# Attention numbskulls! Get edumakated right here, y'all.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [December 11, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415 "2003-12-11T19:37:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 10
### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2003, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/181 "2003-12-17T08:23:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*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.”
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### Author:  [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2003, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/182 "2003-12-17T14:25:04Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*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.
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### Author:  [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2003, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/183 "2003-12-17T14:29:59Z")
* * *
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_
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2003, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/184 "2003-12-17T21:41:08Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*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.
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### Author:  [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2003, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/185 "2003-12-18T03:29:36Z")
D’oh…
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### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2003, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/186 "2003-12-18T19:33:22Z")
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…
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### Author:  [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2003, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/187 "2003-12-18T23:06:39Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2003, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/188 "2003-12-18T23:44:43Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*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.
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### Author:  [@l1I235](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/l1I235)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2003, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/189 "2003-12-19T00:42:15Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*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.
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### Author:  [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/190 "2003-12-19T02:19:29Z")
Oh, I’m sorry. You had been critiquing the content of people’s posts, so I though I’d join in.
'Bye dear.
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### Author:  [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2003, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/191 "2003-12-19T02:33:13Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*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
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### Author:  [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2003, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/192 "2003-12-19T03:16:14Z")
Ahh yes, JUST a message board. Just like it is JUST a newspaper article. Take pride in all things you do. 😉
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### Author:  [@l1I235](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/l1I235)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2003, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/193 "2003-12-19T06:22:44Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*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)
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### Author:  [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2003, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/194 "2003-12-19T06:24:10Z")
😃
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