THE RANT THREAD!

[Shahaku]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

There are times I really despise the medical world... my mother is a hypochondriac, no doubt about it, but she is also actually sickly... I think it's like a cyclical thing, she's believed she's on the verge of a deadly illness for so long, and has pressured docs into so much meds and treatments that weren't really necessary, that her body's just starting to break down(like thrush from all the antibiotics they've put her on with such intense regularity...). Turns out the most recent rash of illnesses is due to her being deficient in vitamin B12... extremely deficient... like half the necessary levels, and their only finding this out after months of having all of these symptoms...

She's had major back surgery from a ruptured disk resulting in permanent nerve damage, a foot and a half of intestine removed for diverticulosis... hope spell check spelt that right, serious infections no one can get rid of, cysts on her overies so sever that she had to have her overies removed (she'd had her uterus removed when I was very little for "precancer" cells...) thrush, extreme weight loss, sores in her mouth and nose, numbness, dizziness, tingling.. who knows what else.

Why world why? Ugh.

[Jembru]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

Will we ever get into the habit of reporting news accurately. They've just done a short piece about how eating particular fruits 'could' reduce the effects of type 2 diabetes. No mention of where they got this from. Not even my favourite expression 'studies show'. No mention of how this conclusion was reached, how large the trial was, how the data was collected.. nothing. And of course, original research papers are a pain to get hold of if you're not involved in academia, so it's not as though I can easily look into this myself... Gaaaahh...

[ThorsSon]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

Whoa! A nonlexical linguist. We should sell tickets!

I have mulled this over in my mind for the last few days... trying to decide if you were patronizing me or agreeing with me...

"nonlexical linguist" - either one who studies language, but not language... or one who focuses on the language, but not necessarily the grammar... and a whole lot of other possible nuances.

Still not sure if I am being backed or mocked.

Well played, sir.

[Maria de Luna]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

So not sure where to mention this... but here goes... I thought my husband was a little cold for not being worried about his grandfather going into the hospital for a severe heart attack (turned out to be kidney stones... not sure how that mix-up happened.) Then I find out a week later what happened to his current wife. This poor woman is the third unfortunate woman to be married to this man, the first apparently killed herself, the second just got sick and died, and now the third is losing her mind to dementia (married her the same day his mum died.) Apparently he would not let her go stay with her daughter for a while but he had to go to the hospital, leaving the poor woman to fend for herself, well she is diabetic which makes the dementia worse which makes it hard to treat the diabetes when she is alone, so she was in the hospital at the same time. At some point the woman's daughter decided to come and take her mom home so she could care for her (many many states away.) and his reply was "Well, it was a good run with this one, can you bring me my medication from the house?" This was said to the poor crazy woman's daughter... WHO BROUGHT HIM HIS SHIT!

My husband isn't cold, his grandfather is just a sociopath... This family is crazed...

[Ophidia]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

Will we ever get into the habit of reporting news accurately. They've just done a short piece about how eating particular fruits 'could' reduce the effects of type 2 diabetes. No mention of where they got this from. Not even my favourite expression 'studies show'. No mention of how this conclusion was reached, how large the trial was, how the data was collected.. nothing. And of course, original research papers are a pain to get hold of if you're not involved in academia, so it's not as though I can easily look into this myself... Gaaaahh...

I also like 'surveys show'... My workplace fired half of its bell staff because 'surveys showed' only 4% of our guests use the bell services (assistance with luggage). No, surveys showed that only 4% of people who elected to take the exit survey used bell services. There's no way that the 4% could be staying on the property every single day screaming about how there's only one bellman on duty between 12am and 8am.

[Corvus]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

I decided to cut my hair like I normally do but the only good pair of scissors were no where to be found. An hour later and the rusty kitchen shears have left a mark. It looked like I cut my hair with a buzzsaw. The things were SO DULL. After a shower and some okay ish styling/brushing/begging it looks okay. A few people have said they like it. In their defense I don't think it looks that bad but I still hate it. The angles look weird on my face and its the shortest my bangs have been since I was 15. I'm my opinion it's the worst hair cut I've ever given myself but for using what I had it's none too shabby. Still sorely in need of layering which is impossible with what I have.

[ChainLightning]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

I have mulled this over in my mind for the last few days... trying to decide if you were patronizing me or agreeing with me...

"nonlexical linguist" - either one who studies language, but not language... or one who focuses on the language, but not necessarily the grammar... and a whole lot of other possible nuances.

Still not sure if I am being backed or mocked.

Well played, sir.

Oh, serious, SERIOUS backing. No patronizing whatsoever. They went and said something profound about their study of language and yet know nothing about how to use it properly. I'm a linguist. And because of knowing the rules of language, I know how to break the rules... that I find useful to bend way out of shape.

My take on it was, really, we need to sell tickets; "Come see the linguist with absolutely no grasp of the language! Bring the kids! Call your neighbors!"





It fits right up there with tight-rope walkers that have no sense of balance, at all. Or ballet dancers without a trace of grace. Bicycle racers that can't maintain the coordination to pedal the damn thing let alone steer it, too.

