nickn has a pretty good point
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 19 April 2018 19:28 (six years ago) link
I understand that having one of the rifles loaded with blanks is a quaint but outdated convention. The well-intentioned idea is to allow each rifleman to think he might not responsible. But in actuality an experienced person would be able to tell the difference between having fired a blank vs. a real cartridge.
― as god is my waitress (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 19 April 2018 19:32 (six years ago) link
I didn't think (on my belated understanding) that it was to do with blanks: the dispersal of responsibility just came from having lots of shooters and no one being quite sure if their shot alone would have been fatal.
― Alba, Thursday, 19 April 2018 19:38 (six years ago) link
Necessarily to do with blanks, I should have said.
― Alba, Thursday, 19 April 2018 19:57 (six years ago) link
Having lots of shooters (with real bullets) is to guarantee the guy ends up dead quickly.
― nickn, Thursday, 19 April 2018 20:08 (six years ago) link
much better to assume that even a skilled marksman might not kill you in one shot. you want at least ten guys, you're gonna get guaranteed dead
― mh, Thursday, 19 April 2018 20:59 (six years ago) link
Gotta say if I had to get executed I’d want firing squad if guillotine weren’t available.
― valorous wokelord (silby), Thursday, 19 April 2018 21:05 (six years ago) link
yeah it’s the only option where you get to look cool and smoke a cig right before you die
― flappy bird, Thursday, 19 April 2018 21:06 (six years ago) link
plus you get a tombstone pizza iirc
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Thursday, 19 April 2018 21:21 (six years ago) link
Silby:
"Both King Charles I and Queen Anne Boleyn are reported to both have showed signs of trying to speak following their beheadings (by executioners' swords, rather than by guillotine) [source: Maslin]. When he spoke out against the use of the guillotine in 1795, German researcher S.T. Sommering cited reports of decapitated heads that have ground their teeth and that the face of one decapitated person "grimaced horribly" when a physician inspecting the head poked the spinal canal with his finger [source: Sommering]."
Nooooooope
― Right column Leftist (sunny successor), Thursday, 19 April 2018 21:35 (six years ago) link
I hadn't thought about it until a local mexican food chain had "rolled taquitos" on the menu and I thought "wait, what would a non-rolled..."
taquito means, literally, "little taco"
I mean, it's the literal translation, but for some reason I never think of a taquito as a taco, let alone a little one. If someone had ever said "what does the _word" taquito" mean I'd have instantly said it
― mh, Tuesday, 8 May 2018 19:45 (five years ago) link
egg timers are timers for eggs, not necessarily timers shaped like eggs.
― adam the (abanana), Tuesday, 8 May 2018 21:00 (five years ago) link
lol
― Right column Leftist (sunny successor), Tuesday, 8 May 2018 21:05 (five years ago) link
ooh that's a good one
― mh, Tuesday, 8 May 2018 21:11 (five years ago) link
Taquito is a good one. But then etymological revelations of the English language still semi-regularly knock me on my ass.
― Love Theme From Oh God! You Devil (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 8 May 2018 21:28 (five years ago) link
I think of an egg timer as being a little version of an hourglass
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 8 May 2018 21:45 (five years ago) link
Speaking of, I just realized that HOURglass is an inaccurate description of basically every hourglass I've ever encountered.
― Love Theme From Oh God! You Devil (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 8 May 2018 21:49 (five years ago) link
See? It's troublingly easy to blow my mind.
― Love Theme From Oh God! You Devil (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 8 May 2018 21:50 (five years ago) link
I'm struggling to imagine an egg timer shaped like an egg
― chilis=lyrics...hypocrits (sic), Tuesday, 8 May 2018 21:58 (five years ago) link
[does one google]wtf, America
― chilis=lyrics...hypocrits (sic), Tuesday, 8 May 2018 22:00 (five years ago) link
we’re a very literal conglomeration of people from the diaspora
― mh, Wednesday, 9 May 2018 00:25 (five years ago) link
― Dan S, Wednesday, 9 May 2018 00:29 (five years ago) link
this is an egg timer btw
https://groceries.morrisons.com/productImages/380/380070011_0_640x640.jpg
― chilis=lyrics...hypocrits (sic), Wednesday, 9 May 2018 07:04 (five years ago) link
"Vintage" means the process of making wine (and, by association the year in which that process takes place); from the French, obv. It does not mean "old". When it's used to mean old (vintage cars, vintage clothing) it's being used metaphorically; vintage wine is not simply old wine.
