Attention numbskulls! Get edumakated right here, y'all.

[Colophon]

...or, "A Brief Primer For The Terminally Dumb".

Read and learn. In no particular order.

1. Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK. He did it alone, and he did it from the Texas Scoolbook Depository. There was no conspiracy. Sorry.

2. The European single currency is called the euro. Not the "eurodollar". That's something else.

3. Ducks' quacks do echo. I have heard them with my own shell-like ears.

4. It's "minuscule".

5. Oh, and "definitely".

6. Yes, men really did walk on the moon. Get over it.

7. "Loser" has only one "o", and is a noun. "Looser" has two and is a comparative adjective.

8. Coca-Cola will not dissolve a steak overnight.

9. Saddam Hussein was not behind 9/11.

10. Nor were the Republicans.

11. The word "golf" does not derive from any cute acronym, such as "Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden".

12. Nor does "posh".

13. Nor do any of your other favourite four-letter words (except maybe "Nasa", as in "the Nasa conspiracists").

14. Bill Gates will not give you $1,000 if you forward an e-mail to three dozen of your closest friends.

That is all for now. Feel free to add more.

[Dung Beetle]

The Holocaust really happened.

[Colophon]

...and he did it from the Texas Scoolbook Depository.

Sigh. It's catching.

[Homebrew]

Originally posted by r_k
...and he did it from the Texas Scoolbook Depository ... with the candle stick.

[pravnik]

I had always assumed it was a military conspiracy designed to get us involved in Vietnam, initiated by Colonel Mustard.

[VunderBob]

Originally posted by r_k
...or, "A Brief Primer For The Terminally Dumb".



13. Nor do any of your other favourite four-letter words (except maybe "Nasa", as in "the Nasa conspiracists").


That is all for now. Feel free to add more.

Hey numbskull ;), it's "NASA", not "Nasa", because the name is an acronym. :smack:

VunderBob, current NASA employee

[Colophon]

Hey numbskull , it's "NASA", not "Nasa", because the name is an acronym.

I was wondering whether anyone would pick me up on this. I would refer you to the style guide of The Times of London, which states:
Where the initials can be spoken as a word, we normally write them as upper and lower case, eg, Nato, Gatt, Unesco, Eta...
Hence Nasa.

Don't get pernickety (or persnickety, for you USAnians) with a subeditor, boy ;)

[BubbaDog]

...and its New-Klee-Er

Not NUKE-You-Ler - Ya Asshats!

[Bruce_Daddy]

Your Nigerian friends will be of no help to you.

[Colophon]

Oh yes:

15. You see Love Actually? London is not like that, and neither are Londoners.

[VunderBob]

And I suppose the Times of London Style Guide dictates you write it as 'theatre', too. Just because the language originated on that gawdforsaken rock you call an island doesn't mean y'all have a lock on what is good style and grammar.:D :D :D :D :D :D :D

VunderBob, one of the 5 engineers in the world who can actually write.

[lieu]

It twern't no vast, right wing conspiracy neither.

[dav01]

Your pants aren't khakis, they're chinos. Khaki is a color.

Incidentally, in the OP, numbers 2-14 are facts. Number 1 is an opinion.

[World Eater]

So is #10 :D

[Lute Skywatcher]

Originally posted by dav01
Your pants aren't khakis, they're chinos. Khaki is a color. Unless you happen to be wearing a military uniform of that color.

[catsix]

vunderbob said:
VunderBob, one of the 5 engineers in the world who can actually write.

Perhaps one day we will meet the other three.

[Capt B. Phart]

16. No joke threads in the pit!

(Tho' in fact I never understood why):confused:

[Derleth]

No Microsoft OS can be made fully secure. That goes double for any OS built around Windows 95 and quadruple for any OS built around MS-DOS.

Hackers are not criminals. You are thinking of crackers.

Libertarians are not conservatives, Republicans, or the `hippies of the right'. Nor are Democrats members of the Communist party.

Bill Gates didn't invent BASIC. Or DOS. Or Windows. Or much of anything, for that matter. His success lies in knowing what to steal and when, and being in the right place at the right time.

There are computer systems that don't pay fealty (or much attention) to Redmond. Don't write programs or textfiles assuming everyone is willing to put up with the brain-damages to come out of Microsoft.

Atheism isn't a religion. It isn't a faith or a belief system. It is a lack of faith and a cogent disbelief in the supernatural.

The same government that fudged the Bay of Pigs invasion is not capable of keeping the lid on massive conspiracies. The next time you believe the government to be competent, look at how pleasant it is to live in Southeast Asia. Or Hati. Or Nicaragua.

[gobear]

Nope, #s 1 and 10 are facts.

John Edward is a fraud.

So is James Van Praagh.

Ditto Sylvia Browne.

[World Eater]

Isn't this turning into a joke thread?

The whole thing is so confusing.

[Derleth]

The next time you believe the government to be competent, look at how pleasant it is to live in Southeast Asia. Or Hati. Or Nicaragua.No, I cannot spell. I occasionally suffer from delusions to the contrary.

s/Hati/Haiti/

If you write void main(), you are not writing C. You are writing in a language that looks like C. You may think you are writing in C, but any conformant compiler should be more than happy to inform you otherwise.

Anyone who uses gets() is a fool and should be LARTed into oblivion.

[World Eater]

Originally posted by gobear
Nope, #s 1 and 10 are facts.

'Twas a joke.

[Colophon]

Isn't this turning into a joke thread?
Ain't no joke about educating folk.

More advice for the educationally undernourished:

* It's "Daylight Saving Time", not "Daylight Savings Time"

* When Juliet asked "Wherefore art thou Romeo?" she was not enquiring as to the whereabouts of her lover.

* It's "to all intents and purposes", not "to all intensive purposes".

* It's also "If you think X, you've got another think coming," despite what people may try to tell you. It started as a grammatical joke. Geddit?

* Scotland is not part of England.

* (One for the Brits) Speed cameras are not "a tax on motorists". They are a means of identifying criminals. If you don't want to pay, guess what? You can keep to the speed limit. It ain't no rocket science, bubba.

* Your bank will not send you an e-mail asking you to divulge your password and PIN.

[World Eater]

Ok, so this is a thread pointing out common misconceptions.

[threemae]

Abbreviations that can be pronounced and are composed of bits of words rather than just initials should be spelt out in upper and lower case: Cocom, Frelimo, Kfor, Legco, Mercosur, Nepad, Renamo, Sfor, Unicef, Unisom, Unprofor, Trips (trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights). There is generally no need for more than one initial capital letter, unless the word is a company or a trade name: MiG, ConsGold.

From the Economist Style Guide.

I've never seen any usage by a major news outlet of Nasa over NASA.

You daft-headed punk-skink. [Obligitory BBQ remark]

[Derleth]

It's PIN, not PIN number.

It's ATM, not ATM machine or automated ATM machine or automated teller ATM machine.

Apostrophes are not to be sprinkled in at random, or merely to signify the presence of an `s'.

Wrapping quotes around random words is not a good way to emphasize things. It simply makes you look stupid.

Nikola Tesla, for all of his genius, went crazy as a loon. All of his more interesting theories are codswallop and cannot be the basis for successful research.

Weight loss is achieved through honest effort and diet control, not Atkins or magic pills or electrified belts or other balderdash.

[Jenaroph]

Saw the "origin of the word TIP" on the side of a coffee creamer carton this week. Rrgh. "Tips" is not an acronym for "To Insure Prompt Service." It doesn't even make sense. If you wanted to ensure prompt service, you'd tip before you were served, not when you pay the bill. Duh.

[Lute Skywatcher]

Originally posted by dav01
Number 1 is an opinion.Originally posted by gobear
Nope, #s 1 and 10 are facts.Actually, #1 appears to be both. Lee Harvey Oswald was demonstrably the only shooter (http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Bullet_Theory) but to say he wasn't someone's patsy is an opinion.

#10 is a whoosh (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=228547), as I see World Eater already indicated.

[matt_mcl]

1) The Prime Minister of Canada is not the head of state. Neither is the Governor General. The head of state is the Queen. The Governor General is her representative. The Prime Minister is the head of government.

2) If you are Canadian, French is not a foreign language, and Jésus de Montréal is not a foreign film. Independence Day, by way of contrast, is.

3) Spanish cuisine and Mexican cuisine are not the same. Try ordering a tortilla in a Spanish and a Mexican restaurant and you'll see what I mean. (This was an Onion article once.)

4) "that" and "which" are not synonyms.

[BiblioCat]

Originally posted by Derleth
Weight loss is achieved through honest effort and diet control, not Atkins or magic pills or electrified belts or other balderdash. I've been making an honest effort at controlling my diet (through Atkins and excercise) and have lost 60 pounds. Is that balderdash? I'll be the first to agree that it's not for everyone, but it worked for me when other diets have failed.

(I agree 100% with all your other points, though.)

[MinniePurl]

The word "Italian" is not pronounced eye-talian.

No matter what your bible-thumping pastor tells you, Unitarian Universalism is not a cult.

You don't loose weight. You LOSE weight. Loose is an adjective.

Naming your child Kate'lynne, Maddisynne, or Jakub will not distingush them from the millions of other Caitlins, Madisons and Jacobs they will go to school with. It will, however, doom them to a lifetime of spelling their name to everyone they meet, and people will (correctly) think their parents are stupid and lack taste.

[Cervaise]

Another for the list:

.999... = 1. Cope, motherfucker.

[I can't believe that's butter!]

Originally posted by r_k
...or, "A Brief Primer For The Terminally Dumb".


4. It's "minuscule".


Just wanted to point out that I made this error here (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=228653&postid4338876) when referring to Pud. Hee.

