Still more small questions you have that don't warrant a whole GQ thread.

[SmartAleq]

@Stauderhorse

How do I see how many posts I have?

How do I make my text smaller or larger?

1. By becoming a paid member, guests don’t have a post count.

2. At the top of the post edit window is a dropdown marked [Size]. Mark text then choose size from drop down. Alternately, the Vb coding is: {SIZE=1} text you want resized {/SIZE} replacing the { with [ and the number variable is ranged from 1 (very small) to 7 (quite large.)

[Qwisp]

@Viridiana

I think I’ve asked this before, but never gotten any real answer - please! If anyone knows anything! Is it possible to train oneself to a) do the splits or b) trill/roll one’s Rs over the tongue, having never been able to do it before, at, say, the age of 25?

It is possible to train yourself to trill your R’s. I did it. Find a tongue twister with mostly r words and practice, practice and then practice some more

[Freudian_Slit]

How do I do a strikeout?

[Rysto]

[ del]text to strike out[/del]

[del]like this[/del]

del stands for delete.

[Freudian_Slit]

[del]Like this?[/del]

By George, I think I’ve got it! Thanks!

[Hostile_Dialect]

Freudian Slit, you throw three pitches under the letters on the hitter’s uniform, above his knees and over home plate without him hitting any.

ETA: In all seriousness, I’m glad someone chimed in with the real answer. I always forget that code.

[Scarlett67]

@Hostile Dialect

You’re an American, so you already know how to roll your Rs. Bear with me here.

Say “butter” out loud.
Then say “ladder”.

That consonant in the middle of those words? That’s a rolled R. Exactly the same sound as a Spanish single-R. For a Spanish double-R, just do the same thing, but tap it against the roof of your mouth a couple of times quickly.

If you absolutely cannot pull off the longer roll, you can substitute a Hebrew “ch” sound in Spanish and be understood just fine.

I’ll be damned! I’ve never been able to roll my R’s. One or two attempts this way, and I’ve got a good (if halting) start. Time to practice! Thanks!

[Hostile_Dialect]

@Scarlett67

I’ll be damned! I’ve never been able to roll my R’s. One or two attempts this way, and I’ve got a good (if halting) start. Time to practice! Thanks!

No problem. It’s what I do.

I’ve found that the vast majority of Americans who claim they “can’t roll Rs” are simply laboring under the misconception that the American English R sound and the Spanish R sound have anything to do with each other whatsoever. I don’t blame them–I used to think that, too–after all, they’re represented by the same letter. I hasten to add, FTR, that this trick won’t work for Britons (although I don’t think many of them would need it anyway).

[BigT]

There really are people who don’t think they can flip an R? My sister, for example, has always known how to do that. She just can’t get her tongue to vibrate while she does it to get multiple taps for a roll.

[corkboard]

I can roll my Rs, but most zombies can’t. Something about a decayed tongue.

[Bosstone]

@Hostile_Dialect

@Viridiana

I think I’ve asked this before, but never gotten any real answer - please! If anyone knows anything! Is it possible to train oneself to a) do the splits or b) trill/roll one’s Rs over the tongue, having never been able to do it before, at, say, the age of 25?

You’re an American, so you already know how to roll your Rs. Bear with me here.

Say “butter” out loud.
Then say “ladder”.

That consonant in the middle of those words? That’s a rolled R. Exactly the same sound as a Spanish single-R. For a Spanish double-R, just do the same thing, but tap it against the roof of your mouth a couple of times quickly.

That’s a tap or flap, not a trill.

[lindsaybluth]

@Viridiana

I think I’ve asked this before, but never gotten any real answer - please! If anyone knows anything! Is it possible to train oneself to a) do the splits or b) trill/roll one’s Rs over the tongue, having never been able to do it before, at, say, the age of 25?

As in the Spanish rolling of R’s? I suggest you lie upside-down on a couch. As in, your head to the floor and your butt in the seat and your legs over the top and back. Something about the way your tongue is looser and closer to the roof of your mouth helps. Lying on a bed doesn’t help in the same way. Then, of course, say a bunch of words and phrases that you have printed out and in your hand. Learned this from an old Spanish teacher.

[Colibri]

@Idle_Thoughts

1. Why is it called happy hour when it’s more than one hour? Why not happy hours? Has happy hour ever been just ONE hour?

In my experience, yes. When I first started going to Happy Hours in bars in the 1970s, at least in some places they were limited to 5 to 6 PM.