Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

Malapropisms, and other irksome utterings

It’s “et al.,” not “et all.”
It’s “utmost,” not “upmost.”
It’s “per se,” not “per say.”
It’s “as yet,” not “as of yet.”
It’s “must have,” not “must of.”
It’s “en route,” not “on route.”
It’s “hear hear,” not “here here.”
It’s “would have,” not “would of.”
It’s “supposedly,” not “supposably.”
It’s “based on,” not “based off of.”
It’s “jibes with,” not “jives with.”
It’s “wreak havoc,” not “wreck havoc.”
It’s “doesn’t jive,” not “doesn’t jibe.”
It’s “many a time,” not “many of times.”
It’s “so to speak,” not “so to speak of.”
It’s “case in point,” not “case and point.”
It’s “lo and behold,” not “low and behold.”
It’s “have a field day,” not “have a heyday.”
It’s “in the throes of,” not “in the throws of.”
It’s “all of a sudden,” not “all of the sudden.”
It’s “if I had done,” not “if I would have done.”
It’s “nipped in the bud,” not “nipped in the butt.”
It’s “raises the question,” not “begs the question.”
It’s “pored through them,” not “poured through them.”
It’s “all intents and purposes,” not “all intensive purposes.”
It’s “800-pound gorilla,” not “800-pound gorilla in the room.”

Goran Bregovic at Paramount Theatre-Oakland on Oct 28, 2011

I love Goran Bregovic’s music. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for my experience at Paramount Theatre. Lest you think I’m just a complainer, Bregovic himself stopped playing at one point, because the crowd were milling about and having full-voice conversations, to ask, “Am I doing something wrong?”

He wasn’t doing anything wrong.

That was excruciatingly embarrassing moment. Paramount’s staff were utterly ineffectual, and I (and the handicapped patron behind me) couldn’t see a thing as revelers jumped up out of their seats and danced at the slightest provocation.

I can understand feeling moved to express oneself, maybe in the aisles (though I understand that's probably a fire hazard). But there are those of us who paid for the most expensive seats in the house because we wanted to sit (in the seats we’d paid for) to enjoy the performance. Not only was my experience tarnished by drunken revelers, but I’m afraid that I would *never* recommend the Paramount to my friends, knowing now what passes for normal there.

It’s a lovely venue, but serving alcohol was a bad decision, apparently. Next time Goran Bregovic comes through town, I’ll happily pay to see him at a more civil location.

Let me speak for all of Oakland: I apologize, Mr. Bregovic. Please come back… maybe to San Francisco, next time.

Right or Left?

The knuckle on my right middle finger catches when I flick my finger just the right way. Since I was a kid I’ve relied on this to determine right from left — clicky-hand is on the right. Needless to say, if my hands are unavailable to me for click-testing (like if I’m holding heavy groceries) I get lost.

If you’re ever having a conversation with me and happen to say the word “left” or “right,” glance down at my hand and you’ll see me flick my finger unconsciously. (I’ve caught myself doing it.)

Forms: Getting around Javascript Paste-disabling tactics

Today I tried to paste my account number from my cheat sheet into ING Direct’s form, only to find that they’d disabled the Paste function. Circumventing this by turning off Javascript isn’t an option, since their Submit button is also Javascript-reliant. This puts users in a bind.

This practice is inherently user-hostile, so here’s one way to get around it. (It works on the Mac, but I can’t vouch for other platforms.)

If you have the account number in a text document, select it, then drag it from your document over to the ING Direct form’s text field. Since this is a system-level event rather than browser-level, it cannot be blocked by Javascript (at least not as easily). It’s still not as convenient as Copy/Paste, but at least it saves typing, and about 15 seconds of your time. (Okay, so I’m numerically dyslexic.)

Mini Cooper Maintenance Promo fail?

Let’s see if you can tell where the following promo loses me:

REMEMBER! We will put your car on a lift and perform a complimentary 32 point visual inspection with you standing side-by-side with the technician going over each item with you! So Call Now!

You can tell how pleased they are by the cleverness of this idea because of the number of times they use “you.”

OMG, LOOK WHAT YOU GET TO DO — YOU!

Really? Do I also get to hold my own wrench in case the technician needs a hand? Ooh, how about a harness so I can ride on the technician’s back while they perform work!

In my case, I seriously doubt they’ve targeted the right demographic.

I do not want to stand next to a technician.

I do not want to look at car parts, especially the naughty upskirt bits.

What I want more than anything is to sit in a comfortable chair out in the air-conditioned lobby playing iPhone games while you magically magic my Mini back to pristine perfection.

You put that in your promo card and I’m there, you.

Another one for the coincidence collection

Last night I dreamed that I was carrying two beloved pieces of portable Apple tech with me, one iPad-sized thing, and something smaller, like an iPod Mini. I noticed they were both quite warm to the touch, and before long the battery in the iPod began to swell, and I had to toss it away before it exploded completely. Then I noticed the same thing happening to the iPad, and it was almost too hot to hold. I found a freezer, and put it in there.

Then I woke up.

Such an odd thing for a dream to focus on, given that I’ve never had battery problems with any equipment.

A few hours later I received an email from my friend Bob.

This is what he wrote:

From: robert
Date: June 28, 2011
Subject: is my laptop battery supposed to do this?

so - check this out - this is the 3rd laptop battery that has swelled/exploded on me from apple - did this over the course of a lecture I was giving at CAL - swelled up and started to crack the case - lucky it did not explode…

Craptop