[Morbo]

Originally posted by Derleth
Bill Gates didn't invent BASIC. Or DOS. Or Windows. Or much of anything, for that matter. His success lies in knowing what to steal and when, and being in the right place at the right time.

There are computer systems that don't pay fealty (or much attention) to Redmond. Don't write programs or textfiles assuming everyone is willing to put up with the brain-damages to come out of Microsoft.

Yes, yes, yes, I get it. You hate Microsoft. You think we're all idiots. I'm a brain-damaged moron working for a thief that has stolen every technology he's ever produced and not one single innovation has ever come out of Microsoft, ever. Understood. :yawn:

Can you change brush sizes every once in awhile?

[Nanoda]

The planets have been orbiting just fine for millenia. Things aren't about to go pear shaped now no matter what that nice mystic told you.

There's a reason every perpetual machine demonstration seems to end short with some small hard-to-fix part breaking.

Being for one thing doesn't necessarily mean you're against something else.

[Thylacine]

Congradulations was likely once just a pun on a card for someone graduating from something, the word is congratulations and if you get it wrong again you can start school over from the beginning.

[Lute Skywatcher]

Originally posted by Dooku Originally posted by Derleth
Bill Gates didn't invent BASIC. Or DOS. Or Windows. Or much of anything, for that matter. His success lies in knowing what to steal and when, and being in the right place at the right time.

There are computer systems that don't pay fealty (or much attention) to Redmond. Don't write programs or textfiles assuming everyone is willing to put up with the brain-damages to come out of Microsoft.Yes, yes, yes, I get it. You hate Microsoft. You think we're all idiots. I'm a brain-damaged moron working for a thief that has stolen every technology he's ever produced and not one single innovation has ever come out of Microsoft, ever. Understood. :yawn:

Can you change brush sizes every once in awhile? You know, I don't hate Microsoft but I agree with Derleth regarding Bill Gates' habit of taking technology by force.

The hackers/crackers thing is a lost cause and isn't likely to ever change.

[Jackmannii]

It will not grow hair. Even if a former race car driver says so.

There is no vast government/drug company conspiracy to suppress wonder cures promoted by websites whose "evidence" consists entirely of testimonials.

Suppressing a sneeze (or limiting the decibels of said physiologic event) will not cause your head to explode.

[Shayna]

It's bigger than, harder than, stronger than, etc., not bigger then, harder then, stronger then. (OMG, that almost hurt me to type. That's one of the few grammatical errors that's like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.)

[FilmGeek]

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=228741

It's ridiculous, not rediculous.

You are not diculous again.

[wakimika]

Posh doesn't mean Port Out Starboard Home? I've been living a lie.

[Rabid_Squirrel]

They're/their/there; learn the fucking difference or I'll tape open your eyes and force you to sneeze.

[FilmGeek]

Oh, and it's a website, not a sight or a cite.

Unless it is a cite, but to cite it, you go to a website.

Unless it's a sight to see or for sore eyes, but I bet it's still displayed on a website.

[Early Out]

It's "could have," "would have," and "should have," not "could of," "would of," and "should of."

[World Eater]

Speak well, not speak good.

[wakimika]

Lesbian, not lesbain.

Amateur, not amature.

*ahem*

[Derleth]

Gee, Dooku, who pissed in your IV drip?

Here's a hint: If I'm talking about someone in specifc, I'll mention him or her by name. See your name up there? Didn't think so.

[Morbo]

You did. I just grow tired of reading a thread then seeing someone take a big dump on my employer with some enormous brush about "stealing everything" and "innovating nothing." Especially when MS employees are called brain-damaged in the same breath.

If I said "People from Havre are a bunch of brain-damaged idiots" do you suppose it would upset you personally?

[Miller]

33. Nobody cares about your fucking platform hijacks.

[Mariemarie]

34. Garcon means boy.

[don't mind me]

If you're describing a series and say that "each [whatever] was more [however] than the next," you've probably just said the opposite of what you mean.

Either that, or I have.

[Derleth]

Dooku: I don't expect this post to penetrate your skull, but for the sake of everyone else I want to make it clear that I never called any person brain-damaged. I merely called the products made by Microsoft brain-damaged.

[Sublight]

4. It's "minuscule".

The two dictionaries I checked said both are acceptable, although minuscule was the preferred spelling.

[Call me Frank]

14. Bill Gates will not give you $1,000 if you forward an e-mail to three dozen of your closest friends.

THANK YOU!!! I'm not alone! My friends forward me these things all the time and it annoys the hell outta me. I reply to the messages with links that say "This is a hoax" and they still do it!

[Themis00]

Originally posted by Bruce_Daddy
Your Nigerian friends will be of no help to you.

Ummm you said the n-word! ;)













...which leads too...

35. "Niger" is pronounced as NY-JER, not N****R

[mademoiselle]

1. Democrats do not hate God. In fact, a great number of us love God.

2. Dumping French Wime in the gutter only make you look bad. You are buying something for the sole purpose to destroy it- right. You just gave your so-called enemy money.

3. The French are not our enemy.

4. Electing a leader on the basis of him being a action hero- you do relise that he plays charachters- he is not them.

5. When a legislator begins the recall the day after the election, he ain't doing it because of economy. It's called sour grapes.

6. Not supporting the war does not mean a person does not support the troops.

7. All black people don't speak eboincs, live in the ghetto, or like rap.

8. There are things such as mixed race people. It is very rude to ask us "what are you"

9. Bush is not "a good moral charachter". Stop acting as if he is a choir boy.

10. The media is not libreal. If it were, the Bush twins family scandals would be over every tabloid every day; if it were Chealsea Clinton, it would be everywhere for months.

11. The Republican party is not a more Christian party.

12. Hi Opal.

13. Having more education than someone else means you have more paper- you have no superiority, so stop acting like it.

14. In the end we are all the same.

[Derleth]

mademoiselle, I respectfully disagree with your last two points. (Respectful disagreement in the Pit? Lawsy, but we's high-class now!)

Education is often a sign of someone's ability to attain knowledge and useful skills, and of someone's attainment of those skills in a given field. Donald Knuth, for example, has much more education than I in the field of computer science, therefore it is very reasonable to assume that he has more knowledge of the field in general, and more skill in specific aspects of the field, than I.

Of course, my argument falls down in some cases. As a high schooler, I was probably more competent than a certain amount of more-educated professionals in any given field simply based on those people's abysmal incompetence. To take another extreme, Donald Knuth is a genius and doubtless would be more competent than I even if he had much less education. In most cases, however, education can usually be used as an accurate yardstick of, if not intelligence, then at least competence.

Your last point is somewhat more esoteric, and I will only accept it with qualifications. No, I'm not religious, simply conscious of the legacy I choose to leave and the impact that legacy shall have on others. (And, no, I'm not a Democratic former President, either. ;)) I like to think that my legacy will be more positive than Charles Manson's legacy, if not as far-reaching. So, if you accept the notion of legacies into your calculation, I don't think you can defend your final point.

If, however, your analysis stops with the physical body, I agree: I shall end up just as dead as Charles Manson, Mohandas Gandhi, Iosef Stalin, and Thomas Jefferson. In that respect, your final point is correct.

[mademoiselle]

Originally posted by Derleth
mademoiselle, I respectfully disagree with your last two points. (Respectful disagreement in the Pit? Lawsy, but we's high-class now!)

Education is often a sign of someone's ability to attain knowledge and useful skills, and of someone's attainment of those skills in a given field. Donald Knuth, for example, has much more education than I in the field of computer science, therefore it is very reasonable to assume that he has more knowledge of the field in general, and more skill in specific aspects of the field, than I.

Of course, my argument falls down in some cases. As a high schooler, I was probably more competent than a certain amount of more-educated professionals in any given field simply based on those people's abysmal incompetence. To take another extreme, Donald Knuth is a genius and doubtless would be more competent than I even if he had much less education. In most cases, however, education can usually be used as an accurate yardstick of, if not intelligence, then at least competence.

I very much disagree. My father is a college grad, and my grandfather was not. By all accounts he was brilliant. A living book- ask he a question, and he would give you an answer, the right answer. I have a relative in Grad school. Is she stupid? No. Is she wise? er...

Didn't Picasso's teachers tell him to leave art school because he did not need it? He therefore had no degree.

Here is what bothers me.

Person A- I Disagree with you.

Person B- Well, I have a MBA in xyz.

Person A- That's great. But it doesn't make you right.

Person B- (in mind: what do they know? They didn't go to college. Fool) Okay, uh listen, why don't we watch some TV or something?

Not everyone can afford college. Not everyone wants to go to college. Yes, the piece of paper is very nice, but these people are being intellect snobs.

I had a "friend" who did this to me all of the time. I would say anything, and she would look at me like I was some kind of idiot. Yes, I'm horrible in math, and therefore choose not to take advanced math. But she sucked in English/Creative disciplines which I excel at. I don't care if you have a PhD from MIT, it just means were different, not that you are better.

I know so many intellect snobs so full of bloody pretension. Having a degree does not make you smart, no matter where it's from. We all know of people who got a foot in because of connections who could not go otherwise to any school, forget Ivy League.



If, however, your analysis stops with the physical body...

It does.

I did not mean legacy. JFK and Dalhmer for instance are both dead, but have very different legacies. But- they are still dead. No social classes, no races, no whatever in the land of the dead.

[mademoiselle]

BTW, I'm a 3rd year college student, so I'm not putting down higher ed., but rather intellect snobs.

[Colophon]

Posh doesn't mean Port Out Starboard Home? I've been living a lie.
Hooray - one more bit of ignorance stamped out. This thread was worth it just for that!
4. It's "minuscule".
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The two dictionaries I checked said both are acceptable, although minuscule was the preferred spelling.

