tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051744883907551402.post368397709436322417..comments2024-03-27T19:11:37.620-04:00Comments on You Don't Say: All right, back to businessJohn McIntyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03559687583130468871noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051744883907551402.post-89354579017766793292009-05-07T13:29:00.000-04:002009-05-07T13:29:00.000-04:00I agree that accused killer is problematic.I agree that accused killer is problematic.Martin Magnussonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10103875202477424853noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051744883907551402.post-37843591171460557692009-05-06T20:56:00.000-04:002009-05-06T20:56:00.000-04:00Professor, if it's toxic, but it's not a toxin, th...Professor, if it's toxic, but it's not a toxin, then what do you call it?Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051744883907551402.post-85227985124638863092009-05-06T08:27:00.000-04:002009-05-06T08:27:00.000-04:00@The Ridger, FCD: I thought Joe was seeing your se...@The Ridger, FCD: I thought Joe was seeing your second meaning, as was I, and was being satirical, since many today seem to have lost mastery of the plural possessive apostrophe (if indeed they ever had it). Joe, am I right? Were you being facetious? Or am I reading too much into it, and was it an honest question?Robinhttp://sarahspade.livejournal.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051744883907551402.post-9815818784872200962009-05-06T07:31:00.000-04:002009-05-06T07:31:00.000-04:00Sillier than swine-jl<A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/02/us/politics/02enviro.html?_r=3" REL="nofollow">Sillier than swine</A>-jlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051744883907551402.post-10438925810784596032009-05-06T05:46:00.000-04:002009-05-06T05:46:00.000-04:00"Sex charge head aided toilet girl"
The head of a..."Sex charge head aided toilet girl"<br /><br />The head of a school who is in some way involved in a sex charge - going to guess he's been charged with some sex crime - has helped a girl whose salient feature for newspaper readers is that she did something or had something done to her in a toilet.<br /><br />British newspapers love to shorthand players with nouns like that. If you're up on the stories you know who they mean. If you're not - you are lost in the wilderness.The Ridger, FCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01538111197270563075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051744883907551402.post-37201660870266965492009-05-06T05:44:00.000-04:002009-05-06T05:44:00.000-04:00@Joe - "the pork producers’ and Israelis’ objectin...@Joe - "the pork producers’ and Israelis’ objecting" - since John didn't answer yet, I will: the subject of a verbal noun (or gerund) such as "objecting" was traditionally in the possessive. It's quite common now to see it in the objective case, and many authorities accept it as a alternative. With nouns, of course, that means it looks like the nominative ("to see the pork producers and Israelis objecting" is "to see them objecting", while "to see the pork producers’ and Israelis’ objecting" is "to see their objecting"). Some people see a difference in meaning.<br /><br />"Their objecting" is Standard.The Ridger, FCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01538111197270563075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051744883907551402.post-86779777561671185042009-05-05T18:46:00.000-04:002009-05-05T18:46:00.000-04:00Just so, Theophylact. I'll adjust.Just so, Theophylact. I'll adjust.John McIntyrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03559687583130468871noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051744883907551402.post-56391416052529599122009-05-05T16:54:00.000-04:002009-05-05T16:54:00.000-04:00I should add, as a chemist who works for the US EP...I should add, as a chemist who works for the US EPA in the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, that I wince every time I mention the Office's name. "Toxic" is a perfectly good adjective but a rotten noun.Theophylacthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15269723193638517569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051744883907551402.post-11562597634046884842009-05-05T16:48:00.000-04:002009-05-05T16:48:00.000-04:00Selenium would usually be considered to be a non-m...Selenium would usually be considered to be a non-metal. (The stable allotrope <I>is</I> a weak electrical conductor.)Theophylacthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15269723193638517569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051744883907551402.post-30517655902233004912009-05-05T11:10:00.000-04:002009-05-05T11:10:00.000-04:00Still trying to make sense of this headline:
