A Sence of Community

My Life

M: Did you read that article on Wikipedia?
J: I did!
M: It was totally fascinating. Like, how there are different types of people who work on the site? Gnomes who just go around correcting small errors and people who just revert other people’s changes? I feel like I could get lost in that whole thing if I ever had a few extra hours on my hands. I’d never come back up.
J: Just go around correcting all the errors and then watching people revert your corrections.
B: And you know exactly who it is who keeps messing with your work.
M: You’re hitting refresh every few seconds because that one asshole keeps inserting the hyphens you removed.
B: And then ultimately you realize you’ve just misunderstood one another, and actually you’re perfect for each other and you fall in love. Like a real, live version of You’ve Got Mail
M: It never works like that in real life when it comes to grammar. It would end up being like a real, live version of The Professional where you hire someone to take him out.
B: This time it’s personal.
M: Hyphen? Hyphen?! This ends in L-Y, motherfucker!

Published

12 thoughts on “A Sence of Community”

  2. LOL. And what about the whole “You’ve Got Mail” thing? How can you spend that much money promoting something with a gramatically incorrect title? Another reason to look down one’s nose at AOL.

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  3. Can anyone tell Maggie that her ‘About’ link on her nav breaks when accessed from a post?

    I tried contacting her through an email address I found on one of her other sites, but I had no luck… I wasn’t sure that she was going to get it, but I thought I’d try anyway… any way… arrghh ANYWAY… you made me doubt.

    Wheww… how’s my grammar? =)

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  4. Ha! I tried explaining that whole “no hyphen if the first word ends in -ly” rule to someone, and they didn’t believe me. I thought I was going to have to stab them in the heart with a pen.

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  5. That. Would drive me INSANE.

    Before I realized how crazy it sounded, the words, “Martinis doesn’t have an apostrophe in it,” loudly passed my lips at a nearby restaurant. Seeing it on the menu made me feel crazy the whole time I was there.

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  6. ‘Course the “-ly” rule only applies to adverbs. “Homily-filled Sunday” is fine. Also, some adjectives end in “-ly” and might want to hook up from time to time with a willing partner, but they often need the protection of a hyphen for safe compounding.

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  7. I love it. I am a grammar geek. I find typos everywhere. Which is why I had to stop watching the t.v. at the gym (um, when I still went). The typos in the closed captioning were driving me bonkers and I nearly fell off the treadmill.

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  10. Ha! I tried explaining that whole “no hyphen if the first word ends in -ly” rule to someone, and they didn’t believe me. I thought I was going to have to stab them in the heart with a pen.

    i think i’m in love…

    let me tell you some time about my cinderblock through the SUV windshield fantasy.

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  11. Shiz…I’ve actually corrected restaurant menus in red pen & mailed them back! (Chinese restaurants are excluded from this.)

    r@d@r…I have a hood-mounted flame thrower fantasy.

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  12. This is my first visit to your site and I think I love you. I obsess over the misuse of hyphens daily.

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