May 05, 2005
Another thing that drives me crazy is when people say that Mercury is "in retrograde."
Retrograde is an adjective, people. Mercury can be "in Capricorn" or "in Libra" but it can't be "in retrograde."
It just is retrograde. Or at least it was until April 12 of this year at 3:45 a.m., Eastern Standard Time.
Not that I pay any attention to that sort of thing.
Posted by Faustus, MD at 09:03 PM
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Comments
1) Jess said (on 05/ 5/05 at 11:08 PM):
Or "E.S. is in Faustus." Like that. :)
2) Mike said (on 05/ 5/05 at 11:46 PM):
Jess, "Faustus" as adjective? I can only imagine the wikipedia entry... *Shuts up now before being pushed in front of a train*
3) Mushlette said (on 05/ 6/05 at 12:02 AM):
Now if I could just get people to quit blaming their inability to properly parse sentences on planets I'd be soooo much happier. "Oh, I'm sorry. Mecury's retrograde. THAT'S why I'm not listening to a thing you say today."
Snark.
4) apb said (on 05/ 6/05 at 12:12 AM):
Well, you often hear it as, "Mercury is in retrograde motion," which is technically correct, if redundant. Of course we all know that Mercury is nver actually retrograde, it's just that we perceive it to be such.
5) apb said (on 05/ 6/05 at 12:12 AM):
Well, you often hear it as, "Mercury is in retrograde motion," which is technically correct, if redundant. Of course we all know that Mercury is never actually retrograde, it's just that we perceive it to be such.
6) zenchick said (on 05/ 6/05 at 12:50 AM):
how about...
..."irregardless"?
Were it a word, it would actually mean 'regarding'.
7) anapestic said (on 05/ 6/05 at 10:19 AM):
"Irregardless" is one of the cultural atrocities of our time, zenchick. I can recall at least three separate English teachers who made a point of telling me (and my classmates) that it's not a proper word, yet I regularly hear people who should know better use it. I think I heard Bill Gates use it in a radio quote last week.
I've never head about this retrograde Mercury, however. It sounds like something unpleasant that happens when one is having one's temperature taken.
8) Mike B. said (on 05/ 6/05 at 03:15 PM):
I'm with you on "irregardless," but "in retrograde" seems to be standard usage in astrology. I would argue that (in this sense alone) "retrograde" has become a noun, an elided form of "its retrograde phase" or something of that nature.
9) Mushlette said (on 05/ 7/05 at 06:08 PM):
I had a poet friend who coined the word "irregardfulllessly," which I think is completely hysterical.
10) birdfarm said (on 05/ 8/05 at 02:43 AM):
apb, I very much enjoyed the idea of Mercury *actually* going backward. For some reason that struck me as very funny.
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