The lonely ex-bully and Salon XXVI…

~Sunday~  This entry—and its subsequent comments—in this week's Post Secrets collection "spoke to me":


Tonight was Salon night, and here's our agenda with my responses interjected:

Salon XXVI Agenda
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Anna’s Home
  1. What about you: Would you rather be a Visogoth or sound weird? The Chronicle -Lingua Franca – Visigoths vs. Weirdness. (Two examples: editing "irregardless," and correcting, "That begs the question…") [John]

    I don’t mind “sounding weird.” However, I do struggle with “correcting” some things, two examples being: I recently edited a technical document that used the word “irregardless,” which has now made its way into the dictionary. And I have yet to hear anyone use “that begs the question” correctly. Ever. I’m in Grammar Girl’s camp about begging the question. With that said, I wish I’d never learned the correct usage, so I could continue misusing it in good conscience.

  2. "Messages of Hate" on university campuses, related to this week's Threats Target GLBT Center (NC State Bulletin) and a document produced by Shepherd University: Ten Ways to Fight Hate on Campus. [Brad]

    I didn’t know this distinction: “Hate crimes are a matter for the criminal justice system; bias incidents are governed by campus policy.” I wonder if it’s a campus (local) definition or diversity nomenclature (broader) definition.

  3. Experience running naked. [Kim]

    I “streaked” in 1975, senior year in high school, mostly because it was an opportunity to see my best friend naked, who was the one who suggested we do it. He wanted to do it, because we were the “good kids,” who would never do anything bad, or something that might potentially make our father lose a rank, and he thought it would make us badasses.

  4. How stodgy are we? What do we think about evolving punctuation?  Is This the Future of Punctuation? [Kim]

    Reading this article took me to outer space, to the solar systems, to string theory and the time continuum.

  5. Why I spent a Saturday morning googling "how to post bond in Wake County," a story with segue into the question, How can one check on the safety of a friend without looking like a wackadoo? [Anna]

    I found the use of “wackadoo” interesting. My friend Joe uses, “Wackadoodle.”

  6. Pregnant mom says sandwich arrest was 'horrifying' I do not anticipate this being a substantial discussion at all. I'm just interested in everybody's thoughts about it. [John]

    I’m in the “don’t eat shit until you pay for it” camp, or the “take responsibility for your actions if you don’t follow the rules” camp. This is foreshadowing of how I feel about the Burger King argument, too.

  7. Your take: Fair game for the discovery process or invasion of privacy? Judge Orders Divorcing Couple to Trade Facebook Passwords. Sidebar: Facebook supposedly contributes to 1 in 5 divorces. [John]

    I’m on the side of not providing the passwords, due to the TOS. However, if this were done over the university’s email system, I would be in favor of it, because of the “All electronic mail messages sent and received by this account are subject to the NC Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.” TOS.

  8. Are you a "conversational ball hog?" Is anyone you work with one? If so, why do you think you (or they) do it? Why Are Some Academics Conversational Ball Hogs? [John]

    We have a couple of people who are terrible about interrupting and talking over each other at work, so this topic is on my mind a lot. I saw some of myself in here, as I do ask a lot of “follow-up” questions, but I don’t always wait for the “follow” part to have happened. I do it because I’m interested and I like to process details in the order of the story. (Or so I tell myself.)

  9. This is another one of those things I anticipate being a five-minute item. Again, I'm just curious as to which side of the argument y'all are on this one: Something Disintegrates at a Burger King. [John]

    Private is where no one else can hear you. Public is where others can, and what they might do with what you let them hear is your problem, not theirs. “Privacy used to mean…” does not impress me at all as an argument.

  10. Why there are no items initiated by Sarah on this month’s agenda. [John]

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