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17 Sep 02 - 04:25 PM (#786095) Subject: Pedants alert! From: kendall 1.What was the name of the Cyclops in the Odyssey? 2.Whose face launched a thousand ships? 3.Name the book that starts, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." 4.Name the book that starts, "Call me Ishmael" 5." " " " Had I wanted to live, I would have died." 6.Name the book that starts, "Sing, oh goddess" 7.Who was the "child of morning" ? 8. Name the book that starts "Marley was dead.." 9.Name the book that starts " Awake for the morning in a bowl of light" 10.And, as a sort of skerzo, (joke in Italian) What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? Bonus question: Name the book that starts, "I live about two miles up the Ebb Tide road, in a house that was built by my grandfather." Anyone who gets all of these, I'll kiss your ass on the quarter deck, and, give you a week to sell tickets! line breaks added by mudelf ;-)
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17 Sep 02 - 04:44 PM (#786117) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Wincing Devil 1. Polyphemus 2. Helen of Troy 3. Tale of two cities 4. Moby Dick 5. YGIAGAM 6. Iliad 7. Queen Hatshepsut (Pharaoh of Egypt) 8. Christmas Carol 9. The Rubyiat of Omar Kayam starts "Awake for the morning in a bowl of NIGHT". 10. Would that be an African or a European Swallow?
Bonus: YGIAGAM BTW putting a <BR> at the end of each line will format it the way it appears you wanted |
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17 Sep 02 - 04:59 PM (#786134) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Noreen Ah- I sent my answers in a PM so as not to spoil the fun... What's YGIAGAM? |
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17 Sep 02 - 05:02 PM (#786137) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Noreen (And why pedants, Kendall?) |
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17 Sep 02 - 05:05 PM (#786140) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Jeri Your Guess Is As Good As Mine. Somebody, please invent a "figure out the acronym" quiz! |
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17 Sep 02 - 05:06 PM (#786141) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: MMario Your Guess Is As Good As Mine |
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17 Sep 02 - 05:13 PM (#786146) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Amos Dang, Kendall!! That bonus sounds like it should be "Sailing Alone Around the World", but I know it isn't. Tough quiz, except for the easy ones which WD already nailed! :>) A |
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17 Sep 02 - 05:13 PM (#786147) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: SharonA kendall & Wincing D: Re #9: Assuming that you are referring to Edward J. Fitzgerald's First Edition of his English translation, the first line of the first poem reads: "Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night" according to this site: http://www.arabiannights.org/rubaiyat/index2.html BTW, Wincing D, it's the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, to be really pedantic! (Likewise, two of the other titles you mention are "A Tale of Two Cities" and "A Christmas Carol"!) :^) SharonA, feeling rather pedantic today |
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17 Sep 02 - 05:22 PM (#786153) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: MMario More roughage would probably help with that Sharon!
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17 Sep 02 - 05:24 PM (#786155) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: greg stephens Rhe Ebbtide Road quote is odd. It doesnt seem very English or American. Reads like a literal translation from the Swedish or something. Or is`it some sub-Tolkien epic? Sticking my neck out`here, rather, if I get told its Dickens or someone. |
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17 Sep 02 - 06:11 PM (#786178) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Wincing Devil How can you mispell a word that is tranlated phonetically from a non-english laguage? For example, the spelling of the leader of Libya's name(s) has been given as: (1) Muammar Qaddafi, No wonder he's schizo! |
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17 Sep 02 - 07:05 PM (#786210) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Murray MacLeod Sharon A, well done, couldn't have done better myself. Although I would have tried, had you not. Really, kendall, "Awake for the morning in a bowl of light"???????. Tsk, tsk .... Murray
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17 Sep 02 - 07:07 PM (#786212) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Jim Dixon If you're talking about the original Omar Khayyam, then there are indeed various ways of transliterating (not translating) his name. But if you're talking about Edward J. Fitzgerald's work in English, then you should stick to the spelling Fitzgerald used. By the way, Fitzgerald took great liberties with his source material, not the least of which was to make it appear to be one long poem, when each of Khayaam's (or Khayyam's) quatrains was meant to stand alone as a separate poem. Rubaiyat (or rubaiyyat, or ruba'iyat) is, I believe, a plural noun in Persian, and the singular rubai (or ruba'i) refers to the verse form Khayyam used, which corresponds to one of Fitzgerald's stanzas. The sequence and apparent connectedness of Fitzgerald's stanzas is Fitzgerald's own contrivance. Here's how Robert Graves and Omar Ali-Shah translated the poem that Fitzgerald used as his first stanza: "While Dawn, Day's herald straddling the whole sky, Offers the drowsy world a toast 'To Wine', The Sun spills early gold on city roofs-- Day's regal Host, replenishing his jug." Notice that there is no command to awake. Is that enough pedantry for ya? There's more where that came from. |
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17 Sep 02 - 07:25 PM (#786224) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Murray MacLeod "Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light. Sorry, Jim, no comparison as far as poetic imagery is concerned. Game set and match to FitzGerald. Murray
