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You are here: Home > Forum > A Place of Safety > General Talk > Is it off putting to you...
Babies have butts  [message #31178 is a reply to message #31175] Fri, 21 April 2006 02:12 Go to previous messageGo to next message
pimple is currently offline  pimple

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Beautiful women have asses! (In an effort to be ecumenical, and considering the premise of this board) Some men might also qualify.

Regards-
Simon



Joy Peace and Tranquility

Joyceility
Re: Hey, Simon, that was a bit harsh ...  [message #31179 is a reply to message #31175] Fri, 21 April 2006 02:22 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Brian1407a is currently offline  Brian1407a

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Actually I have a pet pterodactyl.



I believe in Karma....what you give is what you get returned........

Affirmation........Savage Garden
Brian- what an opening for rude and nasty comebacks!  [message #31180 is a reply to message #31179] Fri, 21 April 2006 02:28 Go to previous messageGo to next message
pimple is currently offline  pimple

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My mind is overflowing with all the things I could say, none of which I'm willing to say. (I don't even know if you've reached majority yet.)

Don't tempt me!

Regards
Simon



Joy Peace and Tranquility

Joyceility
Re: Babies have butts  [message #31181 is a reply to message #31178] Fri, 21 April 2006 02:29 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Brian1407a is currently offline  Brian1407a

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I actually have no idea how ass and butt came to mean the same thing. An ass is actually an animal (Jack Ass) If you call someone an ass, they are obstenate and stuborn or just plain dumb.



I believe in Karma....what you give is what you get returned........

Affirmation........Savage Garden
Re: Brian- what an opening for rude and nasty comebacks!  [message #31182 is a reply to message #31180] Fri, 21 April 2006 02:33 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Brian1407a is currently offline  Brian1407a

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Oh dont hold back Simon. I have a very extensive vulgar vocabulary. You have never met my grands and cousins. I have two cousins who are brothers. Their Idea of fun is to shoot each other in the legs with a 22 rifle.



I believe in Karma....what you give is what you get returned........

Affirmation........Savage Garden
Nah, that's not a pterodactyl ...  [message #31183 is a reply to message #31179] Fri, 21 April 2006 02:37 Go to previous messageGo to next message
cossie is currently offline  cossie

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... it's a dead parrot. A polygon!!!



For a' that an' a' that,
It's comin' yet for a' that,
That man tae man, the worrld o'er
Shall brithers be, for a' that.
Re: Brian- what an opening for rude and nasty comebacks!  [message #31184 is a reply to message #31182] Fri, 21 April 2006 02:47 Go to previous messageGo to next message
pimple is currently offline  pimple

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OK, explain the random neural firing that got us from lewd to brothers shooting each other. If it is sexual at all, there is an outside chance I'll use it in my next paper in abnormal psych.

Do you think that vulgar and funny coincide very often? Rude and nasty tend, to my way of thinking, to be funnier.

Regards-
Simon



Joy Peace and Tranquility

Joyceility
Re: Nah, that's not a pterodactyl ...  [message #31185 is a reply to message #31183] Fri, 21 April 2006 02:48 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Brian1407a is currently offline  Brian1407a

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Damn!!! I thought it looked awful small for a pterodactyl.



I believe in Karma....what you give is what you get returned........

Affirmation........Savage Garden
Ten points to Brian, I think!  [message #31186 is a reply to message #31185] Fri, 21 April 2006 02:54 Go to previous messageGo to next message
cossie is currently offline  cossie

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No Message Body



For a' that an' a' that,
It's comin' yet for a' that,
That man tae man, the worrld o'er
Shall brithers be, for a' that.
Re: Nah, that's not a pterodactyl ...  [message #31187 is a reply to message #31183] Fri, 21 April 2006 02:55 Go to previous messageGo to next message
pimple is currently offline  pimple

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When it is sitting on your shoulder, watch out that the pterodoodle doesnt get on your shirt.

