What is Digg?193 Comments
- kazimir34, on 10/12/2007, -2/+115You don't want to talk about punctuation to diggers.
- GMullen, on 10/12/2007, -4/+99It's a good thing this is a wiki then isn't it... That way it can be updated as the language changes.
- Nougat, on 10/12/2007, -2/+87@bmatherlyjr (#5995140)
The contents of dictionaries do not define the landscape of a language. They reflect it. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -8/+90"N_gger is also in the dictionary but I would strongly suggest you don't use it in East St. Louis. Especially if your a white nerd.
P.S. The word is not Nagger."
Do you mean "*****"?
Because that word only has meaning if you believe words have power.
Words don't have any power on their own, people give them their power.
Don't censor yourself out of fear. - DiscordianFnord, on 10/12/2007, -1/+79Just because a word appears in the dictionary doesn't mean it is correct. Dictionaries reflect common usage, and ain't is perfectly acceptable in casual conversations in the south- but use it in a job interview in the north east and see how quickly they show you the door. Living languages like English are fluid and some areas of the language (like casual spoken English) accept change far more rapidly than other areas (like academic written English). The "rules" that you were taught in school were for formal written English, and they haven't changed much since you were a kid, since they are the most conservative (as in the traditional definition of conservative- resistant to change). Dictionaries, however, are not designed to tell you the rules of grammar- they are there to help you understand words you hear and see- thus, they include slang and words that are no longer used.
- newsheatdotcom, on 10/12/2007, -8/+75; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
MWAHHAAHAHAHAHAA!!11 - DigginTuesday, on 10/12/2007, -3/+59Nope that's a split infinitive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_infinitive
The question mark was in the right place as the poster is asking the question. - orlyfactor, on 10/12/2007, -2/+40@marvin69:
It's "you're" not "your". Making a punctuation / grammar mistake in comments about an article dealing with grammar is such bad netiquette! - ThinkBox, on 10/12/2007, -2/+40Remember when writing, punctuation is always nice, too; without it we wouldn't be able to say, "I helped my uncle, Jack, off a horse."
- broeks, on 10/12/2007, -1/+34I fear semicolons.
- diggfinity, on 10/12/2007, -8/+41....shouldn't it be "How to Correctly Use Punctuation in English"?
- JamesWilson, on 10/12/2007, -13/+43The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.
The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. - nonpareil, on 10/12/2007, -0/+27Half the folks here still need to learn how to use English correctly. What's the use of a semicolon if we're = were = where = w3r3z?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -8/+34Next on Digg...
* How to wipe your arse.
* How to submit a story to Digg.
* How to move out of your mother's basement.
* How to get rid of that pasty white skin.
* How to reduce your love of WoW.
* Most importantly, how to block Magistrate so his lameness doesn't shizzle your lameness filter (EOF encountered). - Iwantawii, on 10/12/2007, -0/+25Their you go! Your almost they're!
Also the article fails to mention you can use 1s after !s to further emphasize. Consider the two examples:
a) "OH SNAP!!!!!!!!!"
b) "OH SNAP!!!!111" - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+27What, are you; talking! "about" I have...great pun-ctuation~
- proghead, on 10/12/2007, -22/+47Don't forget! The question mark goes INSIDE the quotes.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+26"@Lyph4
Haven't been to East St. Louis have you?
I bet if you said it there you would know the meaning of fear and maybe live to talk about your bullet wounds to your white ass."
The ignorance and quick anger that some people have when they hear a powerless word is quite sad.
And anyone who would shoot someone else for a simple word is a bad person to begin with.
As a side note, you're the pot calling the kettle white, sir. - Alegis, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20How do I digg you up?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17"That's actually pretty damn awesome; the human mind is an amazing thing."
Then why is it only interested in porn? - Timmmm, on 10/12/2007, -4/+20It wasn't research at Cambridge: http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/~mattd/Cmabrigde/
Also, it doesn't really work. Consider (from the above page):
A dootcr has aimttded the magltheuansr of a tageene ceacnr pintaet who deid aetfr a hatospil durg blendur
Not exactly easy to understand. - tical2756, on 10/12/2007, -11/+26wrong reply bury
- krinthekuz, on 09/16/2008, -1/+16and they forget to mention that punctuation highly depends on which formal set of rules you use. for instance:
ABA, APA: i like to eat oranges, apples, and bananas.
MLA: i like to eat oranges, apples and bananas.
in ABA and APA, there's a comma before the "and", but not in MLA.
also, the US is one of the few countries that doesn't use logical quotations. UK, NZ, australia, and many other english speaking nations use logical quotations. in ABA, MLA, and APA formats (all american), the placement of the quotation mark depends on the ending punctuation. single marks (. ,) go inside the quotes, and double marks (? ; :) go outside the quotes. all of these are indiscriminate in regards to the original writer's punctuation. on the other hand, logical quotation puts the punctuation inside the quote if it's the original writer's punctuation, and outside the quotation if it's the citing writer's punctuation.
this is only mentioned in the end tips "# If you write in a professional capacity, be sure to follow any guidelines or style guides provided by your employer. In some cases, their rules can be at odds with what you read here or elsewhere, but their rules always take precedence. For example, some companies use serial commas (a, b, and c) and others do not (a, b and c). " - robbh66, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13This will be dugg by thousands but i doubt even a dozen will actually read it.
