Remembering Roo

It must have been early 2007 when I travelled to Ringwood to meet him.

He was a huge Weimaraner

He had lived all his 13 years with a European Family with two little girls who loved to roll all over him , play with his big, floppy ears. He accepted this treatment unquestioningly. 

They were moving to Colorado and couldn’t take him. I‘d been put in touch by a friend of a friend called Marg who heads up a group called “Weimaraner Rescue” 

I hesitated, mumbled & grumbled about it for a week.

Thought I may not be ready for another dog.

Mardi had only died two years prior. She had been with me for 17 years. Had I grieved enough?

Marg convinced me (nagged is to strong) that I had. 

Roo was delivered, (complete with Kennel, bowl like a bucket, and a lead that could have been used to tie up ships,) a week later by a tearful hulk of a Tradie called Mundy.

He, Roo,was similar in build to Mundy at that time.   
About 10 kilos overweight.

55 Kilos. He needed to loose some weight.

We walked every night. 

Ten minute walks soon became 30 minute walks.

30 minute walks became hour walks.

Every weekend through the backstreets, lanes and parks of Brighton we would go.

A sniff there, a poke around there, a pee over there.

And Roo would do the same.

Then came the dreaded Bloat.
Bloat is an afliction that affects some breeds of dogs. They try to vomit. Their belly swells and within hours they can be dead.

A three hour operation was done by Danny and his assistant in the middle of the night at Hampton Clinic. He came home just three days later on a Friday night.

Vital organs stitched into place inside, and staples like the zipper on a tent running from upper chest to lower belly. 

On Saturday I sat beside him, fed him water and painkillers and watched.

By four pm the tough old bastard was looking for a walk. 

We got back into our walking habit very quickly. 

He came to be called other names than Roo.
Eva and Jon, my housemates called him Stinky due to his flatulence.
I called him Sunshine.

When we were walking I used to sing to him. 'Your are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy When skies are grey...'

So he became know as Sunshine.

I got a bit concerned about him sleeping outside in his kennel in the winter so I invited him in to sleep on the couch. He accepted this stoically, but probably gratefully.

One night there was a huge crash. No. A loud but dull thump really. 
Three people raced from different bedrooms to the lounge expecting Roo to have a burglar in a death grip. But no. Roo had rollen over in his sleep, fallen off the couch and, can weimaranars have sheepish looks? 
Yes they can!

Early 2008 he developed Arthritis.
Badly.

A new diet and exercise regime were required.

The walks were shorter, more frequent, less hurried.

More a meander really.

I think it was about then I began singing to him.

“Your are my Sunshine” and“Sunny side  of the Street” were his favourites

I was happy, he was happy.
He never did manage the falsetto part though.

On Tuesday night of the 10^th of June 2008 we went on our evening stroll before dinner.

We had crossed the Nepean Highway into Hurlingham Park, Meandering around the boundary line.
On the outer wing he suddenly collapsed. Legs wouldn’t hold him. He struggled to get up but to no avail. In two minutes he was gone.

I imagine it was that big heart that finally gave out. 

It was quick. It was rhopefuly painless.
He was doing what he enjoyed most with the person that loved him most.

He was a tough, but gentle dog. 

My time with Roo was great fun.

Too short but wouldn’t have missed it for Quids

You were my Sunshine.

AN ATHEIST REMEMBERS RELIGION

While I do consider myself an atheist, I find at times a certain peace, calm and strength in church.
Occasionally while in the city of Melbourne I am drawn to St. Francis Cathedral. It was the church my Mother took me to on our occasional jaunts to the 'city' when I was but a child.

We occasionally used to take the big journey by tram from East Coburg (number 19 tram) into town.
We would shop. I don't remember what for, Probably manchester, undies and the like at various shops around town.
I don't remember any of the shops except two.

The first was Foys.
It stood on the corner of Bourke and Swanston Streets, and what I clearly remember is that it was about six floors high. From the first floor to probably the fourth floor at around Christmas time there stood, on the first floor veranda, a huge Santa Claus. He was very benign and had a moving finger. It was his right finger and curled back and forth beckoning. An in an invitation to come inside the store. Which we did.
What happened inside the store I don't recall except for getting my photo taken on Santa's knee. 

