Thinking this through logically: what would be the meaning of the word "postconditions", if it existed? It would mean that the conditions you thought had applied to a negotiation, had been changed after it had taken place - could that explain why a government official or politician might want to invent the word "preconditions" to prevent the other side employing such a tactic?dillon wrote:My pet peeve is when a government official or politician uses the word "preconditions."
WORDS THAT BUG ME
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Re: WORDS THAT BUG ME
There is no such thing as a normal person, only someone you don't know very well yet.
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Re: WORDS THAT BUG ME
I usually stop listening to what is being said and just count the 'likes'.Ray wrote: "Like" thrown into the middle of a sentence ("he was, like, really tall")
Charlie
If I want to dress like a woman, I'll wear jeans.
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Re: WORDS THAT BUG ME
So I had better like watch my P's and Q's whilst on this thread.
It is a pointless exercise fighting against a changing language although one gets some satisfaction trying.Language is like a democracy; the majority wins even if they are totally wrong. (Self censored)
It is a pointless exercise fighting against a changing language although one gets some satisfaction trying.
Anthony, a denim miniskirt wearer in Outback Australia
- moonshadow
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Re: WORDS THAT BUG ME
What is a "P" and "Q" anyway? Aside from being letters in the alphabet...
-Andrea
The old hillbilly from the coal fields of the Appalachian mountains currently living like there's no tomorrow on the west coast.
The old hillbilly from the coal fields of the Appalachian mountains currently living like there's no tomorrow on the west coast.
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Re: WORDS THAT BUG ME
The history of the term is uncertain, but it's a form of shorthand meaning, "Mind your manners."moonshadow wrote:What is a "P" and "Q" anyway?
There are more than a handful of these obscure idioms in the vernacular, including the ubiquitous "OK".
So, indeed, do mind your ps and qs. OK?
Retrocomputing -- It's not just a job, it's an adventure!
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Re: WORDS THAT BUG ME
Regarding 'Ps and Qs', my understanding was that the 'P' stood for 'please' and the 'Q' for 'thank you'. Hence, one was being polite.
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Re: WORDS THAT BUG ME
I understood it came from the early printing industry: it was easy to mistake a 'p' for a 'q' when reading the type in mirror-image.
There is no such thing as a normal person, only someone you don't know very well yet.
Re: WORDS THAT BUG ME
dillon, the use you gave, "One could call those jeans "preconditioned,"" the "preconditioned" here would have an intermediate hyphen as in "pre-conditioned". In its normal or original context it is something that must be fulfilled before other things can happen. This is the meaning that it has for me in programming when considering the "if-then-else" constructs.
I believe in offering every assistance short of actual help but then mainly just want to be left to be myself in all my difference and uniqueness.
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Re: WORDS THAT BUG ME
It is taking extra care, like dotting your "i"s and crossing your "t"smoonshadow wrote:What is a "P" and "Q" anyway? Aside from being letters in the alphabet...
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Re: WORDS THAT BUG ME
Aka, "dotting your 't's and crossing your 'i's."denimini wrote:[...]dotting your "i"s and crossing your "t"s
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On words, dialects, and languages
It's astonishing what one can find when one isn't looking.
I was casting about on the Intartubes to see whether the current administration of the US of A is actually going to shut down its terrestrial radio broadcasts of time and frequency information (as far as I know, still up in the air) and stumbled on this featuring two folks who would later on become Pythons (of the Monty variety, not serpents), another Brit comic whom I didn't know, and a pre-Young Frankenstein Marty Feldman in a sketch entitled "The Four Yorkshiremen". If I wasn't at work I would have been howling with laughter (Now, we'll have none of that here -- this is serious business. No more fun of any kind!).
I was casting about on the Intartubes to see whether the current administration of the US of A is actually going to shut down its terrestrial radio broadcasts of time and frequency information (as far as I know, still up in the air) and stumbled on this featuring two folks who would later on become Pythons (of the Monty variety, not serpents), another Brit comic whom I didn't know, and a pre-Young Frankenstein Marty Feldman in a sketch entitled "The Four Yorkshiremen". If I wasn't at work I would have been howling with laughter (Now, we'll have none of that here -- this is serious business. No more fun of any kind!).
Retrocomputing -- It's not just a job, it's an adventure!
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Re: WORDS THAT BUG ME
-Andrea
The old hillbilly from the coal fields of the Appalachian mountains currently living like there's no tomorrow on the west coast.
The old hillbilly from the coal fields of the Appalachian mountains currently living like there's no tomorrow on the west coast.
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Re: WORDS THAT BUG ME
Nobody expects perfect English all the time (if we could even agree on what was 'perfect English'), but good grammar and punctuation help to make messages easier for the recipient to read and understand.
The point which is often overlooked is that a forum is a "write-once read-many" situation; a few moments spent checking the grammar and punctuation before pressing the 'send' button is more than repaid by the total time saved by dozens of others who don't have to waste ages puzzling over what the sender intended to convey. We all make mistakes, but it is a point of courtesy towards others to try to minimise the time it takes them to decode the message.
The point which is often overlooked is that a forum is a "write-once read-many" situation; a few moments spent checking the grammar and punctuation before pressing the 'send' button is more than repaid by the total time saved by dozens of others who don't have to waste ages puzzling over what the sender intended to convey. We all make mistakes, but it is a point of courtesy towards others to try to minimise the time it takes them to decode the message.
There is no such thing as a normal person, only someone you don't know very well yet.
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Re: WORDS THAT BUG ME
Alright minding your P's and Q's is one thing but doing it on the PDQ is totally another. How many of you know what PDQ stands for
"It is better to be hated for what you are than be loved for what you are not" Andre Gide: 1869 - 1951
Always be yourself because the people that matter don’t mind and the ones that mind don’t matter.
Always be yourself because the people that matter don’t mind and the ones that mind don’t matter.
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Re: WORDS THAT BUG ME
Hi Fred,Fred in Skirts wrote:Alright minding your P's and Q's is one thing but doing it on the PDQ is totally another. How many of you know what PDQ stands for
Either Pretty Darn Quick or Pretty D**n Quick, depending on your leaning towards swearing!
--Rick