Humans can be drained of blood in 8.6s given adequate vacuuming systems

May 8, 2014 12:44 PM

One of the nicer things about being a MeFite is exposure to new ideas and content we might never have otherwise encountered. I'm curious to know what life lessons and other bits of knowledge you've learned about the world thanks to MetaFilter. Please share!
posted by zarq to MetaFilter-Related at 12:44 PM (290 comments total)

Humans can be drained of blood in 8.6s given adequate vacuuming systems

666 posts tagged with death

The MetaTalk RSS feed is going to look really macabre today.
posted by Think_Long at 12:52 PM on May 8, 2014 [2 favorites]

i learned that there are devices which are used to attach the bottoms of one's dress shirt to the tops of one's socks and that real people in the real world really use them
posted by elizardbits at 1:08 PM on May 8, 2014 [37 favorites]

some (wrong) people stand to wipe.
posted by nadawi at 1:09 PM on May 8, 2014 [27 favorites]

Ask MetaFilter taught me how to get into a car in the rain without drenching myself with my umbrella.
posted by subbes at 1:15 PM on May 8, 2014

How to get rid of a body.
posted by Lutoslawski at 1:15 PM on May 8, 2014 [20 favorites]

I went on a coffee date with a dude from okcupid last weekend, and found out that he's a metafilter lurker. He said that reading metafilter over the years has made him a better feminist. I brought it up at the Chicago meetup last night and folks generally agreed that that's one of the things that metafilter Does Really Well. (Not quite the same as human blood draining speeds or rhino bladder capacity, but I think making people better feminists is a pretty good legacy to have.)

p.s. Daniel if you're reading this, hello! I don't know if we have terribly all that much in common but you are very good looking and I thought that needed to be said. p.p.s. You should totally come to a Chicago meetup one of these days.
posted by phunniemee at 1:18 PM on May 8, 2014 [61 favorites]

also and most importantly i learned that no medical problem i have ever had is too gross or too shocking to share because there will always be something worse happening to someone else
posted by elizardbits at 1:21 PM on May 8, 2014 [16 favorites]

I learned there's a good lookin' dude named Daniel in Chicago.
posted by griphus at 1:21 PM on May 8, 2014 [74 favorites]

I learned there's a good lookin' dude named Daniel in Chicago.

I have recently come to terms with the fact that 90% of the pool of dateable guys in Chicago is named Daniel. I have dated/been on dates with 4 different Daniels and am texting with a different Dan right now. WHAT THE FUCK WITH THE NAME, GUYS. MY DAD'S NAME IS DANIEL AND THIS IS JUST WEIRD.
posted by phunniemee at 1:25 PM on May 8, 2014 [11 favorites]

To tag along with phunniemee, I've learned basically everything I know about how to talk about trans issues from MeFi.

In that vein, thank you to everyone who's willing to gently correct and explain sensitive topics to ignorant but well-meaning fellow MeFites.
posted by Etrigan at 1:26 PM on May 8, 2014 [32 favorites]

Every day in MeFi chat, I learn shocking things like there are Manly Men who, in addition to going to the gym, fighting snakes, and other manly pursuits, also exchange recipes. You know, like girls. And discuss books and movies. Like meganerds.

And, because of this sacred knowledge, one day I hope to remarry and not be simply fucking miserable. In the meantime, I shall continue to lurk on chat to watch the manly men exchange recipes.
posted by Michele in California at 1:28 PM on May 8, 2014 [8 favorites]

I learned that cats should eat 100% wet food.

My cats are very grateful (and healthier!).
posted by insectosaurus at 1:30 PM on May 8, 2014 [13 favorites]

also sort of related to my last comment but i am really glad that the guy who didn't poop for a month finally managed to poop
posted by elizardbits at 1:32 PM on May 8, 2014 [21 favorites]

There are people who watch as much TV as I do and as closely as I do.

It's kind of terrifying when we're all in one place.
posted by The Whelk at 1:37 PM on May 8, 2014 [6 favorites]

I'm just skimming this thread, but I gather that this Daniel guy is finally pooping?
posted by Think_Long at 1:38 PM on May 8, 2014 [50 favorites]

I've learned nothing; I knew all this shit already.

Just kidding - I knew next to nothing about issues outside my own white male hetero cisgendered experience, and I thought good intentions would be enough to make up for it.

Heh. What a kick to the lavaballs that was.
posted by Mooski at 1:43 PM on May 8, 2014 [17 favorites]

I LEARNED ABOUT THE TACTICAL, WAR-CHANGING SIGNIFICANCE OF PROPERLY KNITTED GLOVES
posted by The Whelk at 1:48 PM on May 8, 2014 [12 favorites]

I learned that every hour, every day, someone somewhere is doing/eating/learning/watching something I've never heard of, and other people are curious as to why/how/if it's done and whether they are doing it correctly.

Also, you are not my lawyer, my doctor, my medical professional, my vet, my parole officer, my immigration officer, my tax man or my mechanic. And yet your mileage, well...it may vary.
posted by routergirl at 1:48 PM on May 8, 2014 [9 favorites]

I wish more people would link, like Think_Long, if only because now I'm like Am I getting into cars in the rain wrong?! Did someone give up pooping for Lent?! The mefi search box is gonna get a workout.
posted by theatro at 1:48 PM on May 8, 2014 [16 favorites]

theatro: "Did someone give up pooping for Lent?!"

That won't end well.
posted by zarq at 1:51 PM on May 8, 2014 [3 favorites]

I used to think that maybe I was the only one who worried about "how to be pretend to be a normal person." I am very comforted by the askmetafilter questions and answers that show me that a lot of you out there are just as confused as I am.
posted by umwhat at 1:53 PM on May 8, 2014 [10 favorites]

I learned that y'all reeeeeeally care about Game of Thrones. Like, a LOT.

have you considered therapy?
posted by billiebee at 1:54 PM on May 8, 2014 [7 favorites]

Less tongue-in-cheek answer:

Oh. My. God. What Octopi can do.
posted by Michele in California at 1:55 PM on May 8, 2014 [2 favorites]

Less tongue-in-cheek answer.
posted by maryr at 1:57 PM on May 8, 2014 [3 favorites]

I think of "everyone's hardest struggle is their hardest struggle" every week at least, and generally apply jessamyn's metafilter-improvement advice from that comment in my real life as much as possible and applicable
posted by Kwine at 1:58 PM on May 8, 2014 [23 favorites]

I am about to learn whether or not I'm the only one who, prior to meeting a new group of MeFites, has made sure to screen their usual conversational hobbyhorses for things that these people are already totally aware of because they also read MetaFilter.
posted by invitapriore at 1:59 PM on May 8, 2014 [4 favorites]

some (wrong) people sit to wipe.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 2:02 PM on May 8, 2014 [6 favorites]

...He said that reading metafilter over the years has made him a better feminist. I brought it up at the Chicago meetup last night and folks generally agreed that that's one of the things that metafilter Does Really Well.

Could be something there. Not sure MetaFilter has made me a better feminist but there have been more than a few times I've read something in a post and thought "Wow, that's a douchey thing that was said or quoted or highlighted there", then others will comment and agree "That's pretty douchey" and then I'll gradually and quietly realise "Oh fuck; I've said that bad thing myself in the past"...

