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Random Thoughts

Started by kenarmy, March 29, 2021, 10:25:21 AM

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kphoger

Quote from: SSOWorld on April 20, 2021, 07:16:25 PM

Quote from: kphoger on April 20, 2021, 04:58:25 PM

Quote from: US71 on April 20, 2021, 04:55:08 PM
a "near miss"?

"We nearly missed each other."

Those two statements are basically opposites.


I'd say it was a near hit

A "near miss" means you got very near to the other person but just barely missed.

"We nearly missed each other" means you hit each other but almost managed to avoid it.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.


kphoger

Quote from: kenarmy on April 21, 2021, 12:46:45 AM
Ok but why do people think fish aren't animals. What?

Because the Roman Catholic Church was in cahoots with the local fishing industry.  No meat during [insert period of time], but fish is still OK!

Quote from: kenarmy on April 21, 2021, 12:46:45 AM
You can't spell Useless without U
But you can't spell Important without I.

You can't spell meh without me.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

webny99

#202
Quote from: kphoger on April 21, 2021, 10:51:10 AM
Quote from: SSOWorld on April 20, 2021, 07:16:25 PM
Quote from: kphoger on April 20, 2021, 04:58:25 PM
Quote from: US71 on April 20, 2021, 04:55:08 PM
a "near miss"?

"We nearly missed each other."

Those two statements are basically opposites.


I'd say it was a near hit

A "near miss" means you got very near to the other person but just barely missed.

"We nearly missed each other" means you hit each other but almost managed to avoid it.

... which is exactly why "near miss" doesn't make any sense.

interstatefan990

Quote from: kenarmy on April 21, 2021, 12:46:45 AM
Idc!, Mariska Hargitay will always be pretty.

Any other Law and Order: SVU fans on this forum? Reveal yourselves!
Multi-lane roundabouts are an abomination to mankind.

hbelkins

This thread has taken a somewhat ironic turn of which very few will probably be aware.  ;-)


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

kphoger

Quote from: webny99 on April 21, 2021, 10:57:41 AM
... which is exactly why "near miss" doesn't make any sense.

It makes sense to me.  You got near.  You missed.

To me, "near hit" would be redundant:  who has ever heard of a faraway hit?
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

hotdogPi

Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

kenarmy

- Am I the only one that gets terrified when a "watch" alert goes off on the noaa radio? Maybe because im used to the warning.
- We lie about santa, the tooth fairy, and all that other mess to little kids but tell them straight up that becoming an adult is terrible..
- Why is Lowes' entry and exits so damn complicated??
- I was more disappointed than confused when I found out Taiwan was really named "The Republic of China".
- It seems like vegetarians would love french fries.
- It's commonly stated that the point of golf is to play the least amount of golf, but isn't that the goal of every other sport as well? Track and Field instantly comes to my mind.
- As a Black Male, I can confirm Mariska Hargitay is invited to the cookout.
- A NFL waterboy is probably making more money than you.
- If you eat watermelon, something is seriously wrong.
- Hot water turns into ice faster than cold water..
- The saying is "a e i o u and sometimes y", but isn't "h" a vowel sometimes as well?
Just a reminder that US 6, 49, 50, and 98 are superior to your fave routes :)


EXTEND 206 SO IT CAN MEET ITS PARENT.

TheHighwayMan3561

Quote from: kenarmy on April 21, 2021, 11:52:48 PM
- We lie about santa, the tooth fairy, and all that other mess to little kids but tell them straight up that becoming an adult is terrible..

I find being an adult less terrible than being the punching bag for miserable adults who take out their frustrations on me that they're not allowed to take out on other adults.
self-certified as the dumbest person on this board for 5 years running

Big John

Why is it if you breathe out of the whole mouth, you get hot air but if you blow out of your mouth, you get cool air?

dlsterner

Quote from: kenarmy on April 21, 2021, 11:52:48 PM
- The saying is "a e i o u and sometimes y", but isn't "h" a vowel sometimes as well?

My understanding is that "w" is the one that can rarely be a vowel - as in the phrase "power mower", in the word "power" the "w" is a consonant, but in "mower" the "w" is a vowel, the "ow" combination.  (Trying to remember the name for that - was it a diphthong?)

