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.

[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?

[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.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

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

[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.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Passive-aggressive comma wars FTW! When battles must be fought, they ought to be fought over grammar.

[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]

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.

[blackmare.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I was, in fact, about to look it up.

I use the Oxford/serial comma. I also don't. If anyone ever specifically told me that both ways were correct, I don't recall, but I did know.

For me it just depends upon context. But doesn't everything?

[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.

[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.

[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.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

(Hee. Wikipedia quoted that one, and called it (a) apocryphal and (b) from a Racefailer.) See, but there I'd put one in. I default to no serial comma, but will add them in when it'd be confusing not to.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

What's the sandwich one? Oh, yes.

"My three favorite sandwiches are ham, peanut butter and jelly and cream cheese."

[fthpfthpfthp.livejournal.com]

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

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Indeed. I remember learning in elementary or middle school about how commas can change the meaning of sentences and lists, but not being told that using or not using a "list comma" was "right."

[hannahrorlove.livejournal.com]

That's something I didn't take into account. And could be worked with to great effect with the right director. You got any spare jodhpurs?

I haven't seen the stage play, although I can pass along the movie's soundtrack if you'd like.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

See, and I'd think that even someone who doesn't use the serial comma (like me) would put one in there, because the second "and" complicates things. The choice differs really in the simplest lists -- do you put one or not put one in something like "cats, rats and dogs."

[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.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Who would be Mama?

[hannahrorlove.livejournal.com]

Can Vin Diesel sing?

[(Anonymous)]

No - what I mean to say is that Mary Sunshine, already being a drag role (Or, as Lea Delaria once insisted to me, "a pants role"... so, what? a skirt role then...), would be upended in a drag version of the show. You'd have to go full-on smoothie and make that role the epitome of ambiguity in order to keep that character's guts intact.

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

I'd eat peanut butter and jelly and cream cheese. (Of course, I can also count to 3. Maybe.)

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

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

[hannahrorlove.livejournal.com]

Dwayne Johnson is quite a large man, and apparently has sung in at least one move already. The things the Internet provides.