@jlliagre Right!

@alphabet What does it sound like, then?

Did you take Latin?

@Cerberus Yes, for several years across high school and college. I never got particularly good at it, though, to be honest.

Why didn't you tell me this earlier??

Maybe it just never came up.

Si tu dicis.

@Cerberus A year or so of ancient Greek also. I wrote an 80-odd page thesis on Ancient Roman philosophy; that was for an undergrad philosophy degree, not a classics one, though, so I mostly read things in translation and referred back to the originals when specific issues of vocabulary came up.

Oh, that is a lot of pages!

What philosophy was it about?

And what does 'undergrad' mean, exactly?

Indeed. I actually can't say much about the topic while staying anonymous, since it's a very niche topic.

@Cerberus I mean: I was getting an ordinary BA degree--the kind that requires ~4 years of postsecondary education--not (say) a Ph.D. that would let me go into academia.

So undergrad means BA?

Yes; "undergrad" means "undergraduate," as distinct from "graduate school."

I don't know what that is but I can remember undergrad means BA.

Yes.

Had I decided to try to make a career out of philosophy, I would've had to get a doctorate, then scrounge around for the very small number of available positions in academia.

No master's?

In that field, most students go directly from getting a B.A. to a doctoral program.

Here you do bachelor's, master's, doctorate=PhD.

Some people do that here also.

@alphabet Ohh I don't think that is really possible here.

But often you skip the "master's" step--it depends a lot on the field.

I see.

In particular, for something like philosophy, it's pretty much useless to have a master's degree and not a doctorate. I think usually you only get a master's degree if your bachelor's degree is somehow unimpressive and you want better qualifications to enter a program to get a Ph.D.

In my case, I'd double majored in computer science; I enjoyed it equally well, it had a lot more job opportunities, and frankly I was better at programming than at philosophy.

So that's the career path I chose.

Understandable.

I'm going to shower now, have a last date.

@Cerberus Breaking it off with someone, you mean?

@Cerberus my understanding is even though I study continuously for six years I'm considered an undergrad all the meanwhile until I get my degree

Which is a PhD . . . Not. A PharmD

There's a couple of years more to go for a PhD

@jlliagre what the hell would I know about a Martini recipe

I will petition for halal Tightrope without any alcoholic beverages or bacon of any kind

@M.A.R. I almost never drink so I had the same issue. Unfair!

They need to limit that game to the three or four topics I know reasonably well.

@alphabet Yeah, but what's fun about sorting through trash and reading H&P?

Wait, are those the same thing? Discuss.

@Robusto Hey! I do other things besides that. I also spent today intentionally forgetting to respond to text messages.

@Robusto H&P isn't quite good enough to compare it to such a precious thing as trash.

Is discuss the plural of discus?

I don't think anyone really knows.

Would you like me to quote H&P's extensive discussion of regular and irregular plural forms?

I think I can manage without that, thanks.

@M.A.R. I got it wrong too. I'm not against drinking a Martini but I that was the last thing I would have put in it.

I've never drunk one of those, nor do I care to. But somehow I knew what that was.

@jlliagre Have you given up on WhenTaken?

I haven't.

@Robusto It seems they get harder and harder.

@jlliagre Too hard, for the scant bit of pleasure they bestow.

@Robusto Well, I still enjoy playing it. I miss sharing the experience on chat but never mind. I understand what means being bored by a game. I gave up on Blossom. it was too hard and too time consuming. I spend much less time on WhenTaken.

Well, just for you ...

@M.A.R. Bacon comes in kinds!??! Or did you mean that you want only unkind bacon, the kind that comes never with kindness?

Normal and Canadian.

@alphabet There's a joke in which two university professors talk, along the lines, "- How many ancient Greek and Roman philosophers do you know? -Well, I can name a dozen. - And from pre-19century Europe? - I can recall a dozen. -How then our university manages to churn out a couple dozen every f-ing year?"

Borges of the day.

@tchrist Francis and Chris P.

Wilco.

@M.A.R. Pace the supercited Doctor Mirabilis, I have but just now learned of wonders of this world for which no lesser exclamation than Mirabile visu! dare apply. It turns out that not only do vegan bacon and salmon bacon exist, but so too do turkey bacon and even lamb bacon and beef bacon, both of which can be had with all due kosher and halal certifications and imprimaturs and blessings upon them guaranteed.

Such nomenclature of course enrages the pork pushers, of course.

Who knew!?

But please stop making bacon out of Canadians.

Ye writith in many knots

Elevating the upper layer of The Multi-Layered Discourse Room into the stratosphere.