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What's distinctive about our writing styles??


Not_a_Number
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5 hours ago, regentrude said:

I guess you'd recognize my style under a new name. I am selective about the topics in which I respond and tend to respond repeatedly in the same threads. My posts tend to be on the longer side; I love the semicolon. Not sure what else?
Oh, and I have a compulsion to correct information that is not factual. Professional hazard, if you will.

Your language has naturalised over the years. Back in the day, your formality would have outed you immediately. 🙂

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47 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

Woohoo! I finally managed to get back in the forums! 

And I’m now terribly curious to change my user name and see if anyone notices and if they will discover me based on what I suspect they would.

You are instantly recognizable by your "Love is..." signature. 😉 

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7 hours ago, Wheres Toto said:

So do we have 3 "new" posters on here that are actually long-term members?  

I'm so name blind that I blank on the names of people I've know IRL for YEARS.  I'd need a chart to keep people straight here and I've been here for almost twenty years!  It's the stories, ideas, and photos that I remember more than the names.  

 

5 hours ago, Dmmetler said:

It actually is more fine grained than that, and is at least somewhat country-specific. In general, if you bite it and you get sick or die, it's pois onous. If it bites or pokes you and you get sick and die, it's venomous. If you get sick by being in it's general area, but no physical contact is required, it's toxic.  It's kind of a non-secret handshake in the Herp world. 

However, with the increased discovery that more snake species sequester toxins from prey in glands below their skin, and that some frogs have spikes that can inject a predator (or a human who picks them up), it's become a lot more murky. As is the discovery that a lot of species have proteins in their saliva that have an anesthetic effect, meaning that they are not venomous in the sense of having an LD50, but that they aren't quite not venomous, either. 

 

We just had the venemous/ poisonous discussion at dinner and now I'm reading it here.  This board is supposed to be my retreat from my dinner companions.  🤣

2 hours ago, Scarlett said:

I wonder that too.  Especially when people threaten to out  me.  

This would be SO uncomfortable.  If anyone knows me IRL, I'd be so much happier not knowing.  I once saw a poster from here on a local FB group and I backed slowly away from the conversation just to give her her privacy.  Ummmm . . . clearly she did not have my hang-ups so I don't know what I was thinking.

 

I'm guessing my writing style would be Non-Sequitor Girl.  I might be guilty of the occasional tangent.

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I don't think I would recognize anyone. I scroll through so quickly and don't pay attention to the names, avatars, or signatures on most posts. I used to do it deliberately because people could be so rude or um...weird.... many years ago and I didn't want to prejudice myself against a poster who may have useful or helpful info for me later. Now, I don't think it's necessary because most people are super polite or maybe my skin has toughened, but I'm always reading quickly. 

I'm not the most observant IRL either.

I don't know if I have a tell. Maybe editing because I can't stand letting a typo stand or that I like ellipses and starting sentences with conjunctions. 

I get creeped out when people recognize me from here IRL. If we met here first, it's cool, but I don't like someone coming up and saying "I know who you are!"

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There are probably not many who remember me, so I don't need a whole thread to say Hi and update about me, but I thought this might be a good thread to re-emerge from lurker status. After the boards changed a couple years ago, as soon as I logged in here (maybe related, maybe not) my email was inundated with so much spam that it made it past the spam filters to my inbox. I took it as an opportunity to take a break and didn't get spam stormed again. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I'm hoping with the newest update it is safe again because this is the best place in the world for intelligent conversation and I dearly miss it! 

Anyway... Hi!

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3 minutes ago, Thatboyofmine said:

I remember you!! I even remember the cat pic!  Hi!! 👋🏼

(Btw, that cat does not look afraid of anything.  😱😆)

@fraidycat, me, too, and I have to say Thatboyofmine is right about the cat! (But please don't change him or her--I love that pic!)

Edited by MercyA
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Sadly, we lost that kitty this spring, the night before DD's AP English exam, 12 hours before her appointment to be euthanized.

But, she definitely was not afraid of anything and loved to be bossy. 😁

I, on the other hand, was definitely scared to homeschool my kids many moons ago when I found this forum and needed a username. 😉
 

 

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9 hours ago, historically accurate said:

Me, too. Parenthesis are the best! I often re-type posts because as I'm re-reading and over-thinking, I notice that every other sentence will have parenthesis.