Blame wishy-washy descriptivism. Well, I apologise if "miniscule" (ugh!) is an acceptable U.S. spelling... I was writing from a British perspective, and no British English dictionaries that I have seen accept this spelling, so British numbskulls have no excuse. What is a miniscule anyway? Another name for a kindergarten? :rolleyes:

[Lars Aruns]

It's not wierd, it's weird. This one drives me nuts.

It's not parmesan, it's parmigiano. Pahr-mee-djah-noh.

Oh, and pizza is supposed to be crunchy, not a soggy glutinous flat mass that slops down your hand when you take it.

[Odinoneeye]

35. The position of the planets, moon and sun relative to the stars behind them in no way influences events on earth except when people choose to change their behavior because of them.

36. Everyone can predict the future, but everyone who does is guessing.

[Achilles]

37. It's not an M.B.A. in "xyz". It's just a fucking M.B.A.. "Masters (degree) in Business Administration". Sheesh.

You're thinking of "M.A."

[Achilles]

Originally posted by Lars Aruns
It's not parmesan, it's parmigiano. Pahr-mee-djah-noh.

With all due respect - it's both. One's English, one's Italian. That's all.

Let's stick to facts.

[HDS]

People who read books don't have tons of time on their hands, better spent doing other things. We just make time for that, like others make time for reality shows.

[sirtonyh]

Originally posted by vunderbob
Hey numbskull ;), it's "NASA", not "Nasa", because the name is an acronym. :smack:

VunderBob, current NASA employee

Holy shit! An actual rocket scientist ;)

[Lars Aruns]

Originally posted by Achilles
With all due respect - it's both. One's English, one's Italian. That's all.

Let's stick to facts.
All right, let's. "Parmesan" is an erroneous approximation of an Italian word, made up by people who couldn't bother with the correct pronunciation. Going in the other direction, "Hot dog" stays "hot dog", it does not become "cane caldo". Same for "cd", "film", and other words. If a word is imported, it is usually not mangled - otherwise, why does pizza stay pizza and doesn't become pyzz? :)

At least you seem agree on the wierd/weird thing.

[VunderBob]

Originally posted by sirtonyh
Holy shit! An actual rocket scientist ;)

Quite true, but I haven't been here long enough to get in on the good conspiracies. :D

Back to the topic at hand. 99 US restaurants out of 100 blow it whenever the menu lists a French Dip sandwich. FDSs come au jus, not "with au jus". Au is the French form of with.

[Mangetout]

35. Most cautionary advice delivered by email is bollocks - check Snopes and Sophos before you forward it to everyone you know.

[SeekingTruth]

my 2 cents,

If a genious drops out of college and builds a mega-billion company with a friend in his mom's garage, this proves a degree is only good for impressing CEO's, Human Resources, etc. If he happens to build on existing technology and sells it well, it will only stand the test if it is functional to consumers.

Henry Ford didn't invent the automobile, but I hear of noone slamming him for building on the science that was there before him.

If said company put out a product so unstable, unreliable, and utterly worthless, why is it the world's most popular OS? Careful, you don't want to get into the conspiracies while trying to debunk to "grassy Knoll" shooter.

[sirtonyh]

My pet peeve on another message board;

If a European states they do not like the policies of President Bush, it does not mean they hate America

Being opposed to the war in Iraq does not mean I think Saddam Hussien was a great guy.

[mademoiselle]

Originally posted by Achilles
37. It's not an M.B.A. in "xyz". It's just a fucking M.B.A.. "Masters (degree) in Business Administration". Sheesh.

You're thinking of "M.A."

No, you can have a M.B.A. (Master of Business Administration) in several fields, at least at my Univ. and 90 some odd percent of Grad schools in the US which offer the M.B.A.

Examples:

Consulting

Entrepreneurship/Small Business

Finance and Accounting

General Management

Human Resources/Organization Management

Information Systems

Marketing

Operations Management


What if the B were just a typo or a slip? Geez. Come now, don't we have better things to do rather than pick for holes in my post?

The point is having a M.B.A. or M.A. or whatever does not make you brilliant.

Did I detect a bit of the behavior described in my first post? Or did you just feel the need to straighten me out?

[matt_mcl]

All right, let's. "Parmesan" is an erroneous approximation of an Italian word, made up by people who couldn't bother with the correct pronunciation. Going in the other direction, "Hot dog" stays "hot dog", it does not become "cane caldo". Same for "cd", "film", and other words. If a word is imported, it is usually not mangled - otherwise, why does pizza stay pizza and doesn't become pyzz?

Hell, while we're on the subject, why does it become a Spanish omelette, but the other stays as paella? Answer: that's just the way it happened.

[Homebrew]

Spanish Rice was already taken. The best paella I've had was at some Cuban dive in Atlanta. I can't remember the name, though.

[FordPrefect]

Bill Gates gave the world Halo, no matter how much direct involvement he had on that project. That alone excuses him for many of the OS issues we have faced in the past. With that, on to my contribution:

Quite often the instability found in Windows can be attributed to poorly designed third-party apps and drivers. True, Windows should be better able to protect itself, but for the most part Windows on its own is pretty solid.

[carrot]

Originally posted by Homebrew
Spanish Rice was already taken. The best paella I've had was at some Cuban dive in Atlanta. I can't remember the name, though. Homebrew--was it a place on Buford Highway near North Druid Hills? I think I know the place you mean.

[Spiff]

"Noone" is not a word.

It's "no one."

Oh, and all you Wiccans out there ...

Don't get your panties all in a bunch when someone thinks witches are people who can allegedly summon supernatural powers through black witchcraft spells.

You've usurped a perfectly good, 1,000-year old word with your modern usage and your still-wet-behind-the-ears religion that's constructed out of spare metaphysical parts.

So spare me your pathetic, whiny, unjustified indignation.

You just like to be “offended” so you can spout off about your new age sewage.

[VunderBob]

Originally posted by Spiff
"Noone" is not a word.

It's "no one."



Ah, it IS someone's name, as in Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits, who sings of lovely daughters... ;)

[Malthus]

What about the classic:

When Cthulhu's minions are present in numbers greater than one, [i]say "octopodes" or "octopuses", not "octopi"[i].

;)

[Morbo]

Originally posted by Derleth
Dooku: I don't expect this post to penetrate your skull, but for the sake of everyone else I want to make it clear that I never called any person brain-damaged. I merely called the products made by Microsoft brain-damaged.

You're right. It's a touchy subject for me and I overreacted. I apologize for the hijack.

[Shodan]

It's "atheist" and "Israel", not "athiest" or "Isreal".

Clinton was not impeached for adultery.

"Christian" is not synonymous either with "fundamentalist" or "creationist".

Bush won, Gore lost. Get over it.

There is no such thing as free health care. Anywhere in the world.

If he cheated on his first wife with you, he will cheat on you with someone else.

Some ideas are so stupid that only an idiot would believe them. Unfortunately, the world will never run out of idiots.

Regards,
Shodan

[mademoiselle]

Originally posted by Shodan

Bush won, Gore lost. Get over it.


Couldn't agree more. Bush won the electon of 5 to 4 FAIR AND SQUARE.

[Neurotik]

Originally posted by Lars Aruns
All right, let's. "Parmesan" is an erroneous approximation of an Italian word, made up by people who couldn't bother with the correct pronunciation. Going in the other direction, "Hot dog" stays "hot dog", it does not become "cane caldo". Same for "cd", "film", and other words. If a word is imported, it is usually not mangled - otherwise, why does pizza stay pizza and doesn't become pyzz? :)
No, Parmesan is English, parmigiano is Italian. For the same reason that football is futbol in Spanish, baseball is beisbol, roast beef becomes rosbif, etc.

Sometimes, the words are imported unmangled. Sometimes, they are not. But the word is still correct in the new language.

[rjung]

Originally posted by lieu
It twern't no vast, right wing conspiracy neither.
I dunno, lieu, I don't think Richard Melon Scaife was spending all those millions on Girl Scout Cookies.

[WonTon Sean]

1. The South lost the fucking war. It's over, fellas. I live in Arkansas and I have to put up with the "South will rise again" bullshit all the time. Not to say that all Southerners are like that, however.

2. Slapping a "Type-R", "NOS" or "Turbo" sticker on your car will not make it go faster.

3. If you sleep everyday in class and do no homework, you will most likely fail. Quit complaining, you stupid fucking shitstick.

4. The United States is not the only country in the world.

[Jenaroph]

Originally posted by Shodan
It's "atheist" and "Israel", not "athiest" or "Isreal".

And similarly, it's "deity", not "diety."

Heh. When I see it I half expect to read "I lost 50 pounds with the help of the Lawd Awmighty!"

[JeffB]

Originally posted by r_k
wishy-washy descriptivism. Well, I apologise if "miniscule" (ugh!) is an acceptable U.S. spelling... I was writing from a British perspective, and no British English dictionaries that I have seen accept this spelling, so British numbskulls have no excuse. Does the OED count? It has:

Variant of MINUSCULE a., prob. arising partly from shift of stress from the second to the first syllable, and partly from association with MINIATURE a., MINIMUM a., etc.I prefer minuscule, but miniscule is coming on strong.

Originally posted by Neurotik

Originally posted by Lars Aruns
All right, let's. "Parmesan" is an erroneous approximation of an Italian word, made up by people who couldn't bother with the correct pronunciation. Going in the other direction, "Hot dog" stays "hot dog", it does not become "cane caldo". Same for "cd", "film", and other words. If a word is imported, it is usually not mangled - otherwise, why does pizza stay pizza and doesn't become pyzz? No, Parmesan is English, parmigiano is Italian. For the same reason that football is futbol in Spanish, baseball is beisbol, roast beef becomes rosbif, etc.

