Watch out!

They walk on land.

http://www.livescience.com/animals/051130_giant_scorpion.html

Then there's these...
http://www.azgfd.gov/video/javelina.shtml

Resurrecting old but interesting threads is a good move when fresh postings are scarce.

I started not to worry when I noticed that the giant scorpion has been extinct for no less than 250 millions years...

The javelina are scary. They run in packs and can get aggressive. I've only encountered them after dark while camping. My own personal experience was only while driving on a very isolated, windy back mountain road, but my husband and sons had a pack trample through them as they were sleeping out under the stars while backpacking.

They have also run into them during the day on the trail, but didn't have any problem with them.

They can even be found right within the Phoenix metro area in such places as South Mountain Park (the largest city park in the USA).

...and so can the scorpions!

Like I said....

This noxious grammatical error has really been getting on my nerves lately. Make it "as I said" please.

There's nothing wrong with "like I said". There's a difference between "as" and "like".

"As I said" can be taken as an affront.

"Like I said" has a similar meaning, but the "like" makes it flexible and puts a less "I'm repeating myself" message across to a person.


Usage of "as" and "like":
http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxlikevs.html

Scotch, please don't tell people what to write. That is rude in itself.

We, non native English speakers can learn and improve from those grammatical corrections. But I understand they can be irritating in some cases.

But everybody can learn from others reactions and also improve in the "manners" we use when suggesting smth to smb. (sorry, not sure if "manners" is not a too strong word in this case).

The Forum, as any human interaction can be useful for learning, not only flute related issues but also how to always stay on the polite site while expressing our ideas.

Cheers and Happy New Year!

As I'm making a real PITA point,

You can't actually SAY anything on a forum such as this. You can however write it down or type it.

Scotch-
Thanks for pointing out that particular grammatical issue. I personally consider it more of a colloquial/informal conversation usage rather than an error. However, I definitely understand how certain grammatical usages can grate on the nerves!

Speaking of informal usages, has anyone noticed the usage of "prolly" for the word "probably"? I've seen this countless times on different forums that I read.