Literary pet peeves...

[Axeltheswede]

Pet Peeve

I live in Las Vegas, Nevada. Nevada is correctly pronouced "Nev add ah".

National newscaster twits, usually on the East Coast insist on pronouncing it "Nev ahhhhh da". Drives me nuts.

The latest episode was when that pipe bombing moron, out of Wisconsin, was caught just east of Reno. Us Nevadans had to suffer through another round of mispronounciation. It makes me wonder if there is anything dumber than a newsreader

 

[Velius]

Re: Pet Peeve

I live in Las Vegas, Nevada. Nevada is correctly pronouced "Nev add ah".

National newscaster twits, usually on the East Coast insist on pronouncing it "Nev ahhhhh da". Drives me nuts.

The latest episode was when that pipe bombing moron, out of Wisconsin, was caught just east of Reno. Us Nevadans had to suffer through another round of mispronounciation. It makes me wonder if there is anything dumber than a newsreader

Hey I hear you man, I hate when people say "Ore-gon".

 

[TheEarl]

Pet peeves then:

People who get annoyed when you place books open and upside down to keep your place as they seem to think books are there to be looked at, not enjoyed.

The computer freezing just before you save you masterpiece. It doesn't crash, it's cruel enough to show you exactly what it is you've just lost without you being able to do a thing about it.

People who give me feedback complaining that I spelt "arse" wrong. Everyone knows that it should be spelt "ass."

Mispronunciation of bazaar.

Underuse of commas. No, I'm not a comma-obsessed freak. I just think you should have them after every other word. No please, I don't want to go back to the hospital...

The Earl

BTW. It is correct English to use an elipsis to represent a pause in speech or thought. Or at least its correct English in England I don't know about America.

 

[TheEarl]

It makes me wonder if there is anything dumber than a newsreader

Weathergirl?

 

[Velius]

Well, in a pinch I will put a hard back book face down, but it is bad for the book. I would rather use a book mark. People that bitch about it though are pretty lame. And yes, I hate when people don't use commas correctly. They will string off sentences like "I went to the store bought some milk and went home singing to myself."

On the weathergirl point, no she is smarter than the newsreaders, because she doesn't try to pretend she actually has some kind of intelligent thought going on (or she is just good looking and I am biased).

On the elipses, that's what I thought too...

 

[Uther_Pendragon]

Communication vs Excretion

My pet peeves....literarily speaking...



2) you (collectively) write a poem, and the teacher rips it apart....talking about syntax and iambic pentameter....what ever happened to writing from the heart?







Suzi

Much snipped.
Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that there is such a thing as "writing from the heart" in the absence of grammar and spelling.
Even so, why should a teacher *assign and grade* such an exercise.
If a teacher assigns a poem, she is assigning you to learn the basics of what has been called "poetry" in English literature since the time of Chaucer. That includes rhyme and rythm.
She isn't interested in your expressing your unique sensitivity. Leave that to communicate with somebody who loves you despite all your faults. (Especially your faults in rhyme, rythm, and grammar.)

 

[KillerMuffin]

Re: Pet Peeve

I live in Las Vegas, Nevada. Nevada is correctly pronouced "Nev add ah".

National newscaster twits, usually on the East Coast insist on pronouncing it "Nev ahhhhh da". Drives me nuts.

Don't go to southwestern Misery- er, Missouri.

Nuh VAYD' uh

or more often slurred like dog to dawg.

 

[KillerMuffin]

I deleted a lot of stuff I originally wrote on ellipses. I never knew I could be tactful. I will say this. Abuse of ellipses in stories and posts seem to be about image rather than about substance. The reason people use ellipses began, generally, by either ignorance or because they look good/original/appear to give a "tone." In reality they say "I left something out." The average ellipses-abuse has no purpose. The appropriate punctuation or paragraph breaks would have more accurately gotten the writer's point across. Sometimes, shamefull, I see a lot of periods in between words and I can't but think that the writer is saying "Tee hee, I'm so cute! *giggle*"

Ellipses mean one thing, omission. They're creeping into mainstream fiction as pauses in speech, but they are not that way by convention yet. Like sentence fragments, ellipses are best use with judicious selectivity.

