Remember Dr ATKINS!!!!!!!!!!!

Bob Pastorio wrote in message .
As if. The smart girl in the class would know better than to assert
that there's only one way to use the language and that she's the only
one who's qualified to posit what it is.

Would the teacher be qualified to assert how to use the language? Because I
hate to break this to you, but teachers are now teaching one space.

I take the word of professionals like me on both sides of the
editorial desk. People who have thousands of published pieces ranging
from articles in local newspapers to national pubs to books. I've
been an editor of magazines and books and have written for literally
hundreds of them.

Yippee for you.

I have hundreds of publications to my credit. Editors like me, too,
because
they don't have to do a find/replace to delete the extra spaces in all
my
work.

Editors like me because I write well and spare them the need to edit.
I had hundreds of publications to my credit by the time I was in my
20's. Hell, I probably had that many before finishing college. I'm
well into the thousands now.

Good for you. Did I ask about your writing credits? Or did you just feel
compelled to share them with me because you're a pompous ass and it makes
you feel special?

That's not what you mean. You mean "It would be nice if everybody
agreed with me, no questions asked." Your passive-aggressive
manipulations feel like the delicate ministrations of an unusually
corrupt used car salesman. You twist the words and the assertions of
others to gain ascendancy. It's all about the victory for you. The
perfect absoluteness of your rightness and everybody else's error
unless they unquestioningly accept your "truth."

The one space rule is not my rule. It happens to be a rule that I abide by,
but I did not invent it. How you can say that I want people to agree with me
is absurd. I just want people to care about what is correct.

If people want to look uneducated, sloppy and backward, they can use two
spaces. I'm just glad that I don't have to be responsible for their
embarassment.

So why don't you actually abide by your own theory and throw all grammar
and
punctuation rules out the window with the "one space" rule?

See how well you do this? You take a simple statement and make it into
something it isn't. I didn't say, imply or assert that all rules or
any rules should be thrown out.

No, you said that there are no rules. "It's all construct" I believe is how
you worded it.

The crux of my note (and others before
it) is that there is no absolute in language formulation. Nothing is
always correct. Nothing is mandatory. There are generally accepted
forms that provide the necessary minimum for understanding. Every
language group has them and every one is different than every other
one in that respect. There are guidelines for every language based on
how the people who use that language mutually agree works for them.

Therefore, you cannot correct other people's grammar, punctuation and
spelling. Because none of it is correct, according to you.

And for every guideline, there are violations that don't hamper
understanding. Yoda is still comprehensible. People speaking broken
English with word order all screwed up can still be understood. Poets
routinely break the rules. The rules are all postulated for
somebody's convenience. There is no governing body that determines
the perfect usage and, in spite of efforts to do exactly that, it's a
doomed exercise. The French have demonstrated that better than any
description. The speakers and writers of the language determine
rectitude and "correct" usage. Differences include style, dialect,
custom, venue, intent and a lot of other criteria outside of anyone's
control. Editors say what they want. No more.

Stop criticizing
others on this group in the "grammar, etc." thread because, as you
state,
there are no rules.

Bite this rule, Mathilda. There are no *absolute* rules. I have never
said there are no rules.

Um, you just did. Just because you used an adjective behind it does not mean
you did not say "there are no rules."

What is a rule if it is not absolute? Just there for the hell of it? Meant
to be broken?

If you want to debate it, let's. If you want to barefacedly lie and
distort what has actually been said about it like that I state that
there are no rules, **** you. Any questions?

I have lied about nothing. I'm not the one being vulgar and saying there are
no rules out of one side of my mouth and then correcting people's grammar
and punctuation out of the other.

Schitzo much?

Mathilda

Dawn Taylor wrote in message
What movies were you watching that had court reporters using anything
other than stenotype machines? Just curious.

Maybe it was a stenotype machine. If I knew what that was, I would be able
to tell the difference between that and a typewriter.

Mathilda

"Chris Taylor Jr" wrote in message
...

those are the only 2 options. the 2nd of which is simply not an option
since
I desire to exist here peacefully.

So the choice is your. YOU dictate my actions. you are in COMPLETE control
of my actions.

There are two other options, Chris. You could make peace. It's really not
that hard. And then you would be able to exist here peacefully. Or you
could just give up these threads and pretend they never happenned. Not
every fight has to be won. Sometimes the braver course is to make amends,
or simply to let go. And that does not mean you have to leave.

Personally, I would never allow someone else to have complete control over
my actions. I put too much faith in my own autonomy. If you don't have any
trouble with other people leading you around by the nose, I guess that's not
my problem. But I don't understand the impulse.

Duffy

Bob Pastorio wrote in message
No, they didn't. They use a very different device with an extremely
abbreviated keyboard designed specifically to allow the court reporter
to take down exactly what anyone says. That machine requires that more
than one key is depressed at a time. Almost impossible to transcribe
speech in real time with a conventional keyboard. Much like the
relationship between conventional script and Gregg (or any other)
Shorthand.