The big event , as far as I was concerning was lunch at Coles penny sit-up.
Coles was of the same ilk as Foys. Cheap merchandise of all sorts. Clothes, school supplies, manchester, whatever a household needed.

The big attraction of Coles was lunch. The penny sit-up. This was a complete floor dedicated to eating.
It was noisy, vibrant, limited menu.
It catered to the working class which meant in those days of the late 50's and early 60's nearly everyone.
The counter snaked around one side of the wall with fixed benches.In the body of the room plenty of tables for two or four people.
The menu simple. There was the "blue plate special". I don't remember what that consisted of because we could never afford it so didn't read it.
I always chose the pie and sauce followed by the banana split.
Now the banana split was something special. A banana cut length ways with two scoops of ice cream, crushed nuts, chocolate topping and whipped cream. Heaven on a plate.!

Next and last stop was the long walk to St. Francis Cathedral on the corner of Elizabeth and Lonsdale Streets.
To me it was a grand piece of architecture and once inside a haven of peace even to a child of six or eight.
We would enter through the door at the rear which faced the huge alter. We would stop, genuflect, say a prayer or two until my knees hurt which wasn't long. 

We would then move on to the small alcove on the left dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
This alcove had a small stand set up with offset rows and candle holders. Small candles lay in rows at the base of the stand. One was expected to place a small donation into a slot, take a candle and light it from another light candle and pray for...well whoever. Deceased or alive. We did this on every occasion we visited the city.
I have no idea who my mother prayed for and no idea who I prayed for.

I still follow that same ritual most time I am in the city except now I know who I am praying for.
I sit in the body of the church reflecting and remembering my Mum and Dad. I think of my blessings. I look for strength.

Atheist?  Yes.
Reverent of my Mothers beliefs? Yes.
Finding calm in a fraught world in church? Yes. Most emphatically so.

Thanks Mum for introducing me to a place of reflection and peace.
Talk you tomorrow.

Beautiful Victoria Street Richmond

Diary entry, January 21st 2012

Finished applying for a position. Took three hours to write resume, cover letter and "Statement of Suitability".
 Decided to treat myself to a bowl of Pho in Victoria St.

Parked the car in the Aldi supermarket carpark and strolled to my favourite, Than Phoang. Beautiful day, hot, steamy. Chinese Spring Festival in full swing. Dragons and fireworks and young men and women from the Buddhist society blessing business's in their noisy manner.

Lovely people in Victoria Street. All those nice young men nodding and smiling at me. so friendly. Some even asked me what I was chasing. They obviously realise I can't read Chinese characters and are offering to assist with whatever it is I want to purchase. I declined their offers with good grace and continued on to my soup shop. But it restores your faith in humanity doesn't it.
Sat and ate my soup (Special Beef with with tendon) and the pretty young lady brought me ice water.
Strolled back to my car and passed the same young men smiling, winking, nodding. I smiled politely noticing they all had bad teeth and were, well, a little scruffy looking.

Asian people. So caring and helpful.

The Story of Punctuation

 Punctuation: the beginning

Over the time I have been writing my blogs, my idea has been to show that punctuation is an integral part of the English language. Along with spelling and grammar, punctuation is part of a language that is changing and evolving. It had a beginning, it has evolved from that beginning and continues to evolve to who knows where in the future.

I talked about where it came from and why it was needed, how it evolved, where it will go and where it has been.

I have written a little about the correct usage of some items and how it has become an obsession for some people. I have tried to have a little fun with punctuation.

What is it good for?

Punctuation (from the Latin punctus for point or pricking) is the use of a series of symbols to help in the understanding of English both written and aural. The word is from the same Latin root as punctilious meaning attentative to etiquette, and punctual meaning on time. [1]

Punctuation marks are a guide to when to pause (the full stop or period), when to give a pause (the colon) when to give a shorter pause (the semi-colon) and the shortest pause (the comma). It also advises when to add an inflection (exclamation mark or question mark), and much more.

Punctuation can add lilt and music to reading a piece out loud. It clarifies the meaning rather than leaving it slightly ambiguous. 