I also hate NEOMs, reliance on adverbs, descriptive narrative in short stories, more than 3 web pages, a lack of quotation marks, little or no dialogue in appropriate places, poor paragraphing, unedited work, gimmicks like ellipses-capitals-paragraph size chapterization, all second person but my own, most first person, and nearly ever present tense I've ever read. Oh yeah, and stupidly worded, gimmicky, or cutesy pleas for feedback. Go ahead and ask at the end of your story, just please look like someone other than Joe Isuzu when you do.

Color me picky, but I follow the ideal that "You cannot transcend that which you do not know." I want to read things that transcend genre, not things that get by on mediocrity and raunchiness.

 

[Suzi]

Velius

...love the avatar!

 

[Velius]

Re: Velius

...love the avatar!

*blushes slightly* Thanks.

 

[Velius]

I deleted a lot of stuff I originally wrote on ellipses. I never knew I could be tactful. I will say this. Abuse of ellipses in stories and posts seem to be about image rather than about substance. The reason people use ellipses began, generally, by either ignorance or because they look good/original/appear to give a "tone." In reality they say "I left something out." The average ellipses-abuse has no purpose. The appropriate punctuation or paragraph breaks would have more accurately gotten the writer's point across. Sometimes, shamefull, I see a lot of periods in between words and I can't but think that the writer is saying "Tee hee, I'm so cute! *giggle*"

Ellipses mean one thing, omission. They're creeping into mainstream fiction as pauses in speech, but they are not that way by convention yet. Like sentence fragments, ellipses are best use with judicious selectivity.

I also hate NEOMs, reliance on adverbs, descriptive narrative in short stories, more than 3 web pages, a lack of quotation marks, little or no dialogue in appropriate places, poor paragraphing, unedited work, gimmicks like ellipses-capitals-paragraph size chapterization, all second person but my own, most first person, and nearly ever present tense I've ever read. Oh yeah, and stupidly worded, gimmicky, or cutesy pleas for feedback. Go ahead and ask at the end of your story, just please look like someone other than Joe Isuzu when you do.

Color me picky, but I follow the ideal that "You cannot transcend that which you do not know." I want to read things that transcend genre, not things that get by on mediocrity and raunchiness.

I would have to agree on the hating of most first person writing. The thing is though, a lot of people find it difficult to write third person (which is weird if you ask me, I find it harder to writer first person).

 

[Ray Dario]

I've just discovered a new pet peeve, literary wise. I hate reading the cover of a book, seeing all those rosy reviews, reading the back and thinking, Wow this will be great!

Then, after I paid $6.95 for the damn thing, I get to the third page and it is nothing but shit! Boring me, poor writing, sucky plot, just total shit!

Makes me want to take the time to read the whole damn book inside Barnes and Nobel before I lay out my cash for shit!

And where do those "critics" get off raving about a book like that. They should be shot, or at least kicked in the butt.

Just my take on things

Ray

 

[Suzi]

Ray....

It helps to read the first 3 pages there in the store...then you know if it appeals to you!

 

[jon.hayworth]

I thought that an ellipse is a valid punctuation form when writing dialogue, when you want to show someone's words have been cut off mid flow. eg

Eve. "You're late again Adam."

Adam. "I had to ..."

Eve. "The same excuse you're always working late. I don't know why you don't take your bed and live at work. You don't care about me, I should have listened to my ..."

Adam. "Go home and live with your mother for all I care you cann't stand the old bag ..."

Eve. "Don't you talk about my mother like that."


To the best of my knowledge using ellipses like that is correct, am I right or am I wrong?

jon

 

[Velius]

Yeah, and the critics probably don't know what the hell they are talking about anyway (concerning writing) and just go with whatever their more (less?) intelligent co-workers/friends say.

 

[karmadog]

Jon, KM admitted it was a peeve, so take what she says about with a grain of salt. Everything she said was correct, but note where she says "not that way by convention yet". "Accepted" usage generally lags years behind common usage.

