2010 Wishes

[slidekellyslide]

Seems awfully wierd to me that punctuation goes inside of quotation marks. English is a second language to me.

[Anthony S.]

It gets weirder. In England the convention is indeed to put the comma outside the quotation marks. Then again, Americans created the language in the first place, so we're right.

[barrysloate]

I forget many of these rules myself. I just wing it and hope nobody notices, because when I make a mistake it's big trouble...and Dan B. just misspelled "weird." This will never end.

[slidekellyslide]

I misspelled "weird" just for you Barry.

I did have to look up the quotations rule because I don't trust any of you. I normally consider myself a decent writer and am a bit embarrassed that I didn't know that, but I don't write for a living so I forgive myself.

[Kawika]

Rule of thumb in etiquette and proper English usage:
If Amy Vanderbilt can jump out of a window you can do whatever the heck you please.

[Jim VB]

Barry,

As a moderator, Dan can see my spelling mistake, even after I have edited it. I have no doubt he did it wrong on purpose.

[iggyman]

This just in.........BREAKING NEWS!!!!

Thanks to the efforts of the crackerjack members on the Net54 prewar baseball card group, the British government advised primary school teachers to stop teaching the "I before E except after C" rule.


Here is the Associated Press article:

LONDON - It's a spelling mantra that generations of schoolchildren have learned — "i before e, except after c."

But new British government guidance tells teachers not to pass on the rule to students, because there are too many exceptions.

The "Support For Spelling" document, which is being sent to thousands of primary schools, says the rule "is not worth teaching" because it doesn't account for words like "sufficient," "veil" "weird" and "their."

Jack Bovill of the Spelling Society, which advocates simplified spelling, said Saturday he agreed with the decision.

But supporters say the ditty has value because it is one of the few language rules that most people remember.


On a side note, one question concerning grammar in the 21st century, is it "weird" or "weird"???

Lovely Day...

[Anthony S.]

Originally Posted by Kawika

Rule of thumb in etiquette and proper English usage:
If Amy Vanderbilt can jump out of window you can do whatever the heck you please.

Okay, I had to google that one to get the reference, but very funny stuff.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Vanderbilt

[barrysloate]

It crossed my mind that Dan made a deliberate error, but I still felt obligated to point it out. It's my OCD.