Mini-rant: use of the word "well" at the start of a sentence...

[Article Accelerator]

Will Collier wrote:
I went looking for a clip collection of Reagan saying, "Well," over and over again, but no luck. This was the best I could do:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAQeys_7V7c

Well, it's what Will said. Reagan started it.

[Seacrest]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhYrMb6pJQw

[haikuman]

Well, rules were made, to be broken *(:>* Our stellar staff keeps everything in perspective

[pRICE cUBE]

[PeterB]

billb wrote:
well, I hope they get the darned thing capped.

Well, if they don't, I'm going to whip their @ss.

Mr Downtown wrote:
Well, how would you suggest adding a hint of indirectness to an oppositional statement? It's a softener, a sign that you don't want to be entirely adversarial with your response. Especially online, writing "well, I don't think you're correct about that" is less abrupt and confrontational than simply writing "you're not correct about that." I may be just as confident of my facts or position, but I don't want you to leave the discussion.

Well, I don't think that adding a "Well" makes a message any more palatable. It's just PC to add the "Well" at the beginning of that sentence. In fact, to me, adding the "Well" to this makes it even more snotty. I'd rather the person just be direct, even if it's adversarial.

I do also think that Janit's suggestion is an excellent one, "OK" is a bit more neutral and having less implied doubt. And yes, it may be a gender/culture issue thing. That's sad, that a woman who would just say what she wants without a modifier, would be perceived as "bossy".

Oh, and not to get political, but the Simpsons/Ronald Reagan thing exactly made my point.

And yes, I was in a cranky mood when I started this thread.

[OWC Jamie]

AlphaDog wrote:
[quote=billb]
Well ?

Well, why is there a space between the last letter of the word and the question mark? Somebody else here does that, too. At first I thought it was a typo, but I've now noticed it's intentional. Is this another of those new fangled things like using only one space between sentences?
Taught that way.
French spacing.
Progressive New England schools ?


space between question mark, exclamation point , ellipsises, but not a period or comma. ( anything taller than a period, iirc) Depending on who was reading a paper, sometimes there had to be double spacing between sentences.


Also a little bit of typesetting a long time ago, a half space was required with the same set of rules.




I do sometimes do space, comma, space , erroneously.

[mrbigstuff]

next thing you know we'll have to explain what a frappe is. and isn't.

[Dennis S]

vicrock wrote:
Two pet peeves of mine are "ink pen" and "cent" - as in your change is 50 cent.

That's "fitty cent."

[RAMd®d]

French spacing.
Progressive New England schools ?

At least the French were able to conquer something!


next thing you know we'll have to explain what a frappe is. and isn't.

That assumes you can find somebody who cares what it is. And isn't.


Two pet peeves of mine are "ink pen" and "cent" - as in your change is 50 cent.

The singularization of plurals is often accompanied by the pluralization of singles. Both of those bug me.

[mrbigstuff]

next thing you know we'll have to explain what a frappe is. and isn't.

That assumes you can find somebody who cares what it is. And isn't.

well, you can take the time to respond to something you don't care about. or do.