Sun, 20 Oct 2024 17:58:21 EDT
Anyone Versus Any One
- Anyone
- The singular pronoun anyone represents any single person. “Does anyone know where we are?”
- Any One
- The adjective-pronoun pair any one specifies any single item in a group and is followed by a preposition that may be elided. “I would gladly eat any one (of those dishes).” “I will sleep in any one (of your rooms).” “Any one (of those choices) will do.” It’s more common to modify a role with any than it is to modify the anonymous third person one, but you can do it. “Any one/author (in that group) will know to what I refer.”
Wed, 16 Oct 2024 14:09:46 EDT
Stereotype Versus Cliché
- A Stereotype…
- …is a printing plate that has been cast from a matrix of type. The stereotype allows pages to be printed in large quantities while the original type is reused for other purposes. The modern sense of the word is that of a generalization or idealization that is propagated without change over time.
- Cliché…
- …is a nominalization of the past participle of the French verb clicher, which means to click. In French, cliché means clicked and describes a click made during the process of stereotype printing. The English sense of the word is that of an overused idiom or an overused trope in fiction. The overused item is clicked. A cliché is a stereotype, but a stereotype is not necessarily a cliché. Stereotype emphasizes the regularity of usage (and perhaps its inaccuracy as a generalization) while cliché empasizes the hackneyed nature of usage.
Wed, 09 Oct 2024 16:51:53 EDT
Eavesdrop…
…in addition to being a verb, was also formerly a noun that described the rainwater that dripped from the eaves of a sloped roof and the area on the ground where the rainwater fell. Originally, the word was eavesdrip.
The noun eavesdropper appeared in English before the verb to eavesdrop. An eavesdroper stands under the eaves of a building (in the eavesdrop) to listen to what happens inside the building.
Sat, 05 Oct 2024 18:06:47 EDT
Nellie and Charles
Native MacOS versions of my formatter apps are now available on my site. The iOS versions have been permanently discontinued due to persistent bugs in Apple’s multiline text containers. Developing for Apple platforms is like being in a codependency with a bully. Just when you think everything is OK, the bully breaks something that you need.
Nellie is a screenplay formatter. Nellie is named for Nelly Ternan, Charles Dickens’ mistress. Ternan was an actress until she met Dickens. Nellie waits patiently for you here.
Charles is a fiction manuscript formatter. Charles is named for Charles Dickens. Dickens was a novelist. Charles waits restlessly for you here.
Update October 12th: The apps are now in maintenance mode. Further updates will occur only when necessary to keep the apps running on the latest version of MacOS. Download the latest versions from the preceding links to ensure that you are up to date.
Update October 13th: OK. Corrected a couple of hiccups. Now the apps are done.
Update October 22nd: Polished a few features. Now they’re done.