― mahb, Wednesday, 9 May 2018 09:32 (five years ago) link
that's good, makes perfect sense but never considered it
― Roberto Spiralli, Wednesday, 9 May 2018 10:53 (five years ago) link
Yeah that's a great example
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, 9 May 2018 11:07 (five years ago) link
"Unequivocally" does not have the letter "b" in it. Feeling pretty stupid atm
― Dan I., Friday, 11 May 2018 18:22 (five years ago) link
Trying to figure out where a 'b' would even go. 'Unequivocallyb?'
― Delightful in Microdoses (Old Lunch), Friday, 11 May 2018 18:30 (five years ago) link
(Not goosing you, btw. I both said and wrote 'unwieldly' well into adulthood.)
― Delightful in Microdoses (Old Lunch), Friday, 11 May 2018 18:31 (five years ago) link
thread delivers
― flappy bird, Friday, 11 May 2018 18:31 (five years ago) link
guessing "Unequivocably"
― chilis=lyrics...hypocrits (sic), Friday, 11 May 2018 18:32 (five years ago) link
Unbequivocally
― Westworld more like Worstworld right? (Phil D.), Friday, 11 May 2018 18:35 (five years ago) link
Suddenly hearing the word as uttered by Mushmouth.
― Delightful in Microdoses (Old Lunch), Friday, 11 May 2018 18:36 (five years ago) link
Last night I learned that Thandie Newton, of whom I've ~been aware~ as an actress since Mission: Impossible 2, pronounces her name "Tandy." Boy, would I have had egg on MY face if I ever met her.
― Westworld more like Worstworld right? (Phil D.), Friday, 11 May 2018 18:37 (five years ago) link
woah
― Colonel Poo, Friday, 11 May 2018 18:42 (five years ago) link
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
Damn that took me 34 years
― Ross, Friday, 11 May 2018 19:14 (five years ago) link
I found out pretty late in life that "mores" (as in "social mores") is the word that rhymes with "morays," not a word that rhymes with "s'mores."
― bed, bath, and beyond the thunderdome (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 11 May 2018 19:22 (five years ago) link
yeah i think it is often spelt with an acute accent over the e
― Stevolende, Friday, 11 May 2018 19:25 (five years ago) link
I'm certain that I only know the correct pronunciation because of an ethics class I took.
― Delightful in Microdoses (Old Lunch), Friday, 11 May 2018 19:27 (five years ago) link
Character is the most important thing of all
― Peaked redundancy (Ross), Friday, 11 May 2018 19:45 (five years ago) link
That's a moray
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 11 May 2018 20:05 (five years ago) link
"when an eel bites your heel and the pain makes you squeal..."
stevolende, I guess that is so, but it isn't strictly speaking correct, is it? The word is an import from latin, not French.
― bed, bath, and beyond the thunderdome (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 11 May 2018 20:09 (five years ago) link
social moires
― mh, Friday, 11 May 2018 20:24 (five years ago) link
blurred lines...
― bed, bath, and beyond the thunderdome (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 11 May 2018 20:59 (five years ago) link
and relevant xkcd is https://xkcd.com/1814/
― bed, bath, and beyond the thunderdome (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 11 May 2018 21:00 (five years ago) link
Perhaps relatedly? A few years ago, there was a news story on the radio about the plight of the cops in Egypt. Sounded like things were pretty bad for Egyptian cops.
I'm like huh? until I realized they were saying Copts.
Earlier today I was on a work conference call with some people in India, and we were discussing a business proposal where everything was expressed in dollars and needed to be changed to rubies.
Rubies? Are we seriously talking about being paid with chests full of gemstones? WTF? Is this like a fairy tale or something?
Then I realized everybody had been saying "rupees."
― bed, bath, and beyond the thunderdome (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 14 May 2018 19:52 (five years ago) link
don’t go to vietnam
― karl wallogina (Autumn Almanac), Tuesday, 15 May 2018 02:36 (five years ago) link
That "arms akimbo" means hands on hips with elbows out (the George Reeves Superman stance), not arms flailing about.
― Hideous Lump, Tuesday, 15 May 2018 03:22 (five years ago) link
That the name pronounced "al-o-WISH-us" is the same word as the name spelled "Aloysius."
― Hideous Lump, Tuesday, 15 May 2018 03:33 (five years ago) link
How did your head spell it before?
― chilis=lyrics...hypocrits (sic), Tuesday, 15 May 2018 19:12 (five years ago) link