Comments for My SHINY IDEAS

Comment on Pronouns: Secret Windows Into Your Soul by Phyl

Phyl — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 11:10:31 +0000

I do believe in the generic second person for referring to general people. But yes, when it clearly should refer to the person’s own experience or feelings, you know there is some distancing going on. (I can sometimes feel that inner shift, myself, and kind of chuckle.) Then the question arises: WHY the distancing? Sometimes it’s modesty — and sometimes there’s a real issue.

Comment on Pronouns: Secret Windows Into Your Soul by Luna

Luna — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 22:52:05 +0000

The use of the generic second person when one is clearly referring to oneself is quite possibly my biggest language pet peeve. Examples I’ve heard recently,

From a politician, “You’d get these calls from constituents and they’d want you to fix their problems”
From a journalist, “The police were spraying tear gas, and you could hear screaming all around you”
“The road was dark, but the light was bright and you could see for miles”

Comment on Old Navy sure knows the importance of the apostrophe – now. by Phyl

Phyl — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 15:01:13 +0000

No kidding! And really, they’re supposed to produce what they’re given, and for all they knew, there was a reason for writing the phrase that way. They can’t read minds. I think I might have queried it, but of course I would — I’m a grammar/spelling/punctuation geek. They shouldn’t have to be.

Comment on Old Navy sure knows the importance of the apostrophe – now. by Kathy Mercure

Kathy Mercure — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 14:46:08 +0000

I’m thinking someone’s head rolled on that gaff! Hopefully not the art guy — they are notoriously bad spellers and should never be the last line of proofreading.

Comment on Too Much Automated Posting on Social Media? by Phyl

Phyl — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 21:17:55 +0000

How very interesting, Terran! (And thanks for dropping by) So many people don’t realize that. That’s really something else to mull over.

Comment on Too Much Automated Posting on Social Media? by Terran Birrell

Terran Birrell — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 21:03:16 +0000

Thanks for the mention Phyl, and good synopses of the two posts!

Something else you might find interesting that I learned after writing that post: Facebook has something called “Edgerank” which is how it decides whether you actually see a post in your “top news” feed. It turns out that manual posts have a higher Edgerank than those posted by an application.

Comment on The Power of Language, with some help from Galileo by Phyl

Phyl — Thu, 19 May 2011 12:05:14 +0000

I know, I thought of that. I debated putting the most popular answer in there at “C” but thought I wouldn’t push it. Heehee!

Comment on The Power of Language, with some help from Galileo by Susan

Susan — Wed, 18 May 2011 23:47:26 +0000

Hey You!

I answered the question, but I really have no idea. when in doubt, pick “C” they always say. LOL

Comment on It’s “its”, not “it’s”! by Phyl

Phyl — Tue, 10 May 2011 21:23:54 +0000

There ya go! Any time you could use “it is” in place of the “it” word, you use the apostrophe. If you can’t substitute “it is,” then you can’t use the apostrophe. You don’t even have to know whether the thing is possessive or anything else.

Comment on It’s “its”, not “it’s”! by Meera

Meera — Tue, 10 May 2011 20:33:40 +0000

Substitute the apostrophe with “is”. Does it make sense? No? DON’T USE IT.