I was just thinking that a "+1, Pedantic" modification would be useful for all the times you want to mod people up for their admirable devotion to useless detail.

On an unrelated note, after not having anything to start a discussion about since this board began, I've started two in the same day. Weird.

How can you call it unrelated, when it is in fact self-referential?

Or do you claim that it is not, in fact, related to itself? Or dispute that a reference is also a relation?

Can you be more specific?

In Response to zamphir (#4080):

this post is of course a perfect example of why we need a +1 pedantic modifier (but yet it deserves a +1 funny as well)

In Response to Dynedain (#4082):

I'm not sure if pedantry is something we need to actively encourage. It seems to be it's own reward.

In Response to jon (#4089):

Not to mention curiously addictive.

Perhaps there should also be a pedants anonymous program?

Cheers,
Graham

In Response to albionsoft (#4102):

Yeah...

And at one year, you could get

a necklace...

speaking of pedantic, i was sitting here watching my other computer compile the newest release of XFree86....and noticed a "-pedantic" swtich being used quite a bit

In Response to Dynedain (#4222):

"-pedantic" swtich

Okay, spelling typo aside. Are you sure it's not redundant to say '-... switch'? Does not the mere fact of the - indicate that it is indeed a switch?

Still waiting for my necklace.

In Response to jon (#4089):

By the way, Jon... you DO realize that "it's" is a contraction of "it is," and that "its" is the possessive... right? Of course you do.

I think I'd like one of those necklaces Zamfir keeps going on about, too.

In Response to albionsoft (#4102):

Pedants Anonymous would be quite amusing ...

"Hi, my name is Bob and I'm a pedant."
"Bob, allow me to define 'anonymous' ..."

Mark

In Response to jgarcia (#4231):

Yes, I know. Its one of those things I only actively worry about when I'm writing formally.

See?

In Response to wendigo (#4233):

"Bob, allow me to define 'anonymous' ..."

Careful. Don't start a fracas.

In Response to jon (#4235):

Don't worry Jon - Jason had to check with me before he corrected you anyway. Silly English major. :)

Amusing that he misspelled Zamphir, too...

cgarcia

"Back off, man, I'm a scientist." -- Dr Peter Venkman

In Response to cgarcia (#4277):

At least he knows how to specify a signature...

:-)

In Response to zamphir (#4281):

Ah, the thanks I get for defending your misspelling, Zamphir, Master of the Panphlute...

;)
cgarcia

In Response to cgarcia (#4282):

jon and zamphir have had an ongoing spelling argument through the Ask the Animals column and the premium forums....the spelling mistake was quite intentional

In Response to Dynedain (#4285):

Are you sure you know the spelling mistake to which she's referring?

In Response to zamphir (#4291):

By the way, Zamphir, I'll have you know that I knew how to "specify" a signature. I'm married to a premium member after all. ;) I was just lazy. (And somehow, retyping it on each post was easier than setting it up... Then again, I'm known to be illogical - see sentence 2 above.)

cgarcia

In Response to cgarcia (#4295):

Are you sure that 'illogical' is the correct word?

In Response to zamphir (#4297):

That probably depends on what your definition of "is" is.

In Response to zamphir (#4297):

Well, no, but I thought "insane" would be harsh in light of the fact that my husband reads these posts.

Wait - I guess it depends on whether you're questioning my use of the word in relation to my marriage or my signature.

;)

In Response to zamphir (#4228):

Nah, I'd go along with his usage. First of all, I'm not entirely sure that everything with a - is a switch. For example, in the command cc -o blah source.c, I would certainly agree that the "-o blah" is an argument or an option, but I wouldn't be so hasty to call it a switch.

But even if we define everything that starts with a "-" to be a switch, I still agree with the usage "-pedantic" switch because a noun is demanded at that point in the sentence, and simply using "-pedantic" as a noun doesn't quite scan right. It's like saying "ATM machine"; it's technically a bit redundant, but it's still accepted usage.

In Response to mea37 (#4354):

It's like saying "ATM machine"

Around here, I frequently hear "The El Camino Real".

In Response to zamphir (#4297):

laziness.. yes... it's a very nice word

In Response to Dynedain (#4357):

As long as they don't start saying "the El Camino Real Road", or something of that nature...

In Response to Dynedain (#4357):

Sadly, my chums and I used to joke about this a bit... and then we heard one lady call it an Automatic ATM Machine.

We couldn't bring ourselves to laugh... only stare.