Ask Evanescence [Almost] Anything

Since, Joe, Britt, and Slurvy have one, here's one from a non-mod point of view :P Since Joe said each one offers something different, it's pretty much true in each thread. So I'm here to help with your relationship problems, random questions, family problems, ask anything you would like, poetry related or non-poetry related, and I'll do my best to answer. I've been here for a while. Just please save the politics for Slurvy : )

Are lotteries unethical?

I once heard a little kid in a cartoon show explain it this way, "The sky is blue, the grass took up green, and the ground decided to be brown" This would leave an orange to be well orange as one of the few colors left.

It could be because of the fact that it would be funny to hold up something that had the same name as it's color. We can't hold up an apple and go, this is an apple it is apple color; no we have tosay this is red or green or yellow.

Actually, an orange is not orange as I heard it's a reflection of the color orange. In truth, it's every other color BUT orange but just gives off an orange light and so we see it as that color.

Joe, do you mean lottories as in buying tickets in the hopes of winning a jackpot? If that is what you mean then I can tell you that I'm guilty of buying the tickets once in a while such as using the ones people bought me when I could not buy them myself and then buying one now if I happen to think, "Well I'll try."

I think that it's a way for people to waste thier money a majority of the time, even though tickets are cheap buying excessively could put a hole in your pocket and does not really up the chances of you winning. A person could win off playing once, another off playing constantly, it's luck of the draw and then even if you do win, a lot of other people share the same numbers, and your prize is that much smaller.

I think it only becomes unethical when people become addicted to the gamble of chance, which does happen as some know, and lose large portions of their life to the thrill of wanting to win. Or that when they do win, that they sometimes find that friends are not really friends but people to take advantage of them for money and greed. Afterall, greed does bring out the worst in people.

I actually meant lottories in general. If it is actually buying from the lotto or picking from a hat (which is also considered lottory) to any other general form of lottory.

But that was a great answer to that question. I'm sorry I should of been more clear of what I was asking. ;)

Lol it's alright Joe.

I know I did that once for a place in line for concert tickets, I thought it was unfair to have to make people risk their place in line by picking a ball with a number out of a sack when people had lined up to be there before the store opened.

Back for a new day of questions

Will email, IMing and the internet in general ruin the English Language? Why or why not?

I'm not a huge fan on netspeak, especially when I see it typed into paragraphs on websites, even this one on occasion. To me, I see the positive, you're trying to save time when typing out a long sentence, but it gets to the point where you can spend more time trying to figure out what another person was even trying to say.

Case in point, I thought the basic netspeak included things such as: lol, omg, pos [Parent over shoulder], brb [Be right back], wb [welcome back], and idk [I don't know.] That was pretty much as far as my knowledge went, and I've been working iwth computers for a couple of years now. I went to a website once that listed hundreds of words that people used in email, im's, and internet conversations: bfitww, bmvp, ruwm, xlnt, taw

To me, it could ruin the English Language especially after I read an article where classes were allowed to write their essays in netspeak. It really doesn't take more than two seconds to type in like instead of lyke or you instead of u. I've only done that when I had to get a message out on a phone in a few minutes including if they replied right back. It could make everyday sentences seem like rubbish or childish when we use it too often, and the language was based on whole words at the moment, why change it because we're ina moving fast nation or that we need to save time constantly.

I think Email could take more of the personal view out of things then ruin the language, taking as though we are not discussin netspeak in it. To people, it's easier to breka up over a text message or an email because it eliminates face to face contact. You can't see somebody's hurt through words as much as if you were talking to their face. Same thing with internet, we're too accostumed to feeling safe when not knowing who we are even talking to.

[Edited due to link to website.]

Sorry for the link, Joe : )

I would tell them that first they should not stop writing, if you need to take a break then by all means take a break. I'd go for months where I'm lucky if I had written even one thing or times where I'd not write at all. When you take a break, you're making sure that your mind isn't clouded with the same material or at least with the same exact words to express it.

Learn from others, I was always jealous of the way people could write, in fact some of the writer's here even, you'd just have to search to find them, they hardly make themselves known. So, I made sure that I was going to raise my own standards a little bit. Instead of saying, "I wish I could write like that." Say, "I can write like that." Use their poetry as a springboard, and each time try and improve your own standards to match what they had written. If you're competetive, try the, "I can beat this person" attitude. Since you're already competetive, you probably know that you want to, "get passed" the person who had such a lead [poetic writing] over you.

Take advice when you need it. I learned a lot from Bob for example when he'd talk about using too many I's and words such as and, the, he, she and so forth. I tried writing poems with the words and without them and without them definatly makes you think about what you should put in their place, and it's true. If you're writing a poem in first person, more than two I's are not even needed, and it just reminds the reader that the poem is in first person too often.

Expand your vocab, but remember if you can't pronounce the word then people are going toguess you really don't even know it. So use higher vocab words when you a) know them and b) sparingly. It's not as good using apoem full of these brainiac words if nobody's going to understand them.

Take criticism. If people told me my poems were all great and never pointed out a flaw, I know I would never want to try a different style, or a different word, or write a different theme. Once you get passed the defensive, my poem can't possibly be bad or need word phase, you learn a lot from people who aren't shooting it down but telling you advice on how to make the poem stand out. Embrace your flaws, no poem is ever going to be perfect.

And be ready for rejection. If you ever want to think about publishing remember that most famous authors have been rejected time after time. Some as low as eight, some as high as forty. It doesn't mean it's bad, just not right for the person, so always take each rejection as a way of improvement.

Thanks Slurvy.

Aww come on people have some fun : )

Lol Hey I'm not totally bad at this