A Rambling Mélange of Miscellanies

I’m on holiday so I decided yesterday to take a morning off from the things that I ought to be doing and have a few hours wandering around people’s blogs and following links all over the place to see where they led me.  I ended up adding quite a few notes on things to blog about myself.  For example there was…

The Oxford Comma

In the past I have debated with Daughter-who-takes-photos the merits and demerits of the Oxford comma.  I being in favour of it have always looked for good examples.  This is as good as they come.

I know there are ways around the above problem but every way around it causes other issues to arise.  Indeed the fandango* on which I found it was very long indeed.   *I muttered aloud “What do you call it?”  GB’s response from across the breakfast bar was “A fandango” so that’s what I typed.  I was really asking what do you call one of those long-on-line debates that anyone can enter?  I think the word is Forum!

Some people have been taught to use the Oxford comma whenever they make a list of the sort that doesn’t require semi-colons.  That is what I was taught so it is second-nature and it is quite acceptable to me to put a comma before the word ‘and’.  So, if I were required to list who came to dinner it might be Fred, George, Gloria, Albert, Victoria, and Henry.  Because I use it a lot of the time such potential confusion as that shown in the picture above is always avoided. But some folk have been taught the opposite; that it was some antiquated grammatical style and that using it was just wasting a keystroke. They would therefore write “Fred, George, Gloria, Albert, Victoria and Henry” and even if there was potential confusion would not insert a comma.  Hence “I'd like to dedicate this award to my parents, Ayn Rand and God”.  I doubt one side will ever convince the other of its merits but I shall continue using the Oxford comma and encourage anyone who might ask me about it to do the same.

Mottoes

I think I’m going to create a new motto on every Rambling post. I guess you could almost call them affirmations at this rate.  So far we’ve had:

“Fake It until you Make It! Right!”

Then came:

“I shall not be distracted”.

And today’s (thanks to Mrs E. at Easy Street) is one for those folk who find themselves overwhelmed by so many jobs that they don’t know where to start and find themselves not wanting to do any:-

“Baby step.  Breathe.  Baby step.  Breathe”. 

http://erickfam.blogspot.co.uk/

It beats my usual one of Make a list; Revise List; Make a New List; Revise List…

Don’t you just want to tickle that foot!!

Labyrinths and Mazes

This is a postcard that Danielle received.  I’ve followed Danielle’s book blog for a long time and it was she who introduced me to postcrossing.   Quote from her blog – “This is Chartres Cathedral in France where there is a labyrinth that fills the nave.  It dates from the early 13th century and is beautifully preserved.  By the way, did you know that mazes and labyrinths aren't the same thing?  They are used almost interchangeably, but labyrinths have only one path (usually quite circuitous) whereas in a maze there is a choice of paths.”  I didn’t know the difference.   LindaY in a comment on Danielle's blog also pointed out that mazes have walls, whereas labyrinths do not, and that you are supposed to follow the single path in the labyrinth while meditating.  Amazing what you learn on the Internet.

Made Maze in England - a hedge maze at Longleat House, England.

Baked Felafel

I’ve never really known what falafel was – other than a frequent answer in crosswords – but I found out the other day when Daughter-who-takes-photos posted a recipe for them on her recipe blog.

This is, most assuredly, something for me to try when I get home.

The Ooooolympics

Britain got its 25^th Gold Medal yesterday.  An amazing total.  I doubt we’ll equal it at Rio de Janeiro but it will certainly give us a target.

Have a good weekend, folk.