kelliem: correct usage (spelling) (correct usage)
( Sep. 11th, 2012 12:13 pm)
Aha! Found a new word for my "words frequently mixed up in fanfic" list. It's not exactly a homophone but it's kind of a fake visual one. We need a fancy word for that. Pseudohomooptic? Aaaanyways, here it is:

Rouge =/= Rogue.
Rouge is an old-fashioned word for a cosmetic used to make the cheeks or lips red. Or a reddish powder, chiefly ferric oxide, used to polish metals or glass.
A Rogue is a scoundrel or a scamp. Or a vagabond. Or a vicious and solitary animal. Or an X-Man (X-Woman?). ;D
kelliem: (avengers)
( Aug. 29th, 2012 08:33 am)
Do any of you who are Americans say 'meant to' instead of 'supposed to' (as in "You were meant to be at work" rather than "You were supposed to be at work.") and if so, what part of the country are you from? I'm just curious because I keep running across the phrase in Avengers fanfic and every time I read it I hear the phrase in a suspension-of-disbelief-breaking British accent in my head. I've run across a quite a few Avengers fic which badly needed US-picking (just as I've read a lot of Sherlock stories that really needed Brit-picking) but 'meant to' keeps appearing in stories which don't otherwise appear to need it so I am wondering if there are places in the US where that's common usage. 

Also, as long as I'm here- I have a sort of mini-rant: when did the word "important" lose it's first "T"?  Lately it seems like about 90% of the time I hear it pronounced on (US) TV, the person saying it says "impor'ant" not "imporTant". It drives me nucking futz.
kelliem: XMFC - Eric & Charles (XMFC)
( Jul. 6th, 2011 10:57 am)
Still here- still boring. :)

Saw X-Men: First Class and Thor last weekend. Enjoyed XMFC way more than Thor, though Thor was still worth seeing. I loved Chris Hemsworth's Thor- he actually has great comic timing and it would be fun to see him in a romantic comedy. Where I had issues were the portrayal of Odin as a loving touchy-feely dad (SO not how Odin is shown in mythology), and in the convoluted confusing mess that they made of Loki's characterization and motivations. (And minorly, I will probably never be able to see Jaimie Alexander as anyone but Jessi from Kyle XY so her Sif didn't really work for me.) Heimdall really rocked, though.

XMFC was a delight. Despite some quibbles with the "divorce" and some continuity issues between the first X-Men films and this one, over all the movie just held together better for me and was far more enjoyable. And with McAvoy, Fassbender and Vaughn all apparently agreed on a homoerotic reading of Charles/Eric, my slasher's sensibilities were definitely pleased. Not to mention that as someone who lived through the 1960's (yes, I'm ANCIENT!) it was fun to see where they got it right in set and costume design (especially loved the oscilloscope as part of Cerebro! Every '60s sci-fi device worth its parts needed an oscilloscope!) and also the attitudes toward women. It's actually got me reading fanfic again for the first time in ages.

That said, I've found several new items for my semi-annual spelling and homophone rant! I have seen a lot of 'alot'* and 'alright' is not all right. Here are some of the new goodies:

Bare/Bear - You bare your soul, (or possibly your body). You bear a weight or a burden (or you see a bear in the park!) You can have bare skin, or a bear-skin. ;D

Feat/Feet - A feat is a noteworthy or extraordinary act or achievement, usually displaying boldness, skill, etc. Feet are those things at the bottom of legs which come into contact with the ground. Oh, and also a unit of measure.

Rein/Reign - Reins are the things by which a rider controls a horse. To Reign is to rule over. You don't reign in your passions, you rein them in. Oh, and it goes without saying (I hope) that rain is water that falls from the sky.

Wail/Wale/Whale -
*Wail: to utter a prolonged, inarticulate, mournful cry.
*Wale: 1.a streak, stripe, or ridge produced on the skin by the stroke of a rod or whip; welt. 2.the vertical rib in knit goods or a chain of loops running lengthwise in knit fabric 3. the texture or weave of a fabric.
*Whale: any of the larger marine mammals of the order Cetacea.

