WWTBAM Bored

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 12:01 pm**

Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the 52-year-old woman known as the "D.C. Madam," committed suicide Thursday morning at her mother's home in a trailer park in the Tampa area, Tarpon Springs Police told FOXNews.com.

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 12:10 pm**

Crap. Now we'll never know all of the juicy details about Sen. David Vitter and the Pampers.

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 12:18 pm**

themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:
Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the 52-year-old woman known as the "D.C. Madam," committed suicide Thursday morning at her mother's home in a trailer park in the Tampa area, Tarpon Springs Police told FOXNews.com.

Or shoud it be "52-year-old woman known as the "D.C. Madam," 'committed suicide' Thursday morning "

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 12:23 pm**

BackInTex wrote:
themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:
Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the 52-year-old woman known as the "D.C. Madam," committed suicide Thursday morning at her mother's home in a trailer park in the Tampa area, Tarpon Springs Police told FOXNews.com.
Or should it be "52-year-old woman known as the "D.C. Madam," 'committed suicide' Thursday morning"

Probably.

BTW, "52-year-old woman" should not be hyphenated.

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 12:28 pm**

Roland Vincent Carnaby was also 52, coincidence?

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 12:30 pm**

BackInTex wrote:
themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:
Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the 52-year-old woman known as the "D.C. Madam," committed suicide Thursday morning at her mother's home in a trailer park in the Tampa area, Tarpon Springs Police told FOXNews.com.
Or shoud it be "52-year-old woman known as the "D.C. Madam," 'committed suicide' Thursday morning "

Yep, she committed suicide by shooting herself in the back of the head three times. If you believe that she killed herself, there's a bridge in Brooklyn that's for sale.

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 12:33 pm**

Bob Juch wrote:
BTW, "52-year-old woman" should not be hyphenated.

According to the AP Stylebook, on which the FOX writer probably was trained, it most certainly should.

Somebody else fight about this. I just got back from the dentist. I'm too woozy.

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 12:34 pm**

NellyLunatic1980 wrote:Yep, she committed suicide by shooting herself in the back of the head three times. If you believe that she killed herself, there's a bridge in Brooklyn that's for sale.

She left a suicide note. When in doubt, consult Occam's Razor.

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 12:39 pm**

NellyLunatic1980 wrote:
If you believe that she killed herself, there's a bridge in Brooklyn that's for sale.

Do you have ownership of this bridge because you believe that Vince Foster killed himself?

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 12:39 pm**

TheConfessor wrote:She left a suicide note. When in doubt, consult Occam's Razor.

There might be a suicide note, but that doesn't necessarily mean that she wrote it.

Just saying...

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 12:39 pm**

silvercamaro wrote:
Bob Juch wrote:
BTW, "52-year-old woman" should not be hyphenated.
According to the AP Stylebook, on which the FOX writer probably was trained, it most certainly should.

Somebody else fight about this. I just got back from the dentist. I'm too woozy.

According to The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed, indeed it should, although in CMOS style, the numerals would be spelled out.

According to the AMA Manual of Style, 10th ed, indeed it should.

Hope you feel better soon.

Love,

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 12:40 pm**

silvercamaro wrote:
NellyLunatic1980 wrote: If you believe that she killed herself, there's a bridge in Brooklyn that's for sale.
Do you have ownership of this bridge because you believe that Vince Foster killed himself?

I thought everybody knew that Vince Foster was murdered by Ken Starr.

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 12:40 pm**

silvercamaro wrote:
Bob Juch wrote:
BTW, "52-year-old woman" should not be hyphenated.
According to the AP Stylebook, on which the FOX writer probably was trained, it most certainly should.

Somebody else fight about this. I just got back from the dentist. I'm too woozy.

I was taught "a 52-year-old did such and such" needs to be hyphenated but "a 52 year old woman did such and such" should not be. You hyphenate nouns, not adjectives.

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 12:46 pm**

Catfish wrote:
According to The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed, indeed it should, although in CMOS style, the numerals would be spelled out.

According to the AMA Manual of Style, 10th ed, indeed it should.

Both the Chicago Manual of Style and the AMA Manual of Style are accepted and beloved for scholarly works. The AP Stylebook is preferred in American journalism. While the various sources agree on many, if not most, points of style, there are specific differences.

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 1:00 pm**

Bob Juch wrote:
silvercamaro wrote:
Bob Juch wrote:
BTW, "52-year-old woman" should not be hyphenated.
According to the AP Stylebook, on which the FOX writer probably was trained, it most certainly should.

