What more can I say?

[raybear]

I had a choice to make this morning -- coffee in a to-go cup and walk to the train, or forego coffee and ride my bike to the train as originally planned. I went with the latter. Can we talk for a moment about how out of shape I am? I mean, on Saturday evening I had a spontaneous sprint across Wicker Park and I was pleased that I wasn't out of breath at all, but I don't engage in any aerobic activity on a regular basis. So yesterday when I got home, I barely got five blocks on my bike before I started finding my way back home. Part of it might have been panic at the thought of riding on Western when I'm still paranoid about about the toe cages -- I'm sticking to side streets for awhile.

So, this morning I rode to the Western train stop. I'm starting small -- riding to the train in the morning and home from the train in the evening. Maybe in a couple weeks I can attempt to ride all the way downtown. Although after my exhaustion at riding ten blocks this morning, perhaps I should reassess. Don't worry, I'll keep at it. But I'll need to adjust my coffee drinking schedule so I can drink my cup at home or buy a thermos with a sealed lid that I can throw in my bag.

Last night was deemed a night off by me and I did zero school work. I watched the movie Pieces of April, I made dinner, I took the Entertainment Weekly pop quiz (I scored an 88), I talked on the phone with a couple people, I did some reading for pleasure. I almost started up The Sims, but didn't want to be up until 1 am, so changed in to pajamas and went to bed somewhat early instead.


At this time I'm going to pull a vfc and offer some grammar lessons, only because recently it seems I've seen the same mistakes made repeatedly by multiple people (including people at work, but I don't think I'll forward this to everyone in the office, despite the temptation). Now I know I'm not perfect, especially since I don't even take the time to spell check my entries and only occasionally re-read them, so take my know-it-all moment with a grain of salt and with an understanding that I'm fully aware of my issues when it comes to appearing dumb and stupid which is why I always wants to do "the right thing".

That paired with me just being a general word geek. So feel free to correct something I've been doing (that's not typo related) and/or share your own grammar notes.

Enquiring: This isn't really a current [American english] word. "Enquire" is techinically a variant of "inquire", but for those not writing in old english (which I think is most of us), the preferred spelling and use is "inquire". Unless, of course, you are referencing the television commercials for the National Enquirer and their tagline: Enquiring Minds Want to Know.

Seder: the dinner held on the first (or first two) night of Passover. SEDAR is an acronym for System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval and has nothing to do with boiled eggs and bitter herbs.

Irregardless: I really should let dommeyourass handle this one since it's her major pet peeve. I occasionally will use this word ironically, but only when said in the style of Jimmy Fallon's character Sully from the recurring SNL sketches. But don't listen to me, here's what dictionary.com has to say:

Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.

Factoid: I think I've covered this one enough in my journal, but you click here. In some ways, I almost love that the definition of "factoid" has BECOME a factoid in and of itself.

skeptical: Okay, actually no one is mis-using this word, but I just thought it was weird that this morning no fewer than six people on my friends page used it in an entry.

Big ups to Mrs. K. Williams and Ms. Freeman from eighth and ninth grade, respectively.

Comments

[saltjam.livejournal.com]

ohhh, the infamous irregardless. i'm not much of a grammar snob either, but that one sends some sort of terrible shock through my system.

[freakysparks.livejournal.com]

yes - I have to stop myself from laughing out loud when people say this - not laughing at them is good as it's even ruder than using the word in the first place - but I just want to interrupt them and say:

"THAT'S NOT A WORD! Just say "regardless". Thanks."

[cocolola.livejournal.com]

i thought you were my coffee friend! exercise instead of coffee? i can't even fathom it!

[raybear.livejournal.com]

i'm still not sure my bike-riding is considered exercising. i really think of it as transportation that's faster than walking.

i had coffee as soon as i got in the office, but by then it was almost too late. my brain is STILL fuzzy.

[cocolola.livejournal.com]

i know. that is what happens to me. if i am late having some coffee then my brain freaks out and stops working. nx claims it is all in my head but she is obviously not consuming enough caffeine or she wouldn't say such a thing.

[louche.livejournal.com]

there is such a thing as coffee AND exercise. shoot, for me there even used to be coffee AND smoking AND exercise.

[cocolola.livejournal.com]

sure! i often have coffee plus exercise, but i can't imagine actually trying to walk (much less ride) without caffeine. the trauma! the horror!

[raybear.livejournal.com]

it was tough. i might have to wake up earlier so i can drink coffee before leaving the house on a bike. it's just safer for everyone that way.