Sometimes, the words are imported unmangled. Sometimes, they are not. But the word is still correct in the new language. Have to agree with Neurotik -- Parmesan has been in the English language back to the 1500s.

[matt_mcl]

Yup. If you're refusing to say Parmesan, you'd better be saying Firenze, Venezia, Genova, Roma, Sicilia, and Sardegna.

[Chanteuse]

1. There is no such frozen dessert as sherbert. It is sherBET, B-E-T.

2. People who deal in real estate are re-AL-tors, not re-LA-tors.

3. Necklaces, bracelets, and earrings are jew-EL-ry, not jew-LA-ry.

4. No one has periphreal vision--they have peripheral vision.

5. Alot is not a word, any more than abunch would be. A lot--TWO words!

6. You put clothes in a chest of drawers, not a chester drawers.

[ratty]

-It is a chaise longue, not a chaise lounge.

-"Red touch black, venom lack" is only true east of the Mississippi River and north of Mexico.

-Cats do not always land on their feet.

-Bacteria is plural. The singular form is bacterium.

-Bats are not blind.

-The correct plurals of words such as brother-in-law, surgeon general and court martial are formed by pluralizing the noun only:
brothers-in-law, surgeons general, courts martial.

-The word fuck is not an acronym of any kind.

-Typing in all caps, in different colors or sizes, or repeating exclamation or question marks does not make what you are typing any more important, interesting, or true.

-There is no such thing as race, save as a somewhat archaic synonym for species. There is a human race, period.

-Coloring the edge of a CD with a green marker will not improve sound quality.

-Putting butter on a burn will not help it to heal faster, and may actually cause an infection.

-You cannot treat a viral infection with antibiotics.

-You cannot prove a negative.

-You cannot lose weight by rubbing some sort of cream or ointment on your body.

-No magnetic bracelet is going to cure your health problems.

-Neither is colored water, breathing deeply, or grass clippings in compressed pill form.

-Sharks do, in fact, get cancer.

-Africa is a continent, with many different countries, cultures, religions, and languages.

-Large carnivores such as tigers, lions, bears, etc. do not make safe pets. Ever.

-The young people that are pissing you off today with their bad manners, loud music, shocking lack of moral values, and poor fashion sense will one day be people your age who are in their turn pissed off by another generation of young people with bad manners, loud music, a shocking lack of moral values, and poor fashion sense. Just wait.

-We are all going to die sooner or later. There is no magic pill, no exercise regimen, no special diet, and no breakthrough surgery that will prevent this.

[matt_mcl]

Inuit are not Indians. Inuit is a plural. The singular is Inuk.

[I can't believe that's butter!]

Well, since I have "miniscule", I thought I'd give ol' r_k another example instead: enthusiasticness. Yes, I said this word just now in conversation. I had no idea why it felt wrong at the time, but when I was prompted to say "enthusiasm" by a friend, I was promptly disturbed and hoped that my state of alertness from having just woken up was wholly to blame.

[Bryan Ekers]

Originally posted by Mariemarie
34. Garcon means boy.

Actually, the word is "Garçon", you ignorant peasant.

I fart in your general direction.

38. (if anyone is still keeping track) Quoting Monty Python is not a mark of wit.

[Super Gnat]

Originally posted by Mayflower
3. Necklaces, bracelets, and earrings are jew-EL-ry, not jew-LA-ry. Everyone I know pronounces it with two syllables: JEWL-ry. We pronounce "jewel" like "joule" (or "jewl"), so there's a consistency there. What's your take on that?

[Astra]

Hair and nails do not continue growing after death. The skin pulls back, giving the illusion.

If it is on CSI, it probably has a 0.001% of happening in real life. This includes dead divers in treetops, perfectly conclusive lab results, and most of the well-timed puns.

[matt_mcl]

Originally posted by Bryan Ekers
38. (if anyone is still keeping track) Quoting Monty Python is not a mark of wit.

39. Quoting Margaret Cho, however, is.

[Derleth]

Originally posted by Dooku
You're right. It's a touchy subject for me and I overreacted. I apologize for the hijack. Damn. Now I have to apologize to you. :D I'm sorry about the "pissed in your IV" bit and the "penetrate your skull" bit.

I won't apologize for denegrating Microsoft software, but I will state calmly why I dislike it so much. Just not here.

matt_mcl: Indians are not Indians. Unless they're Indian Indians. Obviously.

mademoiselle: Snobs are one thing. Education is something else. Education doesn't make snobs of people, nor does lack of formal education make one wise. In my experience, and according to all of the evidence I've seen, education is the single best thing a person can do to improve his own chances in the real world, and that having a college diploma is more than just having a piece of paper.

[matt_mcl]

matt_mcl: Indians are not Indians. Unless they're Indian Indians. Obviously.

I know, but if you're dealing with someone who thinks that Inuit are "Indians," the preferable terminology is probably gonna be lost on them anyway.

[Chanteuse]

Originally posted by Super Gnat
Everyone I know pronounces it with two syllables: JEWL-ry. We pronounce "jewel" like "joule" (or "jewl"), so there's a consistency there. What's your take on that?

To be honest, this is the way I pronounce it. I just despise when people twist the letters around to mispronounce it and I emphasized the middle syllable in order to highlight the difference! :)

[Kalimero]

Ariel Sharon is not doing the same thing Hitler did.

Neither does George Bush.

Socialism does not necessarily mean oppessive dictatorship.

"Modern medicine just treats the symptoms, not the causes of disease" is a statement both stupid and incorrect. If there is no cure then treating the symptoms is a perfectly reasonable strategy.

[Epimetheus]

It is spelled realise or realize, not relize.

It is spelled Character, not Charachter

Sour grapes refers to an unattained desire that is rationalized by the possibly inccorect idea that they were probably sour anyhow.
NOT that somebody got something and it turned out to be not what they expected.

[Dewey Cheatem Undhow]

Originally posted by Derleth
No Microsoft OS can be made fully secure. That goes double for any OS built around Windows 95 and quadruple for any OS built around MS-DOS.Delete "Microsoft" from your first sentence and your statement is accurate. One can plausibly state that Linux/MacOS/whatever are more secure than Microsoft operating systems, but one cannot plausibly state (or, as here, imply) that such operating systems are "fully secure." Ain't no such thing. Hackers are not criminals. You are thinking of crackers. 40. Language is fluid. People who claim their little subgroup "own" a word and that they can therefore dictate correct usage are ninnies. Correct usage is set over time by the masses, not by an insular group of MIT engineer types. "Hacker" is just fine.

And some of my own:

41. The first amendment only applies to government action, not to the private sector. When the mods close your thread, they are not infringing on your first amendment rights. The Chicago Reader is not the US government.

42. Anyone who quotes Shakespeare's "kill all the lawyers" line as a means of denigrating the legal profession is only demonstrating his own ignorance of Shakespeare. Goddammit, read Henry VI, Part 2 before you quote it: the Bard was praising the legal profession, not criticizing it. (Explanation (http://firms.findlaw.com/LegalJournal/memo10.htm)).

[Epimetheus]

Oh, your anti-intellectual snobbery is appalling.

[Dewey Cheatem Undhow]

Originally posted by Epimetheus
Oh, your anti-intellectual snobbery is appalling. :confused:

[Early Out]

Originally posted by Dewey Cheatem Undhow
The Chicago Reader is not the US government. Who's going to tell the mods?

Upon reflection, however, I realize that the mods believe that The Chicago Reader is, in fact, above the US government in the general heirarchy of things.

[agiantdwarf]

i^i = e^(-pi/2), not i. Bastards.

[Ilsa_Lund]

I very much disagree. My father is a college grad, and my grandfather was not. By all accounts he was brilliant. A living book- ask he a question, and he would give you an answer, the right answer. I have a relative in Grad school. Is she stupid? No. Is she wise? er...

Didn't Picasso's teachers tell him to leave art school because he did not need it? He therefore had no degree.

Here is what bothers me.

Person A- I Disagree with you.

Person B- Well, I have a MBA in xyz.

Person A- That's great. But it doesn't make you right.

Person B- (in mind: what do they know? They didn't go to college. Fool) Okay, uh listen, why don't we watch some TV or something?

Not everyone can afford college. Not everyone wants to go to college. Yes, the piece of paper is very nice, but these people are being intellect snobs.

I had a "friend" who did this to me all of the time. I would say anything, and she would look at me like I was some kind of idiot. Yes, I'm horrible in math, and therefore choose not to take advanced math. But she sucked in English/Creative disciplines which I excel at. I don't care if you have a PhD from MIT, it just means were different, not that you are better.

I know so many intellect snobs so full of bloody pretension. Having a degree does not make you smart, no matter where it's from. We all know of people who got a foot in because of connections who could not go otherwise to any school, forget Ivy League.


This is a tenuous argument at best. In three years I will have a PhD in Biology. If you don't, and you disagree with me on a basic point of biology and refuse to accept that I probably have a scintilla more knowledge than you on the subject, you are an idiot.

[Knowed Out]

It's bedroom SUITE. It's living room SUITE. Not SUIT.

You don't wear furniture. Except for drawers.

[mademoiselle]

Originally posted by Derleth

mademoiselle: Snobs are one thing. Education is something else. Education doesn't make snobs of people, nor does lack of formal education make one wise. In my experience, and according to all of the evidence I've seen, education is the single best thing a person can do to improve his own chances in the real world, and that having a college diploma is more than just having a piece of paper.

Agreed.:) It's the snobbery that bothers me, not the education. otherwise, I wouldn't be a college student m'self.

