jesus invented bread!"

Sheila · « **Reply #268 on:** February 15, 2008, 12:37:17 PM »

Oh my, he actually said "happier than a pig in [word that would be much more apporpriate at sakeriver]" today.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #269 on:** February 17, 2008, 04:17:52 AM »

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Another of his more memorable utterances was "that's the greatest thing since Jesus invented bread!"

I'm guessing that before that loaves and fishes trick, it was all matzah, all the time.

rivka · « **Reply #270 on:** February 17, 2008, 10:34:35 AM »

Probably. Except it was presumably Yemenite-style matzah, which is more like pita.

Jonathon · « **Reply #271 on:** February 27, 2008, 02:12:21 PM »

I don't think I've posted this one before:

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The truly great general views reverses calmly and coolly.

That's three words in a row that could be interpreted as multiple parts of speech. Of course, if you hear it read properly out loud, there's no potential misparsing.

Porter · « **Reply #272 on:** February 27, 2008, 02:17:43 PM »

It took me half a dozen tries before I found a version that I could parse.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #273 on:** February 27, 2008, 02:49:23 PM »

I got it right off the bat, and had to reread a couple of times to misunderstand it. Perhaps I ought to buy one of those day planners after all.

rivka · « **Reply #274 on:** February 27, 2008, 07:10:59 PM »

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I got it right off the bat, and had to reread a couple of times to misunderstand it. Perhaps I ought to buy one of those day planners after all.

Ditto, but I'm fairly certain I have heard it said aloud before.