[cocolola.livejournal.com]

do you have a helmet?

[raybear.livejournal.com]

yes! now i'm considering elbow pads because i'm concerned about falling over from the toe cages on the pedals and breaking my arm. i have problems determining if my premonitions are actually psychic or just anxiety-induced.

[cocolola.livejournal.com]

it sounds like a reasonable concern! people are always getting hit by cars, falling over... even when they feel really cozy with the way their bike works. i want to start riding bikes but i'm kind of a pansy about it. i never learned how to ride as a kid, and it is hard to start as a grown-up.

[raybear.livejournal.com]

i didn't learn to ride until fourth or fifth grade, which was sort of late for a kid -- everyone child i knew was ahead of me. and i was never that great at it, even after i learned. i had a bike in college, but again, didn't use it that much. now i'm starting up after close to five years of no riding, so i feel very awkward and self-conscious, esp. since many of our friends are constant bikers.

if you ever want to learn and/or ride with another wobbly beginning biker, let me know!

coffee and riding.

[louche.livejournal.com]

i've always been a get my coffee downtown kind of girl. i ride downtown then get coffee. the thing is, biking gives you a huge jolt of energy without the coffee. you may find that you won't even need it. okay, let's not go that far. but seriously, yesterday when i got out of bed (after getting only 4 hours sleep) i never thought i was going to make it through the day. after the ride downtown, i was rearing to go! woo!

also, i would recommend always avoiding western ave. i avoid it myself and i'm a seasoned bicyclist. in general, i avoid two-lane streets. people just go way too fast and drive all crazy on those streets. not that milwaukee avenue is the safest, but somehow i feel just a little better about it.

yay for you and your bike!!

Re: coffee and riding.

[raybear.livejournal.com]

i suppose i could just start taking my coffee at the office. then again, i'm hoping that soon enough this won't be an issue as i won't have a morning commute. but for the next two months, i need to come up with some alternate plan.

i'm not yet experiencing that jolt of energy from bike-riding. this morning i might have collapsed if i didn't have a seat on the train, after riding my bike then running up that big flight of stairs to catch the southbound train approaching.

Re: Western Ave. i'm glad to know i'm just being prudent, not a total wuss!

and grammar teachers

[louche.livejournal.com]

i've always felt that i was ripped off when it comes to grammar because all the schools i went to employed the "whole language" method. so we never learned about gerands and all the various tenses. it really hit me that i was lacking when i was teaching english overseas. i had to study the terms! kinda messed up, i think.

of all my middle school/high school english teachers, i remember my 7th grade english teacher the most. he was japanese. he believed that handwriting was extremely important. he'd make us write sentences hundreds of times to perfect it. it was imperative that our "r"s had sharp points on them, for one. he also told us that 99% of the time students do their best work in the beginning of the term and inevitably slack off in the end.

Re: and grammar teachers

[raybear.livejournal.com]

i learned more about verb tenses when i took french -- i think the concept of past perfert and whatnot was too abstract for early english lessons, but by the time i got to high school and college and took a foreign language, my brain was ready for it.

Re: and grammar teachers

[louche.livejournal.com]

oh yes. that is it, too. i learned a lot about grammar through studying french. definitely.

I'm not even kidding

[qvalentine.livejournal.com]

This morning before I posted I had to do a double take because I thought I spelled skeptical wrong. It's a strange word.
This post made me laugh, I love it.
I love those that are critical of our language and grammar. It makes me think there is hope for us all.

Re: I'm not even kidding

[raybear.livejournal.com]

Skeptical must be the word of the day. Everybody scream!!!!

I hate when people get too stuffy and judgmental and pristine about good grammar but I also hate it when people write it off completely as unimportant. I think the development of words is fascinating as well as how meanings change over centuries and how rules get broken and remade. I'm all about intention -- writing something that's not "good grammar" is perfectly a-ok as long as you one realizes it's not good grammar. It serves a different but equally important purpose.

Re: I'm not even kidding

[qvalentine.livejournal.com]

It is very very important. I agree with you wholeheartedly. I had a rousing debate about irregaurdless yesterday at work. I love talking about words. If we don't talk about words, why talk at all? Why should we have a livejournal?

mmm...grammar

[gender-euphoric.livejournal.com]

For anyone interested in English grammar, I highly recommend the book Breaking the Rules: Liberating Writers Through Innovative Grammar Instruction by Edgar Schuster. Especially good is the chapter entitled "Usage: Rules that do not rule (and a few that do)".
Just as a note, people in English education programs are being taught to teach grammar (separately) again. I think grammar can be fun in small doses and am looking forward to teaching it.

