Useless information thread

[ronalditop]

Originally Posted by Sentinel

Moving and shocking, suicide note of Bill Zeller (Princeton grad). (Warning: its very intense).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_805689.html

Thanks so much for posting. It was a great read. RIP Bill Zeller.

[LameTennisPlayer]

Originally Posted by Dilettante

My useless information:

There's a Spanish brand of beer named Mahou. If you take an empty one litre bottle and hit it with a drum stick, you get a perfect Mi note so you can tune your guitar in case you forgot your tuner.

lmao..... does this happen with other beers or just the spanish. OMG did you say 1 LITRE OF BEEEERRRR!!!!!!

[Mike Bulgakov]

I have experimented with quite a few racquets, but keep returning to my Fischer racquets. I can't find a tension for poly strings, or blend of poly with other strings, that I like in these racquets.

[Sentinel]

temperatures have reached freezing this year in newdelhi. I am frozen.

no sun outside, very gray. i wonder how the homeless and animals are surviving

[Dilettante]

Originally Posted by LameTennisPlayer

lmao..... does this happen with other beers or just the spanish. OMG did you say 1 LITRE OF BEEEERRRR!!!!!!

As far as I know, this happens only with Mahou bottles, BTW it was our favorite beer when we the band were practicing. The drummer somehow came up with this, I guess one day he just hit the bottle with the stick and heard the note. I thought it was genius.

Yes, 1 litre, but don't worry, we don't use to carry only one single bottle for a whole practice session.

[Mike Bulgakov]

I am curious about the discrepancy in protocol between American and British posters regarding punctuation within quotation marks. It is clearly a slow night for me.

My understanding is that the New York Times standard, and American standard, for the following arbitrary sentence would be: I enjoyed the film "Ronin," but preferred the Russian film "Tycoon: a New Russian."

The U.K. standard would have the sentence written as: I enjoyed the film "Ronin", but preferred the Russian film "Tycoon: a New Russian". It seems that most TW posters prefer the U.K. protocol.

[ProgressoR]

The first version just makes no punctuational sense. I am amazed this is considered good protocol anywhere in the world.

[Sentinel]

^ I always keep the period outside the quotes.

What are your thoughts on :

Did you know she said "You rock?"

Did you know she said "You rock" ?

Did you know she asked me "How are you?" ?

Did you know she asked me "How are you??"

[ProgressoR]

What are your thoughts on :

Did you know she said "You rock?" WRONG, unless she was asking a question, and you are missing a final question mark after the speech marks

Did you know she said "You rock" ? CORRECT, unless she was asking a question

Did you know she asked me "How are you?" ? CORRECT

Did you know she asked me "How are you??" Not sure if double question mark has a legitimate place in serious literature, and you need another question mark after the speech marks.


I recall back in school I was puzzled by all this stuff and asked our English teacher and he spent a whole lesson on this, its important, every civilised person needs to know this.

[Sentinel]

^ when i've said "she said", its not a question. When i;ve said "She asked", it is.

i agree with you, but want to know if there are any opinions to the contrary since i am not a native English speaker.

[Dilettante]

Originally Posted by Sentinel

i agree with you, but want to know if there are any opinions to the contrary since i am not a native English speaker.

The logic of punctuation it's the same for every language which uses the Latin alphabet.

[heycal]

Originally Posted by Mike Bulgakov

I am curious about the discrepancy in protocol between American and British posters regarding punctuation within quotation marks. It is clearly a slow night for me.

My understanding is that the New York Times standard, and American standard, for the following arbitrary sentence would be: I enjoyed the film "Ronin," but preferred the Russian film "Tycoon: a New Russian."

The U.K. standard would have the sentence written as: I enjoyed the film "Ronin", but preferred the Russian film "Tycoon: a New Russian". It seems that most TW posters prefer the U.K. protocol.

It's my understanding that the first way, the "American" way, is considered the correct version. But I, an American, hate it, and use the other way.

I did not know "my" way was a British thing. I just thought I was wantonly breaking the rules.

[Dilettante]

Originally Posted by heycal

It's my understanding that the first way, the "American" way, is considered the correct version.

No it isn't, nor in English neither in other languages using this alphabet, as I said before.

[heycal]

Originally Posted by Dilettante

No it isn't, nor in English neither in other languages using this alphabet, as I said before.

I believe it is, as does the other poster. If you think we are wrong (and I hope we are since I don't like that style), please cite a source.

[Chopin]

Guys,

It's standard in the United States to keep most punctuation inside of quotation marks. Here are some basic, easy to follow style rules:

1) Always place periods and commas inside quotation marks.

I enjoyed Ozu's "Late Spring," but others refused to watch it because of the subtitles.

(An exception is MLA parenthetical in-text citations).

2) Put colons and semicolons outside of quotation marks.

3) Put question marks and exclamation points inside quotation marks unless they apply to the sentence as a whole.

Examples:

Unfortunately for the message boards, the flame war continued with Poster X asking, "Are you a total idiot?"

Have you read the post where Chopin argues that "Vince Spadea would defeat Rod Laver"?

(Note: This last rule can get a little tricky with MLA parenthetical citations)

Best,
Chopin

[Rippy]

delete post

[SoBad]

Originally Posted by Mike Bulgakov

I am curious about the discrepancy in protocol between American and British posters regarding punctuation within quotation marks. It is clearly a slow night for me.

My understanding is that the New York Times standard, and American standard, for the following arbitrary sentence would be: I enjoyed the film "Ronin," but preferred the Russian film "Tycoon: a New Russian."

The U.K. standard would have the sentence written as: I enjoyed the film "Ronin", but preferred the Russian film "Tycoon: a New Russian". It seems that most TW posters prefer the U.K. protocol.

I like the second paragraph better. The period inside or outside the quotation mark may be argued, but the comma inside '"Ronin,"' in the first paragraph just looks horribly wrong.

[Chopin]

"Given its quality headliners and high commercial profile (ding-dong, is that Oscar calling?), it’s no surprise that “The King’s Speech,” a buddy story about aggressively charming opposites — Colin Firth as the stutterer who would be king and Geoffrey Rush as the speech therapist — comes with heaping spoonfuls of sugar."

http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/11/26/movies/26king.html

[Chopin]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12149921

"What we have here in Queensland tonight is a very grim and desperate situation."

"We've had multiple calls requesting urgent assistance from people caught in vehicles, caught on the street, caught in flood ways," he said.

[Chopin]

^^The British are a little less consistent in this respect. You will see both punctuation inside and outside of quotations depending upon the source since both are considered correct.

In America you only see punctuation inside the quotation marks, at least from reputable sources.