MetaFilter: sometimes an uncomfortable mirror to your previous disappointing actions and words.
posted by Wordshore at 2:02 PM on May 8, 2014 [4 favorites]

That some people wear shoes IN THIER HOUSE
posted by The Whelk at 2:03 PM on May 8, 2014 [12 favorites]

(oh and that borderline uncontrollable verbal outbursts to stop intrusive or repetitive thoughts is Not Just Something Wrong With Me but actually pretty common.)
posted by The Whelk at 2:03 PM on May 8, 2014 [15 favorites]

Speaking of lavaballs, I miss this game a lot.
posted by Celsius1414 at 2:04 PM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

invitapriore: "I am about to learn whether or not I'm the only one who, prior to meeting a new group of MeFites, has made sure to screen their usual conversational hobbyhorses for things that these people are already totally aware of because they also read MetaFilter."

I DO THIS. :D

My first big meetup, several people said something to me along the lines of "That post you did about X! Loved that post!" And then proceeded to talk to me about it for a few minutes. With the exception of mountmccabe and ausdemfenster, I drew a TOTAL blank on which post people were talking about. ("Really? I made an FPP about that? Huh. Sounds cool.") It was kind of amusing. Apparently my memory was the first thing to go. :D
posted by zarq at 2:05 PM on May 8, 2014 [3 favorites]

I learned that y'all reeeeeeally care about Game of Thrones. Like, a LOT.

have you considered therapy?

Not until the seventh book comes out, and I finish it.
posted by Celsius1414 at 2:06 PM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

Not sure MetaFilter has made me a better feminist but there have been more than a few times I've read something in a post and thought "Wow, that's a douchey thing that was said or quoted or highlighted there

Oh yeah, Metafilter has definitely made me more thoughtful about what I'm saying and hearing and what it actually indicates. It's also made me more comfortable talking about sensitive topics like race and trans* issues and helped me to recognize that my ability just not to have these conversations is a reflection of my privilege and that my personal discomfort isn't a reason not to have the conversation. Similarly, it's also helped me be more comfortable saying basically "Uh, what?" when someone makes a sexist joke or statement instead of going along with it to prove that I'm more fun than other women.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 2:08 PM on May 8, 2014 [11 favorites]

I learned that some people sell food out of the trunk of their car, some people can't identify portobello mushrooms, "taters" means "porn", I can easily and completely fall for a suicide hoax and especially that my unexamined assumptions about things that seem obvious to me may very well be wrong.
posted by double block and bleed at 2:14 PM on May 8, 2014 [6 favorites]

I've learned why people are suddenly favoriting my comments from last year's lavaball thread.
posted by sweetkid at 2:16 PM on May 8, 2014 [5 favorites]

shhhh we don't talk about the taters anymore
posted by Lutoslawski at 2:17 PM on May 8, 2014 [6 favorites]

Some people get really annoyed at people who wear hats indoors.

That there are a lot more introverts out there than I thought (which I guess stands to reason).

I really need to poke through my favourites more.
posted by Solomon at 2:19 PM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

I recently learned that there is such a thing as an online "romance" scam. I had no idea.
I also still wonder how one could help these poor people more effectively.
posted by Namlit at 2:21 PM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

I've learned that I'm not the smartest guy in the room. Far from it, in fact. But thanks to MetaFilter, I can play one on TV.
posted by arcticseal at 2:25 PM on May 8, 2014 [3 favorites]

I learned that it costs $20, SAIT.

It.
posted by Lutoslawski at 2:27 PM on May 8, 2014 [8 favorites]

I learned about Ask vs. Guess Culture.
posted by magstheaxe at 2:39 PM on May 8, 2014 [50 favorites]

He said that reading metafilter over the years has made him a better feminist.

Yeah, I don't know if I'm even a "good" feminist but I'm probably a better feminist than I used to be. Definitely there are some people around here are good at explaining complex things.
posted by GuyZero at 2:41 PM on May 8, 2014

I learned about Ask vs. Guess Culture.

Oh yes, this. By recognizing the magic of Ask vs. Guess I managed to finagle myself a 75% raise. It's like unlocking a cheat code for life.
posted by phunniemee at 2:42 PM on May 8, 2014 [16 favorites]

That's why I used your garden shed.
posted by arcticseal at 2:52 PM on May 8, 2014 [37 favorites]

(oh and that borderline uncontrollable verbal outbursts to stop intrusive or repetitive thoughts is Not Just Something Wrong With Me but actually pretty common.)


This -- but not just for this but for about 100 other things that I thought were "wrong with me" but turned out to be (a) fairly common and okay or (b) fairly common and not okay but fairly easily fixable when you see what others have done.

I did, however, already know there were attractive Daniels in Chicago based on real world experience.

If you know what I mean.

(not from the same pool as phunniemee presumably)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:53 PM on May 8, 2014 [9 favorites]

you're gonna splatter some DNA somewhere following that goofy plan.

Oh god another Hannibal thread
posted by The Whelk at 2:55 PM on May 8, 2014 [2 favorites]

That famous answer is really terrible advice.

And yet I have not heard of a case since 2004 of a discovery of a body disposed of in just such a way. COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT.
posted by Lutoslawski at 2:56 PM on May 8, 2014 [3 favorites]

This may be cheesy, but as I thought about this it brought me to tears, because constant, mostly lurking exposure to a pretty good, pretty diverse group of people has taught me a lot about being a better person in general. More empathetic, more open, less dismissive, more aware of my personal prejudices/assumptions and certainly more aware of all the different experiences people have. And repeatedly, how goddamn fortunate I am, and to have gratitude about it.

This community isn't perfect, natch, but taken as a whole there's a lot to learn here about being a good person. I fail, a lot, but for questioning my behavior, thinking of what the hivemind would say is a pretty good way of approaching it. Sometimes I think of it as What Would a Good MeFite Do? (tm), and I try to improve or change or stop doing what I'm doing. (Along with, if this were an Ask, what would Metafilter say? *ponders* oh, that's it, thanks, Metafilter!)

Also, 'cuz of a conversation between elizardbits and the whelk, I learned that if I get so drunk I might asphyxiate myself with my own vomit to pass out over the shower drain.
posted by barchan at 2:56 PM on May 8, 2014 [18 favorites]

I just learned this one recently. Sadly, I think I've encountered that bit of information before, forgot it, and repeated the same pattern of just thinking that if I just explain further, it will make sense and not get taken the wrong way.

And for offline use, I've learned to call up my own version of the old man on the porch, so that I can remember that there will be events and activities that happen after whatever currently occurring crisis or meeting that my brain has decided to push all knowledge and awareness aside for.

But most importantly, I learned to always keep my gas tank full.
posted by cashman at 2:56 PM on May 8, 2014 [3 favorites]

cuz of a conversation between elizardbits and the whelk, I learned that if I get so drunk I might asphyxiate myself with my own vomit to pass out over the shower drain.

God I want to go to an NYC meet-up.
posted by Lutoslawski at 2:59 PM on May 8, 2014 [5 favorites]

Looking back over my favourite posts, I learned:

about Iris DeMent
how to say (or more importantly sing) Merry Christmas in Hawaiian
that the oldest known face belonged to a fish
that The Smiths lyrics work really well with Peanuts comics
and that there is a correct way to take a dick pic.

