Whoops. Too fast off the block. Welcome Emma!

That's okay, Phil, it happens to everyone.

Whoops. Too fast off the block. Welcome Emma!

That's okay, Phil, it happens to everyone.

Best start in the history of comments sections ever.

which is an irony, considering how often he's heard it...

Wow, Che, is there something you want to tell us?

BTW, even I wasn't anticipating lowering the bar this far this fast.

even I wasn't anticipating lowering the bar this far this fast.

i've heard that one too.

People are intimidatingly and unfairly armed with information to back up their opinions.

No sweat! I'm here now!

degrees are no indication of aptitude. I once watched two engineering students fail to open the easy-peel wrapper on a block of cheese.

That's not fair, we were too busy optimising beer funnel flow rates. Cheese wrapper peeling 301 is an optional elective anyway.

We're perfect opposites...STANDING TAAAALL, ON THE WINGS OF MY DREAMS! RISE AND FAAAAALL, ON THE WINGS OF MY DREAMS!*

*because it was too hard?

follow up his I Am Not Spock book with?

i am not leonard cohen either

I have an honours degree in maths, hate cricket, and was lambasted for the large amount of grammatical and spelling errors in my first post.

Large number of grammatical errors. Oh, I'm getting a lovely warm feeling already.

You say that now, but what did Nimoy follow up his I?

*because it was too hard to write down the Odd Couple theme.

Now I've got that running through my head... does it have words? The theme to Bonanza does.

You say that now, but what did Nimoy follow up his I Am Not Spock book with?

From memory, he recorded an album.

His version of 'Proud Mary' has to be heard to be believed. Just don't listen to it stoned: you'll die laughing.

follow up his I Am Not Spock book with?

i am not leonard cohen either

It's worse than that, it's pron Jim.

From memory, he recorded an album.

And the legendary Ballad of Bilbo Baggins.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFR-8NVjw-k

*because it was too hard to write down the Odd Couple theme.

Now I've got that running through my head... does it have words? T

It does if you sing it.

does it have words?

It does if you sing it.

Duru-duruddudu-duddudu-duddudu-duuu

Duru-duruddudu-duddudu-duddudu-duuu

I totally would have recognised that.

Now I've got that running through my head... does it have words? The theme to Bonanza does.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2be6jGwLoJ0
No it doesn't, but feel free to sing anyway ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umO0kQOWyrU

His version of 'Proud Mary' has to be heard to be believed. Just don't listen to it stoned: you'll die laughing.

Surely it cannot be as bad as Shatner's spoken rendition of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Surely.

But I can't believe (and I think I speak for Jolisa?

Thank you Judi. You can be my fangirl if you like, the position's vacant.

Hee! But you'll have to see if David is willing to share ;-)

Oh,?

callipygean is one of the most beautiful and underused words in the English language

Underused? Let's face it, there aren't really that many truly beautiful arses around, nor are there many circumstances where it's polite for your admiration to be conveyed to another party.

I shall, however, be sticking with the New Wave PA determination not to endlessly bitch about my health. .....
Nor will I be pimping my children for column material.

None taken.

The?

Yay, Emma. Since I seem to agree with everything she says, it's almost like *I* have a PA blog. But without all that time-consuming 'having to write posts' stuff.

I once watched two engineering students fail to open the easy-peel wrapper on a block of cheese.

You literary types will appreciate this: my electrical engineer flatmate once turned to me while that Trojan Horse cold medicine ad was playing and said "I don't get it. What's the joke?"

I?

who thinks that callipygean is one of the most beautiful and underused words in the English language

For years, callipygean was my favourite obscure word. Then a few weeks ago it hit Digg, and I had to give it up, because I am a snob. I'm now left with zenzizenzizenzic?

WTF – you mean Emma's not a lesbian midget? I'm outta here you big teasing lie-y liar ...

Sorry. But honestly, with the vast buffet of humanity laid out before me, I'm going to voluntarily restrict myself to only dining from one side? I don't think so.

Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome

It has a name? I thought it was just geek-lag.

But honestly, with the vast buffet of humanity laid out before me

that buffet is obviously laid out on many small tables over a large space, otherwise you'd:
a. not be able to reach the centrepiece
b. take forever to get all the way round past the salads and the?

I'm now left with zenzizenzizenzic and opisthenar.

Try gibigiana.

I am not Keith.

I thought you were going to do "Which Rolling Stone are you?"

Congrats on your new blog.

BTW, even I wasn't anticipating lowering the bar this far this fast.

And yet .. you found a way.

that buffet is obviously laid out on many small tables over a large space, otherwise you'd:
a. not be able to reach the centrepiece

It's much easier to reach the centrepiece if you're prepared to just crawl right across the table.

And yet .. you found a way.

I had?

To use the search engine Google to find something is "googling" or Google-ing"?

Canoodle – canoodling

ergo

Google – googling

I am so double-checking this for incidences of Muphry's Law.

Surely it cannot be as bad as Shatner's spoken rendition of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Surely.

Well, Shatner acts, or rather over-acts, his way through Lucy..

" somebody calls you
You answer [puts on yawning voice] qui-i-ite slooowly...
[urgent]
"A Girl!!
With Kaliedescope Eyes!"

Nimroy under-acts, he sounds?

Canoodle – canoodling

ergo

Google – googling

See now I agree, but my beloved's argument is that Google is a concrete noun. So it'd be more like Xerox to Xerox-ing.

I would suggest that however you choose to spell them... the double-vowel sound should be retained... so they rhyme with one another....

google rhymes with bugle and feudal.... the oo sound from mood.

googling looks like it might use the shorter oo sound?

Muphry's Law.

heh.

