@KitFox That actually doesn't matter. If your kids are boys and you have guns in the house, unless you take extreme precautions — way beyond storing the ammo in a separate place — your boys will find the guns and the ammo and use the guns however they can. That's what me and my brother did. My dad had handguns stored in a locked container in his room and his ammo was in a locked container in the attic. Didn't matter. We found his keys for the guns and his combination for the ammo.

We were in middle school at the time, or thereabouts.

@Robusto Good point.

Is that when you shot part of your brain to pulp?

@Cerberus No. I was too good a marksman for that.

Oh, so it is genetic.

I dunno.

It's OK.

I've just always been a good shot. Pistols, rifles, bows, slingshots — not sure why.

How about throwing and hitting balls?

Darts?

Good hitter, good thrower, but not a pitcher.

Remind me, what does a pitcher do again?

Good jumpshot in basketball.

Throws the ball? Hits it?

I am terrible at most sports.

He throws the baseball to the catcher. The batter tries to hit it before it gets to the catcher's mitt.

Ah OK.

I have played softball, but rarely and long ago.

I only know a bit about the sports that I used to play.

greetings, chatters

Greetings, edible stranger!

Or are you stale?

That depends on who you ask

I see.

I'm no fruitcake

My dad had 31 guns in the house at one count

almost all were rifles and shotguns

most older

damn this dc plug

Hmm.

which part?

All.

I'm sorry.

._.

No need.

I just hmm a lot.

things that make ya go 'hmm'

I think I was a bee in a past life.

she looks so confrontational

sorry, I'm sort of constantly distracted by music

Haha.

I mean, hmm.

:D

@Robusto when I saw the pitcher video, I thought it was going to be this one: youtube.com/watch?v=KxEUW3pQX6A

also, how did you get the video preview all fancy?

I think yours didn't because it lacks the http://

weird.

all I did was 'copy link location' on yours and paste it

huh

maybe it just needs to be its own post...

(removed)

yup, that seems to do it

Hey, @RegDwight, you can complain about the quality of the questions on ELU; but have a look at this.

Hello.

howdy

Hola.

How's everyone today?

صبح به خیر

Oh, you're Arabic today?

Or maybe some similar language.

NO! This language is not even related to Arabic.

I'm not very familiar with them.

@DavidWallace Sorry…

@DavidWallace It's midnight David!

Oh, Google Translate is saying Persian.

Not where I am!

Sorry for the rash generalisation.

Are you sure it's not quarter to three in the morning?

Oh, it is. I didn't notice.

@JasperLoy Nice.

Hey, I have to go and referee a kids' soccer game. See you all later.

@DavidWallace Bye!

Is the word 'erudite' only ever used sarcastically? OED says it (primarily) is, but MW doesn't say anything like that. Maybe its a British/American thing?

copy/pasting: Learned, scholarly. (Now somewhat rare exc. in sarcastic use.)

Well, I'm American, so if I can't shoot it, eat it, or convert it to my religion, I certainly don't care.

I'm writing a letter of recommendation

@Cameron Let me guess, the OED doesn't list any 20th-century quotations for erudite?

but I don't want to use it if people will think that I am being sarcastic

@Vitaly lemme check...

@Vitaly None.

@Vitaly nope, 1875 is the latest

@Cameron Well, there.

I think you are just being influenced by the OED's dated claim.

@JasperLoy the person I'm describing was useful in a project we worked on specifically because he knew so much about various fields (physics and economics) that weren't necessarily his specialty (computer science). I feel like erudite is appropriate here

This page quotes the 4th edition of the AHD:

> The English word erudite is first recorded in a work possibly written before 1425 with the senses "instructed, learned." Erudite meaning "learned" is supposed to have become rare except in sarcastic use during the latter part of the 19th century, but the word now seems to have been restored to favor.

@Vitaly that's likely. I guess what's making me nervous is the use of the word now in the note about sarcastic usage. I hadn't considered that now still refers to the time when it was written

@JasperLoy I am, I am, its just for the concluding sentence

I just saw that on FB.

I don't even…

@Mahnax I bet Hamilton wishes he could change his mind now!

@JasperLoy Sometimes I wonder why I'm friends with the lady who posts this stuff.

@JasperLoy Heck no.

@JasperLoy @Vitaly thanks for your help

@JasperLoy Ayup.

My mom left to visit some friends for the weekend so my dad's taking all of us out for dinner tonight.

Then I'm going to the party.

@JasperLoy But Jasper…

I'm kidding, I don't drink.

@JasperLoy Certainly not.

Although it is that day… jokes

@JasperLoy Did he? Good on him.

You shouldn't be so sheltered.

@JasperLoy Learn you must, padawan.

Bye!

@Cameron I would certainly use it in a serious sense, about a third person.

"The erudite Burchfield claims..." or something.

That is, there may be a hint of irony, but no more than with "learned" or "scholarly".

Less than with "wise".

And even if there is some irony it can still be sincere for the most part.