Whoa is not spelled woah unless you're deliberately using netspeak. (Courtesy of [personal profile] shayheyred)

I'll have to try to remember the other ones and update my list. :D

One other mild slash fanfic-related grumble-- can I just say how TIRED I am of the one-finger-two-fingers-three-fingers-cock thing? Seriously. It does not have to be done that way every single time!!

*And if, like me, alot bugs you a lot, check out this link which was just pointed out to me in a comment by [personal profile] melodyunity.
kelliem: can of spam (spam)
( May. 24th, 2011 11:45 am)
There is this thing... it's called 'birth control.' You might want to read up on it.

(Apparently unplanned pregnancy was the plot device of choice this season... it came up in Fringe, Hawaii 5-0, Bones, House (two even!!) and The Event. And that's just the shows I was watching. There may be more I am not aware of.)
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Your result for The Commonly Confused Words Test...

English Genius

You scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 80% Expert!

You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go!

Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it!

For the complete Answer Key, visit my blog: http://shortredhead78.blogspot.com/.



Take The Commonly Confused Words Test
at HelloQuizzy

(And since the quiz made me think of it, here's a link to my semi-annual spelling and usage rant. Consider it ranted for the next 6 months or so. ;D

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kelliem: icy lakefront sunrise (strange)
( Jan. 24th, 2008 11:26 am)
Dear Author;

The past tense of "cast" is "cast." Not "casted."
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kelliem: annoyed kitty (wtf)
( Mar. 7th, 2007 08:10 am)
What is it with TV scheduling lately? Nothing is on in a consistent fashion any more. Shows start randomly at any time of year (for instance, Blood Ties which is starting this Sunday and of course conflicts with The Dresden Files), and there are gaps of weeks and sometimes months in a season (I'm looking at you Bones, Ghosthunters, Heroes, House, Jericho, and Stargate: Atlantis), and they change days and times randomly (too many to count!), and sometimes a particular episode will run 3 minutes past the hour and screw up the tape (Heroes last week), or consistently starts 3 minutes early (NCIS) so if you're watching something else before it, you invariably miss the teaser.

How the hell is anyone supposed to watch TV any more, unless they have a Tivo that automatically catches everything?

Whew. Okay. Got that out of my system.

Now, on to pleasanter things. 'House' spoilers behind the cut. )

ETA: For you David McCallum or Torchwood fans out there, here's a rec: [livejournal.com profile] jadesfire2808 has written a short, well-characterized Torchwood/Sapphire & Steel crossover. You can find it on her LJ here.
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I have a new entry for the homophone portion of my Semi-Annual Grammar and Spelling Rant!

Throws /= Throes

throws = the physical act of throwing something.

throes = 1) A severe pang or spasm of pain, as in childbirth; or 2) A condition of agonizing struggle or trouble: a country in the throes of economic collapse.

You cannot be in the throws of passion. (Okay, unless you and your partner are into recreational nude karate or something), you are in the throes of passion.
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kelliem: can of spam (spam)
( Oct. 9th, 2006 08:44 am)
It's Monday? How did that happen already? Weekends are much too short. It seems like it has just started and bam! its already over. Saturday I drove kidunit, who wasn't feeling quite the thing, down to a con in South Denver which ate up the morning, then we had to rush back through Homecoming Football Traffic to meet [livejournal.com profile] ladyra (who has recently moved to the area) for lunch. We had a great time and will have to do that again sometime soon! Only we need to make sure there's not a football game scheduled to screw up traffic. Then I went home and took a two-margarita-inspired nap. :-) Yes, I am a cheap drunk. I spent the rest of the weekend reading the stack of Sue Henry mysteries I borrowed from [livejournal.com profile] bluster, in between helping kidunit work on costuming, and doing my laundry and some household stuff. It seems like I didn't do anything. I barely got online at all. So that was my thrilling weekend.

