Phoebe (margotglass) wrote, @ 2003-12-08 12:55:00

Because I am magnanimous, an update!
I may even explain why I was so excessively distressed the other day. My school has this formal dance thing for which somebody needs a date (not literally; I think they let you in without one, but it's frowned upon, or something) and my mom literally wouldn't let me go without one. And Sara and Claire literally would not let me not go! To make a long story short, my mother arranged for me to go with the nephew of our family friends, who is from Switzerland and speaks French as a first language, with an imperfect grasp of English. I was dreading the awkwardness of this situation (and when I say "dreading" I mean "CONSTANT TERROR"). Then it snowed a lot and the Cotillion (the name of the formal dance event) was postponed until January, when the boy from Switzerland will not any longer be in this country. Now, joyously, I have the option of a) not going b) going alone c) bringing Andrew Whitehill, who is this guy who is in my history class and has mental problems and was very depressed about not going to the Cotillion because his girlfriend broke up with him three days beforehand. Of all these options, option A seems the most delightful. I'll have to ponder it a while longer.

Also, we have a psychotic amount of snow. I've never seen a bigger snowstorm in my life! Wow. On Saturday, my parents and dog and I took a big walk in the snow, which was very difficult. On Saturday night, we went over to Claire's house to consume the feast that was no longer scheduled to feed the people going to the Cotillion. (We had planned to have a dinner beforehand with me and the guy from Switzerland, Sara and her friend Chris whom she was taking, Annina and the boy she was bringing, and a friend of Chris's who was accompanying Claire blindly.) It was delicious. It would have been much better if Sara and her family could have attended also; they had the other part of the feast. Apparently they too invited family friends over to consume their portion of the feast.

Anyway, I ended up spending the night at Claire's, not wishing to trudge home in the snow, and eventually I went home and did homework. (But not all. I still have some history to do, and to study for a biology quiz.) Today, I hope, Sara will be coming over. This will be fun; we can watch a movie! I think the movie I want to show her is "Dead Again," which is really disturbing and scary, and I almost never remember that I have it because it's part of three or four movies that are on this bootleg tape that someone I know lent me. (The other three are "The Shipping News," "The Dead Poets' Society," and . . . maybe there were only three.)

In conclusion, SNOW! This is why I don't update more often; my life is rather boring these days.

	bethysphere 2003-12-08 13:33 (link)
	I adore Dead Again. And you. (Reply to this) (Thread)

jupe 2003-12-08 17:08 (link)

A adore Dead Poets Society. (No apostrophe dear, the Dead Poets are not the ones who have the society.) This is because I really like stories about boys coming of age in prep schools. I do not know why. But it's like sweet, noisy heroin to me. Anyway, I bet the Swiss kid was blond, wasn't he? Assuming such, I am glad that he will be going back to his boring country and not subjecting you to his garbled French. Also, I would really love to be your date, no matter how problematic time and space make that. (Reply to this) (Thread)

margotglass 2003-12-08 20:55 (link)

(There's no apostrophe? Oh. But it's, like, the society of the Dead Poets. Like the Way of the Sword.) I also like stories about boys coming of age in prep schools. Huh. Speaking of all this, I can't decide whether or not I want to see that movie set at the place where I lived for eleven years. Strangely enough, I actually can't remember its name, which is weird, because I usually describe stuff instead of using names in a stylistic way, but I really don't remember this time. The Swiss kid actually had dark hair. I met him once before, but we didn't have a conversation or anything. I'm so glad that I won't have to, ever. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	jupe 2003-12-09 02:39 (link)
	"Dead Poets" is an adjectival phrase modifying "Society". Together, the three words make up the title of the organization. It's a society about dead poets, not for dead poets. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

margotglass 2003-12-09 23:12 (link)

I understand your point -- for example, I can see how one wouldn't say the Literature's Society or the Roman Legislators' Society when the society was for the purpose of experiencing literature or Roman law. However, I think that "Dead Poets' Society" is equally valid because it would probably be a genitive in Latin. I can't think of a better example than "The Way of the Sword," which is probably not even a real phrase and if it is, is badly translated from some Asian language. I digress. I wish we had a dative case in English. It could totally be dative. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

jupe 2003-12-10 00:08 (link)

Hmm, actually, I'd probably make a case for it being ablative of specification. Sodalicium Mortuīs Poetīs. Obviously, I just made that up. It could also, obviously be genitive, wherein our academic discrepancy lies. Because it still wouldn't show possession. However, I don't think it'd be dative. And English does have a dative case! I'm writing a paper (kind of) on this. Case is inherent to our understanding of language! We just don't have morphologic case markers. If our lack of English case endings bothers you (as it does me) just do what I do - blame the Germans! Well. The Germanic language family, for its case reducing tendencies. [shakes fist] And the Great Vowel Shift. Phonemic change does a lot to screw up case marking systems. Finnish has 16 cases. Isn't that fabulous? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2003-12-10 22:10 (link)
	Case markers suck! Germanic languages are clearly superior. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	cyndisision 2003-12-09 00:05 (link)
	I feel obliged to say "I adore The Shipping News," but I've never seen it. I'm glad you were spared social torment. (Reply to this) (Thread)

cailet25 2003-12-09 01:04 (link)

I am not fond of snow. I used to like it when I was in school but then I decided that I hated it later when I would be forced to drive to my job and not get the day off and stuff like what happens when one is a student. I could tell you a story about this one horrible time that I was given the day off because of snow and power failure and then my current boss called and yelled at me to, "Get in here right now!" the minute the power came on. (Which was at noon.) She had her husband drive me to the office because I said I couldn't drive in those conditions (not to mention she told me I could have the day off.) Bitch. But I won't tell you that story. I'm glad you didn't have to go the dance with the boy. I can't even imagine the awkwardness! {shudder} (Reply to this) (Thread)