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17 Sep 02 - 07:31 PM (#786231) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: kendall hehehe Noreen is closest so far. |
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17 Sep 02 - 08:24 PM (#786272) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Little Hawk I've got some questions of my own, Kendall. Who was the comic character who frequently uttered the interjection "DAWK..." ? And what was the name of his partner? And who was the artist who drew it? - LH |
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17 Sep 02 - 09:00 PM (#786302) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Micca Vis a vis Omar, you can just about sing the Fitzgerald translation to the tune of "Hernandos Hideaway".. and diabolical it is for squirreling!!!!! |
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17 Sep 02 - 09:51 PM (#786332) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: kendall Never heard of it, LH. |
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17 Sep 02 - 11:39 PM (#786376) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: mack/misophist A very nice, very enjoyable quiz. My addendum is: Where did the word quiz come from? |
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18 Sep 02 - 01:04 AM (#786409) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Mark Cohen It's an abbreviation for quidelicet, which is Middle Latin for "WTHK". Aloha, Mark |
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18 Sep 02 - 03:49 AM (#786442) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: polaitaly If I can be pedant like everybody else, the spelling of "joke" in Italian is "scherzo".....:>) |
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18 Sep 02 - 03:59 AM (#786445) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: greg stephens I think you can be "a pedant" or you can be "pedantic" but you can't really be "pedant".Pedantic, moi? |
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18 Sep 02 - 05:18 AM (#786479) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: polaitaly I've tried to be a pedant and I've been immediately pedanticized....or pedantizated ... rightful punishement. |
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18 Sep 02 - 05:53 AM (#786499) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Wolfgang 6. It's not the Iliad it is the sequel, the Odyssee (however spelled in English), though the translation of 'ennepe' with 'sing' is a bit free. Wolfgang |
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18 Sep 02 - 05:55 AM (#786502) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Wolfgang Iliad starts (in transliteration): mênin aeide thea Pêlêiadeô Achilêos Wolfgang |
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18 Sep 02 - 06:19 AM (#786507) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Nigel Parsons As the thread is title "BS:Pedants alert!" I tend to question the accuracy of any question. 2, Helen of Troy's face was only said to have launched a thousand ships. It was not a bottle of champagne 3, "It was the best of times, It was the worst of times." The final full stop would need to be a comma if it is a quote from Dickens. The first sentence runs to 85 words before the first full stop! 8, from memory, not having a copy to hand, I believe "A Christmas Carol" Starts "JacobMarley was dead..." 9, After all the comments above, it is clear that "The Rubàiyàt..." does not start with the words quoted. Taking all the above into account, it is quite likely that all the questions are phrased in such a way as to be impossible to answer correctly. Thus there is no chance that any asses will be kissed on the quarterdeck. Nigel
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18 Sep 02 - 06:28 AM (#786510) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: greg stephens I think that should be "titled" in your first sentence. And I think the Christmas Carol start should be "Jacob Marley was dead" not "JacobMarley was dead". Also, your point 8 should start with a capital F. You've got to sharpen up, Nigel, if you want to be the Pedant of Pedants. |
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18 Sep 02 - 06:38 AM (#786516) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Nigel Parsons I will be generous to greg, and not belabour the point that "titled" does not appear in my first sentence, but is his interpretetion, thus no quotation marks are required. And it it considered poor use of English to start a sentence with a conjunction (unless, as in this case, it is being done for litrary effect!). Nigel |
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18 Sep 02 - 06:40 AM (#786517) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Nigel Parsons yes, I spelt literary wrongly! Nigel |
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18 Sep 02 - 06:51 AM (#786525) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: greg stephens I think my use of quotation marks was quite correct in that context. Of course I was not quoting you, but pointing out that you should have used the word "titled". That is standard usage. I would not write "you should have used the word titled". Your comment implies my posting should have read "I think that should be titled in your first sentence" which is ambiguous and plain bad English. The fact that they are called "quotation marks" does not mean they necessarily have to be used for "quotations" that have been said in the past. |
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18 Sep 02 - 06:58 AM (#786528) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Nigel Parsons I didn't mean to imply that you should have written "I think that should be titled in your first sentence". The ambiguity would be obvious. To avoid ambiguity, and use correct English, would require the sentence to be re-worded. Your final sentence contains three surplus words at its end. you can't have "quotations" that have been said at any time other than "in the past". Also quotation marks should be used for quotations. I believe you wanted to say they should not be used only for quotations. CHEERS Nigel |
