Wait... what now?

[Jimmy Higgins]

I had started a thread a long time ago, I think about having just discovered the painfully obvious for the first time, but I can't find it.

Like that I had never noticed that Dark Helmet was wearing shorts.

I had another moment (well, they are more common than I'd like to admit) of this when I found out that Dark Side of the Moon was released in 1973, after Close to the Edge. I was like, what?! It is funny, because I thought the album was 1970 or 1971 and was breaking barriers of which Yes and Genesis would immediately expand on... then to find out that Yes and Genesis are releasing their best material before Dark Side of the Moon. Meaning that Pink Floyd was in line (or possibly even behind) with the development of the other two prog giants.

So what things were you painfully wrong or oblivious about?

 

[jonatha]

That there was no way in hell the American electorate would put Donald Trump in the White House.

 

[southernhybrid]

That there was no way in hell the American electorate would put Donald Trump in the White House.

That, as well as believing we would never get into another dumb, unnecessary war after Viet Nam was over.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I remembered the other thing. I had never noticed that Tony Banks was wearing a cast on the The Yes Album album cover. Apparently they came from a hospital that morning after Banks nearly killed the band in a head on, stormy late night crash after a gig.

 

[jab]

I never noticed that Ivanka Trump was really stupid and without much personality until a couple of years into her father's Presidency.

 

[blastula]

I remembered the other thing. I had never noticed that Tony Banks was wearing a cast on the The Yes Album album cover. Apparently they came from a hospital that morning after Banks nearly killed the band in a head on, stormy late night crash after a gig.

Wait till you find out Tony Banks was not in Yes.

Tony Kaye and Peter Banks were, but Tony Banks is from some other band.

I'll admit though I didn't know that about the cast neither.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I remembered the other thing. I had never noticed that Tony Banks was wearing a cast on the The Yes Album album cover. Apparently they came from a hospital that morning after Banks nearly killed the band in a head on, stormy late night crash after a gig.

Wait till you find out Tony Banks was not in Yes.

Tony Kaye and Peter Banks were, but Tony Banks is from some other band.

I'll admit though I didn't know that about the cast neither.

I do know that, but screw it up anyway.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Meanwhile, apparently I never knew there was gambling on pre-season NFL Football. I saw on Yahoo there was a betting spread for the Browns game, and I asked myself, how in the heck do you gamble on a preseason football game?! Sports gambling is a bit of a fools errand to begin with, but preseason?! What is the basis for knowing how 11th string players will perform?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

There is another 'o' in sophmore? Fuck!

 

[Keith&Co.]

Every C in 'Pacific Ocean' is pronounced differently.

 

[TomC]

Every C in 'Pacific Ocean' is pronounced differently.

The American language is designed to keep us ignorant and at odds with each other. Even we can't speak it.
And no word means any one thing all the time.

That's why Satan gave us power over the rest of humanity, especially the English. Because we're His favourites*.
Tom

*See what I did there?

 

[TV and credit cards]

Almost a year ago now, my bloodwork was dropping not so subtle hints to quit drinking. I negotiated a once a week agreement. It seems to be holding.
I’m just shocked how productive I am now. It’s like I want to accomplish something everyday, save for Saturdays, obviously. Man, if I had known this 45 years ago, I can only imagine what great things I might have accomplished.

 

[rousseau]

Almost a year ago now, my bloodwork was dropping not so subtle hints to quit drinking. I negotiated a once a week agreement. It seems to be holding.
I’m just shocked how productive I am now. It’s like I want to accomplish something everyday, save for Saturdays, obviously. Man, if I had known this 45 years ago, I can only imagine what great things I might have accomplished.

Cut down the one time per week to zero and you'll find yourself eagerly doing dishes, and walking on the spot in your living room.

 

[bilby]

Every C in 'Pacific Ocean' is pronounced differently.

The American language is designed to keep us ignorant and at odds with each other. Even we can't speak it.
And no word means any one thing all the time.

That's why Satan gave us power over the rest of humanity, especially the English. Because we're His favourites*.
Tom

*See what I did there?

There's no such thing as "the American language".

The Americas have hundreds of languages, the most commonly spoken of which today is Spanish.

If by "American" you instead refer exclusively to the USA, then there's no official US language, but the most commonly spoken language in the US is English, followed closely by Spanish.

American English and American Spanish differ somewhat from other dialects of these languages, but neither can be called "the American language", without loss of clarity of meaning.

I guess American Spanish might one day be called "the American language", though there's probably too much variation in Spanish dialects across the Americas for them to all be bundled together as a single language in a rational way, without also encompassing European Spanish, at which point, it's easier and more comprehensible to just say "Spanish".

 

[Keith&Co.]

.

I guess American Spanish might one day be called "the American language",

Nope. Too fluid. We have different dialects on either side of Massachusetts, and it's a tiny, tiny state, arguing over how many Rs are pronounced in Worchester, car, and pizza.

'American' language will always be the idiomatic equivalent of three raccoons stacked in a trench coat trying to sneak into a buffet.

 

[zorq]

Nope. Too fluid. We have different dialects on either side of Massachusetts, and it's a tiny, tiny state, arguing over how many Rs are pronounced in Worchester, car, and pizza.

Do people really say "Peetzer?"

 

[Keith&Co.]

Nope. Too fluid. We have different dialects on either side of Massachusetts, and it's a tiny, tiny state, arguing over how many Rs are pronounced in Worchester, car, and pizza.

Do people really say "Peetzer?"

Worchester... the argument is over proouncing it Wooster or Worster.
Car or Caw (and then arguing if it's caw or cah)
Peeza, peetza, peetzar, yes.

Just sprinkle r's randomly over a page of text, then delete every thi'd one, you have Mass. diar-logue.

 

[TomC]

There's no such thing as "the American language".

The Americas have hundreds of languages, the most commonly spoken of which today is Spanish.

Yeah yeah,

But when I try(and I have) to use more precision, like refer to US residents as "USonians" as opposed to Americans, some pedantic person like you points out that USonian isn't a word. Then ignores what I actually said.
Tom

 

[bilby]

There's no such thing as "the American language".

The Americas have hundreds of languages, the most commonly spoken of which today is Spanish.

Yeah yeah,

But when I try(and I have) to use more precision, like refer to US residents as "USonians" as opposed to Americans, some pedantic person like you points out that USonian isn't a word. Then ignores what I actually said.
Tom

"American English" is a perfectly cromulent phrase.

"The American language" is nonsense.

'USonian' is a good neologism; Its meaning is clear, and it's not already in use to mean something completely different.

"American language" is already a meaningful phrase and clearly a plural set; Saying "The American language" is therefore a recipe for both insult and misunderstanding, so it's a poor choice of phrase in any context.

My objection is not founded in prescriptivism, and I would thank you not to lump me in with the prescriptivist pedants you may have encountered elsewhere.

 

[Toni]

People from the United States refer to themselves as Americans abs are referred to people of other nations as Americans ( in addition to a variety of epithets.)

Get over it.