FYI -- You had a dup post. I deleted one of them.
Yeah, I had just gone back to delete one & was wondering where it went. Thanks.
Is the complaint here about Nader's behavior? I find the players' complaints entirely reasonable.
Tim, what happened? We used to be so close, and now I feel like I don't even know you. Of course it's Nader being ridiculous.
Better to be doing this kind of thing than, say, working full time to put the most reactionary President since Coolidge in the White House...
Maybe Nader should be the next NBA commissioner.
Maybe Nader should enter into a steel-cage deathmatch with Gingrich. Two Will Enter. Neither will leave. We Meat It.
no teo, meat is a great weapon for this cage-match.
My cat has just cornered a small mouse in my apartment. Now the mouse is under a glass jar. My apartment has never had mice before.
Sounds like Cala's found some troll bait of her own.
When the troll looks in, he'll see a baby kangaroo. Then when Cala comes back, there'll be a bitty mouse again.
4: There are any number of reasons to really dislike Ralph Nader. There are any number of people who have worked with him who have come away saying that he's a megalomaniac who does more harm than good. The Presidential election in 2000. And yet...he's done more good than I ever will, or, probably, than the whole of my family has done and will do. He appears to have real, if misguided, integrity. I have a soft spot for him, though I find him faintly ridiculous these days.
I feel the same way about Jesse Jackson, though the "ridiculous" is not so faint.
Aw, come on, Labs. Nader's just a doofy Washington dude who's got some silly beef with Stern. He's like one of those guys who's always sent those kinds of letters, and now he's suddenly famous and people pay attention. I found this story endearing, especially the part where he called back the sportswriter. "Great gig" indeed. It's like when GWB invited the baseball hall-of-famers (was that who it was?) for lunch at the WH. Except that was annoying, because GWB is actually President and has Things to do. Nader isn't and doesn't.
What's the big problem with Jesse Jackson? It's like you have to think he's a moron to be accepted as a reasonable person.
Jesse Jackson seems to have descended to leading what are essentially public relations shakedown schemes. I haven't followed what he's done closely for a while, but I think he used to be a lot more statesman than showman. He's also black, Adam. It's like I have to explain all this stuff to you from scratch.
a doofy Washington dude who's got some silly beef with Stern.
"beef" has come a long, long way from being ghetto-lingo. No offense, LeBlanc.
11: Aww, mousie!! Send it to us.
Either that, or let the cat have it. I mean, what else are you going to do with it? And isn't that the whole point of having a cat?
Adam's moved past recognizing race, Ogged. And he ain't going back in the stinking cave.
What is this idea of "black" that you speak of? I've never heard of it.
Speaking of the word black, PK actually doesn't seem to know the word as it applies to black people. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
I'm not sure what you're trying to say Michael, but I'm extremely offended.
I'm not sure that any adjective aside from "some" can be applied to "beef" as you use it, M.
23 -- well he grew up in rural Ontario right? Are there black people there?
Jackson and Nader have the exact same role in my life: people I have voted for and am now totally embarassed by.
Sometimes I wonder if this isn't just a function of a shift in how I get my news about these people. When I voted for them, I was hooked in to their own publicity machine. Now I'm not. Thinking this way makes me wonder if I have any capacity to judge public figures objectively at all.
23: Teach him to say "brown" and "pink" rather than black and white. It is much more accurate.
PK actually doesn't seem to know the word as it applies to black people. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
You live in L.A. now. Better explain it, or he's going to end up looking a bit ridiculous not knowing what it means.
23 - I remember not getting it at a certain age. It's just over-literalism, I'd bet - if you asked him, he'd say, "No, they're brown."
And quit having him take provacative nude pictures of you?
I fucking hate Ralph Nader.
That is all.
All I can think of to comment are idiotic plays on words, like, "I hate fucking Ralph Nader!" I'm sorry. I'm grading exams and I'm bored out of my skull and grasping for any stimulation come my way.
and "grasping" for it! Didn't mean to say that.
