Shit That Stops You In Your Tracks.

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

You know what they are: I CRUISED DOWN EASY STREET TO THE STOP SIGN, WAITED FOR A CHEVY TO CLEAR THE INTERSECTION, THEN CREPT ACROSS THE ROAD AND TURNED INTO THE 7-Eleven ON THE OPPOSITE CORNER.

So how do you do THAT? Go from driving a Honda to being a convenience store? Tom Terrific usta do it back in the 50s.

How do you fix ambiguity?

I remove words with multiple meanings: I CRUISED DOWN EASY STREET TO THE STOP SIGN, WAITED FOR A CHEVY TO CLEAR THE INTERSECTION, THEN CREPT ACROSS THE ROAD AND PARKED IN THE 7-Eleven PARKING LOT ON THE OPPOSITE CORNER.

 

[FantasyXY]

You know what they are: I CRUISED DOWN EASY STREET TO THE STOP SIGN, WAITED FOR A CHEVY TO CLEAR THE INTERSECTION, THEN CREPT ACROSS THE ROAD AND TURNED INTO THE 7-Eleven ON THE OPPOSITE CORNER.

So how do you do THAT? Go from driving a Honda to being a convenience store? Tom Terrific usta do it back in the 50s.

How do you fix ambiguity?

I remove words with multiple meanings: I CRUISED DOWN EASY STREET TO THE STOP SIGN, WAITED FOR A CHEVY TO CLEAR THE INTERSECTION, THEN CREPT ACROSS THE ROAD AND PARKED IN THE 7-Eleven PARKING LOT ON THE OPPOSITE CORNER.

I would have used Pulled into the 7-Eleven, instead of Parked in the 7-Eleven parking lot

Pulled into is a really common phrase used to describe the operation of a motor vehicle.

 

[Desiremakesmeweak]

This is the old one about turning a cow into a field, or making a door a jar.

Fucking Fleming does it all the time: here's his most famous one: "as a woman, Bond loved how et cetera..."

Should you fix it? I think there should be some kind of understanding that writers are allowed to deliberately leave a few of these in - a bit like the stone mason's graffiti on Egyptian architecture. I leave some of this stuff in but editors always want to take it out at any cost.

 

[Carnevil9]

Three guys were walking down the street. Two of them walked into a bar.

The third one ducked.

 

[lovecraft68]

Things like that depend on how carefully you read or more importantly are you looking for mistakes?

The mind is conditioned to assume certain things and take things for granted. I know damn well "turned into the 7-11" meant he drove his car into the parking lot, not that he was transformed into a store.

Get a life is what that falls under for me

 

[sr71plt]

There's nothing wrong with the "turned into the 7-Eleven" rendering. All but the anal attentive looking for a reason to criticize (JBJ?) will follow the intent without problem.

Changing it to "parked at" changes the action taken. The rewrite doesn't remain specific to the action. Thus, a professional editor wouldn't suggest changing this in someone else's work. A writer could decide to change it in their own writing, of course. But that would also entail changing the original action being described.

Beyond that the example is too pedantic and anal retentively nitpicky.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

There's nothing wrong with the "turned into the 7-Eleven" rendering. All but the anal attentive looking for a reason to criticize (JBJ?) will follow the intent without problem.

Changing it to "parked at" changes the action taken. The rewrite doesn't remain specific to the action. Thus, a professional editor wouldn't suggest changing this in someone else's work. A writer could decide to change it in their own writing, of course. But that would also entail changing the original action being described.

Beyond that the example is too pedantic and anal retentively nitpicky.

Shows how much you know.

 

[laptopwriter]

E-Gad, what's happening to me?

Again I find myself agreeing with sr...

I do agree with him. The original premise for this post is just silly. No one reading that line is going to assume the car was magically transformed into a parking lot. The example of how it "should" be written, "parked in the parking lot," is repetitive.

Turned, pulled, wheeled, drove, eased...

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Again I find myself agreeing with sr...

I do agree with him. The original premise for this post is just silly. No one reading that line is going to assume the car was magically transformed into a parking lot. The example of how it "should" be written, "parked in the parking lot," is repetitive.

Turned, pulled, wheeled, drove, eased...

You like your sex in truck stop toilets, right?

 

[BurningMonkey]

..."parked in the parking lot," is repetitive.

Easily remedied by removing "parking": i.e., "parked in the lot at the 7-eleven".

As for pedantic and anal--this entire thread, and all the posts in it, qualify. IMHO.

 

[sr71plt]

Shows how much you know.

Why yes, yes, it does. Thanks for noticing.

(I also noticed how quickly you turned to irrelevant gibberish.)

 

[sr71plt]

As for pedantic and anal--this entire thread, and all the posts in it, qualify. IMHO.

Ah, so, then you don't agree with not gratuitously changing an author's meaning to erase all possible/imaginable ambiguity. Interesting.

 

[BurningMonkey]

Too much verbiage, serving to substantiate my point.

Let the pissing-match between yourself and James begin...I'm outa here.

 

[sr71plt]

I'm outa here.

That's fine. You didn't contribute anything constructive to the discussion.

Your suggestion gratuitously changed the original meaning of the action too.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

That's fine. You didn't contribute anything constructive to the discussion.

^^^^^^PILOTs our colon expert.

 

[TxRad]

^^^^^^PILOTs our colon expert.

JBJ, the AH's pet troll trying to rewrite writing.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

JBJ, the AH's pet troll trying to rewrite writing.

Here comes The Human Colon now!

 

[squirrelzo]

Ive been on this forum long enough now that not only do I always click on JamesBJohnson's threads, I always find them highly amusing.

Here comes The Human Colon now!

 

[lovecraft68]

Ive been on this forum long enough now that not only do I always click on JamesBJohnson's threads, I always find them highly amusing.

They do have their charm

They also have a pattern and a pavlov's dog feel to them as well.

As a bonus, every once in awhile I get something useful out of one as well.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Be alert, because we need more lerts out there.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

They do have their charm

They also have a pattern and a pavlov's dog feel to them as well.

As a bonus, every once in awhile I get something useful out of one as well.

PILOT is played by Bela Legosi, TEX is played by Peter Lorre.

 

[sr71plt]

As I posted, when you no longer have anything relevant or persuasive to offer, retreat into attacking gibberish. That's our JBJ.