Hey, Are We Related?

jrishel — Fri, 01 May 2009 12:25:28 -0800

with all this internet connectedness, I've met a few different people online (either through facebook, twitter or geni) who share my not-very-common last name, and we've tried to determine if we're related by relating some of the oldest relatives we know who share the surname, but usually we don't find any overlap. As a genealogical novice, what should my next steps be in trying to find out if we're actually distantly related or if some clerk at Ellis Island just liked to give a bunch of French/German immigrants the same last name? I've used Geni, and most every relative I have an email address has joined, and we've filled in as far back as everyone living can remember. Poking around at familysearch.org (which I learned about from a previous AskMeFi) I have been able to confirm some birth and death dates and locations, but I'm not sure where to go next. Do we just keep filling out our trees and hope for a match?

The grammer police strike again!

nickerbocker — Sun, 21 May 2006 08:45:34 -0800

Why is electrical a word, but electronical isn't? Should I feel bad about using a word with an implied meaning in everyday speech?

I got in an argument with a guy at work on Friday about the word. I was trying to tell a story about my trip to the hardware store and said the phrase: "the part in my hand looked electronical."

The technician then interrupted me with "that isn't a word!" And I then declared that it was a word because I just used it as a word and I'm pretty sure it is in the dictionary. He goes and looks it up and proclaims once again that it isn't in the dictionary and then goes about telling everyone how he corrected my grammer. I never got to the end of my story. I was pretty pissed off to say the least and called him a condesending ass.

The reason it burned me so much is because I am the electrnoics guy there. The person who corrected me knows nothing of engineering or things that are electrical in nature and is the technician that is there to support the engineers. I think him lashing out comes from the fact that he isn't a very smart fellow and is forced to be around 4 engineers all day every day. He saw an opportunity to patronize me, and took it.

Now, I am having a hard time getting over the entire situation. I don't care about the word being in the dictionary and I'm sure that we all use words that have not made it into the dictionary yet but still have an understood meanings.

How do I diffuse the situation on Monday? Right now my brain is telling me to let it go, but my gut is telling me that I need to be a total asshole to this guy and put him in his place. What do I do if he provokes me or eggs me on further? I hope that he would not, as I would be able to get him fired but I do not wish to do that over something so silly if you really think about it. But this guy talks crap to everyone and I know of at lest 1 other engineer who dislikes this tech's constant attitude.

Thank you for answering any of my questions.

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Hey, Are We Related?

The grammer police strike again!