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This fella at work...

 
 
Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero
02:38 / 19.06.02
...he says to me, "I've got quite a large plethora of inhalers at home. You'd be amazed."

A comment was made on his knowledge of the word "plethora" given it's relative obscurity. He looked so proud. The poor bastard; I didn't have the heart to tell him it was redundant. Unless he was talking about a bodily condition characterized by an excess of blood and marked by turgescence and a florid complexion, which I guess is all right, because I would be pretty damn amazed.
 
 
Kit-Cat Club
07:38 / 19.06.02
It's not 'plethora' that's redundant in that sentence, it's 'large'.
 
 
Spatula Clarke
13:26 / 19.06.02
Grammar. I know enough of it to go -click- when a glaring error is made.

Oops...
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
14:50 / 19.06.02
Not to mention "given *it's* relative obscurity" and the fact that the second and third sentences of that sentence should be punctuated "He looked so proud, the poor bastard. I didn't have the heart to tell him...", and that the final sentence makes no grammatical sense whatsoever; the conditional clause demands either "which I guess would have been all right, because I would have been pretty damn amazed (by his possession of quite a large b.c.c.b.a.e.o.b.a.m.b.t.a.a.f.c. of inhalers)" or, since "which I guess is all right" is a pointless mechanism that throws the conditional off its natural target, "Unless he *were* talking about a b.c.c.b.a.e.o.b.a.m.b.t.a.a.f.c, in which case I would indeed be pretty damn amazed".

Ah, nothing helps a fever like slapping.
 
 
Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero
19:45 / 19.06.02
Raise your hand if you didn't see that coming.
 
 
Saint Keggers
03:54 / 20.06.02
Suddenly everyone's an english major. Personally I don't care what word anyone uses as long as he can get his point across. kudos for not pointing it out to him though.
 
 
Saint Keggers
03:59 / 20.06.02
BTW I just looked it up and Plethora means overabundance, so one can indeed have a large overabundance. (or a small one for that matter)

Just making conversation;feel free to correct if im wrong.
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
11:00 / 20.06.02
Er, you can't.

Besides. Being an English major does not give you grammar-fu as a matter of course. If you took your lead from a study of the poetry of William Carlos Williams... well, you know.
 
 
sleazenation
11:12 / 20.06.02
sorry kegboy - but you are indeed wrong - plethora and abundance are not quantative terms - you either have one or you don't. As such, phrases like a 'large abundence' are meaningless.
 
 
Puzimandias
20:40 / 20.06.02
This kinda reminds me of that scene in 3 Amigos which is devoted to talking about the word plethora. One of the bandits asks another if he knows what it means, and the other is forced to admit that he doesn't (or summat like that).
I've always found the trick to using long/unusual words is that when you use them, you don't have to know what it means if you're sure that noone else does. If of course you're the sort of person who finds it necessary to impress people with style rather than content.
 
 
Slim
02:13 / 21.06.02
I'm with Kegboy. I don't care how someone says something as long as they get their point across with minimal effort on my part to understand what they're saying. Unless it's a friend of mine, that is. If it's a friend I notify them right away of both their error and my obvious superiority.
 
 
Saint Keggers
04:01 / 21.06.02
yeah, that friend bit is right on the money for me too.
 
 
Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero
02:51 / 22.06.02
This is a bit of a problem for me, as many of my friends are the next best reference for grammatical information outside a Harbrace Handbook.
 
 
Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo
12:52 / 23.06.02
The ones that kill me lately are:

I could care less

and

Could you borrow me that?

*lock death beams on target*
 
 
w1rebaby
17:38 / 23.06.02
I would like to think that I'm the sort of open-minded person who focusses on the content of someone's speech rather than their mode of expression, and doesn't care when people post reams of txt-spk, except I'm not and I do. It irritates the living piss out of me.

The worst place I ever worked for that, in my secretarial days, was the Post Office (as it was then). I was used to correcting the spelling, and moving a few words around so that something actually made sense, but every single letter or memo that I got to type was absolute shite. Some of them I was unable to even guess at the meaning behind. You end up just having to transcribe it word for word and hope that the recipients will have a better idea of what it means than you do.

Typing up reports from prison officers was also a joy.
 
 
Rage
18:15 / 23.06.02
At least he used the word "plethora."

He's kool as shite.
 
 
Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero
19:44 / 24.06.02
Interesting follow-up:

Yesterday, I was over at this fella's house, and he did have a plethora of inhalers. And he gave me some Northern Lights for free, so he is now the coolest man in the world. And he knew the words to the Sealab 2021 song.
 
 
RiffRaff
21:07 / 25.06.02
Haven't got any Northern Lights, but I *do* know all the words to the Sealab 2021 song. Can I be cool too?

If you're lookin' for me
You'd better check under the sea
'Cause that is where you'll find me
Underneath the sea
Lab
Underneath the water
Sea
Lab
At the bottom
Of
The sea

--Riff
"Do you want the moustache on... or off?"
 
  
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