Sudokuaholics Anonymous 8

I just got the hay stored in the barn!!!

Heidi, I am glad you had a good time at the lion's club meeting. It's pretty funny that the other person showed up today.
Julie, have fun flinging food. It seems to be a never ending project in my house. Both my boys are big for there ages. Mitchell not as much but Dylan, who is 8, is bigger than most 10 year olds. They eat nonstop and I know it will get worse as they hit there teen's.

TAMI!!!! "Their"! Not "there"

That's a pet peeve of mine.
BTW.... What does a peeve look like? This?

I'm trying SO hard to refrain from babbling, but nobody else is here.

OK, since Heidi dealt with a peeve, I'll contribute: it's teens, not teen's. I've been reading that the apostrophe has become increasingly abused when people form plurals.

BTW, this is not meant to be a personal attack, as is being talked about on Easy. I've just been trying to be more personally aware in the hopes that I don't use the apostrophe in plurals, so they begin to stand out a bit.

Heidi, feel free to babble to your heart's content. (Here the apostrophe is showing possession.) I hadn't realized when I left earlier that I would be setting someone (in this case, you) up for an easy TOPP. I should learn to watch the numbers better. In fact, as I was leaving the site, I noticed that it was comment 8800 and wondered if I should comment on it. DUH!

BTW, Heidi, good for you for getting the hay into the barn! Is the star sapphire meaningful/pertinent to something in your day/week/month/year?

Suzy, I had noticed the logo on the girls' jackets and remember thinking it looked like a Lions logo.

No doubt Tami has gone to bed by now. I'm sorry to have missed you. We had girls, so I can't imagine what it would be like to feed teen-aged boys. Midway through high school, one of them started having stomach issues, which seemed to connect to eating/trying to digest meat. She became a vegetarian, not by principle but by need. I wonder if it had anything to do with all the antibiotics that used to be feed to animals. (She is allergic to several antibiotics and has been since infancy.)

Nah.... I just like star sapphires. And anybody could have gotten that TOPP. It was about an hour from your post #8800 to my post #8801.

Good afternoon lovely people - hello Julie and Heidi and now that we're on a new page I can't go back to check on posts - darnit! Crafts has really got me today.
Julie/Heidi - grammar, spelling and punctuation are a pet peeve of mine too (and again not personally picking on any of our lovelies on SA). But there came a time in the education system when those three decreased in importance. What was important was CONTENT. That is why nowadays we read papers, websites, advertisements etc which sometimes contain so many mistakes that I cringe.
I know, I am an old dinosaur and proud of it.

Hi, CynB! I know I'm old, but I don't think it has so much to do with age as with quality of education. I also have been "blessed?" with eyes that seem to spot spelling, punctuation and grammar issues. Of course, that doesn't mean that all my comments are proofread and arrive perfectly on the page! I hope I can be one of the first to catch my mistakes, though I sometimes ignore them anyway.

I have been reading the discussion on Easy about the downfall of the quality of postings in Sudokuland with interest. Luckily, I think most of the regulars on SA8 are content with the way things are going here. If anything, we miss our friends when they are unable to post frequently. That isn't meant to infer that we have a "closed" or "clique-ish" group, just that we have come to know and care about each other.

Julie - I too have been interested in the discussion on Easy and today have posted (on P3) my own thoughts long held inside and feel that it has been cathartic for me. It may have been cathartic for a lot of people because more and more are expressing their thoughts which may have been Ian's intent to begin with. I read and enjoy Easy every day and post there and then I come across to SA to feel comfortable, kick my shoes off and relax with friends. And if I want to talk about my grandies, my hubby, my dog or housework and how I hate it, I don't feel guilty.

I know I am really critical of myself about spelling and punctuation. You're right, Julie, I think it is a quality of education issue. It was drummed into me when young, and I cannot get it out of my system. Apparently, it wasn't drummed into others.
(I am NOT singling you out, Tami. You do NOT make a habit out of it. I suspect a preoccupied mind was at fault on this one occasion.)

Cyn.... I liked what you said on Easy. Very well stated.

IH is home again.

CynB and Heidi, I agree with both of you - just haven't formulated quite what I want to say and how to say it on Easy yet.

Tami, I also am not singling you out. I just was tickled by the idea of what a peeve looked like and got carried away. As I said, my posts often go through incorrectly, and I don't always correct them. For that, I apologize.

