Hat Horror Story

[John in Covina]

OED, sure get all technical on us!

 

[Marc Chevalier]

But of course.

 

[jamespowers]

The OED is the Oxford English Dictionary, also known as the Oxford Dictionary of the English Language.

My point is who is to judge what is right when you have two acceptable forms? My Websters New World Dictionary (WNWD) has no such thing. :eusa_doh: [huh]

Regards,

J

 

[Wolf]

From now on, I'm going to call out every misspelling that occurs on the Lounge.

Dyslexics, nonnative English speakers, and the gravely undereducated will be exempt from my wrath.


.

Corrected, and put me down under gravely undereducated, I went through public schooling. :beer:

 

[jamespowers]

Corrected, and put me down under gravely undereducated, I went through public schooling. :beer:

Hahahhahahahahhahahah! Now that is funny.

Regards,

J

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Now see, this is when the fact that you are all gentlemen should come into play.

Gracious manners should prohibit one from pointing out the lackings of others.

You do not notice the women pointing out your spelling and grammar errors now do you?

 

[jamespowers]

Now see, this is when the fact that you are all gentlemen should come into play.

Gracious manners should prohibit one from pointing out the lackings of others.

You do not notice the women pointing out your spelling and grammar errors now do you?

That is exactly what I was trying to point out. Unsuccessfully I see. Who judges, why and who appointed that person to do so? I could care less if someone misspells a word here and there. Wheee! It is content that counts and not making someone feel like an oaf for a simple mistake. We cannot all be English teachers. :eusa_doh: :eusa_booh

Regards,

J

 

[John in Covina]

I am not an oaf, I am a Neanderthal and proud of it!

Actually I wish the spell check worked in here. If I find I am going to write something big and if I think I'll be using the same answer again, I'll write in my WORD files to use both spell and grammer check there. Then I'll copy paste into the post reply box here.

 

[tonyb]

Don't put much stock in grammar checkers, especially the ones that "grade" the writer's peformance.
Popular usage trumps, eventually. It's a living language, y'all. It is forever changing, and there is no final authority on its "proper" usage.
Still, I can be brutal with a blue pencil. It's just fine to deviate from "standard" English usage (whatever that is), but it's good to know when and why you're doing it. Misspellings and awkward constructions don't do the reader any favors.

As Twain put it:

"There is no such thing as 'the Queen's English.' The property has gone into the hands of a joint stock company and we own the bulk of the shares."

 

[epic610]

hate to re-visit an unpleasant subject...

but i just got off the phone from a20-minute chat with our local postmaster himself. seems that if there is no insurance, there is no mechanism nor discretion available to pay for any damages.

as much as i hate to eat the damages, i hope one silver lining will be that you guys are on alert and will not be vulnerable to the same disaster.

 

[John in Covina]

but i just got off the phone from a20-minute chat with our local postmaster himself. seems that if there is no insurance, there is no mechanism nor discretion available to pay for any damages. As much as i hate to eat the damages, i hope one silver lining will be that you guys are on alert and will not be vulnerable to the same disaster.

*******
We all regret your difficulties and disappointment. It is one of those things, the only guarantee is the mail must go thru, there is nothing about condition of the mail listed. Let's learn from this and go forward, heed that warning before it's too late! Insure and pack well!

Sincerely,

 

[Michaelson]

I often wonder about postal regulations vs practices. I received a pocket watch from repair this morning via USPM, delivery confirmation, and plainly marked fragile. The box appeared in fine condition, and the watch was triple wrapped in bubble wrap and packing peanuts.....and yet it was plain that the box HAD to have been tossed against a hard surface with quite a bit of force. When I unwrapped the watch, I found the second hand rattling around inside the bezel and crystal, and both the hour/minute hands jammed against the crystal as well. This could have only occurred if the box had been slammed flat on a hard surface in the direction to pop the hands off....not an easy thing to do.

After a bit of work, all is back together, but such a force could have easily broken the balance staff of the watch if it had been bounced on it's side, rendering the watch DOA, and back to the repairman for a costly repair.

What I wonder is, if one places the word 'Fragile' on a box, is one painting a target for the postal workers to shoot at as it goes through the system?

Regards! Michaelson

 

[John in Covina]

Human Nature.

If one places the word 'Fragile' on a box, is one painting a target for the postal workers to shoot at as it goes through the system? Regards! Michaelson

*******
In any group of ten people, one is usually at least a little nuts, standard of 10% is considered about right. :fing28: As you multiply that by the staggering number of people that work for the USPS, you come up with a fairly large number of "unstable" people. Add to that a trait in human nature that any discomforts gets passed along.

Someone has a bad day and thinks it is not fair, they may take their anger out sometimes by snapping at others or in your case, on an inanimate object like your box containing the watch. The fragile label is a selection to insure their actions are effective. To pass along that anger and to have no repercussions to their actions they abuse the box in hopes to ruin your day, which then makes them feel better.

I think of the begining of "Ace Ventura Nature Calls" where Jim Carey is playing soccer down an apartment complex hallway with a soccer ball sized box marked fragile.

SO some are accidents due to inattentiveness, others are deliberate, but they occur intermittantly. As a balance to this, there is a good chance that something good will come by to offset the bad.

 

[Michaelson]

Sad thing to all this, John, is that if I wanted to play the odds, I'd go to Vegas....not the U.S. Post Office. That's what I'm paying THEM for... to ship my items safely and securely...not to give them something to use to help them offset their anxieties.:rage: [huh]

Ah well....

Regards! Michaelson

 

[jamespowers]

Sad thing to all this, John, is that if I wanted to play the odds, I'd go to Vegas....not the U.S. Post Office. That's what I'm paying THEM for... to ship my items safely and securely...not to give them something to use to help them offset their anxieties.:rage: [huh]

The post office is like everything else pseudo-government and government in general. It never costs what they say it will at the beginning, it takes twice as long as they say it will(at a minimum) and it never does what they say it will. Equating that to the post office we find quite a match.
I always fully wind the watch before sending it off.

Regards,

J

 

[Michaelson]

I always fully wind the watch before sending it off.

Regards,

J

Me too, but they don't run the 3 days it takes to get to my watchmaker. Unless it gets there in 36+ hours, it's a moot point.

Regards! Michaelson

 

[jamespowers]

Me too, but they don't run the 3 days it takes to get to my watchmaker. Unless it gets there in 36+ hours, it's a moot point.

Regards! Michaelson

Heheheheheh! I guess you don't have the 60 hour mainspring then?

Regards,

J

 

[Michaelson]

Boy, don't I wish! Illinois 163 Bunn Specials with the 60 mainspring are bringing 4 figures these days! SHEESH!!!!!:fing28:

Regards! Michaelson

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Damn, you have described the F-22 Fighter we fly here at Tyndall!

The post office is like everything else pseudo-government and government in general. It never costs what they say it will at the beginning, it takes twice as long as they say it will(at a minimum) and it never does what they say it will. Equating that to the post office we find quite a match.
I always fully wind the watch before sending it off.

Regards,

J

:eusa_doh:

 

[jamespowers]

Boy, don't I wish! Illinois 163 Bunn Specials with the 60 mainspring are bringing 4 figures these days! SHEESH!!!!!:fing28:

Regards! Michaelson

Geez! Four figures!? I am going to make sure mine is safe then. :cheers1:

Regards,

J