I'm grading exams, too. Want to make out?
Depends - what are you grading?
All I can think of to comment are idiotic plays on words, like, "I hate fucking Ralph Nader!"
Incipient chiasmus, very serious. I've seen cases like yours before.
History of Christian Thought. Maybe we could do a little "perichoresis," or experience some serious "communicatio idiomatum."
What are you grading?
She's grading exams, Adam. Pay attention.
I just want to say that I'm even more miserably depressed tonight than I was last night, and Unfogged has yet to provide me a remedy.
"what are you wearing"! you start cyber flirting by asking what are you wearing! Nerds.
Calculus. Hang on, I'm still looking up chiasmus.
I do have one great Calculus pick-up line...
"I wish I could be your derivative, so I could be tangent to your curves."
Yowza!!
stras, you could download Scrubs episodes. Though maybe that doesn't work for everyone.
What seems to be the problem, Stras? Begin with your mother, please.
Michael, by purporting to know the "correct" way to flirt online, and then for correcting others for doing it a different way, you show yourself King Nerd.
was growing tired being Knave Nerd, anyway.
(I'll just pretend that your comment actually makes sense.)
It's Saturday night. Can't we all be high court nerds?
Hey heebie, I was just this evening reading a passage which included a reference to "the integral of one over book d book".
No, but I can make a pipe out of an apple.
55 - how cute! Maybe book-d-book is like broke-d-broke in the clean Gold Digger song.
Are there any non-apple components in the pipe recipe? Like a screen or anything?
Parts of my brain are playing over here:
http://www.disturbingauctions.com/
For a screen you take some tinfoil and poke holes in it with a pin or knife tip. Unless you have a real screen. Then you should have spoken up, Clown, before we wasted half my goods smoking on this tinfoil crap. Anyone hungry?
heebie-geebie, be warned. Normally, I like to assist Adam in getting people to make out with him, but he's used that "perichoresis" line before.
Natural log of book? I don't get it.
No, I think this time is different! He really means it!
Dudes, I just realized that this bath product I've been using, this in-shower lotion thingy (see here), which smells really awesome which is why I use it, makes my skin fucking sparkly! What the fuck is that? I did not ask for sparkles, the package says nothing about sparkles (it does say "silkening radiance", though; what the fuck is that?). I wonder if anyone else has noticed and thinks I'm a total fucking tool for sparkling.
Maybe it just removed your topsoil and revealed your true sparkly nature?
This reminds me of a calculus joke that amused me in college.
Q: Do you want to come home with me and integrate?
A: Definitely.
63 The internet says log(book) from mason-dixon
I wonder what the internet meant by that.
God. If you want to boast about reading Pynchon, just come out and say, "Dudes, I'm reading the Pynchon up in here."
I think I'm coming down with something.
Maybe Clownæ's reading a different book with the same joke.
I think there's some foreign ousia trying to invade my hypostasis -- in a bad way.
45: I'm sincerely sorry to hear it, SJ. It's an awful feeling.
Maybe it would help SJ's depression if we convinced the president and/or pope to call off Christmas this year.
It's beginning to look like we're just going to be too busy to have Christmas this year. But that's cool. More fun to sit around looking at a half-decorated tree than bring a bunch more crap into our little house anyway. Should try to send some cards, though.
48: And the reply: Then I'd the area under your curves.
71: He's trying to avoid being in the headlines .
73: It's Clownae. Of course it's the Pynchon.
Here's my initial plan for abolishing Christmas.
"You can't have any Christmas until you pass your Calculus exam." That'll shut the whole machine down.
You spelled "ecstasy" wrong.
I love the idea of abolishing Christmas, but I don't think it can be a top-down thing.
Thanks for the spelling tip.
You're probably right -- to destroy the spirit of Christmas, we have to change hearts, one at a time.
What needs to happen is for someone with a lot of cultural clout to ridicule Christmas mercilessly, thereby making it uncool.
"Us" here on unfogged, not the nation.
Ronald McDonald hates Christmas - pass it on.
