Quote of the Day: Read rules first and have fun.

Discussion in 'Linguistics' started by Fraggle Rocker, Jan 17, 2008.

  1. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    You have it right. It was their attempt at humor, a "by golly!"-tron. Ausserordentlich-hochgescwindigkeit-elektronen-entwicklend-schwerarbeit- is "extraordinarily high-speed electron-generating hard-working-" which to me means "particle accelerating-" something-or-other. They couldn't figure out what to call the "something-or-other" that they just invented, which is rather surprising since German is an excellent language for coining new words (as good as Chinese but the problem is that the words come out much, much longer). So they called it a "by golly!"-tron. Which is remarkable since German academics are loth to borrow foreign words!
    This illustrates both my theses: 1. German is a very good language for coining new words; 2. The coinages often turn out to be ridiculously long. In Chinese this would probably have four syllables. "Television" has two: dian shi, and "computer programmer" has four: dian nao cheng xu. Notice how many syllables it takes to say "particle accelerator" by using only German words. We get it in eight syllables by borrowing Latin words. The Chinese get the prize by borrowing virtually no foreign word because they can't be normalized to their phonetics, yet they still economize on syllables.
    This is certainly true in America, at least if what he meant was "Hell is for other people." (Perhaps not, although that would mean he had a serious problem with misanthropy!) In the last poll I saw, about three-fourths of Americans believe in heaven, but only about 15% believe in hell. We call this "Chinese menu" religion: choose one from Column A and one from Column B.
    No. Loneliness is sadness or even bleakness, caused by lack of company. Boredom is a state of weariniess or restlessness due to inability to be interested in what one finds at hand. One can be bored while in the company of others, even the company of friends; an entire group of friends can be bored. And one can be lonely while pursuing an interesting endeavor alone.
    I agree. A criminal could have an epiphany on his way to the gallows. Many sincerely religious people fervently hope so, because it might allow him to be forgiven by their god and thereby not doomed to go to hell--which of course they only believe in for other people.

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    Last edited: Jan 26, 2008
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  3. Captain Kremmen All aboard, me Hearties! Valued Senior Member

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    Jack Benny.
    A pennypinching comedian and bad violinist. That was his act anyway. (1894-1974)
    He never admitted being older than 39. When he died, some newspapers ran the headline Jack Benny dies at 39.


    Quotations

    “A scout troop consists of twelve little kids dressed like schmucks following a big schmuck dressed like a kid.”

    “Give me golf clubs, fresh air and a beautiful partner, and you can keep the clubs and the fresh air.”

    "I went to a meeting for premature ejaculators. I left early."

    "A cannibal is a guy who goes into a restaurant and orders the waiter."
     
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  5. one_raven God is a Chinese Whisper Valued Senior Member

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    "My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." - Jack Nicholson

    "Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - HL Mencken

    "[Trying to obtain information from Mr. Mitchell was] Like trying to nail a drop of water to the wall." - George E. Danielson

    "Life is a sexually transmitted disease." - Guy Bellamy

    "She’s got to learn to reconcile herself to being Mrs Aristotle Onassis because the only place she’ll find sympathy from now on is in the dictionary between shit and syphilis." - Aristotle Onassis following his marriage to Jackie

    "In all life one should comfort the afflicted, but verily, also, one should afflict the comfortable, and especially when they are comfortably, contentedly, even happily wrong." John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908), U.S. economist. Guardian (London, July 28, 1989).

    "Puritanism...the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy" - H.L. Mencken

    "My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." - Jack Nicholson
     
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  7. Spud Emperor solanaceous common tater Registered Senior Member

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    I tried to get the O.K from Orleander before quoting her, I haven't yet so here goes anyway and noting that there is a massive misuse of than and then on sci ( I swear they seem interchangeable at best and misused more likely; nearly as frequently as your meaning you're)

    From the suntan thread..
    "No, we spend more time looking at a persons face then their boobs

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  8. Spud Emperor solanaceous common tater Registered Senior Member

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    "I know body hair bothers some women, but a lot of men like a fluffy partner."

    Dame Edna Everage

    Yes and I like a woman with long hair flowing down her back... and some on her head.

    I'm claiming that but I suspect Kremmen will say Benny Hill beat me to it.
     
  9. Captain Kremmen All aboard, me Hearties! Valued Senior Member

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    George Burns (1896-1996) Jewish-American Comedian. Friend to Jack Benny.

    Quotations

    When I was a boy the Dead Sea was only sick.

