When will we reach the big 30000 posts

keithgood838 · Post by **keithgood838** » Wed May 28, 2008 11:04 am

Hi Robert
Yes, Hull were magnificent, however they will need
strong financial backing if they are to survive the
rigours of the premiership. Nice to see you give my team,
Arsenal, a pat on the back. I had a paean to the club
published in the the match programme on one occasion.
On the subject of poetry, I know you will have heard of the
poet, Philip Larkin, who was the librarian at Hull University.
But did you know he wrote a piece about the city entitled,
Here? It is the opening poem of his slim volume entitled
The Whitsun Weddings. I recommend it. He is a favourite
of mine: a gloomy yet great poet.
Keith

keithgood838 · Post by **keithgood838** » Wed May 28, 2008 11:17 am

keithgood838 wrote:Hi Marian
Referring to the full stop element of your query; it is
a pitfall for many authors. I hope this manuscript extract
clarifies matters:

ABBREVIATION and CONTRACTION

These are the terrible twins of the textual family,
capable of causing continual confusion and embarrassment.
So let's put a clarifying constraint on the misunderstood
siblings before an ASBO becomes inevitable.
Although not identical their close similarity causes them
to be misidentified:

A contraction ends with the final letter
if spelt out in full, e.g. Mrs - Missus
An abbreviation does not therefore
it takes a full point, e.g. Co. County.

There, simple resolution of long-running social problem.

Keith

Note. Mrs is a contraction of mistress; however
we have used the colloquial missus to preclude
any marital misunderstanding

mariana44 · Post by **mariana44** » Wed May 28, 2008 2:29 pm

I have just checked--and we have reached the Magic 30.000.

I guess this post is the first of the next 10000--post no 30001.

Well done to us all !!!!!!

mariana44 · Post by **mariana44** » Wed May 28, 2008 2:51 pm

I have just checked out on some statistics

The first 10000--took about 18 months.

10000--20000 took from Jan 2007 until Joly 7th 2007--just over 6 months.

We hit 25000 on Jan 1st 2008---New Years Day.

And made it up to 30000, today May 28th 2008--which is nearly 10 months for the 3rd 10000.

So since the first member to join the Forum,John--on July 6th 2005, overall it has taken 2 years 10 months 2 weeks [approx] to get to 30000, average of over 10000 postings per year.

I think we should all be very proud of ourselves for our contributions, and once again well done to us all for keeping this such a friendly, informative, and pleasant place.

paul jh · Post by **paul jh** » Wed May 28, 2008 6:02 pm

Marian -- Thanks for the thorough and enlightening statistics. You must have worked at a banking institution one day.

Yes, we should be proud of ourselves for continuing to post on so many topics in such a friendly manner.

Keith -- Thanks for that explanation. I always wondered why periods aren't entered after Mrs or Jnr in the UK. In the US, people always put periods after these contractions. I will stop doing this immediately. What is the rule for first or middle initial (period or no period)?

john · Post by **john** » Wed May 28, 2008 7:26 pm

Yes, well done to everyone on the forum, 30,000 posts is a great acheivement in less than 3 years.

keithgood838 · Post by **keithgood838** » Wed May 28, 2008 7:37 pm

Hi Paul,
I'm delighted to attempt the clarification of initials
mingling with full points. Current usage requires
a full point after each initial in someone's name,
e.g. our acclaimed children's author, J.K. Rowling or
the aspiring poet, K. Good. However I have observed
a recent tendency towards the full points (dots)
being dropped altogether in the writing of names.
It demonstrates that the rules governing language
are not set in stone, and are constantly being revised.
Full points and capital letters tend not to move
in the same linguistic circles except on rare occasions
which I have tried to identify below:

STATUS SYMBOLS

Avoid letting full points mix
with capital letters
because in such company
they are out of place.
Convention keeps the dots
apart from their betters
as, alas, their station in life
remains lower case.

Keith

Note. In exceptional circ-umstances
the subordinates may be allowed upstairs,
such as when they appear after initials
in persons' names, e.g. G.K. Chesterton.
(Another exception is the U.S. because to leave
out the dots could create confusion with
the pronoun, us.)

Marian · Post by **Marian** » Wed May 28, 2008 10:32 pm

Well done to everyone who has contributed to the forum in the past three years, helping to achieve this splendid 30,000 total. We've had such a great time along the way!
Thanks also to Keith for his continued explanations on how to understand more clearly certain whys and wherefores of the English language.
Marian

Lena & Harry Smith · Post by **Lena & Harry Smith** » Wed May 28, 2008 11:36 pm

Thanks for the statistics information Marian. Well done too, it seems that you made the nearest prediction June 1st..to when we would reach the 30,000 score.
This is a magnificent score, achieved because of the fun and the friendship that's grown between many of us on the forum of this brilliant Matt Monro web-site.
Well done to all us Monro Maniacs.

ROBERT M. · Post by **ROBERT M.** » Thu May 29, 2008 12:44 am

Yes, a very big well done to everyone on this Matt Monro Maniacs forum

Keith.................yes, I have obviously heard of Philip Larkin. Was he ever Poet Laurette

................with gaining entry to the Premier League, Hull City will be receiving their first payment from the Premier League very shortly............ about Â£10-15 million

but they will need every penny they can get their hands on

...................did you know Keith

(Michelle told us) that Arsenal was the team Matt supported.

keithgood838 · Post by **keithgood838** » Thu May 29, 2008 10:56 am

Hi Robert
No, Philip Larkin was never poet laureate, I think he turned
it down, and I don't blame him. Writing to order is a foolish
concept; inspiration is what galvanises a good poem and
it cannot be turned on like a tap. Thanks for telling me
that Matt also supported Arsenal; great minds think alike.
In gratitude to you, and Michele, I offer the following poem
which was included in the match programme on
17 November 1987; a Littlewoods Cup fourth round tie
in which Lee Dixon appeared for Stoke City.
It was during the reign of George Graham when Arsenal used
to win most of their matches one-nil.

WORLDBEATERS

Advancing from unfathomable defence,
Reds, wave on wave, engulf their opponents;
Surging direct or rounding either flank,
Eager to please the gods on the North bank.
Now heedless to the claims of ceremony,
Attacks of rhythmic power, like the sea,
Lead on to triumph through harmony.

Keith Good

Note. It is what is called an acrostic poem;
the first letter of each line spells out a word.
The last line interprets the club's motto.

mariana44 · Post by **mariana44** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 12:14 am

Has anyone else spotted how close we are to 40.000 posts-I think we may hit it over the weekend. As I look , it is 39,957.

We reached 30,000 on May 28th 2008--which was nearly 10 months from the previous 20, 000.

So that will also make it nearly 10 months also for this next 10,000.

That seems very steady at the moment--of 1000 postings per month---approx---or about 33 per day !! Again--approx.

john · Post by **john** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 12:16 am

That is really good Marian.

mariana44 · Post by **mariana44** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 1:44 pm

Now standing at 39974!!
I am going to start a 40,000 thread.