Senseless Tangent

regarding usage: TONS vs TONNES

Now see, here!

...just FYI: the 'hick' talk I begin with, doesn't go on.. for TOO long, anyway...

Just you take yerself a good lookee thare, at all o' that fuss you just went and caused! Now ya see: I already knowed it to muhself, see? That is I just KNEW I'd haf ta go on like I dun thare, and durn-near just spell 'em both out for ya'll -- 'course bein' that words like that'un thare, tend to go on and make some of ya'll get all kindsa worked up on me here! Now of course THAT's just plain AWEFUL, ya see?! So since I went on ahead and spelled/spellt (damn, I went and dun it again! See what all them years of torturing my spellings have done to me?!) that thare word like I went and dun, ya see? That's the one, yep. I was sayin, since I dun did include that thare word up thare, ya'll get ta cut loose and just let yerselves get all fancy-schmantzy!! Now ya'll pay some mind, ya hear! Allraught now, ya'll wait 'till ya hear this! This is really sumthin'! Ya'll even get ta go and pick yer own "real" spelling of that thare word; even if said spelling happens to be based entirely on yer own twisted geographically-centered 'properness-in-spelling!' principles (or: MY twisted principles... as you might opt for your own purposes on this particular occasion). Although for you, my devoted fan -- if it really seems to "float your boat" as it were, you may gleefully consider this mere factoid, instead of the ignorantly-American oversimplification I just tried to slip passed you... and that factoid is this:

You've already MORE THAN earned my permission, simply by ... um, hmm.... there we go! Okay now, where was I? Ah yes!

(clearing throat)

...simply by... by bothering to dig this... er, this far... into such... a gross...ly... tangled... mess... ACK!

(clearing throat, again; more embarrassed this time)

... I was just saying... where was I again?. . . ah, of course!

(ahem!)....

RIGHT we are, then! I totally lost my entire train of thought just then, everyone. I give you each my sincerest of apologies for that temporary lapse in my attention to you, my friend(s)!


As it happens, just then as I tried my best (which you already know, I do try to keep on my best performance in everything that I care about... and I truly care DEEPLY for folks who have supported and/or encouraged me -- in any of my various hobbies or efforts along the way [including {but not limited to} all of my music and my lit/writings]! So WHAT!?... I say to you, if I might decide to spend loads of my time preparing some lengthy, overblown tangents here and there -- which hardly anyone's actually gonna end up reading, anyway? Hmmm?! I'm only poking a little fun at myself here -- for your own amusement, hopefully -- in these dreaded tangents of mine, folks!... but again, I digress) to stay on-topic -- while also being thorough -- it happened.

I (yes, folks: even I sometimes become the victim of normalcy! Distractions... Eh... it's life!) had inadvertently fallen prey to a distraction, one which had somehow grown into a monstrous (and particularly perilous-looking; quite frightening, to say the least!) demon-of-a run-on tangent -- which was elsewhere in this "'piece of an appendix' to the 'piece of an update'" (that is... if you MUST know...). Of course it goes without saying, right now -- as you really are, this exact moment -- you're lucky (or bored...) enough -- to be reading this mass-tangent, right NOW! Brief congrats for your endurance! And again: sorry for the previous lapse of focus, just then... That's my bad, everyone!...




NOW, then...!

Anyway -- as I was saying: you've outright EARNED every single, GLOWINGLY-WONDERFUL OUNCE of my enthusiastic permission to simply/blissfully shackle any/all of that blame (which you're oddly eager to pin onto someone ELSE, right now, if I may say...). Blame which is, of course, meant solely for this specific occurrence of the un-loved "correct vocab/spelling" phenomenon we're exploring -- the likes of which, we ('have previously' ...or perhaps this time, the word 'currently' applies MUCH more appropriately...!) find ourselves directing each other's respective attention to, from time to time.

Yeah -- of course I cannot overlook that ever-important (and hopefully, quite dutifully-detailed, indeed -- at least for YOUR sake..!) instruction on your teacher's part on this -- the precise grammar/spelling faux-pas that seems to come up sometimes. You know, that quirk which painfully scrapes against all that is your sense of self-worth, right? You know; that unique and poignantly-unpleasant and typically unsought-after feeling we sometimes experience. A deeply disturbing sensation (well, at least -- for MOST of us...!) -- it's almost like what it might feel like, for example... if you ever (though gosh, I gotta say I'd never even WISH something like this... on anyone..!) happened to find yourself in a situation...

Metaphoric Situation
Imagine with me now, as you read this, that you're...:

...suddenly being dragged (unwillingly, of course!) across the roughest and LONGest patch of concrete... in the entire WORLD... whilst also being recklessly under-dressed for such a daring/idiotic stunt (meaning: you're wearing clothes [or... not... hey, it's your sleep ware we're talkin' about here!... Don't think about it... I'm not!...] that you prefer to wear while sleeping -- which for most people would definitely NOT be anything that'd protect against anything remotely as severe as that kind of road rash.. yuck!)..!



...now, THAT might just rub you the WRONG way, eh?

That thought of course, happens to be ENTIRELY contingent on the assumption that you actually may have somehow managed to pay something resembling a tangible, quantifiable level (which, arguably, was one of the few -- yet exceedingly-noteworthy -- moments, mind you!) of your own attentiveness to that instructor -- which also, one is obliged to mention, was such a precise moment for you that it's unfathomable how you even manage to remember said moment... Or, maybe just say that it was a moment when you found yourself stuck (yet again) in that painfully boring class... yeah! Hey, if it helps. :)

So, whenever that moment was for you, take some comfort in the knowledge that -- today -- it sure paid off for you, that you were so aptly able not only to have been so lucid while in class at the PRECISE moment (in which instructor was schooling you and your classmates on said spelling lesson) that you actually absorbed the concept/rule for your spelling while you were back in school..!