S



Joy Peace and Tranquility

Joyceility
POINTS!!  [message #31188 is a reply to message #31186] Fri, 21 April 2006 02:59 Go to previous messageGo to next message
pimple is currently offline  pimple

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Damn - nobody told me we were playing for points. Bottle caps or match sticks are one thing but Points...

S



Joy Peace and Tranquility

Joyceility
Don't judge it too harshly  [message #31189 is a reply to message #31185] Fri, 21 April 2006 03:03 Go to previous messageGo to next message
pimple is currently offline  pimple

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Brian1407a wrote:
> Damn!!! I thought it looked awful small for a pterodactyl.

You haven't seen it when its angry.

S



Joy Peace and Tranquility

Joyceility
Re: Brian- what an opening for rude and nasty comebacks!  [message #31190 is a reply to message #31184] Fri, 21 April 2006 04:08 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Brian1407a is currently offline  Brian1407a

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Just wanted you to know what kind of family I have. I certainly dont have virgin ears. As far as vulgar and funny, I know some choice phrases that are absolutely funny. Now if you want rude and nasty I can do that too, altho Im really a nice boy and try to shy away from that, cause I have been told its a sign of ignorance.



I believe in Karma....what you give is what you get returned........

Affirmation........Savage Garden
What an interesting thread!  [message #31191 is a reply to message #31187] Fri, 21 April 2006 04:13 Go to previous messageGo to next message
JFR is currently offline  JFR

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As the great Irish playwright/philosopher, George Bernard Shaw, put it in his own epithetic way: "England and America are two countries divided by a common language".

(Note to Simon: George 'Bernard' Shaw accented his middle name on the first syllable.)

Historical note to Cossie (about 'rebellious colonials'): at the time of the American war of independence the Prime Minister was Lord North. In a speech in the House of Lords he said, "I beg to inform the house that our American colonies are revolting." To which the house responded, "Hear, hear!"

And, so that he will not feel left out, a note for Deeeej too: I live in a country where there is an official 'academy' whose task it is to guide the development of the language. This is in order to ensure that with the revival of a language that was moribund for 2000 years not too many non-semitic (i.e. English) roots would burrow their way in. They have done a remarkable job and have been very successful. It is therefore perhaps ironic that the native word for this 'academy' is 'accademia'.

Now that I have delivered myself of all those gems of useless information you all understand how lucky you were that I have been absent for a few days. Unfortunately for you, all good things must come to an end.



The paradox has often been noted that the United States, founded in secularism, is now the most religiose country in Christendom, while England, with an established church headed by its constitutional monarch, is among the least. (Richard Dawkins, 2006)
Thank Goodness for the Time Difference!  [message #31192 is a reply to message #31191] Fri, 21 April 2006 04:29 Go to previous messageGo to next message
JFR is currently offline  JFR

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It affords me the opportunity to correct 'epithetic' to 'epigrammatic' (or even 'epigrammatical') before Deeeej wakes up! Phew!



The paradox has often been noted that the United States, founded in secularism, is now the most religiose country in Christendom, while England, with an established church headed by its constitutional monarch, is among the least. (Richard Dawkins, 2006)
Re: Is it off putting to you...  [message #31194 is a reply to message #31170] Fri, 21 April 2006 06:31 Go to previous messageGo to next message
electroken is currently offline  electroken

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I am not picking on you David, but just found this a good place top insert a comment. Yeah I can't imagine you would normally be expected to hear of Johnny Carson and some others. It is known that most announcers in TV and radio do have what Southerners in the US or Northerners (from the Eastern part of the US) would say was a mid-western accent. It is mainly mostly kind of neutral in pronounciation and seems to follow more closely the "dictionary" pronounciation which is given there.

