Pet peeves

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Re: Pet peeves

Postby cmsellers » Tue Jan 29, 2019 7:22 am

Two related issues.

The first is the tendency of institutions to accumulate rules they make no effort to enforce. This is most obnoxious when it comes to laws, because it means the cops can always find some excuse to arrest you if they really want to, but with any sort of rule, my belief is that any rule worth having is worth enforcing, and any rule not worth enforcing isn't worth having.

The second, fortunately, does not apply to laws, but it's the way almost every internet community (TCS is one of the rare exceptions) has some rules which are enforced but never explicitly stated. Sometimes it's because mods have invented their own rules and no one can challenge them except for indifferent administrators. And sometimes it's because the topics cause controversy, and the admins act like shadowbanning a topic will prevent it but having the ban on the rules will make it worse, somehow? I'm not really sure of the reasoning, but I realized I've seen it a lot, and it's always controversial topics that get this treatment.
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Re: Pet peeves

Postby RatElemental » Sat Feb 09, 2019 10:20 am

I have a few, most of which I forget I even have until they happen again.

Off the top of my head, though...

People calling stars other than the Sun suns. The Moon is a moon but the Sun is a star. Similarly, when people call other star systems 'solar systems.' The only star system that has Sol as its star is our star system, THE Solar system.

I probably sound pedantic as hell but I don't care, this is like nails on chalkboards to me.
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Re: Pet peeves

Postby Anglerphobe » Sat Feb 09, 2019 11:21 am

There isn't really anything which distinguishes the sun from other stars with accompanying planets, though, other than our perspective. How would you, standing on an exoplanet, distinguish its local star from all the other stars visible from there?
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Re: Pet peeves

Postby RatElemental » Sat Feb 09, 2019 1:38 pm

Anglerphobe wrote:There isn't really anything which distinguishes the sun from other stars with accompanying planets, though, other than our perspective. How would you, standing on an exoplanet, distinguish its local star from all the other stars visible from there?

By referring to it by its (likely shortened) name, which is what we do every time we say "the sun."
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Re: Pet peeves

Postby cmsellers » Sat Feb 09, 2019 5:59 pm

In science fiction, our sun's proper name is Sol and our moon's proper name is Luna. I'm not sure if it's a convention used in astronomy as well, but if it's not, it should be. Not only is using Latin proper names the norm in science, but just as other planets can have moons, other star systems can have suns, with the sun (or possibly suns in dual-primary systems) being the main star of any system.
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Re: Pet peeves

Postby NathanLoiselle » Sun Feb 10, 2019 7:55 pm

Other solar systems, yes I went there!, stars can also be referred to as exosuns, planets are exoplanets, and moons are exomoons.

Just to clarify.
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Re: Pet peeves

Postby Aquila89 » Wed Feb 13, 2019 7:13 pm

In Hungary, it's common to call transparent plastic file folders (things like these) "panties". This annoys me, because it's stupid, but more importantly because I have social anxiety, which makes it hard for me to say or even hear certain words with sexual connotations.
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Re: Pet peeves

Postby IamNotCreepy » Wed Feb 13, 2019 7:37 pm

Aquila89 wrote:In Hungary, it's common to call transparent plastic file folders (things like these) "panties". This annoys me, because it's stupid, but more importantly because I have social anxiety, which makes it hard for me to say or even hear certain words with sexual connotations.


You just need to come up with a different term for them. Since they are transparent and are used to protect the contents, maybe ... condoms? Yeah, I'd go with that.
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Re: Pet peeves

Postby NathanLoiselle » Wed Feb 13, 2019 9:52 pm

The Emperor has no file folders. They're not transparent. They actually don't exist!


Also, he has no clothes.
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Re: Pet peeves

Postby Aquila89 » Tue Feb 19, 2019 2:06 pm

Just today a woman said to me (while handing me some papers) "I have no panties, is that a problem for you?"

Well, what can you say to that? I said something like "just say file folders and there will be no misunderstandings."
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Re: Pet peeves

Postby cmsellers » Tue Feb 19, 2019 5:41 pm

This happens a lot to you, I take it? Are you sure she wasn't flirting with you?
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Re: Pet peeves

Postby Aquila89 » Tue Feb 19, 2019 7:10 pm

What happens to me a lot, people using that slang term in my presence? No, I wouldn't say that. I just heard it recently because I had to put a lot of papers in folders. And I'm pretty sure she wasn't flirting with me because she has never seen me before.
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Re: Pet peeves

Postby Pedgerow » Tue Feb 19, 2019 8:46 pm

Aquila89 wrote:I said something like "just say file folders and there will be no misunderstandings."


Do you always talk like a bank robber?
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Re: Pet peeves

Postby Aquila89 » Tue Feb 19, 2019 9:21 pm

It probably sounded differently in the original Hungarian.
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Re: Pet peeves

Postby iMURDAu » Sat Feb 23, 2019 12:56 pm

Aquila89 wrote:What happens to me a lot, people using that slang term in my presence? No, I wouldn't say that. I just heard it recently because I had to put a lot of papers in folders. And I'm pretty sure she wasn't flirting with me because she has never seen me before.


?

I wouldn't be married for 11 years if a total stranger hadn't started flirting with me.

I'm not saying that you were being flirted with but lack of prior knowledge about you isn't a reason why someone wouldn't flirt with you.

Just try to let the "panties" thing go. What you say to the "I have no panties, is that okay?" question is a polite yes or no. That's not easy to do but you're not going to be able to change how people use the term so might as well roll with it. Or you can just say "For you maybe but I need panties. Nobody else seems to value them like I do, you're all walking around here without panties".
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