While I think higher education is a very valuable asset, it is not the be all end all of life. I do think it would be great if everyone were college grads though. My issue, as stated in another post, is with intellect snobs, not the educated mind.

[mademoiselle]

Originally posted by Ilsa_Lund
This is a tenuous argument at best. In three years I will have a PhD in Biology. If you don't, and you disagree with me on a basic point of biology and refuse to accept that I probably have a scintilla more knowledge than you on the subject, you are an idiot.

No, no, no!

Okay, here it goes. We debate. I am a journalism student, but for the purposes of the argument, I will pretend I'm a high school grad (A), debating with a math PhD. (B)

A- Oh, I cannot stand The O'Reilly factor! Can we change the channel?

B- Why?

A- I once saw about 10 minutes. He was mad at a pastor. The pastor was feeding the homeless at his church, and people were complaining that they were an eyesore.

B-Well, they are.

A- Maybe, but he was saying they should be put in jail or forced into shelters.

B- I think they would be better off.

A- they aren't guilty of a crime.

B- (Imbecile. I don't want to be exposed to that on the street!)
Uh, how about disturbing the peace?

A-By existing? Doesn't everyone then?

B- (Can't you manage speak properly? Oh, that‘s right JFK high.) No, but I'm not begging for money. Besides for many, it's their own fault they are poor.

A- are you serious? What about kids?

B-How would you know? Trust me, I have a PhD.

A- So?

B- I had classes in this.

A- Well, I've read...

B-(what, mad magazine? High school idiot).


That's what I meant. The debate has to do with a current event, not math. If we both have knowledge on the subject, your PhD does not make your debate more right.

I have had this debate, just take away the HS grad and the PhD. A person who felt superior to me because the excelled at math, always, always would talk down to me. I am not stupid, I just am bad at math, with a creative mind.

And I see your point. It is not about education, it is about snobbery. I wouldn't try to debate you on biology, and if someone tried to debate me in journalism or history, and didn't know beans I would call them on it. See the difference?

[J String]

It's co-worker, not cow-orker.

Also constructions such as this: "All Democrats are not ___." Means that none are. This usually is not what is intended. Try "Not all Democrats are___."

[gobear]

cow-orker originated in Scott Adams's Dilbert strip, so it is correct if one is using the term to denigrate the cretins in the adjacent cubicle, but co-worker is the correct way to break the word, at least according to the University of Chicago Manual of Style.

And, yes, it is Scott Adams's, NOT Scott Adams'. The apostrophe after the terminal S is used only for plural possessives; singular nouns ending in S take an apostrophe S. Strunk and White said it, I believe it, that settles it.

[matt_mcl]

Originally posted by Dewey Cheatem Undhow
42. Anyone who quotes Shakespeare's "kill all the lawyers" line as a means of denigrating the legal profession is only demonstrating his own ignorance of Shakespeare. Goddammit, read Henry VI, Part 2 before you quote it: the Bard was praising the legal profession, not criticizing it. (Explanation (http://firms.findlaw.com/LegalJournal/memo10.htm)).

43. Now is the winter of our discontent/Made glorious summer by this son of York.

44. And doth suffer a sea change/Into something rich and strange.

45. "Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps" is not helpful advice for the less fortunate. It means a paradoxical and impossible way to exit a predicament. Try literally pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps.

[El Cid Viscoso]

45. "Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps" is not helpful advice for the less fortunate. It means a paradoxical and impossible way to exit a predicament. Try literally pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps.Yes, if used that way. If "bootstrap (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=bootstrap)" is used properly, it means To promote and develop by use of one's own initiative and work without reliance on outside help. Literally, "put your boots on for yourself."


46. It's the book of Revelation, not "Revelations."

47. Damien is a myth. The word antichrist is the Christian equivalent of unbeliever, or "infidel." Says so right here in this Bible (http://bible.gospelcom.net).

[matt_mcl]

If "bootstrap" is used properly, it means To promote and develop by use of one's own initiative and work without reliance on outside help. Literally, "put your boots on for yourself."

That word originated from the misunderstood quotation I mentioned.

[Dewey Cheatem Undhow]

Originally posted by Mr. B
47. Damien is a myth. The word antichrist is the Christian equivalent of unbeliever, or "infidel." Says so right here in this Bible (http://bible.gospelcom.net). The hell you say. My first name's Damien. I'm a lawyer. Need you any more proof?

[Epimetheus]

Originally posted by Dewey Cheatem Undhow
:confused:

Sorry for the confusion, this was directed at mademoiselle, but she clarified her position.

[BlackKnight]

Originally posted by ratty
-You cannot prove a negative.

Yes, you can, unless you want to argue that you cannot prove a positive either. Any time you prove A, you are also proving ~~A.

Originally posted by gobear
cow-orker originated in Scott Adams's Dilbert strip ...
It was popularized by Scott Adams's strip, but existed before that. http://www.faqs.org/docs/jargon/C/cow-orker.html

[dakravel]

Bill Gates gave the world Halo, no matter how much direct involvement he had on that project.
I think Halo would have come out with or without the Xbox, although it may have been called "Marathon IV" instead.

-Coloring the edge of a CD with a green marker will not improve sound quality.
Are you sure the guy wasn't trying to bypass the security on the CD that prevented it from being read on a computer?

-You cannot prove a negative.
Same as BlackKnight; very misleading, and very untrue.

[El Cid Viscoso]

Originally posted by Dewey Cheatem Undhow

My first name's Damien. I'm a lawyer. Need you any more proof? You don't say... You wouldn't happen to represent Wal*Mart, would you? 'cause that'd be waaaay too creepy.

[Derleth]

Originally posted by BlackKnight
Yes, you can, unless you want to argue that you cannot prove a positive either. Any time you prove A, you are also proving ~~A. If you want to play that way, then I'd say that in the Propositional Calculus, ~~A is equivalent to A. Double negatives cancel out, in other words. (To state it more formally, any pair of ~ symbols existing side-by-side can be at any time removed to generate a statement that is valid if the statement they have been removed from is valid.)

To imply that proving ~~A is somehow proving a negative is disingenuous. Especially since, in the Propositional Calculus, it is perfectly possible to prove ~A.

However, the real world is not the Propositional Calculus. We often cannot fully rule something out based on all evidence we have and any evidence we are likely to acquire. This is because real life is not an axiomatic system: In an axiomatic system, evidence is not required, merely the axia and the rules. In the real world, evidence is essential and never complete. Therefore, proving a negative is, in the strictest sense, often impossible.

[Michael Ellis]

Originally posted by matt_mcl
39. Quoting Margaret Cho, however, is.

40. No it isn't.

[matt_mcl]

41. Yes it fucking is.

"I love my gay male fans, but when I was a little girl I used to wish that I would be constantly surrounded by gorgeous guys, and I am, and I should have been more specific."

[Jervoise]

Originally posted by gobear
And, yes, it is Scott Adams's, NOT Scott Adams'. The apostrophe after the terminal S is used only for plural possessives; singular nouns ending in S take an apostrophe S. Strunk and White said it, I believe it, that settles it. Preach it. I'm sick of being corrected at work for using "'s" to follow a singular noun ending in S.

(OTOH, some style guides appear to allow exceptions for proper names ending in S, where the pronounciation would be awkward if you added in another S: e.g. Sophocles' shirt.)

42. You can argue, "I'm no homophobe; I'm not afraid of gays!" all you want--but it makes you even more of an idiot. "Homophobia" in English has an established meaning of "irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals" (M-W). Deal with it.

Second the fucking ridiculous usage "rediculous".

[Frank]

Originally posted by WonTon Sean
4. The United States is not the only country in the world.

:eek:

Cite?

[BlackKnight]

Originally posted by Derleth
To imply that proving ~~A is somehow proving a negative is disingenuous.
So what the heck do you mean by "prove a negative" then?

Therefore, proving a negative is, in the strictest sense, often impossible.
And in the same strict sense, it's impossible to prove a positive.

[mademoiselle]

Originally posted by Epimetheus
It is spelled realise or realize, not relize.

It is spelled Character, not Charachter

Sour grapes refers to an unattained desire that is rationalized by the possibly inccorect idea that they were probably sour anyhow.
NOT that somebody got something and it turned out to be not what they expected.

1. I have never been a good speller. I have 10" laptop, and I type fast, so I at times have mistakes. I have not and will not claim to be a good speller.

2. Kids, pay attention to your 3rd grade spelling lessons.

3. It's spelled incorrect, not inccorect. (see, I can play too...:D)

4. Hi Opal.

5. Dictionary.com

[QUOTE]sour grapes:

3. Disagreeable; unpleasant; hence; cross; crabbed; peevish; morose; as, a man of a sour temper; a sour reply. ``A sour countenance.'' --Swift.
QUOTE]

please take note of "a sour reply".

I am glad to see that you understand my Higher Ed point. :)

[j_kat_251]

Do you get many people saying "Well, clearly we should invade Iraq because George Bush went to Yale" or "It would seem appropriate to place the chocolate scoop on top of the strawberry scoop because I have a LLB"?

[Michael Ellis]

Originally posted by matt_mcl
41. Yes it fucking is.


No, it isn't. No matter how many times you say fucking, it isn't.

[Michael Ellis]

43. Jennifer Connelly is the most beautiful woman alive.

[Shade]

Originally posted by agiantdwarf
i^i = e^(-pi/2), not i. Bastards. Nitpick: it can also take some other values depending on where you cut it, etc.

[gum]

Lies is a common girls name.

[Jabba]

The word is axiom, from the Greek axios, "worthy", via axioein, "to think worthy, take for granted." Its plural is thus axioms. It is not an axium, and the plural is not axia.

