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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 176
member
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member
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 176 |
Submitted for the prescriptivist's enjoyment, and the descriptivist's sniping: http://www.uclick.com/client/wpc/nq/
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
Sniping? ~ no way, Dgeigh! No, this descriptivist really enjoyed the joke of a pedant completely killing communication :)
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Much of the time I don't "get" Non Sequitur. But I love when it features Obvious Man. That I get. He's as good as Dave Barry and tsuwm rolled into one.
(nice to see you back in these here parts, Dgeigh!)
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
There's nothing *non-sequitur about it (this time). However, it might be irony. (he-he/running away-e)
Don't all prescriptivists have an obvious *relationship with thier ego(s)?
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 500
addict
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addict
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 500 |
See, this is really what I love about this board - the ability to BE a prescriptivist without killing communication. (Because I'm far too, too nice and polite ever to correct anyone in public.  I just scream at my radio.)
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
sniping
What I'd like to know is how he knew what the caller's state of mind was. For all he knew the caller was anxious about Obviousman's potential for going off on some rant about word usage. Personally I think O'man was just being nice.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
For all he knew the caller was anxious about Obviousman's potential for going off on some rant about word usage.
My liver hurts.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Dgeigh, that was hilarious! Thanks! How do you people find these things?
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Joined: Sep 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
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Joined: Aug 2005
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stranger
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stranger
Joined: Aug 2005
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Could someone please post Obviousman's suggested replacement word? -I think it was 'eager' but I'm not sure and this has been bugging me for quite a while now :/
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
I think 'eager' is the word that you're looking for, zeronix. It also m ight be worth pointing out that, per the OED, the meaning for 'anxious' that O'man was railing against has been in use since the mid 18th century.
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,072 Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,072 Likes: 2 |
...when I try to refresh my memory I get today's strip, not the aforementioned Jun 3 '05. And the archive, alas, retains only one month. :-(
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
The original strip had Obvious Man as a guest on a call-in show responding to a caller who said that he had been anxious to talk with Obvious Man. O'Man stepped outside his role and ignored the obvious facts that language changes and that definitions of words are not carved in stone.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
Fong... I'd thought the (obvious part of the) humor was that the normaly calm, cool and collected obvious man ripped the caller a new *one... fulfilling *his anxious destiny...
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