Thank You and Other Randomness

FIRST: A BIG THANK YOU to all of you wonderful bloggers who visited over St. Patrick's Day, left a comment, and/or became a new follower. I really do appreciate it.

SECOND: I'm a VERY excited winner. Sangu at Echoes of a Wayward Mind, offered up a SIGNED copy Talli Roland's book, THE HATING GAME (also available at Amazon Kindle) and and my name was drawn. It's coming all the way from England. Thank you Sangu and Talli!

THIRD: A while back Sherrie Petersen at Write About Now passed on to me the Beautiful Blogger Award. I like that it's lavender, kind of goes with my color scheme. Thanks Sherrie!

I'm supposed to list seven (7) pet peeves. So here goes.

1. That the English language and/or someone clever hasn't come up with a good and proper neuter pronoun so we don't have sentences like this from Ralph Waldo Emerson: No man is quite sane. Each has a vein of folly in his composition. Personally I don't have a problem with using "man, him, he, his" as a collective pronoun for all us huMANs.

But here it is rewritten: No human is quite sane. Each has a vein of folly in his/her composition. Okay, but awkward.

Or: No person is quite sane. Each has a vein of folly in their composition.

2. Which leads right into using "their" with a singular noun. As in, "The sun was shining on their back." GAK. It should be, "The sun was shining on their backs."

3. "This is arguably the best solution to the problem." People (reporters in particular) use "arguably" A LOT! But if it's the BEST solution then it stands to reason that it CAN'T be argued. Therefore what I think people mean to say is that it is INARGUABLE, in other words, that there can be no argument, it's THE BEST. The sentence should read, "This is inarguably the best solution to the problem."

4. Long ago I learned, "that" is for things, "who" is for people. Even the well known are guilty. Tim Robbins said: I love iconoclast. I love individuals. I love people that are true to themselves, whatever the cost. It should have been "I love people WHO..." I read/hear it all the time for example: "The firefighters that went to the house saved the women." To my ear it should be "The firefighters who went..." THAT is for THINGS, WHO is for PEOPLE.

5. How about this: "She's as good of a truck driver as any man." GAK again. It should simply be: "She's as good a truck driver as any man." Get rid of that of!

6. Over used words and cliches. (Of course I'm guilty myself. Forty lashes with a wet noodle.)

7. People who moan and groan and complain. Particularly now. I've had the following anonymous quote stuck to my computer for some time now: Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

And now dear little bloggers who may this blogger read, I pass on to ALL of you, The Beautiful Blogger Award.

Tell those near and dear to you that you love them. Smile at a stranger. Hug up your pet(s). And remember to be thankful for every little thing you have.