(Also loads of stuff about space and maths and science that my tiny brain hasn't retained but I've enjoyed being amazed by anyway)
posted by billiebee at 3:06 PM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

I LEARNED ABOUT THE TACTICAL, WAR-CHANGING SIGNIFICANCE OF PROPERLY KNITTED GLOVES

TECHNICALLY THEY WERE NAALBINDED
posted by KathrynT at 3:09 PM on May 8, 2014 [10 favorites]

The big lesson I learned from Metafilter is that it's OK to say "You know what? I am more invested in this than is productive / I am bringing in baggage and stress from my personal past or present / I am acting like a jerk, and I am sorry. I am going to take a walk and get some distance and not fight about this any more." And not just OK, but really seriously great -- like not "the benefits of doing so outweigh the hit to your Online Respectometer" but "not only are there benefits to you, it actually makes your Online Respectometer shoot up!"
posted by KathrynT at 3:11 PM on May 8, 2014 [26 favorites]

Just yesterday, thanks to AskMe, I learned that wild bees really like to move into abandoned hives, partially because they like the smell of a used hive.
posted by Toekneesan at 3:12 PM on May 8, 2014

God I want to go to an NYC meet-up.

I am Suddently flashing to the FLAVORTOWN meetup which felt like the world's best office holiday party, ESP the part when we saw the suggested tip, balked, and just threw in a PILE of money for putting up with us.
posted by The Whelk at 3:15 PM on May 8, 2014 [4 favorites]

From the FLAVORTOWN meetup MeTa, I learned the phrase "tentacle beasts" which I did not know before. And someone clued me it probably refers to Hentai porn.

Man, how did I ever get to be this old while still remaining so utterly clueless about so very many things????

(hangs head in shame)
posted by Michele in California at 3:21 PM on May 8, 2014

Oh god speaking of the showerbarf thread that was also the thread in which I learned that while for me the afterpants time of being home alone after work involves wearing sweatpants or shorts or ratty old boxers or holey leggings, for others it apparently involves full nudity and leaving skidmarks on furniture from unwashed splayed-open buttocks.
posted by elizardbits at 3:22 PM on May 8, 2014 [13 favorites]

that was not a thing i wanted to learn
posted by elizardbits at 3:22 PM on May 8, 2014 [17 favorites]

that there are people from the internet who are awfully interesting nice people.
posted by sciencegeek at 3:24 PM on May 8, 2014 [5 favorites]

God I want to go to an NYC meet-up.

You should come to DC and go to a DC meet-up! Actually, something else Metafilter has taught me is that I can manage some social interactions and have them be okay and that people are often nicer than I expect. For this reason I love having meet-ups and meeting MeFites from out of town and so whenever someone mentions in AskMe or anywhere that they're visiting DC I send them a MeFi mail to try to set something up. It just feels really nice to be part of a community where I feel comfortable doing that.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 3:27 PM on May 8, 2014 [6 favorites]

for others it apparently involves full nudity

This is what robes are for peopple stop putting your junk on your nice sofa other pele sit on that sofa you monster.

My most recently spooky Mefi action at a distance was seeing another mefite tweet "Wow I just saw The Whelk's doppelgänger at the Natiional Gallery." while I was checking twitter ... at The Natinal Gallery.
posted by The Whelk at 3:30 PM on May 8, 2014 [38 favorites]

OH AND IN DC I GOT TO MEET SONASCOPE AND HE IS EXTACLY AS CHARMING AS YOU'D THINK AND I NEED TO BADGER HIM TO FINISH HIS NOVEL AGAIN
posted by The Whelk at 3:31 PM on May 8, 2014 [8 favorites]

Lots of great book and movie and music recommendations. Also, increasingly, lots of stuff about privilege and what a bad person I am.
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:37 PM on May 8, 2014

It's like unlocking a cheat code for life.

The great part is, if your friends are MeFites it becomes a really easy way to be something-you-know-is-clear. I had an interaction with a MeFite friend recently where there was a sudden unexpected change of plans and I could be like I AM ASK CULTURE JUST TELL ME IF THIS PLAN CHANGE IS CODE FOR "DON'T COME OVER" and it was fine (it was not code for "don't come over" and we had a lovely time). I've learned to be nicer and in some cases warmer to people in real life because I've talked through (or seen talked through) so many interpersonal scenarios form both (all?) sides of the interaction.

Also my name would have been Daniel if I had been a boy.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:50 PM on May 8, 2014 [35 favorites]

Daniel is traveling tonight on a plane.
posted by Auntie Kreist at 3:58 PM on May 8, 2014 [14 favorites]

It's made me think much harder about sex and race and privilege while still letting me happily mutter 'oh why don't you just fuck offffffff' under my breath at the self-serious absurdity of certain SJWs.
posted by Sebmojo at 3:59 PM on May 8, 2014 [5 favorites]

That there are welding supply stores.

That some people really, deeply care about headwear choices indoors (NOT LINKING EVER).

That Mark Helprin made up the Antwerp Flinders, which I know 'cause his daughter called and asked him.

That on any given topic I think I understand, there are plenty of people out there that make me look like a rank amateur.

That Jessamyn is a badass (just one example).

That it's possible for there to exist a website where not only should you not read the comments, the comments will make you a better and smarter and kinder and more understanding person, and daily remind you of just a little bit of how wise and caring and giving and interesting and cool and fun people are.

That META FILTER RUN FLAVOR TOWN.
posted by davidjmcgee at 4:05 PM on May 8, 2014 [3 favorites]

HOLD UP "taters" mean "porn"?????? where the hell have I been?
posted by janey47 at 4:10 PM on May 8, 2014

ACTUAL VIDEO OF MEFITES RUNNING FLAVORTOWN
posted by The Whelk at 4:11 PM on May 8, 2014

not only should you not read the comments

Um I meant not only shouldn't you not read the comments. Duh.
posted by davidjmcgee at 4:14 PM on May 8, 2014

Oh wait no the latest spooky action at a mefite distance was someone recognizing me at a The Toast event from a Mefi Meetup.

Also Metafilter is responsible for both several stories I sold and the plot points for several unwritten stories.

Plus Ask Me was basically doing my playlist work back when I was doing performances and several of those threads have lead to braaaaave neeeeew musical tastes.
posted by The Whelk at 4:19 PM on May 8, 2014

I learned that MetaTalk is a flat circle.
posted by eyeballkid at 4:19 PM on May 8, 2014 [2 favorites]

Count me as another who's been valuably educated about trans* issues here.

Apart from how MetaFilter has taught me how to be better in the world in a lot of respects, I love the little bits of trivia I walk away with. One that immediately springs to mind is the most kissed girl in the world.
posted by mudpuppie at 4:21 PM on May 8, 2014 [2 favorites]

Some things I learned from AskMe include but are not limited to: how to think through problems by describing them, effective google-fu, and when to dtmfa. Reading about other people's problems, and how different people would approach them, has been incredibly enlightening. I've started so many ask-me's and deleted them because the answer became obvious once I wrote it out and read it from the perspective of someone else.
posted by bleep at 4:26 PM on May 8, 2014 [3 favorites]

I learned how to tell when people are typing on a mobile device.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 4:29 PM on May 8, 2014 [3 favorites]

Realty HIW?
posted by The Whelk at 4:31 PM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

They swerve when they drive.
posted by Auntie Kreist at 4:36 PM on May 8, 2014 [5 favorites]

oh my goodness, taters is a gem!
posted by janey47 at 5:17 PM on May 8, 2014

They swerve when they drive.

