Comment: A Couple of Things

[innokenti]

So. Yeah.

1) I really really have a dislike for the convention in newspaper headlines of separating a list of two items by a comma. E.g. 'Cats, dogs to have new space adventure' or, from a real headline 'Afghan troops, foreigner killed in Taliban ambush'. It is perhaps an unreasonably excessive dislike, but I find it really really annoying. How hard

Comments

[mejoff]

If the True Blood novels are anything to do with the TV series of the same name, I've heard nothing but good things.

[innokenti]

I'm not saying they're bad (in comparison to Twilight, which, I suppose, you could say isn't 'bad' as such, just over-hyped). The TV series is certainly not too bad (the couple episodes I've been shown).

The main point being that the presence of the top 6 in that ranking are for some of the same reasons :D

(On a semi-related note, I have also watched a little more of Supernatural, which has been growing a bit on me - I recommend watching some if you haven't started yet and more if you have!)

[mejoff]

From what I've seen and heard, Twilight is indeed actually awful.

We're half way through season 4 and Supernatural remains brilliant.

[potatofiend]

1. I hate that too. AAAAAARGH, drives me mad!

[innokenti]

A couple of months ago, while surveying the Google News page, there was a headline from some newspaper that I think I must have read over a dozen times trying to understand what it was trying to say. I kept on scanning over it and becoming more and more confused because of the stupid two-list comma.

[potatofiend]

It is really a most ineffective way of communicating. I mean, what on earth is the point of making it shorter with an incorrect punctuation mark if it means nobody understands what you're trying to say?

[penelope1984]

Dear sweet Jesus, have you and Fed both turned into telegraph-reading octogenarians? (Um, yes, I lack clarity and am not addressing Mr. Christ.

Although I did find out yesterday that if you mis-punctuate your Latin when you read, the devil picks up the poor damaged word-pieces and uses them to do hideous voodoo on your soul. Or, you know, the medieval equivalent.

[lord_sandwich]

1) Newspaper headlines are designed to grab the reader's attention and so need to be short and sensationalist. Depressingly clarity and informativeness takes second place to this.

[penelope1984]

'Depressingly clarity' - it sounds like a Puritan child's name...

(wonders if that were deliberate)