Somebody else fight about this. I just got back from the dentist. I'm too woozy.
I was taught "a 52-year-old did such and such" needs to be hyphenated but "a 52 year old woman did such and such" should not be. You hyphenate nouns, not adjectives.

I don't doubt what you were taught, but you didn't go to journalism school.

AP Stylebook.com requires a subscription, so I can't direct you to the section on ages, but I found a similar example in the FAQs, in which a question asked about using words or figures (but had no issue with the hyphens): "A two-year fellowship (duration), spell out numbers under 10. A 2-year-old house (age), use figures."

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 1:00 pm**

silvercamaro wrote:
Catfish wrote:
According to The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed, indeed it should, although in CMOS style, the numerals would be spelled out.

According to the AMA Manual of Style, 10th ed, indeed it should.

Both the Chicago Manual of Style and the AMA Manual of Style are accepted and beloved for scholarly works. The AP Stylebook is preferred in American journalism. While the various sources agree on many, if not most, points of style, there are specific differences.

I'm agreeing with you, SC, as do the two sources I cited. The difference is that CMOS (but not AMA or AP) spells out the numerals.

Words into Type and The Gregg Reference Manual, 10th ed, also are consistent with the other sources.

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 1:03 pm**

And in a very strange coincidence, this was the qoute from a word of the day by Anu Garg:

This week's theme: words derived from the names of mythical creatures.

sphinx (sfingks) noun

A mysterious, inscrutable person.

[After Sphinx, a winged monster in Greek mythology who had a woman's head and a lion's body. It killed anyone who was not able to answer its riddle. From Greek sphinx (literally, strangler), from sphingein (to bind tight), also the source of the word sphincter.]

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=sphinx

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

"Deborah Jeane Palfrey is unreadable, a sphinx, she covers her mouth
when she whispers to her attorney to shield against lip readers."
Monica Hesse; A Slash Of Scarlet in A Gray Court; Washington Post;
Apr 11, 2008.

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 1:04 pm**

Catfish wrote:
I'm agreeing with you, SC, as do the two sources I cited. The difference is that CMOS (but not AMA or AP) spells out the numerals.

Words into Type and The Gregg Reference Manual, 10th ed, also are consistent with the other sources.

I understand. See also the AP FAQ about the use of spelling vs. numerals that I copied in my response to Bob J.

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 1:06 pm**

silvercamaro wrote:
Bob Juch wrote:
silvercamaro wrote: According to the AP Stylebook, on which the FOX writer probably was trained, it most certainly should.

Somebody else fight about this. I just got back from the dentist. I'm too woozy.
I was taught "a 52-year-old did such and such" needs to be hyphenated but "a 52 year old woman did such and such" should not be. You hyphenate nouns, not adjectives.
I don't doubt what you were taught, but you didn't go to journalism school.

AP Stylebook.com requires a subscription, so I can't direct you to the section on ages, but I found a similar example in the FAQs, in which a question asked about using words or figures (but had no issue with the hyphens): "A two-year fellowship (duration), spell out numbers under 10. A 2-year-old house (age), use figures."

I was taught a lot of things I've found out were wrong. However, I've found that American English rules are too simple, such as "always put commas within quotes", instead of sometimes outside.

I was taught to use hyphens only when it would be confusing otherwise. e.g. "two-year-old dogs" instead of "two year old dogs".

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 1:09 pm**

According to Gregg, this would be acceptable:

Bob Juch wrote:"a 52-year-old did such and such" needs to be hyphenated

But according to the four sources I have on or near my desk, this would not:

Bob Juch wrote:but "a 52 year old woman did such and such" should not be. You hyphenate nouns, not adjectives.

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 1:09 pm**

Who ever would have guessed that a post about a suicide would turn into a debate on grammar and word usage?

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 1:10 pm**

Bob Juch wrote:
I was taught a lot of things I've found out were wrong.

Haven't we all? Furthermore, sometimes the rules or the facts change.

In my heart of hearts, I still think Pluto is a planet.

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 2:23 pm**

NellyLunatic1980 wrote:Who ever would have guessed that a post about a suicide would turn into a debate on grammar and word usage?

You must be new, here.

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 2:48 pm**

MarleysGh0st wrote:You must be new, here.

Marley, I believe your comment should not be divided by a comma.

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 2:51 pm**

Estonut wrote:
MarleysGh0st wrote:You must be new, here.
Marley, I believe your comment should not be divided by a comma.

You may be right; I'm often overgenerous with my commas.

Who has those manuals of style handy?

WWTBAM Bored

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