Hatrack River Forum: How would you react if your cat were gay, and used proper grammar?

This is topic How would you react if your cat were gay, and used proper grammar? in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by AntiCool (Member # 7386) on :

Would you congratulate him for getting subjunctive mood correct, or would you both just mock those that get it wrong?

[ February 22, 2005, 10:29 AM: Message edited by: AntiCool ]

Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :

I love that you edited your post. [Big Grin]

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :

Do you get all tense about these things, AntiCool?

Posted by AntiCool (Member # 7386) on :

No. But sometimes I just enjoy a good-natured mock.

But seriously -- growing up, my father was crazy about correcting our grammar. If I had a nickel for ever time he said "subjunctive case, statement contrary to fact", I'd [insert pseudo-clever ending to overused phrase here]. [Smile]

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

*helpful* . . . have a large sockful of nickels that might be useful for beating people about the head with?

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :

What's that?

It's the sound of a pun going right over AC's head. [Taunt]

Off to pun jail with you. If you're lucky, we'll let Bev make conjugate visits.

Dagonee

Posted by AntiCool (Member # 7386) on :

Being oblivious to puns around me has significantly increased my quality of life, so there. [Razz]

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :

I've never heard such nounsense.

Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :

Amen! After growing up around my father, I'm inured-- mostly out of self-defense.

Posted by AntiCool (Member # 7386) on :

quote:
I've never heard such nonsense.

No, I'm serious.
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[Wink]

[ February 22, 2005, 10:50 AM: Message edited by: AntiCool ]

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :

Word.

Posted by AntiCool (Member # 7386) on :

What did you just say about my mother? [Mad]

Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :

In answer to the thread's title, well, I'd start making some money of my talking cat, for pete's sake! (of course, I'd also have to take out stock in Claritin, since I'm desperately allergic to cats)...but, then, I'd retire on Fluffy's earnings and live the good life...perhaps in Tahiti...

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :

Ice ice baby.

Posted by AntiCool (Member # 7386) on :

In high school, my physics teacher had a cat named Fluffy. He would always give us word problems like "You shoot Fluffy out of a cannot with an initial velocity of 20 m/sec, at an angle of 30 degress. 100 meters away is a brick wall. How far will fluffy fall to the ground after hitting the brick wall?"

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :

Assuming a spherical Fluffy...

Posted by AntiCool (Member # 7386) on :

I take my hat off to you, Dag. [Hat]

Posted by soubrette27 (Member # 7417) on :

Dude, we are totally going to have to try that!!! Where's my cat?

Has anyone else ever put bread and butter on a cat's back to see which was true, bread always lands butter side down, or a cat always lands on its feet?

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :

The results were disappointing. The cat landed on its feet, and promptly rolled over on its back.

Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :

quote:
Off to pun jail with you. If you're lucky, we'll let Bev make conjugate visits.

When you put it that way, how can he decline?

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :

Well, they might be to abbreviated to be worth it.

Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :

Don't leave him dangling, now. Spending time together is part and participle of married life.

Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :

no con junction, no matter how abbreviated, would be "not worth it"! They live for those moments.

Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :

In years to come, that last pun of mine will be looked back on as the single best pun of the 21st century. In the eyes of The Future: Perfect.

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :

The wors thing about prison life is the food - low fiber diets are bad for the colon. That can put you in a comma, or make you have to dash off to the bathroom.

Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :

My grammar is terrible. I know this and I appreciate it when people point out when I make a mistake.

I am confused, though. My Macmillan's says that were is used in if clauses that suppose something contrary to fact for formal English, but was is common in informal and general English, except in the expression As it were.

[ February 22, 2005, 01:02 PM: Message edited by: Storm Saxon ]

Posted by Ophelia (Member # 653) on :

Just because it's common doesn't make it prescriptively correct.

While your average linguist would accept it, a good English teacher wouldn't.

Actually, that's not completely true, since an ESL/EFL teacher would probably accept it.

Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :

Aw, look. All your punning has claused Porter to flee the thread.

Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :

[Wink]

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :

Do puns in gerund bother Porter?

Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :

No, just puns. Period.

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :

That was supposed to be a play on "puns injure and."

The multiwork puns are tricky to pull off.

Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :

quote:

Just because it's common doesn't make it prescriptively correct.

Can you elaborate on how using were instead of was makes the meaning of what I said more clear.

Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :

If you are using the word "if", you shouldn't be using the word "was". It's called the subjunctive case.

Dag: I missed the pun, but I responded to the actual meaning of gerund.

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :

I know. It was poor execution on my part. I guess I punted that one.

Posted by AntiCool (Member # 7386) on :

quote:
Can you elaborate on how using were instead of was makes the meaning of what I said more clear.

Here's my understanding. The subjunctive mood is used whenever you are making a statment that is not true, such as "I wish I were an elephant". If it is present tense, you use the word "were", but if it's past tense, you use the word "was".

So, the meanings are different between "I wish I were an elephant [now]." and "I wish I was an elephant [yesterday]."

Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :

Awesome, Porter. Thanks. It's clear to me now.

Posted by mothertree (Member # 4999) on :

Aw crud. I was two posts from baggin "I'm not in the mood for this."

Posted by David Bowles (Member # 1021) on :

There is an extraneous comma in this thread's title. It's not a compound sentence... it's a compound predicate, and as a result, it needs no comma before the "and."

Posted by Mike (Member # 55) on :

quote:
Here's my understanding. The subjunctive mood is used whenever you are making a statment that is not true, such as "I wish I were an elephant". If it is present tense, you use the word "were", but if it's past tense, you use the word "was".

I don't think this is right. It should be "I wish I had been an elephant."

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

Pink or white?