Ah. - PPC Posting Board

Subject: Ah.
Author: Outhra
Posted on: 2014-01-09 01:51:00 UTC

I know all about the use of the singular "their". I've actually often wondered why more people don't consider it valid, since it's the best non-gender-specific personal pronoun the English language has due to its absence of an "official" neutral indicator. It just looked from context as though you were referring to multiple people, since referring to only the Boarder and not the nature expert might have used Huinesoron's Board name in place of the unknown pronoun to deal with potential confusion. Or at least it would when I type it, because I'm self-conscious about that sort of thing.

Also, my response might have been influenced by my opinion that Steve Irwin going on time-traveling adventures would be hilarious. Perhaps he was a companion of The Alchemist, Huinesoron's Time Lord cross-canon counterpart.

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Sues are older than we think? by KittyEden on 2014-01-07 12:55:00 UTC Reply

Found this essay on TVTropes, and I thought I'd share it.

www.merrycoz.org/papers/MARYSUE.htm?

~Kitty

Something's weird with that link. by Huinesoron on 2014-01-07 13:44:00 UTC Reply

You have to capitalise the .HTM to get it to work.

This is the hyperlinked version.

Anyhow, that is a... very long and detailed essay. ;) I don't have a lot to say about it, though I did like this line:

We seem to write her naturally -- and to kill her off just as naturally.

It's talking about the astounding frequency with which Mary-Sue dies twagically... but yeah, we kind of do, here at the PPC.

hS

A regular Steve Irwin, that hS. But for links. (nm) by Ekyl on 2014-01-07 14:05:00 UTC Reply

Does this mean they'll be killed by an essay on mantas? (nm) by wobblestheclown on 2014-01-08 08:53:00 UTC Reply

They? by Outhra on 2014-01-09 00:33:00 UTC Reply

Both Steve Irwin and Huinesoron? hS, why didn't you tell anyone that you saved Steve Irwin from his impending death and took him with you on an essay-wrangling journey after spreading the story that he'd been killed by a stingray? Oh, right, so that the information that a well-known nature authority had been taken from his native time stream wouldn't potentially spark a causal chain reaction. Seems a bit obvious in retrospect.
Well, now that wobbletheclown has revealed some temporal spoilers, at least the two of you know not to go after any links that show manta-like characteristics. Just to be safe, I'd recommend not going after essays resembling any cartilaginous fish whatsoever. Except sharks. Mantas look and act nothing like sharks.

Ha. by wobblestheclown on 2014-01-09 01:18:00 UTC Reply

"They" and the relevant conjugations have long been recognised as valid for use as singular pronouns when the speaker is unsure of the subject's gender; indeed, the people who protest about such 'errors' are often the type who bang on about 'men's rights' and 'equalism over feminism' and other such tawdry examples of Comprehensively Not Bloody Getting It. I've been on the receiving end of a lot of this stuff; I know of what I speak. What I don't know is Huinesoron's gender, not being either a telepath, a wizard, or the boarder themselves. I've not been in a position to ask. Have you?

--parp

Ah. by Outhra on 2014-01-09 01:51:00 UTC Reply

I know all about the use of the singular "their". I've actually often wondered why more people don't consider it valid, since it's the best non-gender-specific personal pronoun the English language has due to its absence of an "official" neutral indicator. It just looked from context as though you were referring to multiple people, since referring to only the Boarder and not the nature expert might have used Huinesoron's Board name in place of the unknown pronoun to deal with potential confusion. Or at least it would when I type it, because I'm self-conscious about that sort of thing.

Also, my response might have been influenced by my opinion that Steve Irwin going on time-traveling adventures would be hilarious. Perhaps he was a companion of The Alchemist, Huinesoron's Time Lord cross-canon counterpart.
I'm pretty sure he knows that. by Ekyl on 2014-01-09 01:19:00 UTC Reply

Huinesoron's a he, though, if that helps. :P

Thank you. by wobblestheclown on 2014-01-09 01:43:00 UTC Reply

Sorry for parting ways with the old handle. It's been a bit of a trying day, and I get it in the neck for using gender-neutral pronouns all the damned time. It's mostly from people who confuse trilbies with fedoras and witless misogyny with equality, because Heaven for-frelling-fend they ever actually think about something-

...

Yeah. Not been a brilliant day for remaining calm, has this.

? by Ekyl on 2014-01-09 01:48:00 UTC Reply

I have no idea what you're talking about, but I hope all's well. And gender-neutral pronoun using isn't that bad a thing, I was just being helpful since you said you didn't know hS's gender. :P

I know you were, and my brief rant was not directed at you. by wobblestheclown on 2014-01-09 01:56:00 UTC Reply

I just get so unreasonably angry these days, particularly over things like pronoun use. It's a character flaw.

