I learned a good deal about the US legal system, thanks to Bricker, Really Not All That Bright, and others. No plans to go to law school but their posts were quite interesting.
There’s Mark One, and then there’s Mark Twain.
There are otherwise intelligent, educated people who think “it’s” is a possessive.
There are otherwise intelligent, educated people who think putting ketchup on a hot dog is akin to skinning babies alive.
The positive mention of Ayn Rand in a serious discussion of … anything … is inadvisable.
Most straight men are a whole lot more sexually insecure than anyone else.
Sometimes “fighting ignorance” seems like a hopeless task.
Somebody on this board once recommended Robert Charles Wilson. I checked his stuff out and now he’s one of my favorite authors.
A list must have at least three items.
The first thing that came to mind was “a bunch of words”. Next, “that there is always someone who will take offense at anything”.
I also learned that a grammar analysis technique my class was taught as “ok, we need to show this as a sort of How Not To Do Things before dumping you into the wonderful world of tree analysis” is what many people in English-speaking countries learn. And that some Canadians learn that technique in English, but tree analysis in French.
Apparently, the 11th Commandment is “Thee Shalt Not Speak Of The Positioning Of Toilet Paper”.
I just learned that’s there’s such a thing as tree analysis.
That not all people who are batshit insane present as batshit insane upon first acquaintance. Sometimes it’s a slow burn.
That I am not as smart as I think I am. (I already knew that, but the Dope proves it repeatedly)
That I am not as clever or interesting as I think I am. (ditto).
That I have the pleasure of learning a lot from all the interesting and bright people on the Dope. Especially the ones I don’t agree with! That those with minority opinions stick continue to participate and contribute is the best part of the Dope.
I wouldn’t say so much learn as stay current on a lot of ideas and science. Its helped me fill in a lot of blanks on subjects I know something about but never had the deeper interest to seriously study.
The some people will defend their religion to the point of total idiocy. And use the excuse “It didn’t happen.”
I have learned that if you find that your debate opponent has committed a logical fallacy and you point it out, that the other side will gladly admit error and concede the argument.
I have learned that a convincing argument cannot be made alongside any spelling error.
I have learned that on the Internet, the easiest thing to do is convince someone that they should change their entire worldview.
Oh wait, this is all in my fantasyland version of the Straight Dope. Here’s what I’ve actually learned:
Some people use bath towels only once and then launder them. A surprising number, really.
I’ve grown in my appreciation of the need to disregard my own social and business circle as being representative of the American experience. Not because I’m part of the 1% or something, but because this country has a lot more diversity than I can comprehend if I live only through my own experiences.
Kind of related to the previous point, I’ve learned how common it is for people to be angry at others based on political views, and not just for show. Having worked in Washington, DC, for quite some time, its been extremely rare for me to have policy debates turn personal, but oddly I feel that such behavior is much more common outside of the Beltway.
I’ve learned that until about three years ago, I had never even thought about how birds reproduce.
I learned to wait before responding to idiots and assholes, because someone more talented than I will probably give a much better response than I could ever hope to.
I learned that the glass you break in case of emergencies has a name.
I learned that, for the most part, everyone has something of worth to say. Those few other trolls?-Just report and forget.
I learned to listen better to others, and to myself.
I’ve learned that in a fight a lion will beat a tiger. I would have put money on it going the other way.
We called it “sentence diagramming,” and I referenced it in the OP. It is the foundation of using proper grammar IMHO.
I learned about “sociolects”, a dialect employed by a particular social group, like the so-called “gay accent.” And more importantly, that I have the “computer geek” sociolect.
That Dopers should never be met in real life, that some of them are utter bastards who will run out on a shared check and piss on toilet seats.
Not quite the same, the versions I’ve seen referenced in these boards many times break up the structure of the sentence. Tree analysis is specifically designed to keep it.
ETA: but in any case, it all boils down to “ok, this thing which was a PITA to learn but which is one of the few school techniques I still use 40 years later is something lots of English-speaking people never saw before”.
I learned where BitCoins come from.
They’re self-perpetuating. When somebody helps to organize BitCoin data, they get paid in BitCoin.
Yes, I’m familiar with diagramming as that is what I was taught in school. What I understood Nava to say is that tree analysis is a different way to lay out sentences for scrutiny, and I had never heard of it before. I assume that diagramming was what she referred to as the “How Not To Do Things” technique she was shown before learning tree analysis.