For "h" I guess you could make the case for words like "hour" and "honor".

Scott5114

#211
And of course Welsh loanwords like cwm and crwth. (The "w" here would normally be spelled "oo" if not for English's weird obsession with retaining the spelling of words from languages with entirely different orthography.)

Quote from: dlsterner on April 22, 2021, 12:52:16 AM
For "h" I guess you could make the case for words like "hour" and "honor".

In both of those the vowel sound totally comes from the O; the H is silent.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

CNGL-Leudimin

Quote from: kenarmy on April 21, 2021, 11:52:48 PM
- I was more disappointed than confused when I found out Taiwan was really named "The Republic of China".

Not only that, the RoC is a bit more than Taiwan (Specifically, the Jinmen and Mazu islands are part of the RoC, and both it and the PRC regard them as part of Fujian). That's why I use "Chinese Taipei" for explicitly mean the RoC, since not all of Chinese Taipei is Taiwan, much like not all of the Netherlands is Holland.
Supporter of the construction of several running gags, including I-366 with a speed limit of 85 mph (137 km/h) and the Hypotenuse.

Please note that I may mention "invalid" FM channels, i.e. ending in an even number or down to 87.5. These are valid in Europe.

kphoger

Quote from: dlsterner on April 22, 2021, 12:52:16 AM

Quote from: kenarmy on April 21, 2021, 11:52:48 PM
- The saying is "a e i o u and sometimes y", but isn't "h" a vowel sometimes as well?

My understanding is that "w" is the one that can rarely be a vowel - as in the phrase "power mower", in the word "power" the "w" is a consonant, but in "mower" the "w" is a vowel, the "ow" combination.  (Trying to remember the name for that - was it a diphthong?)

For "h" I guess you could make the case for words like "hour" and "honor".

Simplify the words and it's easier to understand.  The word row can be pronounced two different ways, depending on the definition, but the w is part of the diphthong either way.  Or think about the word few, and you'll see that the w functions as a vowel.

As for the letter h sometimes being a vowel, how about this one:
  thou – \ ˈt͟hau̇ \
  though – \ ˈt͟hō \
The pronunciation of the vowel sound depends entirely on the presence or absence of the letters gh.




Why does the word diphthong have no diphthongs, but it does have two consonant clusters instead?
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

kphoger

Quote from: kenarmy on April 21, 2021, 11:52:48 PM
- We lie about santa, the tooth fairy, and all that other mess to little kids but tell them straight up that becoming an adult is terrible..

What sort of parent tells his children that becoming an adult is terrible?
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

webny99

Quote from: kphoger on April 22, 2021, 11:40:14 AM
Quote from: kenarmy on April 21, 2021, 11:52:48 PM
- We lie about santa, the tooth fairy, and all that other mess to little kids but tell them straight up that becoming an adult is terrible..

What sort of parent tells his children that becoming an adult is terrible?

There might not be many parents that tell their own children that, but I heard it all the time when hitting the milestones of growing up: getting my driving permit, graduating high school, turning 18, etc. I usually heard it from people older than me, but not old enough to be my parents.

GaryV

Quote from: kenarmy on April 21, 2021, 11:52:48 PM
- Why is Lowes' entry and exits so damn complicated??

Two sets of automated sliding doors is complicated?  OK, the exit also probably has a hot dog stand to avoid, but still.

Scott5114

The only thing unique about Lowes's exit and entry that I can think of is that you have to enter the vestibule and turn 90° before entering the store proper. You also have to make a 180° turn to get a cart, depending on the side you come in on. I don't know if I'd call that complicated, just slightly awkward.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

kenarmy

Quote from: webny99 on April 22, 2021, 12:36:59 PM
Quote from: kphoger on April 22, 2021, 11:40:14 AM
Quote from: kenarmy on April 21, 2021, 11:52:48 PM
- We lie about santa, the tooth fairy, and all that other mess to little kids but tell them straight up that becoming an adult is terrible..

What sort of parent tells his children that becoming an adult is terrible?