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18 Sep 02 - 07:02 AM (#786532) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: greg stephens On the contrary, my reference to the past was deliberate and specific. I might, for example, say "Bollocks,Nigel" in a minute, but I haven't said it yet. |
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18 Sep 02 - 07:05 AM (#786535) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Nigel Parsons I was pointing out that by using "that have been said" already signposts the quotation as "in the past" Nigel |
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18 Sep 02 - 07:14 AM (#786542) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: greg stephens Bollocks, Nigel. You will notice I have not put this in quotation marks, because I am saying it now in the form ofa letter. Though of course it could be considered that I am quoting the phrase that I used in a previous post, so I could write "Bollock, Nigel" quite legitimately. A pedant, however, might say that as I actually wrote "Bollocks, Nigel" (with quotation marks) in the previous post, I should actually write '"Bollocks, Nigel"' now. Or strictly, of course, "'" Bollocks, Nigel"'". |
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18 Sep 02 - 08:42 AM (#786594) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Bullfrog Jones Nurse, quickly -- bring the pedantidote! BJ |
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18 Sep 02 - 09:10 AM (#786607) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Declan Just to be pedantic I thought it was correctly spelt "ballocks" although around here its usually "bollix" and is used to describe a person. And I've always heard that the word Quiz derived from inquisition and that it was first used in a Dublin Theatre - but that might be just a load of old nonsense. |
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18 Sep 02 - 09:15 AM (#786611) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Amos Well, they are certainly being pedants, so they've got 50% anyway. With pedants like these, who needs a king? A |
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18 Sep 02 - 09:18 AM (#786613) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: HuwG Your Majesty, the Pedants are revolting !!! I think, LittleHawk, you may be referring to "Festers and Carbuncle", though I forget who drew them, and since it seems a long way from the present thread with its pedagogical debate on the correct way to punctuate gonads, I may well be wrong. Re: Helen of Troy; it was once said that actress Glenda Jackson (who played the main role in the series, "Elizabeth R"), had a "face which could launch a thousand dredgers". This is an unfair comment to her acting ability, and the concept of feminine beauty as a whole. Re: A Christmas Carol; something I once extemporised, to the tune of "Old Maid in the Garret":
If I make a noise like a frog |
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18 Sep 02 - 09:59 AM (#786642) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: SharonA ROFLMAO, Greg and Nigel! Great thread!! BTW, Nigel, the line is "Marley was dead: to begin with." (Please note the colon after the word "dead", since we're being pedantic about punctuation!) That is the first line of the first chapter, or "stave", of "A Christmas Carol". That is NOT how the book STARTS, though, because Dickens wrote a preface to the work. To be pedantic as hell, the quiz question should have read: "Name the book that starts, 'I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, ...' " (from this site: http://www.literature.org/authors/dickens-charles/christmas-carol/) I suppose we could take issue with the phrase "the book that starts", also! Boy, I love being pedantic!! :^) As to the Rubaiyat, I was careful to specify the first edition of Fitzgerald's translation because there are multiple editions with differing translations (one site I've found says there were four editions; another says five). He wrote three different interpretations of the line we've been discussing; only the first edition begins with "Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night"! Here's a side-by-side comparison of editions 1 through 4: http://www.fitzgeraldsrubaiyat.com/first.html See this page for an explanation of the color-coding system used at the above link: http://www.fitzgeraldsrubaiyat.com/ |
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18 Sep 02 - 10:15 AM (#786649) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: dick greenhaus Not totally adrift, I recall a definition of a unit called the milihelen--the amount of beauty required to launch one ship (see question 2) |
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18 Sep 02 - 10:20 AM (#786651) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: greg stephens Should be spelt millihelen, I think you'll find,Dick. |
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18 Sep 02 - 10:22 AM (#786653) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: SharonA ...or should it be spelled millihelen? *G* |
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18 Sep 02 - 10:25 AM (#786657) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Amos So a nanohelen would be the amount of beauty necessary to launch a rowboat. And our posts here usually rate in picohelens? Man...THAT is a useful concept! A |
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18 Sep 02 - 10:30 AM (#786662) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: SharonA Picohelen, any helen... Now put her back in the deck! |
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18 Sep 02 - 10:40 AM (#786667) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Maurice Mann I'm still trying to work out why we are/are not kissing donkeys on the quarterdeck Mo |
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18 Sep 02 - 10:41 AM (#786670) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: An Pluiméir Ceolmhar Lay her back _on_ the deck. |
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18 Sep 02 - 10:43 AM (#786671) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: An Pluiméir Ceolmhar ... and give her no quarter. BTW, Shouldn't that be either "Pedant alert" or "Pedants' alert"? |