The weather this morning is chilly and rainy, very fall-like. Our yard is full of bright yellow leaves from our trees, and the raccoons are making a lot of noise as they raid our rapidly-withering apples, causing the cats to have conniptions. Despite the evening chill, our back-door neighbors are still having Really Loud Parties TM (as in, we can plainly hear them inside our house, even with all our windows and doors closed.) in their back yard until all hours on a regular basis. I'm sure I am developing a reputation as the neighborhood curmudgeon by screaming "SHUT UP!" at them when they're still out there partying at the top of their lungs at 1am. Am I wrong in thinking that it is courteous to one's neighbors to move one's party indoors, or at least try not to scream, after midnight?

In other news, I am fairly rare:


HowManyOfMe.com
LogoThere are:
24
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

kelliem: can of spam (spam)
( Mar. 8th, 2006 02:06 pm)
Lately I've been seeing this a lot, on blogs, on lj, in emailed quotes, I've overheard it in hallways, and I just read a quote* from Sharon Stone (who is definitely old enough to know better!) on the IMDB that did it too. And it bugs the heck out of me. "It" being women (and men) using the word 'vagina' when they mean 'mons pubis' or 'vulva.' Yes, both 'vagina' and 'vulva' start with 'v' and end with 'a' but you will note that there are different letters between them.

A woman's vagina is INSIDE her body, and you cannot easily see it unless your face is in her crotch and/or you have a speculum. (If you need a visual illustration here's a link.) (sorta NWS)

So if some woman is wearing a miniskirt and no panties and she bends over and flashes everyone behind her, you are not seeing her vagina, you are seeing her vulva, or labia. If you're in front of her and she flashes you, you're mostly likely seeing her mons pubis, or again, vulva which is a good catchall term for a woman's external genitals. Another good generic term for genitals is 'pudenda' which according to the dictionary can be used for men or women but tends to be used mostly for women these days.

* The quote was: "I knew that we were going to do this leg crossing thing and I knew that we were going to allude to the concept that I was nude, but I did not think that you would see my vagina in the scene."
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Went out to dinner this evening with kid-unit and housemate, to a local Italian restaurant we like a lot and eat at frequently. It's a nice place, pleasant atmoshpere, great food. Service was a little slow tonight because there was a huge wedding rehearsal dinner taking place in one part of the restaurant but that wasn't a big deal. Until the Birthday Party of Doom (hereafter TBPoD) arrived and were seated in the booth right behind ours. TBPoD was comprised of about 10 young women between the ages of 11 and 13. The parents of the birthday girl were seated at a different booth kitty-corner to TBPoD. We cut them some slack at first because we realized that TBPoD participants were excited and having fun, and exacerbating the problem was the fact that the section we were seated in has a low, stucco ceiling which reflects sound, but honestly, TBPoD was excruciatingly loud. To the point that it was physically painful. An elderly couple on the other side of us were clearly upset by the noise, and a family of five at a table near us kept openly staring at the TBPoD in amazement and dismay.

The waitress came out and refilled our water, wincing at the noise and quietly murmuring "sorry" as she did so. I kept trying to catch the eye of the birthday girl's mother, who was standing there talking to TBPoD and studiously ignoring my attempts. I finally raised my voice a little to ask if TBPoD could tone it down a bit. Mom continues to ignore me. TBPoD continue to shriek. Next thing we know, a spitball comes flying over the back of the booth and lands on the table, barely missing the housemate's water glass.

Kid-unit was incensed and stood up and reamed them out. I was pretty pissed off myself and asked the woman to put a leash on them. She continued to act like they were the only people in the restaurant, even though she could hardly have failed to notice that one of the kids she was supposedly chaperoning had just launched a spitball at us since she was standing there watching them at the time!

Right about then one of the busboys came by and asked us if we'd like to change tables. With great relief we agreed, and he gave us a table on the other side of the restaurant where we could finish our meal in peace, and both he and waitress and the manager all apologized profusely. The thing is, it wasn't their fault. It was the parents who were with the kids. And clearly they didn't give a damn. They never once indicated in any way that they thought TBPoD was out of line.

Amazing.
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Is there some kind of conspiracy lately? I swear to GOD every third fic I've read this week has gotten discrete mixed up with discreet and it is driving me absolutely BONKERS!!!

