Is RCN Outsourced to India or Something??



"Little Meow" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Edward Dolan [email protected] wrote in
> news:[email protected]:
>
>>
>> <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>>> Redears,
>>>
>>> At the risk of suffering a repetitive stress injury, Ed Dolan once
>>> again pats himself on the back.
>>>
>>> Jim McNamara

>>
>> You do not correctly format which makes more work for me. Therefore, I
>> can't
>> be bothered any further with you. Either format your posts in the
>> acceptable
>> manner or get lost.
>>

> This isn't suprising with Outlook Express.
> My newsreader has little problem with his formatting, or your
> excessively long lines of text.


Jim does not bottom post nor does he even quote the pertinent passages of
the previous message that he is responding to. He thinks Usenet is like
email. You just do not get any dumber than that. I will NEVER respond to any
of his messages until he learns to post in the correct manner, i.e., bottom
posting and with the proper quotations from the previous message.

Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota
 
[email protected] wrote:
> A shy person writes:
>
>
>>>What! That's perfectly acceptable: "That's the Jones's house" The
>>>exception, I believe, is Jesus', which has some sort of historical
>>>root.


That's the Jones' house, is actually proper. When you need a drink you
are having the Jones's.
>
>
>>Now it's acceptable -- even de rigeur -- but it looks redundant,
>>almost. The old way of doing it was simply with the apostrophe.
>>How do you pronounce "s's" anyway?

>
>
> You must mean "de rigueur."
>
>
>>>What drives me nuts is "it's" for "its".


Life in these United States. Be glad they didn't cave and start teaching
"Ebonics" in Oakland about 10 years ago. That caused a major uproar.
>
>
>>That, too. RCN is very bad in this regard. Like I said, I'm afraid
>>of subliminally picking up bad habits reading it! But it's annoying
>>to have to be on-guard leisure-reading.


Nobody (at least not me) edits to the point of being ready to publish. I
just do (usually) a quick spell check and send it. It is amazing how
many abbreviations and even common technical words Microsoft spits out
and some even are corrected from correct to incorrect.
>
>
> While you're quibbling about grammar, the correct usage is "As I said",
> and that's valid in all NG's.
>
> Jobst Brandt


With all the nit picking on the placing of the apostrophe here is what I
was taught way back in the 50's.
It's is short for it is.
Its' *** means *** belongs to it. Possessive form.
Over the years it has gotten so messed up that even the major
dictionaries have given up. For reference, read a book that was written
in 'Proper' English in England back around 1800.
This time I culled all the cross posts which had nothing at all to do
with biking, not that this does either.
I need a better filter.
Thunderbird has a great mail filter but the news filter sucks.
Please don't tell me to use outlook. I have never had a virus and don't
want to tempt fate.
Bill Baka
 
"bryanska" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> >I'll stick by NG's because it makes sense to me, as does PhD's or BVD's.

>
> "Y'all" also makes sense to a lot of people but it's INCORRECT.
>
> Incorrect usage undermines our English programs and contributes to
> generations of kids who can't write a correct resume, proposal, or
> business presentation.
>
> Don't cry to anyone if your kid doesn't get a job because of incorrect
> spelling.
>

Y'all isn't incorrect. It's dialect.

Standard American English is devoid of second person pronouns, using "you"
for both singular and plural, nominative and objective. For example, in
first person we have "I", "we", "me" and "us", but in second person we just
have "you".

"You all" or "Y'all" is southern dialect yearning for the second person
plural distinction found in most languages.

However, I agree with you that poor spelling, poor grammar, or dialect can
be economically limiting. For example, last week I heard one person from
south Chicago objecting to a proposed Board of Education policy by saying,
in a radio interview, "They forcin' us to worser schools." Dialect or no
dialect, the guy would have to be really, really good technically before I'd
hire him.

Have a good day, y'all,
Mike
 
NYC XYZ wrote:
> Now it's acceptable -- even de rigeur -- but it looks redundant,
> almost. The old way of doing it was simply with the apostrophe. How
> do you pronounce "s's" anyway?



Like the tuba player in the Canadian Brass going on and on and on about
"Bach's..." and by about the second time he says it, the audience joins
in.

The newsgroup's what? Curmudgeon? Does it also eat, shoot, and leave?