How would you know how you really feel about your family without Christmas? Don't be silly people; you're acting like libertarians who think the roads just exist--you have to work for your psychodrama.
Just think how much it would change things if a major figure in the Democratic Party or the mainstream media said outright, "Yes, I am at war with Christmas." The problem is how to make the right-wing propaganda true.
Is it considered normal, when one is "coming down with something," to take some kind of bizarre herbal remedy and then keep grading?
How would you know how you really feel about your family without Christmas?
You could ask your Jewish friends.
91: That would be soooo awesome. But my bar for awesome statements by politicians is set extremely low. I almost fainted from happy shock when Dean said the capture of Saddam Hussein didn't make us safer.
As if your Jewish friends are in any position to tell you how you really feel about your family.
[Some ill-considered joke connecting hurtful stereotypes about Jews with not having to buy Christmas gifts.]
What I mean is, Jews such as I still don't like Christmas, but we don't derive the dubious benefit ogged mentions as a result of not have any Christmas celebrations that would involve getting the whole family together or anything like that.
It's true that I keep such a tight grip on my shekels that I don't buy christmas gifts for anyone (and Hanukkah's a kid's holiday, really), so there's that.
As if your Jewish friends are in any position to tell you how you really feel about your family.
Don't tell me you haven't heard the good news?
this in-shower lotion thingy (see here), which smells really awesome which is why I use it, makes my skin fucking sparkly!
Dude. I have that in my shower--and I *have* used it because it does smell awesome--but it has never, ever made my skin sparkly. You must have naturally sparkly skin. (You mutant.)
I have more respect for Jackson than Nader. Jackson, at least, has known when to be a maverick and when to be a team player. Also, once, I saw Jackson at a gas station, pumping his own gas, and I waved to him and he gave me a thumbs up. So, yeah. That's more than I've ever gotten from Nader.
(Also, thanks for the CD, DA! It's fantastic! Sorry, I didn't thank you sooner--some life events intervened.)
(Also, also, wik: SJ, I'm sorry you're unhappy. You should go buy this, a bottle of wine, and take a nice long bath.)
Wait, isn't Ogged some kind of Muhammedan?
It's Mohammedan, Adam.
Paul: glad you liked it.
Also, in the interests of another comment-fork, has anyone else just gotten completely tired of blogs? This is the only one I visit with any regularity anymore. I find the personals on Craigslist much more entertaining than blogs nowadays.
The preferred spelling is "mahomaten".
Ohhh! Ben, you should be a professional joke explainer.
What's with the link in 101?
M4M:
I'm 33 and live in the Bay Area. If you suck my cock, I'll tell all your prospective dates what a good guy you are.
Your pic will get my cock.
Gotta go away for a bit; try not to rape Mrs. Claus while I'm gone, you savages.
105: I only read the blogs of people I sort of feel like I know, either through here, or from RL or because we've made some connection in some other way.
I'm a little uneasy about the fact that SJ showed up to announce that he feels worse than he did yesterday, then didn't come back.
SJ! Getcher ass back here RIGHT NOW!
What's the now outdated term applied in Morte d'Arthur and I think other texts for a Moor? I can't remember :(
What might appear to be pwnage is actually uncertainty followed by confirmation.
100.
I like this. Nicely understated, it shows true mastery of the idiom.
Yes. It doesn't matter what word we use to describe ogged's heathen religion, because it's not as if the filthy saracen can read anyway.
I originally thought that "Saracen" was just the name of some ethnic group, but it's actually a slur -- since the Arabs are supposed to have descended from Ishmael, Abraham's son by the slave woman Hagar, rather than from the son of his wife Sarah. So it's something about being bereft of Sarah.
Apparently the Koran stages a whole sacrifice thing with Ishmael as well. We all know that historically Isaac was the one who narrowly missed being sacrificed, though.
Apparently I'm trying to get into Ben's pants.
So the Arabs are descended from Ishmael, and the Negroids are descended from Ham. What were the explanations for the Mongoloids and the noble red man?