Please see my last rant on the subjects of spelling and homophones 'cause I don't feel like retyping it and it's only been 6 months since last time, for goodness sake!!!.

Thank you.
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Ahem.

Making a pair of tights longer does not also magically render them wider. When I buy a pair of plus-sized tights, I do not want a pair which would fit someone who is seven feet tall and of average weight. I want a pair that fits someone of average height who is pleasingly plump. This should not be a difficult thing to grasp. I don't want to pay good money for a pair that somehow manages to be both saggy and binding.

Grrrrr.
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Dear CU Students;

I am sad to learn that your parents were too busy doing... whatever it was they were doing instead of parenting you... to teach you how to cross the street when you were young. You might want to find a 'street crossing buddy' who does know how to do it to assist you so that you do not get squashed flatter than a pancake by passing cars. Failing that, here are some simple instructions:

1) look for a place on the street painted with white bars

2) look on the traffic signal closest to the place on the street painted with white bars, find a small box-like light wherein a small icon of a 'person' who looks a lot like the AOL IM Symbol resides.

a) If the IM-Symbol is WHITE, you may cross the street, staying within the white bars.

b) If the IM-Symbol is ORANGE and FLASHING, you should hurry across the street because the light is about to change.

c) If the IM-Symbol is ORANGE and STEADY, remain on the sidewalk and do not attempt to cross the street.

PS: If you do attempt to cross the street while the IM-Symbol is ORANGE and STEADY, do not glare at traffic if they almost hit you. It's your own damned fault.

And on a completely unrelated subject, if anyone on my flist lives in the Baltimore area and would like a kitten, see this post.
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Every time I start reading a lot of fanfic, especially unbetaed fanfic, I feel a rant coming on ...

Tense:

The past tense of "cast" is "cast," not "casted."

The past tense of "sink" is "sank," not "sunk." "Sunk" is an adjective describing a submerged object.

Spelling:

'A lot' is two words.

'All right' is two words

'Could have' (or could've) not 'could of' unless you are doing it deliberately in colloquial dialect.

Definite, not definate.

'Each other' is two words

Erection has only one 'r.'

Furniture not furnature.

It's stockings not 'stalkings.' Yes, I know there was a TV show called "Silk Stalkings" but it was a PUN, guys.

Truly has no 'e' in it.

Unfortunately has only two n's. (i.e., it's not 'unfortunantly.')

Whoa is not spelled woah unless you're deliberately using netspeak. (Courtesy of [personal profile] shayheyred)

For the seventy-bajillionth time, it is navel not 'naval' unless you are talking about military ships and not the site of the umbilical.

Other homophones (sound alikes) and lookalikes a writer should learn the difference between:

* Affect and Effect (affect = to influence, effect = several things but not the former.)
(a simple mnemonic to remember this: "Special effects affect us.")

* Bare and Bear (You bare your soul, or possibly your body, but you bear a weight or a burden. Alternately you may see a bear in the woods. You can have bare skin, or a bear-skin.)

* Break and Brake (you break a glass but you brake a car)

* Breath and Breathe (you take a breath, but you breathe air)

* Clothes and Cloths (clothes = garments, cloths = pieces of cloth)

* Complement and Compliment (complement = various, compliment = an expression of praise)

* Desert and Dessert. A desert (noun) is a wasteland, usually arid and uninhabited. In its verb form, it means 'to abandon or forsake.' A dessert, however, is something yummy to eat after a meal. On very rare occasions, you may run across 'deserts' pronounced the same as 'desserts' with the meaning of a reward or punishment which is deserved (as in: He got his just deserts.). Note: Desert (noun) and Dessert are not properly homophones, the two words do not SOUND alike but they LOOK enough alike to confuse people.

* Discreet and Discrete (discreet = with discretion, discrete = separate)

* Faze and Phase (faze = To disrupt the composure of; disconcert. phase = a bunch of different things but not 'to disconcert.')

* Humorous not Humerous. (Humorous = something funny {from the word 'humor.'}, Humerus = the long bone of the arm, and "Humerous" is not a word at all.)

