Author Topic: Funny English and Linguistics stuff... (Read 204182 times)

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #750 on:** August 12, 2013, 10:50:58 AM »

I remember when the diner used to do that. The waitress gave you the check, you brought it up to the cashier to pay it, and after you paid, the cashier stuck the check on the spindle.

BlackBlade · « **Reply #751 on:** August 12, 2013, 11:23:51 AM »

Quote from: Tante Shvester on August 12, 2013, 10:50:58 AM

I remember when the diner used to do that. The waitress gave you the check, you brought it up to the cashier to pay it, and after you paid, the cashier stuck the check on the spindle.

They still did that at IHOP in Orem, UT until maybe just a few years ago.

Nighthawk · « **Reply #752 on:** August 13, 2013, 06:41:17 AM »

*blink!*

On topic: How the Wrong Definition of "Literally" Snuck Into the Dictionary

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #753 on:** August 13, 2013, 08:44:56 AM »

Every time a descriptivist gets his way, a kitten literally dies!

Jonathon · « **Reply #754 on:** August 13, 2013, 09:04:54 AM »

The author of that piece obviously has no idea how dictionaries actually work.

Also, Esther cracked me the heck up.

pooka · « **Reply #755 on:** August 13, 2013, 03:18:17 PM »

I always assumed spindle meant to roll it up tight and offcenter, like the paper shiv that was the murder weapon in the episode of Bones where she had the baby. But that definition of spindle makes sense. Which was the murder weapon on the episode of Monk where his wife's Doppleganger was running around.

Jonathon · « **Reply #756 on:** August 15, 2013, 01:57:25 PM »

rivka · « **Reply #757 on:** August 15, 2013, 02:03:29 PM »

*snicker*

BlackBlade · « **Reply #758 on:** August 15, 2013, 04:42:35 PM »

*laugh*

Porter · « **Reply #759 on:** August 17, 2013, 11:40:39 PM »

Quote from: Tante Shvester on August 09, 2013, 07:51:21 AM

Are people in their 20's and 30's familiar with "Do not fold, spindle or mutilate", instructions that used to come on the punch card that came in your bills? I haven't seen or heard that phrase in a while, and I don't know if it is still in the common parlance.

No.

Nighthawk · « **Reply #760 on:** August 18, 2013, 12:36:28 AM »

I've heard the term as "do not fold, staple or mutilate", though.

Even more amusing were the idiomatics that were sometimes printed on the back of floppy disks indicating what not to do with them. One company - Beagle Brothers - took it to a comical extreme by providing idiomatics that included images indicating you shouldn't run over floppy disks with a forklift, cut them in to eights and eat them like a pizza, feed them to an alligator, etc...

rivka · « **Reply #761 on:** August 18, 2013, 05:29:59 PM »

Quote from: Porter on August 17, 2013, 11:40:39 PM

Quote from: Tante Shvester on August 09, 2013, 07:51:21 AM
Are people in their 20's and 30's familiar with "Do not fold, spindle or mutilate", instructions that used to come on the punch card that came in your bills? I haven't seen or heard that phrase in a while, and I don't know if it is still in the common parlance.
No.

But I am the same age as Porter, and certainly am familiar with it. Haven't heard it for a while, though.

Nighthawk · « **Reply #762 on:** August 20, 2013, 02:22:12 PM »

4 Copy Editors Killed In Ongoing AP Style, Chicago Manual Gang Violence

Jonathon · « **Reply #763 on:** August 20, 2013, 02:43:35 PM »

*ahem*

Quote from: Jonathon on January 07, 2013, 11:50:47 AM

4 Copy Editors Killed In Ongoing AP Style, Chicago Manual Gang Violence

Nighthawk · « **Reply #764 on:** August 20, 2013, 09:59:31 PM »

OK, sure, the article's from January... but can you honestly say that anything has been done to suppress the wanton violence in the streets? Who knows what untold bloodshed caused by the Oxford Comma is kept from the mainstream media? We must bring this violence to the forefront, repeatedly! Think of the children!

BlackBlade · « **Reply #765 on:** August 24, 2013, 11:01:15 AM »

So turns out that originally, "lousy" refers to "being infested with lice", and "nit picking" is, you guess it, picking at the eggs of lice. This was something in the past you commonly did each day to deal with the cursed things.

As an aside, the singular form of "lice" is "louse".

Aren't you glad we don't have to deal with them on even an infrequent basis?

rivka · « **Reply #766 on:** August 24, 2013, 09:20:15 PM »

Quote from: BlackBlade on August 24, 2013, 11:01:15 AM

Aren't you glad we don't have to deal with them on even an infrequent basis?

Um . . .

BlackBlade · « **Reply #767 on:** August 24, 2013, 11:38:06 PM »

Quote from: rivka on August 24, 2013, 09:20:15 PM

Quote from: BlackBlade on August 24, 2013, 11:01:15 AM
Aren't you glad we don't have to deal with them on even an infrequent basis?
Um . . .

I submit that if frequency is defined by many parts of Europe in the Middle Ages, your location falls under "infrequent".

rivka · « **Reply #768 on:** August 24, 2013, 11:54:14 PM »

Fair enough. However, I do own special combs for nit-picking, and my daughter's school requires all students to pass a lice check before school starts (and often once or twice during the year as well).

BlackBlade · « **Reply #769 on:** August 25, 2013, 07:22:20 AM »

Quote from: rivka on August 24, 2013, 11:54:14 PM

Fair enough. However, I do own special combs for nit-picking, and my daughter's school requires all students to pass a lice check before school starts (and often once or twice during the year as well).

That is significantly more frequent than I have had to deal with them. You should move to a location less hospitable for life.

rivka · « **Reply #770 on:** August 25, 2013, 07:42:39 AM »

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #771 on:** August 25, 2013, 10:25:04 AM »

Deserts are awesome. I forget about this and then I visit the East Coast for a while and I go to pour out my cereal and a roach is riding the corn flakes.

Jonathon · « **Reply #772 on:** August 25, 2013, 10:58:50 AM »

We had a lot of roaches in Arizona.

BlackBlade · « **Reply #773 on:** August 25, 2013, 11:35:26 AM »

O.o

Now I am worried that I haven't seen one. Where should I be looking?!

Nighthawk · « **Reply #774 on:** August 25, 2013, 12:20:06 PM »

Our Palmetto Bugs laugh at your puny roaches.