Ben w-lfs-n is a complete asshole. I hope he chokes on a comma, gets SARS and dies.
I want to read the paen to w-lfs-n that apo will have to write as punishment for 1.
You can shove your comma up your colon, Ben w-lfs-n. I wrote you email.
apo will have to write
THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ANONYMOUS!!1!
The Volokh commenters support me in email.
speaking of SARS, i was to go to Ioaninna to attend the meeting when that SARS outbreak happened
had to fly through HongKong and my prof cancelled the flight out of fear to catch it
he did not flew to AHA in 2001 too, was so concerned about his safety
i regret i lost my chance to go to Greece then
well, enough with my memories,
well, enough with my memories,
...time to smoke pot.
For the want of a comma, the post was lost.
For the want of a post, the blog was lost.
For the want of a blog, the blogosphere was lost.
For the want of a blogosphere, democracy was lost.
For the want of democracy, Western Civilization was lost.
With this post, Ben has saved Western Civilization. We must be forever grateful.
The price of Western Civilization is lame ascii reproductions of Rothko?
fly, flew, flown
something was bothering me
now really off to work
was so concerned about his safety
A few years ago, a local got the SARS in Canada and was diagnosed on his return home. He was in quarantine at a local hospital and the local media were talking it up. Alongside all the usual ignorant fear to which I will gladly confess I found an almost perverse desire to visit him. I couldn't help feeling sorry for him; he must have been terribly lonely and frightened.
3: you're kind of high-maintenance, you know that?
It's my birthday week, so you have to pay attention to meeee.
my birthday week
the week starting on your birthday, or the week containing your birthday? I need to know when I can start ignoring you again
This is my birthday half of the year, you know.
Fuck it. It's my birthday year. Bow down now.
I had a birthdaaaaaayyy... sometime. Within the last couple years. Gimme cake.
Also I see no pickle in this post.
You have to sort of unfocus your eyes.
That is indicative of a terrible horrible no-good very bad psychological condition, stras.
I see lots of commas. Life is a comma, I've heard.
(All those periods seem like death threats.)
Will Ogged come back if we all promise to agree that 'degree of likability' is an intrinsic and important characteristic of politicians that is transmitted to the unwashed completely unmodified by media narratives or bias?
I'm still not seeing the pickle.
They're actually semicolons stretched out through years of abuse.
They're actually semicolons stretched out through years of self-abuse.
It's my birthday month. I want semi-colons.
25: If you stare at it long enough, you'll get hungry.
Fuck it. Now I want pickles.
Never? Poof! There goes another fantasy.
I was twelve when I had my first comma. Luckily, my father had already explained to me that getting your comma is a natural process that happens in the transition from boyhood to manhood, so I didn't freak out or anything.
When I was 14, my mother walked in on me when I had my exclamation point in my hand. She was totally cool about it, and said that punctuation was normal and healthy. But still: how embarassing!
The worst is a serial comma. Impossible to hide.
The worst is a serial comma.
The worst is explosive diaresis.
I have an early childhood memory of throwing up immediately after eating a pickle. It may well have been my first pickle. I have hated pickles my whole life, probably because of this early trauma. I think a similar early food trauma explains why I eat all my cereal--and I eat a lot of cereal--dry.
Serial commas can lead to run-on sentences, which are not only embarassing but can be life-threatening in some cases. See your doctor immediately.
Explosive diaeresis is especially dangerous because it can be mistaken, in the early stages, for a perfectly benign umlaut.
I have an early childhood memory of throwing up immediately after eating a pickle. It may well have been my first pickle. I have hated pickles my whole life, probably because of this early trauma.
Think back, Otto. Was it really a pickle?
I have some homemade pickles in the fridge. I think I'll have one.
Any punctuation or grammar ever used by Laurence Sterne is legit. That's rule one.
I'm still not seeing the pickle.
I have hated pickles my whole life
Deep fried pickles are pretty good, actually.
And on the topic of food, I expect everyone's eating haggis tonight?
Why, is it, uh, David Hume Night or something?
everyone's eating haggis tonight?
