Picky Picky Picky
Yes, our ever vigilant commenters have taught us. They have sparred no mercy in pointing out that that we need to proofread more carefully, and they have caught every little mistake we've made in our prose. Well, we want these incessant English buffs to know we are learning. Here's a mistake we caught that changes the how time will be interpreted. Did those of you who live in the Annex catch this in the minutes of the Annual Meeting?
The minutes of the January 29, 2007 Annual meeting (approved by the TAMPOA Board on March 1) say that the meeting ended at "12:15 A.M." Really? If you were there, you know better. You know the meeting ended around 15 minutes after twelve noon. But that's not what the minutes say. They say that the meeting ended at 15 minutes after midnight. Oops!
Was the TAMPOA Social too much of a good time? It would be nice to blame the TAMPOA Social, but she is innocent.
The confusion between A.M. and P.M. in this case had nothing to do with the Social. On the contrary, this confusion is a common mistake that is often made when referring to the hour just past noon or midnight. It is a mistake that would be caught if the proofreader actually understood the usage and read the minutes. Unfortunately, merely reading the minutes would not reveal the mistake if the reader also did not understand the usage. So, did the TAMPOA Board understand the usage and actually read the minutes before it approved them on March 1.? Whatever happened it was done pro forma, and provides an English lesson: Do sweat the small stuff because it can result in an inadvertent change in the meaning of a phrase.
So, now we know that P.M. is used with times between noon and midnight and A.M. is used with times between midnight and noon.
Are you still confused? Whoever told you in High School English class that this stuff was easy was fibbing.
The minutes of the January 29, 2007 Annual meeting (approved by the TAMPOA Board on March 1) say that the meeting ended at "12:15 A.M." Really? If you were there, you know better. You know the meeting ended around 15 minutes after twelve noon. But that's not what the minutes say. They say that the meeting ended at 15 minutes after midnight. Oops!
Was the TAMPOA Social too much of a good time? It would be nice to blame the TAMPOA Social, but she is innocent.
The confusion between A.M. and P.M. in this case had nothing to do with the Social. On the contrary, this confusion is a common mistake that is often made when referring to the hour just past noon or midnight. It is a mistake that would be caught if the proofreader actually understood the usage and read the minutes. Unfortunately, merely reading the minutes would not reveal the mistake if the reader also did not understand the usage. So, did the TAMPOA Board understand the usage and actually read the minutes before it approved them on March 1.? Whatever happened it was done pro forma, and provides an English lesson: Do sweat the small stuff because it can result in an inadvertent change in the meaning of a phrase.
So, now we know that P.M. is used with times between noon and midnight and A.M. is used with times between midnight and noon.
Are you still confused? Whoever told you in High School English class that this stuff was easy was fibbing.
Labels: Minutes
posted by Conchette at 10:23 AM
4 Comments:
A whole rant on a truly minor issue. Get a life. What IS your problem?
We have no problem, but apparently proof readers of minutes either haven't read them carefully enough to figure out when the meeting ended or don't know the difference between "a.m" or "p.m."
We wonder if the TAMPOA Board will bother to correct the minutes so that anyone reading them years from now will not just laugh and say, "boy those guys were really out to lunch or just plain ignorant."
Maybe its just the old school teacher in us. Maybe the TAMPOA Board, like we do, cares more than you do about ignorance in the use of language.
We understand you may have other priorities than getting things right. The devil is always in the details, as the TAMPOA Board may have learned. Perhaps one day you'll get that too, while we get a life. We'll wait for you to catch up.
Since you seem to make it a quest to quibble about all the "faults" of the board, Why didn't you run? Easy to criticise when you are not on the hotseat. I believe that it was Truman who said that if you didn't like the heat you shouldn't be in the kitchen. You, obviously don't like the heat but do enjoy fanning the fire.
Actually, he said, if you can't stand the heat, get the hell out of the kitchen.
We like the heat. The Board doesn't. Otherwise they would not have folks like you constantly defending them.
With us, it's not the heat, it's the motion. The Board seems to be marking time -- going nowhere fast -- in the face of all the problems the Annex has. The bright spot, if you can call it that, is that the City Commission now makes the TAMPOA Board look like Einstein.
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