Subject: Some time ago...
Author:
Posted on: 2012-10-18 13:52:00 UTC
... the Hivemind (we have one of those, right?) decided that it shouldn't be capitalised as a noun, only as a title. I believe all my missions capitalise it, since they predate that decision. After that point, I suspect I got a little slapdash with the capitalisation.
hS
After much facepalming, a little writer's block, and much beta'ing, my first mission is finally finished!
Lucid Nonsense, in which Agent!Des and Anebrin tackle a 'fic with extremely bad grammar, a horde of minis, and two character replacements.
Loot:
Two Xtonic light-blocking spacesuits, which will be donated to DoSAT.
Two daggers with blades shaped like holly leaves.
Minis (56 of them; all of them are up for grabs unless noted otherwise)
Mini-Roots (Fowlverse):
mud boy, Fairies, Elf, Pixie, section eight, Mud boy, Imp, Fowl manor, Artemis Fowl senior, Artemis senior, arty, holly, Gnomish, Centaur, Mr&Mrs Fowl, Mulch Diggems, Centaurs, Pixies, spirits, Dwarfs, Gnome, Artemis Fowl the second, frond, grub, Artemis Fowlor, Lili, vinyàya, Elvin.
Mini-Reapers (Whoniverse):
Doctor who (adopted by Des and Anebrin), time lord, the doctor, The doctor, the master, time lords, weeping angels, Time lords, midnight, doctor, midnight creatures, the master, master, time rotator, Paradox machine, torchwood, Jacks, jack.
Mini-Hounds of the Baskervilles:
Sherlock Homes.
Mini-Noo-noos (Teletubbies minis; invented by yours truly):
tellitubbies (reserved for LilacLielac), tinky-winky (adopted by Des and Anebrin).
General minis:
Arctic circle (adopted by Des and Anebrin), the titanic, Buckingham place, youtube.
I have to say, you really got better with your writing. Still, it's a long read, and I wish all of it was as funny as the Arster.
Things I noticed:
I always capitalize "Agent", and I'm pretty sure a lot of other people does that too. It helps to differentiate PPC Agents from other kind of agents that can pop up in fics (police agents, chemical agents, all that sort of stuff)
In fact, I wouldn't surprised if Des capitalized "Agent" after seeing me doing that...
... the Hivemind (we have one of those, right?) decided that it shouldn't be capitalised as a noun, only as a title. I believe all my missions capitalise it, since they predate that decision. After that point, I suspect I got a little slapdash with the capitalisation.
hS
... Never liked hiveminds, so I'll do the exactly opposite. I'll capitalize "Agent" as a noun and not when it is a title.
Kidding here, but I think I will keep capitalizing "Agent" when it refers to a PPC Agent, noun or title or whatever. I feel like the text is clearer that way, especially if I ever do a NCIS or Detective Conan/Case Closed mission where non-PPC agents are abundant.
Also because after more than two years writing "Agent" instead of "agent" getting out of the habit will be hard.
There is the part where there are actual rules about capitalization, and it's generally agreed that we should follow such rules about language usage around here.
http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/capital.asp - Rules 3-6 deal with titles.
http://www.towson.edu/ows/capitalization_rules.htm - Number 2 here; also gets into some other exceptions and such.
Those are just the first two hits on Google. I've also got my Manual of Style handy, which says the same things.
~Neshomeh
I have a reason to do that! Stylistic choice to put an emphasis on PPC Agent!
(Basically, if it's capitalized, PPC Agent. If it isn't, it's something else. But I think I already said that...)
I... I... It's a conspiracy by the Black Cats to lower the self-esteem of Agents!
*tries to find another weak excuse, and fails spectacularly*
On a more serious note, I acknowledge the proper grammar rule (and obviously the importance of proper gramma, otherwise I wouldn't be here), but I think I'll make an exception here, if that doesn't offend any of you.
My counter-argument would be that in the context of a PPC mission, 99% of the time you say "agent" you're probably talking about a PPC agent, and so it would make more sense to distinguish the times you aren't. Most likely you'd do that through an additional descriptor, though: "the FBI agent" or "the viral agent" or whatever.
