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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
zombie rules ?!?  Oh, please, enlighten me! What a wonderful term, even if it turns out I am one.
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290 |
What a wonderful term, even if it turns out I am one.
Rules that never die. And, they eat their victim's brain. Or something like that ...
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
And they're wrong. They never were rules of the English language, just things made up by, usually, some 17th century dude. Things like not splitting infinitives, which for non-restrictive clauses and that for restrictive clauses, not ending a clause with a preposition, not starting a sentence with a conjunction. Stuff like that.
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Joined: Sep 2010
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,706 |
Are there rules for surviving a Zombie attack?
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290 |
Are there rules for surviving a Zombie attack?
Sure, correct the zombie's grammar. Usually works for me. They stare at you in disbelief and go looking for easier prey. It helps if you can cite the peever who made the rule up out of whole cloth. I have quite a collection of peever books of "rules", although most are available online at Google Books.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290 |
Things like not splitting infinitives, which for non-restrictive clauses and that for restrictive clauses, not ending a clause with a preposition, not starting a sentence with a conjunction.
1. to boldly peeve: never have tracked this one down either.
2. that/which hunting: Either Fowler or Strunk-White.
3. not ending a sentence with a preposition: Dryden, who actually went back and "corrected" all his earlier works. Sheesh. Even Robert Lowth didn't believe this one. In the paragraph where he writes about the "rule" he actually ends a sentence with a preposition.
4. conjunctivitis: never have traced this one down.
Your best defense is Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage. It's available cheap in real-world book form and online ([url=http://books.google.com/books?id=2yJusP0vrdgC&source[/url]). Chock full of the history of most of these "rules", and if you zombie doesn't respond rationally, you can hit them upside the head with it.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
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which hunting Good one! [cackle e]
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290 |
Good one!
I wish it were mine, but alas some other linguoyob came up with it before me.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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