• NH and friends NoktahHitam is my alter ego. I am a nocturnal Web Developer at Laman7. Part time innovator, full time procrastinator.

  • “Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option”- Proverb

Why I Use PSS and not PPS

I’m the kind of guy who’s firm with grammar (although I can’t deny my grammar isn’t that perfect). Often I’ve been corrected of the pss I left in my postings.

PSS Story

PS – post scriptum is Latin. What comes after that should be pps, post postscript or pre postscript (as some would put it). But I use pss and so forth.

I’m going to tell you why but it’ll be lengthy, so, if you hate reading a melancholy story, press Alt + F4 or Windows, U and U. Else, after the jump.

I used to correspond with a stage 4 cancer patient. I learned about her death when she stops replying. I wanted to visit her grave, but it would’ve cost me my arms and legs, maybe one day.

She’s Catholic, a lady by the book. She had no family, non that she knew of. Same year of birth and from Greece. She was witty, the kind of quality I’d admire.

She found me at TazQirah.com (which is in cesspool now). We used to argue about faith (I used the word argue because our replies were unusually in ire). We were literally pulling each other’s hair. I would’ve thrown the kitchen sink if I could.

It was the case of standing up for ones belief or trying to convert each other.

But at the end of every mail, we’d leave a ps-question and a pss-answer, stuff to cool off the topic. Questions like, ‘how’s supper?’ or ‘Did you go out today?’. Answers like, ‘the trainy doc has flawless teeth’ or ‘I hate broccolli’. It was uncanny.

Although I’ve told her the correct notation would be PPS, she insisted on using PSS. According to her, it sounded more like ‘psst’, the initial hissing sound when you want to whisper. And since we can’t whisper on mail, a PSS would suffice.

Faith fights aside, we became close friends. So close that we’d tell our dark secrets. So close that we’d pat each other’s back on bad days. So close like Xia Wei and Shu Qi in So Close.

A week passed, she hasn’t reply. I’m sure there were more than a guy corresponding with her. After all, she had the luxury of connecting to the Internet. Plus, she might be busy.

Behind that screen name, I thought she’s some bored 40-year-old man who’s stuck in the office doing some clerical work. So I couldn’t care more about her well being.

Another week passed. A month. Soon half a year. I almost forgot about her until it was time for email spring cleaning. Neatly tucked under one folder, was all her replies. My curiosity grew, so I rang the hospital and asked for her.

It took a few jumps before I could talk to right person. I was worried about the International charges actually.

“This girl is gone”, The I-Speak-Little-English lady blurtted. “Gone? What do you mean gone?”. “7 months, dead.” I hung up before I could thank the lady. So was she was real.

There were many words left unsaid, many more pss unwritten. And the one word that signifies a man, Sorry.

ps: I miss her. I missed the intellectual fight.

pss: I wrote this in 2 hours and edited in 5 hours. Yes, I’m slow. Originally, twice as long. But truncated to meet your lazy reading habit. Plus, I don’t want to waste your time reading unaccountable details.

psss: Don’t ask again, why pss, not pps?

 

There are 36 Comments for “Why I Use PSS and not PPS”

oh god! sorry,i didn’t mean to make u mad/distracted/angry.. :roll:

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NoktahHitam replied #1

Dont worry, I was actually accumulating feedbacks before I wrote anything about it. :smile:

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jipo wrote on October 13, 2008 #1

OMG.. This is a nice story.. Worth taking 5 hours to complete it.. Hurm.. Curiosity beats everything.. right..??

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nikillas wrote on October 13, 2008 #2

5 hours bro? huaa :shock: that is a very long period to finish an entry.

p.s : i love u

no. no. no. i’m not saying that, i love you. it is just a title of a movie. thats all. hahaha :grin:

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NoktahHitam replied #1

ps: I love you < - I know this movie dude but not a fan, sadly :cry:

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abdusfauzi wrote on October 13, 2008 #3

Nice story… and you are really a caring person.. :up:

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smaelz wrote on October 13, 2008 #4

Nice story…
ps : post scriptum
pss : post scriptum scriptum

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NoktahHitam replied #1

pss is short for psst. that’s it :grin:

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Mr Am wrote on October 13, 2008 #5

hey ed. this reminds me of a certain someone i knew gak.

she was my kakak angkat in high school (not the unofficial one, the one appointed by the school)..

i tell you. when she died after leaving school, i was struck dumb. i promised to write and i didn’t .

sigh.

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NoktahHitam replied #1

you mean the pss or the death? you got me confused.

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mlle linie replied #1

death la… aiyo.. she died of denggi

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mlle linie wrote on October 13, 2008 #6

When I first saw your PSS, I thought I was wrong and you must be right, as your English is much much better than mine.

