Ilk, Elk, Way, Waay, Group, Froup...

You may have noticed that some of us use odd misspellings on occasion, and if you read us long enough, you'll begin to see that it isn't just stupidity, we're doing it on purpose. Why? Just to piss you off, 'cause we're cliquish that waay. Also, so we can pounce on you for being pedantic if you spell-lame us for it.

The Official Artd-l Stance on Spell-lames and gratuitous corrections:

Miracle wrote:

I know, of course, that you were NOT speaking of THIS header, but at least I did fix the typos..... ;o)

(editor's note: See that stupid lil winking smily? That is an emoticon. We don't like those, either; we'd like to think our collective sense of humour is well developed enough to know when to laugh. And Cardinal Brien, the nicest guy here, will give you a helluva tongue lashing for it. Oh, Brien... @( *_* )@)

Greg K wrote:

Whatever for?

Cyn wrote:

I *know*! What the heck is the deal around here, lately, with all the gratuitous un-funny spell-laming and nit picking over typos? What are the official requirements for spelling flames in artd-l??

TJ wrote:

General Rule: Spelling/grammar flames don't cut notches on a water pistol around here.

Cyn~ Here's a hint-- its supposed to be AMUSIGN.

Right. Irony is very nearly always involved.

Thanks, TJ. I'm always afraid I'm just too supple for some of these people, but I can always count on you.

Anyone supple as you can get along quite nicely without my help. Well, gotta go find a full-length mirror so I can admire my subtle musculature.

See? It's much more fun to quit being such a prig and play along. Of course, we'll still be prigs about emoticons and spell-lames.

I'll give a few brief explanations of a few of the intentional ones, but if anyone out there happens across some posts at deja on this subject that are amusing and/or informative, I'd much rather have those.

Ilk : sort, kind

Elk : a large gregarious deer (Cervus elaphus) of No. America, Europe, Asia, and northwestern Africa -- called also red deer, wapiti

Why are they interchangable? Because its amusing. That's really it. Somebody somewhere screwed it up once, and it made somebody else laugh, so now it's tradition, not just here, but throughout Usenet. (Update: Neut recently mentioned it originated with a Mony Python sketch, but it's not one I'm familiar with so I couldn't explain it if I tried) Of course, you could also be suggesting that your opponant's cohorts are a herd of bumbling moose-like animals.

Group : a number of individuals assembled together or having some unifying relationship

But this definition is more suitable for Usenet:

Group : an assemblage of related organisms -- often used to avoid taxonomic connotations when the kind or degree of relationship is not clearly defined

So whats a froup? There's no such word, you say? This is another tradition that is not exclusive to Artd-l, but there are two stock explanations for it.

One, that it started with a typo, like "elk" and took off. (It *is* fairly easy to make this particular typo)

Two, and this is my favourite, that it means "froody group", "frood" being a word from Douglas Adams' Hitch Hikers' Guide to the Galaxy meaning "really amazingly together guy". So a froup would be a really amazingly together group of really amazingly together guys. You sass? (sass : know, be aware of, have sex with)

Way : the course traveled from one place to another, etc... (get a dictionary if you really don't know what "way" means)

Now this one is exclusive to Artd-l. Unfortunately, we have among us a much beloved and well respected poster who cannot spell this word. It probably wouldn't be so noticible, except that it happens to be a part of his name, so the error appears on every single one of his posts. We spell it "waay" to spare him the public discomfort of this disability.