Dear Log,
So long story short, I left my downstairs home-office door open, and now the place has been assimilated by a local hive of super-predators.
Re:Predators
cog on 2004-08-20T08:50:49
But it could be worse... they could be allergic to me... O:-)Re:Predators
TorgoX on 2004-08-20T09:10:44
"chiff", as an allergic cat would say.I'm a bit allergic to the cats, but I take lots of antihistimines for it. Mostly all these new kitties make me itch and itch, not so much a runny nose or anything. I think I should get better once I give them a good bath tomorrow, to get all the dust and whatnot off them.
Re:Predators
cog on 2004-08-20T09:24:33
I have no problems with itching, but I do get the runny nose and really wet eyes:-) I inhale some strange thing every Sunday to take care of that, which make my nose bleed from time to time... it's quite a good story, the one of how it works :-) New kitties usually do me no harm (apart from when they scratch, of course)... it's the older ones that get to me, as they are always loosing fur... (was that the right word?)
Re:Predators
cog on 2004-08-20T09:32:43
always loosing fur... (was that the right word?)The right word, I believe, was "hair"
:-) Re:Predators
vsergu on 2004-08-20T17:58:07
The usual word would be "shedding", which implies the "hair"/"fur" part.
(Also, look up "loose" versus "lose" -- not that there's any way to know without memorization. Actually "loose" almost makes sense in this context, but no English speaker would say it -- in fact, few English speakers use "loose" as a verb in any context.)Re:Predators
cog on 2004-08-20T18:14:48
Thanks:-) look up "loose" versus "lose"
I have a similar problem with "chose" and "choose"... as with many other words
:-) I wonder how many errors I make a day...
:-| Re:Predators
vsergu on 2004-08-20T18:24:40
Lots of native English speakers have the same problems. A lot of English spelling results from arbitrary choices that happened to get fossilized. For example, there's no real reason why the past tense of "read" is spelled "read" but the past tense of "lead" is spelled "led" even though the two past tenses rhyme -- they could just as well be "red" and "lead", but they aren't."Loose" as a verb
waltman on 2004-08-20T23:19:45
Actually this came up just recently on a mailing list I'm on. Someone had the following quote from John Adams as their sig:Someone thought that "loose" must have been a typo, but both "lose" and "loose" work there and mean subtly different things.This is the established Order of Things, when a Nation has grown to such an height of Power as to become dangerous to Mankind, she never fails to loose her Wisdom, her Justice and her Moderation, and with these she never fails to loose her Power.And it turns out that Adams really did write "loose".
Re:"Loose" as a verb
vsergu on 2004-08-21T06:35:25
I don't think that "loose" really works very well in that sentence, though. According to the OED, "loose" was used as a spelling for what we now spell "lose" in the 15th through 18th centuries, so I'd imagine that's what Adams meant. Similarly, "choose" is spelled "chuse" in the Constitution.Re:"Loose" as a verb
brev on 2004-08-23T06:01:25
Loose versus lose used to drive me insane.
But, on balance, loose has some historical heft behind it and the spelling is easier. Maybe in 100 years loose will be correct.
Its seems to be going the way of the dodo. And why not? It's unlike every other possessive in the english language. The inaudible distinction from it is -> it's seems unnecessary -- this problem doesn't occur in speech.
I still can't stand horde/hoard, though.
John
