This morning, Herr Savory (aka Stu) emailed me two cartoons about the rules of grammar, apparently found in facebook's Grammarly page. Here's my favorite:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfsPt3yoVEk6paVZXJnkt93BAMXZcRXJNU0Ql7F9jSGJb_M25TNCsSu3VQK1_bnGhRu4i6GPPr6to3r9rAnAoq4OR-zHs6y3l6IvB-2vzz5WIK39MjM3brRmdyhrOmNyTlhsjfVw/s1600/1ancient+gramam+p;olice.jpg
Here's the other:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj42OI9IYvMCA7_ODvoT_F5XBBEvW-itr4E6gWPOYecBoOf_X7nYexIMzdE_o42XZgCQP64IFzKxrn3WMMLO9rKnptsP93o5bIEOz7IMo6owm5BR9UQxRi1xbp4YrDxzJudaTh-BQ/s1600/1wit+to+whom.jpg
I also found, when looking into the Pali language (in which many Buddhist texts are written), that the word quiddities struck me on a number of charts, "Quiddities of Laoti/an/Cambodian Pali." Quiddity is one of those words I THINK I know, but can't describe in 25 words or less. As luck would have it, my OED compact, volume II, P-Z, is right on the table here instead of in the case, ditto a magnifying glass. The Qs take up very little room in this volume, and the Qui words hardly any at all. Quiddity means "the real nature or essence of a thing; that which makes a thing what it is." And quiddity represents all the things our German scholar's blog comprises. I think. Right, Stu??
And not to worry, Stu. I'm not getting all academic on you. I was looking up the Pali language because it was a clue in the impossibly quirky City Paper crossword that comes out here every Thursday. A four-letter word beginning with "P" for the language in which many Buddhist texts are written?? Hindu is 5 letters and no p, and Sanskrit is eight letters and no p. That's all I could think of, so I googled it.
And rostrate cancer is 14 letters and no P :-(
ReplyDeleteOops, that should read rostate and 13 respectively; trust me to ruin a good joke :-(
ReplyDeleteThe best thing about that joke is the fact that Stu got it wrong the first time.... no, honestly, it IS funny!
ReplyDeleteStu is a stitch, as we say in the middlewest. no p there, either.
ReplyDeleteI mentioned on another blog a friend who told us he had acid reflex disease. So I thought I'd mention it here, too.
ReplyDeleteAcid REFLEX? haha.....
DeleteXE--I'm not certain whether the antecedent of "there" is "middlewest" or "Stu". If the antecedent is "Stu", I judge your sentence to be false. I find Stu to be full of p and vinegar (which isn't quite the way the saying goes, is it?)
ReplyDeleteStu--If you need clarification, please email me. Just don't throw rocks at me!
; )
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Oy..."there" refers to "middlewest." And there is no "p" in the word middlewest, which is what I was saying. I agree that Stu is full of "p--- & vinegar," another middlewestern saying....I can almost hear my dear late mother-in-law as she said it about one of the neighbors. I think it would be great fun, if it were possible, to introduce Stu to my former in-laws, who were full of it and riotously funny. smart, too, though not all of them are as smart as he is.
ReplyDeleteWell...few are...as smart as Stu. Fortunately, he lacks the ego it would take to really lord it over those of us who are not. *grinning*
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