[Jembru]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

I have mulled this over in my mind for the last few days... trying to decide if you were patronizing me or agreeing with me...

"nonlexical linguist" - either one who studies language, but not language... or one who focuses on the language, but not necessarily the grammar... and a whole lot of other possible nuances.

Still not sure if I am being backed or mocked.

Well played, sir.

I'm sure he meant the person to whom you were referring! In any case, I have a cool new description for myself. I'm a non-lexical linguist to a T.

[Corvus]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

My hair seems to be getting worse the more I let it settle. Remind me to never cut my hair with dull metal ever again. It also makes me look 15 which for someone who's been mistaken for older his whole life is pretty irritating.

[ChainLightning]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

I'm sure he meant the person to whom you were referring! In any case, I have a cool new description for myself. I'm a non-lexical linguist to a T.

To be honest and frank about it? I think that's true of most people. The way I butcher the English language with my own mannerisms, for example. Then there's shit like "txtspk". Off on the horizon, you can see Ebonics as a new language, simply because English wasn't the "cool way" to talk.

Which leads me right back to that "your" screw-up, that should have been written "you're": Some people seem to have adopted "ur" to avoid getting caught with that bastardization of our lexicon.


It f***in' makes me twitch!

[Corvus]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

I butcher English horridly under a regular basis and my English teacher of last year has been trying to get me to write a novel. Go figure

[Jembru]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

I also like 'surveys show'... My workplace fired half of its bell staff because 'surveys showed' only 4% of our guests use the bell services (assistance with luggage). No, surveys showed that only 4% of people who elected to take the exit survey used bell services. There's no way that the 4% could be staying on the property every single day screaming about how there's only one bellman on duty between 12am and 8am.

Oh gods, yeah! That's even worse! I mean, people who actually bother to fill out questionnaires, definitely cover a realistic cross-section of the general public, wouldn't you say so? I bet only about 30 people bothered to fill them in to begin with. This is exactly why I like to know how data is collected, because sometimes even 'studies show' means, 'a ticky box survey of 19 people and a pretty pie chart drawn on excel show..'.

Also in breakfast TV rant.. If the weather girl uses the idiom 'a real mixed bag' one more morning, I swear I'll lose it and seriously wound a grapefruit. There are other expressions sister.. 'a hotch potch' is due a comeback, or how about you just say 'it's changeable'?

- - - Updated - - -

To be honest and frank about it? I think that's true of most people. The way I butcher the English language with my own mannerisms, for example. Then there's shit like "txtspk". Off on the horizon, you can see Ebonics as a new language, simply because English wasn't the "cool way" to talk.

Which leads me right back to that "your" screw-up, that should have been written "you're": Some people seem to have adopted "ur" to avoid getting caught with that bastardization of our lexicon.


It f***in' makes me twitch!

I really have no excuse though. It would take seconds to just read my posts before I press 'post', but I just don't. If I didn't know the correct rules, then I'd say that's fair enough, but I taught English grammar, including some pretty complicated stuff. I corrected my students every day and I explained things not everyone knows, like the correct order for lists of adjectives, and how to decide when to use 'more..' and when to use '~er'. I smugly mock when politicians or TV presenters slur their grammar in interviews (well I have a right to; their education cost a heck of a sight more than mine did), and yet I'll turn to my partner and say things like, 'I've already wrote it'. Or I'll write 'it's' when I mean 'its'. I KNOW THE BLEEDIN' RULES DAMMIT'.

Then I wonder why my Japanese sucks ^^

[ChainLightning]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

My avatar looks entirely too fuckin' happy, to be representing me, just now. Happy face? Fuck you in the ear, with a battleship! Twice!

[Maria de Luna]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

To be honest and frank about it? I think that's true of most people. The way I butcher the English language with my own mannerisms, for example. Then there's shit like "txtspk". Off on the horizon, you can see Ebonics as a new language, simply because English wasn't the "cool way" to talk.

Which leads me right back to that "your" screw-up, that should have been written "you're": Some people seem to have adopted "ur" to avoid getting caught with that bastardization of our lexicon.


It f***in' makes me twitch!

I get called a grammar nazi and my grammer, spelling and punctuation is poop. Often, not even on purpose!

[Jembru]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

I get called a grammar nazi and my grammer, spelling and punctuation is poop. Often, not even on purpose!

There are some rules I DO break on purpose, because I disagree with them. Like starting a sentence with 'but'. I should really use 'however', but that's not how I speak. The way I pause before a 'but' when I speak, sometimes feels more like a full stop than a semi! If I were to start using unnatural structures just to be 'correct', then I won't be able to get my character over.

My unnatural and irrelevant overuse of brackets however, is purely a quirk, and captures my offline personality beautifully. I often go off on tangents when I speak (sometimes without getting back to my original point. I've known people call me up days later and say, 'Hey, Jem... you were going to tell me where that new costume store is, the other day. But we ended up talking about seagulls..').

Case in point!