The red man's geniture is mormon territory. Gswift? Jackmormon?
I can't remember the word for the stuff with the family trees and shit. Jesus I'm out of it.
And how do Cain and Esau figure into this?
122: The noble red man was one of the lost tribes of Israel. Beats the hell out of me what the Mongoloids were (except happy as they could be).
the noble red man?
According to the Mormons, Israel spread it's Jewy goodness to the New World via a clan that boated over around 500 B.C. The red man are their descendants.
Jesus I'm out of it.
Welcome to aging, Ben. In a couple of years, you'll be begging for GUI.
When that happens, I hope that you can fight through the tears and put me out of my misery, despite my protestations.
no, not the Mormon explanation. Did Christians ever have a stereotype/vaguely believed explanation for the Biblical ontology of the inscrutable oriental or the noble red man, like they did for blacks with the curse of Ham?
122: Surprisingly, the ancient Israelite origin myths did not account for races that they didn't know existed.
If Ben is using a computer without a GUI, I can understand his overwhelmed and out-of-place feeling in the modern world.
Never mind the name on 131. Leftover from a joke that didn't get posted successfully. Goddamn unreliable internet connection.
According to the Mormons, Israel spread it's Jewy goodness to the New World via a clan that boated over around 500 B.C. The red man are their descendants.
And their skin is dark because the clan split into factions according to skin color, and the dark-skinned ones killed off the light-skinned, if the South Park episode on Mormonism is to be believed.
And their skin is dark because the clan split into factions according to skin color, and the dark-skinned ones killed off the light-skinned, if the South Park episode on Mormonism is to be believed.
The faction that fell into unbelief was cursed by God with dark skin, and they killed off the others. If they come back into the fold they're supposed to become white again, although around 1980 the church quietely changed the phrase in the Book of Mormon from "white and delightsome" to "pure and delightsome."
I once went to a masquerade as Saracen Rabbit, with my tiger friend Raghib. [For those of you under forty this and this.]
That has nothing to do with anything, but it's a slow Saturday night, after a jaunt to Borders in the rain and if I get started on Nader IT WILL JUST UPSET ME.
I saw the most awesome documentary ever on BBC a couple of years ago, about this Mormon forger who faked a whole bunch of (Joseph Smith?) writings, about talking frogs and shit. According to a Mormon guy I know, these forgeries actually started prompting the church to modify parts of the theology to accommodate them.
By the way, Adam, this dictionary has a different etymology for "saracen."
[Middle English, from Old English, from Late Latin Saracēnus, from Late Greek Sarakēnos, ultimately from Arabic šarq, east, sunrise; see śrq in Semitic roots.]
Or were you kidding?
Just saw "For Your Consideration". Not Guest's best, but pretty damn entertaining.
Magic underline dictionary isn't the most reputable source, ogged.
I thought you were going somewhere, ogged. It's like when mom keeps coming down into the rec room.
I got my etymology from John of Damascus (8th C.). Unlike these dictionary people, he was actually there.
I thought you were going somewhere, ogged.
I cut my workout short, otherwise I'd never fall asleep tonight. This is all by way of a detour on my way to shower.
This dictionary tells a different story.
I'm not, but maybe the question is for Emerson?
I thought it was referring back to me telling Adam it was Mohammedan.
Maybe you just unconsciously plagiarized.
If you notice, the two words are spelled the same.
I really don't want to have to explain this modest pseudojoke. So I won't. Look at that! I made a decision—I'm standing on my own two feet!
Ogged, did you see the Knicks-Nuggets brawl?
I did. It was more of a scrum, but the suspensions should be interesting.
158: If you notice, the two words are spelled the same.
I did notice, and found it perplexing.
Don't feel like you have to explain your modest pseudojokes. I don't even get the obvious hit-you-on-the-head jokes. That's what happens when you get old. Be afraid.
I get it. It was low-enough brow for me.
I still don't get it. This is why I mostly lurk.
Ja phetic?
No, you're phetic!
