Misnomers

Formal fallacy: Affirming the disjunct. His sentence was passable. His sentence was not preferable, therefor his sentence was not passable.

Informal fallacy #1: False Attribution. Argument appeals to the unqualified opinion that since she is a skilled writer, she would agree that the sentence was not passable. EVEN THOUGH SHE BROUGHT UP IT WASN'T PASSABLE IN THE FIRST PLACE WHICH LEADS TO...

Informal fallacy #2: Begging the question. You start with the false conclusion that she thought his sentence was not passable to prove that it was pretentious.

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I spent two weeks breaking down the logical fallacies of one Rush Limbaugh opening monologue. I can do this all. f***ing. day. Jehne. Just a warning.

Sell crazy someplace else, we're all stocked up here!

 
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Logic is crazy?

No, you practically begging for my attention is. Does me acknowledging you somehow validate you? I am not the first person to observe and remark upon your obsession with me. I think some deep refection on your part is in order. Ask yourself, why does what Jehne says and thinks affect me so profoundly? You can't control my posts or stop them. Yes, they irritate you. Likewise. But you spend far too much valuable time preoccupied with me. I say this because one day, when I am gone, you will ask yourself, why did I even bother? It was all small stuff. It really was. And you will have regrets. I know you will. Because I already have them for even wasting fifteen minutes on you. Every minute is precious. Chose your time wisely. Boycott realitybites, for your own sanity.
 
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No, you practically begging for my attention is. Does me acknowledging you somehow validate you? I am not the first person to observe and remark upon your obsession with me. I think some deep refection on your part is in order. Ask yourself, why does what Jehne says and think affect me so profoundly? You can't control my posts or stop them. Yes, they irritate you. Likewise. But you spend far too much valuable time preoccupied with me. I say this because one day, when I am gone, you will ask yourself, why did I even bother? It was all small stuff. It really was. And you will have regrets. I know you will. Because I already have them for even wasting fifteen minutes on you. Every minute is precious. Chose your time wisely. Boycott realitybites, for your own sanity.

I gotta run to the liquor store for some liquid refreshment before I tackle this one, it'll be a few extra minutes.

In the meantime a fun video of a Myna bird talking Japanese!

 
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Hey, can I interrupt here. I've changed my mind, I think I should be called fast or maybe speedy instead.
 
Morrissey-solo is a misnomer. Should be called Bad-marriage.

Too much time, history, resentment, dysfunctional players, conflict, co-dependency, bickering, fighting, emotional abuse, disgust, inability to move on...

Feel free to add more.
 
Technically, his sentence was passable. Was it preferable? Heck no. And I am certain you would agree, as you are a skilled writer. Less is more. If you read an article in The Times that had numerous sentences constructed like that you would go bonkers. As would I. But you won't, as they wouldn't make it past the editor. Writing with colons and semicolons is pretentious. Nobody who writes with any measure of confidence writes like that. No one. It is freshmen English writing. While technically sound, it is archaic, pedantic, and like I suggested, pretentious. I am sorry if I was too harsh in my words and tone. My apologies.

So, folks like Charles Dickens, Franz Kafka, Sylvia Plath, Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, and a slew of other legendary literary figures are actually thought to be barely educated and pretentious? Hmmm...

Oh, and one of our most cherished Presidents, too :

"With educated people, I suppose, punctuation is a matter of rule; with me it is a matter of feeling. But I must say I have a great respect for the semi-colon; it's a useful little chap."
(Abraham Lincoln)

Seems a bit harsh to me. But...what do I know? I'm childless (not by choice, by the way, but because of medical reasons), uneducated (even though I passed a state board exam and hold a professional license), and am overweight ( like everyone else on solo.) Oh, well.
 
No, you practically begging for my attention is. Does me acknowledging you somehow validate you? I am not the first person to observe and remark upon your obsession with me. I think some deep refection on your part is in order. Ask yourself, why does what Jehne says and think affect me so profoundly? You can't control my posts or stop them. Yes, they irritate you. Likewise. But you spend far too much valuable time preoccupied with me. I say this because one day, when I am gone, you will ask yourself, why did I even bother? It was all small stuff. It really was. And you will have regrets. I know you will. Because I already have them for even wasting fifteen minutes on you. Every minute is precious. Chose your time wisely. Boycott realitybites, for your own sanity.

