Off-Topic General Discussion - Page 634

On November 21 2013 05:38 TheYango wrote:

AFAIK "along" is also not generally used as a preposition with "scrawled". "On" and, occasionally, "across" are more common.

On November 21 2013 05:55 kainzero wrote:
Is Literally Hitler the leader of the Grammar Nazis?

On November 21 2013 05:57 Roffles wrote:

The former. I'm pretty sure after I died in 1945, I was reincarnated as Voldemort. Then I got gayed by cancer.

Life sucks.

On November 21 2013 05:47 Carnivorous Sheep wrote:In addition, "scrawled along" and "scrawled across/on," depending on the object, can convey different meanings.

On November 21 2013 06:05 TheYango wrote:

In this case, the noun he chose does't actually make any sense with the preposition "along". "Along" conveys the idea of a particular directionality, so it needs to be used with a noun with an implied direction or linearity. You can walk along a path or write along the side of a page because these nouns represent linear objects/ideas. You can't walk along a field or scrawl along a surface because "field" and "surface" are planar concepts that have no implied directionality or linearity, so verb-ing "along" them makes no sense.

If it was "scrawled on the surface" vs. "scrawled along the edge of the surface" you'd have a point.

On November 21 2013 06:06 jcarlsoniv wrote:
Yango doesn't always post, but when he does, it's to drop knowledge bombs.

On November 21 2013 06:05 TheYango wrote:

If it was "scrawled on the surface" vs. "scrawled along the edge of the surface" you'd have a point.

On November 21 2013 05:50 Roffles wrote:
Fuckin Cheep the grammar Nazi tryin to take my throne.

You know, in one of my previous reincarnations I was Hitler. Stop trying to steal my thunder Cheep.

On November 21 2013 06:48 Carnivorous Sheep wrote:


The job of a good editor is to intuit the meaning of a text, and in this case, I believe he meant something like the latter, which is why I told him to check his definition of "surface" and not his definition of "along," expecting his meaning to be something along the lines of "scrawled along the edge/header/top/etc. [of the surface]," with the bracketed portion being an optional clarification that would probably get edited out by an enterprising editor. If you look back, the full sentence was "His narrow eyes darted to the top of the sheet, where a glorious name was casually scrawled along its surface." If "edge/header/top/etc." replaced "surface," it is evident that it is referring to the edge/header/top/etc. of the aforementioned "sheet," rendering the clarification "of the surface" unnecessary.

On November 21 2013 06:55 red_ wrote:


I feel like edge would be a far worse word than surface, it could only serve to add possible confusion without really clarifying anything(is the name literally scrawled on the edge at the top of the sheet?).

On November 21 2013 07:10 GhandiEAGLE wrote:
F u I'm still in highschool

On November 21 2013 07:01 Carnivorous Sheep wrote:


http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/edge

See definition 2b. "Edge" has a widely accepted and widely used definition that adequately describes the image he was trying for, whereas "surface" does not except by virtue of association. Whether the latter is a valid usage of the word can be the subject of a productive debate, but I doubt the original author could have provided such a debate; therefore, he is subject to the whim of an editor!

On November 21 2013 07:22 Shelke14 wrote:
Fuck you Ghandi Im 24 and turning 25.....I am getting too old