The Medusa Fora

you'll recall no doubt, dear Noonan, that back at that other forum where we met, I was prone to using the musings of one Steven Patrick Morrissey as a way of providing a quick glimpse into my personal outlook. I have done the same here. The sig is from a song that i'm certain every nearing to or over 30 hipster who felt that the world just wouldn't listen when they were teenagers, held near and dear to their Goth loving hearts, "Unloveable." Not that I still hold the song's sentiments as gospel, but it was in my head the day i registered, and i figured, "what the hell. give Noonan something to worry about."
Just be thankful I didn't use another line from that song " I wear black on the outside cause black is how i feel on the inside." One of the few lines in the Smiths cannon that makes me cringe.

Noonan McKane wrote:

viola violet wrote:well in all honesty, i just wrote that off the top of my head. i could continue if you want, though i get the feeling that it could end up sounding like an a anarchic cry for Bush's head on a stick ala Lord Of the FLies.

Yes, continue!
Should be 3 stanzas, equal length and metre, in all. So, that's 1 more along the 'how do you sleep' lines, then a final, damning denoument (is that the right word? Think so..)
It will rule! I aint known you long, but I know that's your strong suit right there, you're on familiar ground.....

dig?

i'm digging it like an old soul record. i shall work on it this weekend. after having seen 'fahrenheit 9/11" i'm sure I will be greatly inspired.

viola violet wrote:after having seen 'fahrenheit 9/11" i'm sure I will be quiet inspired.

Surely not quiet? Perhaps talking; screaming; protesting; and yes, even disagreeing? But quiet? Surely not.

I suspect that Mr. Moore could think of no more damning thing to say about his political opus.

...

Pedantically making fun of typos is entertaining.

Ooooooh! A B-side! You cheater!
I remember it now, a bit ploddy. Muddy production.
I'm looking at the record now. The 12" (RTT 192, fact fans!) also has "Money Changes Everything", one of Johnny's instrumentals.
I probably never told you, (not being a boastful sort) but I've got (with the exception of "This Charming Man", which I lost and couldn't replace) the entire Smiths catalogue. All originals, all mint. I don't know if you're familiar with the saga of the withdrawn copies of "What Diff..." that followed Terence Stamp's taking exception to the use of his image, and how Morrissey replicated the cover, posing as Stamp himself, but up until a couple of years ago I thought my collection included this very item (now VERY scarce).
I bought this record at a record fayre in Glasgow about 1996, paid about 8 pounds (12 dollars?) for it, and noticed at the time how it had been manufactured in Holland by Ariola, but thought nowt of it.
Imagine, then, how offended my indie anorak sensibilities were, when I read in 'Record Collector' that the offending cover was only withdrawn in the UK and USA, and that my 'rare item' is identical to maybe 10, 000 other items!
Wait, though! Don't laugh at me yet! Let me make it worth your while:
A pal of mine, a record dealer whom I hadn't seen in a few years, took a look at this record last year. His verdict?
It's a bootleg.
Apparently there were millions of the fucking things turned out in Europe to cash in on the scarcity of the original. But 'Noonan The Shrewd' doesn't even buy a bootleg of the Rough Trade/Cartel original, (yes, there's millions of them, an' all.) No.
Any old collector can buy a counterfeit copy of a rare, sought-after record; It takes true genius to procure a bootleg of a record that's common as dogshit! I can tell you a story, I can sing you a song, just don't send me out shopping for you!
Great tune, though. (good job!)

DzM wrote:

viola violet wrote:after having seen 'fahrenheit 9/11" i'm sure I will be quiet inspired.

Surely not quiet? Perhaps talking; screaming; protesting; and yes, even disagreeing? But quiet? Surely not.

I suspect that Mr. Moore could think of no more damning thing to say about his political opus.

...

Pedantically making fun of typos is entertaining.

Let me try.
A word immediately following a semi-colon should start with a capital letter.

Oh yeah! See what you mean......

Noonan McKane wrote:Let me try.
A word immediately following a semi-colon should start with a capital letter.

Oh yeah! See what you mean......

You've made a fine effort, but sadly a misguided one.

A semi-colon has no rule regarding punctuating the first word following it. A colon does, but only for specific situations:<blockquote><blockquote type=cite>Capitalize the first word after a colon if it is a proper noun or the start of a whole sentence.</blockquote></blockquote>

Information about both abound, but I found these two sources to be helpful:

http://essayinfo.com/sguides/colon.php
http://essayinfo.com/sguides/semi-colon.php

Fair enough, chief, I bow to your superior knowledge.
I suppose I'd need to get up pretty early to catch you out!
I take your point about there being no hard and fast rules concerning the application and usage of semi-colons.
When I was taught, My teacher explained that although the comma suggests that what is to follow is too pertinent to what has preceeded to be excluded from the sentence (therefore the sentence can not be concluded), the 'dot' is mandatorily a full stop, so MUST be treated as such; With the next word capitalised. It just stuck with me. They're kind of a 'thing' of mine now, I couldn't write fuck all without 'em.
You're a writer, then?

Noonan McKane wrote:You're a writer, then?

Nope. Just very pedantic.

