Thursday, May 31, 2012

at the TEF blog

I've reposted (from this blog) my old article, Don't Overcorrect.


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6 comments:

Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

"I've reposted (from this blog) my old article, Don't Overcorrect."

Since you have other old articles, that comma is incorrect. And the title needs quotation marks.

Jeffery Hodges

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Kevin Kim said...

Well, ya' got me.

Kevin Kim said...

...or did you?

1. Blog post titles aren't put in quotes. See here. (But I've removed the italics.)

2. The presence or absence of the comma depends on whether the relevant element is essential or nonessential. Sometimes it's a judgment call.

Please welcome my old friend, the president of Burundi. [I have other old friends, but I'd still use a comma.]

(The Burundi reference comes courtesy of Eddie Izzard.)

Oh, wait-- you were overcorrecting! That is indeed... witty.

Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

"Any way you look at it, you lose . . ."

Jeffery Hodges

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Kevin Kim said...

Yes, God help me, that often seems to be the way your oblique, super-desiccated (mummified!) sense of humor works.

And while I'm at it, what is it with Ozarkians and their off-beat sensibilities? I'm reminded of this problem whenever I try to decipher JK's friendly comments over at Malcolm's blog. What JK's saying is obviously meaningful to him, but despite his good intentions, his jokes and insights don't seem meaningful to anyone but him. I'd say the same about your way-too-meta humor, which resonates at a dog-whistle-like frequency: accessible at the conceptual level (e.g., I got the overcorrection joke when I saw your first comment), but eliciting nothing at the more concrete, emotional level.

During her years working in a DC office, my mother learned the expression, "A bucket of water for your dry jokes!" She used the expression often, and now I see that I'm going to have to keep my own bucket filled and ready.

Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

You need a washerwoman to keep up with me!

To be honest, I don't get half of JK's humor . . . but I keep working on it.

Jeffery Hodges

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