It's perfect for a...what was I called? Incontinent chiasmus? Inoperable chasm? Back at the beginning of the thread.
I'm not even sure I see where the joke is supposed to be, da, but I'm not going on another hiatus over it.
See, "japhetic" sounds kind of like "pathetic", except "ja", like "jew" as in Annie Hall, sounds kinda like a brusque attempt at direct address, so the whole thing sounds kind of like an insult, especially given the way Emerson just said it as if passing judgment.
The only tricky bit is that "japhetic" isn't actually decomposable into separate "ja" and "phetic" bits; it's simultaneously a direct address and the whole insult.
Miami?
No, it's my Ammy!
Hey, you got your dumb in my pun!
No, you got your pun in my dumb!
This is what reading Finnegan's Wake is like. Or so I'm told. I don't read novels.
Finnegan's Wake reads like Who's On First?
I like how you think, da.
("Ph" and "th" are different sounds, people.)
So for this joke "Japhetic" is pronounced as if it starts with a Y? This isn't German, assmaster.
Just start over with a new joke involving the word "Eurasian".
Notice how I adverted to "jew", Ned. I was pronouncing it with an affricate.
("Ph" and "th" are different sounds, people.)
You have to look to the physiognomy of the whole word, you lumpish dolt.
So you were implying that you are a Mexican who pronounces "You" as "Jew"?
You have to look to the physiognomy of the whole word, you lumpish dolt.
I think this is what they call "pounding the table."
The fact that it wasn't obvious to legendary dunderhead ogged is, to me, a sign of its success. Wouldn't want to pander to the crowd. I only worry about leaving da behind.
Where's teo when you need him to school Ned about phonology?
Fuck that noise. Joyce reading from Finnegans Wake. Anna was, Livia is, and Plurabelle's to be.
Don't worry about me. I'm only weighing you down.
It's perfect for a...what was I called? Incontinent chiasmus?
I wasn't calling you names, heebie, I was diagnosing your condition. (Your prescription.) Don't worry about it too much; I have it, too.
Where's teo when you need him to school Ned about phonology?
I'll pho your nology, bisquitch. I'll have you know that I took 12 of the required 15 credits for minor in linguistics as an undergraduate, and none of them fit my core requirements. I even did a project where I had to use the IPA to transcribe one of my friends speaking in a foreign language. That, by the way, taught me that "Ph" and "th" are really not different sounds, ceteris parabus.
And when other things are equal?
We just linked to the same passage, Ben. Is it really from FW?
Anna Livia Plurabelle is from FW.
All's well, SB. I get a kick out of playing the unlarned bozo on this site. More Bootsy, please!
Sure enough; should have read more of the page I found it on.
You fools. That's Joyce Brothers.
Oh, I knew I shouldn't have thrown in that "ceteris parabus", not actually speaking Latin. Now I'm in over my head.
But anyway, the only way to tell "F" and "Th" apart is by the context, that is, the shape of the other phonemes that surround them.
I get a kick out of playing the unlarned bozo on this site
Oh, you're just pretending.
You've all moved on, I see, but no, there aren't many black people in southern Ontario.
That said, PK does know black people. But whenever we talk about race or racism or civil rights or what have you, I explain it in terms of different mealnin levels. You know, being all PC and wanting to emphasize continuity between people rather than absolute difference. So the other day he asked me about why the darker skinned people couldn't sit at lunch counters, for example.
And yeah, the reason this bothers me is because I realize at some point not knowing what someone means when they say someone is black is going to make him seem like a freak. He's good, however, at national and ethnic distinctions. I suppose at some point I'll have to teach him about race. Sigh.
Don't "f" and "th" have different places of articulation?
the only way to tell "F" and "Th" apart is by the context
Surely this if false. I'd be willing to grant that each sound, taken in isolation, might not be identifiable, but when any given person made both sounds, you'd be able to tell them apart.
pretending...that I don't care what others think. Tell me sweet little lies. I'm not japhetic, am I?
Ogged demonstrates his deep understanding of the meaning of "context".
