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Self- deprecation, aristo? You've spent too much time with the Brits. Irony next?

Heavens no, I couldn't handle irony. I'll stick with deprecation.

By the way, rambler, I see that you used a comma when addressing me, and have noted how seldom commas are thus used on this site. Is that a Brit thing, or is it a sort of internet shorthand? I've also noted how seldom apostrophes are used for possessives.

"aristo" ,phan, E's

Oh, thank goodness- even more enlightenment. I feel like Goethe.

I'm an old man, aristo, and a pedant to boot. I love our common language and try not to bugger it up. You don't see many of these around today either.

Half Teuton and full English part of speech (6)

is that gerund.

As soon as you trust yourself you will know how to live!!!!

Yes, phillip.

I know that we have our linguistic differences, but some Americans truly love the English language. I usually refer (and defer) to The Chicago Manual of Style (though I can't use italics here!). To tell you the truth, I often find myself having to reread sentences in British books because of the way commas are used; I think our practice is in some ways clearer (modifiers are less likely to "stray", for example). Anyway, I thought that British comma use may have "evolved" differently from ours so as to no longer demand that names be thus set off.