* Lose and Loose (lose = lost, loose = not tight)
(also applies to Loser and Looser.)

* Peaked, Peeked and Piqued
(peaked = coming to a peak or point)(ETA4: "Peaked" can also mean "to be wan, fey, or ill.")
(peeked = peering furtively)
(piqued = a state of vexation, also, to provoke)

* Principal, Principle (the former means 'First, highest, or foremost in importance' and can also be related to money, the second 'basic truth, law, or standard of behavior.')(If you are talking about the head administrator of a k-12 school, it's *-pal* not *-ple*)

* Prostrate, prostate (the first means to lie on the ground, the second is the small gland much beloved by slash-writers)

* Rein, Reign (Reins are the things by which a rider controls a horse. To Reign is to rule over. You don't reign in your passions, you rein them in.)

* Shown and Shone (shown = displayed, shone = to give or reflect light, to excel, or to polish, among other things.)

* Speeches and Speaches (speeches = a form of communicating, speaches = nonexistent word.)

* Their, They're, and There
(their = Used as a modifier before a noun. ex: their home town.)
(they're = contraction of 'they are')
(there = can be used variously but not in place of either of the above.)

* Then and Than
(than = various but primarily used to introduce a second element or clause of an unequal comparison.)
(then = various, primarily time-related)

* Throws and Throes
(throws = the physical act of throwing something.)
(throes = 1. A severe pang or spasm of pain, as in childbirth; or 2. A condition of agonizing struggle or trouble: a country in the throes of economic collapse.)

You cannot be in the throws of passion. (Okay, unless you and your partner are into recreational nude karate or something), you are in the throes of passion.

* To, Too, & Two
(to = toward)
(too = in addition/also)
(two = the numeral 2)

* Viscous, Vicious (the first means thick and/or sticky, the second means evil, immoral, depraved, malicious, etc.) Note: This is not properly a homophone, the two words do not SOUND alike but they LOOK enough alike to confuse people.

* Wail/Wale/Whale -
(Wail: to utter a prolonged, inarticulate, mournful cry.)
(Wale: 1.a streak, stripe, or ridge produced on the skin by the stroke of a rod or whip; welt. 2.the vertical rib in knit goods or a chain of loops running lengthwise in knit fabric 3. the texture or weave of a fabric.)
(Whale: any of the larger marine mammals of the order Cetacea.)

* Your, You're (the first is possessive, and the second is a contraction of 'you are.')

Apostrophes, aka Plural 'S' vs. Possessive 'S':

When a word has an 's' on the end because it is plural, there should not be an apostrophe. i.e., "He has tons of money" should not be written "He has ton's of money."

An apostrophe should be used to indicate possession, i.e., "Jack's ship is called the Black Pearl." or to indicate a contraction: "They're all right."

If you have trouble remembering the rules for apostrophes, go print out a copy of the "Bob the Angry Flower" apostrophe use cartoon for yourself.

Whew.

Time to get out the marshmallows to toast over the flames...

ETA: I hate the use of the spelling 'cum' for come. But that's just me, I know it's in the dictionary. :-)

ETA2: Great quiz to test your ability to pick out homophones: http://www.helloquizzy.com/tests/the-commonly-confused-words-test
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I've finally hit my limit. I've read one too many due South stories where Ray Kowalski smokes like a chimney. So I am going to say this even though I know no one in dS even reads me any more, and furthermore none of them give a good damn what I think and will cheerfully continue to write him doing so because they think it's 'teh hawt' or whatthefrickever.

Ray Kowalksi does not smoke.

Ray Kowalski does not smoke.

Ray Kowalski DOES NOT FREAKIN' SMOKE

Callum Keith Rennie smokes. Ray Kowalski does not. Callum Keith Rennie is an actor. Ray Kowalski is a character. Actor/Character = NOT THE SAME THING.

*pant* *pant*

*foam*

That is all.
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kelliem: icy lakefront sunrise (what?)
( Sep. 4th, 2004 07:06 pm)
So I'm happily reading this vaguely sci-fi-ish thriller by an author (male) whose work I've read and liked before, and come across this:

"Coffee sir?" An aide approaced David with a tray of mugs.

