Actually, funny story about editing today. The layout manager and I kind of butt heads a bit sometimes. I won't say it's because she's stupid, but she insists she's right all the time even when I've proven her unquestionably wrong.
Today's story is a fun one. We had an argument over the word "crimination," which I had left in an article. She claimed it's not a word. I said it is one. I had looked it up when I edited the article, just to be sure. She was adamant that it's not. Well, since I'm the copy editor, I had my dictionary right beside me, along with the English Usage Dictionary and the AP style guide. So I picked up the dictionary, opened it to "crimination," and read her the definition.
Her argument: "You're wrong. It's only a word if it has a prefix. Or maybe it's a word in Britain or something."
I pointed out that if it's a British word, the entry says Brit after the word, and if it's not a word without a prefix, it would have a hyphen in front of it.
Her next argument: "Your dictionary is wrong."
Unless you really, seriously know what you're talking about, don't argue with me about grammar. Especially when I have a dictionary in my hand. You'll lose. The dictionary is the ultimate spelling authority. It's like the Grammar Nazi Bible. The only difference is, people question the Bible. People never question the dictionary. Unless they're our layout manager who thinks she has more authority than the lexicographers.
I stopped arguing with her at that point. But I'm still laughing that she would say the dictionary is wrong.
Man, this weekend was so busy! Friday after class, I went to Res Life and worked it out with them so I can have my own room for the rest of the school year. I also picked up some pins so that I could bunk the two beds in my room so there could be a little more space in the room. Then I took my second Latin midterm, got groceries, then found my way to the Wal-Mart to get Rob a birthday present.It was my first time in this town's Wal-Mart, and OH MY GOSH! It was honking HUGE! I've been in a Wal-Mart supercenter before, but this one was about twice the size of any I've ever been in! I'm not exaggerating, either. Also, the building wasn't blue and gray with a red stripe and a boxy shape like every other Wal-Mart I've ever seen. It was tan, and shaped like some kind of castle or fortress or... fancy restaurant? And instead of the white tiled floor, it was concrete. I figure it doesn't look like a Wal-Mart because the building is so vastly huge that it would be too expensive to make the Wal-Mart actually look like a Wal-Mart.
However, everything was a lot cheaper there. And there was a lot of stuff.
...A LOT of stuff.
Anyway, I got back just in time for juggling practice, which was awesome. Like always. Then I dragged Rob home with me so he could help me stack the beds and rearrange my room. So now I sleep high enough up to put my footprints on the ceiling, and my once-cramped room now has more space than any room I've ever lived in. Ever.
I'm super-happy. It looks great. There's lots of room, with enough free space to juggle. Easily. Heck, there's enough free space for Rob and me to practice passing torches to each other. But probably not lit ones. I think we'd get in trouble. All it needs is a good vacuuming, but we don't have a vacuum, and Res Life doesn't rent them out anymore, which is retarded. Maybe I'll borrow one from Dave or Katie next time I'm over there.Saturday was Rob's birthday. We went over to visit Rob's friend Brandon and Brandon's girlfriend Jen. Well, mostly, we just went because Rob and Brandon were brewing beer. Um... I mean, apple juice. Yeah. (Fermented) Apple juice.
This was one of the bottles they bottled two or three weeks ago. Apparently, they have to sit for two years (ideally).
Rob put the newest batch in Coke bottles. Brandon and I helped out a little, but there wasn't really all that much to do.Brandon and Jen invited us out for pizza afterwards, so we went to a gourmet pizza place called Boston's. The pizza was outstanding, although I'll probably try a different kind next time I go there.
We stayed at the pizza place for about two hours after we finished eating, just chatting. Jen's very very talkative. She probably talked more than everyone else combined. No one minded, though.
At the table, Rob and I were sitting on one side, and Jen and Brandon were sitting on the other. At one point, I started laughing because Jen and Brandon were sitting in the same position: right elbow on the table, right hand stirring the ice around in the drink with a straw, left hand resting on the table. At least, I laughed until Brandon pointed out that Rob and I were both sitting with our arms folded on the table, leaning forward, with our shoulders slightly hunched. (Then I laughed harder.)
I love this picture of Jen and Brandon, probably because it's so typical: Girl wrapped around guy, guy only thinking about the food.
When we finally left the pizza place, Rob and I went back to campus to work. I had articles to edit for the paper, and Rob had to prepare class for his students.
