Words losing their meaning

[SpectreAgent]

5 hours ago, ejaculaTe said:

Rules of punctuation are seen as imposing an artificial structure on the message, and that artificiality is rooted in the class and gender hierarchies in the society. For all I know, that linguistics viewpoint might be correct, but reading a block of text that had all of the periods and commas shaken out of it leaves me thinking that the writer needs to be shaken a bit (but not stirred).

Or that the writer is illiterate?

[SpectreAgent]

5 hours ago, BootmanLA said:

Additionally: Paragraphs, people. This is really more of an issue with the fiction section (and sometimes other posts) but putting twenty-seven sentences into one paragraph, especially when half those sentences are run-ons and should be further divided, renders the text essentially unreadable. Signed, another Grumpy Old Man.

I don’t think any of the above qualifies you as a grumpy old man. Only that you have standards.

It’s a pity because some otherwise entertaining and arousing fiction on here can be blunted by grammatical howlers. And, of course, language and grammar change over time. It always amuses me when my fellow Brits get all huffy over “-ize” v. “-ise” and claim the former is an American bastardisation of the language. They ignore that historically “-ize” was used centuries before “-ise”. The Oxford English Dictionary considers both are correct.  

Edited September 2, 2020 by RawPlug
Additional text.

[blackrobe]

6 hours ago, ejaculaTe said:

Rules of punctuation are seen as imposing an artificial structure on the message, and that artificiality is rooted in the class and gender hierarchies in the society. For all I know, that linguistics viewpoint might be correct, but reading a block of text that had all of the periods and commas shaken out of it leaves me thinking that the writer needs to be shaken a bit (but not stirred).

My solution is simpler. If I find an indigestible lump of text without any punctuation to add or clarify meaning and correctly define the beginning and end of thoughts, I don't bother reading it. If I do read it, I'll unconsciously copy edit it and it will take 10-20 times as long as it would if it were written clearly.

My biggest pet peeve at the moment is the "missing words" problem. On sites like Sniffies you'll often see posts that are "need suck" or "need fuck" or something similar. It's impossible to tell if they "need [to] suck" or "need [to be] suck[ed]". When what you post is ambiguous and prevents the people you're looking for from knowing what you actually want it clearly shows that the supposedly "artificial" structure of the message is, instead, essential.

[Phallarchist]

Most terms are inadequately specific. Is an "oral top" a man who penetrates orally (leaving unclear his anal practice, if any), or a man who will insist on sucking dick before anally penetrating? Why bother with the codes and animal categories? Just explain what you mean, specifically. No one's paying by the word for space in a newspaper.

[Guest takingdeepanal]

On 9/2/2020 at 2:43 PM, RawPlug said:

It always amuses me when my fellow Brits get all huffy over “-ize” v. “-ise” and claim the former is an American bastardisation of the language. They ignore that historically “-ize” was used centuries before “-ise”. The Oxford English Dictionary considers both are correct.  

"-ise" and "ou" are both Norman impositions. Technically-speaking, "-ize" and "o" are closer to true English than those formerly noted.

Edited September 4, 2020 by takingdeepanal

[SpectreAgent]

3 hours ago, takingdeepanal said:

"-ise" and "ou" are both Norman impositions. Technically-speaking, "-ize" and "o" are closer to true English than those formerly noted.

Exactly. Although “-ise” actually only became more widely used in England by publishers and popular newspapers in the late 19th century. The Oxford English Dictionary rules that both are correct, but “-ize” is still favoured by Oxford University itself. In fact, there was an Inspector Morse episode in which Morse deduced that a suicide note purportedly written by a professor was a fake because no Oxford don would use the “illiterate” (his word) “-ise” instead of “-ize”.

[NWUSHorny]

On 9/3/2020 at 2:12 AM, FaceLoad said:

Most terms are inadequately specific. Is an "oral top" a man who penetrates orally (leaving unclear his anal practice, if any), or a man who will insist on sucking dick before anally penetrating? Why bother with the codes and animal categories? Just explain what you mean, specifically. No one's paying by the word for space in a newspaper.

My experience is if they have "oral top" and don't mention anything about anal, it means oral only.

[BootmanLA]

6 hours ago, NWUSHorny said:

My experience is if they have "oral top" and don't mention anything about anal, it means oral only.

But that still leaves the central question unanswered. For oral, is the top the "insertive" partner or the "active" partner? I generally assume the former, but I've encountered lots of guys who consider themselves "oral tops" because they actively suck cock. 

[NWUSHorny]

I haven't run into any "oral tops" that are active cock suckers, so that one had not occurred to me. 

I haven't bothered to try to hookup with any, but Doublelist is full of HJ/JO top ads here, what would be your interpretation on that one?  My assumption has been they were looking for a guy to jack them off, nothing more.

[Phallarchist]

9 hours ago, NWUSHorny said:

My experience is if they have "oral top" and don't mention anything about anal, it means oral only.

It's a perfectly reasonable definition, but why not just say "I get sucked" or "I fuck skull"?

[ejaculaTe]

9 hours ago, FaceLoad said:

It's a perfectly reasonable definition, but why not just say "I get sucked" or "I fuck skull"?

It’s the signaling value of the use of jargon or, less likely, slang. I’d be the first to admit, however, that that particular idea is unlikely to be going through the writer’s mind at that moment.

[AZRawPig]

Anytime!  That's what's going on this weekend...with 8 sleazy...piggy fuckers.   Missing you and your sloppy, wet holes and hard COCK for servicing.