What I wanted to actually say was that in my lifetime I have listened to many speakers of english who have come from different coutries and of course all the different areas of the United States as well, and these people have had some very different accents. I think what most have been trying to say about the english language is that it is so very versatile and the pronounciation of the words can be brutally mangled but still be able to be understood by other english speaking people. I hear accents in the US ranging from a deep southern drawl to the New England twang and all the way to some of the black cultural slang that many speak. Most of the time I can understand it all if spoken slowly enough. In fact what gives me the most trouble of any of the pronounciation of english is the "cockney accent" (forgive me if I spelled that wrong or am offending anyone by bringing it up)which I hear in many British movies I see here in the US. One that comes to mind is about a gay boy who comes out in his school but I cant remember the name of it. This ability to mispronounce the words and still make yourself understood is its strongest points in my view.

I would also like to point out that I learned most of the syntax of English when I attempted to learn German in college. Those two languages were almost identical at one time (700 years ago?) I am told. I could see the whole layout of German in my text including what they called the "Du Sprechen" form of it, which actually was called the familiar form. This exists also in English but is hardly ever used anymore except with some groups in the US called Quakers. That form was used primarily in the Bible of course which was to imply a father speaking to his children. Thus, we had the Thee and Thou and whilst for instance. I just know that someone is not going to believe me on this so I suggest they consult their bible if they have one or at least talk to a linguist who knows both languages.

While the German language has mainly maintained all these many parts of speech and teh strict gramatical rules which went with them, this was not so true in English. We tended to drop the use of the familiar form and the evidence of gender in the articles and adjectives (German it is 'der, die, and das' according to gender, whereas in English it is simply 'the'). Nouns in German must be memorized as to their gender in order to conjugate verbs etc where in English we seem to flounder about with some kind of rule-free kind of chaos. Well the rules are also their in English too but are overlooked so much we all tend to have a lot of trouble learning this. Our spelling suffers tremendously because we do not learn all these rules.



Ken
Re: Hey, Simon, that was a bit harsh ...  [message #31195 is a reply to message #31175] Fri, 21 April 2006 07:45 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Nigel is currently offline  Nigel

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Re cossie:
Isn't 'ass' another word for donkey and 'butt' a large barrel for collecting rainwater?

Hugs
N



I dream of boys with big bulges in their trousers,
Never of girls with big bulges in their blouses.

…and look forward to meeting you in Cóito.
Sources  [message #31197 is a reply to message #31171] Fri, 21 April 2006 12:23 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Deeej is currently offline  Deeej

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My sources?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Dictionary_of_the_English_Language

"In spite of whatever shortcomings it might have had, the dictionary was far and away the best of its day, a milestone in English-language lexicography to which all modern dictionaries owe some gratitude. Johnson's dictionary was still considered authoritative until the appearance of the Oxford English Dictionary at the end of the nineteenth century."
Re: No Boss  [message #31198 is a reply to message #31169] Fri, 21 April 2006 12:26 Go to previous messageGo to next message
jaycracker is currently offline  jaycracker

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I seem to remember we used a "Nuttall's" English dictionary for years!

There's an online Cambridge dictionary too. We don't keep all our students at Oxford. Wink
Re: Brian- what an opening for rude and nasty comebacks!  [message #31199 is a reply to message #31190] Fri, 21 April 2006 12:35 Go to previous messageGo to next message
pimple is currently offline  pimple

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Greetings

To my way of thinking, it is only ignorant when you rely on it, as in your standard response to everything is "F.Y." or some variation on the theme. Otherwise, when interjected sparingly, it just adds a nice shake up to the mix.

Regards
Simon



Joy Peace and Tranquility

Joyceility
Babies have *bottoms*  [message #31200 is a reply to message #31181] Fri, 21 April 2006 12:36 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Deeej is currently offline  Deeej

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In English we make a distinction between them:

- ass: a donkey (short 'a')
- arse: a bottom (long 'a')

I assume (though I may be wrong) that because Americans spell both the same way (due to some wonderful spelling reform, no doubt), they assume they are the same word. In fact, they're not.

Unfortunately the American influence has wreaked its havoc on British English; it used to be fine to call someone a silly ass, but now very few people do, presumably at least partly because of the risk of confusion with American English.

