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]

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.