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someoneyouknow

someoneyouknow

Literotica Guru
Joined
Jun 5, 2006
Posts
28,274
True to the end

tumblr_p90g2r2BQ81rhavdko1_500.png
 
The two expressions aren't identical in meaning, though. We all are going to die; not many of us are "about to die." So, depending on what, specifically, you want to convey, they aren't both correct.
 
Hypoxia said:
Fucking grammarians.
Click to expand...

Years ago, the boss complained that the language in our Engineering Office was very bad. He said that he was tired of hearing "fuck" so much, particularly "fuck off". (We were playing cards at lunchtime. I may have been standing on a chair in order to get enough leverage to drop the Queen of Spades on a trick to ruin someone's evil plans).

After he left we were quiet for a few seconds.

"You know," one guy said, "fuck off is a poor way for a professional to express himself."

"Yeah," I replied " you should never end a sentence with a preposition. The correct term is 'Off is the place to which you should fuck'. We need to step it up a bit."

Now THAT'S grammar!

BTW: we shortened it to "off".
 
In Bouhour's circumstances, of course, both were absolutely correct.

Anyway, are you familiar with the GB debating club?

"Fuck you!"

"No, fuck you!"

"No! Fuck YOU!"
 
TANSTAAFL58 said:
BTW: we shortened it to "off".
Click to expand...

I would have gone with "Off you,"

We had a card playing group when I was an undergrad. It was double-deck pinochle in the student union cafeteria, and an interesting group. A couple of the players were an older (30-something) married couple. In one game she made a play he didn't like. He stood up so fast he knocked his chair over and started screaming at her. "Fuck you" was just the start.

Oddly, she didn't divorce him right away. Usually he was a pretty calm guy, but he got into cards.
 
TANSTAAFL58 said:
Years ago, the boss complained that the language in our Engineering Office was very bad. He said that he was tired of hearing "fuck" so much, particularly "fuck off". (We were playing cards at lunchtime. I may have been standing on a chair in order to get enough leverage to drop the Queen of Spades on a trick to ruin someone's evil plans).

After he left we were quiet for a few seconds.

"You know," one guy said, "fuck off is a poor way for a professional to express himself."

"Yeah," I replied " you should never end a sentence with a preposition. The correct term is 'Off is the place to which you should fuck'. We need to step it up a bit."

Now THAT'S grammar!

BTW: we shortened it to "off".
Click to expand...


Seems like a wise choice, in terms of office politics.

Grammatically, however, you were on OK ground before, because "off" in "Fuck off" is an adverb, not a preposition.

That, plus the old rule about not ending sentences with prepositions is archaic.

But it's a good story.
 
I've not time to search for it now, but there's an image of a tee-shirt with FUCK in large letters. Underneath, in a smaller font, are check-off boxes:
FUCK
* Me
* You
* Off​
EDIT: I might add:
* All​
 
Last edited:
Ah, a gripe. It's "T-shirt," not "tee-shirt," although Webster's has gotten around to accepting "tee-shirt" as a variation. Writers go for the first-listed spelling, though. This is an "interesting history" word. It comes from the shape of the shirt--a "T."
 
I usually use tee in forum posts but I thought I'd be formal. My bad. I'll more likely use T-shirt in 3rd-person narrative, and tee when spoken. I don't think the issue ever arose in my technical work.
 
It's a word with a direct, visual origin-function connection that would be a shame to lose.
 
someoneyouknow said:
True to the end

tumblr_p90g2r2BQ81rhavdko1_500.png
Click to expand...

KeithD said:
The two expressions aren't identical in meaning, though. We all are going to die; not many of us are "about to die." So, depending on what, specifically, you want to convey, they aren't both correct.
Click to expand...

Actually he said, "Je vais... ou je suis en train de ... mourir. Les deux formules sont correctes."

The English translation can easily vary from the one given in the link. "je vais mourir," for example, can be either "I am dying" or "I go to die." So don't jump to conclusions about syntax or semantics when you're dealing with translations.

Hypoxia said:
Fucking grammarians.
Click to expand...

Yes, there are a few I'd love to be fucking. Like that redhead in high school who started the "Save the Subjunctive Club." If only I were young again! Alas!
 
Put off or put up.
Take off or take up.
Knock off or knock up.
Fuck off or fuck up.
Screw off or screw up.
Piss off or piss up.

Different flavors.
 
KeithD said:
The two expressions aren't identical in meaning, though. We all are going to die; not many of us are "about to die." So, depending on what, specifically, you want to convey, they aren't both correct.
Click to expand...

That depends on what the definition of about really means.

In a geologic sense I am about to die. In a euclidean sense I am about to die could mean in 5, 10, 20, 30 minutes or 10 - 20 days or it could mean within seconds of the statement. It all depends on how you look at time and it's passage.
 
Zeb_Carter said:
That depends on what the definition of about really means.

In a geologic sense I am about to die. In a euclidean sense I am about to die could mean in 5, 10, 20, 30 minutes or 10 - 20 days or it could mean within seconds of the statement. It all depends on how you look at time and it's passage.
Click to expand...

Though, as I said earlier, he said his last words in his own language, French; you're discussing a translation, not his actual statement. The French leaves no ambiguity about the imminence of his death as does the translation.
 
I am going to yawn.

I am about to yawn,

I am yawning now.

There is no return.
 
Just think of how much more productive he could have been on cocaine.
 
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