Irritating Words

I was out riding with my good friend Justi this morning and we got to talking about our usual topics.
We started talking about horses (naturally) and how incredibly wonderful they are (especially ours) and how unbelievably lucky we are to be able to ride out on such wonderful mounts (sigh) on such a sunny morning (sigh again).
After we killed that subject (it took a while) we got into English and whether the word healthily exists or not (I couldn’t find it in Websters on-line, but I did find it in dictionary.com, and I googled it with lots of references, so it is used, but I don’t think I personally have ever used it. I suppose I would say in a healthy way, or just healthy, and forget the adverb.)
Talking about English lead directly to how hard it is to learn Slovene (which it is) and all the problems associated with body parts and language.

Then we slid directly into the American presidential election and how entertaining it is - much more so than any other presidential election before. But how often do you get a black and a woman running for the oval office. Just too exciting, if you ask me.

I’m sure that most interested Americans and non-Americans alike already have “favorites” in the race. We’ve all compared (more or less) the candidate’s standpoint on the various issues, for example here from your’s truly, or here from CNN, or  here is a summary of the issues for the major candidates Hillary, Obama, Huckabee (sorry, it’s always wikipedia, but it’s so darn quick, even if it’s not always as consistent and correct as we might like - you can find the rest there too, if you’re interested). And we’ve all found that the one or other candidate is closest to our own views.

But will we actually vote for that candidate? Just because he or she holds beliefs that are closest to our own? Oh, I doubt it.

We’ll vote for the candidate we like best - for whatever reason that might be. Accept it. Life’s a popularity contest. When you’re hot, you’re hot. When you’re not, you’re not.

Have you taken the Implicit Association Test yet?

Give it a try, you may prefer a different candidate from the one you actively endorse. Who knows how that will reflect on your voting behaviour, but it’s a great way to waste some time in internet.

I found the link all over the place. Here at Bitch, PhD (who, by the way, is generally an interesting read), and then again at Pandagon (a well-read blog), and yet again here at Blog of the Moderate Left (and for you German speakers, go one post higher and you can see the German word Schadenfreude used in English - so I wasn’t lying when I said that we do that some times) and again at Utne blogs.

I won’t tell you who I prefer, but the test came out like I thought it would - but not like I thought it would 6 months ago.

Hillary Clinton Barack Obama Mike Huckabee Implicit Association Test Presidential election 2008

“Wait here for the present.”, said the woman to the child, and left for a moment, hoping the child would wait quietly while she called a taxi to take them home. 
“Wow! I wonder what I’m getting.”, pondered the child, considering all the wonderful things she could expect.

Presently, the woman returned; with empty hands. The child presented her with a disappointed look.

“So, where is it?”
“Where’s what?”
“My gift.”
“What gift?”
“The gift I was waiting for.”
“You were waiting for a gift?”
“Yeah, you promised me one!”
“I never promised you anything.”

Liar.

Bing’s at it again, the ol’ grammar freak.

I know what he means, because there are some very strange things in the English language. One of them is the difference between they’re, there and their. It’s not hard in conversation, but boy can it get confusing when you have to write it down.

They’re is a contraction of “they are”. It means “they are” and nothing else, as in “They’re a bunch of crazy people”.

There is the opposite of here, as in “The book is over there“; or refers to a place, point or stage, as in “He went there after work” or “There is where I disagree with your statement”; or is used to express satisfaction, approval or sympathy, as in “There, I’m finished” or “There, there. Don’t cry”. 

Their refers to possession, as in “They took their work home with them”, or “Is that their new office?”. 

Consequently, the following must be correct:
“There, there, fair bear. Their rare pears are over there on their chair. They’re fair, those pears; but they’re not meant for fare. They’re meant to stay there, on their chair, those rare pears. There, there, fair bear.”

english grammar their they’re there

I was just sitting here sort of minding my own business, thinking about some really irritating words (ahh,  the distractible minds of the clinically bored) and I noticed that this morning’s kitty-breakfast may have affected the immediate well-being of The Cat. I heard a strange noise behind me and saw that the kitty-kibble had successfully effected an escape from The Cat.

This had an almost simultaneous effect on my personal well-being and this morning’s non-kitty-breakfast effected a near-escape onto the keyboard of my laptop. (This effect would not have created a Nice Moment.) I effectively thwarted the need to visually appraise the effects of my digestion and jumped for the paper towels.

The Cat was faster and had already dashed into the hall where she continued to effectively deposit more kitty-kibble onto the floor, this time onto the rug. This affected my speed positively. I hurtled my body into the hall, armed with the paper towels, making wiping motions as I ran.

This effectively frightened The Cat, who was already not well. The effect was dramatic and somewhat disturbing. I had effectively effected an exodus of nearly all the cat-contents out the various orifices of The Cat.

After a time, The Cat and I met again in the bathroom.

We had both effectively calmed our digestive systems and our nerves. The Cat had once again effectively affected her usual kiss-my-ass casual attitude and I had successfully effected a removal of all the vile effects of said kitty-breakfast.

The Cat effectively gave me her I’m-going-to-pee-in-your-most-expensive-shoes-look and effected her exit. Oh, the joys of being afflicted with feline affection.

english grammar