1. Half blind though Mary's grandmother was, she still noticed Mary entering the room.
2. Very sick though John was, he refused to call for a doctor.
3. Almost closed though the door was, Mary could still catch a glimpse of John behind it.
4. Surprisingly cheap though the car was, Mary still had to save for a year before she could buy it.
5. How nearly transparent her skin is!
6. The download was so almost complete that Mary expected she'd be able to watch the movie in five minutes.
...I'm purely interested in the syntax; also, I don't care whether something is 'officially' grammatical or not, just tell me how you feel about it. It's people that create language, not grammar books. :)
So, on a scale of 0 to 3 (0 for very bad, 1 for rather bad/very odd, 2 for slightly odd and 3 for perfectly fine), what are your intuitions on these sentences?
Thanks a lot!
Girl to friend: What's the difference between penguins and puffins?
Friend: Well, for one thing, puffins are birds.
--Central Park Zoo, Penguin/Puffins Exhibit
Panties (in the USA and Canada) or knickers or pants (in the UK and Commonwealth) or undies (in Australia and New Zealand) are a form of underwear, usually light and snug-fitting, designed to be worn by women or girls in the area directly below the waist.
Does that mean that 'panties' or 'undies' are not used in UK at all (or used to mean some other thing)?
- Music:Heaven Street Seven - Astoria
Loud woman: You said you'd had Hot Pockets!
Quiet woman: No, I...
Loud woman, interrupting: Yes, you did! You told me you had had Hot Pockets!
Quiet woman: I haven't had Hot Pockets in weeks. Not since Evan*'s parents were in town.
Loud woman: You told me you did just days ago! You lie! Li-ar!
Quiet woman: No, I said the reason I had cake for breakfast is that I *ran out* of Hot Pockets!
--6th St & Ave A
Overheard by: Rose Fox
Ghetto girl #1: Smut. What is "smut"?
Ghetto girl #2: "Smut"? Sounds like "slut."
Ghetto girl #1: Yeah. I think it's like "slut," but for a man.
Ghetto girl #2: Cause it has an "m" for men.
--31st St & 8th Ave
Overheard by: Sco108
Teenage boy: We should go hang out in Park Slope.
Teenage girl: No, we shouldn't. The yuppies will run us over with their strollers.
--Long Island City
Overheard by: Sunny
Adorable four-year-old girl, singing: Daddy! Youuuuu/ you make me flyyy!
Doting father: Awwwwwww!
Adorable four-year-old girl: I farted.
--6th Ave & 12th St
Overheard by: Jessica
I left Ottawa and moved to Brantford last December. Brantford is a Car City and has a population of about 90,000. People here think the transit system is a joke. The buses only run once every half an hour, every hour after 6:30 pm and Sundays, and it is often faster/easier to walk then it is to bus.
From my perspective, the city is actually doing a great job with transit.
- A few weeks back, I boarded a bus, only to see and hear an automated stop announcer had been installed. Brantford Transit never announced they were putting in the system, but they did, quietly and efficiently. I thought I had been transported to Toronto. :p
- Smart Card technology is installed in all buses. You can also pay with change. No tickets - a no muss, no fuss system in my opinion.
- Recently the stroller issue came up, the same one in Ottawa, and immediately a policy was drawn up and memos were posted on buses with bright red paper. The rules were clear and concise and reasonable.
- Did I mention adult monthly passes are only $60/month?
If a small city like Brantford can implement these things, why can't Ottawa? I'm sure Brantford transit has a fraction of the ridership and money that OCTranspo has to "play" with, yet they've done it. It didn't take two years to decide whether strollers should be allowed on the buses or not. *ahem*
Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox. I really hope OCTranspo gets their act together soon, for the sake of the drivers and the riders!
Five-year-old boy #1: Feel my power!
Five-year-old boy #2, nonchalantly: There is no such thing as power. (rolls eyes)
(five-year-old boy #1 walks away dejectedly)
--Hudson & Grove
Overheard by: wgoddessw
You know, I'm just curious, because I think Japanese is a smart nation. They can build robots and all. Surely they can learn language like English?
These have been in my family's Christmas stockings for more than twenty years! We normally buy them at the Budapest Deli in the Byward Market. Is there anywhere else in Ottawa that sells them? Is there somewhere online that has cheap shipping and is in Canada? I'd much rather buy them in person.
Edit: Thanks everyone! Yay for ladybugs!!