(And I managed to get the "none taken" response from Mr Slack within about two minutes of striking up a conversation with him at the first Drinking Liberally, when he was the guest speaker. I think he's still talking to me...)

(Hayden Green)
See now I agree, but my beloved's argument is that Google is a concrete noun. So it'd be more like Xerox to Xerox-ing.

You're right. When you say you're 'googling' something, you're using it as a transitive verb.

How many art students does it take to change a lightbulb?
One, and they get six points for it.

Qualitative, Emma, and objective.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FacZY-mnDSM

and hadyn i love your spelling and grammar errors, always keep them around

See now I agree, but my beloved's argument is that Google is a concrete noun.
So it'd be more like Xerox to Xerox-ing.

You're right. When you say you're 'googling' something, you're using it as a transitive verb.

Same goes for Xeroxing:

Xer·ox
A trademark used for a photocopying process?

and Antiques Roadshow is pretty good whatever teh ethnic background-

Surely it cannot be as bad as Shatner's spoken rendition of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Surely.

Amazing how it dates. His Album "Has Been" works much better .

]]> Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:33:12 +1200 http://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/up-front-a-short-word-before-we-begin/?p=63718#post63718 http://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/up-front-a-short-word-before-we-begin/?p=63718#post63718 Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:33:44 +1200 http://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/up-front-a-short-word-before-we-begin/?p=63737#post63737 http://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/up-front-a-short-word-before-we-begin/?p=63737#post63737

You see that's the problem with being an expat, a couple of hours out of sync with the old country, and working all day to boot.

Well, my body clock's set to about GMT+9, so that could yet work out well.

And yeah, to me, google-ing is a three-syllable word.?

__There was once a prince who was out riding when he heard a princess crying out "Frugal me! Frugal me!" So he frugalled her, and they lived happily ever?

We can all do with a good frugalling now and then.

Totally. Ken Robinson tells the following story.

When my son was 4 in England he was in the nativity play. He got the part of Joseph, which we were thrilled about. He didn't have to speak, but you know?

every Whedon fangirl likes to use the phrase 'the sound of leather on Willow' as often as possible.

Rofflenui, and thank you Emma. Another wonderful image lodged firmly in the inappropriate connections part o the brain. I obviously haven't had to trade that region for numbers, morals or whatever -?

If only there were some kind of linguist around who might set things straight, someone amused rather than offended by up-thread comments about her husband...

You called?

Well since you ask..., I think it probably depends how much of a googler you are.

If you do it, say, once a?

conforms to no rule known to Man or Woman. Did we not all learn at 6 or 7 years old that if a verb ends in an "e" the "e" is dropped when adding "ing"?

I suppose that would imply a two-syllable "googling", which is not, I think, how?

-case sorted-
and Antiques Roadshow is pretty good whatever teh ethnic background-

Islander, I think it's more to do with geographic background. I to have ancestral links to the south island. As a result, I possess a really old copper kettle, and a clock that can make a hell of?

oh, but I do....

Maybe I do, too. I'm not sure now. :)

So my call is everyone is right

Spoken like a true linguist!

But if you held a Dougal Stevenson theme party, which involved painting portraits of him on every wall, I think you'd be 'Dougalling' up your house, not 'Dougling' it.

Hey, there's an idea. Certainly one I'm not going to be able to remove from my brain for a while.

Can we take a vote on goo-gling or goog-ling ?

goog-ling makes more sense to me, but gling is just so fun to say that I want to use it!

Thankyou Jen for your valuable input. I'm no expert but surely if Google is a noun, then the verb is googling?

yup, you're absolutely right – as long as one considers Google part of the core vocabulary of English (which you obviously do! -note also your lower-case 'g' in googling?

I'm no expert but surely if Google is a noun, then the verb is googling?

Googling would be the adjective form. The verb would be to google.

At my old job, our house spelling declared that the proper noun was Google and the verb was google. "I went to Google?

But don't sweat it. Go with what feels right. The people – not some prescriptive English language usage guide – will decide how it's spelt.

My macintosh 10.4 dictionary doesn't always provide my spelling needs, so I google it. Google's got a good vocabulary.

Google's got a good vocabulary.

Handle with care though: it returns over 33 million hits for "millenium".

Handle with care though

Agreed, as discussed in an earlier thread discussion, uniformity is important where appropriate. Academic writing being, where ambiguity isn't particularly hip, for obvious reasons.

where ambiguity isn't particularly hip, for obvious reasons.

Which is a pity. I love a good ambiguing.

ambiguing

Google might say: "Did you mean" Ambiguation.

Ambiguation is an ambiguous word invented to make the originally unambiguous fact that people sometimes willingly introduce ambiguity so ambiguous that it leaves almost no hope of fighting that ambiguity and de-ambiguating it.

Muphry's Law

Hee

Reminds me of the the discussion over at Freakonomics when Muphry's law struck Stephen Dubner.

He called out the Economist for writing Cornish Pasty not Pastry (Pastys are something different in the USA).

It would still be considered slang?

And as always, can say it how you featherstonehaugh you like, with two or three, and a lamington for all?

He called out the Economist for writing Cornish Pasty not Pastry (Pastys are something different in the USA).

Yes, if in your head you're pronouncing 'pasties' with an ay sound, the mind seriously boggles.

But. Dear gods, basic research.

It would still be considered slang?

Nah.

"Nah" on the other hand?

Yeah.

I've copied the audio to my iPod and sent the reference to many of my friends.

Special thanks to Giovanni. Your reference to the speech to the TED Foundation by Sir Ken Robinson is an absolute gem.

The principal of my son's primary school put me on to this a couple of months ago and I've since become positively evangelical in bugging people about it. The?

Could I also interest y'all in a copy of The Watchtower?

No:) (warning some material in that link might be disturbing)