June 21, 2002

L.R. sent me a charming and hysterically funny e-mail in which he nevertheless referred to something as “deep-seeded” instead of “deep-seated.”

What do I do? Using a comma instead of a semi-colon is one thing—e-mail is casual!!!!!! and breezy!!!!!!—but this is on an entirely different scale.

I am going to try my best to withhold judgment until I actually meet him.

Who am I kidding? I could no sooner withhold judgment than I could grow a third arm.

Perhaps I will suddenly develop Wernicke’s aphasia and this sort of thing will cease to matter to me in the slightest.

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11 Responses to L.R. sent me a charming

  1. Mel says:

    Hey, I love your blog! You fucking crack me up! I’m one of your religious and avid readers.

    I’m fearful that you would read my blog and just detest my horrible grammar and spelling skills (or lack there of).

    But I have a question, how can I get comments posted on my blog too?

    Reply
  2. Adam807 says:

    i should think, all things considered, that you would prefer the idea of something (or someone) being “deep-seeded.”

    and it makes more sense if you think about it. i mean, how does one sit deeply?

    Reply
  3. Anonymous says:

    It’s funny how many good things can never outweigh one bad thing, isn’t it?

    Reply
  4. marquito says:

    Your blog is divine. Except not everyone in the world has perfect grammar, punctuation or spelling. That’s what English majors like me are for. Even then, no one is perfect. One aspires, never really reaching. So give this guy a little slack. He may end up having other endowments that will more than make up for these shortcomings. It all depends on what is most important to you. Human beings are a compromise of abilities. Otherwise we’d be God. Ne pense toi?

    Reply
  5. marquito…we just keep running into each other don’t we…

    Eh….give the guy a break…I mean one error is fine but if he can’t type his own name without having to hit the backspace then you have some problems…

    Reply
  6. I think as a Wernicke’s aphasic you’d be just as irritated by other people’s mistakes…more so, in fact, because most people don’t have excuses.

    But I think “deep-seeded” is excusable, because it’s got a plausible etymology of its own and because there’s little phonetic difference between the words. It’s the equivalent of saying “spitting image” for “spit and image,” just unique to this guy.

    Reply
  7. Adam807 says:

    Spit and image? Really??

    Reply
  8. mike says:

    Oh, Fausty! You had me at Wernicke’s aphasia. This linguistics major loves your stuff all too much.

    As one who is also hypervigilant about spelling and grammar, I do have to acknowledge that an occasional slip-up is bound to occur to everyone. Just this morning, I sent a potential roommate a message that included the phrase “since my answering machine hiccuping durring your message” and I’ve been cringing inwardly since then.

    Reply
  9. matt says:

    I can relate to incorrect grammar and punctuation. Trained ass a copy editor, my friends call me a grammar whore and say snide things about prescriptive grammar when i correct them.

    Reply
  10. Nineveh says:

    You are the wittiest writer I’ve seen in a long, long time.

    Reply
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