Comments | dante_kent: Meme Me Up, Scotty!

dante_kent

Meme Me Up, Scotty!

Dec 11, 2011 19:51

So real life has seriously gotten in the way of my LJ posting lately. RUDE. I ran my very first 10k yesterday, and it sort of knocked me out for a while. I literally fell asleep at 9 PM last night. So I've been a bit absent, and VERY late on a few things, but I have spent the day catching up on the interwebs, and hey look, memes!

( Holiday Memes, Five Things Meme, general flailing and/or ranting...the usual, basically. )

a filter what is it?, real life is inconvenient, holidays are the best!, meme!, my time where did it go

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upupa_epops December 13 2011, 22:36:07 UTC

YOU DID IT! \o/ It's not going to be a particulary intelligent comment, because: a) your post mostly makes me nod; b) I'm braindead tonight. But let's try.

1. God, I need to read this book... But first I need to stop being in the "attention span of a goldfish" mode :(.

2. I didn't know you used to learn Italian :D. And, hey, if you're half Italian, you could totally be the third Salvatore!

3. I love your self-proclaimed Britishness. One day you need to tell me everything about London, because, to be honest, this city scares the shit out of me.

4. WORD. #we love fictional serial killers

5. Did you know that there was a Shakespeare quote in "Sigh No More"? Btw, I'm listening to it AGAIN.

6. IN HONOR OF YOUR TVD FLAILING THIS POINT WILL BE IN CAPS LOCK. BECAUSE IT'S SO AWESOME THAT A TEEN VAMPIRE SHOW BROUGHT YOU BACK TO FANDOM, AND FANDOM, AS WE'VE ALREADY ESTABLISHED, IS THE DEFINITION OF AWESOME!

7. Call me Tyrion Lannister, but I have an affinity for broken things. THIS. I guess healthy people make boring stories. And there ( ... )

dante_kent December 15 2011, 23:51:04 UTC

I DID IT. I needed to get this one posted before I did another meme (and I just want to do ALL THE MEMES). I'll be behind on something else imminently ( ... )

upupa_epops December 16 2011, 00:27:39 UTC

1. Your fellow goldfish herebay confesses that reading Martin took her the whole summer, so 2014 seems too pesymistic :D.

3. I'll tell you my first memorable experience of London. First I spent a week in Wales, where everything was nice and quiet and so on. And then I was flying home from London. So when I came to London, I went out of the Liverpool Street Station, suddenly everything was HUGE, and here I am, in an unimaginable crowd, with two heavy backpacks, and there is a double-decker trying to run over me! THIS CITY IS SCARY!

9. Does it mean that you imagine me as this pissed-off sheep?

We were trying to figure out have sth done vs get sth done. Apparently, Americans are more eager to say "get". So, you know, after spending half an hour trying to analize all the possible meanings of "I had my leg broken" I saw your neck-snapping and I grinned so hard :D. Why would your teacher cringe?

dante_kent December 16 2011, 22:11:12 UTC

I HATE Liverpool Station. It overwhelms me too. But there are many quieter areas of the city that I'm sure you'd love.

9. Only sometimes. ;)

I never really thought about how much we use 'get.' I suppose that's true. But from what I've been taught, in academic circles the passive voice is usually discouraged. I tend to avoid it (unless I'm not paying attention, apparently) - it has its uses, but there's usually a better and stronger way of saying whatever you're trying to say. I stand by the fact that Greta Martin got her neck snapped, though, because she totally brought that on herself. See, the passive voice can be relevant!

upupa_epops December 16 2011, 22:40:16 UTC

You need to tell me all about it before I go to London for the second time :D.

9. I'll start using this icon when talking to you...

Huh, so you'd say "got" because she brought it on herself? Is that what it means? TEACH ME!

(Sorry, my Practical Grammar teacher this year is a disaster, and from the day I met you I've been SO TEMPTED to just make a list of all the damned things she can't explain and ask you how you'd say them. This is me resisting a temptation by yielding to it!)

Passive voice is tricky for me, because in Polish it sounds pretty formal, so you'd totally use a lot of passive in an academic paper etc. So when I'm writing something for school, I need to be careful with it.

dante_kent December 16 2011, 23:10:56 UTC

I'll give you a London tutorial anytime. ;)

9. Hello, you!

In that case, I would use "got" for that reasoning. It's the same sort of thing as "She got herself arrested" instead of the more active "The police arrested her," because she's being held accountable for it.

I will teach you anything! My great secret is that as much as I believe in proper grammar (and try to reinforce it in my less idealistic friends), I don't actually know all the rules. Your grammar is probably much purer than mine. But I can help you with the practical.

I remember learning the passive in French too, and there were all sorts of warnings. It's not used that often in English either, really. I had to think for a minute to come up with an example for you. Active verbs are beloved by all, though.

upupa_epops December 17 2011, 00:03:39 UTC

Your grammar is probably much purer than mine.

I doubt that XD. I was taught all the rules when I was a teenager, and I still remember all the basic things (like tenses) because I teach people, but then I had four years without any formal education, so now my justification usually works like this:

"Why do you think this is correct?"

"Because the other version sounds stupid."

Passive is a big topic for my Practical Englih final in January, so if I suddenly start speaking all weird(er), you'll know what is to be blamed!

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