Comments for MattBruce.co.uk

Comment on Sidetracked haiku by Neeks

Neeks — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 23:12:49 +0000

I feel your pain…it’s SO easy to get sidetracked! When you get old like me, you too can forget what you were trying to remember while you were trying to remember what you forgot.

Comment on Writing group annual dinner by Stephanie Gunn

Stephanie Gunn — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:21:13 +0000

I wish I had a good local writing group. There are a few spec fic groups here, but they’re all completely inaccessible to me because of location and time or seem to be totally dead.

Comment on Wednesday creative headspace haiku by Matt

Matt — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:53:18 +0000

I’m looking forward to seeing it myself. And will do.

Comment on Wednesday creative headspace haiku by Rob

Rob — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 07:20:20 +0000

Braiiinz! *claws air*

p.s. send me your zombie story when it’s done!

Comment on Friday end of writing course haiku by Rob

Rob — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:54:23 +0000

Glad to hear you enjoyed the course. Looking forward to seeing your skills develop in the coming years

Comment on Wednesday haiku by Matt

Matt — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 09:55:32 +0000

By the time I realised my response had turned into an English lesson, I was too far in to stop. Was a shame to waste the effort.

Comment on Wednesday haiku by Rob

Rob — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 02:55:58 +0000

Cheers for clearing that up for me mate

Comment on Wednesday haiku by Matt

Matt — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:08:33 +0000

Thanks, I’m glad you’re enjoying them. I’ll keep them coming, then.

The plural of haiku is haiku. It seems to be a European language convention to have an ‘s’ suffix signifying plurality, as it doesn’t apply to other languages, though popular usage often renders language rules or conventions moot. For example, the plural of the Japanese samurai is samurai, though popular use is samurais, and the plural of the Arabic fatwa (religious opinion) is fatawa, though popular (mostly Western media) use is fatwas.

If haiku had an ‘s’ suffix at all, it would not have an apostrophe as that signifies possession (a contraction of “subject, his…”) rather than plurality. Consider The cat’s toy (the cat, his toy) versus The cats are eating (more than one cat having noms). Or if you want to be perverse, consider The cat’s toys (the cat, who has more than one toy) and The cat’s toy’s head (the head of the toy that belongs to the cat).

Comment on Wednesday haiku by Rob

Rob — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 03:35:17 +0000

Really enjoying your haikus mate (is that the correct way to write it, or did I need an apostrophe after the ‘u’?)

Comment on Writing Markets by Matt

Matt — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:38:18 +0000

Thanks for you comment. Yes, that’s an excellent point. Aside from contact details, I find one of the main benefits of the printed directories is being able to see a market’s expectations and policies. Calling their offices to determine which editorial role (Editor, Commissioning Editor, etc), and their correctly-spelled name, should be a pre-requisite to sending a query. If you haven’t bothered to find out the person’s name, you could perhaps understand their reluctance to deal with you.