[Dewey Cheatem Undhow]

Originally posted by Mr. B
You don't say... You wouldn't happen to represent Wal*Mart, would you? 'cause that'd be waaaay too creepy. No, but I have represented large energy trading concerns. How's that? :D

[Epimetheus]

Well, in that case I would disagree with dictionary.com.

Sour grapes is strict literary term that had a specific meaning, language may change and all that bullshit, but that is just due to idiots misuing the term too often. It is still wrong, just because MORE people are wrong doesn't make it right.

[Epimetheus]

Merriam-Webster Online: http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary

Defines it as such:


Main Entry: sour grapes
Function: noun plural
Etymology: from the fable ascribed to Aesop of the fox who after finding himself unable to reach some grapes he had desired disparaged them as sour
Date: 1760
: disparagement of something that has proven unattainable.


And Oxford dictionary defines it as a "resentful disparagement of something one cannot personally aquire."

Neither of them have alternative defintions except dictionary.com, both of them are actually REAL dictionaries.

[matt_mcl]

Originally posted by Michael Ellis
No, it isn't. No matter how many times you say fucking, it isn't.

Well, you can believe what you want.

[gobear]

Michael Ellis and Matt_McL, the coolness of quoting Margaret Cho is an opinion, not a fact, and thus does not belong in this thread, which is about clearing up factual misunderstandings.

PS Cho is cool, IMO.

[Fretful Porpentine]

There are some people who don't believe in a deity. No, really, they don't believe in any deity. These people are not broken. Nothing "happened" to them. They do not generally have horns and they are indistinguishable from theists by sight. One of them is teaching your English class right now. She really doesn't like it when her students send her evangelical Christian spam. It is not, in fact, a good idea to send any sort of spam to anyone who is determining your grade for the semester.

Oh yes, and if you use the word "society" twenty-five times in the first three paragraphs of your paper, you might be using it too often.

[mademoiselle]

1. Nit picking is annoying, and does not take from the content of my first post.

2. See how I got you on your spelling of "incorrect", in the very post you were criticizing me? What, are you imperfect too?

3. If you understood my meaning of sour grapes, then the message got through. "Cool" was changed by people to have alternate meanings, but that doesn't mean that those alternative uses are less valid.

4. I'm tired of making lists and this futile argument.

[ratty]

Originally posted by dakravel
Are you sure the guy wasn't trying to bypass the security on the CD that prevented it from being read on a computer?

No, he was actually claiming that it somehow improved sound quality. When I asked how this could be possible, he just shrugged and said something like, "It just does", then directed me to some website where he first heard about this.

Also, "you cannot prove a negative":
Same as BlackKnight; very misleading, and very untrue.

Okay, I need my ignorance fought then, because I've always been told that this was true. It was explained to me in this way:
Let's say I'm trying to prove that crows can be white. All I have to do to prove this is find one white crow. But if I'm trying to prove that crows cannot be white, then I would have to find every single crow ever all the way back to the beginning of crows and onward to the very end, and show that there never was or will be a single white one. Hence, you cannot prove a negative.

Now, this seems reasonable to me, but this could be just a vast oversimplification or I could be misinterpreting it. Help?

[Ilsa_Lund]

4. Hi Opal.

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

43. Jennifer Connelly is the most beautiful woman alive.

I am apalled Michael! Natalie Portman holds that title.

44. snopes.com is right, you are wrong.

[Derleth]

BlackKnight: Unless and until you read my entire post, I can't (and won't) recognize your attempts to debate me.

ratty: Let's say I'm trying to prove that crows can be white. All I have to do to prove this is find one white crow. But if I'm trying to prove that crows cannot be white, then I would have to find every single crow ever all the way back to the beginning of crows and onward to the very end, and show that there never was or will be a single white one. Hence, you cannot prove a negative.That is correct: You cannot prove a negative outside a formal system because you'd need essentially infinite amounts of evidence. Since no corpus of real knowledge is complete, the ability to do so fades into nothingness.

Of course, you could define a crow to be black. If you do that, you've made the statement `There are no white crows.' a tautology: It's obvious from the definition. However, crows are not so defined. An albino crow, for example, is a possible example of a white crow. Once you start playing with definitions like that, however, you're moving away from the physical world and back up into a formal system, and we already know it's possible to prove ~A in a formal system.

[BlackKnight]

Originally posted by Derleth
BlackKnight: Unless and until you read my entire post, I can't (and won't) recognize your attempts to debate me.
I've read it three or four times. All of it. Then I read it again. Willing to recognize my attempts to debate you now?


ratty: That is correct: You cannot prove a negative outside a formal system because you'd need essentially infinite amounts of evidence. Since no corpus of real knowledge is complete, the ability to do so fades into nothingness.
First off, it was claimed that it is impossible to prove a negative. I showed that this was false. You seem to want to disagree with me, yet you also admit that it is possible to prove a negative, at least sometimes and in some ways. In other words, what I said was correct.

Moreover, the claim that it is impossible to prove a negative in practical real world situations is also false.

The example with the crows is misleading. By the same argument, it is sometimes impossible prove a positive. For example, if I make the claim, "Every crow is black", I could (practically speaking) never have enough evidence to prove that claim. There are also negative claims that can be proved with reasonable levels of evidence in the real world. For example, consider the claim, "This crow is not white." It is a negative, but simple inspection will reveal that it is, indeed, not white.

It is true that the claim, "Crows cannot be white" cannot practically be absolutely proved in the real world. However, this in no way supports the proposition that "You can't prove a negative." Giving an example of a negative that cannot be proved does not allow us to conclude that no negative can be proved.

[Derleth]

BlackKnight: OK. When someone takes quotes out of context and only addresses them to the exclusion of all else, I make the normal assumptions.

As for the rest of it: I made no claims about proving a positive. I simply stated (wrongly) that it was impossible to prove a negative. I was mistaken, except to the extent that one could argue that the evidence of the senses does not constitute a proof in the formal sense.

So, does proof extend to the physical world? Or is it simply a construct used to determine the validity of statements within a formal system? The scientist and the logician would both argue for the latter, as a matter of fact: Science is a series of approximations, which may or may not be borne out by the evidence. If they are not, they are replaced. The concept of a proof in science is either nonexistent or modified by the knowledge that evidence is always incomplete.

So you've ... well, maybe not convinced me. But you've shown me that I was wrong, and that proving a negative outside of a formal system is possible for some definitions of prove.

So, why is asking someone to prove a negative so damning to your case? Because in the most general sense, it is often impossible. As ratty understands, in fact, and as I noted in my prior posts. It's only when you replace generalities with specifics that it becomes possible (This crow is not black, etc.).

[Epimetheus]

Originally posted by mademoiselle
1. Nit picking is annoying, and does not take from the content of my first post.

2. See how I got you on your spelling of "incorrect", in the very post you were criticizing me? What, are you imperfect too?

3. If you understood my meaning of sour grapes, then the message got through. "Cool" was changed by people to have alternate meanings, but that doesn't mean that those alternative uses are less valid.

4. I'm tired of making lists and this futile argument.

I only nitpicked your spelling once, bringing it up again is pretty lame

I never claimed to be perfect.

I understood that you were trying to be witty, but you were wrong, dictionary.com is not as valid of a source as oxford dictionary or MW. Therefore your 3rd point has no wheels.

If you are tired of nitpicking already, I suggest you leave this thread, which happens to be ABOUT nitpicking. Take your anti-intellectualism (except when you do it) out of here.

[BlackKnight]

Originally posted by Derleth
So, why is asking someone to prove a negative so damning to your case? Because in the most general sense, it is often impossible.
In the most general sense it is impossible, but this has nothing to do with it being a negative. It's impossible to prove a universal positive (e.g., "All X are Y") in a non-formal sense unless we define things in a way that makes it so. Likewise with universal negatives. ("No X are Y")

In my opinion, the saying should be, "You cannot deduce a universal statement from empirical data, although you can often provide overwhelming empirical data to support the statement inductively." That's much more wordy though. :)

[CarlaH1210]

Cannot is always one word.

Percent should always be spelled out.

Accept = to receive. Except = with the exclusion of. Please do not post a sign above a cash register that reads "No Checks Excepted" and expect me to avoid asking "Does that mean that you accept all checks?"

Altogether = thoroughly. All together = everyone or everthing in one place.

Whose = possessive form of who. Who's = contraction for who is.

Bumper stickers that say "If you ain't a cowboy, you ain't shit" are actually saying "If you are a cowboy, you are shit." Stupid shits.

And, yes, it is Scott Adams's, NOT Scott Adams'. The apostrophe after the terminal S is used only for plural possessives; singular nouns ending in S take an apostrophe S. Strunk and White said it, I believe it, that settles it.
According to Simon & Schuster Handbook for Writers; "When adding -'s could lead to tongue-twisting pronunciation, practice varies. All writers use the apostrophe. Some writers do not add the s; others do, for consistency with other practices." Either is acceptable, as long as you are consistent in each piece of writing.

[mademoiselle]

Originally posted by Epimetheus
I only nitpicked your spelling once, bringing it up again is pretty lame

I never claimed to be perfect.


Great! Neither did I. Bringing it up in the first place is pretty lame. Who am I to you? Find something better to do. If you have an issue with content of my post, fine. But get off your little nitpicking pedestal.


If you are tired of nitpicking already, I suggest you leave this thread, which happens to be ABOUT nitpicking. Take your anti-intellectualism (except when you do it) out of here.

:confused:

Let me make this clear- it is not anti-intellectualism, it is anti-snobbery! Okay? Okay.

For the 3rd time, I am all for education. Lord knows I wish more people were intellectual. The world would be a better place.

My first post, which no one forced you to respond to, had no nit picks in it, so I’ll stay here as long as I want, monsieur.

