# Odd Things You Can't Do **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 13, 2003, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-you-cant-do/154798 "2003-02-13T11:14:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-you-cant-do/154798/1 "2003-02-13T11:14:20Z")
You can have jello shooters, tequila shooters, lone shooters, and salad shooters, but not second-person shooters. (“You! There! Use your plasma rifle to reduce that gibbering zombie to its constituent molecules!”) You can have nominatives, accusatives, and genitives in a G-rated film, but not explicitives. (I think genitives are far more obscene.) ---
**Author:** ![lamafish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@lamafish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lamafish)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-you-cant-do/154798/2 "2003-02-13T11:24:30Z")
You can have nominatives, accusatives, and genitives in a G-rated film, but not explicitives. (I think genitives are far more obscene.) -I only know what explicitives are!!:smack: ---
**Author:** ![lamafish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@lamafish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lamafish)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-you-cant-do/154798/3 "2003-02-13T11:51:21Z")
I just looked up nominatives…oh yeah ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-you-cant-do/154798/4 "2003-02-13T13:47:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Derleth \* > **You can have jello shooters, tequila shooters, lone shooters, and salad shooters, but not second-person shooters.** 😕 Don’t Diablo & MechCommander fall into that category? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-you-cant-do/154798/5 "2003-02-13T17:44:18Z")
Do they? I thought they were strategy games. ---
**Author:** ![My\_Darn\_Snake\_Legs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f14d63/32.png) [@My\_Darn\_Snake\_Legs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/My_Darn_Snake_Legs)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-you-cant-do/154798/6 "2003-02-13T18:01:38Z")
I thought that they were 3rd person…I don’t even know what a 2nd person would look like. Wait, isn’t that when they shoot at you? ---
**Author:** ![Ego\_Mk2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Ego\_Mk2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ego_Mk2)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-you-cant-do/154798/7 "2003-02-13T18:43:46Z")
I can’t step on the drain when the shower is running or when I’m taking a bath. But only then. Second person view would be playing a game through looking at yourself from an enemy’s point of view. Or from another actor’s view who is not you. Fixed/floating camera angles are 3rd person. Diablo and MechCommander are 3rd person. ---
**Author:** ![Lodrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@Lodrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lodrain)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-you-cant-do/154798/8 "2003-02-14T02:23:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lamafish \* > \*\*-I only know what explicitives are!!:smack: \*\* Nominatives are the subject of a sentence or a predicate nominative. In the pattern ‘X sees Y’ or any other sentence pattern that denotes an action with a doer and a reciever, ‘X’ is the nominative. The nominative in predicate nominatives follows the pattern ‘X is Y’ or any other pattern that equates two or more nouns. Both objects are nominative; X is the subject and Y is the predicate nominative. Accusatives are direct objects–those that directly recieve the action. Sentences like ‘X hit Y’ and ‘X loves Y’ have X as the nominative and Y as the accusative. Y recieves the action and X is the doer of the action. Genitives show relationships between nouns. In the pattern ‘X’s Y’, ‘X’ is the genitive and Y is that which is possessed. If this confuses you, blame English’s mangling of its once-glorious case system. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-you-cant-do/154798/9 "2003-02-14T02:34:48Z")
A second person shooter would be you controlling your character from the view of an enemy… that would _not_ be fun, especially if the enemy turned around and you couldn’t see yourself anymore! ---
**Author:** ![Pablito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@Pablito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pablito)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-you-cant-do/154798/10 "2003-02-14T02:56:32Z")
I don’t know about the rest of you, but one thing I can’t do is whistle. (or, apparently, continue along the intended witty route of this thread. sorry.) ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-you-cant-do/154798/11 "2003-02-14T22:10:32Z")
From National Lampoon, you can smoke beef and you can smoke hash but you can’t smoke corned beef hash. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-you-cant-do/154798/12 "2003-02-14T23:40:49Z")
I can’t see the images in three-D pictures. I was _totally_ relating to that guy in Mallrats who lost it when he was trying to see them all day and everyone else was seeing them and being poopy about it. (And don’t bother giving me any helpful hints on how to see them - I’ve tried it all, and I am sure that there are no pictures, and you are all just having me on.) ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-you-cant-do/154798/13 "2003-02-15T06:27:17Z")
You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your friend’s nose. WTF? ---
**Author:** ![IThinkNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ce73a5/32.png) [@IThinkNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IThinkNot)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-you-cant-do/154798/14 "2003-02-15T21:30:32Z")
“In some company it’s perfectly all right to prick your finger, but very bad form to finger your prick.” ---
**Author:** ![aaaaaarrgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@aaaaaarrgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaaaaarrgg)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-you-cant-do/154798/15 "2003-02-15T23:24:56Z")
i can’t pump gasoline. it’s against the law. ---
**Author:** ![aaaaaarrgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@aaaaaarrgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaaaaarrgg)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-you-cant-do/154798/16 "2003-02-15T23:24:56Z")
i can’t pump gasoline. it’s against the law. ---
**Author:** ![aaaaaarrgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@aaaaaarrgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaaaaarrgg)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-you-cant-do/154798/17 "2003-02-15T23:27:00Z")
…but apparently i can repeat myself without trouble (oops) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-you-cant-do/154798/18 "2003-02-16T00:14:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by featherlou \* > \*\*I can’t see the images in three-D pictures. I was _totally_ relating to that guy in Mallrats who lost it when he was trying to see them all day and everyone else was seeing them and being poopy about it. (And don’t bother giving me any helpful hints on how to see them - I’ve tried it all, and I am sure that there are no pictures, and you are all just having me on.) \*\* I can’t see 'em either. Never have been able to. Tried everything, and nearly cried over it once in fifth grade (scarred me for life, too!) I think in my case, it has to do with the fact that I have nearly no depth perception…