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mollusque commented on the word deadlines, deadlines, and more deadlines
Ah, the life of an editor—deadlines, deadlines and more deadlines! Every time we look up from our desks, it seems there's another deadline to meet.
--Eliza Thomas, 2007, in The American Directory of Writer's Guidelines, 6th edition, p. 638
February 22, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word deadlines, deadlines, and more deadlines
Wait... we look up from our desks?!
February 22, 2008
reesetee commented on the word deadlines, deadlines, and more deadlines
I can't answer right now. I have a deadline.
February 23, 2008
bilby commented on the word deadlines, deadlines, and more deadlines
The buggers keep springing back to life. How do deadlines do it?
September 10, 2008
rolig commented on the word deadlines, deadlines, and more deadlines
Only now do I notice the frighteningly apt similarity between the word deadlines and the word deadliness.
September 10, 2008
frindley commented on the word deadlines, deadlines, and more deadlines
@c_b: So that's what I've been doing wrong?!
@rolig: too apt, too frightening
Whoosh, there goes another!
September 10, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word deadlines, deadlines, and more deadlines
Oh wow. Is this one of those describe your life in six (five) words things?!
Actually, its resemblance to deadliness is not all that coincidental. One of the meanings of the word deadline is "A line drawn around a military prison, beyond which a prisoner is liable to be shot down. orig. U.S." The earliest usage the OED lists for the word is 1860, for the meaning "a line that does not move or run," but the next earliest one is the military definition: "1864 in Congressional Records 12 Jan. (1876) 384/1 The ‘dead line’, beyond which the prisoners are not allowed to pass."
If I recall, the "dead line" was well known at Andersonville in Georgia, a Civil War prison camp that housed (I use the term loosely) something like 30,000 Union soldier POW's. If any of them even touched the outer wall, they were instantly shot by guards. There were occasions on which a prisoner, mentally unable or unwilling to survive another day in the place, would commit suicide by purposely touching the wall. Andersonville was an active site, again if I recall, around 1864. (I haven't looked any of this up to verify, so apologies if some of the details are wrong.)
Remembering this usage probably helps one meet the more prosaic deadlines.
September 10, 2008
reesetee commented on the word deadlines, deadlines, and more deadlines
Gosh. Suddenly I feel much better about my gazillion non-deadly deadlines.
September 10, 2008
rolig commented on the word deadlines, deadlines, and more deadlines
Fascinating, Ms. Bear. Thanks. Now I better understand that primordial twisting of my stomach as the deadly deadline darkens my door.
September 10, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word deadlines, deadlines, and more deadlines
Quoth the raven, "Deadlines suck."
September 10, 2008
frindley commented on the word deadlines, deadlines, and more deadlines
Oh I could do with one of those walls sometimes. (Or so it can seem; I'm actually not the slightest bit suicidal by temperament!)
September 10, 2008
yarb commented on the word deadlines, deadlines, and more deadlines
An ex-boss of mine called them alivelines. She was ghastly.
September 10, 2008
reesetee commented on the word deadlines, deadlines, and more deadlines
C_b: Haha! Smart raven.
September 11, 2008
mollusque commented on the word deadlines, deadlines, and more deadlines
I hate deadlines. They make me feel like I'm entrained and untraveling, which can progress to wordasphyxia. They do keep me motivated though.
*Hmm*--List idea!
September 11, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word deadlines, deadlines, and more deadlines
I recently had a visual faux-pas that made me think of the discussion spawned on this page, that "deadlines" and "deadliness" are only one letter apart.
I saw a note that had the word "heroes" on it, and could have sworn it actually said "herpes."
September 12, 2008