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18 Sep 02 - 10:45 AM (#786672) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: An Pluiméir Ceolmhar "Shouldn't" in my previous post should, of course, read "shouldn't". |
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18 Sep 02 - 10:49 AM (#786678) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Little Hawk HuwG - Well, fairly well done! It's encouraging to see that there is life stirring in this morass of pedantry. The fellow who used to say "Dawk..." or "Da-w-w-w-k!!!" on frequent occasions, usually when confronted with a situation that baffled his tiny mind, was indeed named Karbunkel. His partner, a slightly brighter individual with a very swollen ego, was named Fester Bestertester. The artist was Don Martin. Said comic was quite hilarious, establishing a graphic style all its own, and appeared in Mad Magazine over the years, specially in the 50's and 60's. Nigel and greg, I have enjoyed your titanic match of pedantic egos. I think there may be a place for you at the Twillingsgate Herald. Advance to the wicket, gentlemen, and gird yourselves for action. - LH |
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18 Sep 02 - 10:53 AM (#786680) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Guessed Jeri Call me a Pedant but........... a "figure out the acronym" quiz! Is strictly speaking what the trade call a FOTA shoot. **BG** |
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18 Sep 02 - 10:55 AM (#786681) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: IanC Call yourselves pedant ... any half-decent self respecting pedant would NEVER sink so low as to even read a BS thread. ;-) |
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18 Sep 02 - 11:27 AM (#786714) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: kendall HAW HAW HAW, I do love a heated discussion. Nigel, you pegged me. There will be no such display of humility! Wolfgang, My copy of the Illiad begins; Sing, oh Goddess etc. I did get sloppy, the Christmas Carol does begin; Jacob Marley... |
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18 Sep 02 - 11:36 AM (#786718) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Wolfgang I was wrong. Wolfgang |
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18 Sep 02 - 12:19 PM (#786751) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: SharonA Kendall: Nope, the first chapter of "A Christmas Carol" ("Marley's Ghost") begins: "Marley was dead: to begin with." Marley's first name is not mentioned until his ghost says, "In life I was your partner, Jacob Marley." |
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18 Sep 02 - 12:22 PM (#786758) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: DonD WARNING! Continued displays of pedantophilia may initiate Intercyberpol action, culminating in midnight raids on suspected pedantophiles. |
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18 Sep 02 - 12:26 PM (#786763) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: SharonA Pedanty raids? |
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18 Sep 02 - 02:01 PM (#786836) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: kendall When you tire of this thread, I will disclose the answers which none of you got. |
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18 Sep 02 - 02:01 PM (#786838) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Willa Nigel "And it it considered poor use of English "? Oh dear! |
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18 Sep 02 - 02:25 PM (#786852) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: weerover The way I heard it a (Dublin) man had a bet that he could invent a word which would be in common use within days. He then chalked the word "quiz" up on walls all over the city and the rest,as they say... |
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18 Sep 02 - 02:54 PM (#786881) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Amos He obviously had too much time on his hands! Not a picohelen in a carload!! :>) Alright, Mr Kendall, let's see yer hand! A |
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18 Sep 02 - 03:07 PM (#786887) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: SharonA Hmmm... Everything was answered on this thread except question #5 and the bonus question, after which Kendall said Noreen was "closest so far". Presumably, then, Noreen answered one of those two remaining questions in her PM. Yet Kendall now says there are answers (plural) that none of us "got". How can this be??? |
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18 Sep 02 - 03:24 PM (#786897) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Mr Red weerover Dunno about Dublin but it sounds OK (I had it occuring in Brighton or England at least. However I do know he was a Lord of some echelon and he didn't "have a bet" he "made a wager" argue the toss if you wish but he said it was a wager! I thought he painted it on one wall but my precision is only up to the "ped" level on that. Now if Helen had launched a thousand horses we would be knee deep in that rare commodity wooden horse manure and we would all be rich! **BG*** |
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18 Sep 02 - 03:51 PM (#786918) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: weerover A really pedantic point Mr Red, but would that be wooden manure produced by horses or manure produced by wooden horses - or are they the same since horses made entirely of wood could only produce...well, you get the idea |
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18 Sep 02 - 04:14 PM (#786941) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Mudlark Oh my, I DO love the Mudcat.... |
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18 Sep 02 - 04:50 PM (#786972) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Amos I think "wooden horse manure" is just one of those lame circumlocutions to avoid harsh terms like "sawdust". A |
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18 Sep 02 - 04:54 PM (#786976) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Schantieman And, while we're on the subject, is the activity engaged in by pedants called 'pedantry' or 'pedantism'?