I also like to link articles a lot (mainly on the political board). <-- note the use of parentheses LOL. I'm a researcher at heart. I once won the plastic shovel award at some work function because I was the one voted "Most Likely to be Shoveling through the File Room" looking for answers. 

I’m a big fan of the parenthesis, ellipses, “air quotes” (is there a word for typed quotes meant to imply air quotes?) asterisks... one in front for a little emphasis, front and back for more, and then just take the leap to boldIing when I’m real serious... I like So, Like, Yeah, and beginning sentences with And and But.  And I’m not ashamed because 98% of what I write here is intentionally written the way I talk to friends.  That tends to include the drastic overuse of adverbs, too.

If/when I have a more polished essay approach, I’m either in a very bad mood or absolutely desperate to get a point across. Or maybe occasionally I want to show off that I’m perfectly capable of writing well, lol.

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45 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

I’m a big fan of the parenthesis, ellipses, “air quotes” (is there a word for typed quotes meant to imply air quotes?) asterisks... one in front for a little emphasis, front and back for more, and then just take the leap to boldIing when I’m real serious... I like So, Like, Yeah, and beginning sentences with And and But.  And I’m not ashamed because 98% of what I write here is intentionally written the way I talk to friends.  That tends to include the drastic overuse of adverbs, too.

If/when I have a more polished essay approach, I’m either in a very bad mood or absolutely desperate to get a point across. Or maybe occasionally I want to show off that I’m perfectly capable of writing well, lol.

I do a lot of “air quotes” too - quotes meant to imply a sarcastic use of the word.  Sometimes, when I am proofing before I submit, I take out several quotes of sarcasm because there are just too many for one post. 

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@Rosie_0801would probably be identifiable by her little pithy bits of wisdom ?  
oddly I think I’d be more like to identify the Aussies and other internationals than the US peeps maybe?  Just because of their slight different stories/regional stuff.  
 

This has kind of turned into a bit of a sad - “where did everyone disappear to?” thread.

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People would recognize me because someone would post something like "I can't stand it when people say irregardless; that's not a real word!" and I wouldn't be able to stop myself from jumping in and pointing out that it is linguistic nonsense to declare a word that is commonly used and understood by native speakers of a language to be not a real word. Cover blown.

Though I might get mistaken for @Tanaqui.

Edited by maize
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4 minutes ago, maize said:

People would recognize me because someone would post something like "I can't stand it when people say irregardless; that's not a real word!" and I wouldn't be able to stop myself from jumping in and pointing out that it is linguistic nonsense to declare a word that is commonly used and understood by native speakers of a language to be not a real word. Cover blown.

Though I might get mistaken for @Tanaqui.

I'd recognize you because you're both academic-minded and unschooly, lol. It's not a super common combination on the forums... I am that way myself, although less so than you, I think (probably because my kids are receptive to early academics and yours aren't.) 

Also, the anti-grammar stance 😄 . And the many languages. 

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If someone knows me IRL they would be able to figure out who I am on here pretty easily.   As far as I know, there's nobody I know IRL on here but it's possible I'm wrong about that.  I do occasionally recommend this place but unschooling is a lot more popular in my area than classical (although I do tell people not everyone, or even the majority, on here teaches classically).  

Edited because evidently my blog isn't listed in my signature anymore.  

If  anyone knows me on here they could probably figure out who I am IRL because I'm pretty sure I run the only homeschool science center in NJ.  

Edited by Wheres Toto
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I figured out another way people could tell its me if I change my name - typos.   I type really fast (20 years as an executive assistant) but there are certain typos I commonly make that don't autocorrect because they are still real words - there are at least 3 in my posts just on this thread. 

Me for my (or visa versa) is one.   

I can't think of the others but I noticed them in some quoted posts.  I won't fix something once it's quoted (or if I'm feeling lazy). 

I tend to have a casual, chatty style of writing, or a very brief succinct and to the point style.  Nothing in between.      

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16 hours ago, Dmmetler said:

Just ask how to get rid of a "poisonous" snake. DD has me well enough trained that I'm inevitably going to out myself. 

