Avoiding doing work that is due at 8 am tomorrow

[deelaundry]

So y'all know I'm weird, right? Some weird bullet points:

- We just saw Chicago last night, and I have a huge yen to see RSL in the Roxie Hart role. I think he would throw himself into it and have a grand ol' time. Maybe have the entire cast be opposite gender from their characters? Not with a wink and a nod, "hey we're in drag" mood (although that would be very fun as well) -- but completely serious, as if each actor is inhabiting a person of the opposite gender. Casting suggestions?

- Speaking of Wilson (oh, we weren't? I guess we weren't), Jane Adams, aka Ex-Mrs. Wilson #2, is going to be in a new HBO series called "Hung," about a regular guy who decides to become a male prostitute. LOL.

- Little Miss Thang at work, you best step off, or we are going to throw down! Most authorities on American English recommend the use of the serial comma, Bee-yotch, so you cut one more out of my communications drafts and I'm'a CUT YOU.

When linguistic prescriptivists battle, they battle, AMIRITE?

Comments

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I'm'a CUT YOU.

:D

My thesis advisor and I have been in a battle of comma wills since September or October. She says Oxford comma, I say no. Actually, I say whatever, so long as it's consistent, but I prefer no, and it was my darn paper. But she made me put them in everywhere. Sad face.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

:D

I've always liked the Oxford comma, but can happily read things without. Either way is correct. (I have a slight preference for it in the communications I'm writing, because sometimes "Sales, and Marketing" is different from "Sales and Marketing," but it's not too much of a problem.)

My issue is simply that she keeps changing them when they're not incorrect, even though she's supposed to be doing a content review, not a grammar review.

Oh well -- I'm the one who submits the docs in the actual publishing stage, so I'll just put all the commas back in. : )

Sorry you got over-ruled by your advisor. I'll sad face with you.

[zulu.livejournal.com]

The way I learned it was with a fictitious book dedication: "This is for my parents, Ayn Rand and God." Really, unless you intend hilarity, the Oxford comma's the only way to go.

[blackmare.livejournal.com]

Er ... lemme look up "linguistic prescriptivist" and then get back to you on that one, okay?

ETA to bironic: I'm afraid I don't know what "Oxford comma" actually means, either. Some of them have degrees from a higher university than others?

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Today's trivia! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma)

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

In my own, less-than-scholarly words, a linguistic prescriptivist is one who thinks a standard set of language rules should be followed. This person might be more commonly known as a grammar nerd. (HOLLA.)

Two cool wikipedia articles are here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descriptive_linguistics) and here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_prescription). As the articles say, sometimes linguistic prescription can be used to scorn or oppress. But I mostly just like to use it to help people communicate more clearly with each other.

[hannahrorlove.livejournal.com]

Leonard's a bit old, I think, to be a good Roxie Hart. Velma Kelly, though, would fit - a play on how age in the entertainment industry tends to be a demonized process. Someone just making a name for themselves right now like Chris Pine, or working towards that immediate name recognition, would go better for the Hart role.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

He's a little old, but then again he's only two months older than Renee Zellweger, who we saw in the role. (Movie version.)

I don't think Leonard has the confidence for Velma Kelly. I imagine he'd enjoy the "stars in her eyes" daydreaming and conniving of Roxie, with those couple of moments of true vulnerability for a real challenge. Roxie is layered in her strange denial.

At least, she was in the movie. I've never seen the play.

[photoash.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info about Hung I hadn't heard of that and it sounds interesting!

and LOL on cutting a bitch over commas XD it's good to know the ppl in my scanlation group aren't the only ones crazy about comma placement! :D if only they could *AGREE* though >_> on where

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

They had ads for it on HBO around the movie we had DVR'ed, and it looks funny. Interesting enough to give it a try, any way.

Oh, my goodness, around and around and back again on commas! They are tricky beasts! I am sooooo lucky that my beta soulmate daisylily is both strict and adaptable.

[fthpfthpfthp.livejournal.com]

If everyone was in drag, then who would play Mary Sunshine?

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Ethan Hawke? I think he could do over-dramatic yet dignfied.

I'm most confused about Mama. I keep thinking John Goodman, but that's probably just a body-size thing.

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

Leave a copy of "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" on Miss Thang's desk. :-)

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

I should!

Hee.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

...and here's me on the verge of booking tickets to Chicago where I live, too. Thanks for that image, it'll haunt me.