I almost got run off the road by a semi truck the other week because the driver was typing with both hands. I was too low to see if he was on MetaFilter, though.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:23 PM on May 8, 2014

My main takeaway from Metafilter?

Never do a long distance relationship.
posted by Sara C. at 5:27 PM on May 8, 2014 [2 favorites]

I have this nagging memory of ask where someone wanted to know what one thing everyone found out they had been doing 'wrong' all their lives, And how they felt when they discovered the 'right' way to do that thing.

There was mention of how best to peel a mango, how to peel a banana and how to tie your shoelaces so they don't pinch.

Does anyone else remember this thread, because I can't find it and am beginning to think I may have just created a memory mash-up in my head of various life-hacks posts :s
posted by Faintdreams at 5:33 PM on May 8, 2014 [3 favorites]

Metafilter's been an enormous part of my life for over a decade. It would take hours to list all the things I've learned as a result of being here.

The one that's had the biggest and most positive effect on my daily life has probably been understanding that web community is real community, even if it's not quite the same as other kinds of community, but it can be a much more delicate and high-maintenance thing in some ways. That even seemingly tiny decisions about mechanical things can have enormous and sometimes unexpected consequences when designing the tools to help people to build their community. And that even if you build it (for various values of 'it'), that doesn't necessarily mean they will come, but that's OK.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:35 PM on May 8, 2014 [13 favorites]

I've learned that every weird persnickety opinion of mine, that NO ONE in my real life agrees with, is shared with equal vehemence by, like, a whole lot of people. Often the majority of y'all. I vacillate between finding this reassuring and a little frightening.
posted by gerstle at 5:36 PM on May 8, 2014 [3 favorites]

people stand up to wipe???!!??????
posted by gerstle at 5:37 PM on May 8, 2014 [6 favorites]

I very much enjoyed the info on how many layers of paint it would take for your walls to meet in the middle, as well as the forehead-slap explanation of why that wouldn't actually work.
posted by Mchelly at 5:40 PM on May 8, 2014 [2 favorites]

I liked the question about how much a ball of human flesh would take up cause I knew where it was coming from SHAKES WE DON'T TALK ENOUGH MAIL ME
posted by The Whelk at 5:43 PM on May 8, 2014

Also my name would have been Daniel if I had been a boy.

That was our boy name for my daughter.

I learned that for the most part, y'all are my people. I have been the recipient of Mrs. Pterodactyl's DC hospitality and it was wonderful.

I have learned a lot about how to argue constructively, with facts rather than emotion.

I too have learned a ton about trans* issues (thank you, so much).

And I learned about the diva cup from mefi! A true life changer.
posted by gaspode at 5:43 PM on May 8, 2014

Hey, did you guys know that elephant's can't jump?

I just learned this from my daughter yesterday and right now it seems like a really important thing that MetaFilter needs to know.
posted by Devils Rancher at 5:47 PM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

Metafilter led to me getting a hot shower when Hurricane Sandy shut down lower Manhattan. and it was the bestest shower ever. (I don't deal well with not bathing for 4+ days)

Also I now regularly meet up in real life with "the internet" and y'all are not a bunch of rapists and murderers. So that's cool.


And responding to the actual question., I've learned to be more considerate of other people's point of view, as well as to be kinder in general. I've learned SO MUCH about trans issues, as well as about my privilege of having a safe and happy childhood and that depression is way worse than I ever imagined.
posted by larthegreat at 5:53 PM on May 8, 2014 [4 favorites]

I learned that some people are still using Cold Fusion.
posted by Obscure Reference at 6:01 PM on May 8, 2014 [6 favorites]

Seriously though, while right now I can't think of one specific thing I've learned -- there's been so much -- I do have this thing I do that's maybe best described as "The Conscience of Ask," because whenever I am faced with a moral ambiguity or conundrum, I have found that I can phrase it as an Ask question in my head, and know the answers that would come to such a question. You guys solve my dilemmas all the time simply by existing, because I've been reading along for so long, now.
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:01 PM on May 8, 2014 [30 favorites]

I was desperately trying to convince Mrs. Ghidorah that Daniel would be an awesome name for our hypothetical kid. Combined with my family name, it just screams doctor, or lawyer, just a power name.

She rejected any name that would require the marks in Japanese that change a consonant sound ('ta' becomes 'da' with two little hash marks, or タ->ダ). Instantly, most all of the names I'd thought of, Ezra, Jerome (great uncle whom I'm named after) and a host of others went out the window. The one name that was okay was Noah, but only because she liked Dr. Carter on ER.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:01 PM on May 8, 2014

"I have this nagging memory"

Refresh it!
posted by travelwithcats at 6:03 PM on May 8, 2014 [5 favorites]

Checking that thread linked above just taught me something just now.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:09 PM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

That some people wear shoes IN THIER HOUSE

And some people don't wear pants when they sit on the sofa, I've learned to my distress. Oh metafilter, so much to answer for.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:16 PM on May 8, 2014

Checking that thread linked above just taught me something just now.

Yeah, and I, uh, just learned that I've been mispronouncing "segue."
posted by mudpuppie at 6:17 PM on May 8, 2014 [3 favorites]

i've learned that my kid brother's been making trips to chicago pretending to be a lot of different people with the same name

you DOG
posted by pyramid termite at 6:22 PM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

I have learned a lot from Metafilter.
I mean I've learned facts, and news, and such, from the Filter, the content and the primary meaning of the discussions. Knowledge.
But the wisdom, I have learned from the Meta.
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 6:31 PM on May 8, 2014

It has made me a nicer human and brought me to some very good parties.
posted by vrakatar at 6:38 PM on May 8, 2014

I LEARNED ABOUT THE TACTICAL, WAR-CHANGING SIGNIFICANCE OF PROPERLY KNITTED GLOVES

What? Can I get a link on this?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:45 PM on May 8, 2014

On a fairly superficial level, MetaFilter clued me in to the True Detective TV series, which I thought was just fantastic, and which in turn led to my current song obsession, Young Men Dead by The Black Angels, which I am listening to right now for like the 23rd time in a row, because why not?
posted by soundguy99 at 6:51 PM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

WAR KNITTING
posted by The Whelk at 6:52 PM on May 8, 2014 [5 favorites]

WAR KNITTING

Well, damn. That's pretty awesome.

Sorry, I mean, THAT'S PRETTY AWESOME.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 7:03 PM on May 8, 2014

I learned that this is tea: there are rules

That there are many ways to make mac & cheese, but there's only one good way.

That metafilter is a great place to get good pot luck recipes. Yes, I have made the Greasy Honky Pie, and it was a hit every time.
posted by patheral at 7:05 PM on May 8, 2014 [5 favorites]

My posts on AskMe have turned me on to, just to name a few, Turbotax, the Fatshionista LiveJournal community, Captain Awkward, stevia, and /r/keto. I lost almost 100 pounds in over a year partially thanks to the latter two, and I am forever grateful.