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18 Sep 02 - 05:02 PM (#786980) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: kendall Ok, Amos. The two you all missed, SILVERLOCK by John Myers Myers.This is my all time favorite novel. The bonus question, STORIES TOLD IN THE KITCHEN by Kendall Morse. Someone thought it was something by Hemingway. I'm honored. |
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18 Sep 02 - 05:11 PM (#786984) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: MartinRyan Oxford gives "quiz" as late as 19 C. and "of unknown origin". Regards p.s. mind you, some of our pedants are really older quizzes, regardless of age! |
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18 Sep 02 - 06:32 PM (#787039) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Amos And the unladen swallow? I reckon it as about 13 picohelens... A |
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19 Sep 02 - 04:45 AM (#787290) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Mark Cohen (A) "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." (B) "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here." Question: which of these quotations is actually found in Pedante's Inferno? Aloha, Mark Hint: Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate. (And if I got that right, I'll eat my coconut frond papale.) |
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19 Sep 02 - 04:53 AM (#787294) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Murray MacLeod Answer to Mark's question can be found in this Great Misquotations thread. Murray |
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19 Sep 02 - 07:47 AM (#787385) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Bullfrog Jones IanC --- "any half-decent self respecting pedant would NEVER sink so low as to even read a BS thread." Tsk,tsk. Split infinitive! BJ |
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19 Sep 02 - 08:29 AM (#787395) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: HuwG Amos and weerover, don't know about wooden horse droppings but ... About twenty (or more) years ago, the powers that be recognised that living in the new town of Milton Keynes wasn't as popular as it should have been; it was too stark, square and plastic, and was surrounded by acres of what counts in the UK as "prairie" fields i.e. a couple of hundred acres of uniform crop, with no hedges or woods to relieve the monotonous view. So, they hit on the brilliant idea of putting concrete models of cows in the fields just outside the town. Within days, local builders merchants had painted all their spare lumps of concrete brown, and deposited them behind the concrete cows. Citizens Band radio users at first named the place, "The City of the concrete Cows". The cows were soon seen as a laughable, if not pathetic measure, and were removed. The lumps of concrete waste matter were left for combine harvesters to remove in due course (expensively). CB's as quickly renamed the place, "The City of the concrete Cowsh*t". |
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19 Sep 02 - 08:45 AM (#787406) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: DMcG Lewis Carroll, by the way, used "ca'n't" in the Alice books and, in I think the Silvie and Bruno books, had a great long pedant's rant why he was right and the rest of the world, using "can't", was wrong. |
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19 Sep 02 - 09:00 AM (#787413) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Wincing Devil About the Dante Quote: (A) "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." vs. Boy, talk about losing something in the translation! Inferno is the most translated Italian work, and the vesion vary widely... |
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19 Sep 02 - 09:57 AM (#787442) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Amos It's "Abandon all hope...". A |
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19 Sep 02 - 11:22 AM (#787496) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: GUEST,Blind DRunk in Blind River If I like find any klike flippin pedants around here I will flippin WASTE 'em!!! There anit no sexcuse for pervershuns like that eh? We don't allow no pedeants in Blind River!!! - BDiBR |
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19 Sep 02 - 11:26 AM (#787500) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Amos What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
Well? Well? Mr SCI-ence?? A |
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19 Sep 02 - 11:40 AM (#787510) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Little Hawk How does one distinguish an unladen swallow from a laden one? - LH |
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19 Sep 02 - 12:34 PM (#787547) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Bullfrog Jones Well, first you find a girl who'll swallow... BJ |
