� Answers �
Wednesday is answer day and...
if you need advice or need the answer to something, click on any of the � advice links on this site and ask anything you would like.
Me? I'm hot. Very hot. It is so warm out again, you'd think it was spring.
I'm feeling the need to get some plants and a decoration or two for my fish tank. Other than that, I have no outstanding issues that I can currently think of...
Well whip me like a bad boy and make me cry like a kitten - that's certainly new.
Anyway, here are the answers:
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name:your old friend
email:
url: http://
question:
i have this friend of mine who i haven't seen in a while because i moved out of state and well...umm..i called him a coupla times and he doesn't answer my calls. Do you think he doesn't want to talk to me or am i just being paranoid?
Answer:
You're being paranoid. Call me at work or send an email, because I don't ever check my voice mail at home. I don't even know how to check it. It just beeps and beeps incessantly until Jen checks it for me.
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name: MadScientist
email: [email protected]
url: http://madscientist.diaryland.com/
question:
Mr. Answer Guy, I have some questions that have been puzzling me for a wile. One is: Why, whenever a state has to do budget cuts, they decide to cut the already small school budget even smaller? Two is: In the next election, will the state of Florida be allowed to vote, or will the electoral college automatically figure that the end result will take too long to count? Three is: Is there really a town named Hicksville, and if there is, WHY Hicksville?
Answer:
1) Because old people make those types of decisions and they don't remember how important education is. They can't make the correlation between early education and success later in life.
2) Florida has actually passed some laws requiring uniform voting standards across all the counties. They have invested in electronic voting machines, and spanked the woman with a paddle who came up with the butterfly ballot until she agreed to take a design class or take a new job removing staples in the basement of the Miami-Dade court house.
3) In the U.S. there are seven towns called Hicksville. AR TN KY VA PS & NY all have a Hicksville. Hicksville New York is actually my favorite.
Hicksville's get their name from Henry W. Hicks 
- owner of Hicks and Sons shipping merchants and system, as well as The Hicks Land Company which purchased large tracts of land all over the US in the late 1800's. After Mr. Hicks bought the large amounts of land, he named the towns after himself.
A few of the East coast Hicksville's were just named after Henry W. Hicks in the same manner as towns around here are named after other people such as Samuel Slater (Slatersville, MA) or Webster, MA (Daniel Webster) where I grew up.
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name: Dave
email:
url: http://th3dhorseman.diaryland.com
question:
I have a couplea questions. Firstly, for a while back there, I didn't like your diarything at all. I almost loathed it. No particular reasons why, I just didn't like it. Still, I couldn't stop reading it. Now I like it again. Any ideas on why that would be? Other question. I went out with a girl the other day, and I like her quite a lot, only thing is, I can't tell if she's a lesbian or not, because she drops hints both ways all over the place. When I asked her what's up, and do I have any shot whatsoever with her, she got really weird, and said she's not going to tell me because she doesn't like it when people have too much personal information about her and this and that. Since getting information from this girl is like pulling teeth, but she's really cute, and really fun, what should I do?
Answer:
1) Why did you like my web site, then hate it but not still not be able to stop reading it, then like it again?
I insert subliminal messages into the text of my entries. If you search for patterns in my entries you will come up with phrases such as "If you stop reading this you will die", "This entry is guaranteed to enlarge your penis" and "Hot dates and riches guaranteed if you keep reading."
2) Could you handle being just friends with her? If you can, then don't worry about it and just hang out with her and see what happens.
If you feel you only want to associate with this person if there is a chance you will picking up the telephone receiver of love to answer a hot and heavy booty call, then you should calmly and plainly explain to her that you are dying from a rare disease that can only be cured by having a girlfriend that prefers to be naked around you... and you don't want to die.
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name: fishydance
email:
url: http://
question:
So, what is up with this fucked up newsletter I keep getting from gotpoetry.com?
Answer:
That is a news letter written by Nathan Hutnak - not me. It seems to be a lot of stuff about Nate and what happens to be going through his head. It also has information about poetry events and happenings.
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name: KS
email:
url: http://queenmab776.diaryland.com
question:
Dear Mr. Powers,
I was reading your diary today, and it said that you were turning 30, and that the age you lost your virginity at was 18 years less than 30. When I worked it out, that means you were 12 right? Is that true? I don't mean to pry into your life, but why did you chose to lose your virginity at 12? Also, thank you very much for your help on my fictional story. I picked the topic of the guy and girl meeting and wrote it backwards as you suggested. My teacher loved it! All thanks to you!