I also met some pretty cool people, most of whom were and are way more involved in the site than I. I got to explore some cool bars and places in NYC at a time when I was new to the area, and I felt I knew more when I finally did move than I probably would have if I was just plopped here without knowing any Mefites. I don't go to meetups so often any more for reasons, but I do miss them, and I try to go when I can. (And I deeply regret not going to Flavortown.)

I've learned to think before I post, to respect others' opinions, and to listen to my inner voice (which is usually framed in the form of AskMetafilter answers now, kind of like a Greek chorus). I'm on a few other internet communities at the moment, and I find that I'm generally a lot less impulsive with my posts than I was in my younger days.
posted by bookwibble at 7:15 PM on May 8, 2014 [3 favorites]

WAR KNITTING

KathrynT is a treasure.
posted by sweetkid at 7:16 PM on May 8, 2014 [7 favorites]

Ask versus Guess: this principle has changed my life, for reals.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:19 PM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

I learned how to sell things better using a bowl of fruit.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 7:24 PM on May 8, 2014 [13 favorites]

KathrynT is a treasure.

well, let's not be hasty. That's easily the coolest thing I know.
posted by KathrynT at 7:25 PM on May 8, 2014 [4 favorites]

well, let's not be hasty. That's easily the coolest thing I know.
not likely. but that is super cool and somehow I missed it!
posted by sweetkid at 7:33 PM on May 8, 2014

-prior to cooking.
posted by Auntie Kreist at 7:42 PM on May 8, 2014 [20 favorites]

(His thoughts, I just posted "Bowl of fruit, yo" and the link to a friend's FB page -- who was talking about staging their house -- like ten minutes ago!!)
posted by wenestvedt at 7:48 PM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

I am currently working on staging my father's house (I mean, not like this second, but I'm going up there again tomorrow), and this was the perfect time to revisit the bowl of fruit advice. Thank you, all!
posted by limeonaire at 7:49 PM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

Sorry to be serious, but: I learned the term "intrusive thoughts" here, and that's done wonders for me. I'm not crazy! Or I am but so are lots of other people! And for mine, almost always if I say "oh, that's an intrusive thought" it goes away.

I learned this when I was suffering from PPD. It may have saved my life. I do not exaggerate.
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:49 PM on May 8, 2014 [25 favorites]

I seriously just went out and bought a bowl (and fruit) this very evening so we can take pictures of things to sell online because I read about that here a couple of days ago...
posted by patheral at 7:58 PM on May 8, 2014 [3 favorites]

I learned about HALT (hungry, angry, lonely, tired), and now my family, friends, and graduate program all use it too.
posted by c'mon sea legs at 8:32 PM on May 8, 2014 [21 favorites]

I have learned that I'm not a terrible drag if someone says something ridiculously sexist and I call them out on it. Case in point: earlier this year, I convinced my MCAT tutor to not describe acing a test as "raping" it. Before MeFi, I would have hated hearing that, but I don't think I would have spoken up.
posted by ocherdraco at 8:35 PM on May 8, 2014 [15 favorites]

Also: I have learned SO MUCH about reasonable expectations in relationships, and about how to treat a partner with love and respect.

I would like to apologize to all boyfriends and/or crushes I had before age 24 or so.
posted by ocherdraco at 8:38 PM on May 8, 2014 [7 favorites]

I know at least one extremely unattractive Daniel in Chicago, but it's mostly his personality--his looks are on the fair side of average.

Thanks to phunniemee, I must now decide: is he an outlier in the Chicago Daniel pool or is it that the Daniel's phunniemee is dating are just so much younger than the Daniels I know?
posted by crush-onastick at 8:47 PM on May 8, 2014 [2 favorites]

I learned that everyone needs a hug. I did not learn that one weird trick.
posted by smidgen at 8:48 PM on May 8, 2014 [3 favorites]

When I asked an ask, about roughly the same topic, I was greeted with many answers about coded information that I'd already gleaned from avid metafiltering. I used my mom's trick about reading the headlamp codes early today (on a very lovingly maintained '92 subaru legacy wagon, manual that I was admiring), and have deployed the knowledge about both area code and SSN assignment in the past two weeks.
okay, so it was because the uchicago scavhunt is on, and there was a item which was a collection of phones with area codes from the ludacris song "area codes". The very song I looked up when cross checking jessypie's answer.
The one ask that I use constantly, i.e. to this very day, is that of the palmaris longus... this is the best party trick. Everyone wins, no one is a mutant.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 8:56 PM on May 8, 2014 [8 favorites]

Today I learned that a mefite benefited from a bill that my colleagues and I got passed a couple of years ago.

Also, Skimmies.
posted by gingerbeer at 8:59 PM on May 8, 2014 [3 favorites]

Ok, I just learned I may have claws and should work on my hand-walking abilities.
posted by smidgen at 9:07 PM on May 8, 2014

I learned just how many other people agree with chaz.
posted by shakespeherian at 9:26 PM on May 8, 2014 [7 favorites]

I learned that I can--or cannot--probably eat that.
posted by TwoStride at 9:34 PM on May 8, 2014

More seriously, I love Ask Mefi in particular because it assures me that I am not alone. Whatever weird thing I think I have, or interpersonal bobble I can't figure out... someone else has wondered or blundered in the same way. It's very comforting.
posted by TwoStride at 9:35 PM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

Like many, I learned about being a more respectful person in general, but more specifically about not making assumptions regarding trans* people. I don't think I'm even close to a feminist, but I have a much better understanding of the challenges that many women face every day due to sexism and like to think that I'm no longer contributing to the stereotypes that create some of those problems. Also, I've learned never to put my opinion forward as an absolute fact, because its probably wrong and I just end up looking (even more) stupid.
posted by dg at 9:42 PM on May 8, 2014 [6 favorites]

How to get rid of a body.

And that was just in a HANNIBAL thread!
posted by crossoverman at 10:13 PM on May 8, 2014

I learnt to use the verbal tic "sort of" in online discussions. Seriously I've started to throw it in about once per paragraph as a sort of linguistic parsley sprinkle. There, I did it again.

(Has anyone else noticed this is a Metafilter thing? I've seen cortex and jessamyn both use it liberally, and it's highly contagious.)
posted by dontjumplarry at 10:24 PM on May 8, 2014

I learned that I could ask the boy I liked out. And I learned how to do it, and I figured out a date-type activity based on an old thread of ideas. So that was pretty cool; I never would have done that otherwise.

MeFi has really helped me grow as a person. I still have a lot of growing to do, but AskMe really does help. And MeFi Music teaches me new things all the time. I never would have started multi-tracking or overdubbing things or making hiss-free recordings if not for MeFi Music, and the posts there always give me something to strive towards.

Also MeFites apparently have the cutest cats. Either that or the CatFilter bar is very high.
posted by topoisomerase at 10:34 PM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

(To clarify, I don't mean "sort of" as in: "I like this sort of car and not that one". I mean it as in: "Your comment is sort of symptomatic of a malaise I've noticed among..." Where it has no clear lexical meaning, but sounds rather awesome.)
posted by dontjumplarry at 10:39 PM on May 8, 2014

TwoStride: "I learned that I can--or cannot--probably eat that."