Sorry, about the homecoming, Heidi. Do you know of any upcoming away dates to which you can look forward? (How's that for grammar?)

My main fault (grammatically) is ending sentences with prepositions. I do it too often out of laziness.

I see spelling and typos on the board, usually mine after I have clicked the send button. Honestly, a lot of mine are dyslexia and really odd typos. then there are the words I know how to spell but my fingers will get them wrong every time. Miscommunication between brain and fingers. I find the tireder I am, the worse they are. I sometimes use the backspace more than I type hehehe. One of my latest ones is Mean instead of Maen, with my morning posts. the other is their, I know thier is what comes tripping off my fingers.

yes, the shift to content came here also, with the thought if you get them writing thoughts, the spelling and grammar and punctuation will come automatically. Yeah, right!

Another one here was not teaching cursive writing, they taught printing and figured writing would just happen. I had to teach 2 boys in the neighborhood how to sign their names so they could get their drivers license, as the county would not take printing.

Cyn, I am so glad you decided it was not your fault, all the changes in our board I mean. Same thing was going on back when I was a newbie, the newbies came and changed the board for the worse. I got a swelled head for a bit. You mean I came along and was able to make all those changes to the board, all by myself? hehehehe.

Heidi, I do that one also, catch it and try to find a way of saying same without doing that. some days I just can't think how to reword it.

Julie, grammar is spot on, but it just does not sound right, does it? I would have changed it to any away dates you can anticipate joyfully hehehe.

I have a real issue with the way things are said e.g. me and my friend eek! I even had trouble typing it, it was drummed into us that you always put yourself last when talking of more than one. There are many others of which I currently cannot think, but they make my skin crawl. My kid's friends think I am a grammar nazi, and I have also instilled this into my children!

I agree, MizT, doesn't sound right. We see and hear it wrong so often. It's probably one of those things that will eventually change. I especially like the way you reworded the sentence!

Does anyone else remember when the Spelling Nazi/Grammar Nazi posted on Easy whenever anyone made a mistake?

One of the trickier grammatical problems involves "for ____ and I." Miss Adolphson drummed into us that it is a compound object of a preposition, and therefore must be in the objective case: "for ____ and me."

That was before my time Julie, but I remember talk of him/her.

Gail, I must admit to driving my kids crazy, as well. Penmanship was really drilled into us in elementary school. We even had to write a sample paragraph and have it submitted to judges somewhere. Guess what was NOT a priority when our kids were in school? Mine used to get really upset when I wrote something carefully. (Of course, when I'm in a hurry, it's just chicken scratches.)

Gail, are you referring to ____ or Miss Adolphson?

No, I have watched the writing of fist my nieces, who are now in their thirties (it was appalling!), and then my own children. It really is not even taught at school anymore, we used to have a class called 'Handwriting'. We were taught what was then called cursive, but now they have even dumbed that down and call it running writing! Give me a break!

No, I was referring to the Spell Nazi.

One of our children went through the D'Nealian method of handwriting, essentially most letters printed as we were accustomed, but with a little curly end, which was supposed to help when they switched to cursive. It might have worked, if a little time was spent on handwriting/cursive writing practice, but it wasn't a priority of the teachers she had.

I also wonder if part of the problem is that children pick up crayon or pencil and start "writing" at a younger age. I taught Kindergarten (5-year-olds) for several years. You should have seen some of the outlandish pencil/writing implement grips some children used. They were VERY resistant to correction, as their Mommy or Daddy "teached" them how to write. That refers to both the grip and the formation of letters.

That sounds the same way they taught this so-called running writing. As far as I was concerned, it seemed a very lazy way to teach it, and their handwriting is appalling!
Anyway, I must scoot, hubby and I are working out in the garden today, and I think rest time is over!
We had some mulch delivered and are topping up the beds. They certainly do look special when it is done.
Bye for now, great chat BTW.

Thanks, Gail! It's nice to get here when someone else is around. Enjoy your yard work - and the fruits of your labor!

Perhaps MizT has gone off to bed?

I was taught that what you call cursive, was called script. Oh, well. I sound like a little old lady yearning for the good old days.

I must feed dogs now. Toodle- oo.

This has been a somewhat quiet night. We've been on this page for over 4 hours, but finally there has been some overlap. We have actually had some chat back and forth with a few people here at the same time. I enjoy the opportunity to respond so quickly to comments. Thanks to all who have made this an enjoyable evening!