For the Valley locals, it turns out the Pasadena Public Library is a more exciting place than you ever imagined. G heard tell from the other employees that an armless woman got arrested for kicking a cop in the balls when he tried to eject her from the premises because her non-service dog kept snapping at the other patrons. No, that’s not autocorrect — she was a woman with no arms.
They had to put the handcuffs on her ankles and carry her out on a gurney. This is all true.
9.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: Speak of stuff for valley folk, the Museum of Neon Art is opening in Glendale Feb. 6th.
ETA: I posted some pics of the exterior exhibits this morning.
@Mnemosyne: Love the Pasadena Public Library. Not sure if it’s still there, but they used to have an awesome Genealogy room tucked away above the main entry area.
The only library that I have fonder memories of was the old Eagle Rock branch library that is now the Center for the Arts.
eta. Oh well. Looks like my Genealogy room information is more than twenty years out of date. They moved the collection to a new location in 1992. “By renovating and transforming what was formerly a staff workroom, space was made for the Genealogy collection in this much more accessible location here on the Main floor. Previously the materials were located up a narrow flight of stairs on the balcony over the Information Center Desk.”
He had to pause several times while telling the story until I could stop laughing. Large urban public libraries draw an … interesting crowd, but the policy is that the library staff doesn’t care as long as you don’t disturb the other patrons. Snappy growling dogs count as a disturbance, but typing with your toes does not.
15.
mclaren
Q: What do you call a really stingy Mexican drug lord?
A: El cheapo.
Q: What do you call a dog who can’t decide if he believes in God?
A: A wagnostic.
A neutron walks into a bar. The bartender says, “For you, no charge.”
A quark walks into the bar. The bartender says, “For you, 1/3 charge.”
A Higgs boson walks into the bar. The bartender says, “Why are you always bringing everyone down? Everything gets so heavy when you come in here!”
The bartender pours a whiskey. A tachyon walks into the bar and says “One Johnny Walker neat.”
A piece of dark matter walks into a bar. No one sees it.
Trying to picture that at the public library I frequent. For some reason, the mental image of an armless woman kicking the cop in the balls reminds me of the Black Knight (“Just a flesh wound”) in MPATHG.
And tsk-tsk on you, Mr. Cole. Former prosecutors can be female, too.
Which is a roundabout way of linking to the story about the singular they (and by extension, the singular them) being dubbed 2015’s Word of the Year.
23.
SoupCatcher
@NotMax: I wonder how long that will take to filter down to standardized tests. Both the SAT and ACT question authors are firmly in the plural they camp.
@NotMax: Drum mentioned that a few days ago. His examples were jarring to these eyes.
I haven’t read the story.
I wonder why they didn’t choose something like “er” instead for the singular pronoun. Language evolves and generally ends up “simpler” over time.* Using 4 letters to replace a singular 3-letter word (him/her) to make it gender neutral seems backwards to me.
“I saw Pat at the conflagration. Er and I ended up roasting marshmallows.”
English is weird. :-/
Cheers,
Scott.
* – the obvious counterpoint is the almost ubiquitous “myself” to replace me/I these days. Grr… Get off my lawn!
I’ve been promoting an entirely new term – hown – as a gender neutral singular since the late 70s. Hown: a composite/contraction of his/her own self. Pronounced the same as hone.
To no avail, obviously.
Shall remain personally hidebound in eschewing use of the singular they/them but that doesn’t mean I am unwilling to accept its usage by others, albeit while wincing.
30.
The Other Chuck
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Singular “they” has been around for centuries. Stuff like “Er” has been attempted and rejected along with other later neologisms like “womyn”. English doesn’t like to be deliberately engineered.
31.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@The Other Chuck: Really? I don’t think I’ve come across singular “they” before, but English is a very weird, malleable language.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
32.
The Lodger
@The Other Chuck: Singular “they ” works pretty well when the antecedent is not precisely known, not so well if it’s a specific person and you know their gender.
33.
Origuy
Back in the Usenet days, someone was trying to get “zhe” and “zher” going as gender-neutral pronouns. It worked well enough that it was widely understood, but only a few people every really used therm.