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19 Sep 02 - 01:09 PM (#787568) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Mark Cohen Tsk, tsk, gotcha! The answer is neither one is correct. Aloha, Mark (There ain't no such thing as Pedante's Inferno.) |
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19 Sep 02 - 01:42 PM (#787581) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: The Walrus at work Of wooden horse droppings: Many years ago, I was in the habit of using a gun shop [1] in "New Row" (behind St Martin in the Fields", London). Just along the street was a shop (it may still be there) which had a beautiful wooden rocking horse outside as an advertisement. One day, while walking past, I noticed that someone had glued a number of conkers (Horse Chestnuts) to a board and had left said board behind the horse. I just wish I'd had a camera. Walrus [1] "Thos. Bland and Son" -alas now defunct- the only place I knew that could buy full size musket flints in central London |
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19 Sep 02 - 03:20 PM (#787637) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: SharonA Walrus: I'm a bit surprised that the conker-gluer didn't glue two of the horse chestnuts to the nether regions of the horse! |
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19 Sep 02 - 05:49 PM (#787753) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Mr Red Amos That sawdust - I would have said it was diorhea - I would have if I could spell it and my SOED CR ROM could give me a clue even via a rhyme for "rhea" I am expecting a pedavalanche of spellings for what I will just refer to as "the squits"......... over to the pedants. Walrus - penny to a pound it was done by a female goldsmith - "She Stoops to Conker" I'll get my coat..... |
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19 Sep 02 - 06:15 PM (#787776) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Mr Red diarrhoea new challenge- what's the term for a person who pedantically corrects themself? |
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19 Sep 02 - 07:18 PM (#787828) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Amos An autopedestrian? A |
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19 Sep 02 - 07:41 PM (#787858) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Mr Red Amos - No that is a guy who has lost (as in legally revoked) his driving licence (or license in the US). QUIZ time Declan - Brewers gives the date of the appearance of the word as 'about 1780'. Your 18th C Dub was no lord he was the manager of a Dublin theatre who laid a wager that he could introduce, into the language, a word with no meaning within 24 hours. He won. By chalking on every wall around town the four letters. All Dublin were enquiring what they meant but of course that only served to give it a meaning. As Brewers puts it fable accounts this story of Mr Daly. now for your homework, kiddies, the name of that theatre please........... |
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20 Sep 02 - 11:05 AM (#788172) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: polaitaly Mark, I think the quotation from peDante is "Lasciate ogni speranza, O voi ch'entrate" . PEdante is the poet of my hometown, so if I'm wrong they will kick me out of town with shame. And what is a "coconut frond papale"?? |
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20 Sep 02 - 11:09 AM (#788175) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Nigel Parsons Wincing Devil: It seems to read better as "All hope abandon, ye who enter here" Nigel |
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20 Sep 02 - 11:42 AM (#788194) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Little Hawk We should get Yoda's word on this.... - LH |
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30 Aug 11 - 02:09 PM (#3215315) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: katlaughing We have so many words which have been turned into verbs..I spotted a new one on me, today. Viewing a collection of amateur pictures and accounts of the flooding in Vermont, the byline read "storified by CNN!" |
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30 Aug 11 - 02:44 PM (#3215342) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Kit Griffiths There isn't a noun in the language that can't be verbed! |
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30 Aug 11 - 05:50 PM (#3215483) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: Bill D Just to clarify the 9 year old post from Nigel... My copy of Dante's Inferno, translated by The Rev. Henry Francis Cary, M.A., with illustrations by Gustave Doré, does say "All hope abandon, ye who enter here" |
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30 Aug 11 - 06:01 PM (#3215489) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: McGrath of Harlow "Quis?" is what a boy would call out, holding up something they felt like giving away. And the first boy to shout"Ego" would get it. |
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31 Aug 11 - 01:20 PM (#3215994) Subject: RE: BS: Pedants alert! From: GUEST,kendall Did I drop a clod in the churn or what? :-) |