David
Re: Is it off putting to you...  [message #31202 is a reply to message #31194] Fri, 21 April 2006 13:06 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Deeej is currently offline  Deeej

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>In fact what gives me the most trouble of any of the pronounciation of english is the "cockney accent" (forgive me if I spelled that wrong or am offending anyone by bringing it up)which I hear in many British movies I see here in the US.

Odd -- I don't think there are very many films with characters featuring a Cockney accent. In fact, the Cockney accent has been fast dying out in London in lieu of "Estuary English" (a sloppy mixture of RP and SE England regional accents).

In fact, the most infamous Cockney accent is the Dick van Dyke's appalling accent in Mary Poppins -- and he is, of course, American.

Of course, there are also a whole lot of other regional accents -- especially Northern accents, Welsh accents, West Country accents, Scottish accents, Irish accents, etc. I do hope you're not confusing them!

>This ability to mispronounce the words and still make yourself understood is its strongest points in my view.

We misprounounce the words over here? Prounouce differently is the politically correct term, I think. Smile

>I would also like to point out that I learned most of the syntax of English when I attempted to learn German in college. Those two languages were almost identical at one time (700 years ago?)

As I understand it Old English (Anglo-Saxon) was an early form of German. Though I'm not an expert on these things. But you are certainly wrong to say it was only 700 years ago -- more like 1400 or 1500 years ago, as I understand it. Chaucer was writing nearly 700 years ago, and he was unmistakeably writing a form of English (Middle English), even if it is difficult to decipher nowadays.

>Nouns in German must be memorized as to their gender in order to conjugate verbs etc where in English we seem to flounder about with some kind of rule-free kind of chaos. Well the rules are also their in English too but are overlooked so much we all tend to have a lot of trouble learning this.

Nouns in Modern English don't have genders. The rules might have been there once but they certainly aren't there now.

>Our spelling suffers tremendously because we do not learn all these rules.

I've never had trouble with spelling, and I've got by with just the rules as we have them today. Good spelling is just a case of looking at every word and memorising how it is spelt. There are not rules for many of the more complicated or esoteric words, so going by the rule book won't help you.

David
Re: Is it off putting to you...  [message #31207 is a reply to message #31202] Fri, 21 April 2006 15:41 Go to previous messageGo to next message
electroken is currently offline  electroken

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"Nouns in Modern English don't have genders. The rules might have been there once but they certainly aren't there now"

I will beg to differ with you David. Nouns do have gender, of that I am absolutely certain. I will however admit that the date that German and English were almost identical were probably at the time you state or maybe even earlier, but that was not my point. I was only pointing out that it wa a fact that the languages were that way at one point.

Spelling does have rules even if you do not memorize them or are even aware of them. It is much the same as someone not being aware that there is a law of gravity; it makes no difference whether or not he knows as the rules of it will still apply.



Ken
Cossie, I'd appreciate your input!  [message #31208 is a reply to message #31207] Fri, 21 April 2006 16:29 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Deeej is currently offline  Deeej

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>Nouns do have gender, of that I am absolutely certain.

Give me a word, in modern English, that has a gender, then. In fact, if you say, "nouns do have gender", without qualifying which ones do and which ones don't, you should be able to give me dozens.

I don't mean a word that has a biological sex (man, woman, dog, bitch etc.). That is not the same thing at all.

Sometimes people will refer to an otherwise entirely asexual objects as "she" rather than "it", but I would argue that this is more of a case of anthropomorphism than genuine assignment of gender. If we were using formal English, we would call a car "it". If a Frenchman was using formal French, he would call a car "her" (la voiture).

>I will beg to differ with you David.

You may differ with me as much as you like, but, as always, please give evidence before expecting to convince me.

>Spelling does have rules even if you do not memorize them or are even aware of them.

I'm perfectly aware there are some general rules that apply in most cases. I never said there weren't. However, you can never be sure of getting it absolutely right unless you have seen that word in print in the past and memorised its spelling. That's the only way to be sure.