There might not be many parents that tell their own children that, but I heard it all the time when hitting the milestones of growing up: getting my driving permit, graduating high school, turning 18, etc. I usually heard it from people older than me, but not old enough to be my parents.
This, along with adults always complaining about bills, jobs, and etc.  ^

-

^^ Well at my local Lowe's, it's nearly impossible to turn around at the exit, and it's far away from the entrance. And then they have a separate door for returns. Why?? So if someone came in wanting to return something and accidentally came in the main entrance, they would have to walk all the way out and around, and come through the other door. Oh did I mention you have to go by registers that are really close together when you exit ??
Just a reminder that US 6, 49, 50, and 98 are superior to your fave routes :)


EXTEND 206 SO IT CAN MEET ITS PARENT.

kphoger

Quote from: kenarmy on April 22, 2021, 02:01:11 PM
Oh did I mention you have to go by registers that are really close together when you exit ??

That's probably because Lowe's stores are so small to begin with.

(OK, your replies certainly don't need to be in italics, do they?)
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

JoePCool14

Quote from: GaryV on April 22, 2021, 01:03:17 PM
Quote from: kenarmy on April 21, 2021, 11:52:48 PM
- Why is Lowes' entry and exits so damn complicated??

Two sets of automated sliding doors is complicated?  OK, the exit also probably has a hot dog stand to avoid, but still.

Isn't that usually Home Depot with the hot dog stands?

:) Needs more... :sombrero: Not quite... :bigass: Perfect.
JDOT: We make the world a better place to drive.
Travel Mapping | 60+ Clinches | 260+ Traveled | 8000+ Miles Logged

renegade

Still not understanding the point of the large blocks of italics ...
Don’t ask me how I know.  Just understand that I do.

JoePCool14

Quote from: renegade on April 22, 2021, 02:30:23 PM
Still not understanding the point of the large blocks of italics ...

The large blocks I don't understand. The one-liners in italics are supposed to be used for the "thoughts".

:) Needs more... :sombrero: Not quite... :bigass: Perfect.
JDOT: We make the world a better place to drive.
Travel Mapping | 60+ Clinches | 260+ Traveled | 8000+ Miles Logged

formulanone

#223
Quote from: dlsterner on April 22, 2021, 12:52:16 AM
For "h" I guess you could make the case for words like "hour" and "honor".

Latin-derived words, which explains why some (though not all) Spanish or French words also have a silent "h".

- Sometimes the "h" was cognate to an "f" that lost its sound along the way.
- Acts as a "dipthong splitter"* so that two vowels would not get forced together, but pronounced independently.
- Sometimes used to prevent homophones (Hay & ay, for example.)
- Rarely, actually pronounced from loan-words (hamster, hockey).

I remember reading some passage ages ago in which every consonant in the English alphabet has irregularly subbed for a vowel of some sort or another.

* a little bit dirty, a little bit technical...but I can't think of the exact term right now.

kphoger

Details on the Latin, as it relates to the letter h being silent in Spanish, which is a child language of Latin:

Make a sound similar to the typical f found, but don't touch your teeth to your lip.  Instead, put your lips together as if you're about to whistle, close enough to make it a fricative when you puff air out between your lips.  This is close to how the letter f was pronounced at the beginning of this story.  I'll call it the ϕ pronunciation.

Maybe people were lazy with their speech, who knows, but over time, this ϕ pronunciation of the letter f changed to become an h sound when it occurred at the beginning of words.  (This transition happened in Latin as well.)  After a while, the spelling of the affected words was changed to reflect the newer pronunciation.  This is why, for example, there are two Spanish surnames Fernández and Hernández:  the first is an older form of the name, and the second a more recent form.  This shift did not happen equally between Romance languages. which is why, for example, Spanish has horno for oven while Italian has forno.

In later centuries, the letter h ended up losing even the last remaining bit of pronunciation in Spanish, and it is now completely silent in all contexts except as part of ch.  Its presence in a word otherwise does not affect that word's pronunciation or syllabification one bit.  If it did, then the accent mark in búho would be unnecessary, because that's where the accent would naturally fall.  However, the accent mark is necessary because, without it, the word (buho) would be one syllable and the accent would naturally fall on the letter o (that being the open vowel of the diphthong).  The letter h is merely a vestigial clue to the history of the spoken language, and (jokingly) exists only to trip up Spanish class students.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.



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