HTH

--Karen D.
who whips out a marker to add an editorial "delete" curlique to any
sign that reads APPLE'S
 
Mike Kruger wrote:
> No. It's not that simple. So far as I learned it, the plural of NG is NG's.
> The plurals of abbreviation's and acronym's use an apostrophe before the s. I
> always use this in my writing, and as this is technical specification's there
> are lots of abbreviation's and acrynom's, such as UPC's and EAN's. I've never
> had this questioned even though I work with a bunch of nitpicker's.
>
> I shouldn't have to reference this basic bit of junior high English, but
> since you will probably insist I will refer you to:
> http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexpert's/faq/aboutspelling/pizza
>
> There's an extensive discussion of this topic (including indication's that
> the rule can be either NGs or NG's) at
> http://answer's.google.com/answer's/threadview?id=499296


Edited to make all your plurals comply with that rule. (Perhaps your
nitpickers are not English majors.)

--Karen D.
AARUUUUGH!!! silently screamed the editor
 
In article <[email protected]>, Mike
Kruger ([email protected]) wrote:

> For example, last week I heard one person from
> south Chicago objecting to a proposed Board of Education policy by saying,
> in a radio interview, "They forcin' us to worser schools." Dialect or no
> dialect, the guy would have to be really, really good technically before I'd
> hire him.


Herewith a posting made elsewhere a few years ago:

I watched upon the Wireless with Pictures the Channel 4 News tonight,
coz I am ded kultured and also busy cooking me tea when the BRITONS'
Broadcasting Corporation do theirs. Anyhap, after they have waded
through an interminable amount of Iraq-O-Babble, we cut to a
Magistrates' Court in Darkest Essex, specifically the Pikey-infested
fleapit that is Thurrock.

The local Ed-You-Kay-Shun mob in Thurrock have decided to combat truancy
by taking the parents of offending brats to court. Naturally this has
only a limited effect, since many of the parent are Pikeys even unto the
nth generation, and choose to treat the summons in much the same way
that their spotty offspring do school - I.e. ignore it totally. But
soft! What is this dismal ugly spotty Pikey? It is 15 year old Toni, and
her mother, an almost identical dismal spotty ugly pikey but older.

Mrs. Dismal Spotty Ugly Pikey: I don' waan Toni ter go ter school coz
iss fulla drugs an' bullyin' an' fings (Translation: The school is not
up to current government standards, and is full of Pikeys to boot. Even
though Toni looks sturdy enow to fight off 2 Para single-handed, I can
assure you she is a wilting hothouse flower who should really be at
Cheltenham Ladies' College.)
FLJS: Have you been making any attempt to teach Toni at home?
Mrs. DSUP: Yeaa-aah. I teached 'er religion an'...
Me (sotto voce): Say "English". Pleeeeeaaase say "English"!
Mrs. DSUP: ...English an'...

Any further contributions from Mrs. DSUP were drowned out by the waves
of laughter echoing around the vaulted ceilings and mullioned windows of
the Great Hall of Larrington Towers. It may just have been the funniest
thing in the history of all things ever.

--
Dave Larrington - <http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/>
Among the calamities of war may be jointly numbered the diminution of
the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and
credulity encourages.
 
In article <[email protected]>, Bill Baka
([email protected]) wrote:
> I need a better filter.


Gravity allows one to filter based on the body, as well as the subject
and sender.

--
Dave Larrington - <http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/>
Hoc ardur vincere docet.
 
bryanska wrote:
> "Y'all" also makes sense to a lot of people but it's INCORRECT.
>
> Incorrect usage undermines our English programs and contributes to
> generations of kids who can't write a correct resume, proposal, or
> business presentation.
>
> Don't cry to anyone if your kid doesn't get a job because of incorrect
> spelling.


Y'all is perfectly correct, and grammarians who disagree are not
familiar with proper Southern dialect.

Pat
 
>Is "bryanska" Bryan Ball of BROL I wonder?

No, I am not that person. I do live in Minneapolis, however.
 
Dave Larrington wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>, Bill Baka
> ([email protected]) wrote:
>
>>I need a better filter.

>
>
> Gravity allows one to filter based on the body, as well as the subject
> and sender.
>

Yeah,
But everyone knows Gravity sucks. (real gravity).
I never heard of this one. Is it a plug in or a news reader?
Bill
 
In article <[email protected]>, Bill Baka
([email protected]) wrote:
> Dave Larrington wrote:
> > In article <[email protected]>, Bill Baka
> > ([email protected]) wrote:
> >
> >>I need a better filter.

