# 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:** 7
### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/121 "2003-12-14T04:28:02Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*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.
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### Author:  [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2003, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/122 "2003-12-14T05:07:24Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by matt\_mcl \*
> \*\*39. Quoting Margaret Cho, however, is. \*\*
1. No it isn’t.
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### Author:  [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2003, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/123 "2003-12-14T06:49:11Z")
1. 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.”
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### Author:  [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2003, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/124 "2003-12-14T07:26:24Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*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.)
1. 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”.
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### Author:  [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2003, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/125 "2003-12-14T07:37:07Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by WonTon Sean \*
> \*\*4. The United States is not the only country in the world. \*\*
:eek:
Cite?
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### Author:  [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2003, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/126 "2003-12-14T08:07:52Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*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.
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### Author:  [@l1I235](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/l1I235)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2003, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/127 "2003-12-14T08:26:09Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*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](http://Dictionary.com)
[QUOTE]
sour grapes:
1. 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. 🙂
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### Author:  [@j\_kat\_251](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_kat_251)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2003, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/128 "2003-12-14T12:28:52Z")
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”?
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### Author:  [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2003, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/129 "2003-12-14T12:48:34Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*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.
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### Author:  [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2003, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/130 "2003-12-14T12:50:02Z")
1. Jennifer Connelly is the most beautiful woman alive.
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### Author:  [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2003, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/131 "2003-12-14T12:53:05Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*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.
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### Author:  [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/132 "2003-12-14T13:08:57Z")
Lies is a common girls name.
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### Author:  [@Jabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jabba)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2003, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/133 "2003-12-14T13:54:02Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2003, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/134 "2003-12-14T14:17:25Z")
> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by Mr. B \*
> \*\*You don’t say… You wouldn’t happen to represent Wal[sub]_[/sub]Mart, would you? 'cause that’d be waaaay too creepy. \*\*
No, but I have represented large energy trading concerns. How’s that? 😃
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### Author:  [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2003, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/135 "2003-12-14T14:23:03Z")
Well, in that case I would disagree with [dictionary.com](http://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.
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### Author:  [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/136 "2003-12-14T14:32:24Z")
Merriam-Webster Online: [http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary](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](http://dictionary.com), both of them are actually REAL dictionaries.
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### Author:  [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2003, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/137 "2003-12-14T17:45:03Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*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.
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### Author:  [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/138 "2003-12-14T17:55:51Z")
**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.
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### Author:  [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2003, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/139 "2003-12-14T21:48:09Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@l1I235](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/l1I235)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2003, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-numbskulls-get-edumakated-right-here-yall/218415/140 "2003-12-14T23:14:20Z")
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.
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