kudos to anthropology
― daed bod (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 15 March 2015 19:14 (nine years ago) link
well yeah...sorry it took looking at some other cultures to get (some of) us to realize our process of development was not "THE" process of development.
― Vic Perry, Sunday, 15 March 2015 20:15 (nine years ago) link
capitalism is a global system though. i think it makes sense to look at it as a whole instead of assuming that societies have their own culturally specific "capitalisms"
― primal, intuitive, and relatively unmediated (Treeship), Sunday, 15 March 2015 20:28 (nine years ago) link
when people call men 'men' and women 'females'.
― estela, Tuesday, 28 April 2015 13:00 (nine years ago) link
whenever i hear that, i always recall that rubbish skit by anti-pop consortium called 'tron man speaks' where someone says 'there's nothing wrong with females'.
― but then again, who really cares? I don’t. (dog latin), Tuesday, 28 April 2015 13:14 (nine years ago) link
They're strong as hell
― Is It Any Wonder I'm Not the (President Keyes), Tuesday, 28 April 2015 13:29 (nine years ago) link
estela OTM
― tokyo rosemary, Tuesday, 28 April 2015 15:33 (nine years ago) link
"Lashes out". I am lashing out at people who use the phrase.
― in an awkward manor (doo dah), Wednesday, 29 April 2015 13:23 (nine years ago) link
i'm lashing out rite now *eye flutter*
― laraaji p. hensen (clouds), Wednesday, 29 April 2015 13:32 (nine years ago) link
starting to feel like "zero fucks given" should be put into a fucking trash bag
― marcos, Thursday, 23 July 2015 18:41 (nine years ago) link
http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/716/134/b1a.jpg
― from batman to balloon dog (carl agatha), Thursday, 23 July 2015 18:44 (nine years ago) link
irl lol
― marcos, Thursday, 23 July 2015 18:47 (nine years ago) link
For consistency, I feel like the first line should say "thy fucks," right?
― kate78, Thursday, 23 July 2015 20:30 (nine years ago) link
uptrend
― Roberto Spiralli, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 14:31 (nine years ago) link
committing acts of journalism, committed journalism, or any variant upon
― andrew m., Wednesday, 19 August 2015 14:35 (nine years ago) link
having skin in the game
When some financial or political disclosure is described as "opening the kimono"
― Why because she True and Interesting (President Keyes), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 14:37 (nine years ago) link
yeesh. never heard that one before.
― andrew m., Wednesday, 19 August 2015 14:46 (nine years ago) link
"shit the bed"
it's just horrible and it doesn't make sense in the context it's used.
― Stop counting smart one. (dog latin), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 14:48 (nine years ago) link
yeah, Dana Gould uses that one all the time and it's making me hate him
― Why because she True and Interesting (President Keyes), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 15:02 (nine years ago) link
There was a lot of discussion on "opening the kimono" if not on this thread then I think on a thread about business speak. Consensus: gross and racist. Or maybe I just feel so strongly about how gross and racist that is that I'm projecting my feelings into a consensus. Either way, it's gross and racist.
Oh no I use "shit the bed" sometimes to describe a catastrophic or spectacular failure over which I had no control.
― carl agatha, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 15:09 (nine years ago) link
The way I've heard it used is: Shit the bed = Died
― Why because she True and Interesting (President Keyes), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 15:12 (nine years ago) link
Oh, I don't care for that.
― carl agatha, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 15:13 (nine years ago) link
Lately, "veggies" has been bugging the shit out of me...
'veg'
― j., Wednesday, 19 August 2015 15:17 (nine years ago) link
prob preaching to the choir here but p much day in day out i rewrite civil service documents into plain english. the weak sentences and non-committal use of words is extremely sad and irritating, there are thousands of examples but off the top of my head:
certain (when used to actually create uncertainty. eg "you must follow certain measures" but no indication as to what these are.)appropriate (you must take appropriate measures - again, i'm not telling you what these are)relevant (see above)classified (one of about 300 words that are only ever used in a passive way, like "these are classified as" - classified by who? - see also "considered", "expected" etc)
beyond that the passive voice has come to infuriate me, it is the tool of a moron trying to sound intelligent.
it's got to the point that now anytime i see anyone use it anywhere i bristle. like i submitted a short story recently and the reply was like "submissions will be assessed" or some shit - why would you write this way?
also there's something in civil service speak and its constant lily-livered need to hide the truth or avoid responsibility that breeds these sentences where the subject is even less than an inanimate object, a scheme or a grant or a law.
like this scheme requires you to do xyz - as if no person is behind this, it's the fault of a set of words on a page if you get fined, no human being was ever involved.
― doing my Objectives, handling some intense stuff (LocalGarda), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 15:24 (nine years ago) link
scheme be the scheme
― j., Wednesday, 19 August 2015 15:33 (nine years ago) link
also there's something in civil service speak and its constant lily-livered need to hide the truth or avoid responsibility that breeds these sentences where the subject is even less than an inanimate object, a scheme or a grant or a law. <3 syntax-based sociolinguistic observationsand lily-livered otm
out of curiosity, why does your job require you to interpret this type of language?
― La Lechera, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 15:33 (nine years ago) link
i write for gov.uk - basically i take old 'guidance' for people on how to follow laws or do things they need to do and i turn it into plain english based on a style guide and set of layout principles. i mainly work on environmental/farming/food topics so there's some really archaic content up there, often really complicated scientific stuff as well.
here is an example - i hope it has no typos: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/issuing-plant-passports-to-trade-plants-in-the-eu
nothing is ever perfect though, eg in that one we link off to a ton of lists because after a lot of fighting and swearing this was a compromise we made to the people who are experts.
it's prob the most challenging/interesting/frustrating job i've done - it's full of conflict, everyone we work with hates us in the end. this just amuses me though because at the start they can be all positive and civil service in their tone, like "regards, etc" and i'm just thinking enjoy this last time we are civil, as soon as you see my draft you'll fucking hate me and that's how i know i'm doing my job, lolz.
