I feel guilt over the weirdest things, then don’t give a second thought to many others.
This will be a strange list, the strangest aspect being that I’m following the prompt at all. I fancy myself quite the rebel.
Guilty pleasures linked up at this week’s Monday listicles over at Stasha’s place:
- Correcting your grammar. Pleasures themselves can’t feel guilt; a pleasure can’t be guilty of anything. The phrase should be guilt-filled pleasures. You’re welcome.
- Talking in second person in casual conversation, which would drive my 12th grade English teacher batty whenever we, her students, wrote anything in second person. The research intro “When you are an Olympic diver…” would make her wave the offender’s paper in the air and say: “I’m not an Olympic diver and will never be an Olympic diver.” She felt, correctly, that most writers using second person are lazy writers when the point-of-view is not being used as a deliberate stylistic choice.
- Being a lazy writer. If I gotta research it, it’s not gonna get written, that’s my motto.
- Hey, while I’m still correcting your grammar while lazily using second person: it’s not “you can’t have your cake and eat it, too.” If you have cake, and it’s yours, what’s stopping you from eating it? Who’s stopping you from eating it? The actual phrase is: you can’t eat your cake and have it, too. If you’ve eaten it all, there is nothing left for you to have, so you cannot have it both ways: eating and having. This also applies to mysteriously empty vodka bottles.
- Budget-breaking sushi delivery.
- Sleeping with my iPad next to me on its own teeny weeny velvet pillow.
- Paying top money for well-fitting pants.
- Sending my children away so I can nap uninterrupted.
- Napping uninterrupted.
- Discovering through this post I don’t feel guilt over too many things that bring me pleasure. We have one life. Live it well.
I love your list – and haven’t even heard of budget-breaking sushi delivery. Must investigate. And no. 3 did my head in – what would Marie Antoinette say to your analysis? She might just fling a piece of cake at you and stomp off – loved it. Also I am not a research writer either. I was all ready to write a research-based novel based on a real character from Shanghai and I had to make one long-distance phone call to his family to start my research – it was too much for me so after that one call I had to get another plot. That is how averse to research, and how pro-fiction, I am!
First, I like the new look of the blog. Very nice.
Second, I started laughing at the whole grammar thing. My husband is an advocate of proper grammar and spelling and to be honest, I get the whole thing from your side. However, as an ESL individual I have to say that I had to stop worrying about it otherwise it was a) going to make more damage than help (so I let it grow on me on its own to whatever level of understanding) and b) I just wanted to live my life. 😛
I still feel pretty good about my grammar and spelling -considering my few years living as an ESL person. And I try as much as I can to write properly because I think the degree of NOT knowing good grammar really has its limits.
I am happy I learn something about you Erica. 🙂
Erica, you go girl! Talking in the second person to annoy people? Tempting… very tempting. I can think of a number of applications! 🙂 Great list!
Napping without children around = clear & simple pleasure, no guilt whatsoever!
I find myself constantly hearing that “second person rule” while writing. ALmost like the Jiminy Cricket of grammar is on my shoulder.
Great new site!
I’m here I’m here! I think this is PRETTY!!!
And #10 is THE BEST one!!
I got through today! It gave me a database error thing everytime I tried clicking on the post yesterday. Anyway, COngrats again for Lovelinks’ own space!
#4 just cracked me up. The English language can be very confusing.
I was laughing so hard about your ipad having a pillow even my husband wanted to know what i was reading. I feel a bit odd now though because I know my grammar, spelling, and punctuation are probably lacking…sorry!
Haha!! I love your line of thinking! I am a spelling fanatic! I hate it when I’m reading posts and things are spelled wrong, or they mix up “your” and “you’re”…drives me crazy!!
Great list 🙂
Thanks, Jen! I will correct misspellings when I retweet somebody. Ha. I don’t want anybody to think it was my mistake. 🙂
I love correcting grammar and spelling – I would happily spend my life as a copy editor, I think, if I could be paid lots of money for that kind of job. I really struggle with comments – whether or not to correct them. I just posted one that I was dying to correct, but then I don’t want to change someone else’s words. Everyone should get to see their stupid grammar.
I would love an uninterrupted nap. Never happens.
Way back in the day, I would edit misspellings in people’s comments, and they would get offended. So I stopped. Like you said: everybody gets to see it now.
I love correcting other people, grammar, pronunciation, spelling – I’m mean. Hee hee.
Don’t think of it as being mean. Think of it as being overly helpful in a completely unnecessary kind of way. Yet: if we don’t do it, who will?
One feels the urge to quote you, many times over. Also, love this site, love this list and love how you rebelled aginst being a rebel.
Now i know why you like my blog so much. It is where grammar goes to die. No doubt!
I love your blog because I love your writing. I correct grammar only on Twitter. Heh.
Thank you Erica xo