New writing app

[Bubo_bubo]

For me a useful writing tool would be one that'd be more or less "How to get your French out of your English and avoid those false friends."

 

[LdyHoneybee]

All of which discard the nuance of "sidled up to me." Perhaps it didn't know what sidled meant, or is dumbing down for readers. Number 3 is clunk central. That's terrible, Muriel.

#3 avoid passive voice except when trying to be diplomatic or when you do not know who the culprit is. “My jewelry was stolen.”

 

[Bubo_bubo]

Things I learned that Grammarly doesn't know about which I found funny.
- hotpants (they want them to be hot pants)
- Victoria's Secret catalogue (they want them to be the Secret catalogue of someone called Victoria).

 

[SimonDoom]

The most useful sort of writing app for me would be something that I attach to my wrist and it zaps me when I go too long without writing.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

The most useful sort of writing app for me would be something that I attach to my wrist and it zaps me when I go too long without writing.

https://i.imgur.com/yv5zgZ0.jpeg

 

[gunhilltrain]

Things I learned that Grammarly doesn't know about which I found funny.
- hotpants (they want them to be hot pants)
- Victoria's Secret catalogue (they want them to be the Secret catalogue of someone called Victoria).

Funny, I never thought about whether hotpants is one word or two. Well, it has two meanings, both rather old. The first is those dressy shorts that were briefly a fad in the early seventies. That was directly a reference to the previous definition, which referred to a woman's sexual desires. That was connected to another term which goes back to the 1940s at least, "hot number," a woman with such desires.

Since we're at it, is handjob one word or two?

 

[gunhilltrain]

The most useful sort of writing app for me would be something that I attach to my wrist and it zaps me when I go too long without writing.

That reminds me of a Dorothy Parker quote: "Writing is the art of applying the ass to the seat." We should have a thread about Dorothy Parker.

 

[Bramblethorn]

https://i.imgur.com/yv5zgZ0.jpeg

Well that strip looks familiar ;-)

 

[Bubo_bubo]

Funny, I never thought about whether hotpants is one word or two. Well, it has two meanings, both rather old. The first is those dressy shorts that were briefly a fad in the early seventies. That was directly a reference to the previous definition, which referred to a woman's sexual desires. That was connected to another term which goes back to the 1940s at least, "hot number," a woman with such desires.

Since we're at it, is handjob one word or two?

The preferred spelling seems to be hand job, but handjob is given as an alternative in wiktionary (which is overall more descriptivist than prescriptivist - and at least has words like descriptivist and prescriptivist in its word list).

Wiktionary is my go-to if I have word that I'm sure exists but spelling control programmes tell me it doesn't (9 out of 10 times I'm right) or when I think the spelling I use is correct, even if not the preferred. I prefer handjob to hand job, because blowjob is the preferred spelling and I like things to be consistent, as apparently does Grammarly that suggests I correct hand job to handjob.

 

[gunhilltrain]

The preferred spelling seems to be hand job, but handjob is given as an alternative in wiktionary (which is overall more descriptivist than prescriptivist - and at least has words like descriptivist and prescriptivist in its word list).

Wiktionary is my go-to if I have word that I'm sure exists but spelling control programmes tell me it doesn't (9 out of 10 times I'm right) or when I think the spelling I use is correct, even if not the preferred. I prefer handjob to hand job, because blowjob is the preferred spelling and I like things to be consistent, as apparently does Grammarly that suggests I correct hand job to handjob.

This is a small example of why English is a surprisingly difficult language to learn. It's a very inconsistent language. Thank God for spell-checking, because I have some trouble with that. By the way, Grammarly made "spell-checking" a hyphenated word. Hyphens - let's not go there.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

I tend to limit hyphens to cases like right-hand man and out-of-town girl. (There's probably a name for it, but I can't be bothered to look it up).

 

[Voboy]

It's easy to get around spellcheck: just don't use it.

Who cares, in the end, whether you write handjob or hand job? The presence or absence of the space in between the words cannot possibly make any meaningful difference in the way you're storytelling... especially here on Lit, where most readers are scrolling one-handed.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

Bitching about what spellcheckers do badly doesn't mean I can't use them for what they do well, like catching most of my typos and reminding me of little words that didn't make it from my mind to the page

 

[Duleigh]

Interesting, but I'll reserve judgement until I have a longer look.

AS a test, I checked the opening sentence from a story I'm writing.

Cathy sidled up to me and sharply elbowed me in the upper arm. “So, you going to the tournament?”

And here are the top 3 rewrite suggestions.

1) Cathy elbowed me in the upper arm with a sharp elbow.
2) She elbowed me sharply in the upper arm as she walked up to me.
3) My upper arm was sharply elbowed by Cathy as she came up to me.

That's a fair opening line, and I love sidled, it's a good word to use. I just think moving "sharply" makes it flow more smoothly:
Cathy sidled up to me and elbowed me sharply in the upper arm. “So, you going to the tournament?”

Dump the software

 

[Duleigh]

https://i.imgur.com/yv5zgZ0.jpeg

I thought I was the only one to read Oglaf!