Writing Gooder

Normal Koran (Penguin Classics): 7.7 in x 4.8 in x 0.9 in; 11.2 ounces; 464 pages

Smallest Koran: 0.66 in × 0.50 in × 0.28 in; grams?; 571 pages

Published in Cairo in 1982, the world’s smallest Koran is unabridged, bound, and in Arabic.  It is currently owned by Dr. Muhammad Saeed Karim Beebani of Pakistan.

(more…)

(Except, it’s not Christmas).

See you all in July!

This weeks word is deponinate coming from the Latin root depono, meaning to put down, lay aside. As before, don’t feel confined by the Latin root, but extra points are given to those who keep to it!

Last weeks word was adiciment, coming from the Latin root adicio, meaning to direct, address, or apply to. The winning definition was submitted by DX:

Adiciment: (n) A situation that cannot be handled without a man-made object.

• MacGyver found himself in an unpleasent adiciment after John trapped him in a prison cell.

Congrats DX!

Starting a new series of blog posts concerning humorous mistakes in newspapers. Our first entry comes from the Edmonton Sun:

A 23-year-old student who was killed when a helicopter crash-landed on him in the middle of the street is raising questions about how aware people are of their surroundings when outside listening to portable audio devices — such as Ipods and MP3 players.

I bet he’s also raising the question of, “If I’m dead, how am I doing this?”

For the last few days, I’ve been busy putting together a poetry database over at The Writers Society, and yes, it is the best poetry database on the web!  If you don’t believe me, check it out.

Currently, there are 505 poems & 122 poets, and both Snoink and Incandescence have helped in adding the poems currently there.  Caligula’s Laundrette has also agreed to help build it up, so my goal is now 3,000 poems in the database by the end of the month.

So while it’s not available at YWS, still go check it out!  Everything is done dynamically, so browsing and searching the database is a cinch.  You can even rate poems now, and you’ll be able to comment on them pretty soon as well, regardless of whether or not you are registered.

In fact, I’m pretty proud of it.  The coding has been done 100% by myself, so you aren’t going to find another poetry archive like it on the net.

Well, my favorite Writer’s Digest prompt page has apparently met it’s end, so prompts will start being a bit different for awhile because I’m partially making them up until I find another one I really like!  This one is about half WD and half me.  But, it is fun and I may actually do it! 

You and a friend have just finished lunch at a deli in the city.  When you walk outside, you are confronted by a stray dog.  You check it’s tag and it says “If you find this cat, please call this number immediately” (that’s right, this “cat”).  Against your better judgement you call the number.  Two hours later you find yourself in a basement with two dead bodies.  What happened?

Haha.  This is pretty much just amazing to me.  Thanks to Penguin for the link!

LONDON (AFP) – A collection of poems by a Scottish bard dubbed the “world’s worst poet” was to go under the hammer Friday, expected to sell for thousands of pounds. William McGonagall was mocked by literary critics and had food thrown at him during public readings, before dying penniless in an unmarked grave in Edinburgh in 1902. But his very notoriety means his work has become surprisingly popular, and the collection of 35 poems on sale was estimated to make up to 6,500 pounds. “McGonagall is obviously not the best poet, but he is actually very popular these days,” said Alex Dove, a specialist at Lyon and Turnbull auction house in the Scottish capital which was selling the poems.  The works, many of them signed, deal with topics ranging from women’s suffrage and the burning of a theatre in Aberdeen.

If the collection goes for its estimated price it would be in the same league as first edition copies of Harry Potter books signed by author J. K. Rowling, according to The Daily Telegraph newspaper.  The poet — full name William Topaz McGonagall — was nicknamed the “The Tayside Tragedian” in his home city of Dundee, where laughing locals would throw fruit and vegetables at him. Critics have awarded him the “world’s worst” label because of the crashing lack of subtlety in terms of rhyme, imagery, vocabulary or repetition.

His most famous poem is about the Tay Bridge disaster of 1879, in which 75 people died:

“So the train mov’d slowly along the Bridge of Tay,

“Until it was about midway,

“Then the central girders with a crash gave way,

“And down went the train and passengers into the Tay.”

I don’t think it was until Seventh Grade when I finally understood the difference between too and to. In fact, I can actually remember when I did make this epiphany: it was in English class (or maybe Reading), and I was writing down a sentence about going to the store. I pondered for a moment about whether it should be “too the store” or “to the store” when I finally understood the difference. Before then, I’m fairly sure I intuitively knew, but I wouldn’t have been able to articulate it.

Why couldn’t I articulate it? Because I was never taught it. Instead, we got taught useless stuff like gerunds and past-participles, both of which I have no idea what they mean to this day. When I say useless, I just mean that I’m not going to go into a job interview and be asked “Can you tell me what a gerund is?” However, I will be asked for a writing sample, and getting too/to wrong would be something they’d frown upon.

So what’s the difference?

Too

• Use “too” for when you are talking about a quantity. Too long. Too much. Too far.
• You can also use “too” as you would use “also.” I can too do that! Yeah, I’ll go there too.

To

• Use “to” when you’re using it with a verb. To be or not to be. To go. To look. To find out.
• Also use “to” when you’re using it as a preposition. I will look to the dictionary. I will give it to Sam.