December 14, 2006
Oh, and...
I know we adopt a casual, conversational tone in the blogosphere, but can we please stop beginning sentences with the words "Oh, and"? It's like some kind of disease lately. Stop, already!
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31 comments:
Dang. I've never said it before, but now I am consumed by the desire to do so.
Am I to be cursed by my inner sixth-graderliness forever?
Can we add "swarmy" and "snarky"? Stop, already!
Ah. Well. Hmm.
Oh kay, Professor. How shall we express our surprise, then?
My recent search of Blogger.com for "Oh, and" got 1,297,094 results.
The first one was Althouse.
That doesn't seem fair at all now does it!
I vote we also ban the use of "strawman" and "ad hominem." For some reason they really irk me.
Dude, like, what the frick would I type if I didn't use stupid text tricks like "Oh, and" and "But, like..." and my Favorite. Thing. EVER., doing the whole thing where you capitalize words and put periods in between the words and make it seem like the thing is the bestest thing EVARZ!!!111one LOLZ. w00t!
Woah. I degenerated into leetspeak. OK, I think I see Althouse's point here.
Oh, and bunnies are cute and fluffy. Think about bunny butts. Picture one right now. You're welcome. :)
Actually, I can't stand it when people begin their smarmy, snarky corrections with the word actually.
Just say it without the preface!
Point taken. Sentences without verbs. Incomplete sentences. Just my lastest sin. Oh, and dangling participles. That is something up with which I shall not put.
vw: gpeppm
(parts per million of...what's gpe?)
IM IN UR COMENTZ PWNING UR GRAMMERZ
No comment from the KOSnoscenti is complete unless it ends with:
Sad.
Oh, and our fearless blogger Mizz Ann herself used "Oh, and" in her posts nine whole times, seven in 2006 and two in 2005!
She uses "Oh" 219 times in her blog posts.
Just a Tad. Too. Conversational.
Heh.
God, I do declare there are times when I love this site beyond all sensible proportion!
Can we also add "oh by the way" and "just happens to be" to the list? They are often used to preface the real point the author is trying to make. I find them both annoying.
"We'll tell them that they are not in compliance, and oh by the way, we have a consulting department that helps with exactly that kind of problem".
Bleh. It just plain bugs me and I hear it all the time.
"It's the heroic story of a female gymnast who just happens to be an Iraqi lesbian".
In this usage, the subject never "just happens to be" whatever the antecedent says. Would they be telling the story if it where about a middle class white gymnast from Minnesota? No, so don't pretend it's a side note to the story.
bait, anyone?
anonyMouse you should have said Oh.
You know (ooops! Will that phrase too be verboten??), we of the chronically informal need to stand up against the forces of perfect, formal grammar. Those authors have their own medium; it's called paper. We of the carpal-tunneled digits and RSI wrists have need to stand up for our style, for today it's "informalities" they ban, but tomorrow, what will be next? Will they come after our acronyms? Our leetspeek abbreviations? Will the slippery slope lead us away from LOL and ROTFL? Will it become impossible to be AFK, as our free time must now be spent typing in those extra letters? Will I never be able to BRB, as I will never leave in the first place, continually proofreading my prose instead of mindlessly punching it straight in, one draft, damn the typos, as God intended us to interact with the internet?
IMHO, we must stand for our rights to shrtn as mch as pssble, else web socialization will become real work.
--------
Okay, joke's over. In all seriousness, I also get annoyed by "Oh, and" preliminaries. In arguments - the omnipresent form of human interaction on the internet - saying "Oh, and" just comes off as blatantly condescending. "Oh, and your politics make you stupid"... "Oh, and only an idiot would believe what you do"... "Oh, and (fill-in-the-insult-blank)"...
Yes. That needs to stop. Drives me bonkers.
You don't get the inside joke.
Indeed.
I really hate blog comments that begin with "Um," or "Uh," because you know it's going to be followed by a paragraph of sarcastic know-it-all shittiness. Our own Doyle the Angry Blue Boil is a master of the form.
Of course, now I'm wondering if I've ever begun a comment with "Um"...
One of my least favorite lines is:
"To tell the truth..."
My first thought on hearing it is always, "Oh! You were lying before. I see."
Indeed.
I'd like to ban the "word" verification on blogger, not because it's cumbersome and sometimes impossible to read (which it can be), but because I'd prefer a method that judges the quality of my proposed post and offers the following queries:
1. This makes you look like an idiot. Post anyway?
2. Contains a logical fallacy. Post anyway?
3. Already been said. Better. Post anyway?
4. Off topic. Post anyway?
5. Stalking. Post anyway?
6. Don't you have work to do? Post anyway?
7. That's not supposed to be funny, is it? Well, it's not. Sorry. Post anyway?
8. Eleven on the offensive scale. Post anyway?
9. You've become a caricature of yourself. Post anyway?
10. God, you're an idiot. Post anyway?
Palladian, my friend. One word. Magnificent.
Me, I woulda wrote that someone is looking in the mirror and seeing Audrey Hepburn when it's really Bea Arthur in there; but you just wrote "indeed."
The internet is full, I think. It needs a courtesy flush.
Palladian, my friend. Only used one word. Magnificent.
Me, I woulda wrote that someone is looking in the mirror and seeing Audrey Hepburn when it's really Bea Arthur in there; but you just wrote "indeed."
The internet is full, I think. It needs a courtesy flush.
Does reading all day for info, as I assume all you lawyer types do, simply render any extraneous words annoying?
Christy, lawyers love extraneous words. Extraneous words drive the demand for their profession. They have such an affinity for extraneous words that the language they use can no longer be called English - instead, they speak and write in Legalese.
Our gracious hostess is of course the exception.
2B sure, 2B sure. O & top of the morning 2 U.
So, what about blog posts that begin with "So, ..."?
She would write 8 or 10 words, then draw her gun and shoot them down.”
--E.B. White
ohhh gee oohhhh pee
happy ann?
i wonder how many con law lectures start "ohhhhh class come to order"
I see that someone has said something about me here.
Look, honey, I'm not Audrey Hepburn, but I'm not chopped liver, either. What's with that crack?
Mr. Cottage, isn't it? I knew some cheese by that name.
You'd think someone in the furniture business would know better than to piss off customers. I had an uncle who sold furniture. He went broke, too. Kept telling people this or that color upholstery made them look years younger. He was supposed to sell a couch, not a goddam fountain of youth. I've looked at your catalog. Not bad. One of those tables next to my bed won't make anyone want to hop in now, but it might be a good place to put all the pictures of those who have. On the other hand, it doesn't look like you make any tables big enough.
Oh, and Audrey Hepburn's dead.
Hubba hubba
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