My username has gone through three iterations: I was originally "AuntLynnie". I changed it on 3/31/2011 to "not-perky." Now I've changed it again to "AuntieL". Sorry about all the changes, but I wanted to separate RL from fandom a bit more than was possible with my original username, and then I decided I didn't *love* the connotations "not-perky" might carry. LOL

I have some spelling/grammar rants.

Words are containers for meaning. Choose them carefully.

It is my life's mission to eradicate homophone and apostrophe abuse. :) Homophone abuse is particularly difficult, because the words used are actual words - not misspellings - so they're harder to catch. But it's possible. I promise! (Yeah. Just call me Sisyphus.) Check out this awesome web site: It's an EXCELLENT resource!

And then there's my obsession with the semicolon. It's an entirely underused, yet altogether useful, bit of punctuation.

A fiancé is MALE. A female is a fiancée (two "e"s). Same thing with blond (male) and blonde (female). Draco and Lucius Malfoy are BLOND, not BLONDE. Narcissa is a blonde (according to canon -- in the movies, she's evidently part skunk). Sookie Stackhouse is blonde, Eric Northman is blond. And yummy. *sigh*

You almost always mean DEFINITELY, not DEFIANTLY. "Defiantly" means "boldly resistant or challenging."

You almost always mean DISCREET, not DISCRETE. "Discrete" means separate. "Discreet" means "with discretion."

"Rouge" is the color red. It can also refer to the cosmetic applied to a woman's face to redden her cheeks. "Rogue" means a dishonest, disobedient person; a scoundrel; a renegade. To call a Death Eater a "Rouge Death Eater" just means they're blushing. LOL What's probably supposed to sound serious and intimidating ends up sounding funny.

COMMON HOMOPHONE ABUSES:

TO is a preposition (I went to school, I'm going to the library, I go to college); TOO means "also" or denotes excess (that's TOO much); TWO is the number 2.

THERE is a place or a position. THEIR is a possessive word showing ownership of something. THEY'RE is a contraction that means "they are".

THEN refers to time or consequence. THAN is used to compare or contrast things. (My car is nicer than your car; You arrived later than me.)

DISCREET is to be quiet and undetectable. DISCRETE is a kind of math that I will never do.

DESERT (verb) means to leave or abandon. DESERT (noun) is a waterless area with little or no vegetation with extremely minimal amounts of annual precipitation (rain or snow). DESSERT (noun) is something sweet you eat after supper. In the Potterverse, they'd call it "pudding."

An AISLE is a walkway that passes through something, an ISLE is an island. If it's a wedding, you walk up/down the aisle.

An ALTAR is a table used in worship, ALTER means to change.

MY MOST-HATED WORD:

"Anyways" is not a real word! Technically, it's called "nonstandard", but that means it's not a word! If you insist on using this word, it should be anyway. No "s" at the end. (And neither Dumbledore, nor Hermione, nor any Malfoy would EVER use this word. A Weasley might.)