― doing my Objectives, handling some intense stuff (LocalGarda), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 15:47 (nine years ago) link
How do you all feel about 'identify' taking a whole proposition as its object? e.g.
"Researchers identified that a gene that causes vitamin D deficiency may also cause MS."
"We identified that there were three issues to be addressed."
I read this all the time for work and it's incredibly common, but it never sounds quite natural to me.
― jmm, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 16:02 (nine years ago) link
xp ooh that's interesting! good to have a thick skin about stuff like this -- the people who write those sentences are just pissed that their obfuscation was removed. boohoo.
― La Lechera, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 16:04 (nine years ago) link
xp wrong just wrong
― j., Wednesday, 19 August 2015 16:05 (nine years ago) link
so wrong
― drash, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 16:08 (nine years ago) link
yeah that's it exactly. i'm lucky in that my team is very hardcore in the way we support each other - we all have the same problems and there's lots of solidarity - plus some hilarious meetings.
― doing my Objectives, handling some intense stuff (LocalGarda), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 16:08 (nine years ago) link
every semi-public service job i've ever had has involved managers constantly reminding me never to promise anybody anything if possible
― bombsover# (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 16:11 (nine years ago) link
During my civil service stint iI as tasked with editing our union newsletter written by our very stupid local president (she routinely put an apostrophe in Obama, which I think nicely sums up her written communication skills). I used a fairly light hand with it and just fixed the mistakes that rendered her copy unintelligible and she not only rejected ALL of my edits and sent out the newsletter in its original form (including the typos I'd fixed and the apostrophes in Obama) but I was informed I had overstepped my bounds by editing it at all. Even though the local VP asked me to do it.
Speaking of civil servants with hurt feelings.
I stayed late to finish that so I'm still bitter.
― carl agatha, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 16:12 (nine years ago) link
*I was tasked
Sorry. Typing with plastic things glitter nail polish soak off things on four of my fingers.
― carl agatha, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 16:13 (nine years ago) link
also v. true, so many poor stylists who take terrible umbrage if you try to correct their public pronouncements
― bombsover# (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 16:14 (nine years ago) link
lol, like o'bama? barry o'bama's irish bar.
this is the golden rule! but not so bad i'd say if you consider the amount of meetings that go in the civil service. they hunt in packs. a classic is for you to go to a meeting expecting a 1 to 1 chat and there are 6 of them and 1 of you, all trying to take 4 hours of your day.
i just write things down and say "yeah sounds good, we work on the web tho so i need to check the web and think about it" - it is a real study in human behaviour that even when you have real conviction in their madness, six civil servants teaming up can make you concede things you wouldn't.
― doing my Objectives, handling some intense stuff (LocalGarda), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 16:15 (nine years ago) link
but the no promises rule especially applies to "external customers" as well, it's a big contributor to that shifty civil service tense people write in
― bombsover# (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 16:18 (nine years ago) link
i mean the thing i notice is that with members of the public no matter how much you say "might", "should", "hopefully" etc they still hear it as "i will do this for you right now" so the jokes on us really
― bombsover# (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 16:20 (nine years ago) link
that's interesting that promising nothing applies to external stakeholders too - for me the no promises rule would only be for internal. with external it'd be just that the language we use is extremely clear - "must" is the law, "should" is advice, we tend to avoid any guidance that is entirely based on "should" as far as possible.
― doing my Objectives, handling some intense stuff (LocalGarda), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 16:24 (nine years ago) link
i don't want to be too explicit here but let's just say for a long time there has been a mismatch between my sense of people's legal entitlements, best practice, and the resources of the organization i work for
― bombsover# (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 16:25 (nine years ago) link
a mismatch that is undoubtedly sector-wide i shd add
― bombsover# (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 16:26 (nine years ago) link
YES. This was at a time right after his first presidential election when the three blocks of government buildings that surrounded the government building where we worked were festooned with signs congratulating our hometown hero by name (spelled correctly) so that literally all she would have to do to double check her spelling was look out a window. Also we worked in this building:
http://interactive.wttw.com/sites/default/files/field/image/B13_a.jpg
which as you can see is mostly windows.
― carl agatha, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 16:33 (nine years ago) link
i'm lucky in that my team is very hardcore in the way we support each other - we all have the same problems and there's lots of solidarity - plus some hilarious meetings.
same same same at my job
i was thinking recently how accustomed i am to having people lie to me -- like, all kinds of people, that i have almost reached the point where i can detect the structure of a lie as it unfolds
― La Lechera, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 17:23 (nine years ago) link
"coeds" for college girls
― difficult-difficult lemon-difficult (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 17:32 (nine years ago) link
I always figure writers use "coeds" because it's a word that sparks erotic frenzy in men from an earlier era
― Why because she True and Interesting (President Keyes), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 17:35 (nine years ago) link
it's a) gross and b) archaic
― difficult-difficult lemon-difficult (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 17:47 (nine years ago) link
I saw that word in a headline today and thought the same thing!
Even worse, the headline also included the word "groping".
― pplains, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 17:59 (nine years ago) link
yeeess I had real trouble understanding this usage when I was in the US.
LG I'm in a civil service (-adjacent) job too and the team really try to make sure we're writing in that active, plain way - it's something that is really appreciated by myself (joeks)Our copy editors are lovely but kind of unusual folks. There are a few bits and pieces from old style guides that had hung on for way too long that we used to argue about, like 'web-site'.
― kinder, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 18:03 (nine years ago) link