WORDS ABOUT WORDS
He writes the worst English that I have ever encountered. It reminds me of a string of wet sponges; it reminds me of tattered washing on the line; it reminds me of stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights. It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it. It drags itself out of the dark abysm of pish, and crawls insanely up to the topmost pinnacle of tosh. It is rumble and bumble. It is flap and doodle. It is balder and dash.
H. L. Mencken, American editor, satirist, and philologist, on Warren G. Harding, The Baltimore Evening Sun , 1921
Posted on September 23, 1999 at 11:48 AM
Function FormatDate(d)
If Month(d) = 1 Then s = "January"
If Month(d) = 2 Then s = "February"
If Month(d) = 3 Then s = "March"
If Month(d) = 4 Then s = "April"
If Month(d) = 5 Then s = "May"
If Month(d) = 6 Then s = "June"
If Month(d) = 7 Then s = "July"
If Month(d) = 8 Then s = "August"
If Month(d) = 9 Then s = "September"
If Month(d) = 10 Then s = "October"
If Month(d) = 11 Then s = "November"
If Month(d) = 12 Then s = "December"
s = s & " " & Day(d) & ", " & Year(d)
FormatDate = s
End Function
Function FormatTime(d)
If Hour(d) = 0 Then
s = "12"
ElseIf Hour(d) > 0 And Hour(d) <= 12 Then
s = Hour(d)
Else
s = Hour(d) - 12
End If
If Minute(d) < 10 Then
s = s & ":0" & Minute(d)
Else
s = s & ":" & Minute(d)
End If
If Hour(d) <=12 Then
s = s & " AM"
Else
s = s & " PM"
End If
FormatTime = s
End Function
Function RemoveSpaces(sOriginalWord)
sWord = sOriginalWord
If Left(sWord, 1) = "-" Then
sWord = Right(sWord, Len(sWord) - 1)
End If
Do While InStr(sWord, " ") <> 0
spacePos = InStr(sWord, " ")
If spacePos <> 0 Then
sWord = Left(sWord, spacePos - 1) & Right(sWord, Len(sWord) - spacePos)
End If
Loop
Do While InStr(sWord, "/") <> 0
spacePos = InStr(sWord, "/")
If spacePos <> 0 Then
sWord = Left(sWord, spacePos - 1) & "-" & Right(sWord, Len(sWord) - spacePos)
End If
Loop
Do While InStr(sWord, "'") <> 0
spacePos = InStr(sWord, "'")
If spacePos <> 0 Then
sWord = Left(sWord, spacePos - 1) & Right(sWord, Len(sWord) - spacePos)
End If
Loop
RemoveSpaces = sWord
End Function
Function ReplaceSingleQuotesWithHTMLCode(sOriginalText)
str = sOriginalText
Do While InStr(str, "'") <> 0
quotePos = InStr(str, "'")
If quotePos <> 0 Then
str = Left(str, quotePos - 1) & "'" & Right(str, Len(str) - quotePos)
End If
Loop
ReplaceSingleQuotesWithHTMLCode = str
End Function
Function ReplaceAllQuotesWithHTMLCode(sOriginalText)
str = sOriginalText
Do While InStr(str, "'") <> 0
quotePos = InStr(str, "'")
If quotePos <> 0 Then
str = Left(str, quotePos - 1) & "'" & Right(str, Len(str) - quotePos)
End If
Loop
Do While InStr(str, """") <> 0
quotePos = InStr(str, """")
If quotePos <> 0 Then
str = Left(str, quotePos - 1) & """ & Right(str, Len(str) - quotePos)
End If
Loop
ReplaceAllQuotesWithHTMLCode = str
End Function
Function ReplaceString(strField, strFind, strReplace)
findLocation = InStr(strField, strFind)
Do While findLocation <> 0
If findLocation = 1 Then
leftField = ""
Else
leftField = Left(strField, findLocation - 1)
End If
rightfield = Right(strField, Len(strField) - findLocation - (Len(strFind) - 1))
strField = leftField & strReplace & rightfield
findLocation = InStr(findLocation + Len(strFind) + 3, strField, strFind)
Loop
ReplaceString = strField
End Function