He gave the tiny-breasted girl the barest shake of his head.


Say WHAT? Since when is it okay to describe someone only by the size of their secondary sexual charcteristics? Not only that, but he infantilizes this person, clearly old enough to be a White House aide, as a 'girl.' Not a woman. Swear to Goddess, one of these days I am going to write a story where someone describes a minor male political flunky as "the tiny dicked boy."
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kelliem: icy lakefront sunrise (tmi)
( Aug. 26th, 2004 03:18 pm)
[Poll #341505]

ETA:Clearly none of you attend the university where I work. The other pleasant thing I encountered today was an apple-core stuck onto a window-sill. Again, with a trash-can just feet away. Sheesh.
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I love slash fanfic, but sometimes reading it gives me a headache. So I'm going to gripe a little here. And it's all because Mercury is retrograde, I'm sure.

Erection only has ONE r.

Discreet and Discrete are two different words and have completely different meanings

Prostate and Prostrate are also two different words with completely different meanings.

And along those same lines, ditto with peaked, peeked and piqued.

It's not 'the cock' or 'the hand' or 'the mouth' it's his, or [insert slash-object's name here]'s. (Unless, of course, you are talking about a male chicken, or a dismembered body part...)

Their and there and they're are not all spelled the same way nor do they mean the same thing.

As I have said many times before, when you are talking about the site of the human umbilicus, it's navEL not navAL. Naval relates to ships, navel relates to bodies and oranges.

Now, for things spell-check WILL catch:

It's unfortunately not unfortunantly.

It's speeches not speaches.

It's poignant, not poignent.

Spell-check is our friend. Use it.
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kelliem: icy lakefront sunrise (what?)
( Jun. 7th, 2004 07:58 am)
So, just because some old former politician cacks off, I'm supposed to forget about everything else going on in the world? I can tell I'm going to just have to ignore 90% of the news for the next week because it's going to be All Reagan All The Time. Aaagggghhhhh!! And what burns me is that even the liberals seem to be in 'if you can't say anything nice' mode. *grumble*

Okay, so they did also manage to tell us the important fact that Liam Neeson is 52 today. Which is nice to know but... people... NEWS. Please.

Oh, and on the up side, my email is working again. Congrats and commiseration to Bonnie and Robin for dealing with the hacker problem in such a timely manner.
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kelliem: icy lakefront sunrise (Default)
( Mar. 30th, 2004 12:16 pm)
[livejournal.com profile] ardent_muses Warning! Bathroom talk ahead. :)

This is a really stupid question but it's bugging me because it seems to happen at least once a week. Why do people who are using a public restroom fail to lock their stall door, and then get pissed if you open it? The restrooms in my building are set up so you really can't see feet and the doors are always closed, so the only way to know if a stall is occupied is to push on the door. But half the time, someone will be inside and will have failed to lock the door. And invariably they act like you're some kind of pervert, when you were actually just another person needing to use the facilities. I don't get it. Why didn't they just lock the stall door to start with?

Okay, now that the important, earthshattering question has been put to the universe at large, here's the latest meme, gakked from [livejournal.com profile] rustler
Read more... )
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Tune out now if you're one of those parents who do everything for their mostly-adult child because you're not gonna like what I have to say.

If you are a parent of a college age kid, DO NOT: ranting follows )
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kelliem: DS: RayK & Fraser (bf-kellie)
( Dec. 14th, 2003 03:03 pm)
Pet peeves, that is...

It's NAVEL. Not "bellybutton" not "naval" (For those unclear with the concept of homonyms, the first refers to the spot where one's umbilical cord was attached-- providing one was not a Tank-- the other refers to things associated with the navy.)

I know this should not bother me. There are so many other things that should bother me more. But I've been in a marathon fanfic-reading session lately and you know, every single time I'm reading a story and the author, in mid-sex scene, refers to someone's navel as their 'bellybutton' it completely throws me out of the story and I'm suddenly wondering if it was written by a 12-year-old girl.

Aaagh.

Navel. Navel. Navel.

Navel.

*grinch*
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