I use QQQQQQQ to say "what the hell", but Geekman's is better. I suspect it will inevitably be found i one or two dissertations this year as a result...
I totally used to do this, but then I sent out a write-up of something for an online course I was helping to develop, and when I got comments from other members of the group, it turned out that I had left at the end, "Where am I going to go from here?" To which they all responded, "We all had the same question."
Now I'm frightened of notes-to-self, because apparently I'm a really bad editor and won't notice them.
All you people who write notes like that -- have you ever accidentally left them in? Q of W P's story is hilarious, but at least it was only the other group members rather than reviewers or similar...
I do notes to myself all the time, and I used to accidentally leave them in and get people saying odd things about it, and then I discovered the comments in word which solve that problem nicely (unless you're emailing the file to people) and they're kinda hard to miss.
Oh, and I highlight stuff obsessively too.
I figure, one day, someone will look at a half-finnished report of mine and wonder what all the bright colours and bits-and-pieces-on-the-side are all about, and then suggest I visit a shrink if I've progressed from talking to myself to writing notes to myself.
Had a shell star article I was putting together a while back. The tables of numbers were correct and several of the paragraphs were reasonable, but the abstract consisted of "Waffle on here" and the Conclusion: Haven't the foggiest. The occasional footnotes were also ... idiosyncratic. Completely forgot to remove the unpublishable bits before passing on to co-author when he wanted a copy. Luckily he didn't seem to mind too much.
Ouch. Yes, I once left them in for a 300-level paper. I think I noticed at home and managed to slip a substitute copy under the lecturer's door, with the explanation that my word processor had garbled two paragraphs and that this was the correct version. I got away with it.
AWESOME! :) This made me smile.
ReplyDeletehaha that's just like what i do :)
ReplyDeleteMy drafts often have BLAH BLAH BLAH in them.
ReplyDeleteOh, I so totally do this! (without all the science stuff, of course!)
ReplyDeletehee hee. I do this too, with lots of exclamations marks and things. And yeah, the blah blah blah like dr. brazen hussy too.
ReplyDeleteI use QQQQQQQ to say "what the hell", but Geekman's is better. I suspect it will inevitably be found i one or two dissertations this year as a result...
ReplyDeleteI will admit to having formulas not unlike that scribble in old notepads - and I only have half a clue what they mean any more.
ReplyDeleteThe scary thought is how many years it has been since I was in education now... must be 15?
Perhaps I should get that Open University prospectus back out of the cupboard...
(btw - wandered in here via the NaBloPoMo participant list - good luck!)
I totally used to do this, but then I sent out a write-up of something for an online course I was helping to develop, and when I got comments from other members of the group, it turned out that I had left at the end, "Where am I going to go from here?" To which they all responded, "We all had the same question."
ReplyDeleteNow I'm frightened of notes-to-self, because apparently I'm a really bad editor and won't notice them.
(Okay, now I highlight them in bright colours.)
Mmmm....the equation's hot, and that line in the middle made me laugh out loud.
ReplyDeleteAll you people who write notes like that -- have you ever accidentally left them in? Q of W P's story is hilarious, but at least it was only the other group members rather than reviewers or similar...
ReplyDeleteJonathan -- thanks. Good luck to you too.
I do notes to myself all the time, and I used to accidentally leave them in and get people saying odd things about it, and then I discovered the comments in word which solve that problem nicely (unless you're emailing the file to people) and they're kinda hard to miss.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I highlight stuff obsessively too.
I figure, one day, someone will look at a half-finnished report of mine and wonder what all the bright colours and bits-and-pieces-on-the-side are all about, and then suggest I visit a shrink if I've progressed from talking to myself to writing notes to myself.
Had a shell star article I was putting together a while back. The tables of numbers were correct and several of the paragraphs were reasonable, but the abstract consisted of "Waffle on here" and the Conclusion: Haven't the foggiest. The occasional footnotes were also ... idiosyncratic.
ReplyDeleteCompletely forgot to remove the unpublishable bits before passing on to co-author when he wanted a copy. Luckily he didn't seem to mind too much.
Stellar_muddle
Conclusion: Haven't the foggiest
ReplyDeleteI LOVE that, Stellar_muddle!
Ouch. Yes, I once left them in for a 300-level paper. I think I noticed at home and managed to slip a substitute copy under the lecturer's door, with the explanation that my word processor had garbled two paragraphs and that this was the correct version. I got away with it.
ReplyDeleteHuh. I believe Geekman and I may share certain professional interests, at least to some degree.
ReplyDeleteSheepish -- you mean you both "cite the crap" out of things professionally? :) Or does his equation make sense to you?
ReplyDeleteThe equation doesn't exactly make sense to me, in and of itself, but the text does.
ReplyDeleteThen in about a year's time you can search the appropriate journals and work out who Geekman is :)
ReplyDeleteHeh. The community is way too small; I can do that now. ;)
ReplyDeleteAnd I would assume he can do the same with minimal effort.