Proof (v.)

B(R)KLYN

Olivia McDowell — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:21:05 +0000

{ Every reform movement has a lunatic fringe via FFFFOUND! }

I just can’t stop wondering why Brooklyn (as in New York) is popularly (and officially) abbreviated to BKLYN.

À la:

{ Brooklyn Spoke }

If we’re getting rid of vowels (which is the NRMAL… I mean, NRML way) shouldn’t it be BRKLYN?

Ffffinding penguins

Olivia McDowell — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 02:45:16 +0000

It’s been so long since I even looked at FFFFOUND!, let alone succumbed to the Gen-Y overshare impulse to repost everything that tickles my fancy.

{ The Pursuit Aesthetic, via FFFFOUND! }

Are some of those penguins Emperors, and others Adélies?

Better than alphagetti*: edible gelatin typography

Olivia McDowell — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 04:34:06 +0000

{ via Colossal }

Current distraction: wondering about the mouthfeel. Chewy? Sticky? Sans-serifs-y? Alphagetti?*

(Subsequent distraction: the curious difference between American “jelly”, which is Australian “jam”, and Australian “jelly”, which is American “jello”.)

*If it’s named after what it clearly IS named after, shouldn’t there be an H after that G?

Three versions of a loving, travelling earworm

Olivia McDowell — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 06:44:14 +0000

I heard the Black Keys version of Have Love, Will Travel for the first time a few days ago.

And I wanted to like it, it I really did. (Because I love the whole Brothers album so very much.) But I just couldn’t forget how fantastic The Basics version is:

[Do ignore the Californication thing. How is that even relevant?]

And then I was worried that I only liked The Basics version because of the joyful, pop-y Beatles-yness (and the perfectly imperfect syncopation).

But then I listened to the original by Richard Berry, which is about as pop-y as it gets:

…and I didn’t like it so much.

Ergo, I think my taste in music (or at least this song) is like my taste in food: really savoury isn’t my thing; completely sweet isn’t (always) my thing; but I truly adore salted caramel. (No really. Give me a bouquet of PayDay bars and I’ll be happy until I die of the diabeetus.)

A Kindleworm by any other name (and exciting news for OED lovers)

Olivia McDowell — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 02:00:55 +0000

[EDIT: Sadly, www.oed.com no longer works, and even the link to it from Oxford Dictionaries Online is broken. Sincerest apologies on my behalf for getting us all excited, and for not realising sooner.]

The straw that finally broke my anti-Kindle camel’s back was the fact that Kindle comes loaded with the full Oxford English Dictionary [ALSO EDIT: I meant (and still mean) the Oxford Dictionary OF English. I unforgivably use OED as a generic term, though I know there are some who would drop a thesaurus on my head for such an offence.], thus overcoming the two main obstacles previously prohibiting my access to said lexicographical bible: price, and bulk. (My only other accessway was online, through the student login left over from my university days. Not coincidentally, that student login is my favourite souvenir as an alumnus).

Anyway, I bought a Kindle as soon as I realised this (while playing Scrabble in a Kindle-owning friend’s dictionary-less house). And thereafter, when asked whether Kindle “is good?”, my most likely answer has been “IT HAS THE *WHOLE* OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY *IN* IT. YES is good.”

Now this doesn’t mean I no longer love “real” books. I do. Very much.

I have an inconveniently large number of books in my new home. (At least, relocating them from my old home – and chromatically arranging them again – was inconvenient.)

I also have one of these…

…on my desk at work.

Yes, it’s a giant fuzzy bookworm, otherwise known as helluo librorum.

…

WAIT A MINUTE.

Helluo librorum.

…

The OED is online!

Free!

Searchable!

No subscription (or university alumnus login) required!

And @OxfordWords tweets the Word Of The Day!

Now this doesn’t mean I no longer love Kindle…

The Oxford comma: dead at the hands of serial killers

Olivia McDowell — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 00:24:13 +0000

I give a #%*^ about the Oxford comma. I’m known for giving a #%*^ about the Oxford comma. But sadly, this sudden palaver over its threatened extinction (at the hands of its eponymous university, no less) is just a bureaucratic nail in an already-long-buried coffin. As a proofreader in Australia, I must (at least during working hours) adhere to the ‘current trends’ in Australian writing style, and that means NO SERIAL COMMAS EVER (except if absolutely needed for the sake of clarity, which isn’t any fun at all).

So as far as I’m (professionally) concerned, the Oxford comma has already been eradicated, or is at least seriously endangered, teetering on the brink of extinction. It lingers only as a ghost, destroyed by a gradual succession of serial killers*: style guides in ruthless pursuit of minimalist punctuation.

R, I, P.

Over at Salon.com, Mary Elizabeth Williams has already said almost everything else I would say on the topic. Most importantly, she a) clarifies the extent to which Oxford University is eliminating its eponymous comma (that is, no more than most institutions already have); and b) embedded the obvious Vampire Weekend video clip.

Now, two things about this video clip: Firstly, its total number of hits must have jumped phenomenally in the past 24 hours. Secondly, IT WAS DIRECTED BY THE WONDERFUL RICHARD AYOADE (of The IT Crowd, of course). And if that isn’t a joyful note on which to end a sombre post, I don’t know what is.

*Yes, I went there.

Unicorn ampersand (or, “I really do love you, Marc Johns”)

Olivia McDowell — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 07:09:19 +0000

Unicorn ampersand

(or, “I really do love you, Marc Johns”)

[From Everything wants to be a unicorn on Marc Johns's blog.]

Have I mentioned that I love Marc Johns? I’m pretty sure I have. Well, I also love that this is categorised as ‘serious drawings’.

40 literary terms you should know (and 4 reasons why)

Olivia McDowell — Wed, 11 May 2011 04:32:58 +0000

40 literary terms you should know

Why should you read and/or bookmark this list?

1) It is interesting and informative. If you don’t know the meaning of bildungsroman or hamartia, you need to read this.

2) I found it via Elmo Keep. Once upon a time, Elmo taught me all about teh interwebz at university, and I probably didn’t do all the recommended readings for that course, so we can (collectively, retrospectively) make up for it now by reading something recommended by her.

3) The self-referential humour in entry #30 is quite self-referentially humorous.

4) Entry #40 is one of my favourite words: verisimilitude.

Go forth and learn!

Stochastic? SO Random.

Olivia McDowell — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 05:40:20 +0000

Members of Generation Y [for Youngling, surely] are often accused of overusing the word “random”, especially in response to matters that are not at all random. For example:

First youngling: “I thought I lost my keys, then I realised they were in my pocket the whole time!”

Second youngling: “Ooo, random!”

I’ll admit I’m a serial offender, out of sheer laziness rather than deep-seated vapidity (I hope).

Anyway, would we suffer less scorn by using the word “stochastic” instead?

First youngling: “I couldn’t find my favourite red pen, then I realised it was in my hair the whole time!”

Second youngling: “Ooo, stochastic!”

… Or would we just be scorned as pretentious AND dim?

The Hipster Little Mermaid: Helvetica, not Ariel

Olivia McDowell — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 04:14:46 +0000

I do love the interwebs. This meme is just one reason why:

{ via Buzzfeed }

This is also quite great:

I would love to see a rival ‘Pitchfork’, titled ‘Trident’.