# Why is mmmbeer unable to read certain words? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 24, 2012, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mmmbeer-unable-to-read-certain-words/635659 "2012-09-24T07:35:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mmmbeer-unable-to-read-certain-words/635659/1 "2012-09-24T07:35:58Z")
Yesterday, an encounter with **mmmbeer** reminded me of my encounters with **Siam Sam**. Feel free to join me in denouncing **mmmbeer** for inadequate reading skill, but my real question is about **septimus** :smack: Is there some flaw in my posting style which causes fellow Dopers to imitate blithering idiots? The cited thread was about “class warfare,” but this thread isn’t about that: it’s about **mmmbeer** ’s obtuseness. As background, however, you need to know that Warren Buffett included his secretary’s payroll taxes when he made his famous comparison of his and her tax rates. Whether it is fair to include payroll taxes is beyond the scope of this Pitting. The question is not whether **mmmbeer** should have agreed with the inclusion of payroll taxes; it is whether he should have been able to understand that Doper **septimus** was including it in his comments. What I Pit is a Doper who can Reply to a post which mentions “payroll tax” twice, include one of the mentions in the excerpted quote, and express an agreement which ignores the word “payroll.” (I then responded, mentioning “payroll tax” three more times, asking mmmbeer if he’d confused my remarks; he responded, quoting my message with all three of the “payroll tax” mentions included, still didn’t grasp the meaning, closed his post with “Jesus, Joseph, and Mary.” Let’s be very clear. I was not playing some game, where I wrote “payroll tax” in a small font hoping that **mmmbeer** would miss it, so that I could Pit him. Look particularly at my #244, where I politely call attention to the confusion. Yet even after this the “conversation” went on for another six turns. #239: > [@Is there anything wrong with "class warfare"?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-wrong-with-class-warfare/634349/239): > > If one wants to relax the definition slightly, denigrating 47% of Americans because the 13% tax rate they pay consists of payroll taxes, while the 13% job creators pay consists of income taxes is “class warfare.” > > What is NOT class warfare is to ask why billionaires pay a lower tax rate than their secretaries. Suppose a secretary pays 20% (including payroll taxes) on $75,000 and takes home $60,000. Is it really “warfare” to ask that the vulture capitalist who earns $75 million pay 20% and take home only $60 million? #241: > [@Is there anything wrong with "class warfare"?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-wrong-with-class-warfare/634349/241): > > > [@Is there anything wrong with "class warfare"?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-wrong-with-class-warfare/634349/239): > > > > What is NOT class warfare is to ask why billionaires pay a lower tax rate than their secretaries. Suppose a secretary pays 20% (including payroll taxes) on $75,000 and takes home $60,000. Is it really “warfare” to ask that the vulture capitalist who earns $75 million pay 20% and take home only $60 million? > > This is precisecly what I propose … #242: > [@Is there anything wrong with "class warfare"?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-wrong-with-class-warfare/634349/242): > > Right now, Romney and lowest-wage workers pay about the same, about 13% each. Do I understand that you want to drop Romney’s rate to 10% while increasing the rate on lowest-wage workers (payroll tax plus income tax) to 23% ? #243: > [@Is there anything wrong with "class warfare"?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-wrong-with-class-warfare/634349/243): > > See where it says EACH according to his mean? 20%…If you were get out your dictionary, you would find that EACH means everybody! > 20% for everyone, where the hell do you get that I want to drop Romney’s rate to 10% and raise the lowest-wage workers to 23% > 20% for everyone means if Romney is someone, his rate would be 20% and if the lowest-wage worker is someone, guess what his rate would be? 20% Is that clear enough for you? > > My proposal for 10% was guess what? 10% for everyone. I was commenting back to the person who suggested 20% for WHO???, understand yet??, yeah, EVERYONE. > Do I have to spell out again that means for Romney AND the lowest-wage workers? Jesus, Joseph, and Mary. #244: > [@Is there anything wrong with "class warfare"?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-wrong-with-class-warfare/634349/244): > > Sorry that I wasn’t clear. > > My question for you was: _ **Does that 10% include federal payroll taxes?** _ #247: > [@Is there anything wrong with "class warfare"?