I've learned that people who will recommend eating week-old unrefrigerated pork do indeed draw the line at consuming a divorced and/or dead man's liquor found in the trash next to pharmaceutical literature.

And live wasps. :)
posted by zarq at 11:00 PM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

what the hell? first I've heard about this palmaris longus thing and apparently I don't have them.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 11:01 PM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

I have learned that there only two types of birds.

I try not to abuse this knowledge.
posted by el io at 11:45 PM on May 8, 2014 [2 favorites]

The human head weighs 8 pounds.
-prior to cooking.
I learned that I can--or cannot--probably eat that.

MeTa: it's really all very easy.
posted by Namlit at 11:45 PM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

Looking at some recent favourites, I learnt what CamelCase is (I knew there had to be a name for it!), that a lot of people have covered Bowie's "Heroes" and a lot more about the murders at the lake in Waco.

I've also learnt that when it comes to relationships, if you have to ask a bunch of strangers on the internet, your relationship is in a lot of trouble. And some good breakup advice which I have bookmarked in the unlikely event that I'm ever in the situation where I need to use it.

Plus music! The Go! Team, Carolina Chocolate Drops and Patty Griffin but there are probably some others too. Thanks, MeFi!

(Oh, and that we are all oddly fascinated by people's toilet habits. Sit/stand, fold/crumple, door open/closed, how to get rid of smells, etc.)
posted by Athanassiel at 12:23 AM on May 9, 2014

first I've heard about this palmaris longus thing and apparently I don't have them.

I have one on my right arm but not on my left arm. This is so bizarre.
posted by elizardbits at 12:31 AM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

That peeing into a campfire can create a pee cloud that carries on the breeze.
posted by ifjuly at 1:51 AM on May 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

I've learned that there are times I should just keep my my mouth shut and my fingers off the keyboard.
posted by HuronBob at 3:17 AM on May 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

first I've heard about this palmaris longus thing and apparently I don't have them.

I hadn't heard about it either. I have two on each arm, and so does my husband. I'm finding it hard to believe that some people really don't have any.

I would be good at claws.
posted by lollusc at 3:55 AM on May 9, 2014

Bless your heart.
posted by maya at 4:02 AM on May 9, 2014 [4 favorites]

I'm pretty sure I learned this here: in many programming languages, two colons between a namespace and an identifier, such as:

SomeClass::SomeMethod

is called the Scope Resolution Operator. This used to drive me nuts because I knew what it did, but not what it was called. Google ignores puntuation, so I seached to no avail.

If I didn't learn it here, I hope someone else learns it from Metafilter right now.
posted by double block and bleed at 4:36 AM on May 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

How to peel garlic.

Well, maybe.

BONK GABONK ABONK GABONK GABONKA
posted by EvaDestruction at 4:41 AM on May 9, 2014 [5 favorites]

Geese are assholes.
posted by Cocodrillo at 4:56 AM on May 9, 2014 [3 favorites]

Three things: Two 'Oh Shit' moments, the other more a gradual 'Oh yeah' moment.

One:
Link is, in fact Male. Always has been and always will be. The purpose of the Zelda games was never about Link constantly having to save *her* girlfriend. Not sure what that says about me.

Two:
There are people - who seem otherwise sane - who sincerely don't think systematic Privilege is a thing. In any sphere.

Three:
Oftentimes, when I critique someone's entertainment choices I am literally doing just that, and not (as many Geeks seem to interpret) critiquing THEM AS A PERSON.

You are not the thing you like, although it may show a facet of you.

Realising that people interpret criticism of entertainment this way has allowed me to step back and realise that 'THAT reaction is due to THIS misunderstanding'.
posted by Faintdreams at 5:01 AM on May 9, 2014 [3 favorites]

I learned what taters are.
posted by shakespeherian at 5:21 AM on May 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

To a European it is strange that Trader Joe's and Aldi are owned by the same family.

That an otherwise laid back peace loving person who has never hit anyone, in anger or otherwise IRL, can seriously want to get on a plane and wallop someone for an asinine, racist comment. And that stepping away from the computer for a day or so is a much better idea than spewing vitriol in return.

And so much more. Thank you everyone!
posted by humph at 5:34 AM on May 9, 2014

Never do a long distance relationship.

I've also learnt that when it comes to relationships, if you have to ask a bunch of strangers on the internet, your relationship is in a lot of trouble.

LALALALA, I CAN'T HEAR YOU.
posted by psoas at 5:46 AM on May 9, 2014

MetaFilter has taught me that "because it's hurtful" is a good enough reason, that so much of the luck I thought I had was privilege, that lab coats have slits so you can reach into your pockets, and that Superego exists. But the concept I struggled most with, and that took years to finally accept, is that Ralph does not think he is a literal Viking.
posted by Room 641-A at 5:48 AM on May 9, 2014 [3 favorites]

That peeing into a campfire can create a pee cloud that carries on the breeze.

Doesn't everyone* learn that the fun way as a child?

* At least, everyone who pees standing up. Squatting over a campfire sounds like a bad, bad idea.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:55 AM on May 9, 2014

I learned what taters are.

i learned to truly hate shaggy dog stories
posted by elizardbits at 5:59 AM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

Also I learned that by wearing a hat and shoes indoors as well as standing up to wipe, I am some kind of internet monster.
posted by psoas at 6:04 AM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

Yes. Yes you are.
posted by maryr at 6:18 AM on May 9, 2014 [4 favorites]

I forgot. Thanks to Miko, I learned the absolute best way to break up with someone.
posted by magstheaxe at 6:25 AM on May 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

WHY DO YOU WANT THE ENTIRE OUTDOORS TO COME AND LIVE IN YOUR CARPET?

*breathes into a paper bag*
posted by The Whelk at 6:28 AM on May 9, 2014 [11 favorites]

But the concept I struggled most with, and that took years to finally accept, is that Ralph does not think he is a literal Viking.

Around that time, drezdn was trying to convince me to join Metafilter. He described that thread to me, and I actually delayed joining because it made so little sense to me. The thing about the "not a literal viking" interpretation is not just that it's wrong, but it's wrong in a way that would never occur to any sane person. At least, that's what I thought at the time.

But after thinking about it over the years, I've come to conclude that I'm still right and he's a literal viking dammit.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 6:39 AM on May 9, 2014 [9 favorites]

I've learned many things about how--and how not--to conduct a good relationship through years of reading Ask. (Plus I just discovered what the marriage bureau is like on the inside, after working nearby for years!)

Via IRL, I learned how to go to a meetup with total strangers and not feel totally awkward, which was not something I previously thought I'd ever achieve.

Also via IRL, I learned to play Dominion and waste all my waking hours. Thanks for nothing, guys.
posted by mlle valentine at 6:52 AM on May 9, 2014 [3 favorites]

I learned that you can eat kiwifruit skin so you can munch them like an apple. It both makes life easier and is an interesting factoid to break out.
posted by Literaryhero at 7:14 AM on May 9, 2014

Through Ask and all of Metafilter, I've learned how to be a better moderator on the site I moderate. Watching the moderators here in action has taught me just about everything I need to know about how to deal with flare-ups and clearly state reasons for moderation, deletion, and the decisions I make.
posted by xingcat at 7:15 AM on May 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

I've learned, to paraphrase something said by many mefites but especially Ruthless Bunny, that people are who they say they are. That if they say they're not interested in a serious relationship right now, you should believe them. That if they blather on and on about not being "politically correct" they will make those offensive jokes all the time and eventually say something that offends you personally.