LOL...that is my household's pet peeve as well so you might not be the only one trapped by that question.  😁

My boys are constantly complaining whenever they find a reference to a "poisonous" snake...last year I even corrected the trainer I for a course I was talking on teaching reading. The choice of snake clip art and example sentence for the poison -- poisonous suffix addition bothered me so much I emailed her to explain and suggest she change her example to a poison dart frog. 😁😂🤣

Edited by kirstenhill
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16 hours ago, EKS said:

I remember finding that, but it was during the time I was first dealing with my son's cancer diagnosis, and so you had deleted the post before I could see it.

In normal times, I am on the Chat Board far too often!

Oh no, you too!?  I'm so sorry to hear that.

I was not around on the boards much for a while dealing with my son's spinal cancer, and a whole bunch of people disappeared or changed names at the same time.  Unlike many of these ladies here, I can't tell who everyone was.  It's like I'm talking to a room of very familiar strangers.

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9 hours ago, fraidycat said:

this is the best place in the world for intelligent conversation and I dearly miss it! 

That's why I keep reading after so many years.

I have met one other board member irl about 10 years ago.

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There are many posters who I would recognize based on their writing style. I don't post enough for anyone to recognize mine, but one thing I do know about myself is that I overuse ellipses.  Just writing this response doesn't look right to me, because I didn't have a reason to include any! 🙂

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14 hours ago, Quill said:

See, I have much too much vanity to ever let go of my most-excellent UN, Quill. It’s so suited to me. It’s one of only two common posters whose avatar initial is a pink Q, @QueenCat being the other. People can say it, they can remember it, it’s short and stands in for a real name easily. I’m keeping Quill as my UN until hell freezes over, lol! 

LOL... time to ban anyone else from starting their name with Q. 

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2 hours ago, kirstenhill said:

LOL...that is my household's pet peeve as well so you might not be the only one trapped by that question.  😁

My boys are constantly complaining whenever they find a reference to a "poisonous" snake...last year I even corrected the trainer I for a course I was talking on teaching reading. The choice of snake clip art and example sentence for the poison -- poisonous suffix addition bothered me so much I emailed her to explain and suggest she change her example to a poison dart frog. 😁😂🤣

Handwriting without tears earned points here because their science content in their writing samples is actually accurate. Teach Piano Today/Wunderkeys get similar points for the same reason-they have low level books that are cute talking animal books, but have enough actual facts to please kids who are science minded (and not derail the discussion complaining about inaccuracies. I have a book of dinosaur songs I pretty much can't use because the illustrations are so inaccurate that invariably the kids end up spending half the lesson complaining about them). 

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I  have a hard time remembering names, although I'm good with faces.  I probably would recognize the posters I interact with the most, but other than that, I'm not too terribly observant.  This thread reminds me of when I was going through job training with a group of women, taking classes together for quite a long time.  One started imitating how one or the other acts personality wise, mannerisms for fun and it segued from there, each gal imitating another.  We all knew each other pretty well by then. Guess I had a truly boring personality back then,  because all B could come up about me  was a nervous habit.   

So there you go. That's how you would know me. Dropping in and out with an inane comment, adding my two cents, and lots of 'so.'   It seems my advice generally falls flat unless its about books.  😁

😘

Edited by Robin M
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24 minutes ago, mellifera33 said:

I don't think that I would recognize people by writing style, but by backstory and pet topics. I have recognized posters across platforms, though, and that was a little weird. I guess I don't expect an overlap between WTM and reddit?

LOL. I read reddit all the time, but don't post there. 🙂 

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I do recognize certain tones in writing.  Like some people are very succinct and come across as super matter-of-fact / emotionless.  Some come across as extra sensitive to how others will be affected by their words or intent.  Some write like they don't suffer fools, some write apologetically.  Some write like we're all old friends, some like their stalker is among us.  I'm sure there are hundreds of  "tones" here that I would recognize, but they are hard to define in words.  Then there are the regional "accents" and the grammatical / word choice hints that a person came from a certain part of the world (or still lives there).

OP, among other things, has a tone that to me [usually] says "I'm intensely interested in this topic, and I'm sure you are too!"  Most people don't come across quite that way here, except for some times when they are teasing.

I am pretty sure there are readers who would recognize my writing, for similar reasons.

ETA - the funny thing about me is - I am terrible at remembering names and faces.  The things I remember about people are totally different from what most people remember.  It spooks people sometimes.

