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Chow
Joined: 24 Nov 2005
Location: Cheongju
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 Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 1:30 am Post subject: |
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If the overused phrases and "cliches" bother you on Dave's, for the love of God, do not check out any other message boards/discussion threads that are out there.
I really enjoy Dave's for many reasons, but all too often I stumble on threads that are just excuses for people to bitch and moan about something pointless. If there actually were some annoying cliches here, I would understand (read Fark lately?) but the things being mentioned are, for the most part, quite normal, conversational, English. Sure, "my two cents," etc, is annoying, but does it really qualify as a cliche? |
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Veronica Rose
Joined: 01 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 8:05 pm Post subject: |
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I think people should quit using the conjunction 'and.' It is so trite. Everywhere I go I see the same word used over plus over to join two subjects or ideas together. Can't people be more creative?
 <-- Please don't shoot me in the head. |
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red dog
Joined: 31 Oct 2004
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| Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 8:13 pm Post subject: |
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| JongnoGuru wrote: |
| Leslie Cheswyck wrote: |
| Oh, and people who begin a sentence---usually their parting shot---with 'Oh' in that smarmy, self righteous tone. |
Yep, there's certainly those, isn't there. And also the people who start their OPs (or even their damned thread titles) with "So". "So I asked my recruiter to find me a position that didn't include kindy classes". Like they're these little squeaking amateur standup comics, these little "ET-in-Korea Seinfelds", all starting their sentences with "So". 
And then there's the complete and utter twits who start sentences with "Yep".
But they're slightly less reprehensible than the ones starting sentences with "And". Or "But". Or "Or". |
What's wrong with that? |
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Veronica Rose
Joined: 01 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 8:19 pm Post subject: |
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I concur with the previous poster. The fiction writers I've read interviews with seem to agree that this is an appropriate literary device that provides a more natural tone. Only English teachers tell you not to do that.
I'm talking about the following: And, But, Because, Or... |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 8:22 pm Post subject: |
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| Don't take those comments seriously. I think there had been a different thread bouncing around the same time when I posted that, and it was in only joking reference to that other thread. |
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red dog
Joined: 31 Oct 2004
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| Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 8:24 pm Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
I cringe when people use "gay" to mean "of low quality". As in, "your post is the gayest I've ever seen on this forum". Not just because of the homophobia, but also because, prior to getting into the internet, I hadn't heard that usage since about junior high school or so.
I also don't like it when people use "retarded" as an insult, especially when the context makes it clear that they're comparing someone to an actual mentally challenged person. For example, the old "special olympics" joke about internet debates.
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I agree about "gay," but how often are the words "retarded" and "retard" still used in their original sense? I'd never use that word to refer to someone with a developmental disability (is that the proper expression now?) but I have no problem using them against people who've used them against me.
What about questions? Any rule against asking too many of them? |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 8:47 pm Post subject: |
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| red dog wrote: |
I agree about "gay," but how often are the words "retarded" and "retard" still used in their original sense? I'd never use that word to refer to someone with a developmental disability (is that the proper expression now?) but I have no problem using them against people who've used them against me.
What about questions? Any rule against asking too many of them? |
I'd say there's no rule limiting the number of questions, but there ought to be one prescribing the proper use of the question mark. Not you, red dog, but there are many instances where posters end question-sentences with exclamation marks instead of question marks. None come to mind at the moment, but we see it often enough.
About "retarded", that's a word I might possibly use in conversation, but less likely online. Not because I fear a call from the PC Police, but because I'm just not prone to getting hot under the collar or hostile or pissy online. If I were to use it online, it would probably be to describe a thing or a situation that I didn't care for. Not a poster who I was sure wasn't really retarded but just acting like he was.
