Monday 19 September 2011

The curious application of lottery logic

I'm going to admit right away that this isn't much of a Gem. Unless you happen to be what is popularly (and usually inaccurately) known as a Grammar Nazi. That is, the kind of person who will be annoyed by the sight of a sentence containing "an hotel", or when faced with a double negative, will invite a roughing-up from someone who really couldn't give a monkey's about double, triple or quad negatives and will show you just how negative it can be to prissily correct someone who happens to be taller, wider and was probably weaned onto bricks as a baby.
(breath in, Spike, breath in!)
That said, a lot of Julie's Gems are not wrong, per se, but there will often be that niggling sense that something isn't quite right, even though you have got the meaning clearly enough. Take, for example, the following Gem.

By the way, the square parenthesis [...] indicate a word or phrase unsaid but implied.

See what I mean? You got the sense of what Julie was meaning to say clearly enough, but a moment later, you stop and think, "...hang on a minute...". What we have here, ladies and gentlemen, is either a failure of logic or a most ingenious paradox....
...hmmm...
Time for a video clip...

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