ls, I’ve had virtually the same conversation about Salem (I grew up in Beverly.) Also, a lot of visitors to the area seem to think that the witch trials were “cool.”
I remember in ninth grade, we were going over The Odyssey in our English class. The teacher asked what the moral of the Cyclops part of it was, and a friend suggested, in all seriousness, that it was to teach Greek kids to stay away from Cyclopes. He actually thought Cyclopes existed back then.
Dear AETBOND417
-Forte is pronounced “fort” (Yes, it can be “for-tay” also, but that just shows the power of the masses of idiots to popularize and legitimize a mispronunciation.)
Um, hello? Forte is not in any way shape or form pronounced “fort!” Duhhh!!! I’m surprised a mass of angry musicians hasn’t come to your doorstep yet…:mad: :mad:
Well I never heard of “duck duck goose, either”. Since encountering our own DDG I have once or twice seen “duck duck goose” referred to in print, but I still have no idea what it is.
Hey, BHS class of '99 here.
Before coming to Japan when I was 17, I thought women would still be wearing kimonos regularly, and there would still be some samurai. I was very disappointed to see a McDonalds a mere 100m away from my host family’s house.
and when I was 20, I knew a guy the same age (who was born and grew up in Australia) who knew nothing about menstruation, despite having a sister only two years younger than him. And thought that people could only have sex in the missionary position. For an Aussie male, I find that shocking.
“Fort” in French, “fortay” in Italian. Well, about. Read the usage notes and calm down.
In discussion the other night, I had a student who did not know that it was legal to own guns in the US. She thought that all guns were illegal, no matter what.
How do you get into college without having studied the Bill of Rights?
That particular girl was quite lovely, very affectionate, and dumber than a box of clams. Her boyfriend enjoyed telling her outrageous things which she believed without reservation—if her boyfriend said it was true, then it was true and that was that. She did indeed claim that he had been a member of a sorority while in college. I expect that he told her that, knowing she would spread it around to the amusement of her more enlightened friends. I’ve never been entirely sure of his motives.
People I encounter at gas-stations, in parking lots, etc. frequently ask me what kind of car I’m driving. Their reactions vary when I tell them that it’s an Alfa Romeo Sprint Veloce.
Some will say, without missing a beat, “Oh yeah, I had one of those in high school. Same model, too.” (Did you forget what it looked like?)
Others ask, “Alfa Romeo. Isn’t that made by _____ (insert other car manufacturer)?”
The worst one was, “Ah, Alfa Romeo. Isn’t that a European Ferrari?”
A friend had a coworker who would argue vehemently that Arizona is a West Coast state. My friend even brought in a map and asked her to point out Arizona’s coastline. She couldn’t, but still insisted it’s a West Coast state.
Another friend’s wife, talking about a woman she thought had given an infant a bottle that was too hot, “… but she’s Vietnamese, she has no idea what she was doing.” (I gather she thinks the Vietnamese either don’t have children, or just don’t know how to care for them. Funny, I thought they’d been around for a long time.)
This reminds me of an episode of Millionaire where I think the $200 question was “In the popular children’s game, what comes after ‘Duck Duck’? Is it… Duck, Goose, Chicken, or Monkey?” “Hmmm…” Says the contestant, “I can’t remember if it’s ‘Duck Duck Goose’ or ‘Duck Duck Duck Goose’. I’d like to poll the audience.” The results were about 96% Goose, 3% Duck, 1% Monkey. I don’t know why they ask about nursery rhymes for the easy questions instead of common knowledge; I can understand someone not knowing this, but this guy knew what it was and still needed help. He acted all serious about it too, as if he was saying, “Now I can’t remember if it’s the strong nuclear force that violates quantum CP conservation or the weak…”
Oh poo… I hate it when people use logic… fogive my madness:o
But still, I have to admit, I have never heard it pronounced fort…
Class of 88’
My mom’s still on the faculty. PANTHER POWER!!
My landlord doesn’t understand that installing gutters would prevent icicles from forming on the inside of my screen door.
And my family played it as “Duck, Duck, GRAY Duck!”
This is why I’m beginning to be annoyed by Whose Line Is It Anyway. The Hillbilly jokes.
Don’t you just hate this - especially when you’ve just used electrical terms in conversation or introduced yourself as an electrician? What would hurt is if you had a legitimate question on a complicated problem and they proceeded to tell you the basics. Not only are you insulted, but you don’t get your appliance fixed.
I got this treatment for car problems. I asked a man for rust remover and he gave me a boy. I told a man the engine was grinding and - INSTEAD of looking, and returning w/ the SPECIFIC THING wrong - he told me that using something eventually wears it out.
A few people think that “MINN nuh SOH tuh” is the way to talk to a Minnesota-billy. Hmm. If she’s really from Minnesota, her pronunciation of “Minnesota” is the correct one. It might occur to them to count the number of actual Minnesotans who pronounce it their way. Zero.
I have a promiscuous friend who wouldn’t wear protection. When I asked “aren’t you afraid of getting HIV or an STD?” he said something like “I don’t go in them”. He thought he’d avoid STDs if he just pulled out early. My jaw dropped, how could someone ever come to that conclusion?
Well… this probably won’t shock too many people, but I have a friend who didn’t know who Notorious BIG aka Biggie Smalls was (she’d heard of both names, thought it was two people, didn’t know what either of them did). I found that shocking, especially seeing as she was 18 or 19. But maybe that’s just me.
who the hell is that?
Supertwins are triplets, quadruplets, quintuplets, sextuplets, septuplets, octuplets, nonuplets… hopefully you get the idea. Go here for more information. (or here)
If you want more sites, go here.
Basically, he was a rap artist who got shot to death a few years back. I’m not sure whether the murder’s ever been solved.
Go to the sites outlined here and see if they help. Couldn’t pick just one site… sorry!
F_X
Beatlez674 and typhoon; you are both right.
In Beatlez’ musical world, forte is pronounced for’ tay.
In typhoon’s non-musical world (you did not specify your own forte) the word is pronounced fort.
The Usage Notes show both.
One word, two meanings. How incredibly versatile is this bastard tongue we call English.