Tuesday, April 26th, 2005, 3:45 p.m.
Ahh, how lovely to have a day to be sick, to read and watch movies. I cancelled my classes today and am staying home. Turns out I have a throat infection but I got antibiotics and am resting until I'm better. Well, until tomorrow, which is when I'm planning on being better. I finished my book, Eats Shoots and Leaves, the "runaway #1 british bestseller," which is all about - you'll never guess - punctuation. Yes, that's right, and today's language spot will be my favorite parts from the book. I haven't the energy for much more of an entry at the moment; after some mobile miscommunication Nicole and I are about to sit down to watch a good old-fashioned stupid American movie called Pool Hall Junkies. Wish us luck!
Language spot: Taken from Eats Shoots and Leaves
"But blow me, if there aren't differences of opinion." What? Blow me? Written by a British woman talking (albeit somewhat tongue-in-cheek) about grammar? Honestly, wtf? And the British think we have weird expressions...
Under 'misplaced apostrophes':
"Pansy's ready (is she?)
Cyclists's only (his only what?)
Please replace the trolley's (replace the trolley's what?)
and best of all:
Nigger's out (a sign seen in New York, under which was written, wickedly: 'But he'll be back shortly')"
"I say we should remember the fine example of ... the French 19th-century novelist Victor Hugo, who - when he wanted to know how Les Misérables was selling - reportedly telegraphed his publisher with the simply inquiry '?' and received the expressive reply '!'"
"... [T]hose who smugly object to the hyphenation of the phrase 'fine tooth-comb' are quite wrong to assert the phrase ought really to be punctuated 'fine-tooth comb'. Evidently there really used to be a kind of comb called a tooth-comb, and you could buy it in a variety of fineness."
From "Blunders":
When gunman Harry Leone pulled a pillowcase over his head and entered a donut shop in California to rob it, one small flaw in the plan became immediately evident - he had neglected to cut holes in his makeshift hood. One of the patrons recognized Leone when he raised the pillowcase to see what he was doing and police apprehended him a short time later.
In 1958 the australian movie Walk into Paradise was released in the U.S. as Walk into Hell.
