Wikipedia

PaulJCompton

Joined 11 December 2008

Identity edit

My name is Paul James Compton, and I don't want to be President of anything. Ever.

Right, now we have that cleared up...

There is neither name nor title on the door to my office. I don't have the luxury of a door to my office - which means one less thing to bump into when I'm distracted by some wonderful literary discovery combined with the need for more coffee. **update** I now have a door to my office. I bump into it regularly.

Coffee? Did someone say coffee?

Potted biography edit

Born in Melbourne, Australia in 1973. Grew up (did I ever?) in rural Victoria and coastal Tasmania. Addicted to academic study, I've done tertiary coursework in pretty much all of my passionate interests now, with the exception of Collingwood Football Club and Wimbledon:

Without doubt, the greatest passion here is the field I am currently studying. I'm working on my doctorate at the moment, a biography of a long-forgotten Australian politician using the devices of a novel, to be accompanied by a study of the limits to be imposed on such a work so that it can still be considered a biography and not a fictional account. My masters thesis looked at the application of compositional and performance techniques from other fields of art can be analogously deployed in the creation of fiction. But apart from that, I just love quality fiction. And I write neo-formalist poetry (yes, I admit it).

I have spent about 22 years of my life to date in Australia, in two stints. Apart from that, I lived in the midlands of England for 7 years, in Berlin for 4 years, in a provincial town not far from Hamburg for about 11 years, and since 2015 I have been living in Hessen, not far from the city of Frankfurt, where a tiny little village is called home. And in case you are wondering how all this adds up... ever heard of dividing one's time? I did it. It sucks.

I wouldn't mind at all returning to Australia to live, but it doesn't seem likely to happen in the near future.

My career has been as widely varied as my studies suggest, including work for the Church of England, a period as a headhunter, running a wine bar, network administration, programming, language teaching, journalism, translating, interpreting and book editing. The last five have made up the vast majority of my work for the last decade and generally keep the wine, cheese and books coming in sufficient quantities, especially since I started working as an associate lecturer at a nearby university.

Private life? Yes please, but it doesn't need to be here.

Interests edit

I think I've covered them above.

The templates edit

 This user is a nonresident citizen of Australia.
 This user is a native of the Australian state of Victoria.
 This user is a native of the Australian state of Tasmania.
 This user lives in Germany.
 This user is of British and German ancestry.
 This user is of Sephardi Jewish ancestry. 
DEAKINThis user is a graduate or student of Deakin University.
UTASThis user attends or attended the University of Tasmania.
 This user teaches at a university or other institution of higher education.
 
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 		This user is a translator from {{{1}}} to English on Wikipedia:Translation.
This user is a professional editor.
 This user is a professional writer or journalist.
 This user is a historian.
 This user is a bibliophile.
 This user enjoys reading fiction.
  This user enjoys reading Biographies.
 This user enjoys reading poetry.
 This user enjoys reading short stories.
 This user is a book collector.
 This user writes poetry.
 This user writes short stories.
  This user writes novels.
a lot alotThis user recognizes that linguistic change is a natural and desirable aspect of human language.
After havingHaving learnt to appreciate good grammar, this user thinks that After is a superflous prefix.
ubiquitous ≠ widespreadThis user asserts that the more common word is often not the most precise.
snkThis user says he/she/it sneaked and they snuck.
to¦<b>ly¦goThis user is proud to rightfully split infinitives.
who(m)This user uses either who or whom in the object case.
they
he or she		This user considers the singular they to be substandard English usage.
try and
try to		This user tries to discourage usage of "try and".
DMCausing unintended humor, this user edits dangling modifiers.
…in.Ending a sentence with a preposition is something that this user is okay with.
You and MeThis user thinks that if you believe it is incorrect to use "you and me" as the object of a sentence, a little talk needs to be had by you and me...
"There's" with a plural subjectThis user knows that "there's" with a plural subject is a pervasive grammatical error. There's There are too many people making this mistake. Don't be one of them.


English Singulars: "The data is..." This user recognizes that "data", "media", and "agenda" have become incorporated into English as singular nouns.
,This user fixes comma-splices; they are annoying.
,This user fixes commas that separate verb from subject or that separate two verbs or verbal phrases in a compound predicate.
A, B, and
A and B		This user prefers to use the serial comma only when its omission can be confusing.
’sThi's user know's that not every word that end's with s need's an apostrophe and will remove misused apostrophe's from Wikipedia with extreme prejudice.
???
?!?
!!!		This user terminates excessive use of exclamation points and question marks on sight. Grow up!
 This user terminates unquoted ellipses on sight. This is not your blog. We end sentences properly.
;This user knows how to use a semicolon correctly.
-This user is a hyphenation expert.
—This user knows the difference between a dash and a hyphen, and follows MOS:DASH.
;This user's favorite punctuation is semicolons; he likes using them a lot.
 This user thinks good grammar is sexy.
“,;:’This user is a punctuation stickler.
 This user employs a more formal style of writing in articles than in talk pages.
 This user may be a bit eccentric, but is definitely not demented.
 This user plays the piano.
 This user loves vinyl records.
  This user likes most types of music.
 This user enjoys smooth jazz.
  This user is a religious pluralist.
  This user respects others, even if they don't respect their beliefs and religions.
 This male user supports feminism.
 This user believes in neurodiversity.
 This user is against child abuse in all forms.
 This user knows WiseWoman in real life.
 This user is a member of
the Guild of Copy Editors.
 
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 		This user is a translator and proofreader from German to English on Wikipedia:Translation.
tyop
typo 		This user is a member of the Wikipedia Typo Team.
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