- Mood:
cold
TIA
I didn't have to look at the weather forecast to know that a storm is on the way; I could feel it with the first step I took outside this morning with my dog.
As I stood on my patio and watched the steam rise off my coffee and swirl up through golden shafts of golden morning sunlight shot through a cloud-filled sky, I remembered a day like this one fifteen or sixteen years ago.
I'd just gotten home from Nice, where I'd lived and worked on a film called Mister Stitch for a few months. It wasn't the most pleasant movie in the world to work on (the other lead actor was an unprofessional nightmare) but the time I spent there working on it remains some of the best time in my life. I'd been acting since I was a child, but it wasn't until I lived in Nice and worked on Mister Stitch that I truly felt like an artist. I was fundamentally changed by the experience, seeing the world - especially entertainment - differently than I ever had before.
The day I got back from location, sometime in mid-January of that year, my friend Dave picked me up from LAX, and we went directly down the road to Manhattan Beach, to wait out the terrible rush hour traffic which stood between the airport and my house. After ten hours on an airplane, another 120 minutes to crawl 40 miles up the freeway wasn't exactly an appealing notion.
We parked in a mostly-empty lot and walked down toward the water. There was a winter storm on its way, driving powerful waves ahead of it that were so huge, they crashed up against the bottom of the pier and occasionally broke over the end of it. Wrapped up in the irrational immortality that's endemic to 22 year-olds, we walked dangerously close to the end of the shuddering pier, angry waves boiling beneath, and dared the Pacific Ocean to reach up and touch us.
I don't recall specifically what we talked about - I'm sure I regaled him with slightly-exaggerated tales of glamor and excess and artistic awakening along the French Riviera - but even now I can I clearly recall the terror and exhilaration I felt whenever foamy, freezing sea water splashed up through the spaces between the planks and soaked into the tops of our shoes.
Since I grew up and became a husband and a father, I've gone out of my way to avoid anything more dangerous than driving on the Los Angeles freeway system, so I can't imagine defying a Pacific winter storm like I did when I was in my early twenties ... but standing on my patio in my late thirties, not really defying as much as tolerating the morning chill, I was grateful for the memory.
Guy #1: And then I said, "bitch, I speak crazy too!"
Guy #2: Damn right!
--42nd St
Overheard by: Doesn't speak crazy
I'd really like to subscribe to an astronomy/space exploration magazine, but I'm not sure which one I should choose. I'm leaning toward Sky & Telescope but I'm also considering Astronomy magazine. Can anyone make any personal recommendations?
Thanks!
Little boy: Mommy, mommy!
Mom: What?
Little boy: Can I please have this? (holds up Transformers toy)
Mom, laughing: Yeah, the tooth fairy's gonna have to come a lot more for you to afford that.
--Target
- Mood:
curious
Page Summary
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif)
linguaphiles :: ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
nyzoe : judgements needed [+19] ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif)
overheardnyc : Magic Birds That Live by the Sea [+0] - linguaphiles :: hector_von_kyiv : undrwr [+30]
- overheardnyc : Jim Gaffigan: The Horror! [+1]
- linguaphiles :: theunixgeek : Learning Quickly with Language Courses [+6]
- overheardnyc : You're a Loron, Becky. [+0]
- overheardnyc : Seriously, How Many Cup Holders Does a Stroller Need? [+0]
- overheardnyc : Are Your Eyes Watering? [+0]
- octranspo :: layovers : If Brantford can do it, why can't Ottawa?! [+25]
- overheardnyc : The Perils Of Not Being Exposed to He-Man As a Child [+1]
- ottawa :: mydwit : Weatherproof Radio? [+3]
- linguaphiles :: harehare : why does japanese doesn't like english? [+28]
- ottawa :: silverwyd : Foil Wrapped Lady Bugs [+9]
- ottawa :: _hearmyvoice : Sugar-free chocolate [+6]
- wilwheaton : ...remembering the irrational immortality of youth [+0]
- overheardnyc : But Apparently You're Not Allowed to Talk to the Judge That Way? [+0]
- astronomy :: rubix_cube_cat : Sky & Telescope vs. Astronomy magazine [+7]
- overheardnyc : Why So Many Little Kids Want to Play Hockey [+0]
- ottawa :: popelaksmi : Organic Vermiculite [+3]
- octranspo :: ikarus8737 : Sickening [+10]