    Actually, it only takes one drink to get me loaded. Trouble is, I can't remember if it's the thirteenth or fourteenth.

    Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair.

    I can't afford to die; I'd lose too much money.

    You've got to be honest; if you can fake that, you've got it made.
     
  10. Spud Emperor solanaceous common tater Registered Senior Member

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    I so desperately want to be taken seriously around here but it's clear I'm a freud.
    I want to quote some famous philisophical folk but my repressed sexual memories from a jung age just seem to get in my way.
    When I'm homer lone my I console myself that I bloody well don't nietzsche approval!

    * cries and goes off to watch new rimbaud movie to lose self in poetic mayhem*
     
  11. Captain Kremmen All aboard, me Hearties! Valued Senior Member

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    Steve Martin. Born 1945. Still Alive. Comedian and composer.
    (never heard any of his music, is it any good.


    Quotations:
    A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.


    An apology? Bah! Disgusting! Cowardly! Beneath the dignity of any gentleman, however wrong he might be.


    Boy, those French: they have a different word for everything!


    Chaos in the midst of chaos isn't funny, but chaos in the midst of order is.


    Comedy may be big business but it isn't pretty.


    Don't have sex man. It leads to kissing and pretty soon you have to start talking to them.
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2008
  12. Captain Kremmen All aboard, me Hearties! Valued Senior Member

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    Spud. If you want to quote Rimbaud, quote Rimbaud

    Rambaud:
    "I could have killed 'em all, I could kill you. In town you're the law, out here it's me. Don't push it. Don't push it or I'll give you a war you won't believe. Let it go. Let it go."

    Thats From Rimbaud First Blood, the only Rimbaud film worth watching.
     
  13. ntgr Registered Senior Member

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    Written on a wall in Athens with spray paint:

    Beauty Standards Burn Beautifully
    (from the movie title Beautiful Villages Burn Beautifully)
     
  14. Captain Kremmen All aboard, me Hearties! Valued Senior Member

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    "Never interrupt your enemy while he is making a mistake"
    Napoleon

    This is such smart advice. I wish I had heard it years ago.
     
    Last edited: Apr 10, 2008
  15. Challenger78 Valued Senior Member

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    7,536

    You may or may not have heard, I am a heavy caffiene drinker. Could you please post a link to the pertinent information ?
     
  16. Challenger78 Valued Senior Member

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    "Rape the Wall not the Kids" Written on a wall in KL.

    Also,

    "I like an escalator because an escalator can never break, it can only become stairs. There would never be an escalator temporarily out of order sign, only an escalator temporarily stairs. Sorry for the convenience."
    - Mitch Hedberg
     
  17. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    24,690
    That was Pepsi's 2002-03 advertising campaign. 1970s-80s supermodel Cindy Crawford did the spots.
    I too am a never-quite-recovering caffeine addict. I'm very sensitive to it; a little chocolate is enough to give me a buzz. Two ounces of cola in a measuring cup on Saturday morning will keep me bouncing off the ceiling until Monday; if I drank a whole can of Diet Pepsi I'd probably do something that would make the evening news. It really ruins my judgment; for a couple of decades I screwed up my life (school, marriage, job) with caffeine worse than most people do with the "hard" drugs that never gave this unrepentant hippie any grief.
     
  18. Captain Kremmen All aboard, me Hearties! Valued Senior Member

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    Last edited: Apr 10, 2008
  19. Challenger78 Valued Senior Member

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    I wonder if i can substitute it with a placebo. Caffiene seems to have built up a tolerance in moi. But what happened with the decalcification of the bones ?I'm pretty tall (for my age/background), does this mean I'm going to become prematurely brittle ?.
     
  20. Challenger78 Valued Senior Member

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  21. Vkothii Banned Banned

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    "Sucking the kumara"

    This saying comes from the Maori of NZ. A kumara is a sweet potato, and after cooking goes quite soft.
    Old toothless people "sucking the kumara" were a common sight on marae back in the day.
    "Sucked the big kumara", means: kua mate koe (one has died).

    In case you needed to know
     
  22. tim840 Registered Senior Member

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    The cotton clothing is made of grows in Mississippi.

    Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

    We gave the bananas to the monkeys because they were ripe. We gave the bananas to the monkeys because they were hungry.
     
  23. tim840 Registered Senior Member

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    1,653
    Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
    Grammatically correct sentence. Don't believe me? Wikipedia it.
     

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