In other news, B is a bigger hippy than anyone expected.
the only way to tell "F" and "Th" apart is by the context
What on earth are you talking about?
180: That would make a nice ringtone, which occurs to me only because I've been trying for over an hour to make this my ringtone. Verizon, however, has chosen to disable the features of the RAZR that would have made that possible. Verizon sucks.
Ben, you undipped dick, the kind of context I described is not what Ned said he meant by the term.
Check out what you find when you go to piratesofthecaribbean.com.
That said, PK does know black people.
I parsed this as I would, "for the brain knows trolleys". This rabbit hole is a deep-ass son of a bitch.
199: Make a "F" sound. Then make a "Th" sound. You'll notice they sound exactly the same. But in the context of a word, you can tell them apart by clues from the placement of the other phonemes that surround them.
This is also true of "M" and "N" in isolation, at least for me.
At the risk of offending ogged..."thart." "Fart." Serious difference.
197: hippie
BTW, the Decemberists' Jenny Conlee is super-cute, and John Emerson is less fearsome than I expected.
You'll notice they sound exactly the same
No, they don't. You'll all eventually come around to understanding that my 194 is correct.
"thart." "Fart." Serious difference.
It's a very, very slight difference. The difference between "Fart" and "Sart" is much bigger.
Also, I think 203 should read "This son of a bitch is a deep rabbit ass-hole".
206: I have heard from reliable sources that Emerson is positively cuddly.
What are we noticing at pirate soft hecaribbean?
I pronounce f and th differently. Just saying.
Also, I think 203 should read "This son of a bitch is a deep rabbit ass-hole".
Dude, your chiasmusses have little baby chiasmusses. Did you click the Bootsy? Click more.
You people need to open your minds. It really is almost impossible to distinguish them when you don't have other clues, such as understanding the language you're listening to, or being aware of which one you are pronouncing.
213: I just thought it was kinda cool that someone had swiped the url for their travel photos (which is what I assume that is).
F and Th don't sound alike, unless you're my kid.
Okay, Ned, I know you took all those courses in undergrad, but seriously...the /th/ sound requires you to put your tongue between your teeth, whereas the /f/ sound requires you to press your upper teeth against your bottom lip.
I don't know what "chiasmus" means, but I damn well know its plural isn't "chiasmusses". I appoint myself ranking linguist in teo's absence.
"f" is labiodental and "th" is interdental.
Okay, Ned, I know you took all those courses in undergrad, but seriously...the /th/ sound requires you to put your tongue between your teeth, whereas the /f/ sound requires you to press your upper teeth against your bottom lip.
I'm talking about the SOUND. I know you can distinguish them by doing a CAT scan of the jaw area.
Or what da said but with, like, more technical vocabulary.
"Cryptic Ned" is actually the pseudonym of my cousin, Smocha Crackpipe.
"impossible to distinguish in a foreign language" != "the same sound." Just sayin.
"194." s/b "194 incorporated by reference."
All who fink fey sound fe same can thuck oth.
I don't know what "chiasmus" means
SEK does.
(Not you, Ned. You'n me are still cool.)
222 is beautiful.
I was about to tell SB that it was his worst joke ever. We can't agree on everything, da.
221: I'm what they call an "organic intellectual."
230. Damn. I was going to announce that you are the male me.
I was about to tell SB that it was his worst joke ever.
Have I told you about my pirate friend, Shiva?
No, tell us about your pirate friend, Shiva.
No you haven't, and stop calling him "Shiva."
I have a bad feeling about this pirate.
I have told you about my pirate friend, Shiva.
A feeling that his last name is Metimbers.
Anyone else reading the title of this post and thinking of "I found this essence rare"?
No matter how you try to prepare for catastrohe, the reality is always worse than you feared.
DA's the only one I care about anyway.
Ben, an older woman would only be interested in you for twisted, reprehensible reasons.
Ned's crack phonology shouldn't blind us to the fact that the first sentence of 183 was very funny.
