Picky, picky, picky

cnorman18 · Post by **cnorman18** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 4:45 pm

I'm a bit of a spelling pedant, and I just find these repeated errors annoying:

Prophesy is a verb: I prophesy, he prophesies, they have prophesied.

Prophecy is a noun: This is a prophecy, those are prophecies.

One who prophesies is a prophet, and those sayings are prophetic.

Thank you.

Further bulletins on Athiest, Isreal, Sampson, and Issac as needed.

Lainey · Post by **Lainey** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 12:47 am

I got it, and I thought it was funny.

I didn't know that about prophesy and prophecy, either. Learn somethin' new every day. And I thought I was a spelling nazi!

I am hoping McCulloch will expound on the difference between "shall" and "will," and while he's at it, he might as well tell me if I should capitalize "Creationist" if I'm referring to someone I know who is one.

These are the things that keep me up at night...

Intrepidman · Post by **Intrepidman** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 12:54 am

Lainey wrote:I got it, and I thought it was funny.

I didn't know that about prophesy and prophecy, either. Learn somethin' new every day. And I thought I was a spelling nazi!

I am hoping McCulloch will expound on the difference between "shall" and "will," and while he's at it, he might as well tell me if I should capitalize "Creationist" if I'm referring to someone I know who is one.

These are the things that keep me up at night...

I don't care if you capitalize "Creationist" or not. I only become a spelling/grammar Nazi if someone calls me an idiot.

I actually had someone post on my YouTube page something like this:

"God must not have given you much brain cells. Your a idiot!"

JoeB · Post by **JoeB** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 3:44 pm

McCulloch wrote:In a world where many people cannot even distinguish between there, their and they're or your and you're, the unheard difference between prophesy and prophecy will soon be forgotten.

Language is about clearly communicating ideas. Context is usually enough to make the meaning clear.

Argh, everytime I see the they, they're, their, there all lumped up into there I cringe, even more so when I notice it tends to be native English speakers who make this error...
Thank Zeus for context

Otherwise us non-native english speakers would be completely at loss haha!

McCulloch · Post by **McCulloch** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 4:16 pm

Lainey wrote:I am hoping McCulloch will expound on the difference between "shall" and "will,"

You really should not encourage me.

Random House Dictionary, Â© Random House, Inc. 2009. wrote:Usage note:
The traditional rule of usage guides dates from the 17th century and says that to denote future time shall is used in the first person (I shall leave. We shall go) and will in all other persons (You will be there, won't you? He will drive us to the airport. They will not be at the meeting). The rule continues that to express determination, will is used in the first person (We will win the battle) and shall in the other two persons (You shall not bully us. They shall not pass). Whether this rule was ever widely observed is doubtful. Today, will is used overwhelmingly in all three persons and in all types of speech and writing both for the simple future and to express determination. Shall has some use in all persons, chiefly in formal writing or speaking, to express determination: I shall return. We shall overcome. Shall also occurs in the language of laws and directives: All visitors shall observe posted regulations. Most educated native users of American English do not follow the textbook rule in making a choice between shall and will.

The American HeritageÂ® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright Â© 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. wrote:Usage Note: The traditional rules for using shall and will prescribe a highly complicated pattern of use in which the meanings of the forms change according to the person of the subject. In the first person, shall is used to indicate simple futurity: I shall (not will) have to buy another ticket. In the second and third persons, the same sense of futurity is expressed by will: The comet will (not shall) return in 87 years. You will (not shall) probably encounter some heavy seas when you round the point. The use of will in the first person and of shall in the second and third may express determination, promise, obligation, or permission, depending on the context. Thus I will leave tomorrow indicates that the speaker is determined to leave; You and she shall leave tomorrow is likely to be interpreted as a command. The sentence You shall have your money expresses a promise ("I will see that you get your money"), whereas You will have your money makes a simple prediction.

Such, at least, are the traditional rules. The English and some traditionalists about usage are probably the only people who follow these rules, and then not with perfect consistency. In America, people who try to adhere to them run the risk of sounding pretentious or haughty. Americans normally use will to express most of the senses reserved for shall in English usage. Americans use shall chiefly in first person invitations and questions that request an opinion or agreement, such as Shall we go? and in certain fixed expressions, such as We shall overcome. In formal style, Americans use shall to express an explicit obligation, as in Applicants shall provide a proof of residence, though this sense is also expressed by must or should. In speech the distinction that the English signal by the choice of shall or will may be rendered by stressing the auxiliary, as in I will leave tomorrow ("I intend to leave"); by choosing another auxiliary, such as must or have to; or by using an adverb such as certainly.

In addition to its sense of obligation, shall also can convey high moral seriousness that derives in part from its extensive use in the King James Bible, as in "Righteousness shall go before him and shall set us in the way of his steps" (Ps 85:13) and "He that shall humble himself shall be exalted" (Mt 23:12). The prophetic overtones that shall bears with it have no doubt led to its use in some of the loftiest rhetoric in English. This may be why Lincoln chose to use it instead of will in the Gettysburg Address:"government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."

Lainey wrote:and while he's at it, he might as well tell me if I should capitalize "Creationist" if I'm referring to someone I know who is one.

You should only capitalize creationist if it is part of the name of an organization.

Fred it a creationist. He belongs to the Brotherhood of Chicago Creationists.

Lainey wrote:These are the things that keep me up at night...

You really need to get a life.

Lainey · Post by **Lainey** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 4:29 pm

Thanks for the info.

McCulloch wrote:You really need to get a life.

My kidding is lost on some people...

JoeyKnothead · Post by **JoeyKnothead** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 11:03 pm

I get ill when folks leave the cracklin' out the corn pone.

Lainey · Post by **Lainey** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 11:28 pm

joeyknuccione wrote:I get ill when folks leave the cracklin' out the corn pone.

How's that again? Can that be translated into Northern, please?

JoeyKnothead · Post by **JoeyKnothead** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 12:01 am

Lainey wrote:
joeyknuccione wrote:I get ill when folks leave the cracklin' out the corn pone.
How's that again? Can that be translated into Northern, please?

"Cracklin'" is what you get when you render down some chunks of ham. Save the renderings, you need it later.

We call corn 'bread' corn pone.

A couple heaping cups of cornmeal. One of them little spoons the babies eat with full of baking soda (trust me, there's some kind of difference between baking soda and baking powder, use the baking soda). Small palm full of sugar, and a cup or two of buttermilk (two is best, but usually someone's already got to it and drank it down, so you'll likely only get a cup). Maybe a spoon or two of them renderings you got earlier. If someone tells you to use Crisco, that's okay, but they likely ain't your friend.
Mix that up all real good with the cracklins, and don't eat all the cracklins before you put 'em in the mix. I know you're gonna wanna, but then it won't be a cracklin corn pone will it? Then put it in an iron skillet that was sitting in the oven getting hot while you made it. Grease the pan up with some renderings before you put the mix in or it'll stick like last night's biscuits.

Something like a 350 oven for however long it takes to get nice and golden brown on top. I never can remember how long, but not real long. Butter the top real nice and good before you put it in, and when you go to check if its done or not, and when it's done. And then when you serve it. And in between bites. Or dunk it in some ice cold buttermilk if you lucked up and no one done drank it all.

That's about close as you'll ever get to heaven with your clothes on.