> >
> >
> > Gravity allows one to filter based on the body, as well as the subject
> > and sender.
> >

> Yeah,
> But everyone knows Gravity sucks. (real gravity).
> I never heard of this one. Is it a plug in or a news reader?


'tis a Newsreader. No longer supported and crashes occasionally just to
keep you on your toes, but OTOH it's FREE. Should be available from:

<URL:http://gravity.tbates.org/cgi-bin/dir.cgi>

--
Dave Larrington - <http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/>
Mushroom! Mushroom!
 
Dave Larrington <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Herewith a posting made elsewhere a few years ago:
>

<snip>
>
> Any further contributions from Mrs. DSUP were drowned out by the waves
> of laughter echoing around the vaulted ceilings and mullioned windows of
> the Great Hall of Larrington Towers. It may just have been the funniest
> thing in the history of all things ever.


Out of curiousity, how precisely does a pikey differ from a chav?

--
Dane Buson - [email protected]
"Very little escapes me.
Sometimes, it's a burden that can only be relieved through bitter sarcasm."
 
In article <[email protected]>, Dane Buson
([email protected]) wrote:
> Dave Larrington <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > Herewith a posting made elsewhere a few years ago:
> >

> <snip>
> >
> > Any further contributions from Mrs. DSUP were drowned out by the waves
> > of laughter echoing around the vaulted ceilings and mullioned windows of
> > the Great Hall of Larrington Towers. It may just have been the funniest
> > thing in the history of all things ever.

>
> Out of curiousity, how precisely does a pikey differ from a chav?


IMO, pikeys tend to have more criminal tendencies; also back then the
word "chav" appeared to be applied only to a particular type of Youth on
the Isle of Sheppey.

--
Dave Larrington - <http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/>
It is impossible to eat a banana without looking like a tw*t.
 
Mike Kruger wrote:

> > NGs is plural. More than one newsgroup.
> >
> > IT IS THAT SIMPLE, but even professional sign makers are clueless...
> >

> No. It's not that simple.


You're right, it's not quite that simple.

> So far as I learned it, the plural of NG is NG's.
> The plurals of abbreviations and acronyms use an apostrophe before the s. I
> always use this in my writing, and as this is technical specifications there
> are lots of abbreviations and acrynoms, such as UPC's and EAN's. I've never
> had this questioned even though I work with a bunch of nitpickers.


You and the nitpickers you work with are incorrect. It should be
UPCs and EANs. In fact almost all plurals of capitalized abbreviations
should be spelled without apostrophes. The only plural abbreviations
that require an apostrophe are lower case, or those capitalized
abbreviations that would be confusing without an apostrophe
(like A's, I's, and S's).

> I shouldn't have to reference this basic bit of junior high English, but
> since you will probably insist I will refer you to:
> http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutspelling/pizza


That site has it backwards--"NGs" is the correct form.
"NG's" may now be accepted, but is not preferred.

This ("NG's") may now be considered 'acceptable,' but I assure you
it is also considered bush league, and any editor at any
worthwhile publishing house would remove your apostrophes
without a second thought, probably while making a face.

Robert
 
On 15 Mar 2006 19:17:02 -0800, "NYC XYZ" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>
>As you were!
>
>Top-posting looks better sometimes, and makes more logical sense when
>all you have for a response is a few lines at most.


Top-posting may look better to you but can be more difficult for the
reader to follow. Top -posting forces one to scroll past your response
and search the quoted text to be reminded of the issue you are
addressing.

Even worse, many top-posters omit any quoted text, leaving the reader
to wonder what in the world they are referring.

>Also, some folks
>don't want to scroll all the way down in order to read the response,
>especially if they've been following the conversation all along and/or
>the post which is being replied to is a long one.


No neeed to keep the entire body of a long evolving thread. Judicious
snippage, while retaining the issue(s) at hand make for a better
discourse. These Usenet conventions have evolved to facilitate
communmication, but are more guidlines than rules.

If, for example, one's purpose were to annoy a certian egocentric
poster then top-posting may be appropriate.

Indiana Mike


>
>
>Dismissed!
>
>
>
>Edward Dolan wrote:
>>
>>
>> Top posting is never fine. It is an abomination and done only by thorough
>> going idiots like yourself. Try to get up to speed why don't you?
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
>> aka
>> Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota
 
Mike Rice wrote:
>
>
> Top-posting may look better to you but can be more difficult for the
> reader to follow. Top -posting forces one to scroll past your response
> and search the quoted text to be reminded of the issue you are
> addressing.


