So much for shopping. T & I were going to go to megalopolis; I wanted to get some warm weather clothes (since it's practically summer and I'm still wearing long sleeves). But the weather's sucked lately and today's no different. Woke up to pouring rain, lightning, and what sounded like intermittent hail. As much as I like shopping, I'm not going to risk dying in Victoria's Secret. We postponed.
This leaves me a bit aimless for the day. Dozens of things that I could do, certainly, but nothing that's standing out from the crowd. I suppose the item at the top of the list is to copy-edit my freaking thesis, but after getting through only the preliminary matter and the first 10 pages yesterday, I don't think it's a good idea. I can handle the requirement that I remove about 1/8 of the commas that I originally used; I know that I overpunctuate. But when I got to the page upon which I referred extensively to Hugo Grotius, the theoretical father of neutrality, I was met with something that I simply could not do. In several places, I referred to "Grotius' theory" or "Grotius' directive." And that's how I wrote it: Grotius'. That is the possessive form of a word that ends in "s", as instructed by every teacher of English that I've ever had. The reader of my thesis, however, informed me that, according to Turabian, I needed add an "s" after the apostrophe for each of those possessives. I cannot do that. I pulled out my dog-eared, tea-stained copy of Turabian, seeking a loophole. There were none! All seemed lost! My eyes rolled up and scanned across the room...and came to rest on the brilliant orange spine of the Chicago Manual of Style, the larger work upon which Turabian is based. I grabbed that, flipped to the corresponding section, and found it--my loophole!
6.30. 'How to form the possessive of polysyllabic personal names ending with the sound of s or z probably occasions more dissention among writers and editors than any other orthographic matter open to disagreement. Some espouse the rule that the possessive of all such names should be formed by the addition of an apostrophe only. ...
The University of Chicago Press prefers the procedures outlined above [the rules as indicated in Turabian]. It is willing, however, to accept other ways of handling these situations if they are consistently followed throughout a manuscript.'
Sweet freedom from the oppression of least-common-denominator writing style! I am consistent in my use of the possessive apostrophe, so it should be acceptable. And why? Because I do not want to sign my name to a thesis that has been bastardized by bad style.
This might sound like a peculiar topic about which to rant, but consider the source. My writing is desperately important to me. And this thesis, for reasons maybe more unknown and unknowable to me than to anyone else, represents me--as a scholar. Seriously, it's very likely my last gasp in the educational realm. I will not allow some new-fangled "everybody else is doing it" idea to make my writing look bad.
Not surprisingly, after the possessive debacle, the editing process was not smooth. And I don't think I can force it, so I'll take some time away from it and try again tomorrow.
So, what today? Collection development class? Yes, it's been looming over me, but I don't think that working during a holiday weekend is conducive to relaxation. But I'm pretty keyed-up and relaxation doesn't seem likely anyway. Maybe I'll go shopping anyway, just more local. I need to get a new light fixture for the bathroom. And a CD case for work, since we suddenly have music CDs laying all over and no place to store them. And cards, since about a dozen birthdays are coming within the next month. I need to get something for Fluffy, too. A peace offering--something to apologize for being an inconsiderate schmuck last Thursday. I could explain why I did it but I think that endeavoring not to do it again would be more useful.
One thing that I should do is post the very few pictures that I took in Miami, which I finally had developed and picked up on Friday. I'll scan them in later today if I think of it.
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