David
Re: No Boss  [message #31210 is a reply to message #31167] Fri, 21 April 2006 18:55 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

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Simon Rutlust wrote:
> Timmy wrote:
> > Nuclear! Only if you're George Bush
> >
> > Aluminum Don't understand your issue

The element is aluminium
> >
> > Anesthesiologist what is it on your side??

Anaesthetist
> >
> > fetus You prefer dead baby?

foetus
> >
> > As for purses and pocket books! Wallet & handbag
> >
> > And homely means ugly? No, 'homely' is the accepted meaning - sorta like me (and you?)
>
> Do I need to point out that Webster standardized American spelling about fifty years ahead of the OED!
>
> Regards
> Simon



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: Is it off putting to you...  [message #31214 is a reply to message #31165] Sat, 22 April 2006 00:04 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

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To be fair, we have learnt to tolerate and even understand the American usage and abusage of English. We can accept almost all of the unusual spellings, though losing the double L in travelling, Modelling etc has no logic.

The main things that we find bizarre is the deification of two things: Flags and Presidents. A flag is a flag. So burn it, deface it, or just fly it. We make hats and underwear out of ours. And we would do the same with a president.

Odd phraseology "We were going to have a meeting, but I blew him off" is unusual in our land. It implies oral sex.

Our "fanny" is far more targeted that an American fanny. In th eealry 1970s there was a gilr "rock" band form the USA named "Fanny" that toured the UK. Good grief!

We tend to eschew checked trousers, especially in the "one size fits all" varieties.

We also have no idea what a "homecoming Queen" is, but are sure Sleepy Jean was a fine one

Fraternities and sororities are an unusal concept, too.

But we get used to all this and enjoy stories by American authors if they are good stories.



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Yay! Another fat consultancy fee!  [message #31215 is a reply to message #31208] Sat, 22 April 2006 01:37 Go to previous messageGo to next message
cossie is currently offline  cossie

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One of the strangest things about languages is that many of them, and especially English, have progressively simplified their rules of usage; the further back you track, the more formal the rules become. I've always found that odd; I would instinctively expect the change to be in the opposite direction as linguistic skills developed. In any event, almost all the languages of Europe and Western Asia derive from a proto-language customarily known as Indo-European. This predates written records, but can be reconstructed from the evidence of the languages derived from it - a motley bunch ranging from English in the West to Indian Sanskrit in the East. The immediate ancestor of modern English is Anglo-Saxon, and the ancestor of modern German is Old High German. They are fairly closely related, but significantly different, so the two must have divided well before the Dark Ages; I can't say precisely when without a good deal of research, but it was probably 2000 years ago, and possibly a good deal earlier.

Anglo-Saxon abandoned noun genders at an early stage in its development, except for nouns indicating sex (man and woman, dog and bitch) and certain customary usages - the treatment of a ship as female goes back a long way. The reason for this isn't absolutely clear, but gender does not seem to have been considered particularly relevant in the scheme of things. The other big change which happened around the time that Anglo-Saxon was fusing into English was the almost total abandonment of noun declensions, though they survive in pronouns: I/me/my and he/him/his, for example. Many languages, including German, use declension to indicate meaning. As a general rule in German, the verb goes to the end, and it is the declension of the noun (or the definite or indefinite article) which tells you which is the subject and which the object. Let's suppose that the object case is indicated by adding '-en' to a word. Using modern English spelling, the sentence 'King Queenen saw' would mean 'The King saw the Queen' whilst 'Kingen Queen saw' would mean the Queen saw the King. The Anglo-Saxon dialects of Northern England - more Anglian than Saxon - used this method, but the Saxon dialects of the South used the modern English method of indicating the subject and object by their position in a sentence. As a general rule, in the normal 'active' mode, the subject precedes the verb and the object follows it. So 'Cossie hit Deeej' leaves you in no doubt as to who did the hitting! As the English nation came into being, one or other system would 'win' and the other would 'lose'; in the event, the Saxon version triumphed.