Oh, and I was not referring to the validity of any given dictionary. You knew what I meant, as would most people. That is what I was referring to.

Now, do leave me alone.

[Guinastasia]

The Harry Potter series is NOT Satanic, nor does it teach kids sorcery. It's an extremely well-written set of books for all ages, and those who refuse to read it on the grounds that it's "evil" are truly missing out.

[Michael Ellis]

Natalie Portman (http://www.natalieempire.com/gfx/mags/rs07.jpg)

vs.

Jennifer (http://www.retrocrush.com/babes2003/jenniferc/14.jpg) Connelly (http://www.retrocrush.com/babes2003/jenniferc/17.jpg)

I think I've made my point.

[Ilsa_Lund]

There are nude pictures of Natalie Portman.

[Ilsa_Lund]

Besides, how do you think Kirsten'll feel when she finds out you're two-timing her?

[El Cid Viscoso]

Originally posted by Michael Ellis

I think I've made my point. Yes. Yes, you have.

[Miller]

Originally posted by Michael Ellis
Natalie Portman (http://www.natalieempire.com/gfx/mags/rs07.jpg)

vs.

Jennifer (http://www.retrocrush.com/babes2003/jenniferc/14.jpg) Connelly (http://www.retrocrush.com/babes2003/jenniferc/17.jpg)

I think I've made my point.

<Glances down>

Yes, I see that you have.

[DKW]

There have been countless video games with horribly garbled English. Obsessing over the intro of one obscure shooter (which wasn't even in the original arcade version) is just silly.

Bill Buckner's error occurred when the game was tied, so even if he made the play, it would've only forced an extra inning. The real blame for the loss belongs to the pitcher who blew the save. If he hadn't <<COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY WASTED A FREAKING THREE RUN LEAD>>, Buckner woudln't have had to make that play at all.

Whether or not e-mail is your medium, hurling insults, putting up incredbly disgusting photos, and filling half the damn message with incomprehensible gibberish are not effective sales tactics.

Michael Jordan accomplished jack without Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson, not to mention more than few superstar-friendly refs. To claim that he won those six rings by himself is ludicrous.

Enya is no more a pop singer than Britney Spears is a Catholic nun.

There is no legitimate "national champion" in Divsion I-A college football, and there never will be. Get over it.

When Andre Agassi said "Image is everything," he was referring to a camera. He did not mean that he was never going to develop his tennis game.

Tennis has no "majors". Only golf has those.

It's possible to be thrilled at the capture of Saddam Hussein and still not like the idea of spending billions of dollars and hundreds of lives on a directionless melee that has yet to produce tangible benefits for America and has no end in sight.

Repeating a lie over and over doesn't make it true. Tricking millions of people into believing a lie doesn't make it true. Saying a lie with great conviction doesn't make it true.

The moderator can ban you for any reason, and there's nothing you can do about it. Deal with it.

Every manga and anime company in the country makes a number of minor alterations to account for cultural and linguistic differences. There's nothing at all unusal about Tokyopop's handling of Initial D.

Sure, Tupac Shakur said some inflammatory things. Yes, he was well-liked and respected by unsavory types. That does not somehow justify shooting him dead on the street.

Bill Clinton is not a liberal. Take a look at all the things he actually did while in office. Bob Dole could've done the same.

And if the Academy had such a huge problem with mildly controversial acceptance speeches, they shouldn't have given Halle Berry and Michael Moore the damn awards in the first place. :)

[Eternal]

My, this thread sure is lame.

[Colophon]

My, this thread sure is lame.
It is rather, isn't it. Sorry about that. I had intended it for great and undeniable truths, but it has now descended into arguments about Bill Buckner (who he?) and Tokyopop's (sorry?) handling of "Initial D" (come again?). And the ubiquitous Bill Gates-bashing.

[Epimetheus]

Originally posted by mademoiselle
Great! Neither did I. Bringing it up in the first place is pretty lame. Who am I to you? Find something better to do. If you have an issue with content of my post, fine. But get off your little nitpicking pedestal.



:confused:

Let me make this clear- it is not anti-intellectualism, it is anti-snobbery! Okay? Okay.

For the 3rd time, I am all for education. Lord knows I wish more people were intellectual. The world would be a better place.

My first post, which no one forced you to respond to, had no nit picks in it, so I’ll stay here as long as I want, monsieur.

Oh, and I was not referring to the validity of any given dictionary. You knew what I meant, as would most people. That is what I was referring to.

Now, do leave me alone.

My little nitpicking pedestal? Uhh, have you been paying attention, I HAVE found something wrong with the content of your post- It was factually wrong.

You were wrong, it doesn't matter if you people knew what you meant, thats isn't the point. If you are going to go on about how people in college are snobs, then you should perhaps not be snobby yourself. Admit it- "I was wrong, I didn't know what sour grapes really meant."

And sour grapes is different from the world cool. Cool is a slang term, Sour grapes is a literary term. Apples and oranges I am afraid.

Go ahead and stay as long as you want (in the thread), I will continue to call you out on your erronous statments. You, on the other hand, just keep digging yourself in deeper.

[ratty]

Well, r_k, I got me some edumacation out of it. Thanks to everybody who chimed in on the 'you can't prove a negative' assertion.

[Fish]

Another nitpick for Mayflower:

You say that it's not relator, it's realtor. However, it should be "real estage agent."

REALTOR is actually a trademarked name for a particular association of real estate agents. The word REALTOR is properly spelled in all caps with a (r) rights reserved thing by it. The realtor R is also properly depicted with a rights-reserved (r) thingy. Check REALTOR.com. (I was an engraver and I had to engrave those stupid things on REALTOR plaques.)

Sorta like Xerox and Kleenex. You get the idea. :)

FISH

[matt_mcl]

Every manga and anime company in the country makes a number of minor alterations to account for cultural and linguistic differences. There's nothing at all unusal about Tokyopop's handling of Initial D.

Well, nonetheless, I hope you'll understand if I'm a little pissed that they initially decided that English-speaking North Americans could handle the repeated destruction of Tokyo, the bloody maiming of a teenage boy crushed in a robot's hand, the decapitation of another, one biomechanical robot eating another, streams of bloody battles, and the eventual apocalypse, but one boy being in love with another was too disturbing to make the cut.

[Chanteuse]

Originally posted by Fish
Another nitpick for Mayflower:

You say that it's not relator, it's realtor. However, it should be "real estage agent."

REALTOR is actually a trademarked name for a particular association of real estate agents. The word REALTOR is properly spelled in all caps with a (r) rights reserved thing by it. The realtor R is also properly depicted with a rights-reserved (r) thingy. Check REALTOR.com. (I was an engraver and I had to engrave those stupid things on REALTOR plaques.)

Sorta like Xerox and Kleenex. You get the idea. :)

FISH

OK, OK, so I learned something new--but it's still reALtor and not reLAtor! :)

[CarlaH1210]

It is spelled probably, not prolly. I don't know who invented that "shortcut" but it's not worth saving two letters to make yourself look like a freaking idiot.

The funny thing about this thread is that the people who need the "edumakation" about grammar and spelling errors are probably at Yahoo playing games or in a chat room somewhere.

[Epimetheus]

Originally posted by CarlaH1210
It is spelled probably, not prolly. I don't know who invented that "shortcut" but it's not worth saving two letters to make yourself look like a freaking idiot.

The funny thing about this thread is that the people who need the "edumakation" about grammar and spelling errors are probably at Yahoo playing games or in a chat room somewhere.

Not true, I am here and I know my grammar and spelling needs some work. Everybody needs some work. I have learned quite a bit from this thread alone. (ya just have to admit you are wrong when evidence is overwhelming)

[Zoe]

r_k: I had intended it for great and undeniable truths.

I found it informative and interesting. However, beginning your list of undeniable truths with an absolute about the Kennedy assassination did not set a good pace. I've watched the latest certainty swing back and forth for forty years. We will probably never know to a point of established fact.

Alot is not a word, any more than abunch would be. A lot--TWO words!

Actually, it is a word meaning to assign a portion -- as in: I will alot this amount of money to you for vacation expenses.

Despite the captioning on DVD's and televisions shows, all right is correct -- not alright.

The topic doesn't center around something. It centers on something.

The apostrophe after the terminal S is used only for plural possessives; singular nouns ending in S take an apostrophe S. Strunk and White said it, I believe it, that settles it.

There are a few proper nouns that are exceptions and I don't know why: Jesus, Brutus, Cassius -- to name a few.

Traditionally, Hi Opal is reserved for the third spot on a list.

A feminist can be male or female and believes in the social, economic, and political equality of the sexes. (Webster's

[Dung Beetle]

to assign a portion -- as in: I will alot this amount of money to you for vacation expenses.

Different word--that's allot.

[haardvark]

Originally posted by vunderbob
99 US restaurants out of 100 blow it whenever the menu lists a French Dip sandwich. FDSs come au jus, not "with au jus". Au is the French form of with.

I was travelling through Michigan once and stopped at a Schuler's off the interstate to eat. The special of the day? French dip. My waitress described it to a gentleman at the next table thusly: "Well, hon, it's a roast beef sandwich, okay? And what you do is, you dip it in the oh joo juice..."

[RAWDuke]

Originally posted by Spiff

You just like to be “offended” so you can spout off about your new age sewage. [/B]

And, also a fact, "new age" rhymes with "sewage"

[rjung]

In light of this weekend's events, the following must be reiterated:

* Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

* Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were fierce enemies.

* The capture of Saddam won't affect the terrorist threat from al Qaeda one iota.

* Iraq was never a threat to the United States.

* Terrorists don't hate the United States because they're jealous of our freedoms.