Having illustrated that point, friends, we find we've come full-circle in this tangent; and so I now return to the point -- we happen to be using what is arguably one of the most (if not THE most...) horridly complex (insomuch as it even breaks it's own rules...!) language -- and/or perhaps, as it's been called: [...one of the most...] 'difficult languages to master' on this Earth. We're talkin' English here, people! w00t!!!

Who really CARES how the word is SPELLT, you still catch the drift... eh?

You think one way might sound "hick-ish" or... um... SLOW... while the other is obviously correct (you've always told this to yourself, as you'd console yourself -- all the while muttering things like: 'oh those poor, poor saps that've been fooled into using the wrong spelling!' .... shEEEEEsh!...) and everyone should be perfect like you and conform.

Hey bud! Got a bit of a NEWS FLASH for ya.

I don't care! It's irrelevant! Get over yourself! Please!

Agree with me this time, folks! It's far less complicated if you'll just indulge me here, people! On this issue (the spelling: TON vs TONNE -- or perhaps the others, too!!...) -- we can simply 'agree to disagree' on proper ways to spell a word, and still go on without even so much as pointing it out! Ever!! Doesn't the phrase: "I say 'poh-TAY-toh' while you say 'poh-TAH-toh'" ring any bells? I believe I've been trying (umm... well, sort-of... though perhaps not the appropriate word in this case; considering all the effort I've spent in order to EXPAND EVERY SINGLE INSTANCE of anything resembling a tangent... so... yeah, for now I'll leave it at 'trying!') to say, this whole time, is thus:

Our little 'spelling' debate is pretty much identical [in it's ramification(s) to the human race] to those pronunciations (one of which I just alluded to! Potato! Keep up!) -- where some people may prefer to say it the "x" way, over others -- who rather prefer it said the "y" way, to be sure.

Of course, all the while most/all people using either pronounciation "CHOICE" for the word (for sake of argument... mind you. Of course I realize that there could sometimes be more than just two ways to say the same word!). Oddly enough, while both sides may continue arguing over which might be THE way it should be said -- and, I know, strange though this thought is -- it usually turns out that for pronunciation, nit-picky pronunciation-Nazi-folks from ALL sides will widely tend to accept/admit that BOTH ways to say the word are correct... only really depending on the opinions/reasons/factors of the person(s) using the word...! o:)

Lessons to be Learn't' today

Understand, AND accept, reality:

That this world's big enough for some people to disagree, yet both be correct. This, as I now know, could vary depending on a person's unique perspective.

Otherwise, I might one day look at myself, only to discover that I've grown complacent; too accustomed to something which is 'normal' around me; yet doesn't even come CLOSE to the smack everybody else knows to be "correct-ness." Then my friend, you'd have only succeeded in becomming like that dude, who'd tend to do something you didn't like or accept, just because I and everyone I know around me may have been taught DIFFERENTLY than that other dude.

Give up the Urge to be PC

Pollitically-correct speach has come a LONG way towards the destruction of my country's sense of individualism, patriotism, and very culture. It's as useless as would be some random mutation that caused ears to grow on your rear-end back when you were only 11. The "PC" concept was designed only to "protect" people from specific words (that are deemed 'offensive' or 'harmful'); yet it's usefullness can really ever only hope to reach what (unfortunately) has ever turned into something from a sci-fi story -- which is of course, an outright ban of the target word.

Nope -- PC is OUT for me! I'm bright enough to realize the pseudo-Adult concept -- that it is rather the idea a person believes, that could lead him to use an "offensive" word. Further; I believe that the idea is what's offensive to others... NOT the word, itself.

Expand tolerance

Realize that even though there are those people who may say/do a thing differently than I do, they may have learned their own, 'correct' way -- which they then teach accordingly to their own children.

Moreover, should I decide to be optimistic for a change, I might even decide to pass *MY* ideas down to *MY* younger generation; even though some guy named George in 'Xantii City, FakeNation' thinks I'm so wrong, I must be brain-dead to believe as I do.

Emrace DIFFERENCES of others!

In my newly-expanded tolerance -- and especially because I understand that their 'way' might be different from *MY* belief structure in some ways -- I've decided NOT to be childish about the issue simply because others might "do things differently" than I may otherwise know to be 'correct.'

I know this to be right, because *I* am a thinking, reasoning adult who now also realizes that 'correct-ness' can be a two-way street: depending on one's own, possibly even UNIQUE (in comparison to my own) perspective.

I also accept that it is how each of us is different -- that it is actually BECAUSE of our differences we're interesting to other people. Also, I don't really want to live the life of a 'Lemming' any longer; but rather choose to think for myself; as I've become a person that's worth the interest of others in life.

Really. I very arduously made this page as a once-and-for-all way to say "I'll not engage in the language of 'non-offense' any longer, because I know that 'pollitical correctness' is just another sign of a mindlessly-unthinking follower; rather than a sign of an individual with meaningful thoughts, goals, ideas, and morality."

If you've somehow ended up on this page because of something I've written or said, otherwise -- read the whole page, and then get back to me if you really don't get it.

OMG, FINALLY it ends! I must escape from this drabble! IMMEDIATELY!!
(...meant especially for those who can't believe they've actually read any PART of that...!)

Oh... heh. Oops. I spent so much time detailing the tangent itself that I've run out of patience to even copy/paste code in so you'd be able to click down here just to close this popup tangent. How daft I've been while creating this bollocks!