So the English language became structurally simple and relatively intelligible, even to those whose knowledge of vocabulary was limited. It was well-suited to become the language of commerce, because - as other posters have suggested - it remains intelligible even when pretty comprehensively mangled!

Some similarities with German survived well into the medieval period; the 'ge-' prefix to the perfect tense of German verbs still survived as a 'y-' prefix in several English verbs at the time of Chaucer, and the equivalent of the familiar singular form of the pronoun 'thou/thee/thine', corresponding to the German 'du' and the French 'tu', was in general use until the early modern period. In fact, it still survives in many Northern English dialects today. The Cumbrian greeting 'Hoos't'a gaan on' (How are you going on?) even preserves the germanic 'bist du' (are you) rather than the Anglo-Saxon 'art thou'. Fascinating stuff! (Well, I think it is!)

Oh, and there are plenty of rules of grammar, syntax and vocabulary - they occupy 200 pages of 'The Oxford Guide to the English Language'. The trouble is, the present rate of change is such that this kind of publication is outdated by the time it reaches the shops. I cannot therefore disagree with Deeej's conclusion that the only practical way to learn how to spell correctly is to learn the spelling of each word individually.



For a' that an' a' that,
It's comin' yet for a' that,
That man tae man, the worrld o'er
Shall brithers be, for a' that.
Ooh, Ta! I do so like primroses!  [message #31216 is a reply to message #31176] Sat, 22 April 2006 01:58 Go to previous messageGo to next message
cossie is currently offline  cossie

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As I don't really believe in reincarnation, I don't suppose I've ever been a teacher! It was actually my intended career in this life, but due to a life-threatening illness just as I completed my university courses I was obliged to spend a year contemplating my navel (since you ask, I have a very nice navel!). I came up with two conclusions. Firstly (and I've said this before on the board, and I apologise to Sailor for the second time!) I decided that - much as I'd like to spend my life working with kids - I couldn't face the idea of spending 40-odd years in the company of other teachers. Secondly, I discovered that other careers were significantly more profitable!

One way or another, I've always had a bit of a flair for communication, and I did spend several years translating fiscal law into intelligible, bite-size chunks. I suppose that, in a way, that was a form of teaching. Over the years, I've developed a healthy loathing of buzz-words which are designed to confuse rather than to inform.

As regards humour, believe me, I'll bait you as much as you bait me. All I need is the assurance that we both understand that we're doing it for fun!

Can I close with one of my favourite quotes? The American journalist and novelist Paul Gallico (1897-1976) ('The Snow Goose', 'The Poseidon Adventure') had this to say about the difference between British and American rudeness:

'No-one can be as calculatedly rude as the British, which amazes Americans, who do not understand the studied insult and can only offer abuse as a substitute' (New York Times, 14 January 1962)

Best regards!

Cossie.



For a' that an' a' that,
It's comin' yet for a' that,
That man tae man, the worrld o'er
Shall brithers be, for a' that.
Nigel, you know that, and I know that ...  [message #31217 is a reply to message #31195] Sat, 22 April 2006 02:00 Go to previous messageGo to next message
cossie is currently offline  cossie

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... but we're dealing with rebellious colonials here!



For a' that an' a' that,
It's comin' yet for a' that,
That man tae man, the worrld o'er
Shall brithers be, for a' that.
Afterthought ...  [message #31218 is a reply to message #31216] Sat, 22 April 2006 02:03 Go to previous messageGo to next message
cossie is currently offline  cossie

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... which should have been in the previous post! What, exactly, is a BBS?



For a' that an' a' that,
It's comin' yet for a' that,
That man tae man, the worrld o'er
Shall brithers be, for a' that.
From the early days of CompuServe  [message #31220 is a reply to message #31218] Sat, 22 April 2006 04:26 Go to previous messageGo to next message
pimple is currently offline  pimple

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BBS was shorthand for bulletin board(s), which was the text based name for what is now a 'forum' that predate the internet. There were a number of dial into boards, one that was quite famous was 'The Well' in Sausalito, CA. AOL and Prodigy were also first dial-ups that shifted to the web in about '93.