The origins of punctuation


According to the New World Encyclopaedia [1] and Wikipedia [2] the oldest use of punctuation was on a stone tablet called "Mesha Stele." or "Moabit stone."

It was written circa 850 BCE by King Mesha of Moab (now part of Jordan) and is notable for employing points between the words and horizontal strokes between the sense section as punctuation.

  

The introduction of the first standard system of punctuation is attributed to Aldo Manuzio.

He is credited with popularizing the practice of ending sentences with the colon or full stop and also for inventing Italic type.


Punctuation then took a big step with the introduction of movable type in the 15^th century.
Johannes Gutenberg invented his printing press with movable type around 1540. 

He is also credited with inventing the hyphen. If a word was not completed at the end of a line he included a hyphen to indicate it was unfinished and contin-
ued it on the next line. 

Punctuation evolved even more quickly from there. Well relatively quickly. Over the next 400 years new punctuation marks were devised for various reasons until...

‘By the 19th century, punctuation in the western world had evolved "to classify the marks hierarchically, in terms of weight” [3]

The use of punctuation was not standardised until after the invention of printing. According to the 1885 edition of The American Printer, the importance of punctuation was noted in various sayings by children such as:

 Charles the First walked and talked half an hour after his head was cut off.

With a semi-colon and a comma added it reads:

Charles the First walked and talked; half an hour after, his head was cut off.  

Punctuation then seemed to get complicated. Rules evolved, writers argued, experts wrote style guides. One style guide had seventeen rules for the use of the apostrophe. 

People still get up in arms about incorrect usage of punctuation especially the apostrophe.

Believe it or not there is even an Apostrophe Protection Society which has its own website with photos of sign writers errors. It’s a lot of fun and worth a look. http://www.apostrophe.org.uk/


Some Tricky ones

Brackets or parantheses ( ) [ ] { }

The intention of the bracket is to include additional information within a sentence. The sentenceshould make sence with or without the information inside the brackets.

For example. I went to an exhibition (by Henry Maas) on Sunday at the Collingwood Gallery. 
Delete the information inside the brackets and the sentence still stands. 

If an editor wants to add the additional information, he (or she) would have used square brackets indicating it was inserted by someone other than the writer. So it would be:

I went to an exhibition [by Henry Maas] on Sunday at the Collingwood Gallery. 

Different types of brackets can be used together in one sentence (if you want to include an aside [or a date] or superfluous information) as required.


The apostrophe

The apostrophe is probably the most misunderstood of all the punctuation family. Poor ‘poste doesn’t know where to stand. He gets pushed back and forth like the runt of the litter.
     Stand here in front of the s.
     No no, back here after the s.
Back and forth, up and down. Poor little fellow doesn’t know if he is an apostrophe, a comma or a quote mark half the time.


The Apostrophe Protection Society has tried to simplify things for him and his users. It has written the three basic rules for its use on their website  

      1. Apostrophises are used to denote a missing letter or letters,

       for example:

I can't    for  I cannot.
It's         for  it is.
I don't   for   I do not.

2. They are used to denote possession,

       for example:

The dog's bone.
The company's logo.
Jones's bakery (but Joneses' bakery if owned by more than one Jones)

3. Apostrophes are never ever used to denote plurals!

       Common examples of such abuse (all seen in real life!) are: 

Banana’s for sale.

1000’s of bargains.

Menu’s printed to order.

This video is dedicated to Lynn Truss who wrote the book "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" [7]







Bad Punctuation Joke.


An apostrophe walkes into a bar.
The barman says ‘I think you’re in the wrong place’ 



The future of punctuation 

Earlier this year researchers asked the question 'are children losing the capacity to read and write? [4]

The answer they came up with after their research is probably not.

It is believed that having fun with texting is creative and 'leads to creativity and intuition in crosswords, poetry and so on'.

Masla and Tarica quote Britain's poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy ( who 'believes texting is the ideal springboard to poetry writing') and psychologist Dr. Nenagh Kemp who states that 'language is liquid and flourishing.' and 'it makes sense that someone who is good at language, is also good at crosswords, poetry, etc.'

Young people do understand that while they can have fun and be creative with texts and emails, it is not acceptable in essays etc. They understand that they cannot and they do not use incorrect spelling, grammar or punctuation in formal letter writing or schoolwork.