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-wrong-with-class-warfare/634349/247): > > Really? You want to weasel around to say that all that means… > > But, to answer the question: > Aren’t we talking about Federal Income taxes? Do you mean something other than that? > So, to go ahead and answer, I, and I thought, everyone else, am talking about Federal Income taxes. So, 10% doesn’t include it, 10% is it, and if you’re asking about something else, I haven’t commented on that. Like it doesn’t include estate tax, or taxes on yachts, or whatever. The “conversation” continued; #248, #249 by me, #250 by mmmbeer, #251 by me, and it as only after that, in #252, that **mmmbeer** finally grasped that I’d mentioned “payroll tax.” By that time the phrase had occurred no less than thirty-three times in my posts and the excerpts from my posts quoted by **mmmbeer**. ---
**Author:** ![Suil\_Dubh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@Suil\_Dubh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suil_Dubh)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mmmbeer-unable-to-read-certain-words/635659/2 "2012-09-24T11:35:09Z")
Ok dude, we got it. You like lions and you hate tigers. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mmmbeer-unable-to-read-certain-words/635659/3 "2012-09-24T11:47:27Z")
> [@Suil\_Dubh](#): > > Ok dude, we got it. You like lions and you hate tigers. Gold star. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mmmbeer-unable-to-read-certain-words/635659/4 "2012-09-24T16:12:54Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Is there some flaw in my posting style which causes fellow Dopers to imitate blithering idiots? Perhaps it’s your habit of talking about yourself in the third person. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mmmbeer-unable-to-read-certain-words/635659/5 "2012-09-24T17:02:20Z")
Here’s [an actual link to the thread\*](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=665100), in case my fellow blithering idiots want to follow along. My two cents - it’s pretty clear that mmmbeer uses “everyone pays 10%” to include payroll taxes. Seems he wasn’t the one being obtuse. And yes - I understand that his apparent understanding of the issue is marginal, at best. \*Yeah, yeah - you can click on the little blue arrow, but it’s just not as intuitive. ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mmmbeer-unable-to-read-certain-words/635659/6 "2012-09-24T17:35:55Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Perhaps it’s your habit of talking about yourself in the third person. Hm, does **Septimus** remind anyone else of [Mojo Jojo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgMCfDMuvmA)? He was wrong, for he did not account for payroll taxes! And I told him this! That he was wrong! I, Mooojooo Septimus, informed him of how he was wrong in failing to answer my question! About whether he accounted for payroll taxes! This is the last time **mmmbeer** will cross Mojo Septimus, for he has crossed Mojo Septimus for the last time! Bwahahaha! ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mmmbeer-unable-to-read-certain-words/635659/7 "2012-09-24T17:50:38Z")
Sometimes people argue past each other. This appears to be one of those times. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mmmbeer-unable-to-read-certain-words/635659/8 "2012-09-24T18:43:33Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Here’s [an actual link to the thread\*](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=665100), in case my fellow blithering idiots want to follow along. > > My two cents - it’s pretty clear that mmmbeer uses “everyone pays 10%” to include payroll taxes. Seems he wasn’t the one being obtuse. And yes - I understand that his apparent understanding of the issue is marginal, at best. > > \*Yeah, yeah - you can click on the little blue arrow, but it’s just not as intuitive. Huh–it seems pretty clear to me the exact opposite, that mmmbeer meant the exact opposite. Unfortunately, I think both of the players in this spat spent awhile trying harder to gotcha one another than they did trying to state their own position as clearly and unambiguously as possible. The question on the table might better be phrased thusly: If someone gets a paycheck (for a day, a week, a month, it doesn’t matter) of $1000, how much–after deducting ONLY money for the federal government–should they take home? Currently the person pays about $130 in payroll taxes, plus whatever they owe for federal income tax. Is that an appropriate way to ask the question? ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mmmbeer-unable-to-read-certain-words/635659/9 "2012-09-25T17:29:34Z")
[QUOTE=septimus] Why is mmmbeer unable to read certain words? [/QUOTE] Because, mmm, beer! [sub]I just came here for the zinger. I’ll be moseying along now.[/sub]