Thanks!
KS
Answer:
Yes, you subtracted correctly.
I was born on December 14, and I probably should have waited a year to start school, but my mother put me in as the youngest person in my class.
In the fall of the 8th grade I was 12. I met my first girlfriend at a Friday night school dance, we danced to AeroSmith's "Dream on", and "Ain't missing you" by John Waite.
She was a year older than me.
From there we had a whirl wind romance sitting in my room with the door closed making out in front of my 13 inch TV watching MTV and from what I remember a lot of WHAM videos.
From kissing we moved onward to other things which included eventually - devirginization.
Soon after Christmas we broke up.
Then after 4 years of high school, and 1 year of college I met her again at some party and we ended up dating for something like 5 years.
Then we broke up for good.
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name: G.I. Ho
email:
url: http://garyhoare.diaryland.com
question:
When is it appropriate to use the word "that", and when is it appropriate to use the word "which"? While we're on the subject, how about "who" and "whom"?
Answer:
Usage Note: The relative pronoun which is sometimes used to refer to an entire sentence or clause, rather than a noun or noun phrase, as in She ignored him, which proved to be unwise. They swept the council elections, which could never have happened under the old rules. While these examples are unexceptionable, using which in this way sometimes produces an ambiguous sentence. Thus It emerged that Edna made the complaint, which surprised everybody leaves unclear whether it was surprising that a complaint was made or that Edna made it. The ambiguity can be avoided with paraphrases such as It emerged that the complaint was made by Edna, a revelation that surprised everybody. �Which may be used to refer to an entire sentence or clause only when it is preceded by that sentence or clause. When the referent follows, what should be used, particularly in formal style: Still, he has not said he will withdraw, which is more surprising but Still, what (not which) is more surprising, he has not said he will withdraw.
The standard rule requires that that should be used only to introduce a restrictive (or defining) relative clause, which identifies the entity being talked about; in this use it should never be preceded by a comma. Thus, in the sentence The house that Jack built has been torn down, the clause that Jack built is a restrictive clause identifying the specific house that was torn down. Similarly, in I am looking for a book that is easy to read, the restrictive clause that is easy to read tells what kind of book is desired. A related rule stipulates that which should be used with nonrestrictive (or nondefining) clauses, which give additional information about an entity that has already been identified in the context; in this use, which is always preceded by a comma. Thus, we say The students in Chemistry 101 have been complaining about the textbook, which (not that) is hard to follow. The clause which is hard to follow is nonrestrictive in that it does not indicate which text is being complained about; even if the clause were omitted, we would know that the phrase the textbook refers to the text in Chemistry 101. �Some grammarians extend the rule and insist that, just as that should be used only in restrictive clauses, which should be used only in nonrestrictive clauses. Thus, they suggest that we should avoid sentences such as I need a book which will tell me all about city gardening, where the restrictive clause which will tell me all about city gardening indicates which sort of book is needed. But this extension of the rule is far from universally accepted, and the use of which with restrictive clauses is common. Furthermore, since that cannot be used with clauses introduced by a preposition (whether or not restrictive), which is used with both clauses when such a clause is joined by and or or to another that does not begin with a preposition, as in It is a philosophy in which the common man may find solace and which many have found reason to praise. Such constructions are often considered cumbersome, however, and it may be best to recast the sentence completely to avoid the problem. �That is often omitted in a relative clause when the subject of the clause is different from the word that the clause refers to. Thus, we may say either the book that I was reading or the book I was reading. In addition, that is commonly omitted before other kinds of subordinate clauses, as in I think we should try again where that would precede we. These constructions omitting that are entirely idiomatic, even in more formal contexts.
Use who when a nominative pronoun is appropriate, and whom when an objective pronoun is appropriate. Who is a nominative pronoun (meaning it acts as a subject) and is used:
As the subject of a verb, as in "It was Paul who rescued the dog."
As the complement of a linking verb, as in "They know who you are."
Whom is an objective pronoun (meaning it serves as an object) and is used:
As the object of a verb, as in "Whom did you see?"
As the object of a preposition, as in "That is the group to whom the credit belongs."
Who and whom seem to cause more difficulty than other pronouns. Thus, when in doubt, substitute him and see if that sounds right. If him is OK, then whom is OK. For example: "You talked to whom? You talked to him." It would be incorrect to say "You talked to he," and few native English speakers would make that mistake.
While we're talking grammar... What is the only word in the English language that has three consecutive sets of double letters?
"Bookkeeper."
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