Any plans I might make along those lines are pretty sure to go agley.
I remember my first time. I had an enormous solidus; she didn't know I was really a virgule.
Is this a Python joke? About data persistence and object hierarchies or something? Geez...
Dammit! For some reason I forget Burns Night & Talk Like a Pirate Day every year until it's too late in the day to have fun with it. Perhaps it's time to invest in a calendar.
These comments are truly awful, another one from MM:
most fat people are fat because they're hungry. It is much more likely that the causal relationship between fat and income runs from fat to income than from income to fat
What the fuck does it mean to say people are "fat because they're hungry?" I can't even... bleh. Anyway, what is she saying? That if you're fat, you end up poor? I ... argh
With a pun on pickling as "serialization," to boot? (I.e., Ben's comma usage was impugned, so he produced a Python pickle--by defn., a "serialization" of data--which just so happens to include an extended pattern of "serial" commas.)
Am I crazy, or just the only one foolish enough to say what everyone else knows already?
And besides, what's the unpickled version look like?
i have a jar of pickles in the fridge too, kept it over a month i think, may be it's expired already
what's with this spelling? i realized what was bothering me - not commas and dots, that i don't know whether it is archaic english or
parody and it's hilarious
if so, i'm only glad to influence someone down to my literal level
or may be it meant something else, can't read the like many layers :(
NickFranklin, I take pity on you, and explain all. You can find the whole book online, even.
That could have gotten quite a bit more elaborate before you broke the spell, Ben.
48: It's almost like a random word generator.
51: OK. Very nice. Although I did like the Python hypothesis as well.
And I hereby retract my rather pettish proposal for Ogged's return in 24.
51: Ah, well, I tried. I'm happy to take one for the team, especially in the service of such an excellent link. (Let these words not be a call to action for the rest of Unfogged, however. For the love of god.)
Having ignored this post all day, I have to say that I'm kind of disappointed to have the allusion--which obviously there *was* an allusion--explained. Sniff.
And on the topic of food, I expect everyone's eating haggis tonight?
I've just come back from eating haggis, and I brought the leftovers for my children, who enjoyed it the last time I served it. There were also neeps and tatties, and mince pie, and a single malt from Jura, and a handsome Scotswoman reading Burns.
woohoo, i'm much relieved
i feel now as if my broken english is like authorized
so that i wouldn't bother to worry about its faults from now on ;)
thank you Lord
51: that was supposed to be anonymously posted on standpipe's blog!
I haven't followed every single thread, and so am not absolutely certain that this youtube has not appeared. Who cares? If it has, we can watch it again.
59: here, read, in case you run out:
.,,,.,...,,.,....,,.,..,.,,,..,,..,......,,.,..,.,,,..,,..,......,,....,..,.....
.,,,..,,.,,..,.,.,,...,,.,,,..,..,,..,.,.,,,.,....,......,,.,,.,.,,..,.,.,,,..,,
.,,,..,,.,,....,.,,..,,,.,,..,.,..,......,,..,,..,,.,,,,.,,,..,...,......,..,,,.
.,,.,..,.,,...,,.,,.,.,,.,...,,..,,,..,..,,....,.,,.,,,..,,.,.,,.,,.,,...,,.,..,
.,,.,,,...,,,.,...,......,.,.....,,,,..,.,,,.,...,,.,....,,.,,,,.,,.,,,...,.....
.,,,..,,.,,,.,.,.,,...,,.,,.,.,,.,,,..,,..,....,
Nápi's video in 61 is hilarious, and I don't even care about football. Also, read, here are a bunch of shift keys for you:
63: Mr.H. took the words right out of my keyboard, on both topics.
59: i feel now as if my broken english is like authorized
Hmmmm. So right out of the blue we just happen to get a post "authorizing" read's English. Ben, you might want to doublecheck the IP address on the main page post.
Someone with modest skill and a great need to procrastinate could probably write a pretty good script for that same clip dealing with one of the fascist varieties of liberalism, or liberal versions of fascism.
66: Right. At the very end, he will be consoling himself that his spirit will live on through his ideological kinsmen, the New Dealers.