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CowperKettle
CowperKettle
11:09
51
A: Is it unusual that English uses possessive for past tense?

DraconisThis is what's called a "Sprachbund" feature: it's a trait shared by a bunch of languages in an area, even ones that aren't genetically related. In particular, this one is a feature of the "Standard Average European" Sprachbund, a group of languages centered in Western Europe, and it's one of the...

@snailcar I would rather skedaddle than have a kerfluffle
 
2 hours later…
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
13:11
The Beatles (terrorist cell)
"The Beatles", dubbed as such by their hostages because of their English accents, was an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant group. Its members were nicknamed "John", "Paul", "George", and "Ringo" by the hostages, after the four members of the British rock group the Beatles. In November 2015, one of the militants was killed and one was arrested, and the final two were caught in early 2018, and transferred to U.S. military custody in 2019.They are responsible for beheadings in Iraq and Syria, as shown in the beheading videos of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff...
Anonymous
That's a bit of a yike.
Anonymous
Oh, a yike is a bit of a meme.
Anonymous
As in:
Anonymous
user image
Anonymous
Yikes!
Anonymous
13:16
@CowperKettle Cf. 23 skidoo.
Anonymous
A yike is something kids say, but it's not something everyone would understand.
Anonymous
@SterlingArcher 'tugboat' is an expression for a person who pushes the envelope too far. — Alex M 19 hours ago
Anonymous
Is it? I had no idea.
Anonymous
I can't seem to find uses of tugboat in that meaning outside of this comment thread.
ColleenV
ColleenV
13:59
@snailcar I think it's one of those things a few people find clever and wish were slang, but never get picked up.
As opposed to "incel" which is stupid and mean but is all over the place.
 
2 hours later…
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
15:42
Why is incel mean? It's just a designation of a real kind of people
ColleenV
ColleenV
16:06
That's not how it's used. It's quite derogatory they way I've seen it lately.
I really don't like name-calling though.
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
16:22
The male brain is programmed to turn any designation indicating some lack of capacity as derogatory, you can't change that unless you're a highly qualified genetic engineer.
Ah. I see.
nationalpost.com/news/…
Some incels turn to violence.
In Russia the level of violent deaths is twice that in the US, this is so strange, since in the US fire weapons are much more widely available
ColleenV
ColleenV
17:21
@CowperKettle I didn't know about that statistic - the number of guns in the US has little to do with violence in my opinion. Maybe how easily available they are affects the suicide rate though
I live in an area where gun ownership is pretty high. There are a lot of hunters, and a lot of people who shoot targets for fun
My husband just went out to our neighbor's property this morning to adjust the sight on our rifle. The property has a large dirt pile that makes sure the bullets won't accidentally hit something we didn't intend to shoot.
Lots of people here own multiple guns because different types of guns have different purposes and shoot differently. None of the gun owners I know are violent. They tend to be pretty laid back and neighborly, like many rural folk are.
 
6 hours later…
userr2684291
userr2684291
23:17
Tfw snailplane at 60-something keeps up with the memes better than you. BibleThump. (I had to google sad Twitch emotes for that.)
Oh. Seems like snailcar's had a tugboat performed recently.
(Tugboat denotes a situation in which a person sinks a boat from their online handle; esp. when they exchange it with another vehicle.)
userr2684291
userr2684291
23:48
Hah. This situation with they is a little more complicated for people like me: I use they out of respect and/or distance (i.e., not trying to be overly familiar, which often boils down to the former) even when I know the person's gender.
Interestingly, it's disrespectful in my household to use a pronoun to refer to my mom or dad, lol. If I say She said..., referring to my mom, she'll give me a surprised look, haha. But maybe we're just too old-fashioned or something. And in my first language you don't have to repeat the (pro)noun in order to form a valid verb.
Actually, I think it's the same with anyone who should be respected / any authority. So, in school, you wouldn't say she to refer to the teacher either.

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