Ray, Blurbs are frequently nothing more than a writer supporting a friend. Some writers will blurb anything they are asked to. Stephen King was a notorious blurb-whore. He would lay down for virtually anyone who ever held a pen. Now he needs to be knocked over with a feather first. I find that reading the first page or two doesn't work very well. Often a writer will make sure that the first few pages are really good, then get lazy in the middle. I always open the book in the middle and read a few pages.

One more peeve: Plot twists that are nothing more than a cheap trick. They are demeaning to the reader and sheer laziness on the part of the writer.

 

[Weird Harold]

I've just discovered a new pet peeve, literary wise. I hate reading the cover of a book, seeing all those rosy reviews, reading the back and thinking, Wow this will be great!

I learned years ago that the worth of a book is inversely proportional to the number of blurbs on the cover. If there isn't a synopsis, then I'm not interested; If there is a synopsis that's smaller than the blurbs, then I'm not interested either.

 

[Weird Harold]

When people pronounce the word "bazaar" like "bizarre". For some reason that drives me insane.

A big pet peeve is people who misuse words.

For example, complaining about a "linguistic pet peeve" in a thread about "Literary Peeves."

 

[Quasimodem]

Going Dotty Over Ellipses

Ellipses are used to denote that something was left out, because of time/space considerations, etc.

Example: "Serial Dross" is written with a pen filled with venom and a half a head full of wit."
Becomes: SERIAL DROSS - "written with pen ... venom ... wit."

Also ( especially in dialogue ) to indicate interruptions to flow of speech:

1). Another character talking over.

2). Some action occurs to interrupt speaker.

3). Character loses thread of thought and leaves sentence unfinished.

4). Character has speech impediment; breathless, stutter, hiccups.

5). Character is trying to speak though violent activity. Giving Commencement Speech mounted on pogo stick, carrying on phone conversation while husband/boyfriend(s)/boss is shagging her.

6) There are others, be creative.


Unless you are foresworn to somebody's style sheet, quite a bit of punctuation can be varied to suit a story's requirements. When available, italics*, boldface*, underlining*, and even changes of font size* or style* may be employed, if it helps convey the story's content.


[ * Not available on this website . ]


HOWEVER

1). Unnecessary use of any of these devices is liable to incur criticism:

2). Once an unusual styled format has been established within a story, any change of that style will become nearly indefensible.


Quasi

 

[cybergirly]

I would like to know if any one else is annoyed, when after spending $25, $30 or more on your favorite authors newest hardback you find it full of typos. Usually it is simple things like teh or hre. It drives me insane, and I will often not read the rest of the book.

 

[Ray Dario]

I would like to know if any one else is annoyed, when after spending $25, $30 or more on your favorite authors newest hardback you find it full of typos. Usually it is simple things like teh or hre. It drives me insane, and I will often not read the rest of the book.

I'm WAY to cheap to buy hardback books, unless they are something I really love. I own hardback copies of the

"Lord of the Rings" Quadrillogy (sp),
"Something Wicked This Way Comes",
"Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe" and sequels,
"Hunt for Red October", and
"Stranger in a Strange Land"

but that's about it.

None of them had many typos. But if it did happen I'd be bitchin' for weeks!

Ray

 

[KillerMuffin]

I rent them from the library.

Jon, the situation you described generally uses a dash, ellipses seem to take the form of a fade.

"You're a jerk! That was my--"

"I was naked, dammit!"

"It was still mine. Jeremiah gave it to me oh so long ago . . . ."

 

[jon.hayworth]

KM

Thank you.

jon

ps You have to rent books from the library! Ours are free we only have to pay a fine if we are late returning the books!
Although I am a bibliophile and prefer to own my books - storage is the only bummer - it nearly gave me a breakdown to have a clear out of novels I had not read in years.

 

[KillerMuffin]

Ours are free, too. I've just never returned a library book in on time in my life. I always pay rent for them.



You know what else I don't like? I don't like the words: member, turgid, womanly core, her center.

Ick.

 

[Weird Harold]

Re: Going Dotty Over Ellipses

When available, italics*, boldface*, underlining*, and even changes of font size* or style* may be employed, if it helps convey the story's content.


[ * Not available on this website . ]

A clarification: All of these punctuation options are available at Literotica, although Laurel would prefer authors NOT uses changes in Font or Style to preserve a uniform apearance at Literotica.