I'm a member of another (non-Korea-related) message board, and once someone there referred to a person in the news (not a member of the message board) as having to take "the special bus". And then everyone was cracking wise about so-and-so ought to/probably did/does "take the special bus". I wasn't sure what it meant until one poster exploded on everyone, screaming that her son was mentally handicapped and everyone was evil for making fun of children with "special needs" and so forth. After everyone had duly tendered their apologies and insisted that, though they were crass and crude, they had meant no real harm, the poster who'd claimed to be a mother of a retarded child gleefully announced that "she" was in fact a young "he", unmarried & with no children, and had a damn sporting time of making chumps of everyone who had sent "her" tearful mea culpas. And that was the last time anyone on that board let political correctness cramp their posting style. |
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daskalos
Joined: 19 May 2006
Location: The Road to Ithaca
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| Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 9:09 pm Post subject: |
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People who preface things that aren't obvious with "obviously."
Same for "It goes without saying/It needn't be said ...." If you need to say it, don't say it doesn't need to be said. If in fact it doesn't need to be said, shut up.
And since we've touched a little on grammatical lapses that have calcified into the language, every time I see or hear "there's" attached to a plural, I reflect again that my decision not to own a gun continues to be valid.
Conjunctions starting sentences? I guess not in a thesis, but real life isn't really possible without it, is it?
P.S. On "bird" for girl, I get to chuckle every time I hear it -- it's Greek slang for p*nis. |
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Veronica Rose
Joined: 01 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 9:29 pm Post subject: |
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| Yeah, I just finished my MA and I certainly wouldn't have started a sentence with a conjunction in an academic paper. But then again, thank the supreme deity that I do not talk the same way I do when I'm writing something for school. It doesn't sound natural at all. |
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flotsam
Joined: 28 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 10:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
But at the Beginning.
Contrary to what your high school English teacher told you, there's no reason not to begin a sentence with but or and; in fact, these words often make a sentence more forceful and graceful. They are almost always better than beginning with however or additionally. Beginning with but or and does make your writing less formal; � but worse things could happen to most writing than becoming less formal.
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http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/
But don't get me started on "thirdly"... |
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flotsam
Joined: 28 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 10:07 pm Post subject: |
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| red dog wrote: |
| On the other hand wrote: |
I cringe when people use "gay" to mean "of low quality". As in, "your post is the gayest I've ever seen on this forum". Not just because of the homophobia, but also because, prior to getting into the internet, I hadn't heard that usage since about junior high school or so.
I also don't like it when people use "retarded" as an insult, especially when the context makes it clear that they're comparing someone to an actual mentally challenged person. For example, the old "special olympics" joke about internet debates.
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I agree about "gay," but how often are the words "retarded" and "retard" still used in their original sense? I'd never use that word to refer to someone with a developmental disability (is that the proper expression now?) but I have no problem using them against people who've used them against me.
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I think this is a rather queer double standard that doesn't keep up with the flow of usage.
You guys are dumb. |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 10:20 pm Post subject: |
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[deleted]
Last edited by Gopher on Mon Jun 12, 2006 4:35 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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periwinkle
Joined: 08 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 10:44 pm Post subject: |
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red dog
Joined: 31 Oct 2004
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| Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 11:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
It is acceptable to begin a sentence with "and" or "but" in academic writing. My own committee was unanimous on this, for example.
Indeed, it is encouraged in several fields. It tends to make for short, crisp, to the point sentences and paragraphs.
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I'm glad to hear that, although I think it can be overdone and I'm probably guilty of that -- along with many other terrible Dave's-isms that I now have to watch out for. Writing "there's" for "there are" is one thing I can't see myself writing even on Dave's (although I often do it when speaking and don't really care enough to stop).
About the word "retarded," I was only offering one example of the way it tends to be used now -- of course referring to an idea as "retarded" is a lot less pissy, but you're still using the word in a derogatory sense. If people with developmental problems were still commonly labelled "retarded" (and wanted to be called that) I think it would be offensive to use the word as an insult. But to me it seems more like idiot, stupid, moron and various swear words, which have all evolved past their origins and are now just insulting terms. Then again, many people besides OTOH are offended.
The case of "he takes the special bus" seems a bit different, though. I do find that quite offensive, even if the guy who said so turned out to be a fake. |
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flotsam
Joined: 28 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 11:05 pm Post subject: |
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| periwinkle wrote: |
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Buddha's ballsack, that's funny. |
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