The questions-not-worth-their-own-thread question thread V

[Martacus]

Why do some people in Britain add an "r" sound to the end of words which normally do not?

 

[Catharsis]

Could you give an example?

 

[Kerozine]

Does Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal come off as a bit of a fake - a phoney, if you will - for anyone else?

And am I using the above dashes (hyphens?) correctly?

 

[Gilder]

Why do a good majority of the people in Rhode Island add an "r" sound to the end of words which normally do not?

Fixed it for you.

 

[Mirc]

Why do some people in Britain add an "r" sound to the end of words which normally do not?

I think what you are talking about is an "intrusive R". Very confusing for foreigners like me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linking_and_intrusive_R

 

[Cutlass]

Does Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal come off as a bit of a fake - a phoney, if you will - for anyone else?

And am I using the above dashes (hyphens?) correctly?

He's not entirely a fake, but he definitely comes from the school of thought that says that reality is determined political desire.

 

[Irish Caesar]

Does Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal come off as a bit of a fake - a phoney, if you will - for anyone else?

And am I using the above dashes (hyphens?) correctly?

I think--but I'm not sure--that you want to double them up like that.

I will say, he's the first brown dude I've seen with a Southern drawl. Other than that, though, he's no better or worse than the average politician with a teleprompter and a speechwriter.

 

[Sharwood]

I think--but I'm not sure--that you want to double them up like that.

I will say, he's the first brown dude I've seen with a Southern drawl. Other than that, though, he's no better or worse than the average politician with a teleprompter and a speechwriter.

Doubling up is incorrect, Kero was doing it right. Don't even know the guy he's talking about though, so can't judge.

 

[Irish Caesar]

Perhaps it's different in American? I've only seen the dashes my way, although when they're typed, the doubling tends to make them into one long dash rather than the two that show up in this font.

 

[Sharwood]

Perhaps it's different in American? I've only seen the dashes my way, although when they're typed, the doubling tends to make them into one long dash rather than the two that show up in this font.

All I can tell you is that that's how I was taught, and if I were doing it wrong I'd have expected some of the anal professors at university to complain by now. I've also never ever seen your method used in books.

Hyphens between words are supposed to be longer than hyphens within words though, hence Microsoft Word automatically lengthening them. You put no spaces between your words and your hyphens earlier, so that might be your problem. Put a space there, all of a sudden you don't need to artificially lengthen it.

 

[Martacus]

I think what you are talking about is an "intrusive R". Very confusing for foreigners like me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linking_and_intrusive_R

That's exactly what I was looking for, thanks. So anyways, why/from where does this particular verbal tic come from?

 

[jeps]

hatred of foreigners like Mirc? xenophobia? inbreeding?

 

[Irish Caesar]

All I can tell you is that that's how I was taught, and if I were doing it wrong I'd have expected some of the anal professors at university to complain by now. I've also never ever seen your method used in books.

Hyphens between words are supposed to be longer than hyphens within words though, hence Microsoft Word automatically lengthening them. You put no spaces between your words and your hyphens earlier, so that might be your problem. Put a space there, all of a sudden you don't need to artificially lengthen it.

Wiki suggests that I'm correct, although the next section mentions that there isn't a consensus.

 

[Sharwood]

Wiki suggests that I'm correct, although the next section mentions that there isn't a consensus.

Well if Wiki says you're right, I must be correct.

Honestly, not putting spaces between them can't possibly be correct though.

 

[Irish Caesar]

Honestly, not putting spaces between them can't possibly be correct though.

I was speaking only of a potential conflict involving just the US and Russia. I admit, that's highly unlikely, and not really worth discussing - but then, when is this whole 'surviving a nuclear war' thing ever worth discussing? No-one will -, and I should have specified myself clearly, but in a war that just involved these parties, with the EU - and therefore, everyone in NATO except, what, Turkey? - throwing their hands in the air and saying "don't kill us" Russia would have no interest in nuking European nations. Why alienate potential places of refuge? Not that a Russia-US nuclear exchange would leave many places of refuge anyway, but still.

Somehow, though, the n-dash with spaces between it and the words just looks wrong to me.

It's a rather clumsy-looking way of putting a sentence together in either case.

 

[Sharwood]

Somehow, though, the n-dash with spaces between it and the words just looks wrong to me.

It's a rather clumsy-looking way of putting a sentence together in either case.

Blame my English teacher. As I said, no-one here seems to mind. I've never been marked down for my grammar.

 

[Dachs]

Somehow, though, the n-dash with spaces between it and the words just looks wrong to me.

It's a rather clumsy-looking way of putting a sentence together in either case.

I've always done it Sharwood's way too, as do most books I've ever read. I have literally never seen it your way before.

 

[flyingchicken]

Personally I like this--yeah, that, because I'm lazy.

Are "I agree"-only posts legal?

 

[Camikaze]

Are "I agree"-only posts legal?

They serve an intended purpose- to add weight to an argument.

 

[Sharwood]

Personally I like this--yeah, that, because I'm lazy.

Are "I agree"-only posts legal?

I've never seen them infracted, so I'd guess so.