Have coffee with me, Dave. Which one of the words you mentioned is an English word negated by the prefix "ab-"? Most of the ones you mentioned have "ab-" joined to some Latinate root. "Abrogate" is an example; "rogate" commonly survives only as a root (rogation, surrogate) though it may have a special, technical use in, say, law.

I'll think of some others. Offhand, the only one that springs to mind is "abreaction," which basically means a bad reaction to a medicine or treatment (like an allergy, or a rash caused by bandage adhesive).

Speedwell is NOT an UNHAPPY GEEK.

Speedwell is a HAPPY NERD CHICK.

Dave, I and my head cold appreciate your cogent suggestions. :)

For a segmented version, try:
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And back upstairs would go the "little bastard," his head full of Grandmother's lessons on "accords grammaticaux," "concordance des temps," and other neatly logical delicacies. Considering the volatility of the family atmosphere, and the frequency with which possessive adjectives and other epithets would fly around, he wondered where, exactly, he might fit the interesting new piece of semiotic into her orderly linguistic universe. It was a relief to escape into his own room, into his beloved stories of lonely wolves in the Great North and sailors stranded on desert islands.

ishtarbaba, I'm afraid I have no clue what your point is here.

Speaking practically...

If you are a secretary, using two spaces between sentences in all business correspondence and other documentation is still considered correct. Frequently, hiring officials and potential bosses think that these small things are a sign of professionalism.

It's true that the use of the double space is going out of fashion. But it's also true that older people in a corporate setting (disproportionately the executives and managers) still expect to see the double space and miss it if it isn't there.

Speaking from experience...

Pardon, remove the comma after the parenthetical expression"

"... around) might fit ..."

This IS confusing.

Oh, yeah. Sounds like the way I wrote before I really caught on to the fact that other people would be reading what I wrote. (No offense.) Here's what I'd do with it (read -- as an em dash):
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And back upstairs to his room would go the "little bastard"--back to his beloved stories of lonely wolves in the Great North and sailors stranded on desert islands--wondering where, exactly, this interesting piece of semiotic (as handy as it might come, considering the volatility of the family atmosphere and the frequency with which possessive adjectives and other epithets would fly around), might fit into the regular schedule of Grandmother's lessons on "accords grammaticaux," "concordance des temps," and other neatly logical delicacies.

I can never cover all of my thoughts in one post...

There is a breakfast food, gruel made from ground lye-treated corn, known in the Southern US as "hominy grits," or just "grits." (No, really, grits are good, but you'll never believe me until you have them.)

Yes, the dish "grits" always takes plural everything, even though the dish is essentially coarse white cornmeal polenta.

Hmmm. Compare:

"My favorite band is The Eels."
"Five guys from my hometown are now The Eels."
"The Eels' financial backers left them after the lead guitarist's girlfriend stole the tour bus." (here I am thinking of them as individuals)
"We have all of The Eels's early work." (here I am thinking of them as a unit)

"Eels is my favorite dish."
"Eels are best served in a white wine and garlic sauce."

To the best of my knowledge all of these are correct (US English). Your thoughts?