The fucha is probly safe in their hands -:) 

Some of the emoticons, abbreviations and shorthand will probably find their way into the language in the near future. And why shouldn’t they! On with the evolution! 

Fun with punctuation

In 1999, a journalist for the Washington Post Bob Hirshfield, who was heartily sick of poor spelling and grammar, wrote an article about a new computer virus called the Strunkenwhite Virus. [5]

Hirshfield took the name for his virus from a book called 'The Elements of Style' by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White.

This virus (according to Hirshfield) was 'more dangerous than the Chernobyl threat'. Apparently the virus refused to deliver emails with grammatical errors. If such emails were found it would shut down the computer that sent the email and take hours to restart.

He quoted an FBI agent who (via the telephone because he was too scared to use his computer email system) stated this insidious virus was 'a threat to freedom and Western Society, blah, blah, blah.'

Summation

Writing has been with us for less than 3000 years. Originally only a select few had access writing and the ability to read. The increase of education, the printing press, newspapers, computers and the internet have speeded up the use of language and with it punctuation. Today there are languages within languages. Geologists, Chemists, Librarians, Physicists, Big bang Theorists and Engineers, while they al have a common language in English, they also have their own words and phrases idiosyncratic to their professions. With these words and phrases, by necessity come punctuation marks. New languages require new punctuation.

The artists and writers of the world also develop new language and with it new punctuation.
Some writers avoid punctuation. Gertrude Stein hated the comma and William Burroughs had his own punctuation.
Others like E.E. Cummings used it like it was colour in a painting [6]

                                                ' while in the battered
                                                  bodies the odd unlovely
                                                  souls struggle    slowly   and    writhe
                                                  like caught.  brave:  flies;                    '

Why should we imagine that the current signs used as punctuation or the current rules of usage should stand in stone. Punctuation is a part of Language. Language evolves.

Bibliography

[1]Mesha Stele n.d. New World Encyclopaedia. viewed 7 Oct 2011, <http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Mesha_Stele?oldid=836298>

[2] Mesha Stele n.d. Wikipedia viewed 7 Oct. 2011,<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesha_Stele>

[3]Punctuation n.d. Wikipedia viewed 7 Oct 2011,<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punctuation>

[4] Maslen, G. Tarica, G 2011, 'Textese g8 training 4 poets of 2 moro' The Age 12 Sept, p. 16

[5]   The Pluperfect Virus n.d.bobsfridge viewed 22 October 2011,< http://www.bobsfridge.com/virus.html>

[6] Reviews of selected poetry collections  n.d. Modern American Poetry, viewed 23 October 2011,<http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/cummings/reviews.htm>


[7] Truss, L. 2009, Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, Fourth Estate, Hammersmith, UK.

The Apostrophe

An Apostrophe walks into a rather seedy bar.

The barman says - 'Mate I think you're in the wrong place' [1]
                                          ----------------------------------------------------------------------


Why do people get so hung up (pardon the pun) on the apostrophe?


Did you know there is even an Apostrophe Protection Society in the U.K? 
True! You can find their website here.


Wikipedia goes on and on about the rules governing the use of the apostrophe. Pages and pages and pages of rules.

For those interested you can view them here. Personally I wouldn't bother! I'd rather use the three basic rules offered by the Apostrophe Protection Society (herein refered to as the APS because I am tired of writing the word apostrophe.)

The pedants of apostrophe usage, APS [2] say there are three basic rules and I'm happy to go with them.


 Their basic rules are:-


1. They are used to denote a missing letter or letters, for example:

I can't for I cannot.
It's for it is.
I don't for I do not.


2. They are used to denote possession, for example:

The dog's bone.
The company's logo.
Jones's bakery (but Joneses' bakery if owned by more than one Jones)


3. Apostrophes are never ever used to denote plurals! Common examples of such abuse (all seen in real life!) are:

Banana's for sale. - should be Bananas for sale.
Menu's printed to order - should read Menus printed to order.
1000's of bargains - should be 1000s of bargains


                          --------------------------------------------------------------------------------


For much of this blog I have referred to a book titled Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. by Lynn Truss. [3]
It's a very funny read even if you don't give a hoot about punctuation, give it a look.
There is a review of the book on The Guardian.
You can read it here.

