Serendipity

"1. an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident
2. good fortune; luck: the serendipity of getting the first job she applied for."

"Receiving sexual gratification from having all orifices filled.
Jane is into serendipity."

This is something Erin McKean touched on. Serendipity is a wonderful thing. Things like StumbleUpon have not only relieved my boredom, but have helped me discover whole worlds of new ideas/experiences. I've used it before when deciding which beer to have in the pub (don't ask what they're like, just go for the one with the best label and see what you get) or for choosing a dish in a Chinese restaurant (names like "Singapore chow mein" or "Chicken in Peking sauce" don't tell you much about how they taste). In fact, this blog is largely powered by serendipity (all the Alice sightings are entirely serendipitous, anything I've been told to read that has included a reference has been excluded).

In the world of web 2.0, the serendipitous possibilities are growing exponentially. With things being tagged and shared all over the place, aimless wandering is becoming almost compulsory. Why not try it right now? Hit the "next blog" link up at the top and see what you find.

Alice in popular culture sighting no. 14: I bought the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland on DVD yesterday and discovered a random saying I use every so often ("Button? Button? Who's got the button?") is taken from when Alice meets Tweedledum and Tweedledee (note that their names are actual words according to Firefox).

Alice in popular culture sighting no. 14 ½: So, this doesn't quite count as a sighting, more of a connection. I noticed today that the soles of Paul's shoes are covered in white rabbits:

Alice is Alice

Alice in popular culture sighting no. 13: This image of Longcat features a playing card painting roses on part of Longcat's body towards the end as Alice watches. They are modeled on the Disney version.

A quickie

Alice in popular culture sighting no. 12: In issue 3 of Omega: The unknown by Jonathan Lethem, Alex is given the nickname "Alex in Wonderland" by some of the other students.

It was an accident, I swear...

Alice in popular culture sighting no. 11: The new Spice Girls single, Headlines (Friendship Never Ends) Opens with this verse:

"The time is now or never, to fit the missing piece
To take this on together, you make me feel complete
We fall into the future, and through the looking glass
The light shines over our heads, and so it comes to pass"

A contradiction in terms

Alice in popular culture sighting no. 10: Interesting Times, the 17th Discworld novel, by Terry Pratchett, features this passage on page 36:

'Curiouser and curiouser', said the Senior Wrangler. [...] 'You must mean "curious and more curious", surely? And even then it doesn't make much sense-'

This is especially interesting as Pratchett has openly expressed his hatred of the Alice books...

Also interesting is the fact that "curiouser" is accepted by the Firefox dictionary. As are "wonderland", "chortle", "galumph" and "burble"...

Grammar, spelling and proof-reading.

"Curiouser and curiouser!" cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English).

-Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

So, I've been called a "Grammar Nazi" in the past, and all kinds of variations on that tired old theme. I like people to be readable. I have no qualms about people writing in different idioms and using contracted and evolved words (I regularly use words like "wanna" and "kinda" and "mo"). I positively encourage people to use "made-up" words (I love the Urban Dictionary). What I do not like is bad practice that confuses meaning and confounds expression. "ur" is not an evolution of language. "i" is very much bad practice.

The beauty of language is that you can use it to mean exactly what you want and that said meaning can be multiple. The decoding of language should not be focused on what you are saying, but on what you mean.

The internet is (mostly) a text-based medium and so you would think that people would take care to make sure it is known exactly what they are saying and what they might mean. Unfortunately, this is most often not the case. I will often chastise people about errors and encourage them to proof-read their work. I do this, not only because it encourages good practice, but because the way you write online sets the tone of how people will perceive what you are saying. In the same way that I am writing this in a somewhat formal style (without words like "gonna"), CAPITALS OVERTLY EMPHASISE THINGS, and things like (possibly intentional) spelling or punctuation errors result in the intelligence level you present dropping.

My problem is not that people aren't speaking correct English, it's that they aren't making clear what they are saying.

One thing that majorly gets to me is a lack of proof-reading. One or two errors in a piece of writing is understandable, but constant errors suggest you haven't read through what you've written. If you don't care enough to read what you've said, why should I care about what you have to say? Also, proof-reading is not only for catching mistakes. It should be used to work on how well you convey your meaning. If you don't proof-read, how do you know how your writing works as a whole? A piece of writing relies on the interpretation of the reader. If you're not a reader yourself, how can you know what that interpretation could be?

To finish this off, I'll leave you with a talk by Erin McKean. If you've read Ubuntu Music, then you should know of TED Talks. This talk is most definitely my favourite talk they have on offer. Not just because it's fun and entertaining, but because Erin has some brilliant views on the evolution and use of words.




Think of words as children. Allow them to grow and evolve and do exciting and interesting things with them. But, please, for the love of God, don't abuse them.

Alice in popular culture sighting no. 8: On tonight's "Friday night with Jonathon Ross", Noel Fielding (of The Mighty Boosh) talked about Bruce Forsyth and mentioned that "Play Your Cards Right" had big playing cards "like Alice in Wonderland".

Alice in popular culture sighting no. 9: On Channel 5 tonight, a show called "Valley of the Sex Dolls" featured someone (I didn't catch her name) from S.I.R. Video Productions who had a tattoo of the Cheshire Cat (the Disney version) on her upper right arm.

-Alice