(Just for fun, go read a transcript of Bush's morning press conference and see how many of these items can be applied to Bush's answers.)

[Zoe]

quote originally by Zoe:
-----------------------------------------------------
alot -- to assign a portion -- as in: I will alot this amount of money to you for vacation expenses.
------------------------------------------------------

Dung Beetle: Different word--that's allot.

Former English teacher, now corrected by a dung beetle, blushes furiously and slinks away...

[alibey]

• Just because someone belongs to a certain group (race, religion, nationality, etc) does not make them automatically innocent.
• Just because someone belongs to a certain group (race, religion, nationality, etc) does not make them automatically guilty.
• Just because I say Hi Opal, doesn’t mean that I know why
• Just because someone does not belongs to a certain group (race, religion, nationality, etc) does not make them automatically innocent.
• Just because someone does not belongs to a certain group (race, religion, nationality, etc) does not make them automatically guilty.
• If you start fighting with the police, don’t be surprised when they fight back.
• If you don’t like the way that your group is portrayed in the movies, don’t blame Hollywood. Blame the members of your group who act the same way as the movies in real life.

[Derleth]

Originally posted by r_k
And the ubiquitous Bill Gates-bashing. I resemble that remark. :D

But seriously, I only bashed his business practices. I don't know anyone who's going to stand up and say he's a choir boy in the business world, or anyone who will openly admire someone who would show that lack of morals in the pursuit of profit. I didn't even compare him with the Hearsts or the Rothschilds or the other Robber Barons, as there is no comparison: They were much, much worse.

I did, however, shred his company's software mercilessly.

Maybe this is beyond the realm of the Pit, but attacking someone's company's product is a far cry from calling that person a moronic droolbucket who couldn't find his ass with both hands and a map. I don't know Bill Gates personally, but I do have a better-than-average knowledge of his company's product, and it is the shoddiness of the product I am angry with.

[BiblioCat]

I heard this one yesterday and it always grates on my nerves.

The state in which you would find Chicago is pronounced "Illa-noy," not "Illa-noise."
The 's' is silent. Really, it is.

[Dung Beetle]

Former English teacher, now corrected by a dung beetle, blushes furiously and slinks away...
Sorry, Zoe! But I have to at least pretend to be smart or y'all won't let me stay here....:D

[Michael Ellis]

There's no such word as 'boi', despite whatever Anvil Langlais claims.

[Rune]

42. Danish isn’t something you can eat or buy in a bakery (…and if you don’t believe that, eat me!)

[Age Quod Agis]

A couple more facts:

* Both mademoiselle and rjung have posted their opinions as facts. To demonstrate the difference between an opinion and a fact, I've bolded the parts of the following post that are opinion:DKW:
It's possible to be thrilled at the capture of Saddam Hussein and still not like the idea of spending billions of dollars and hundreds of lives on a directionless melee that has yet to produce tangible benefits for America and has no end in sight.* When Robert Frost wrote that he took the road "less traveled by,/And that has made all the difference," he was not saying that things have turned out better, and he was certainly not endorsing the road that he'd taken.Mayflower:
1. There is no such frozen dessert as sherbert. It is sherBET, B-E-T. * From the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed.):sherbet (shûrbt)
n.

1. also sher·bert (-bûrt) A frozen dessert made primarily of fruit juice, sugar, and water, and also containing milk, egg white, or gelatin.
* It's is a contraction of it is. Its is the possessive form of it.Dewey Cheatam Undhow:
42. Anyone who quotes Shakespeare's "kill all the lawyers" line as a means of denigrating the legal profession is only demonstrating his own ignorance of Shakespeare. Goddammit, read Henry VI, Part 2 before you quote it: the Bard was praising the legal profession, not criticizing it. (Explanation).* Not necessarily. Here is a rebuttal (http://www.spectacle.org/797/finkel.html).mademoiselle:
1. Nit picking is annoying, and does not take from the content of my first post.* It's "nitpicking," not "nit picking." :D

[DKW]

If you can't stand the occasional lame post, don't go to a message board.

If you can't take as well as you give, don't go to a message board.

If you don't like wading through lots of posts for the one gem that's actually worth your time, don't go to a message board.

If you can't stand wildly varying opinions, don't go to a message board.

If you can't stand back-and-forth arguments that go nowhere, don't go to a messag board.

And for the love of the immortal superbing of your choice, if you think that subjects like certain words not actually being acronyms counts as a freakin' incredibly deep subject, you have issues.

(If you can't stand the occasional pointless, irascible, purely-out-of-spite knee-jerk blowback response in the Pit...well, you get the idea. :) )

[Duke]

Originally posted by WinstonSmith
42. Danish isn’t something you can eat or buy in a bakery (…and if you don’t believe that, eat me!) Not without being arrested, I suppose!

[Derleth]

Originally posted by WinstonSmith
42. Danish isn’t something you can eat or buy in a bakery (…and if you don’t believe that, eat me!) Then what are they called where you're from? Just a pastry? Hardly has the descriptive power.

I'm thinking of a flaky, crusty, light piece of sweet pastry filled with a sweet filling of some kind. It isn't just a filled doughnut (those are cake pastry) and it isn't a cruller (those lack filling). Where I'm from, and everywhere I've been in the US, the term for those is danish. As in, "The continental breakfast at that hotel included danishes filled with an awful chocolate cream." Or, "Every bad cop flick shows a grizzled detective eating danishes and coffee at his desk."

[Rilchiam]

Originally posted by Derleth
ratty: That is correct: You cannot prove a negative outside a formal system because you'd need essentially infinite amounts of evidence. Since no corpus of real knowledge is complete, the ability to do so fades into nothingness.


I think you can prove a negative if you only need finite amounts of evidence.

Example: My grandfather never used a cellular phone. I can prove this by comparing his obituary to the patent on the first cellular phone, showing that he died before the patent was registered.

[Chanteuse]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mayflower:
1. There is no such frozen dessert as sherbert. It is sherBET, B-E-T.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* From the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed.):
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sherbet (shûrbt)
n.

1. also sher·bert (-bûrt) A frozen dessert made primarily of fruit juice, sugar, and water, and also containing milk, egg white, or gelatin.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh, say it ain't so! Another yielding to the masses of mispronunciation! *wails and gnashes teeth*

[Derleth]

Originally posted by Rilchiam
I think you can prove a negative if you only need finite amounts of evidence.

Example: My grandfather never used a cellular phone. I can prove this by comparing his obituary to the patent on the first cellular phone, showing that he died before the patent was registered. Ah, but how can we be absolutely sure he didn't travel through time to use one? Or that one didn't travel through time and get found by him? Or that he didn't invent them and never told anyone and the secret died with him?

All of those are ludicrously low-odds scenarios, but in the absence of infinite evidence none can be absolutely ruled out with the certainty of a formal logic proof.

So, could you make a damned strong case that would convince every reasonable person? Certainly, without even trying too hard. Could you formally prove it in a way that would be as airtight as the proof that 1+1=2? No.

Now, could you say that convincing every reasonable person is a valid definition of the word prove? I think you could, and I think that would be a defensible position. But when I, and a lot of other people, hear the word prove, we think of a formal logic system.

[Rilchiam]

D'oh...

[Crafter_Man]

My favorite:

“The people were evacuated following the chemical spill.”

They were?! Did you suck out their innards with a vacuum pump?

People are not evacuated. Places are evacuated…

[Moirai]

I hate to say this, but if mademoiselle's writing is indicative of the skill level of the average college journalism student, I am very worried.

Poor spelling is not something to be proud of or complacent about, it is something to be corrected. The same is true of poor sentence structure and poor word choice and usage.

Take advantage of your educational opportunities.

[Lute Skywatcher]

Originally posted by Derleth
Then what are they called where you're from? Just a pastry? Hardly has the descriptive power. I think Winston means "Danish pastry", the complete term which nobody seems to use.

[mademoiselle]

Originally posted by EJsGirl
I hate to say this, but if mademoiselle's writing is indicative of the skill level of the average college journalism student, I am very worried.

Poor spelling is not something to be proud of or complacent about, it is something to be corrected. The same is true of poor sentence structure and poor word choice and usage.

Take advantage of your educational opportunities.

Pardon me? That was downright mean. My professors, coworkers, and just about everyone I encounter think I'm quite bright, and am an exceptional writer. This is a message board, not formal writing. I am not proud of my mistakes, however, for the last time, I will not deny that I am imperfect. Do forgive me if I don’t want to spell check every single message of the many I write every day.

If you hate to say it so much, don't. That is, unless somebody has a gun to your head.

If you act like this in real life, then it could be determined that you will one day be the sort of person who's funeral no one attends.

[Moirai]

Oh, I'm sorry. You had been critiquing the content of people's posts, so I though I'd join in.

'Bye dear.

[Moirai]

Originally posted by mademoiselle
Pardon me? That was downright mean.

Yes, you're right, it was, and totally uncalled for. I apologize.

If I am feeling tired and bitchy IRL, it gives me no right to come in here and post out of my ass. I do know better.

Maybe I should go watch my new Eddie Izzard DVD now...

Deb

[Epimetheus]

Ahh yes, JUST a message board. Just like it is JUST a newspaper article. Take pride in all things you do. ;)

[mademoiselle]

Originally posted by EJsGirl
Yes, you're right, it was, and totally uncalled for. I apologize.

If I am feeling tired and bitchy IRL, it gives me no right to come in here and post out of my ass. I do know better.

Maybe I should go watch my new Eddie Izzard DVD now...

Deb

It's okay, Deb.

Listen, I was a bit nasty too, and I am sorry. Maybe I should leave the pit, and head to GD....

(Or maybe not)

[Moirai]

:D