"Sex ...Still trying to make sense of this headline:<br />"Sex charge head aided toilet girl"<br /><br />http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/8034082.stmDaffyd K Jonesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051744883907551402.post-21041485172874351572009-05-05T09:43:00.000-04:002009-05-05T09:43:00.000-04:00@Patricia the Terse
The US is bound by, e.g., the ...@Patricia the Terse<br />The US is bound by, e.g., the Geneva Convention, not because anyone else ever obliged it to be, but because it has chosen to be, on the grounds (or so I have always understood) that there are things decent societies simply don't do. To say that what has been going on in Guantanamo is acceptable because it is the good guys who are doing it is a contradiction in terms. <br /><br />(Not a tear welled up inside me as I wrote that, incidentally)John Rosshttp://johngordonross.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051744883907551402.post-43078554160468855732009-05-05T09:35:00.000-04:002009-05-05T09:35:00.000-04:00Virtually everything is toxic at a high enough dos...Virtually everything is toxic at a high enough dose - even water.<br /><br />Regarding euphemisms of torture, Andrew Sullivan wrote about an eerie historical parallel to <A HREF="http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/05/verschfte_verne.html" REL="nofollow">"enhanced interrogation"</A>.Stanhttp://stancarey.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051744883907551402.post-76094536499015967762009-05-05T08:11:00.000-04:002009-05-05T08:11:00.000-04:00I heard a local official refer to "swine flu"
pat...I heard a local official refer to "swine flu"<br /><br />patients as being "in the process of recovering"<br /><br />Is that not a bit redundant?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051744883907551402.post-36978987280581895172009-05-05T02:04:00.000-04:002009-05-05T02:04:00.000-04:00After WWI, the Japanese were also tried for much w...After WWI, the Japanese were also tried for much worse practices;they also never have answered for their horrible imprisonment, torture and starvation of civilians. The current waterboardees aren't uniformed soldiers,but rather armed combatants suspected of terrorism. The people who carried out the investigations, and the waterboarding, were trained to do it, and had had it done to them. Ask someone who has been through SEARS what that was like, before anyone gets too weepy about a few jackals.Patricia the Tersenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051744883907551402.post-7986360786433593902009-05-04T22:45:00.000-04:002009-05-04T22:45:00.000-04:00producers’ and Israelis’
What are those apostroph...producers’ and Israelis’ <br />What are those apostrophes? I seem to remember that there's a rule allowing their use, but it seems to have fallen out of favorAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12854895893298547418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051744883907551402.post-6040340371392335772009-05-04T21:37:00.000-04:002009-05-04T21:37:00.000-04:00May I say that, while I find it silly, I find it m...May I say that, while I find it silly, I find it much more sad that calling it swine flu may lead to people's being labeled "unclean" and possibly deprived of care?The Ridger, FCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01538111197270563075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051744883907551402.post-3442689277833418562009-05-04T21:28:00.000-04:002009-05-04T21:28:00.000-04:00In the Fashion & Style section of Sunday's...In the Fashion & Style section of Sunday's New York Times, there's an article, "My Sportscaster Is Gone, No Film at 11," wordsmiths may enjoy. It's about Len Berman, an NBC sportscaster just released from his contract. Author Michael Winerip points out that Berman's choice of words made his broadcasts special. Here's the link: <br /> <br />http://tiny.cc/LbkqUGail Farrellyhttp://www.farrellysistersonline.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051744883907551402.post-5510234884364104722009-05-04T20:13:00.000-04:002009-05-04T20:13:00.000-04:00My blog has been given a Splash Award, and I am su...My blog has been given a Splash Award, and I am supposed to select other blogs to honor. I've picked your blog as one of them. You can read about it <A HREF="http://freedom-writing.blogspot.com/2009/05/splash-award.html" REL="nofollow">here</A>.David Goodloehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01436578436386818281noreply@blogger.com