Random Stuff LXXI

[6_bleen_7]

For the next couple of weeks we’ll have quite a menagerie of planets in the evening sky. Venus is slowly converging on the closely-spaced Mars and Saturn, which currently form a dim colon (the punctuation mark, and not the internal organ) above the western horizon after sunset. Mercury may also be spied, at least in the tropics, somewhat below.

Comments

[chillyrodent]

Is a half-assed response better or worse than a full-assed one?

I recently initiated a conversation at work about the plural of process. Maybe I should do so here on LJ, since I have language-y friends here. Some said the plural sounds like PRO sess ez, some said PRO sess eez. Some said they had said the first until they entered a Cornell graduate program (which leans toward my own sense of "oh, aren't WE educated!").

I asked about the etymology of the word that makes PRO sess eez correct, but no one knew. But, no one there says recess eez, like The weather was so bad the children never got their recesseez.

So, what's the deal with that?

[6_bleen_7]

Heh-the ideal quantity of ass in a response depends heavily on context.

Aw crap, I wish I could remember the variant of "processeez" I heard recently. On a slightly related topic, my geometry teacher in junior high school would occasionally say "verticee" instead of "vertex"-deriving the singular from the plural.

[chillyrodent]

Ha! I like it. Verticee. Did he still have his appendicee?

[6_bleen_7]

Heh! I remember the other word with the weird plural pronunciation-and it makes even less sense than the other one: "bias-eez."