I marvel at where we have gone in a really short span of years! My first computer was a NorthStar, it was a semi-kit requiring some assembly, and I remember my 8 inch single sided, single density 128K floppy with great fondness.

Cossie; like you, I once thought I'd be a teacher, there is nothing quite so exciting as the potential of young minds, but quickly discovered that I couldn't tolerate teachers. Over the years I've found ways to meet my teaching needs without benefit of classrooms.

Regards-
Simon



Joy Peace and Tranquility

Joyceility
Re: Nigel, you know that, and I know that ...  [message #31221 is a reply to message #31217] Sat, 22 April 2006 05:28 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Brian1407a is currently offline  Brian1407a

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If we agreed with everything we wouldnt be rebellious colonials, or really cute adorable grandsons.



I believe in Karma....what you give is what you get returned........

Affirmation........Savage Garden
Re: Cossie, I'd appreciate your input!  [message #31224 is a reply to message #31208] Sat, 22 April 2006 23:00 Go to previous messageGo to next message
electroken is currently offline  electroken

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It is a wasted exercise on my part to provide proof for anything I would attest to here as I am positive I cannot find a credible source for anything I have ever learned - at least nothing that would be accepted as credible here on this board. Therefore I will keep my mouth shut from now on.
It is almost amazing to me that I have not made a credible point on this board as to anything I know or believe so I must conclude that I dont belong here. If someone can prove to me why I am wrong, I would welcome it.
I will have to admit that obviously every person who has taught me all the things I think I know has been lying to me or wrong on every point as I have been shown to be wrong at every point in my posts here. I will post again if I can ever find something I know which is correct. Sorry to have bothered everyone here with my opbviously unintelligent mutterings. I am still trying to think of something I might know that is correct. How about parallel lines never meet? Oh yes, sorry I cant prove that and dont have a source handy for reference.



Ken
Re: Cossie, I'd appreciate your input!  [message #31225 is a reply to message #31224] Sat, 22 April 2006 23:18 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Brian1407a is currently offline  Brian1407a

On fire!
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Messages: 1104



Please I am not being a smart ass. A lot of things I thought was so, I have been told were wrong. I dont get upset and act like a child (course I could cause I am). If something I know, turns out to be wrong, then Im better off for being shown that im wrong. I see very intelligent men discussing the pros and cons of diff subjects. I see some arguing but then again I see friendship and caring amoung all of us. Shoot I even got a decient Grandfather out of it.



I believe in Karma....what you give is what you get returned........

Affirmation........Savage Garden
Re: Cossie, I'd appreciate your input!  [message #31227 is a reply to message #31208] Sat, 22 April 2006 23:22 Go to previous messageGo to next message
electroken is currently offline  electroken

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I missed telling you all where I learned those points about english. I learned these things while taking German at the University of Kansas. I had a course in english Syntax by a Dr French in the summer of 1959 at the Navy Prep School in Bainbridge Maryland. That was the first time I heard the word syntax but I did learn a lot there.

When taking the German lessons I took one course from a lady who was a native born German and who had a doctorate in English and German. The graduate student who taught a subsequent class was a language major who told us about the roots of German and English coming from a common root called Germanic (Actually West Germanic in my text book)and that was a branch of the primitive germanic language. North Germanic became Swedish, Danish, etc.

The teacher I had told us that the languages were virtually indentical in that first branch and I can certainly see the similarities in Danish and German myself. He told us that the nouns all had gender at one time but that was lost in the anglo saxon branch after a time. I guess he must have been lying to us. Anyway he said it helps to learn gender of German nouns as the declenction of the noun follows absolute rules and the same word in English will also follow the same rule for word endings etc. the patterns for feminine nouns and their adjectives etc were the same for each gender and the English equivalant would also take on the same forms as the other similar gender nouns. I know I cant explain the properly but it made sense to me and it worked too. I used it and it helped me in English with all those words. All the irregular nouns in English were also that way in German and it helped me a great deal with my English as well as my German. Sorry if it worked for me and was still incorrect, but I cant help that!