34.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@The Lodger: Drum’s examples included “Pat” which we know from SNL can be ambiguous. :-)
Cheers,
Scott.
35.
J R in WV
I just finished a novel (three volumes, Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie) where the pronoun was always she, and the protagonist had real problems telling one gender from the other. Since it was SF this was an interesting method to be 5000 years or so in the future. Highly recommended.
Hostage stand-off near here in Huntington resolved by police, three arrested, no one hurt. I told Mrs JR in Texas they would all be daid! Professional law enforcement at work. Good work. Maybe send these cops to SW Oregon? Would they volunteer? I wouldn’t. But I’m old and retired.
G is doing literacy tutoring for someone for whom English is her second language, and he sometimes has to shrug and say, “It’s English. It’s weird” when she’s confused about why a word is spelled one way but pronounced another or some of the various other oddities of our cobbled-together language.
37.
Oatler.
THAT’S NOT FUNNY ENOUGH TO LEAVE ON, COLE!
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kc
And there’s the pedantic OO . @ing you.
Omnes Omnibus
It was a fair cop.
@kc: Oh, go blow goats.
scav
somehow sprung to mind.
Warning: Levels
Anne Laurie
@scav: News for you, sonny: Them wrinklies was having the researchers on.
Ever hear the expression, “teach your grannie to suck eggs?”
Omnes Omnibus
Come on, Cole should get more play for this.
scav
@Anne Laurie: & @efgoldman: Miss the levels caution?
JCJ
@efgoldman:
A little too subtle
Mnemosyne
For the Valley locals, it turns out the Pasadena Public Library is a more exciting place than you ever imagined. G heard tell from the other employees that an armless woman got arrested for kicking a cop in the balls when he tried to eject her from the premises because her non-service dog kept snapping at the other patrons. No, that’s not autocorrect — she was a woman with no arms.
They had to put the handcuffs on her ankles and carry her out on a gurney. This is all true.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: Speak of stuff for valley folk, the Museum of Neon Art is opening in Glendale Feb. 6th.
ETA: I posted some pics of the exterior exhibits this morning.
ETA2: Glendale…After Dark.
Mnemosyne
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Where’s Suzanne when I need her? She would love my story.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: Maybe she was one of the lottery winners.
ETA: Guess not, none in AZ(just in FL, TN, and CA).
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne:
I’m not Suzanne, but I love your story.
SoupCatcher
@Mnemosyne: Love the Pasadena Public Library. Not sure if it’s still there, but they used to have an awesome Genealogy room tucked away above the main entry area.
The only library that I have fonder memories of was the old Eagle Rock branch library that is now the Center for the Arts.
eta. Oh well. Looks like my Genealogy room information is more than twenty years out of date. They moved the collection to a new location in 1992. “By renovating and transforming what was formerly a staff workroom, space was made for the Genealogy collection in this much more accessible location here on the Main floor. Previously the materials were located up a narrow flight of stairs on the balcony over the Information Center Desk.”
Mnemosyne
@SiubhanDuinne:
He had to pause several times while telling the story until I could stop laughing. Large urban public libraries draw an … interesting crowd, but the policy is that the library staff doesn’t care as long as you don’t disturb the other patrons. Snappy growling dogs count as a disturbance, but typing with your toes does not.
mclaren
Q: What do you call a really stingy Mexican drug lord?
A: El cheapo.
Q: What do you call a dog who can’t decide if he believes in God?
A: A wagnostic.
A neutron walks into a bar. The bartender says, “For you, no charge.”
A quark walks into the bar. The bartender says, “For you, 1/3 charge.”
A Higgs boson walks into the bar. The bartender says, “Why are you always bringing everyone down? Everything gets so heavy when you come in here!”
The bartender pours a whiskey. A tachyon walks into the bar and says “One Johnny Walker neat.”
A piece of dark matter walks into a bar. No one sees it.
mclaren
@Mnemosyne:
They didn’t shoot that woman because she was unarmed.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne:
Trying to picture that at the public library I frequent. For some reason, the mental image of an armless woman kicking the cop in the balls reminds me of the Black Knight (“Just a flesh wound”) in MPATHG.