I could have saved myself a lot of dating grief if I'd internalized this a little earlier.
posted by ActionPopulated at 7:36 AM on May 9, 2014 [3 favorites]

> I'm finding it hard to believe that some people really don't have any

We're underrepresented here because we find it hard to type with our floppy, floppy hands.
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:47 AM on May 9, 2014 [6 favorites]

I learned that you can use a spoon to scoop an avocado neatly out of its peel, rather than trying to peel it with your fingers which inevitably results in disgusting avocado hands and also a grisly, gouged, janky-ass avocado.

I also learned that there's a place in Philly that makes a TastyKake milkshake.
posted by coppermoss at 7:49 AM on May 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

Oh God, I have learned so much awesome weird-assed trivia from Metafilter.
posted by rmd1023 at 7:58 AM on May 9, 2014

Think_Long: " The MetaTalk RSS feed is going to look really macabre today."

I've gotten into the habit of using quotes from tv shows and movies whenever possible for MetaTalk post titles. This one's from Firefly, but it seemed like something Joss Whedon could conceivably have learned through Mefi. ;)
posted by zarq at 8:05 AM on May 9, 2014

There have been many, but don't refrigerate tomatoes was a big one.
posted by likeatoaster at 8:05 AM on May 9, 2014

Link is, in fact Male

Sonic is, in fact, a hedgehog.
posted by davidjmcgee at 8:19 AM on May 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

I learned that there really is a Chicago cabal.

oh no I've said too much
posted by desjardins at 8:27 AM on May 9, 2014 [4 favorites]

I spent days reading questions from people in unhappy relationships while I was trying to decide whether or not to end my marriage at the end of 2013.

I learned that it's really okay to end a relationship that is not working for me. I learned what acceptable behavior is from a partner. I learned that I wasn't a bad person for asking for what I wanted from my mate. I learned that people can get divorced and end up happier.

All of these things would have been better if I learned them when I joined in 2006 (a year before I got married), but it took 8 years of reading all of your smart responses to sink in.

Thanks everyone!!
posted by elvissa at 8:41 AM on May 9, 2014 [9 favorites]

Oh, how could I forget?!

It's not that Baggage Reclaim taught me anything I wasn't already aware of, but it made it impossible to pretend that "this one" would be different.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:01 AM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

I learned that y'all reeeeeeally care about Game of Thrones. Like, a LOT.

have you considered therapy?

For some of us, Game of Thrones is therapy. (being semi-serious - I started my first indepth re-read of the series a few years back when my son was in the hospital and there were a lot of long hours of sitting bedside; you find the ability to cope where you find it).

In terms of what I've learned around here - to try to slow down and carefully compose comments when dealing with emotionally charged stuff; to walk away from the keyboard when I'm the one emotionally charged; that the rule for the internet is the same as in real life - if you spend more time "listening" than talking you will learn a great deal - and that you should "listen" to understand, not just to compose a reply.
posted by nubs at 9:14 AM on May 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

Without MeFi I may never have know the correct order for watching Star Wars movies.
posted by Kabanos at 9:15 AM on May 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

That as a parent, I should park next to the cart corral, not the entrance. Made my life so much better, you guys.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 9:19 AM on May 9, 2014 [5 favorites]

people stand up to wipe???!!??????

How else can you use the mirror?
posted by Mr. Yuck at 9:35 AM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

She rejected any name that would require the marks in Japanese that change a consonant sound ('ta' becomes 'da' with two little hash marks, or タ->ダ).

This is called a voiced consonant or daku'on (濁音). They are called "voiced" because the vocal cords vibrate for だ but not た. Unvoiced consonants are 清音. You may infer from the respective uses of 清 (clear, pure) and 濁 (muddy, impure) in these words what Japanese have historically thought of these sounds. Old Japanese had much less use of voiced consonants than modern Japanese. No b, d, or g at the beginning of words in Old Japanese, for example - だれ was たれ.

tl;dr voiced consonants don't sound "nice" in Japanese
posted by Tanizaki at 9:42 AM on May 9, 2014 [5 favorites]

In addition to the answers to my own (so far) 115 questions I've learned that in some quarters there's a deep hatred for the Comic Sans font -- in fact, that there's a huge interest in fonts in general.

people stand up to wipe?
I think that's more accurately, "person stands up" -- or keeps saying he does, trying be funny.
posted by Rash at 9:52 AM on May 9, 2014

I learned that a desk can be a dangerous place from which to watch the world....(and all the other desk posts on AskMe)
posted by Lynsey at 9:56 AM on May 9, 2014

This just in:

Octopi is wrong

Oops.
posted by Michele in California at 10:02 AM on May 9, 2014

Out of curiosity, how were you pronouncing it before? Seh-goo? Seg-you? Seg-yooey?
posted by zarq at 10:15 AM on May 9, 2014

Out of curiosity, how were you pronouncing it before? Seh-goo? Seg-you? Seg-yooey?

"Throatwobbler Mangrove."
posted by wenestvedt at 10:19 AM on May 9, 2014 [12 favorites]

All the mispronouncers I know were saying it like "seeg", as in Bob Seger without the ER
posted by elizardbits at 10:22 AM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

wtf
posted by sweetkid at 10:24 AM on May 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

wenestvedt: " "Throatwobbler Mangrove.""

HA! :D
posted by zarq at 10:25 AM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

IT LOOKS LIKE IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE SEEG OK

AND BIOPIC LOOKS LIKE IT RHYMES WITH MYOPIC
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:26 AM on May 9, 2014 [12 favorites]

Wait... "biopic" isn't pronounced "bye-op-ick"??

I am confuzzled.
posted by zarq at 10:27 AM on May 9, 2014 [3 favorites]

Bio-pic. As in biographical picture.

I was FUCKING FURIOUS when I found this out. (On Metafilter, natch.)
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:29 AM on May 9, 2014 [19 favorites]

WHAT!?

NO way.
posted by zarq at 10:30 AM on May 9, 2014

If it's any comfort to yall, I was just recently talking to a Location Manager for pretty big films who totally thought it rhymed with myopic. And this is someone who is a few levels more senior than me, has been making movies for probably 20 years, etc.
posted by Sara C. at 10:31 AM on May 9, 2014 [3 favorites]

WTF. The dictionary is wrong, man. Just... wrong.

Whoa. Mind blown.
posted by zarq at 10:31 AM on May 9, 2014

ōgəl

Long "o"
posted by zarq at 10:34 AM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

Although maybe you should get a second opinion because I'm obvs not the best judge of these things. Yeesh.
posted by zarq at 10:35 AM on May 9, 2014

AND BIOPIC LOOKS LIKE IT RHYMES WITH MYOPIC

comb

tomb

bomb
posted by elizardbits at 10:36 AM on May 9, 2014 [4 favorites]

At a hospital, two men are outside the maternity ward.
"WOOOOOOOMMMM! I'm telling you! It's WOOOOOOOOMMMMMM" says one.
The second says, "no, it's WAHHHHHMB!"
It goes one like this for a while until finally an obstetrician walks up and says, "Look, fellas, it's 'womb'." and walks away.

