the bounty of random

[theholyinnocent]

1. A photo of the actual Arundel tomb, from World's Worst Camera Phone (and courtesy of the missus):



(It was a couple weeks ago that I heard Roseanne Cash read Larkin's "Arundel Tomb" on NPR, which had prompted me posting the poem then. It's prompted me to reassess him as a writer; previously I was not too appreciative of his work.)

2. Ladies, your dream man is here.. Damn, when these mail-order bride things go bad, they GO BAD.

3. I hereby declare it my personal mission in life to preserve the semicolon. Why? The semicolon is sexy. Friends, join with me: Use a semicolon today!

Comments

[lostingeekdom.livejournal.com]

I (correctly) use semicolons in textmessages, for goodness sake.

Isn't that supposed to be "goodness' sake"? ;-) Sorry, couldn't resist. My mom tried to beat in ye olde Queen's grammar into our heads. Microsoft spell check has since fucked me up. And I'm right there with you on being anal about spelling and punctuation on test messages.

[jandyle.livejournal.com]

Oh nos! I have been busted on failed grammar. ;) Yes, that should be "goodness' sake".

My family once had a rather heated hour long debate over the question of if "anal retentive" had a hyphen or not. We are a strange family.

[lostingeekdom.livejournal.com]

Ah, I would love to try a discussion of that sort with my family, except they are anal retentive about the kind of language we use with each other. I'd be surprised if my mom even knew that phrase. It depends on whose grammar rules you're following: the brits are hyphenated, while the americans aren't, unless they're pretending to pretentions.

[theholyinnocent.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think it depends on how it's being used. (Although I can't speak for British usage.) As an adjective, it should be hyphenated ("He was an anal-retentive asshat"), otherwise not ("Man, she was being all anal retentive"). Or at least that's my take on it.