Of course all of this must be false as it is something I know.



Ken
Don;t get your nouns in a knot!  [message #31228 is a reply to message #31224] Sat, 22 April 2006 23:52 Go to previous messageGo to next message
pimple is currently offline  pimple

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Greetings-

Almost everyone here seems to suffer the disadvantage of youth: believing that academics actually matter in the real world. We are of the age that deludes itself into believing that what is important is 'life experience'. Somewhere the lines cross and there is an event moment called reality.

My guess is that Cossie isn't a spring chicken, but he admits to language as a hobby, and if I were ever eloquent, it would surely be about my passions. So cut him some slack and talk to him about why "black boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly" the only thing I remember from my electronics class the year that bell labs announced the transistor. (Cossie, I'll award points to anyone who knows the answer)

Regards
Simon



Joy Peace and Tranquility

Joyceility
This is silly  [message #31229 is a reply to message #31227] Sat, 22 April 2006 23:59 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Deeej is currently offline  Deeej

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Messages: 3281



electroken said:
>He told us that the nouns all had gender at one time but that was lost in the anglo saxon branch after a time. I guess he must have been lying to us.

The problem I have with you, Ken, is that you don't seem to be able to distinguish what you think we are saying from what we have actually said. So once you've started digging a hole for yourself (even if it is only a very small one), as soon as someone points it out to you (regardless of whether they agree with the rest of your argument or not) you assume that they have a fault with everything you have to say, feel that to accept a correction would render your entire argument meritless, and suddenly the discussion is over, because you can't be bothered to look it up to see who is right.

Neither Cossie nor I have said that English words never had genders. Simply that modern English does not have gender. Perhaps you don't understand the meaning of the word "modern"? Or the concept of language changing? Or perhaps you were so overcome with indignation you didn't even bother to read what we had to say?

David

P.S. Aren't these two sentences (both by you) contradictory?

1. In reply to my comment, "Nouns in Modern English don't have genders":
>Nouns do have gender, of that I am absolutely certain.
(which sounds very much like you are referring to modern English)

2. Referring to the evolution of English from old to modern:
>He told us that the nouns all had gender at one time but that was lost in the anglo saxon branch after a time.
(My emphasis.)
Resistors  [message #31230 is a reply to message #31228] Sun, 23 April 2006 00:04 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Deeej is currently offline  Deeej

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Messages: 3281



Simon:

>So cut him some slack and talk to him about why "black boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly" the only thing I remember from my electronics class the year that bell labs announced the transistor. (Cossie, I'll award points to anyone who knows the answer)

Ooh, do I get points?

Apparently it stands for:
Black Brown Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Violet Grey White
the color coding on resistors

Not sure of the precise application, though.

I hope there is now a better, more politically correct alternative, though!

David
No- Google does!  [message #31231 is a reply to message #31230] Sun, 23 April 2006 00:09 Go to previous messageGo to next message
pimple is currently offline  pimple

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Tell me what the purpose is.

Refer back to our discussion a few weeks back where we talked about obscure knowledge.

Regards
Simon

p.s. I'll give you points for partial credit.



Joy Peace and Tranquility

Joyceility
Re: No- Google does!  [message #31233 is a reply to message #31231] Sun, 23 April 2006 00:25 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
Deeej is currently offline  Deeej

Needs to get a life!
Location: Berkshire, UK
Registered: March 2005
Messages: 3281



They are the colour bands on resistors that supply information about their resistance, their tolerance (accuracy), and sometimes their quality.

Each colour has a number -- from 0 (black) to 9 (white). You read the bands in sequence to give a number, and that number is the resistance. You then multiply by the third band to give the total in ohms.

Then comes tolerance, and then quality (if available).

Explanation:
http://xtronics.com/kits/rcode.htm

Java applet:
http://www.ee.unb.ca/thesis98/ee4000aj/Resistor2.html

David
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