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Post by Dave on Oct 5, 2017 3:48:04 GMT
Isotopes?
The plural with an s appears to be allowed. But probably not used a lot!
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Post by Verbivore on Oct 7, 2017 21:00:10 GMT
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Post by SusanB on Oct 12, 2017 15:54:39 GMT
I was initially confused upon reading the following BBC News headline:
"Young face growing mortgage debt burden"
I was alright with the young face. It started sounding a bit odd when the young face was growing. I was completely baffled upon discovering that the young face was growing a mortgage! I was so confused, that it took me a few moments and a couple of re-reads to actually work it out.
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Post by Verbivore on Oct 12, 2017 20:54:42 GMT
Confusing indeed. The art of succinct and clear headline writing is definitely on the wane. At work I need to frequently unmuddle headlines that leave me wondering what they mean; sometimes I need to read the entire leading paragraph to get the sense – not good.
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Post by Verbivore on Oct 14, 2017 4:40:45 GMT
When there’s no other news … numbers. times, places – the last flight to Hel[sinki]Finnair's Flight 666 arrives in HEL for the last time on Friday the 13thHelsinki airport says Flight 666 has arrived safely in HEL, the airport code for the Finnish capital, for the last time. The Finnair flight took off from Copenhagen, Denmark, in the 13th hour of Friday the 13th, headed for Helsinki-Vantaa Airport.
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Post by Twoddle on Oct 14, 2017 9:05:49 GMT
When there’s no other news … numbers. times, places – the last flight to Hel[sinki]Finnair's Flight 666 arrives in HEL for the last time on Friday the 13thHelsinki airport says Flight 666 has arrived safely in HEL, the airport code for the Finnish capital, for the last time. The Finnair flight took off from Copenhagen, Denmark, in the 13th hour of Friday the 13th, headed for Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. That reminds me of the Apollo 13 myth: "It was launched at 13.13 on Friday 13th". In fact it was was launched at 14.13 (local time) on Saturday 11th. The oxygen tank exploded on the 13th, but that was a Monday. It's a good story, though.
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Post by Verbivore on Oct 16, 2017 21:59:08 GMT
Oops! Missed by a few hours …
Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde’s natal day! A few Wildeisms in honour …
The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast
Always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much.
I can resist everything but temptation.
What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
True friends stab you in the front.
There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about and that is not being talked about.
"One of us has to go." (On his death bed looking at the dreadful wallpaper)
I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.
The old believe everything, the middle-aged suspect everything, the young know everything.
The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Oct 17, 2017 0:18:34 GMT
>> What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. <<
As an old-fashioned local government public services provider caring for vulnerable people, I recall that we used to think "cynic" could be replaced by "management accountant".
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Post by Verbivore on Oct 17, 2017 8:06:39 GMT
>> What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. << As an old-fashioned local government public services provider caring for vulnerable people, I recall that we used to think "cynic" could be replaced by "management accountant". Ah yes, LJH: That very same occupational stream – "management accountant" or glorified beancounter with a $10 online MBA – was the bane of my human services decades. Vulnerable people became pawns in career bureaucrats' ladder-climbing and were regarded as "dead cost". (Never mind that they generated jobs for those parasitic others. Ahem.) I'm not sure how much improvement has been made since I abandoned the human services in '93, but the once-radical "out there" programs and services I pioneered have long since been absorbed into mainstream community and/or state–federal government health offerings; that perhaps now keeps them alive and relatively safe from the predations of "management accountants" and highly over-paid, commission-bonused "consultants". As startup "antiestablishment" operations back when, we were frequently subjected to the nuisance of consultants and management accountants. What is a consultant? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Fits well.
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Post by Twoddle on Oct 17, 2017 10:01:25 GMT
Over the years various people have referred to me as a cynic, but those worthless idiots knew nothing.
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Post by Verbivore on Oct 17, 2017 11:19:06 GMT
A cynic is what a romantic calls a realist.
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Post by Twoddle on Oct 17, 2017 13:31:45 GMT
A cynic is what a romantic calls a realist. Quite so, in much the same way that a pessimist is what an optimist calls a realist.
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Oct 18, 2017 17:04:21 GMT
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Post by Dave Miller on Oct 18, 2017 19:39:56 GMT
I scored 9 (I got "travesty" wrong).
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Post by Verbivore on Oct 18, 2017 22:00:42 GMT
I scored 9 (I got "travesty" wrong). Ditto.
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