Re: mmm...grammar

[raybear.livejournal.com]

thanks for the recommendation!

hi, defensive much?

[drinkasyoupour.livejournal.com]

I only spelled it SEDAR because that's how it was spelled on the Evite I got! I always thought it was seder, too, but then I figured that if anyone would know how to spell it, it would be the two jews who were studying the Talmud!

Hmph.

Re: hi, defensive much?

[raybear.livejournal.com]

1. dude, i'd love to be educated on the difference if 'sedar' is the original spelling or whatever.
2. you definitely were NOT the only one who spelled that way.

[vimandvigor.livejournal.com]

well, many terms translated from other languages (and alphabets) have different spellings in english... also, i am an american who does occassionally say things like, "ya'll" and "irregardless"... are you tryin ta say somethin? huh? huh? are you tryin' ta start somethin? huh? huh? bring it!! language changes and evolves from place to place and over time... it's even apparent when reading entries from irish people, spellings and words change... they are different... let's not even get into phrases and sayings... word.

[raybear.livejournal.com]

Y'all is actually spelled with the apostrophe between the "y" and the "a", because it's a contraction of the phrase "you all", a came about as a way of distinguishing between singular "you" and plural "you". My pet peeve is when non-southern people co-opt the word y'all and then don't even use it right -- using it in the singular form. also, i can often tell when someone was raised in the south (or has family there who influenced their language development) because they will take it a step further and use it in the possessive form, as in "y'all's", e.g. I called out to John and Mary, "don't forget y'all's casserole dish!"

As I said above in another comment, I have no problem with people not adhering to language rules, but I prefer a level of intention and recognition of connotation. The point of language is to communicate, so if everybody just assigned their own spelling and meaning to words, then the goal is lost.

[vimandvigor.livejournal.com]

blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
(raising cloak around head and exiting the door)
this conversation is a pet peeve... so there.

(watch out for vicious euchre playing tonight)

[louche.livejournal.com]

sorry. can't get behind you or anyone using "irregardless." i know. harsh. but so not a word! it's totally a double negative!

[raybear.livejournal.com]

in college i did actually believe it was a word (since it got used by all sorts of people), but i wasn't sure what it meant -- was it the opposite of regardless or was it the same meaning as (sort of like flammable and inflammable bothing meaning the same thing)? so i looked it up in the huge dictionary at the university library and discovered the truth.

[raybear.livejournal.com]

dude, i totally just mis-used the word "since" in that comment, right above where my friend explained the difference. i'm a grammar loser.

hahaha!

[louche.livejournal.com]

...and discovered the truth.

[wearemany.livejournal.com]

my favorite thing here is how my correction for irregardless goes something like this: WRONG.

yours, while historical (i almost just typed hysterial, which it also kind of is), is a completely confusing and unhelpful explanation, i must say.

my pet: though some grammar books don't seem to care (and neither does the NYT), i maintain that "since" is not a synonym for "because" or "as." unlike the last two, "since" is time-dependent, and should only be used in conjunction with something that can actually take place...over time. ex) Since the 1990s, Ben has only made one film worth watching. incorrect: Ben cannot be blamed, however, since Matt left him all alone. since matt did what when? (unless you mean that ben is only blameless SINCE matt left him, which is different.)

also, for what it's worth, "because" is causal, and "as" is relational. but i care less about those getting swapped for each other.

[raybear.livejournal.com]

you can thank the american heritage dictionary for the confusing definition. although i didn't find it confusing, just excessively wordy. though i'd never thought of before the "word" as deriving from a mutant combination of irrespective and regardless.

i'm sure i'm guilty of the "since" crime, but at least now i know who i can go to for correcting it in my writing.

even when i'm lazy about it, i love grammar.

weird

[louche.livejournal.com]

also, it bothers me when people spell weird "wierd." i seem to catch it EVERY single time. i don't know why i just thought of this a day later.

Re: weird

[raybear.livejournal.com]

I always notice it too. then I think of that whole I before E, except after C, or words that make "ay", like neighbor and weigh, even though the spelling of weird goes against this rule.

And apparently we've agitated Mr. Dextrous with all our talks of grammar. I guess geekiness can come in all categories and they don't always overlap.

Re: weird

[louche.livejournal.com]

yikes. sounds like you'd better watch it tonight...

[vfc.livejournal.com]

I wonder, but would be somewhat afraid to find out, what other types of things could be described as "pulling a vfc. I think grammar correction is the most positive.