EDUCATIONAL INCUBATION & HATCHING CHAT THREAD, w/ Sally Sunshine Shipped Eggs

[mlm Mike]

No, actually, it will be hyphens used as em dashes. Actual dashes (either type) are getting more rare by the hour. En dashes are especially endangered because they seem to only be used as an em dash when in fact they have their own distinct use.

Dashes should go extinct. They are completely unnecessary, thus were never incorporated on a typewriter. Shakespeare, never used a dash, Jane Austen, never used a dash, Charles Dickens, never used a dash, Mark Twain, never used a dash, William Faulkner, never used a dash, Hemingway, never used a dash, George Orwell, never used a dash, Emily Dickinson, never used a dash, Ralph Waldo Emerson, never used a dash. The list could go on and on!

Nice. I use two bales in the regular coop and 1 in the goat shed.

You have goats!

It's only hockey....it's not like it's curling or anything important.

Afternoon folks. Changed tactics with baby's sleep a little and have now mastered the "faster than baby can wake up" nighttime diaper change. Saves me some sleep knowing he won't wake because his diaper is dirty. He's also begun to learn how to be awake in his crib while being quiet, and is learning to self-soothe himself. So many big milestones, and he's a week old!

In chicken news, I'm sad to say that Daisy is no longer with us. I have the feeling that the cold and her blindness, plus the other chickens bullying her, finally got to her. We won't be getting more until the new house, but I hope when we do get some more one of them is a gentle and friendly girl like Daisy.

I'm glad to hear things with the baby are going well. Sorry about Daisy.

 

[BantyChooks]

Dashes should go extinct. They are completely unnecessary, thus were never incorporated on a typewriter. Shakespeare, never used a dash, Jane Austen, never used a dash, Charles Dickens, never used a dash, Mark Twain, never used a dash, William Faulkner, never used a dash, Hemingway, never used a dash, George Orwell, never used a dash, Emily Dickinson, never used a dash, Ralph Waldo Emerson, never used a dash. The list could go on and on!

That's because they were sad and unimaginative people. The em dash is a beautiful piece of punctuation that IF USED SPARINGLY can give a beautiful style to your writing. It's NOT meant to replace colons, semicolons, and in some cases, commas. There are times and places for all of them. Plus, the em dash didn't come around until the 18th century, so maybe some of them spent their nights weeping that there was no em dash to use.

My take on it is that there are some times when you just need a strong visual impact in writing. You need a change, you need a statement, you need to draw attention to something. For that purpose, you have an em dash. It's different, more flowy than the regular ol' colons or semicolons (depending on context) that slip by in a sentence without notice. In a place where parentheses would otherwise bring a bit of information in unobtrusively, sometimes slipping right by your eye like a buttered icicle, the em dash sets that information right down in a sentence and makes you pay attention.

Disagree if you will, but I'm right. If the em dash abuse would cease it would be recognised for what it truly is: a beautiful, stylish punctuation mark with its own feel and times for use.

By the way, the EN dash is entirely separate from your nonsensical spiel about the poor em dash. It is used to express a range between two things. That's the nutshell version, anyway.

You have goats!

Naw. I have chickens in a goat shed.
Goats are next spring, Lord willing.

 

[mlm Mike]

That's because they were sad and unimaginative people. The em dash is a beautiful piece of punctuation that IF USED SPARINGLY can give a beautiful style to your writing. It's NOT meant to replace colons, semicolons, and in some cases, commas. There are times and places for all of them.

My take on it is that there are some times when you just need a strong visual impact in writing. You need a change, you need a statement, you need to draw attention to something. For that purpose, you have an em dash. It's different, more flowy than the regular ol' colons or semicolons (depending on context) that slip by in a sentence without notice. In a place where parentheses would otherwise bring a bit of information in unobtrusively, sometimes slipping right by your eye like a buttered icicle, the em dash sets that information right down in a sentence and makes you pay attention.

Disagree if you will but I'm right. If the em dash abuse would cease it would be recognised for what it truly is: a beautiful, stylish punctuation mark with its own feel and times for use.

Naw. I have chickens in a goat shed.
Goats are next spring, Lord willing.

Yes, sad and unimaginative people.

No, if you ever find yourself using a dash you should:
A. Work on improving your sentence structure.
B. Quit writing.

 

[BantyChooks]

No, if you ever find yourself using a dash you should:
A. Work on improving your sentence structure.
B. Quit writing.

C. Send a print out of said letter to Mike just to annoy him.

 

[mlm Mike]

C. Send a print out of said letter to Mike just to annoy him.

 

[kwhites634]

Dumped a decent doe this morning. Couldn't get picture to post with this new format

 

[kwhites634]

Are you an angel or the devil?

Devil or angel, I can't make up my mind
Which one you are. I'd like to wake up and find.....

Bobby Vee

 

[kwhites634]

Dashes should go extinct. They are completely unnecessary, thus were never incorporated on a typewriter. Shakespeare, never used a dash, Jane Austen, never used a dash, Charles Dickens, never used a dash, Mark Twain, never used a dash, William Faulkner, never used a dash, Hemingway, never used a dash, George Orwell, never used a dash, Emily Dickinson, never used a dash, Ralph Waldo Emerson, never used a dash. The list could go on and on!
It just did!


You have goats!







I'm glad to hear things with the baby are going well. Sorry about Daisy.

 

[BantyChooks]

Dumped a decent doe this morning. Couldn't get picture to post with this new format

Congratulations!!

 

[BantyChooks]

Devil or angel, I can't make up my mind
Which one you are. I'd like to wake up and find.....

Bobby Vee

You look like an angel / walk like an angel / talk like an angel / but you're the devil in disguise

Bet I don't have to tell you who sung that one.