[stylist] What am I saying?

[Barbara Hammel]

It is a very funny book!
Barbara




Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.--Robert Frost
-----Original Message----- 
From: Donna Hill
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2013 10:23 AM
To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [stylist] What am I saying?

Eve,
Good catch. I don't think it was Freudian so much as saying "is" instead of
"is not." It should have been, since there is no comma, it is not someone
announcing a guest to a person they are calling "sister."

I had so much trouble with the computer yesterday. The answer I meant to
send was much more detailed, but the computer & Jaws died before I could
send it, so I had to start over, and apparently didn't proof-read as well as
I thought.

I am sorry that you hate punctuation. It really helps convey messages. If
you haven't read it, I recommend "Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynn Truss, which
is on NLS. The title is an example of a phrase which has vastly different
meanings depending on the use of one comma; it also changes the parts of
speech of two words (noun or verb?). See what you make of this:

1. "He eats shoots and leaves."
2. "He eats, shoots and leaves.
Donna
-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Eve Sanchez
Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 9:41 PM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] What am I saying?

I appreciate all of your answers. It is funny how people interpret things
differently or with such imagination. A wooden table? A
visiting nun? hahaha   Donna, you suggested it meant the opposite of
what everyone else had said. I think you had the same idea though and just
made a Freudian slip of sorts. You might want to relook to get it straight
for yourself. Thanks all. I hate punctuation. Eve

On Tue, May 14, 2013 at 3:57 PM, Donna Hill <penatwork at epix.net> wrote:
> Eve,
> Chris is right; since there is no comma, it is someone announcing a
> guest to a person they are calling "sister." Since you didn't
> capitalize "sister," it can't be a nun. But, the term "guest sister"
> is so unfamiliar to me that the sentence seems awkward. If you mean it
> in the sense that we call someone a "guest speaker," I think I'd want
> to see a hyphen in there. A hyphen would make a compound noun out of
> it and remove any confusion. We don't use the hyphen in "guest
> speaker," but the term is commonly understood. "Guest sister" isn't,
> hence the hyphen. I know some won't like "guest-sister," but there is
> one compound noun that has retained its hyphen, despite the fact that
people universally understand what it means -- ice-cream.
> Donna
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Chris
> Kuell
> Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 11:41 AM
> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [stylist] What am I saying?
>
> Eve,
>
> Because there is no punctuation, the sentence means that we have a
> 'guest sister', which can be considered an object (sister) with a
> modifier (guest), although I don't really know what the term means. I
> picture the head nun at a nunnery telling the other nuns, "We have a
> guest sister," meaning, a guest who is also a sister. Likewise, it
> could be at a meeting of African American women who speak that way.
> But, the sentence can only be interpreted this way due to the lack of
> punctuation. It's exactly like saying 'We have a wooden table', or, 'We
have a blue thunderbird'.
>
> chris
>
>
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