Thanks for taking the time to explain the wonderful world of court reporting
to me.

It's this sort of assuming that leads you so far astray. "I assume it
so it must be true."

If I had ever seen one of these devices up close and personal, perhaps I
would be able to tell the difference between that and a typewriter?

My apologies for not hanging out in
courtrooms with lawyers and criminals.

Are you always this snide and self-excusing?

I'm just being honest. Pretending to know everything is silly, as there is
nobody in the universe who knows everything. I freely admit that I do not
know anywhere close to everything, and court reporting is one area where I
do not possess great knowledge.

The difference between me and others here is that I have enough self-esteem
to know that it is OK to not know everything, and that I don't have to
pretend to be a know-it -all to try and impress others. I post for my own
enjoyment, not to try and show a bunch of strangers on the internet how
witty, smart or intellectual I am.

Mathilda

"JC Der Koenig" wrote in message
...
You call this fighting? Fighting viciously?

hahaha!
--
JC

Lyle's New Ultimate Diet

"1. eat less you fat ****
2. exercise more you fat ****"

Now that's funny.

Duffy

"Mathilda Jane" wrote in message
...
Duffy Pratt wrote in message news:f93lb.88072$
It is an industry standard. There are other industries besides
publishing
that use other standards. Usenet is not an industry.

Right, but two spaces is still a pet peeve of mine. Which if you all will
remember, is how this discussion got started.

Impact as a verb is one of mine. Not that anyone cares how that impacts me
when they use it. I'm gradually letting it go. The difference is, the
trend is running in your favor. As web communications grow, my guess is
that one space will become more prevelant in the non-publishing world.
Personally, I don't think I will change until they change the input screen
in Outlook Express, or whatever mail/news program I use.

Duffy

"Mathilda Jane" wrote in message
...
revek wrote in message news:bn7l2i$u1sqb$1@ID-
We think you're not worth the effort.

That's why every time I post, I can count on at least 5-7 responses.

Consider it a compliment dear,
that Bob and Steve still want to put in the time-- imagine
that,*somebody* on usenet thinks you might be human underneath
that
trollskin.

Shame you label someone a troll just because you are too lazy to
debate with
them.

Not lazy dear, just have better things to do. Besides, us dinosaurs
have no shame, didn't you hear?

revek


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On Thu, 23 Oct 2003 11:37:57 -0400, "Mathilda Jane"
announced in front of God and everybody:

revek wrote in message news:bn7l2i$u1sqb$1@ID-
We think you're not worth the effort.

That's why every time I post, I can count on at least 5-7 responses.

Consider it a compliment dear,
that Bob and Steve still want to put in the time-- imagine
that,*somebody* on usenet thinks you might be human underneath that
trollskin.

Shame you label someone a troll just because you are too lazy to debate with
them.

Well, responses like "every time I post, I can count on at least 5-7
responses" do nothing to counter that image.

Dawn

On Thu, 23 Oct 2003 11:40:27 -0400, "Mathilda Jane"
wrote:

Nina wrote in message
I can assure you that I have never gotten a script thrown back at me
for two spaces.

Good for you.

I have been nominated for an Emmy, won a Nickelodeon's Kid's Choice
Award, a Gracie Allen Award, an Environmental Media Award, and a whole
host of other BS awards that I can't bother to remember.

Again, good for you.

And yet no one's mentioned the two spaces. Funny, how that is.

I don't think it's funny. I think it's embarassing.

BTW, you might want to work on your publicist. A google search of your
name doesn't bring up a single writing credit.

I suppose you think "The Queen of Cans and Jars" is her real name, too.

Well, until you actually provide evidence that you actually write for
a living, then everyone has no reason to believe that you're anything
but a sad fat girl who's incredibly jealous of everyone who actually
does.

As for me, I'm young, rich, and good-looking. So your envy is totally
understandable.

It's been a blast, darling. Let's do it again, sometime, shall we?

Ta,
Nina
delicious! evil! calorie free!
http://www.theslack.com

Nina wrote in message
Well, until you actually provide evidence that you actually write for
a living, then everyone has no reason to believe that you're anything
but a sad fat girl who's incredibly jealous of everyone who actually
does.

If I had time to maintain a personal web site where I posted my inner
thoughts to for the world to see, would that classify me as a writer in your
book?

Oh, and speaking of professional writing, you will remember that I am not
the one who still thinks two spaces after a period is correct. If you need
help moving beyond this, please see any Associated Press Style Guide and
Libel Manual. Or Chicago Style Guide. Or APA Style... or any book, newspaper
or magazine for that matter.

As for me, I'm young, rich, and good-looking.

Of course you are. That's why you are posting to a diet newsgroup.

And that's also why you don't feel thirty, you drive a Jetta with no air
conditioning, you have undergone Botox injections and you buy most of your
clothes secondhand.

It's been a blast, darling. Let's do it again, sometime, shall we?

Sure.

Mathilda