Category Archives: Language

October 27, 2012 · 2:31 PM

Writer’s Block, the Comic

A few notes.  One, another grammatical pet peeve of mine.  It’s short, so don’t worry.

It is amazing how the simple addition of an extra letter can change the meaning of a word so drastically.  I talked before about every day and everyday, and those don’t even have any difference in their lettering – only in the addition or deletion of a space.  Today, for your benefit and my sanity, I am going to quickly illuminate the difference between the words “Lightning” and “Lightening.”

LIGHTNING, no E, is the weather.  Here is Lightning illustrated:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Recently, in I think two different sample manuscripts I was reading, the word “Lightening” was used to refer to the weather pattern illustrated above.  I haven’t illustrated “Lightening” for you, namely because the first definition that came up on Dictionary.com was this one:

Lightening (n) – the descent of the uterus into the pelvic cavity, occurring toward the end of pregnancy, changing the contour of the abdomen and facilitating breathing by lessening pressure under the diaphragm.
So you can see why I didn’t want to draw that.  The word can also describe a progression from dark to light, or from heavy to light.  In any case, it is NOT used to describe the flashy electricity that comes from the sky when the weather gods have been angered.  Please don’t throw an E in where it doesn’t belonge!
Next, a quick note.  In drawing my best friend in my previous post, I realized that I had put her in a stance that I always draw her in – arms crossed, glaring out at the world as if she’s daring someone to cross her.  In thinking about this, I had to wonder why I always give my drawings of her that particular position, when I know her to be a very kind, witty person.  I felt the need to explain myself here because I don’t want anyone to get the wrong impression.  So I’ll say this: Liz does not suffer fools gladly.  But she is still a wonderful person to get to know.  The reason I draw her that way is that, in my mind, she has always been the stalwart warrior.  Someone who does not easily bend or break.  Someone who is assured of her own convictions, but still very open to new possibilities – studies, research, discoveries, whatever you may call it.  For that reason, I draw her in a warrior’s pose.  Just thought I’d let you know.
Finally, I’ve decided to take on a more serious cartooning endeavor in the form of a semi-regular comic strip entitled Writer’s Block.  And, before you ask, no this does not mean you’ll be seeing less of Mini Bex.  The strip will be included at the bottoms of blog posts, not on a separate page or website or another blog.  It will just be for fun, something you can glance at like you would a strip in the morning paper.  I’ll include the first strip I’ve drawn here in this post (Click to enlarge).  I hope you like it.
That’s all for now!

Word of the Day: Stalwart (adj) – strong and brave; valiant.

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April 11, 2012 · 11:41 AM

You Look Pretty Today

I’ve decided I want to start a trend, and I can’t think of a better way to spread it than this.

You know how you get all dressed up one day because you have an event later, or you just felt like looking nice, or your mom made you?  Have you ever had someone say, “You look nice/pretty/handsome/splendid/attractive today?”  (If anyone said the last two to you, then they are probably creepers.  You should stay away from them)

I don’t know if it annoys you when that happens, but it does bother me.  Being an English major, I tend to analyze language almost religiously.  So here’s what “You look pretty today” means once it’s been analyzed: “Today you look good.  You never look good any other day.”  Now, 9 times out of 10 (I’d like to say 10 times out of 10, but you can never be sure), people aren’t trying to insult you when they say that.  What they’re trying to say is that they’ve noticed you’re looking extra special and they want to compliment you on your temporarily heightened good looks.

So here’s the trend I want to start: When someone looks especially pretty/handsome, tell them, “You look extra pretty/handsome today.”  That way your compliment will be 100% genuine, with no accidentally implied insult.  What you’re saying is, “Usually you look good, but today your good looks have been emphasized, and I’ve taken notice.”  Please start doing this.  I think it’d be awesome if I could change the world.

Note: If you totally meant to insult that person because they stole your girlfriend and then glued a picture of their butt onto your computer screen, but you can’t insult them outright because they’re the boss’ kid and they can get you fired, so you have to stick to backhanded insults that sound like compliments, then go ahead and disregard this post.  Or just use the “extra pretty” line with people you genuinely like.

Word of the Day: Implication (n) – something implied or suggested as naturally to be inferred or understood.

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April 1, 2012 · 2:28 PM

If Your Ad is Grammatically Incorrect, I’m Not Using Your Product

I was on the Facebook just now, and I glimpsed an ad in the sidebar.  Facebook has a lot of trouble advertising to me, since I recently went through my profile and deleted every single bit of information I’d previously provided.  So now it has very little to work with.  Here are two things it knows: I play a horseback riding game, and I am currently in Syracuse, NY.  So my ads are pretty much all geared to that now – either horses or “fun” stuff to do in Syracuse – except for some random ones for FASHION.  I don’t know where that came from.  Oh…yes I do.  I’m female.  Therefore I must love buying hideous dresses from websites I’ve never heard of.

So I glimpsed the sidebar, as I said, and I saw an ad that said, “Five things to do in Syracuse everyday.”  I promptly clicked the little X in the upper right corner of the advertisement to make it go away.  And Facebook does this thing where it gives you a list of reasons to choose from when you dismiss an ad.  The reasons are:

– Uninteresting

– Misleading

– Sexually explicit

– Against my views

– Offensive

– Repetitive

– Other

(I used to get ads that said stuff like, “DO YOU LOVE TWILIGHT???  DO YOUUUU??” and I’m pretty sure I clicked the “Offensive” and “Against my views” buttons a couple times.)

For this ad, I clicked “Other.”  And when you do that, it gives you a little box to type in your reason.  I typed in, “This ad is grammatically incorrect.  They used “everyday” and not “every day.”  And that inspired me to tell this story on my blog, and also give a short grammar lesson, since this concept seems to be hard for some people to grasp.

“Everyday” is an adjective.  You have everyday activities, like eating, sleeping, swimming, killing people’s dogs, and reading the newspaper.  These everyday activities are things you do every day.  See what I did there?  “Everyday” is an adjective, and “every day” is an adjective describing a noun.

Every day, I stare out my window and make faces at passersby.

This ad is not seen every day.

I have many everyday routines.

This isn’t some kind of everyday threat.

Are we starting to see the difference?  “Every day” is talking about the day.  It’s a noun.  You don’t see people writing, “Onceaday, I kick my bedroom wall.”  No, they write, “Once a day.”  Same thing with “Every day.”  I think I’m getting a little repetitive here, but I really want to make sure I’m understood, because between you and me, I get a little annoyed when people blatantly disregard basic grammatical rules.  And it’s not an uncommon occurrence either!  It happens every day!

Word of the Day: Miffed (adj) – put into an irritable mood, especially by an offending incident.

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