- Karmalary, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13I wrote a simple program that scrambles text this way, just to test it's limits. Amazingly, even children learning to read can decode this on the fly as long as they are already familiar with the words used.
- NSMike, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Links?
- AndrewJC, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14@bhowell:
I was taught that the punctuation only goes inside the quotation marks if it's actually part of the quote. - MOJIRA, on 05/17/2008, -0/+8Can we make this a first ever digg sticky?
- loquax, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Actually, this article is very well done, and I think making the thing a wiki is actually very appropriate. Believe it or not, I taught English at one time; and after years of writing emails and on-line comments, I have seriously slacked off on following these rules. In the intervening years, the colon has lost ground in favor of the em-dash as well as ways of citing web resources have changed. So, I think making this a wiki (at least so relevant examples can be added easily) is a great idea. Additionally, keep in mind that British grammar rules and American grammar rules differ slightly in the area of punctuation. For example in America, the final period, a comma in a clause, and other assorted punctuation goes inside the quotation marks. In Britain and other British influenced lands, the final punctuation goes outside the quotation mark.
Always remember what Mark Twain said--"Good grammar is what we demand of everyone else." It is way more important to make yourself understood than to sweat over the use of a semi-colon in a compound, complex sentence. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Don't you mean:
Its legs are long != it is legs are long? - Klarth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7"Punctuation, is? fun!"
- Charlie Gordon - ZeroMP, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Alright! This is just what I need to help me write good!
- mikebai1990, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7What an oxymoron :) Going on the internet to learn correct punctuation.
- DiscordianFnord, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Brackets can be used as an aside, but following strict rules, they are only used to finish a quote with words that aren't really part of the quote, in order to shorten it, or make it fit the context. Example- Original quote: Sam said "I did it because that nasty ***** had to die"- Newspaper quote: Sam said "I did it because [my wife] had to die"
- notjamt9000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brackets
The unqualified word bracket is most commonly used to refer to a specific type of bracket. In modern American usage this is usually the square bracket, whereas in modern British usage it is usually the parenthesis (round bracket). - Jarett, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I have a feeling this will be linked in many a digg reply in the coming weeks...
- biuku, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Digg should permanently display something like this:
It's = it is
Its = "it" possesses something
- It's a nice day = it is a nice day.
- Its legs are long =/ it is legs are long. - CarolynMittens, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8"This wouldn't be half bad, if it was not for the fact that the rules regarding English didn't change all the time. Case in point, twenty-some odd years ago I was forbidden in my household as a kid to ever use the word "ain't" in a sentence because after all twenty-some odd years ago "ain't" was not a word. Fast forward to the year two thousand and seven, guess what? Low and behold, the word "ain't" some how magically appears in the dictionary. Amazing, don't you think?"
Dictionary or not, you will never sound intelligent using the word "ain't" - DiscordianFnord, on 10/12/2007, -6/+12American English and British English are different dialects with different rules, you elitist prick.
- kayosthery, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Not if the way you read or say it reflects a "questioning" tone in your voice.
You didn't learn that in grade school? ......see?
- guytoronto, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7"Use the comma when denoting a series. This is a set of three or more "list" items within a sentence. To save space in newspapers, some journalists may omit the last comma.
The fruit basket contained apples, bananas, and oranges.
The computer store was filled with video games, computer hardware and other electronic paraphernalia."
Option B (omitting the comma before 'and') drives me nuts. Good lord, put in the comma, separate your items. - DiscordianFnord, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8@ blade- those are parenthesis, and wtf are you talking about?
- pixelat3d, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Amen, the internet needs this -- badly.
- Jugalator, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6So... When am I supposed to use the interrobang and irony mark?! God damn crap article! ;-)
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrobang
- Example: How much did you spend on those shoes‽
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony_mark
- Example: If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular؟
(the examples above may or may not include the symbols and depends on your browser's Unicode support) - bIuebonics, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@Timmmm
excellent find. i've always questioned that myself. the author, however, is missing a key logical point in his question of how we'd be able to interpret the words salt and slat. if the words are definitely scrambled, then salt must equal slat and slat must equal salt. keeping the first and last letters the same, and then rearranging the rest, can only yield, for the word salt, slat for salt and vice versa.
EDIT: why are people digging Timmmm down? have any of you dolts actually read the link he submitted? - instntkrma, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5CD's, ATM's, Etc.... that's house style in the New York Times, and it drives me nuts.
- po43292, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I think I've only used them in math.
[(x^2) x (x^3 - 5)] = x^5 - 5x^2 - SenorPez, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I think you meant "lo and behold."
- krinthekuz, on 09/16/2008, -1/+5you are wrong about quotation marks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Manual_of_Style/Archive_47#Punctuating_quoted_passages:_why_British_usage_exclusively.3F
and i know that's wikipedia, but many of the arguments in that section cite direct authorities. - loquax, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5@BladeMelbourne
Actually it's a compound sentence and not a run on. Take a look at the conjunction AND preceded by a comma. DUH!
@Lasereth
Like I said, it's been a while. My specialty was Middle English. Chaucer and the crowd back then didn't give a rats ass for spelling, punctuation and standard grammar; and in case you were wondering, the "--" is the easiest way to do an em-dash on most keyboards.
I detect a number of people who were scarred horribly by anal-retentive, sadistic English teachers. I'd rather they'd teach it from the "shut up and write" method. The way you learn written English is to write, not by sitting and stewing over grammar rules that some Latin fan dreamed up in the 18th century. -
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