Three things that never used to bother me until someone said something about them

[muckefuck]

1. My sister once told me that, yeah, I had a big nose "but it works for your face." When I complained, Mom came to her defence with "Haven't you ever noticed how your father's nose is too short for his face?" In all honesty, no, I hadn't. But I noticed the next time and every single time I've looked at him again after that.
2. Back when he was doing layout for the school paper, owenthomas criticised the user of underlining in a flyer. I asked what was wrong with it and he replied, "It's a typewriter convention. There are much better ways to add emphasis" such as bolding or using a different font. Now, everytime I see underlining in a flyer, brochure, poster, newsletter or whatever, I think That's a typewriter convention. If you knew anything about layout, you could come up with something better.
3. I was shaving in preparation for the recent wedding. My older brother, to whom tact is as foreign as the surface of Venus, pointed out how badly I had scalped my chin when I last shaved. "It just looks that way. See, the hair on my chin is really blond..." But he kept insisting, saying that he had trouble growing his beard, but it was nothing like the problems I was having. Naturally, I think about this every time I so much as glance into a mirror now.

Comments

[pacotelic.livejournal.com]

Cola leaves little brown flakes on your tongue. Took me years to get over that.

[bunj.livejournal.com]

"Haven't you ever noticed how your father's nose is too short for his face?" In all honesty, no, I hadn't. But I noticed the next time and every single time I've looked at him again after that.

I hadn't heard that. Thanks a lot. I'll never be able to look him in the face again.

At least my nose is just right.

[mikiedoggie.livejournal.com]

In regards to point two, I remember Owen telling me the exact same thing. [laughs] Although, our firm, instead of using italics, uses underlining when we describe cases. For example, instead of writing U.S. v. Thompson, our firm will use U.S. v. Thompson. At first I thought, "If we did anything about layout, we'd get away from this typewriter convention."

Over time though, I came to realize its actually more useful to use underlining, because you can find the cases a lot faster that way. Using italics isn't as clear of a way of finding the cases, and using boldface is bad because most of the motions and briefs we write are in outline form, so you want to save the boldface for subject headings. So now I think underlining is okay as long as one understands the purpose behind it.

[owenthomas.livejournal.com]

Usage trumps all. If that's the way everyone else does it, and it conveys a particular meaning, then that's how you should do it.

Even if it is a stupid typewriter convention.

re: 1.

[bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com]

I hope no-one ever made untoward comments about the size of your, um, private parts.

Isn't it supposed to be proportional to the length of your nose?

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Like what? "But it works with your scrotum."?

yeah like that. or

[bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com]

"... that's OK I really don't care about size ..." ambiguous enough to keep you wondering forever whether they meant too big or too small :)

Re: Isn't it supposed to be proportional to the length of your nose?

[teapot-farm.livejournal.com]

Hah! Oh, I want to use that line now... So much more stylish than just pointing and laughing!

[snowy-owlet.livejournal.com]

Oh, your nose is fine.

[scathedobsidian.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on this.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

I'd never noticed that your nose was an unusual size for anything. But I suspect that I will never be able to think of you in any other way again.

[zompist.livejournal.com]

Authors' underlines are converted to italics. Several times I've seen authors forget this, and refer to underlined text that isn't there. Something to watch for!