THese are observations and not subject to rules of logic other than the proclamation I will have regrets because she has regrets at the end, that's a categorical syllogism so technically an informal fallacy. It doesn't render her argument invalid but it's not doing her argument any favors. Generally a formal fallacy has to be committed to dismiss an argument, but a succession of informal fallacies can render a point moot also. She does both of them often. The carpe diem propaganda at the end is just sort of funny in the robot sense, it mirrors my post earlier today telling her to get off the internet.
 
Improper construction:

Keep playing the note-taking naturalist, but make no mistake: you fit right in.


Proper way to construct your sentence:

Keep playing the note-taking naturalist. But make no mistake, you fit right in.

The use of the colon above is correct: the sentence following the colon explains or adds clarity to the sentence that precedes the colon. (Just like I did here.)

The sentence above that's potentially suspect is actually yours as you begin a sentence with a conjunction. Some schools of thought say yea, some nay. I belong to former.
 
So, folks like Charles Dickens, Franz Kafka, Sylvia Plath, Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, and a slew of other legendary literary figures are actually thought to be barely educated and pretentious? Hmmm...

Oh, and one of our most cherished Presidents, too :

"With educated people, I suppose, punctuation is a matter of rule; with me it is a matter of feeling. But I must say I have a great respect for the semi-colon; it's a useful little chap."
(Abraham Lincoln)

Seems a bit harsh to me. But...what do I know? I'm childless (not by choice, by the way, but because of medical reasons), uneducated (even though I passed a state board exam and hold a professional license), and am overweight ( like everyone else on solo.) Oh, well.

Beckett, Wodehouse, and Vonnegut hated semicolons.

Abe was right; punctuation usage is a matter of feeling; it's personal—idiosyncratic. I prefer to use full stop periods; that is my style. I even write one word sentences, ignoring the rules of proper grammar usage altogether. Why? Because I write to convey mood. Using colons and semicolons would alter the mood—feeling—I am trying to convey to my reader(s). If you looked at the papers I wrote in college, while technically sound and well written, you would see that they are littered with semicolons and colons. After graduating, my writing became so much more creative and free of all those ridged restrictions. I CAN use semicolons effectively; I have done so in the past. But I think they are eye sores on the page; so, I do not use them.

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The use of the colon above is correct: the sentence following the colon explains or adds clarity to the sentence that precedes the colon. (Just like I did here.)

The sentence above that's potentially suspect is actually yours as you begin a sentence with a conjunction. Some schools of thought say yea, some nay. I belong to former.

It is a matter of style. I used to use semicolons and colons excessively. Now I write in one word sentences. Odd. I know.
 
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Learn to use colons properly or don't use them at all.

I retract my statement. I should have said: Don't write like that; I don't like the way it looks; it is stylistically wonky.

But I stand corrected.

Btw, admittedly, I lashed out at anonymous because I hate freaking cowards who post anonymously. I have no respect for them and find it difficult to take them seriously. So, I usually don't.
 
I retract my statement. I should have said: Don't write like that; I don't like the way it looks; it is stylistically wonky.

But I stand corrected.

Btw, admittedly, I lashed out at anonymous because I hate freaking cowards who post anonymously. I have no respect for them and find it difficult to take them seriously. So, I usually don't.

But it technically isn't stylistically wonky. It looks stylistically wonky.
 
It is a matter of style. I used to use semicolons and colons excessively. Now I write in one word sentences. Odd. I know.

Now that we're talking about style, I personally find the use of colons and semicolons refreshing. I generally find that writers who's employ those tools usually have a certain flair with the written word.
 
Now that we're talking about style, I personally find the use of colons and semicolons refreshing. I generally find that writers who's employ those tools usually have a certain flair with the written word.

I really think it is a matter of taste. I swear I was the semicolon Queen for years; it was overkill. I think I was still using them excessively when I started my blog here. I bet I could find several early posts with them. Now when I want to connect two related sentences/thoughts, I use ellipses. It seems more forum friendly. Almost like one is having a spontaneous conversation. When I write formal emails, I rarely use ellipses, however. One thing I am guilty of is overuse of the em dash. I love it—just like Abe loves his semicolons.
 
Re: semicolons, really people?

A carrot should be called an orange. It's oranger than an orange. I never thought about this until recently when I stumbled upon this song....


"Why is a Carrot More Orange Than an Orange?" The Amboy Dukes

 
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