tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5154018758799451116.post2474594232089568412..comments2023-11-05T06:01:46.501-05:00Comments on Solo Docs, So Long: A Chicken with a ProblemOnaColasantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12516818299832410490noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5154018758799451116.post-36641882013667191622013-02-05T09:00:51.625-05:002013-02-05T09:00:51.625-05:00Please check out Daily Writing Tips-- http://www.d...Please check out Daily Writing Tips-- http://www.dailywritingtips.com/when-to-form-a-plural-with-an-apostrophe/--for the rules regarding apostrophes. It is correct to use an apostrophe to form the plural of a lower case letter, as in "a's." Who, did you say, should be embarrassed? The hasty (but committed) blog writer, or the grammar snob?OnaColasantehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12516818299832410490noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5154018758799451116.post-5677116967178887622013-02-05T08:50:50.556-05:002013-02-05T08:50:50.556-05:00"Snoot" is a grandmotherly word that I, ..."Snoot" is a grandmotherly word that I, too, recall from my childhood, and it was used in the same manner I used it in my post. Since chickens don't have noses--but do have nostrils and an olfactory organ--snoot, in the idiomatic way I used it, still seems appropriate. It will take another generation or two for its common meaning, akin to "smell," to hit the grammar-snob-written dictionaries that think they dictate proper usage. I wonder if You Guessed It might be scouting around for employment as a copy editor. If so, call a publisher. Blog writers can't be bothered, busy as they are writing blog posts every day. OnaColasantehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12516818299832410490noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5154018758799451116.post-51177436361735686482013-02-05T08:41:08.369-05:002013-02-05T08:41:08.369-05:00Blogs are not great literary works, nor are they i...Blogs are not great literary works, nor are they intended to be. They are akin to the letter, which one wrote, in the old days, to people who took an interest in one. Just as you would not waste time correcting grammatical errors in a letter from, say, a friend who was spending time abroad, or your father, it seems strange to correct errors in blog posts. That said, I'd like to point out that your usage of "chicken-addicts" is wrong. The term before the hyphenated "-addict" should be the addictive substance, as in "cocaine-addict," whereas your usage seems to refer to those with an addiction to chickens. OnaColasantehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12516818299832410490noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5154018758799451116.post-73355672111073935122013-02-05T07:35:08.226-05:002013-02-05T07:35:08.226-05:00I'm happy I did okay. Now that is an old exp...I'm happy I did okay. Now that is an old expression from before my generation. I remember my grandmother using it. In those days, most people had chickens so immediately knew the meaning. Rinkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12510703079566541948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5154018758799451116.post-12601371246153826812013-02-05T01:59:08.812-05:002013-02-05T01:59:08.812-05:00Good guess, Rinker. Good guess, Rinker. You just guessnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5154018758799451116.post-14776575039496989432013-02-04T21:53:56.379-05:002013-02-04T21:53:56.379-05:00It's my guess that you are a queer bird.It's my guess that you are a queer bird.Rinkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12510703079566541948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5154018758799451116.post-49030474948242512272013-02-04T21:10:34.558-05:002013-02-04T21:10:34.558-05:00You made the same mistake I called you on several ...You made the same mistake I called you on several times just now in your correction of my supposed mistake! How embarrassing for you! You wrote, two "a's". Why must you insist on using a possessive apostrophe for a simple plural? This is an illiterate mistake!<br /><br />However, I do applaud you for having corrected the "MRI'Ss" multiple mistakes in your post above, and you don't need to worry about thanking me. <br /><br />What I wrote might be odd or misleading but it is not at least wrong. I did not add the 's' to my 'a' on purpose. It would have been still more confusing. The mistake was you used "a" two times. Now "as" would have been incorrect and would have appeared to be a different word. I could have written 'two "a"s' I suppose, but that is uncommonly ugly. If I had been you, I would have written "a's" but that would, obviously, have been wrong. So what to do?<br /><br />Your logic defending your use of 'snoot' baffles me. If I were attracted to snoot because of its supposed connection to 'snob,' I would object all the more to your applying it to a chicken. Chickens are blind to class distinctions. It is unfair to chickens, and especially to poor Cyrstal. The poor dear has enough substance abuse problems without accusing her of snobbery. <br /><br />But quite apart from this, what does a phony adoration of those supposedly superior to one's self because of their social class ( the classic English definition of a 'snob') have to do with being a stickler for English usage and grammar? That makes no sense. <br /><br />Perhaps you are using the word 'snob' in the American sense? The American definition of 'snob' looks downward: rather than admiring her social superiors, the American snob despises her social inferiors. But then you would be suggesting that lower class people misuse English more than upper class ones do, because calling attention to these mistakes would be a way to call attention to their inferior social status. That sounds pretty snobby to me! And alien to my way of thinking. <br />You Just guess!noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5154018758799451116.post-83879312495047710722013-02-04T20:37:24.153-05:002013-02-04T20:37:24.153-05:00Correction to your comment: you missed an apostrop...Correction to your comment: you missed an apostrophe and an ess in the first line: two "a's"--didn't you? I used the word "snoot" in its first meaning, a nose. While it's not standard English to use snoot as a verb, as it is for "nose" (as in "nosing around the thrift shop," I like snoot better, because of its sound. I like it better than "snoop," too, because Crystal is brazen, not chicken-hearted, as snoop implies. Certainly you couldn't have missed the most common meaning of snoot, when you looked it up, and the one that must have drawn you to it in the first place: "Snob." OnaColasantehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12516818299832410490noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5154018758799451116.post-29273152288299270212013-02-04T19:28:56.256-05:002013-02-04T19:28:56.256-05:00The errors in this post are as follows:
There are...The errors in this post are as follows:<br /><br />There are two "a" in the antepenultimate line of the seventh paragraph.<br /><br />"Snoot" is used incorrectly in the final line of paragraph seven. As a transitive verb it means: "snoot·ed, snoot·ing, snoots<br />To treat haughtily: a couple who were snooted by the headwaiter.<br />[Dialectal variant of snout.]"<br /><br />"Bulls eye" in paragraph 9 should be "bull's eye."<br /><br />Later, you made the opposite mistake. "MRI's" Repeated misuse of possessive apostrophe when the noun is a simple plural in paragraphs 12-13.<br /><br />You see, we pay close attention to what you write because it is so very interesting, because we care and because maybe we are addicted to writing correctly. <br /><br />Wouldn't you think natural selection would take care of chicken-addicts like poor Crystal? For that matter of fact, how is it that humans have survived and passed on this trait? <br />You just guess!noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5154018758799451116.post-71742692885987140512013-02-04T07:59:04.064-05:002013-02-04T07:59:04.064-05:00Addiction, to drugs, whether alcohol, cocaine, spe...Addiction, to drugs, whether alcohol, cocaine, speed, or whatever, even sex may be or is inherent to some, though most humans will not admit an addiction to sex, especially sex as it seems the forbidden or hidden, as it is meant to be can not be ignored, hence the addiction. Chickens, or Crystal perhaps, obviously is unable to ignore the manure pile, while some people can not ignore the different physical attributes of people, meaning some think there is always something better. Implies that love is lost to some, unfortunately. Glad I am not a chicken!!! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com