But now, “at least” you yourself have corrected me, after giving me an ‘ajaran sesat’ for the whole damn year! :twisted:

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t.a.t.a replied #1

Terima kasih NH. Sekurang nya dengan entry ini ramai orang kat luar sana (yang malu nak mengaku sebenarnya mereka pun tak tau apa pss tu) dapat tau dengan jelas apa sebenarnya pss tu tanpa memberi tahu yg mereka tak tahu sebenarnya. heheheh

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rham replied #1

NH tanpa segan silu aku pon ngaku aku dah kena tipu dengan kau.Selamat kau pos entri ni.Haha kalau tak selamanya la aku tertipu.

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NoktahHitam replied #1

Thank God I corrected it :smile:

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ImamKhalid wrote on October 13, 2008 #7

Psst: Great post, though!

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ImamKhalid wrote on October 13, 2008 #8

Saya tau PSS tu salah, tapi tetap nak guna jugak. tak kisah la apa org nak kata pun.

ps: post script
pss: post sub script

suka hati je kan?

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NoktahHitam replied #1

cannot sukehati. but, it’s your blog. Do whatever you feel right :shock:

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t.a.t.a wrote on October 13, 2008 #9

Oohh.. That’s a great story! Now I know why you use PSS instead of PPS. I’ve been wondering about that for quite some time and my English is not that good just average below average..? =.=” I still make silly grammar mistakes sometimes and my vocab is so so SO poor. :mad:

Your English is undeniably good. Would you care to be my private tutor for my upcoming IELTS exam? :evil: Ehehe.

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NoktahHitam replied #1

as long as it’s a mix of pleasure and business, I’m always up for that :grin: :arrow: :eek:

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Mira wrote on October 13, 2008 #10

:grin: :grin: :grin: i pun tersalah selama ni. i thought pss.. rupa2nya pps.. LOL :roll:

this entry buat something left inside my heart. tak tau apa.. if i were you, definitely i’ll miss her too. do you have her picture.. i’m curious. and i wanna see her face.. if it is possible :smile:

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NoktahHitam replied #1

I’m always about making the impression :oops: :grin: :cool:

No, I don’t have a picture. I imagined her bald. Chemotherapy kills softly.

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nono wrote on October 13, 2008 #11

I love this post. It’s worth the 5 hours of editing.

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NoktahHitam replied #1

7 hours altogether. Glad someone appreciates it :wink:

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Nads wrote on October 13, 2008 #12

kalau aku komen kat sini apa klua.. bom ke.. awek ke… just cuba nak komen.. kot2 dapat iphone..

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NoktahHitam replied #1

ko nak awek, meh aku bagi ko ‘call-boy’.. ade org igt aku gay. ciss.

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Extremist Thinker replied #1

akoo pon bersetuju dgn komen empunya tuan belog. gambar kat facebook menyerlahkan kegeian. mane ko ske. gigolo ke gigaylo :p haha. lawak je.

p/s: nie komen pasal jatuh chenta entri satu lg. akoo ske jatuh chenta. tp hati ini tidak pernah dimiliki. huhu. jd jatuh chenta tak semestinya jatuh hati!!! bluekz. :mrgreen:

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bongkersz replied #1

Ada ker? :P Ada orang tu message ko? HAHAHAHA!

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lochoe wrote on October 13, 2008 #13

lochoe buat lawak ke apa tu? kalau iphone i pun nak jugakkk

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arep wrote on October 14, 2008 #14

oh yeah. ive always realised u used pss instead of pps but was never botherd to tnya or tegur as my english pon haywire.

but hey, thts some story, nh. i love this post.

ps- when i was little i thought ps is ‘please see (this attached note)’! :lol:

pss- did you watch da vinci code?

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NoktahHitam replied #1

I read the book, anything different?

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laila wrote on October 14, 2008 #15

I’ve been wondering about this, too. huhu. I love this post. your English is perfect! xD

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NoktahHitam replied #1

perfect? No Aisyah. Any English speaker cant spot my faults.

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Aisyah wrote on October 14, 2008 #16

I use pss too! PPS – Project Petaling Street mah… haha!

I tend to write very long and I am sure many of my readers fell asleep halfway.. but I don’t mind long entry, I will read every words. 5 hours of editing? If you count time that I spent re-editing my posts everytime I read it again after I published it.. probably took quite some time as well.

Normally I took 1-2 hours to write a post. Copy paste stuffs tak kira la :P

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bongkersz wrote on October 15, 2008 #17

one thing for sure…
it’s no longer skolah
heck care how the spelling should be like
NGIAHAHAHAHAH

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Adila wrote on October 16, 2008 #18

Interesting. I had always used P.S.S but I recently realized that I had been incorrect in my grammar usage… that was until I read this story. I now feel compelled to use P.S.S again. What a touching story.

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xGEOxGestapo wrote on December 28, 2009 #19

Leave a comment, I won't bite ;)

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