Monday, April 28, 2008

Nevertheless, Fanny...

The large coffee I purchased today at Burwood has had an extraordinary effect on my Sunday night organisation. I have washed, hung, washed, put away, tidied, thrown out, cleaned, prepped, and cooked. I am about to sit down to watch Love in a Cold Climate on DVD. I think I am about to explode from sheer bloody joy. The only way this experience could be better for me would be if Nancy Mitford were sitting on my couch critiquing as we watched. As it is I may never leave the flat again.

14 comments:

TimT said...

Drugs! Is there any vice they don't encourage? I, for one, will steer clear of coffee in the future if it fills me with a compulsion to clean, wash, put away, tidy, and organise. Thanks for the warning. This truly is a community-minded blog!

DS said...

I wish coffee had that effect on me. Or is it affect? I always get that wrong.

Shelley said...

I always get that wrong too, Dale. I think it's because I don't drink a lot of coffee - usually just a heart-starter at work and top up the caffeine with tea.

I would be you anything, ANYTHING, Tim, that you could not give up coffee.

Alexis, Baron von Harlot said...

My Beginner's Guide to the A/Effect Confusion:

Affect is a verb (meaning to impact upon - "Chocolate affects my happiness" - or to pretend - "I affect a fondness for life itself, but really it's chocolate I prefer"). If you hang-out with the gender theory crowd, it can be a noun, but in this case the first syllable sounds like the /a/ in "pat", and the meaning can only be revealed via an intense course of saunas, mountain hikes and readings in Deleuze and Guattari.

Meanwhile, "effect" is normally a noun. My year five teacher told us we could remember this by noting that "the" ends in "e" and "effect" begins in "e". Helpful. Yes. When "effect" is a noun it means something like "a result". But sometimes it's a verb, as in "If you bang your head against the dictionary enough, you may effect some change in your skin", so I spose in this case it means something like "to bring about".

So, to summarise: affect, often a verb, sometimes a noun; effect, often a noun, sometimes a verb.

Alexis, Baron von Harlot said...

(And that's why I'm the most sought-after dinner-party-guest in the southern hemisphere.)

Al Cad said...

Enjoyed the Beginner’s Guide to Causing A/Effect Confusion. I might add that affect and effect both have additional meanings which could be employed. For instance, “The genie affected corporeal form merely for effect.” Or “I shall, in effect, affect your delightful syntax.” Hope this is suitably confusing.

Alexis, Baron von Harlot said...

Now's as good a time as ever to mention one of my Top Ten Fave Words that Never Entered Circulation: "feck". We have "feckless", which means something like "inefficaceous", but I ain't never seen "feckful" (efficaceous), or plain "feck" (efficacy).

Reclaim the feck, I say.

Al Cad said...

Yes, and clearly ‘feckful’ would be the perfect description for my last comment! :-p

(I actually have the ‘opposite of feckless’ question in a list I’m putting together of imponderables, along with such nuggets as “Why do cakes contain anti-caking agent?”)

Al Cad said...

(Oh, and my latest: “Given the huge number of lawyers in America, why does it never sue for peace?”)

Shelley said...

Alexis, goodness! It would be nerdy of me to crash one of your lectures ones day, wouldn't it? I think I might enjoy the experience though.

Oh, al cad, you do confuse me so! :p

Alexis, Baron von Harlot said...

You say nerdy as if it weren't a point of honour! I'm very touched, but have to confess that my lechering isn't much to write home about. I'm a pretty dab hand with the powerpoint, though, and I guess that makes up for lack of content.

Shelley said...

Methinks modesty might be one of your non-virtues.

Ann ODyne said...

Hi there NPB - re LIACC: I have just read the harold Acton memoir of dear Naunce
(I got the huge Sisters Letters book for christmas last)

and have been thinking about her unrequited love for that bloody frog colonel.
the final 6 years of her life were wracked with pain, despite her Dior wardrobe, and I think it was The Colonel Affect wot did her in.

Today, I actually came here from Bourbon Bird blogger. She went MIA.
I am very close to someone who used to comment there as GoAwayPlease who also went MIA.
I miss The Bird - do you see her?

Shelley said...

Ann, I've been considering buying the letters. Considering..? Deciding when and where! I'm quite looking forward to it.

BB blogs at Joie Division now - check my links.