That said, there IS an argument for Important Words. For instance, you won't catch me trying to tell anyone they shouldn't capitalize "Flower" when talking about the SO and his ilk, because they're giant, sentient, telepathic Flowers rather than the kind of flower you could grow in your garden. So, if you think PPC agents are that important, that's a thing.
I'll still correct for it on the wiki, though. {= P
~Neshomeh
I'll agree on that. Flower, capitalized, is a proper noun. You can go and say giant, sentient, telepathic flower, which is in itself more of a description, but it's more convenient to just call it by its name, Flower.
An agent, however, is an agent. *shrug* Hope I'm making sense here.
Yeah, I probably capitalised it after reading Sergio's missions, which I have greatly enjoyed.
Thanks for the compliment.
Especially with the minis.
I already modified the mission a bit. Now some of the minis are a little more colourful.
Brilliant first mission; well done!
I must say, that is an awful lot of minis - and here was I thinking that the fourteen (in only three-hundred and fifty-seven words) mini-Colossi that I found on my first mission was a lot. Have some Bleepolate - I think your agents are going to need it after that fic.
Thanks for the Bleepolate. Agent!Des would probably offer some Bleeptea in return, but he'll need all the Bleeproducts he can get his hands on for the co-write. I cannot stress how awful that 'fic (TSAB DONWFALL: Halo War which Firemagic reported a few days ago) is. It actually made me cry because the Canons are so OOC.
As to your question... I don't know, really. I assume that since 'assimilation' in the Borg sense of the word isn't capitalised, capitalising it counts as miscapitalisation (like, say, capitalising 'kleptomaniac'), and misspelling it is, well, a misspelling. The closest thing I can think of is 'midnight', but I'm not sure how close that is to what you're talking about.
PS: You're more than welcome to adopt one or more minis (not including those already claimed); I need something to do with them, and keeping them all in RC log e would make a mess of the place.
Well, there are three minis in my agents' RC already, and I don't think Eagrus would be able to cope with any more.
However, there is a mini adoption centre in HQ, and there is an OFU for Artemis Fowl.
The list of OFUs can also be found here:
http://www.misssandman.com/LOTR/ofum.html
Do words from ordinary English, but which have a canon-specific use, also create minis when misspelled? Most notably, 'assimilate' and the conjugations thereof with regard to Star Trek - if so, there will be four mini-Tribbles in addition to those already found so far during the mission I am currently writing.
There are so many different minis from Artemis Fowl... which is not hard to spell...
I would think (though I don't know,) that holly, frond, and grub would be represented as their natural counterparts (a bush, a leaf, and a bug,) due to the fact that they are now common nouns.
That is plausible. However, due to the amount of minis in that fic I have to gloss over quite a lot of them.
You are free to adopt one or more of them, or to adopt other minis which aren't claimed already.
Mind if I take Artemis Fowlor? I am extremely saddened that I didn't get tinky-winky. You better take good care of that Noo-noo! //sobs
Sure, Artemis Fowlor is all yours.
Regarding the mini-Noo-noos: I wanted one, and Lielac called dibs on the other. Sorry.
Mind if I nab Gnomish? (or is it already taken?)
Just note that he's orange and has excessively large feet.
That was probably one of the silliest (in a good way, like ha-ha silly, not what-is-this-I-don't-even silly) missions I've ever read - and being unfamiliar with Artemis Fowl and Doctor Who didn't help.
I will say that I rather enjoyed Anebrin's initial reaction to the minis, though. I found it kind of adorable~
Ooh, and about the 'ending a quote with a period rather than a comma' charge: I might be wrong, but I think it's okay to do that if you don't follow the quote up with sommat like 'she said' or 'he chided'.
Example: "I'm giving you an example," he explained.
"I'm giving you a different example." The second speaker's eyes twinkled with mirth.
All in all, though, great job on your first mission, des!
Thanks. I'm really happy I managed to write something silly - comic writing isn't my forte.
Regarding that charge: you're right, but what happened was that the Suethor used quotes and periods, which is wrong - as I've charged, you're supposed to use commas in this case.
Good mission. I already said my part while betaing, so, uh, yeah.
Are you going to do that Artemis Fowl/Nanoha crossover next?
Though I'd prefer to do the co-write first.
Do you have Maslab's email?
No, so I'll ask him next time I'll bump into him in the IRC, then send you and him a mail.
