speaker_to_customers: (Default)
speaker_to_customers ([personal profile] speaker_to_customers) wrote2008-04-04 12:18 pm

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The good: yesterday I discovered Fever Beats by Thea Gilmore. Only six years after it was released but better late than never.

The bad: I read (courtesy of a good Friend, no way would I pay for it) Buffy Season 8 issue 13. As usual it filled me with an intense hatred of Buffy. This does make it rather difficult for me to get on with writing Buffy-centric stories. It didn’t even contain any useful plot hooks for Giant!Dawn crackfic. Really the whole thing was crackfic, or even badfic, and it’s very hard to parody utter drivel.

The ugly: In order to cure my Buffy-hatred I went to Just Rewards and read some classic Spuffy fics. Unfortunately I’d had a reading spree recently in which I’d re-read all of Enigmatic Blue’s, Barb’s, Tales of Spike’s and a few other favourite authors' stories; I had to fall back on some fics by writers who are rather less skillful. I kept being jerked out of the mood by sloppy word usage. ‘Loose’ for ‘lose’, ‘loathe’ for ‘loath’ and vice versa, and one I had never seen before and which totally cracked me up; ‘in loo of’ for ‘in lieu of’. One perennial error inspired me to write the following drabble set at the end of ‘Not Fade Away’...


The Last Hurrah of the Golden... Handshake?


The e-mail was flagged as ‘urgent’ and came from the Senior Partners. Grazz’durtak, demon administrator, opened it immediately and read the message.

‘Renegade Los Angeles CEO Angel is in the alley behind the Hyperion Hotel. Send a demon hoard.’

Grazz’durtak frowned. Strange. Still, his not to reason why...

- - - - -


The rain poured down on the bedraggled band as they stared at the hoard.

“Okay,” said Gunn, “you take the thirty thousand on the left.”

“I had hoped to do more violence,” said Illyria, scooping up gold coins and gems, “but this tribute is... acceptable.”

- - - - -


“‘Hoard’? It was supposed to say ‘horde’!”

syderia: lotus Syderia (fanfiction)

[personal profile] syderia 2008-04-04 11:24 am (UTC)(link)
*snickers*
gillo: (mayhem)

[personal profile] gillo 2008-04-04 11:31 am (UTC)(link)
Oh yes. I hate that one with a passion. Along with "breath" for "breathe".

And yes, Illyria would find it acceptable.

[identity profile] ffutures.livejournal.com 2008-04-04 11:39 am (UTC)(link)
Nice one!

The one that always cracks me up is "Los Angelus"

[identity profile] beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com 2008-04-04 11:39 am (UTC)(link)
Bwahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

[identity profile] petzipellepingo.livejournal.com 2008-04-04 11:48 am (UTC)(link)
Bwah! And, IMO, just one more reason why people (aka young people) can't always depend on Spell Check. Pick up a dictionary folks!
Edited 2008-04-04 11:49 (UTC)

[identity profile] frenchani.livejournal.com 2008-04-04 12:16 pm (UTC)(link)
LOL

BTW I didn't know the word "hoard" and had to look it up.

and one I had never seen before and which totally cracked me up; ‘in loo of’ for ‘in lieu of’

Now that is hilarious!
deird1: Fred looking pretty and thoughful (Default)

[personal profile] deird1 2008-04-04 12:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Very clever!

[identity profile] manoah.livejournal.com 2008-04-04 02:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Excellent.

I'm sure I've missed many an interesting plot line or idea by virtue of the fact that I just couldn't handle the poor spelling/grammar. Spell check is only your friend if you actually know how to spell. Just sayin'.

[identity profile] shallanelprin.livejournal.com 2008-04-04 03:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Hee. Very cute.

'In loo of' for 'in lieu of'—seriously? That's hilarious. I hate the way bad grammar really throws you out of a story. Although I think the 'loathe' vs 'loath' is British vs American spelling, which makes both technically correct. I could be wrong on that.

[identity profile] molliemole.livejournal.com 2008-04-04 03:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Love this. Do you ever take requests? One of my personal favorites is "And so, without further adieu..." I swear I've actually seen this.

[identity profile] zanthinegirl.livejournal.com 2008-04-04 04:05 pm (UTC)(link)
I keep saying I'm done with season 8, but the crack! It pulls me back in. It's kind of like a car wreck-- you feel all dirty, but you keep looking anyway. Bah! It was my last episode-- I swear! And this time I really mean it!

[identity profile] willowgreen.livejournal.com 2008-04-04 04:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Ooh, maybe I'll stumble over a demon hoard on the way to pick up my daughter this afternoon!

I think "in loo of" deserves a ficlet of its own.
rahirah: (Default)

[personal profile] rahirah 2008-04-04 05:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Hee!

[identity profile] ayinhara.livejournal.com 2008-04-04 06:09 pm (UTC)(link)
LOL, that was refreshing. Could I have a hoard too?

As for the person who used in loo of I hope that she was an American, not a Brit. I expect better from Brits.

[identity profile] averageshmoe.livejournal.com 2008-04-04 06:59 pm (UTC)(link)
"in loo of?"

That would be appropriate for BTVS Season Eight as it's gone straight down the toilet.

pgavigan

P.S. Please post a warning before doing something like this. I was having my morning coffee and am now wearing a different shirt.

(Anonymous) 2008-04-04 07:15 pm (UTC)(link)
So, what exactly makes you hate Buffy with white-hot loathing? Inquiring minds want to know... ^^

Magnus
jerusha: (bwahaha; icon by shopgirl2004)

[personal profile] jerusha 2008-04-04 08:20 pm (UTC)(link)
BWAHAHAHAHA!

Thanks for the mention. And also...in loo of? Really? HEE! I think that just made my day.

[identity profile] ladycat713.livejournal.com 2008-04-04 08:36 pm (UTC)(link)
I like this ending.

My most hated word mistakes is taunt for taut. Always used to describe a stomach.

And the Buffy comics are definitely making people hate Buffy. I'm just hoping that it will be like that season of Dallas where it was all a dream.Probably Andrew's. They would probably also piss people off less if they stopped calling it canon and renamed it BTVS season 8 crackfic version!

[identity profile] diachrony.livejournal.com 2008-04-04 08:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Hee!

One of my biggest peeves is coming across the use of "waste" when the intended word is "waist." The image that comes up (often someone "putting their hands around So-and-So's waste") is absolutely repulsive and makes me run away screaming.

Spellcheck does NOT help people who make these sorts of mistakes. Sigh.

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