Moos

No stocking for you, Mr. P. And if I hear another word, I'll be on the phone to DM, and it'll be no stockings for you, either.

Stop it, Steve, or I shall get cross.

People who talk about you know the C event in OCTOBER! *glares at the previous poster in a terrifying manner*

ARGH!!! She said the C word! In October!!! *pinches and punches KK blue*

In that case, Tony, allow me to point out that it is customary to insert a space after typing a comma and before starting the next word. Pint? But one does have to be careful. Wasn't there someone on here who chucked her toys most royally at Sue once after having her spelling jokily questioned? Cor blimey, says I, not for me, no fear. I'm not from the BBC.

I saw that one, Tony, but felt I don't know you well enough to point it out.

A TLS classic! I've just laughed for 5 minutes reading this. Also, PGC is suspiciously silent on the topic of my duck. I want it back!

I believe in life after death in the dictionary.

I believe I can fly. I believe I can touch the sky. Or am I getting myself mixed up with R Kelly?

Brendan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Why talking about having kids makes adults behave > like children. Why reading the nonsense that people I've never met spout on internet forums can make one feel so depressed.

OK, thanks Mockers. My question was about saying 'if I were to do x' which is correct, as distinct from 'if I was to do x' - when I asked someone why they said 'because "if" takes the subjunctive'. So I guess 'were' is subjunctive, because of the doubt. I just didn't know until that point that English had case. D_C, you are over-familiar.

Yes, it's a moving feast, otherwise it'd be classified as a dead language. Spelling was only invented a couple of hundred years ago, blah blah etc. I'd quite like to reintroduce 'thee' and 'thou' for friends and lovers, and keep 'ye' and 'you' for people I don't know. I think it would be fun.

Ah, someone who knows what they are talking about! Tell us about the use of conjugation and case in English Mockers, I've never really understood it. Why does if take the subjunctive, for example?

Thousands of hours of people's time. OK, there's a bit of jealousy there given her undoubted beauty. But she's just so bad at what she does, and her sharp teeth really annoy me.

:)

People who get on the lift on the 1st floor and off on the 2nd floor, especially when (like me) you are going to the 3rd floor.

Were you not amoosed?

No Country is fantastic, you will love it. Keira Knightley is a modern plague.

So you aren't free to babysit on Friday then? I think we are going to have to amicably shake hands on 'free' and 'less'. I'm not going to repeat myself and bore everyone. Edit - that was for Cassius, not Keef... although come to think of it, if you're available..

Shu.Kurimu.Sensei Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > IMHO, pretty much nobody born after 1970 gives a > flying fig about grammar and all that unless it > crops up > in a publication they have paid good money for. > Getting up tight about it anywhere else, > *especially* teh internet shows you either have > way too much time on your hands, like holding your > turds in as a pleasurable challenge, or simply > enjoy being a Grammar Nazi, blissfully unaware > that nobody else out their apart from your fellow > creed gives a shit :)) Well, nnnnnnyeeeeeeesss. As other have rightly said, bad spelling and grammar don't invalidate your argument, particularly on a forum where people type madly away, don't spellcheck and are essentially in a virtual pub. However, they do weaken your argument in 'real' publications - they distract the reader and can make your writing harder to understand. If you are writing something because you are paid to, you should check it and get it right. On a more emotional point, ours is a beautiful, rich and precise language. Why slosh it around as though it were junk? Moos (born after 1970)

I see your point, Cassius - and I wholly agree with your principle - but give me another example where 'free' is used in a non-pejorative way. The complement to your 'not having kids is a good choice for some' is 'having kids is a good choice for some'. To me, 'child-free' reads that children are in themselves a bad thing, a hindrance. Since children are just young human beings, I think that's rather unpleasant - although of course I know that you don't mean it that way. If someone had started a thread called 'why having kids is the worst thing ever' that would be terribly sad. I think someone raised the point that having children is not a good thing for everyone that has them a few pages back - largely for people who have them unplanned, but I guess sometimes also for planned children whose parents weren't expecting what they got. I can understand that the title thread might grate on people who don't want to have kids!

Oops, caught. It looks as though you have got our duck, by the way.

I can just see you as Fagin, Brendan...

eh?

I'm scared now.