Of course, being the ADD person I am, I couldn't put the camera down, so now I bequeath unto y'all a picture of Rob reading his students' biology book. That's such a thin textbook. Holy cow.Then this afternoon, Rob and I went on a Leadership Date with the leadership committee. Or club. Or... whatever. Only, it didn't end up being a big group date. It was called a date, but out of the seven people there, Rob was the only guy. My brothers would have loved it. Rob didn't even seem to notice.
We went to the movies and saw a movie called Role Models. It was hilariously funny! I definitely would not recommend it for my mom or my sister, though. I wouldn't actually recommend it to anyone who's offended by dirty jokes and swear words. If you're not offended by dirty jokes and swear words, then I would recommend it, because it was really really funny. The plot was horribly cliche, of course, but then, what movie doesn't have a cliched plot lately?
Then we went out for dinner at some kind of Mexican restaurant. Oh man, sit-down dinners two nights in a row! Awesome! I even got dessert: fried ice cream. I don't think I've ever had fried ice cream before. It was amazing!
Also, my laundry's all done, and not only do I have clean clothes now, but I even have clean blankets. :D The only downside to that, of course, is that I have to make my bed before I can go to sleep tonight. Daggumit. I should probably stop typing and get on that, really.
One more thing, though. Two or three posts ago, I held a contest for the word "exsanguination." Dubby was the first person to get it right: It's "the action or process of draining or losing blood." Good guesses, though, all of you.
This post has been brought to you by the word anthropophagous. Two points if you know or can figure out what it means (without looking).
6 comments:
nice piano :]
Two observations: First, this one of yours is one of the best posts I've read on any blog in a long time. Nice pics, too. Second, your room is the cleanest college student's room I've seen in a long time. Congrats on getting a single. Great idea putting up bunks.
Third, I am surprised that exsanguination means to let the blood out of something. I always thought the word was DEsanguination. The Ex doesn't fit. Not saying you're wrong, but just that the word apparently is one of those where its roots don't actually match its meaning.
Now for Anthropophagous. Hmmmm. Okay, for guessing purposes, I'd start off with the roots, which in this case are anthropo, and phagous. I'm wondering if it is spelled correctly or should be phageous. The phageous would indicate an adjective or adverb, whereas phages would likely be a noun. Alright. Anthropo means humans and the study of human beings, and phages means parasites or little things that eat on other things (like bacteriophages, which are viruses which eat bacteria). So I'm going to guess that an anthropophage is either (a) a parasite that eats humans, or, possibly, (b) alternatively, by considering the anthropomorphism analogy, something that eats like a human, or eats in the form of a human, such as a dog or cat eating from table or plate, or an animal which uses tools to eat, like the chimp that sticks a piece of grass down an anthill hole until an ant climbs on it, then pulls the grass blade out an eats the ant. Since the word phage generally means an eater that is tiny, I'll go with the first one: a parasite that eats humans, possibly even a microscopic one, like a bacteria, virus, protozoa, or paramecium. This definition is even more likely, given that your main squeeze is a biologist.
Whoo, quite a comment, dad. And very very good guesses. You're insanely close.
If it helps any, "anthropophagous" IS spelled right. It's in adjective form. The noun is spelled "anthropophagus." Yeah, almost exactly the same way, just without the O.
The ratio did cross my mind.
No guess on the anthropophagous because the phagous throws me.
I thought the ex in the last one was like excise or extract or exhume. Lucky guess since I don't claim to be good at words.
Your room looks great. I hope someone notices the better paper and comments.
Okay, well, if I'm close, and the correct spelling is not "phages", but phagus (n) or phagous (adj), then I'll try a revision. Let's sell. the phagus sounds a little like esophagus, which is a tube used in eating, so I'll guess that since phages means parasitic diner, it's the eso that means tube, which now relates the phagus to the phages even more strongly. So phagus is a noun related to eating, meaning that phagous is an adjective related to eating.
Hence, assuming the anthropo part of the word still relates to humans, the anthropophagous would be an adjective related to human eating. So I'll guess it might be one of the following:
(a) table manners, the protocol that humans follow while eating;
or (b) cuisine, meaning the kind of food humans eat, not the cooking, but the eating, or dining, habits of humans;
or (c) the description of the state of eating, such as "mealtime", or the engaging of humans in the act of eating. In other words, humans engaged in the activity of eating.
I'm kinda at a loss for what else it might be, since I seem to have exhausted all other possibilities, including something that eats humans or the act of something eating humans or devouring human flesh, like strep or staph or something. Come to think of it, perhaps this might be (d) the means by which microbes eat human flesh, e.g., infection.
Your daddy loves you. And he likes these guessing games.
Post a Comment