Yeah, "I'll pho your nology" made me laugh.
Ben, an older woman would only be interested in you for twisted, reprehensible reasons.
No doubt. But they might be interesting reasons.
Those aren't his reasons, ogged, and it's a wonder why you think older women prefer them that way.
CMRs are nothing to be ashamed of.
Have you seen the South Park episode where the little Canadian adopted five-year-old has an affair with his kindergarten teacher? Hilarious.
I have to give Nerve money to actually make use of these personals everyone's always talking about? Well I never!
In January 2001, Letourneau's father died. She asked to attend his funeral, but her request was denied.
This strikes me as barbaric.
You can tell I'm Ann Althouse, because it just struck me that way. Zing!
Commenting on blogs is a good use of my time.
Am I the only one who has no idea who Ann Althouse is?
Listening to the acoustic guitar stylings of Harris Newman is a good use of my time.
DA is the least dedicated semi-lurker ever.
This blog has been all about Ann Althouse this week, and you don't know who she is?
A choice phrase from Cigarettes: "wizard acupuncturist".
I was pleased to see that "undipped dick" does not appear in google.
When people talk about Althouse I just hear "blah blah blah blah blah."
This blog is not all about Althouse, it's all about w-lfs-n. Seriously, he must get a serious ego boost from this place.
Ben, you had your window of opportunity.
When you download limewire, you have to choose between two check boxes:
1. I might use LimeWire BASIC for copyright infringement.
2. I will not use LimeWire BASIC for copyright infringement.
I assert that this is even funnier than porn sites which request that you click a checkbox to confirm that you have reached the age of majority. Also, I haven't had to lie about that for a long time.
You called me a twelve-year-old like, five minutes after meeting me. That's not much of a window.
At the KMRIA show Jenny Conlee sang Cait O'Riordan's "I'm a man you don't meet every day" very nicely. She also sang the Kisty Maccoll song too.
261: The whole LeTourneau - Schmitz family was barbaric.
Cuddly? Hm.
Apropos of 119, I would like to note that my exboyfriendbeforelast had me (and still does, I presume) in his phone as "Saracen Dog." I approved of this.
Maybe not "cuddly", Emerson. "Smiley."
I feel bad about picking on you that day. I blame Megan.
feel bad about picking on Ben, that is.
Apropos of nothing, I kind of miss "Bostoniangirl Bostoniangirl".
282: You mean the author function known as "Bostoniangirl" or someone's practice (of which I was not aware) of signing as "Bostoniangirl Bostoniangirl"?
Great Clownman impression, da! Now, moving on.
A-and sometimes the author function would sign herself that way.
It was a weird browser error that vexed her. I'm finding it charming in retrospect.
This strikes me as barbaric.
Well, in the courts defense, the first time they let her out for good behavior, she promptly went and got herselft pregnant by that kid again. I'm wouldn't be inclined to cut her any slack either.
286 -- You're up to shenanigans!
258: You don't have to spend money, w/d. If you upload a bunch of photos you get free points.
So, how's that insomnia going, da?
I saw the most awesome documentary ever on BBC a couple of years ago, about this Mormon forger who faked a whole bunch of (Joseph Smith?) writings, about talking frogs and shit.
Ah, Mark Hoffman and the Salamander letter. Good stuff. (except for the murder part)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Hofmann
feel bad about picking on Ben, that is.
misplaced guilt, if ever there was such
279: A friend's daughter has her ex-boyfriend [the physics grad student who omitted for a year to mention that he had a wife and a new baby] on her cell as "Goatfucker".
Her mother is trying to think of suitable retribution. It may involve large men with baseball bats.
298: Oh, it wasn't for retribution. The "Saracen Dog" was from when we were dating.
298: Oh come on -- you don't have to share every single detail of your life with your girlfriend.
301 - It's more common than you think.
302: It's a mandatory phrase once one has been to law school.