I know what Outhra said was most likely meant as a joke, but I also know a lot of people who'd say it and not have it be a joke, hence the shouting. I shouldn't make assumptions, but today was much more Schopenhauer than Pangloss, if you get my meaning. Urgh. I apologise if I've offended anyone involved in this.

I wasn't offended. by Outhra on 2014-01-09 02:14:00 UTC Reply

Admittedly, I'm not sure who either of those people are(though Google tells me that at least one of them may have been a German philosopher), but I got the gist of what you meant. Bad day, undesirable situations, small seemingly innocuous comments acting as emotional triggers, etcetera. Sorry for prompting emotional discord. Here, since I missed your newbie thread and never got to give you a gift before, have a round ray. They're like stingrays, but without the stingers, so there's no risk of my gift accidentally killing time-displaced Steve Irwin. And this one is a female, so there's no confusion over her gender.

Completely OT, I'm afraid, but... by DawnFire on 2014-01-13 21:04:00 UTC Reply

It's important.

Outhra, I recently sent you an email (about the Sue Lord mission). I'm just not quite sure if you got it, and am afraid it may have gone into your junk mail folder. Could you check whether you received an email from dawnfire360@gmail(.com)? You don't have to reply right away, just let me know you got it.

Thanks,

~DF

Re: Completely OT, I'm afraid, but... by Outhra on 2014-01-14 02:48:00 UTC Reply

I hadn't gotten that, sorry. I haven't checked my Gmail account in a while.

(after reading)

Oh. OH. Drat. This is what happens when we have a five-month hiatus in finishing a mission. I'll get back to you in e-mail form shortly. Did anyone archive any of the later chapters?

Indeed. by DawnFire on 2014-01-14 04:13:00 UTC Reply

I do think this will make for a rather exciting mission, though...

(So glad I thought to ask--horror of horrors, you might not have ever received the email!)

And no, no one archived the chapters--at least, Lily and I didn't, so unless someone else on the Board did...yeah, I doubt it. We do have the charges, though!

~DF

I sent the e-mail last night. by Outhra on 2014-01-16 15:49:00 UTC Reply

I hadn't gotten a reply yet, which is only sensible since I couldn't send the response for a day or so myself, but I was just wanting to let you know in case you were like me and didn't check your GMail frequently.

Received :) by DawnFire on 2014-01-16 19:34:00 UTC Reply

Oh, no, I check my gmail--well, that gmail--pretty frequently. (I also check my other gmail frequently, but that's my main one anyway.) I got your reply, and actually typed all but about one sentence of my reply to your reply, but then got hung up on one detail and decided to just send it when I had the energy to figure it out (in my defense, I'm just coming out of having a cold, and it was worse last night. And I'm also in the last bit of exchanging drafts of an essay with my future publisher (!!!) so there was that to do as well...basically, I have good reasons, and you should get a reply sometime today.)

...I really do have a tendency to ramble, don't I.

Speaking of emails--Agent Ariel? (And speaking of Ariel, I've actually got some...what do you call backstory when it isn't backstory, but rather is something that will happen later on? I can't think of the word...well, whatever it is, I have some further plans for his future, and can run them by you, if you're interested.) (Also, it'd be really nice to know what he--or rather, his vessel--looks like...)

Anyway. I owe you an email, you owe me an email...let's email! :D

~DF

And Huinesoron tracks and restrains the elusive essay! by Outhra on 2014-01-07 14:01:00 UTC Reply

Bravo, bravo! Accolades and applause! I thought your tackle near the end was particularly good.

How long do you expect those bonds to hold, by the way? I don't want to be midway through reading the essay when it looses its bonds and zips off, especially if it starts to get airborne again. It has are a lot of paragraphs, so there's plenty of time for readers to get off their guard.

Outhra, by Ailavyn Siniyash on 2014-01-09 02:49:00 UTC Reply

your posts on this thread are why I love the PPC. Well, one of the reasons, but still. I laugh every time I read them, and I don't even know who Steve Irwin is.

-Aila

According to the site, the essay has "absquatulated". by Outhra on 2014-01-07 13:37:00 UTC Reply

A quick search tells me that "absquatulated" is synonymous with the more common words "fled" and "absconded", which means that the essay has apparently noticed us coming and has escaped to the misty back hills of the Internet. I'd ride in pursuit, but I don't have anything to ride on. Well, any animals or animal-like machines, anyway. I suppose I could track down a Ypur if I really needed to, but even if I did, I have no idea where an essay would most likely hide.

Hm. by Desdendelle on 2014-01-07 16:24:00 UTC Reply

Well, they say that birds of a feather flock together, so I'd look in a library. A university's library.
I know where! by Sevenswans on 2014-01-07 16:21:00 UTC Reply

Rogue essays are mostly found in the grassy foothills of the ivory towers of Academia.