# 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:** 20
**Page:** 6
### Author:  [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2003, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/101 "2003-12-13T14:05:43Z")
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.
---
### Author:  [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2003, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/102 "2003-12-13T14:12:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*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. \*\*
1. 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:
1. 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.
2. 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)).
---
### Author:  [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2003, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/103 "2003-12-13T14:17:11Z")
Oh, your anti-intellectual snobbery is appalling.
---
### Author:  [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2003, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/104 "2003-12-13T14:38:41Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Epimetheus \*
> \*\*Oh, your anti-intellectual snobbery is appalling. \*\*
😕
---
### Author:  [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/105 "2003-12-13T15:11:54Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*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.
---
### Author:  [@agiantdwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agiantdwarf)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2003, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/106 "2003-12-13T15:35:41Z")
i^i = e^(-pi/2), not i. Bastards.
---
### Author:  [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/107 "2003-12-13T15:46:24Z")
> [@](#):
>
> 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.
---
### Author:  [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/108 "2003-12-13T16:49:42Z")
It’s bedroom **SUITE**. It’s living room **SUITE**. Not SUIT.
You don’t wear furniture. Except for drawers.
---
### Author:  [@l1I235](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/l1I235)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2003, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/109 "2003-12-13T17:09:03Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*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.
---
### Author:  [@l1I235](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/l1I235)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2003, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/110 "2003-12-13T17:30:54Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*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?
---
### Author:  [@J\_String](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_String)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2003, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/111 "2003-12-13T18:05:19Z")
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** _.”
---
### Author:  [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/112 "2003-12-13T18:32:29Z")
**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.
---
### Author:  [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2003, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/113 "2003-12-13T19:14:18Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*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)). \*\*
1. Now is the winter of our discontent/Made glorious summer by this son of York.
2. And doth suffer a sea change/Into something rich and strange.
3. “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.
---
### Author:  [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/114 "2003-12-13T20:34:50Z")
> [@](#):
>
> 1. “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 “Revelation **s**.”
1. 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).
---
### Author:  [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/115 "2003-12-13T21:29:09Z")
> [@](#):
>
> 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.
---
### Author:  [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2003, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/116 "2003-12-13T22:04:52Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*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?
---
### Author:  [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2003, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/117 "2003-12-13T22:27:11Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Dewey Cheatem Undhow \*
> \*\*😕 \*\*
Sorry for the confusion, this was directed at mademoiselle, but she clarified her position.
---
### Author:  [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2003, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/118 "2003-12-13T23:24:58Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*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](http://www.faqs.org/docs/jargon/C/cow-orker.html)
---
### Author:  [@dakravel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dakravel)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/119 "2003-12-13T23:45:23Z")
> [@](#):
>
> 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.
---
### Author:  [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/120 "2003-12-14T00:27:43Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*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[sub]\*[/sub]Mart, would you? 'cause that’d be waaaay too creepy.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415.md?page=5)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415.md?page=7)