Have we plans for Friday yet, or is it all in the hands of M. Leblanc, Saracen Dog tho' she may be. [Shouldn't that be "Saracen Bitch"?]
footnote to 55 -- I just remembered my h.s. calc teacher told a similar joke except the variable was cabin.
on the /f/ /th/ disagreement: a soft /f/ sounds just almost identical to a liquid /th/ in isolation, and hard /f/ (which we don't use in english - to make it, just put extra force behind a regular /f/) sounds a lot like an interdentel /th/.
Jesus. Okay, yes, f and th are indeed different sounds both articulatorily (which should be obvious) and acoustically, although the difference is too subtle to show up on spectrograms, which is I assume what Ned was talking about. And while this dispute was going on I was at a party at the house of two people who may or may not be a lesbian couple.
lesbian couples are the coolest
(anyone pedant enough to point out that I shouldn't generalize over groups can keep it to themselves)
I'm just popping in to say that after sleeping on it and then revisiting the issue this afternoon, I no longer think that Ned's position on "f" and "th" is totally out there.
My roommate no doubt wonders why I've been muttering "thart, fart" under my breath today.
Thank you! Your mind is now open and in a state of readiness.
Ned's not totally wrong, but he's not distinguishing between the various ways to look at the issue. I assume he's talking about acoustic phonetics, in which it really is basically impossible to distinguish between the two sounds (as it is when listening to a language one doesn't know well), but there's also the articulatory perspective, in which they are certainly different.
I agree that Ned is still wrong, but I no longer think he's on crack exactly.
There's a kernel of truth to what he's saying, but in the specific disputes between him and w-lfs-n last night Ben was definitely in the right.
the physics grad student who omitted for a year to mention that he had a wife and a new baby
How does someone manage to keep this a secret for so long? Did the wife and baby live in a different locale? I would get suspicious if after a week I hadn't been to the guy's place.
who omitted for a year to mention that he had a wife and a new baby
My honey's father did this. The father was almost 70 years old at the time, so some of the excuses I can imagine for a grad student don't apply.
There's a kernel of truth to what he's saying, but in the specific disputes between him and w-lfs-n last night Ben was definitely in the right.
Ben never said anything I disagreed with. Of course I know they have different places of articulation. But as you say, they can't be distinguished with a sonogram, and without any context (that is, without other sounds surrounding them) they can't be distinguished.
Which is to say, they sound the same, all else being equal. And when I was trying to transcribe rapidly spoken Albanian in IPA, I couldn't tell them apart, even though they were surrounded by vowels whose shape should have distinguished them.
The thing to do in that circumstance is to stare at the speaker's lips. They really are different, the difference is just too subtle for the recording technology we have; people can distinguish them (by sight, context, whatever). If they were truly indistinguishable, why would they even exist as separate phonemes?
How does someone manage to keep this a secret for so long?
Yes, how? My interest is purely intellectual of course.
people can distinguish them (by sight, context, whatever). If they were truly indistinguishable, why would they even exist as separate phonemes?
That experience made me think that in some situations (fast talking) they are too similar to tell apart unless we can comprehend the content of what's being said. I can tell "thread" from "Fred", but maybe not two nonsense words with those two sounds being the only difference between them.
Sure, but that's a far cry from saying they're "really not different sounds."
In isolation, they're really not different sounds. By "in isolation" I mean just make one sound, and then the other, divorced from any context at all. It's the context that makes them distinguishable.
I can't believe this discussion is still going on. Time to die.
Also, you wouldn't know the best way to get to Teoville from Pittsburgh, would you? I'm pretty sure that going through Rochester is not the best way, but I went that way once because I'm very suspicious of non-expressway highways.
By "in isolation" I mean just make one sound, and then the other, divorced from any context at all. It's the context that makes them distinguishable.
See, this is what I'm not getting about your argument. Of course they're different sounds; you make them by positioning your lips and tongue differently (and pace you somewhere above, that does matter). They're very similar, and difficult to distinguish, but they're certainly different even without contextual cues.
Never been to Pittsburgh, but Rochester seems way out of the way. I'd suggest taking I-86 to NY 13.
