i won an essay contest my junior year of high school with a disseration on "farenheit 451" that had no sentences longer than eight words. (i was actually trying for that, after reading many an essay that suffered from erudiarrhea, otherwise known as "an attempt to seem knowlegeable by utilizing hyper-complex sentence structures peppered with ten cent words...")
After my military service I returned to college to complete my degree. I took a journalism course where the teacher gave us an exercise on editing for content. It went something like this:
"I personally have witnessed the horrific conflagration consuming the combustables as well as the liquid percipitation that fell from the black heavy-laden cumulous clouds."
Answer:
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i won an essay contest my junior year of high school with a disseration on "farenheit 451" that had no sentences longer than eight words. (i was actually trying for that, after reading many an essay that suffered from erudiarrhea, otherwise known as "an attempt to seem knowlegeable by utilizing hyper-complex sentence structures peppered with ten cent words...")Interestingly, and this is by no means a comparison to anybody nor intended as an insult, but one of the primary criticisms of Adolph Hitler's writing in Mein Kampf as a literary work is the blatant and rampant use of run-on sentences, sometimes for entire pages, in an attempt to make himself appear smarter while "borrowing" ideas from others.
just curious, but wasn't mein kamph dictated to someone, not actually written (as in, physically, with pen and paper), by hitler?
*edited for misplaced comma...sorry*
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just curious, but wasn't mein kamph dictated to someone, not actually written by (as in, physically, with pen and paper), hitler?
That is the consensus, I believe, despite Hitler claiming otherwise.
Scholars speculate that the reason the work is so meandering is that Hitler's speech patterns created long rambling sentences.
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just curious, but wasn't mein kamph dictated to someone, not actually written by (as in, physically, with pen and paper), hitler?That is the consensus, I believe, despite Hitler claiming otherwise.
Scholars speculate that the reason the work is so meandering is that Hitler's speech patterns created long rambling sentences.
that's what i thought, it does read more like a long spoken rant than a written work...
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8
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There's also the fact that there is a difference between "run-on" and "long." I'll admit I occasionally tow the line, but... a certain level of literacy is required of all forums, and if you cannot read a long sentence without difficulty... I suggest some classes.of course they are. if they extend 70 pages, and you're a drunk irish guy living in paris in the '20s, they call you a "genius" and revere you in lit classes forever...You're welcome to your opinion, but if you're not going to debate and critique with the skills of someone above the age of two, gtfo, we don't need your opinion in this thread, where PR is trying to actually help Paizo make a good and profitable product.Okay, but runon sentences that barely qualify as readable are hunky dory?
Actually, it is a run on sentence as "gtfo" has an implied subject (you), a verb "get," and even an adverbial "tfo". Therefore, it qualifies as a sentence in its own right. You would have had to follow 'gtfo' with a period and started 'we' with a capital.
Oh, and PR isn't trying to help Paizo make a profitable product in this thread. He's just telling others not to express their opinions as they may distract from his.
(just a quick aside, i appologize for not using proper capitalization rules. i'm clinically allergic to the shift key, and a huge e.e. cummings fan to boot. thanks for your understanding of my debilitating handicap...)
:)
I always remember this lil' gem:
old age sticks
old age sticks
up Keep
Off
signs)&
youth yanks them
down(old
age
cries No
Tres)&(pas)
youth laughs
(sing
old age
scolds Forbid
den Stop
Must
n't Don't
&)youth goes
right on
gr
owing old
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now if only we could learn from christopher walken and just do away with punctuation and capitalization altogether i mean why bother putting the extra effort in when everybody knows c w is the coolest sounding person on the planet and he doesnt use them
EDIT: My personal crux is the fact that I compulsively capitalize all nouns. Thanks a lot, German.
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this is my favorite cummings:
dying is fine)but Death
?o
baby
i
wouldn't like
Death if Death
were
good:for
when(instead of stopping to think)you
begin to feel of it,dying
's miraculous
why?be
cause dying is
perfectly natural;perfectly
putting
it mildly lively(but
Death
is strictly
scientific
& artificial &
evil & legal)
we thank thee
god
almighty for dying
(forgive us,o life!the sin of Death
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now if only we could learn from christopher walken and just do away with punctuation and capitalization altogether i mean why bother putting the extra effort in when everybody knows c w is the coolest sounding person on the planet and he doesnt use them
EDIT: My personal crux is the fact that I compulsively capitalize all nouns. Thanks a lot, German.