I can dig that.
If there's a quality I admire in a person, it's concern for spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Sadly, we're goin' outta style these days, mate.
You still haven't told me what DzM means....

Noonan McKane wrote:If there's a quality I admire in a person, it's concern for spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Sadly, we're goin' outta style these days, mate.

R U 4 REL??!!!11!! EVRY1 NOS THET TEH MSSG IS IMPOTANT, NOT TEH WRDS!!11!!11! TEH LANGUAGE HASTA EVOLVE11!1! OMG!

I hate people.

Noonan McKane wrote:You still haven't told me what DzM means....

Well that's my little secret. Could just be I'm Welshe and am doing my part to address the vowel shortage in the countryside.

Wash n' wear, suitable for all occasions, formal or informal.

Every day brings fresh fruit, worse news, unreliable counsel and fashion tips; Lifestyle guidelines, updated timetables, messages and unrelated; I may already have won a thousand pounds, there may be a new Jerusalem; Descending from the sky. They won't repair my old machine because it's obselete; A brand new one could cost me much less than I think. Thank you, doctor, but no. I only ever get sick when you visit isn't that damnedable?

The only price that stays the same is the one that I pay for whatever it is that I did that they can not forgive. I only hear half of what's said in the hall and it's driving me mad to believe that I'm only being kept 'cause I'm cheap. The leaflets they deliver don't say as much; But I know things are changing. The sun is the same in a relative way and the universe is random, chaotic and perpetually expanding; But brown seems to be the new black.

Every few months they redecorate. Alter the clocks, reconfigure the religious icons and play Beatles records. They offer to wash me though I always refuse. The lottery rolls over and you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. Those who are random and scattershot are freshly informed for their own safety. I keep telling them, that isn't my sister; Don't listen to her! What the hell am I paying you people for?

Every day brings fresh fruit. Every few months they redecorate.

You can't build a good house without good bricks.

DzM wrote:

Noonan McKane wrote:If there's a quality I admire in a person, it's concern for spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Sadly, we're goin' outta style these days, mate.

R U 4 REL??!!!11!! EVRY1 NOS THET TEH MSSG IS IMPOTANT, NOT TEH WRDS!!11!!11! TEH LANGUAGE HASTA EVOLVE11!1! OMG!

I hate people.

Noonan McKane wrote:You still haven't told me what DzM means....

Well that's my little secret. Could just be I'm Welshe and am doing my part to address the vowel shortage in the countryside.

You don't do irony, then? That's OK.
Surely, though, we won't understand "the message" if we can't read "teh wrds"?
Here's a thing. You're nearly on to it. The language doesn't have to evolve, but it does. It does so by itself.
Don't ask me how, but it does. Years ago, the english word for a hole in the ground full of water was 'pund', yet history does not record who first said "pond", does it?
Point is, I agree with you, to a degree. But isn't evolution forward progression, from a fixed, recognised point?
In short: YOU CAN"T CHANGE HOW WORDS ARE SPELT NOW! NOT NOW EVERYONE IS USED TO THEM! JUST BECAUSE YOU HATE PEOPLE!

You'll grow out of it.

Knowing my luck.

2/10

Noonan McKane wrote:You don't do irony, then? That's OK.

Actually I rather thought that that was thick with irony. At a minimum it was thick with sarcasm.

Noonan wrote:Here's a thing. You're nearly on to it. The language doesn't have to evolve, but it does. It does so by itself.

Languages evolve through the evolution of common usage. "Aint" was not an official word twenty years ago, but through persistent widespread common use it has crept into the lexicon of today. For better or worse the language evolved, though through no fault of its own.

Noonan wrote:Point is, I agree with you, to a degree. But isn't evolution forward progression, from a fixed, recognised point?

The really sad thing is that I was being sarcastic and it got lost in translation.

Yes, languages evolve. Unfortuantely right now they appear to be regressing rather than moving forward. Vocabularies are shrinking, and the few words that survive in common vernacular are being diluted with incoherent (and often just plain wrong) meaning and use.

A prime example of how the English language is being destroyed is the IM/BBS/chat/SMS crap that I was poking fun of above. Hence the followup statement regarding hate and people.

Noonan wrote:In short: YOU CAN"T CHANGE HOW WORDS ARE SPELT NOW! NOT NOW EVERYONE IS USED TO THEM! JUST BECAUSE YOU HATE PEOPLE!

Pish and tosh. Ask an Englishman how to spell "cheque" and an Yank how to spell "check." For that matter ask them for "theatre" and "theater," "colour" and "color," etc. Ask them too what the difference between petrol and gas or a hood and bonnet are.

Noonan wrote:You'll grow out of it.

Dare to dream.

The literate nature of The Pogues' songs is one of the things that very much attracts me to them. Shane, Jem, Phil, Terry - they're all brilliant writers that clearly manage to avoid the pap of Pop.

But I digress...

Touche, neebour!

You're a gentleman, sir. (Not being sarcastic. 100%)

It's a pleasure to duel with you.

You and I are going to get along just fine, I can sense it.

(A couple of wee points, though:
"Dare to dream" is a bit too pompous a phrase, for anyone to coin, and "Aint" was popularised slightly more than 20 years ago; By that song "It Aint Necessarily So", for one...


Your turn....