[1] -The Author.
[2] The apostrophe Protection Society
[3] Truss, L 2009, Eats, Shoots and Leaves:The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, Fourth Estate, Hammersmith, UK.

You can quote me

Inverted commas are also known as quotation marks


They can be single ‘ ...’ or double “...”

There doesn’t seem to be any set rule except when using both in one sentence, as in:

He questioned “Why would Jack say ‘You shouldn’t do that’ ?”


In this instance the first quotation mark is double and the inner quotation is in single quote marks.

Note the question mark is inside the final quotation mark.


Even in the case of single use of quotation marks the punctuation is inside the quote marks

“Will you be my best friend?”


The only time the end punctuation is outside the quote marks is when you might use quotes to draw attention to a phrase.

For example: I don’t believe in ‘mercy killing’.


If a quotation uses poor grammar use [sic.] to note it.

She wrote, "I would rather die then [sic] be seen wearing the same outfit as my sister."
She should have used than instead of then. [1]


Quote marks can also be used to denote sarcasm or irony. [2] as in

In his “wisdom”...

Quesgtion: What is the difference between Irony and sarcasm?

Irony is conveying something by saying the exact opposite. Sarcasm is meant to be hurtful an mocking. Irony is not. [3]

Quotation marks have other uses as well.

For example you might put a nickname in quote marks. Edward “Carji” Greeves.

Or to denote the title of a book. Peter Robinsons “Aftermath”

Or for “unusual” usage. My dog just seems to “know” when I am approaching the house.

You can even use verbal quote marks although thankfully the practice appears to be dying out.

Put your arms out shoulder wide and head height and waggle the first two fingers on each hand as you say the “quote”. It’s very silly and you look like a twot.

To summarise:

You can use single or double quote marks, you can use them for direct quotes, or to emphasise a word, you can use them verbally. The main rule is punctuation (full stop, question mark, etc.) goes inside the closing quote marks except on rare occasions.


[1 Quotes,Grammarbook, viewed 9 october 2011< http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/quotes.asp>


[2] Quotation mark,Wikpedia, viewed 9 october 2011,<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_mark>


[3] Sarcasm-vs-irony, UsingEnglish, viewed 9 october 2011,<http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/67799-sarcasm-vs-irony.html>

In the beginning...

According to the New World Encyclopaedia [1] and Wikipedia[2] the oldest use of punctuation was in a document called "Mesha Stele." or "Moabit stone."

It was written circa 850 BCE by King Mesha of Moab (now part of Jordan) and is notable for

employing points between the words and horizontal strokes between the sense section as punctuation.

It was discovered in 1868 and is on display at the Louvre Museum.

It is also the oldest known reference to the Hebrew god Yahweh.

Movable type and printing in the 14th and 15th centuries saw the beginnings of punctuation as we know it today.

The introduction of a standard system of punctuation is attributed to Aldo Manuzio.

 He is credited with popularizing the practice of ending sentences with the colon or full stop and also for inventing Italic type.

Punctuation in other European languages is the same as English with a few exceptions.

 In France for instance instead of inverted commas for quotation marks they use << and >>.

Greeks use the semicolon ( ;) as a question mark and in Spain they put an upside down question mark at the beginning of a question and a normal question mark at the end.
So it would look like this:

¿Is your name Bernie? – except  it would be in Spanish of course.

Hebrew punctuation is as complicated as ours and more difficult to write. They in fact have their own keyboard with their own letters and punctuation.

Sometimes it has Arabic letters and symbols as well due to the high percentage of Arab speakers in Israel.

Chinese, Japanese and Korean didn’t originally have punctuation as their language(s) are made up of symbols rather than letters.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Punctuation Puzzle

I remember my Father testing me on this one.

Insert the comma(s) in the correct place.

The teacher said that that that that that boy used should have been which.

Where do the commas go?



[1]New World Encyclopedia. 22 Oct 2008, 15:24 UTC. 7 Oct 2011, 02:51 <http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Mesha_Stele?oldid=836298>




[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punctuation#History