Lol, I know what you mean. It took me nearly a year to quit doing that same thing. I still have a very difficult time capitalizing "i". Lol
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now if only we could learn from christopher walken and just do away with punctuation and capitalization altogether i mean why bother putting the extra effort in when everybody knows c w is the coolest sounding person on the planet and he doesnt use them
EDIT: My personal crux is the fact that I compulsively capitalize all nouns. Thanks a lot, German.
Englisch braucht umlaute.
ich bin ein Frankfurter?
Try having Arabic as a second language. Talk about functionally useless in the US.
Try having Arabic as a second language. Talk about functionally useless in the US.
The military has a job for you, though.
Well, unless you're gay. Because it's more important to keep gay people out of the military than to have enough Arabic translators, y'know.
Well, despite having been an ESL teacher (among other things) for 13 or 14 years, I don't correct peoples' grammar unless they ask for it. Prak_Anima was asking for it.
Was I now? How, exactly, was I asking for a correction of my grammer?
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Try having Arabic as a second language. Talk about functionally useless in the US.The military has a job for you, though.
Well, unless you're gay. Because it's more important to keep gay people out of the military than to have enough Arabic translators, y'know.
being a veteran, um, the army has better things to worry about. they didn't give a rats a&$ before "don't ask, don't tell" frankly, and give even less of one now...
just saying...
Try having Arabic as a second language. Talk about functionally useless in the US.The military has a job for you, though.
Well, unless you're gay. Because it's more important to keep gay people out of the military than to have enough Arabic translators, y'know.
Actually the military taught me Arabic. I didn't have to leave the program because I was gay, I had to leave (after they taught me the language BTW) because I was an idiot and listened to my recruiter and lied about my drug use in college. May you rot in Hell SFC Glidden wherever your weaselly head lies.
Sorry, sore spot. It all worked out anyway, I got laterally transferred into military journalism and had a much better time than my language battle buddies did translating scratchy tapes of Arabic broadcasts in 'secure' concrete bunkers in Georgia.
EDIT: Oh and for those not in military service .. I NEVER met as many gay folks in my life as I did in the military. How do you get someone to do something? Tell them they can't.
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Try having Arabic as a second language. Talk about functionally useless in the US.The military has a job for you, though.
Well, unless you're gay. Because it's more important to keep gay people out of the military than to have enough Arabic translators, y'know.Actually the military taught me Arabic. I didn't have to leave the program because I was gay, I had to leave (after they taught me the language BTW) because I was an idiot and listened to my recruiter and lied about my drug use in college. May you rot in Hell SFC Glidden wherever your weaselly head lies.
Sorry, sore spot. It all worked out anyway, I got laterally transferred into military journalism and had a much bettter time than my language battle buddies did translating scratchy tapes of Arabic broadcasts in 'secure' concrete bunkers in Georgia.
EDIT: Oh and for those not in military service .. I NEVER met as many gay folks in my life as I did in the military. How do you get someone to do something? Tell them they can't.
yep, my "ranger buddy" in AIT was "on fire". no one cared. no shower weirdness. dude was a good soldier and helped out some of the weaker guys get through. a lot of people want to make a non-issue a big deal because of what a bunch of politicians say. the reality doesn't fit that perception.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8
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Well, despite having been an ESL teacher (among other things) for 13 or 14 years, I don't correct peoples' grammar unless they ask for it. Prak_Anima was asking for it.Was I now? How, exactly, was I asking for a correction of my grammer?
By insulting people.
and it is spelt 'grammar'. ;-)
being a veteran, um, the army has better things to worry about. they didn't give a rats a&$ before "don't ask, don't tell" frankly, and give even less of one now...
just saying...
They've certainly fired any number of people, both soldiers and much-needed translators, for being gay. I'm glad it didn't happen to the people posting in this thread or the people they knew, but it does happen, consistently enough for it to be a problem rather than an isolated case.
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They've certainly fired any number of people, both soldiers and much-needed translators, for being gay. I'm glad it didn't happen to the people posting in this thread or the people they knew, but it does happen, consistently enough for it to be a problem rather than an isolated case.
From MSNBC Article, July 27, 2006
More than 11,000 service members have been dismissed under the policy, including 726 last year — an 11 percent jump from 2004 and the first increase since 2001.
