Saturday, December 27, 2008

Homonymity is not a choice: A response to Kaleb's response to my. . . whatever he called it


'Sup peoples?

Hear's what I think:

Some words are just dyeing to be misused. I think "their" has always wished that it could be demonstrative, and "there" can't shake the desire to be possessive. These words don't have a choice. After all, who would choose to have to endure all the stigma of being wrong all the time? And they have an excuse - if anybody asks, they were just at the wrong place at the wrong time.

I give these words a place to roam free, and be what they want to be. They need not be confined under the weight of "correct" English grammar. After all, what is correct grammar and word usage anyway? Just the arbitrary whims of thinking people who have the time to write dictionaries and style books. Forget what they say.

Whose with me?

7 comments:

  1. Rob, didn't you mean Rome free? All verbs want to be proper nouns, what with the capitols and all.

    al sends

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  2. May I clarify that my previous comment, in which homonyms were abused, was purely sarcastic, and that I support the proper usage of English grammar.

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  3. Hahaha... Rob, homonyms are a beautiful thing, but with great power comes great responsibility - don't abuse the homonyms. They're feeling out of sorts and miserable, ripped from their proper homes and dropped into sentences where they feel as awkward as a Yankee at a pig-pickin'. Remember your Chesterton.. only when people have lost hope do they throw off rules - when they are in great high spirits they are always making rules. ;) Please, don't torture there/their/they're, or even worse, your/you're... or your loyal readership. We fear the homonyms will grow tired of their enforced slavery in a foreign land surrounded by alien words which they do not know and will call upon the great Dictionary who will deliver them and smite down their slavemaster, thrown by their great deliverer Kaleb.. I mean Moses.. or something.

    Wow.. I dearly hope that wasn't heretical.

    Merry 5th day of Christmas! :D

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  4. Am I the only one who had trouble saying the name of the post out loud?

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  5. "Just the word homonymonimity... homonymonymonity. . . homonymity? Right.
    What's so hard about homo. . . you know, that word?"

    Or is it all the repetition? A response to Kaleb's response. What if he responds to this response, and I respond to that? Then, I will have to call it "A response to his response to my response to his response to my. . . whatever he called it." Wow, that's a mouthful. I think I got that right. It took me a couple minutes to figure out that gibberish.

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  6. Just clarifying for everyone, that whole post is satire. I'm not really advocating grammatical anarchy.

    Also, I think Kaleb has endured enough homonyms. One of my Christmas/birthday gifts to him will be that I'm going to stop torturing him with my tricked out grammar.

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  7. There just words. They don't control us. Not any more...lol

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