Edited by SKL
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13 hours ago, fraidycat said:

There are probably not many who remember me, so I don't need a whole thread to say Hi and update about me, but I thought this might be a good thread to re-emerge from lurker status. After the boards changed a couple years ago, as soon as I logged in here (maybe related, maybe not) my email was inundated with so much spam that it made it past the spam filters to my inbox. I took it as an opportunity to take a break and didn't get spam stormed again. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I'm hoping with the newest update it is safe again because this is the best place in the world for intelligent conversation and I dearly miss it! 

Anyway... Hi!

I remember you!  Hi.

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19 hours ago, MercyA said:

You are instantly recognizable by your "Love is..." signature. 😉 

Oh I’d have to change my signature! That’d be easy enough. 

I’m taking that same dog to the vet next week.  I’m dreading it. I’m pretty sure he is going to say I need to euthanize him.  🥺

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28 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

Oh I’d have to change my signature! That’d be easy enough. 

I’m taking that same dog to the vet next week.  I’m dreading it. I’m pretty sure he is going to say I need to euthanize him.  🥺

Oh, no. I am so very sorry. 😞 It's so hard, I know. image.png.5ea1cf3f6b82688b06029efb333c57b8.png

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This is such an interesting thread.  I'm not on here a ton but there are a few I would recognize.  @Not_a_Number for sure you 🙂  I picked out your UN change pretty quickly.  The subject matter that you post about and the fact that your previous UN suddenly disappeared were the give-aways.  And I also appreciate your gentle probing questions.

I would also recognize Lori D. - what a wealth of information she always provides!  

There are a lot of others whose comments I really appreciate and respect, but I'm not sure I would quickly recognize their writing styles.

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Also, as a side note: when I first signed up I didn't realize that everyone had cool UNs that would show to everyone else (I guess I had never been on a forum before??).  Maybe I just thought I was picking a username that I would sign in with.  Now I feel like my ignorance is displayed for all to see: "she just used her own name".  Haha!  Oh well...

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2 hours ago, LauraClark said:

Also, as a side note: when I first signed up I didn't realize that everyone had cool UNs that would show to everyone else (I guess I had never been on a forum before??).  Maybe I just thought I was picking a username that I would sign in with.  Now I feel like my ignorance is displayed for all to see: "she just used her own name".  Haha!  Oh well...

Lol not ignorant at all.  I know several use their real name.  Others choose not to because they want to remain anonymous.  

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15 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

Lol not ignorant at all.  I know several use their real name.  Others choose not to because they want to remain anonymous.  

I don't really try to remain anonymous, but maybe a little more anonymous than last time, when I used an almost exact copy of my AoPS username.... 😛 

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4 hours ago, LauraClark said:

Also, as a side note: when I first signed up I didn't realize that everyone had cool UNs that would show to everyone else (I guess I had never been on a forum before??).  Maybe I just thought I was picking a username that I would sign in with.  Now I feel like my ignorance is displayed for all to see: "she just used her own name".  Haha!  Oh well...

You can change your name if you want to.  🙂

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5 hours ago, LauraClark said:

Also, as a side note: when I first signed up I didn't realize that everyone had cool UNs that would show to everyone else (I guess I had never been on a forum before??).  Maybe I just thought I was picking a username that I would sign in with.  Now I feel like my ignorance is displayed for all to see: "she just used her own name".  Haha!  Oh well...

I actually like it when people use their real names. I think I'd use part of mine if my DH didn't have privacy objections. 🙂

But, yes, as SKL said, you can change it if you want. 

So glad you are here with us! 

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This is a fun thread. I have a good memory for people’s interpersonal life stuff, and after awhile I suspect “hey, this situation is familiar.” When I see a new poster. 
 

I have no idea what my tells would be. Probably stories about animals dying. We’ve had so many die in the last few years.

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4 hours ago, fairfarmhand said:

This is a fun thread. I have a good memory for people’s interpersonal life stuff, and after awhile I suspect “hey, this situation is familiar.” When I see a new poster. 
 

I have no idea what my tells would be. Probably stories about animals dying. We’ve had so many die in the last few years.

I think for me, the specific stories about your kids would be the giveaway, lol. 

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