I don't even think of it as an inconvenience. If one walked into the
middle of a conversation, it's up to oneself to put two and two
together to get up to speed on things if one is really interested.
Likewise, skimming a thread to follow its course up until the present
moment isn't too much to ask of oneself, given one's curiosity. Me
myself, I typically start at the beginning anyway, with the original
post.

> Even worse, many top-posters omit any quoted text, leaving the reader
> to wonder what in the world they are referring.


Why sit in the dark and complain about it? Turn on the light -- scroll
up to the previous post, etc.

> No neeed to keep the entire body of a long evolving thread. Judicious
> snippage, while retaining the issue(s) at hand make for a better
> discourse. These Usenet conventions have evolved to facilitate
> communmication, but are more guidlines than rules.


Indeed, because I think the reader should provide such "contexts"
themselves. It's like "Letters to the Editor" -- get the back-issue if
you're interested in what the writer's complaining about.

> If, for example, one's purpose were to annoy a certian egocentric
> poster then top-posting may be appropriate.


Truly! But I don't think he's annoyed so much as amused. I suspect
he's even rather flattered by the attention devoted to him. Ed Dolan
needs his own talk show! "Next up...'Catholic Recumbent Cyclists and
The Sexual Politics of Gourmet Dining!'"

> Indiana Mike
 
Dave Larrington <[email protected]> wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>, Dane Buson
>>
>> Out of curiousity, how precisely does a pikey differ from a chav?

>
> IMO, pikeys tend to have more criminal tendencies; also back then the
> word "chav" appeared to be applied only to a particular type of Youth on
> the Isle of Sheppey.


Thanks for the clarification. From looking at urbandictionary and
what-not it also seems to have connections to rootlessness, i.e. gypsies,
carnies, caravanners.

--
Dane Buson - [email protected]
"Most rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing
people who can't talk for people who can't read."
-Frank Zappa
 
"Veloise" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Mike Kruger wrote:
>> No. It's not that simple. So far as I learned it, the plural of NG is
>> NG's.
>> The plurals of abbreviation's and acronym's use an apostrophe before the
>> s. I
>> always use this in my writing, and as this is technical specification's
>> there
>> are lots of abbreviation's and acrynom's, such as UPC's and EAN's. I've
>> never
>> had this questioned even though I work with a bunch of nitpicker's.
>>
>> I shouldn't have to reference this basic bit of junior high English, but
>> since you will probably insist I will refer you to:
>> http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexpert's/faq/aboutspelling/pizza
>>
>> There's an extensive discussion of this topic (including indication's
>> that
>> the rule can be either NGs or NG's) at
>> http://answer's.google.com/answer's/threadview?id=499296

>
> Edited to make all your plurals comply with that rule. (Perhaps your
> nitpickers are not English majors.)
>
> --Karen D.
> AARUUUUGH!!! silently screamed the editor
>

My immediate family is lousy with nitpickers who are English majors, so I
did some surveying.

Wife (BA English, MA Education, specialist in reading, University of
Michigan): Didn't know. We checked some editions of Warriner's English
grammar. Warriner seems to have a rule about everything, but did not have a
rule about the plural of acrynyms.

Brother-in-law (BA English, Michigan State, writes for ad agencies): "Mike,
as the (self- described) talent where I work, I try to focus on the creative
stuff and leave these details to the 'little people' who check my work. Of
course, the truth is I'm easily bewildered by all the grammatical minutia of
written communication." So he doesn't know either, but he is more eloquent
about it.

Daughter (BA English from Kalamazoo College, 2005, teaches 8th grade
English): Didn't respond, which probably means she doesn't know either.

I would conclude from this that it is not the sort of thing English majors
worry about.

It IS evidently the sort of things editors worry about. So far, my earlier
posts may have established that making the plural of an acronym with an
apostrophe is an acceptable practice (e.g. in the New York Times). However,
even in the sources I cited it seems to be a minority practice. In short:
the apostrophe may not be wrong, but it's clear not using the apostrophe is
correct.

I personally plan to throw in the towel on this and join the majority. My
thanks to you, Bryanska, Catzz66, and others for furthering my education.
 

Similar threads

M
Replies
4
Views
1K
T