I am a fan of the Oxford comma.

I can't remember the movie too well, but Mary Sunshine is indeed usually a drag role. When I've seen it, the productions often make a (fairly useless) point of keeping the actor's name ambiguous in the programs eg H. Laurie. Of course, it could still be reverse cast as per your suggestion by using a drag king ;)

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Don't you think he'd love the role? He'd dig into it and have a grand old time.

Jason Alexander from Seinfeld said once that he really wants to play Hamlet but the way he looks prevents people from casting him in the role. What I think would be interesting about casting all the roles with actors of the opposite gender would be trying to see them get beyond the body type we expect and represent the soul of the character.

I once saw a local production of Sound of Music with a multi-ethnic cast, and in which one of the high-level Nazis walked with crutches. At least for me, the physical appearance of the actors faded with the strength of their assertions of the characters' voice, expressions, and bearing.

[mer-duff.livejournal.com]

I love the Oxford comma, though I've stopped fighting about it at work. (Clearly, the first sign of burn out). Our Marketing department hates them, but our AMD never argues when I add commas to his messages, so I win about 50% of the time.

At long last I did manage to convince everybody that we were a premier theatre company about to premiere a new play, and not vice versa.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

I love it, too, but I don't bother trying to recruit anyone into the fold. I save my energy for getting mad when people "correct" me. Hmph.

"Premier" and "premiere" is a tough one! I'm still trying to remind folks at my work which is "affect" and which is "effect." : )

[bell]

LOL. :) I stand by descriptivism, though! And I think if you read more about it, you'll see that it has its place, beyond respecting alternative dialects/speech patterns. It's especially relevant in light of the fact that languages evolve of their own accord. If we were going to be 100% prescriptivist, you wouldn't be using things like "CUT YOU" or "AMIRIGHT" since they weren't at all included in the first dictionaries and grammars made on the English language! In fact, we might not even be speaking English, since it wouldn't have been allowed to come into existance. We'd have stuck with Latin or some other language that imposed its standards on everyone. There certainly wouldn't be an American English.

But, ehhhhh, those are my own issues and probably don't have their place in this post. There's place for prescriptivism too, and it's not in passive-aggressively forcing changes in your commas! Keep your drafts with your serial comma! (Can't you tell her to stop that?)

Also, I would so be behind RSL as Roxie Hart. I'd print out photos and draw little hearts all around them. But it's not secret I'm a fan of gender-bending. ;)

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Descriptivism most definitely has its place! And as we discussed, linguistic prescription has its own place. I liked the Wikipedia articles phrasing of it as "advising." It's about context. Who would want my advice, and under what circumstances? I'm not going to correct the language of either a random stranger on the street or the CEO of my company. I'm not going to insist my friends use Standard English when commenting on my LJ -- I probably wouldn't even like it if they always used Standard English in that case. AMIRITE? But if I beta somebody's fic, I'm going to note errors (or questions raised) in their grammar, spelling, and word choice. Because that's a context where linguistic prescription is appropriate. Of course, even during a beta, there may be cases where creativity is a higher goal than correct grammar. You could mark "SENTENCE FRAGMENT" throughout most of my fics, and I wouldn't change a single one. They express what I want to express.

I'm going on and on, so I'll stop now. OK, one more thing: If you've never read a Miss Manners book, you totally should. They are hilarious -- and she has great analyses of the merits of (appropriately timed, in appropriate context) prescriptivism.

[chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com]

I always wondered if Christine Baranski felt odd playing a role that is always played by a drag queen in the play version. Incidentally, when I was writing "Infarction-tastic!" I was originally going to write song parodies and Cuddy was going to get a parody of "When You're Good to Mama, Mama's Good to You".

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

I just realized I name-checked "Mary Sunshine" in a fic without knowing the character in Chicago. Hee.

That is a perfect song for Cuddy! Heh!

[hibernia1.livejournal.com]

Comma war yay!!

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

As bironic said above, they're really the best kind of wars to have. Extremely low casualty count. : )

[daisylily.livejournal.com]

*beta hat*

I fully support you in your plan to CUT your colleague (perhaps we should send in Foreman... >:D )

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Seriously! I don't mind at all if others don't use the serial comma -- there's not really a consensus among style guides -- but don't be changing things in my writing that aren't incorrect!!! D:<

*huge hugs for you, because you're awesome*