SiubhanDuinne
@mclaren:
That was orrible, putting andcuffs on an armless woman.
BillinGlendaleCA
@mclaren:
@mclaren:
@SiubhanDuinne: Ladies and Gentlemen, mclaren and SD will be here all week; remember to enjoy your waitress and tip the veal.
Felonious Monk
@SiubhanDuinne: She should know that you can’t fight with cops unless you’re armed.
joel hanes
@efgoldman:
You’re doing just fine. Don’t ever change.
signed
An Admirer
NotMax
Weird thread.
And tsk-tsk on you, Mr. Cole. Former prosecutors can be female, too.
Which is a roundabout way of linking to the story about the singular they (and by extension, the singular them) being dubbed 2015’s Word of the Year.
SoupCatcher
@NotMax: I wonder how long that will take to filter down to standardized tests. Both the SAT and ACT question authors are firmly in the plural they camp.
joel hanes
@mclaren:
.rab a otni sklaw noyhcat A
PurpleGirl
@joel hanes:
.rab a otni sklaw noyhcat A
Rot13 or your own mixing of the letters?
Bobby Thomson
@PurpleGirl: ?kniht uoy od tahW
Bobby Thomson
@PurpleGirl:
“Jung qb lbh guvax” jbhyq ybbx yvxr guvf.
J mjdszs ylmhis a Gtusanlm.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@NotMax: Drum mentioned that a few days ago. His examples were jarring to these eyes.
I haven’t read the story.
I wonder why they didn’t choose something like “er” instead for the singular pronoun. Language evolves and generally ends up “simpler” over time.* Using 4 letters to replace a singular 3-letter word (him/her) to make it gender neutral seems backwards to me.
“I saw Pat at the conflagration. Er and I ended up roasting marshmallows.”
English is weird. :-/
Cheers,
Scott.
* – the obvious counterpoint is the almost ubiquitous “myself” to replace me/I these days. Grr… Get off my lawn!
NotMax
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
Sounds like Cockney.
I’ve been promoting an entirely new term – hown – as a gender neutral singular since the late 70s. Hown: a composite/contraction of his/her own self. Pronounced the same as hone.
To no avail, obviously.
Shall remain personally hidebound in eschewing use of the singular they/them but that doesn’t mean I am unwilling to accept its usage by others, albeit while wincing.
The Other Chuck
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Singular “they” has been around for centuries. Stuff like “Er” has been attempted and rejected along with other later neologisms like “womyn”. English doesn’t like to be deliberately engineered.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@The Other Chuck: Really? I don’t think I’ve come across singular “they” before, but English is a very weird, malleable language.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
The Lodger
@The Other Chuck: Singular “they ” works pretty well when the antecedent is not precisely known, not so well if it’s a specific person and you know their gender.
Origuy
Back in the Usenet days, someone was trying to get “zhe” and “zher” going as gender-neutral pronouns. It worked well enough that it was widely understood, but only a few people every really used therm.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@The Lodger: Drum’s examples included “Pat” which we know from SNL can be ambiguous. :-)
Cheers,
Scott.
J R in WV
I just finished a novel (three volumes, Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie) where the pronoun was always she, and the protagonist had real problems telling one gender from the other. Since it was SF this was an interesting method to be 5000 years or so in the future. Highly recommended.
Hostage stand-off near here in Huntington resolved by police, three arrested, no one hurt. I told Mrs JR in Texas they would all be daid! Professional law enforcement at work. Good work. Maybe send these cops to SW Oregon? Would they volunteer? I wouldn’t. But I’m old and retired.
Mnemosyne
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
G is doing literacy tutoring for someone for whom English is her second language, and he sometimes has to shrug and say, “It’s English. It’s weird” when she’s confused about why a word is spelled one way but pronounced another or some of the various other oddities of our cobbled-together language.
Oatler.
THAT’S NOT FUNNY ENOUGH TO LEAVE ON, COLE!