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Post by Dave Miller on Jan 18, 2020 14:54:20 GMT
<< We humans have truly f[ornicat]ed planet Earth! >> Why do most people refer to “planet Earth” but not planet Mars or planet Venus? Even if the context doesn’t make the meaning clear, Earth spelt with a capital can only be the name of the planet. Just asking! Perhaps because Venus and Mars are only ever proper names (whether of the gods or their eponymous planets)? “Earth”, though, can mean the planet, but also the ground, anything solid (as in the elemental earth, wind and fire), and the soil of which the ground’s surface is made up. The capital letter, mid-sentence, would sort that out, but not in speech.
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Post by Verbivore on Jan 18, 2020 20:40:00 GMT
<< We humans have truly f[ornicat]ed planet Earth! >> Why do most people refer to “planet Earth” but not planet Mars or planet Venus? Even if the context doesn’t make the meaning clear, Earth spelt with a capital can only be the name of the planet. Just asking! Fair question, LJH, to which I have no answer. Perhaps it "just is" (like so much else that's unanswerable).
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Post by Verbivore on Jan 18, 2020 23:04:17 GMT
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Jan 19, 2020 10:26:15 GMT
I can’t keep up with you, Vv, but I was particularly interested in “The simple words that have cost lives” and its reference to the difference between our perception of Can we talk and Can we speak in negotiating situations and also the difference between Is there anything else you want to say and is there something else you want to say. I have conducted a thought experiment on the latter and it really is correct. Is there anything else has the implication that the questioner really hopes there isn’t and so don’t bother, whereas something suggests the questioner really thinks there probably is and wants to know. Amazing.
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Post by Verbivore on Jan 19, 2020 10:42:45 GMT
Indeed so, LJH.
How long will it take AI to pick up on nuance? Even today's best robo-narrator offerings still miss nuance and appropriate but situationally necessary phrasing.
Reminds me of the anecdote of that "I shall drown / I will drown" tragedy.
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Post by Twoddle on Jan 19, 2020 11:03:04 GMT
Neurodivergent: Not showing typical behaviour and responses, e.g. having autistic, schizophrenic, etc. traits. I found it on the Web but it's so new that this message board questioned my use of it.
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Post by Verbivore on Jan 19, 2020 11:26:20 GMT
Neurodivergent: Not showing typical behaviour and responses, e.g. having autistic, schizophrenic, etc. traits. I found it on the Web but it's so new that this message board questioned my use of it. It was perhaps too divergent from the system's limited AI? Forum nanniesI recently learned a new medical term for a condition I've lived with for six of my seven decades – and a forum system nanny questioned my use of that term, which it didn't recognise. Originally just referred to as "the faints", the condition evolved over decades into "blood-pressure drops"; then "postural hypotension"; and most recently the impressive-sounding " orthostatic hypotension" – the name rejected by an inbuilt AI. Damn net nannies! NB: "The faints" work the same way whatever they're called and are easily enough avoided or managed.
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Post by Twoddle on Jan 19, 2020 19:37:11 GMT
Forum nanniesI recently learned a new medical term for a condition I've lived with for six of my seven decades – and a forum system nanny questioned my use of that term, which it didn't recognise. Originally just referred to as "the faints", the condition evolved over decades into "blood-pressure drops"; then "postural hypotension"; and most recently the impressive-sounding " orthostatic hypotension" – the name rejected by an inbuilt AI. Damn net nannies! NB: "The faints" work the same way whatever they're called and are easily enough avoided or managed. Whatever it's called I've had it since I became an adult, albeit less so in recent years as my blood pressure has gradually crept up to around normal. Even nowadays I find it helpful to sit on the bed for a few seconds when I get up of a morning, before attaining a fully vertical position. In my twenties I once was asked by my dentist to explain how I'd chipped a tooth. I couldn't be bothered to give the lengthy explanation about awaking suddenly with leg cramp in the wee, small hours, jumping out of bed to relieve the cramp pain, feeling faint and sick, walking to the lavatory, fainting, my mouth colliding with the rim of the bowl as my head bounced into it (chipping the aforementioned tooth and giving my lips a Mick Jagger/botox appearance for the next day), and my first vision upon regaining consciousness being the water in the bowl about an inch from my nose; so I said, "I bit a lavatory bowl", to which he replied, "Yes, they can be quite hard".
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Post by Verbivore on Jan 19, 2020 22:31:00 GMT
[...] I said, "I bit a lavatory bowl", to which he replied, "Yes, they can be quite hard". Love your dentist's response!
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Post by Verbivore on Jan 22, 2020 13:21:55 GMT
Vale Terry Jones
Does that now make Brian an orphan as well as a Very Naughty Boy?
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Post by Verbivore on Jan 22, 2020 23:17:45 GMT
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Post by Verbivore on Jan 23, 2020 22:09:18 GMT
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Post by Verbivore on Jan 25, 2020 21:19:24 GMT
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Post by Verbivore on Jan 25, 2020 21:19:55 GMT
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Jan 26, 2020 19:39:24 GMT
Whether schools should ban slang words surely depends on the context. For formal homework essays, students need to avoid slang if only because it is unacceptable in many work situations and students need to understand and use appropriate register when communicating. I can’t think of anything to add.
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