Things left unsaid

In no particular order.

• I'm giving up on the digests. They feel like cheating in the same way that post-by-mail does: I'm still doing LJ stuff, I'm just not doing it on LJ. That defeats the purpose of withdrawing; and so I am withdrawing from that method of withdrawal as well. I'll still try to keep folks apprised of my continuing-to-live, but I doubt that it will be as thorough.


• "As well as" and "and" are not synonyms. "As well as" connects completed lists; each list must, if it contains more than one element, also contain "and". "Apples, pears, bananas, as well as starfruits": no. "Apples, pears, and bananas, as well as starfruits": yes.


• For that matter, if you begin a list with a modifier, that modifier affects all elements of that list; you don't get to switch midway. You must complete the list before you switch modifiers. (This includes verb phrases.) "The elephant was large, grey, wrinkled, and had unusually large ears": no. "The elephant was large, grey, and wrinkled, and had unusually large ears": yes. ("Was" is the initial modifier: you cannot say "The elephant was had unusually large ears", so you must terminate the list with "and" before switching to the "had" modifier.)
  
  
  • Zeugma, on the other hand, is fine. "The elephant was large, grey, wrinkled, and walking to the food dish" is an example of zeugma.


• I need to etch into my skull that while it may be disingenuous for me to complain about nobody visiting me when I never visit them, it is also disingenuous for other people to complain about me not visiting them when they never visit me.


• It is possible that I'm overly fond of the word "disingenuous". I'm just sayin'.


• I really need to get my groove back. I know I used to have one; even if it was twenty years ago, I know I used to be creative and friendly and easy to approach. I wish I knew how to do that again.

That is all.

(EDIT: Actually, "the elephant was large, grey, wrinkled, and walking to the food dish" isn't a very good example of zeugma, since "walking" is a participle and therefore can be included in the list of adjectives. I was thinking of "was walking" as the imperfect tense of "walk".

Zeugma, for those who don't know, is the use of a word to do double duty in a sentence, generally by having more than one meaning: "Are you getting fit or having one?" (Hawkeye, M.A.S.H.; "fit" is zeugmatic.) The song "Have Some Madeira, M'Dear" is characterized by extended zeugma: "She lowered her standards by raising her glass, her courage, her eyes and his hopes." ("Raising" is zeugmatic here.)

Credit: Wikipedia and Alison Wunderland.)