That’s less than a half-percent of the more than 2 million soldiers, sailors and Marines dismissed for all reasons since 1993, according to the General Accountability Office.
I can't seem to find what ended up happening in Bleu's appeal, though.
EDIT: Just wanted to clarify LNs "any number" statement - there is a number, and it is staggeringly low considering there is a policy concerning a specific group of individuals.
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They've certainly fired any number of people, both soldiers and much-needed translators, for being gay. I'm glad it didn't happen to the people posting in this thread or the people they knew, but it does happen, consistently enough for it to be a problem rather than an isolated case.being a veteran, um, the army has better things to worry about. they didn't give a rats a&$ before "don't ask, don't tell" frankly, and give even less of one now...
just saying...
this is anecdotal, but most of the instances i saw personally of people being drummed out for being gay were cases where the person joined to make a statement, not to be a soldier. the guys (and ladies) who joined out of duty and service were generally left alone. i'm not saying there haven't been plenty of instances where some idiot nco or officer didn't k-line someone because the nco or officer had too narrow a worldview to allow that anyone who led an alternate lifestyle should be in the military, but most of the instances i saw were due to the attitude of the recruit.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8
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I thought it was a nice change of pace. One of the courses I teach is on language teaching methodology and I'm very interested in the drive to teach arabic to military. The need for languages in the US army has, in the past, spurred interesting developments in language teaching methods.
Could the poster who learn Arabic in the army say anything about the teaching methods? Even in another thread?
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I thought it was a nice change of pace. One of the courses I teach is on language teaching methodology and I'm very interested in the drive to teach arabic to military. The need for languages in the US army has, in the past, spurred interesting developments in language teaching methods.
Could the poster who learn Arabic in the army say anything about the teaching methods? Even in another thread?
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nice change of pace is an understatement. i love this place when people are having conversations rather than flaming each other. :)
But these are cheap shots. We all make grammar and spelling mistakes. The problem here is a failure to communicate.
We all want this playtesting period to be successful. Let's get off each others' backs and not tell each other what we can and can't say, eh?
No one's trying to tell people they can't say anything. PR was merely trying to ask people to not use invalid arguements in a serious debate, and I backed him up in my own way.
I took logic class in University. It was so boring. This thread reminds me of logic class.
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No one's trying to tell people they can't say anything. PR was merely trying to ask people to not use invalid arguements in a serious debate, and I backed him up in my own way.
Yet you told anyone who had an opinion that you or PR did no consider valid could "gtfo". That was pretty rude and uncalled for.
No one's trying to tell people they can't say anything. PR was merely trying to ask people to not use invalid arguements in a serious debate, and I backed him up in my own way.Yet you told anyone who had an opinion that you or PR did no consider valid could "gtfo". That was pretty rude and uncalled for.
Yes, it was. PR has decided that it's worth it for him to play by the assumptions of this forum. I have yet to do so.
Also, you're still misinterpreting. I told one person who thought that a proposed moratorium on faulty logic was an attempt at telling him what to do (if he could not get over it) to gtfo.
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No one's trying to tell people they can't say anything. PR was merely trying to ask people to not use invalid arguements in a serious debate, and I backed him up in my own way.Yet you told anyone who had an opinion that you or PR did no consider valid could "gtfo". That was pretty rude and uncalled for.Yes, it was. PR has decided that it's worth it for him to play by the assumptions of this forum. I have yet to do so.
Also, you're still misinterpreting. I told one person who thought that a proposed moratorium on faulty logic was an attempt at telling him what to do (if he could not get over it) to gtfo.
"Once you start down the Dark path, forever will it dominate your desiny. Consume you, it will."
;)
Has my thread so degenerated that we are left squabbling over grammar?
While Prak Anima has answered some critics with a hostile--albeit humorous and to-the-point--fashion, I commend him for doing my job for me. It makes my job posting here far easier, and I welcome all who fight the good fight against illogical conclusions and faulty arguments.
There is much work to be done here, and that is the only reason that I have decided to gild my posts with niceties, cheer, and other such inefficient dressings that cloud communication. If I must speak with silvered tongue to have my words evaluated as being of some worth, then so be it--I will bear this heavy load for a time.
Of course, I will not dross my words with subtleties and nonsense forever. My patience can hold for as long as I see positive changes in Pathfinder.