"Shows what she knows," says the first, "I bet she's never even seen a hippopotamus, let alone heard one fart underwater."
posted by plinth at 10:41 AM on May 9, 2014 [34 favorites]

The Tough Coughs As He Ploughs the Dough: Early Writings and Cartoons by Dr. Seuss.
posted by soundguy99 at 10:48 AM on May 9, 2014 [5 favorites]

> That as a parent, I should park next to the cart corral, not the entrance. Made my life so much better, you guys

That was meeeee, I swear it, but it's disappeared from my history. Or I can't figure where it was. One of those "how do you tell the experts from amateur" AskMes.
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:49 AM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

Thanks, Sara, that does make me feel better.

Because, man, MeFi is just being super hard on my ego today.Years ago, my sons and I printed out copies of The Chaos and read through it (like all week) as a homeschooling assignment and every time they said "no way, that can't be right" we would look it up. And (according to the dictionary) my pronunciation of all these obscure words was always spot on. So I tend to think me speaky gut English but, man, y'all are taking me to task here. Thank you!
posted by Michele in California at 10:53 AM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

ōgəl

Long "o"

I can kind of understand the people who say "oggle" ['ɑ.gəl] but I'm convinced those who say "oogle" ['uw.gəl] are just doing it to piss me off.
posted by psoas at 10:59 AM on May 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

Ask versus Guess: this principle has changed my life, for reals.

I absolutely love, love, love, love (love) stuff like this. It's a binary reality that is sitting right in front of your face that has more-accurate-than-not explanatory power, and it's pretty amazing how it has gone unnoticed by many people in light of how helpful it is.

It's also a great tool to psychoanalyze the childhoods of your closest friends and coworkers. "You know, you could have just asked me to help out that weekend. Let's talk about your parents."
posted by SpacemanStix at 11:22 AM on May 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

ON THE TOPIC OF PRONUNCIATIONS, MetaFilter finally convinced me that "banal" rhymes with "canal" and not "anal." I'm still mad about it.
posted by coppermoss at 11:35 AM on May 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

I learned about the Zip It tool for cleaning a drain and that is the best thing ever in the world.
posted by inigo2 at 11:46 AM on May 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

coppermoss: "ON THE TOPIC OF PRONUNCIATIONS, MetaFilter finally convinced me that "banal" rhymes with "canal" and not "anal." I'm still mad about it."

According to the dictionary, both are right. So your banal can rhyme with anal.
posted by zarq at 11:47 AM on May 9, 2014

Wait, is it possible elizardbits and I only have one palmaris longus? I don't seem to have one on my left arm... although I did break that arm rather badly as a child, maybe it broke and was never repaired? It's definitely there on my right arm...

SO WEIRD.
posted by maryr at 11:49 AM on May 9, 2014

(Also, checking for my palmaris longus has sort of strained my right forearm a bit and now I have to go pipette 96 things, argl...)
posted by maryr at 11:53 AM on May 9, 2014

"banal"

So, this has approximately zero to do with metafilter, but back in college a buddy of mine and I used to laugh and laugh about this banana-vanilla yogurt flavor the corner store carried. Banilla, it was called. Take the two most boring* flavors and combine them together into one megaboring flavor. How banal.

*No hate, I love both flavors and the yogurt was really good. But neither are winning any beauty contests.
posted by phunniemee at 11:53 AM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

Hm, I also broke the arm in which the thingy is missing. THE MYSTERY CONTINUES.
posted by elizardbits at 11:54 AM on May 9, 2014

> MetaFilter finally convinced me that "banal" rhymes with "canal" and not "anal." I'm still mad about it.

Like zarq says, both are fine. You can't believe everything you read on MetaFilter, especially when it comes to language. (I rhyme "banal" with "anal," and I AM LANGUAGEHAT.)
posted by languagehat at 11:58 AM on May 9, 2014 [16 favorites]

I have not broken either arm--but have one with the tendon and one without.

Admittedly, the wrist without one has some really weird veins (the underside of my wrist looks like a river delta: one vein going sideways with a little triangle of blue between that and the other vein going sideways the other direction. I bet other people have equally weird veins but aren't pale enough to see all the weirdness). Still, that's one wrist without the tendon and one with and no broken arms.
posted by librarylis at 12:04 PM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

Wait, is it possible elizardbits and I only have one palmaris longus? I don't seem to have one on my left arm...

I have one in my left, but apparently not in the right...I'm weird too!
posted by nubs at 12:07 PM on May 9, 2014

You guys made me check for my palmaris longus - I have two on each side. I suppose this would have come in handy if I had retractable claws.
posted by needled at 12:14 PM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

I've broken both arms and wrists and still have my palmaris longus in each arm.

The question for y'all with only 1 is do you have a plantaris muscle in only 1 leg (the leg equivalent of the palmaris, also absent in a portion of the population)? I would assume you do.
posted by barchan at 12:19 PM on May 9, 2014

I have recently come to terms with the fact that 90% of the pool of dateable guys in Chicago is named Daniel. I have dated/been on dates with 4 different Daniels and am texting with a different Dan right now. WHAT THE FUCK WITH THE NAME, GUYS. MY DAD'S NAME IS DANIEL AND THIS IS JUST WEIRD.

I'd be reprising W.S. Gilbert's great old joke about being "a lion in a den of Daniels" right now if it weren't for all that foul and ridiculous 'cougar' nonsense-- which hm, I only know about because of Metafilter!

So I've learned from Metafilter how to be less (unintentionally) offensive.
posted by jamjam at 12:21 PM on May 9, 2014

(I rhyme "banal" with "anal," and I AM LANGUAGEHAT.)

To be fair, that's because you pronounce the latter as uh-nall.
posted by griphus at 12:22 PM on May 9, 2014 [10 favorites]

I never broke my left arm, but I am not sure whether I have a palmaris longus there, though my right arm has a really pronounced one.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 12:37 PM on May 9, 2014

I have two palmares longi, with the one on the right being more pronounced. This comports well with the fact that I have a much easier time retracting the claws on my right.
posted by invitapriore at 12:40 PM on May 9, 2014

Someone's going to have to tell me how to find the plantaris muscle, preferably in a way where I can continue to screen my office mates but no one has to take their pants off. (We covered that in sexual harassment training - it is a Red Light).
posted by maryr at 12:57 PM on May 9, 2014 [5 favorites]

I can continue to screen my office mates but no one has to take their pants off. (We covered that in sexual harassment training - it is a Red Light).

And I keep learning things, even in this thread!
posted by nubs at 1:16 PM on May 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

The rhyming thing with "canal" and "banal" seems odd to me, especially as I have always heard "canal" as "cuh-nall" and "banal" as "bane-al", so the stress on the second consonant are very different. However, this always reminds me of my greatest faux pas as a youth, in that I had always only read the word "faux pas" and one day in English class (or history, can't quite recall clearly) I was having to read something aloud, and came across "faux pas" and proceeded to pronounce it as "fox pass", since I had never connected the spoken phrase with the written word.

The fun part is that it is not so much "doing it wrong", more so than it is never having been exposed to it "right" to begin with, and a lot of things are like that in life.

Then again, "anal" is almost always "ayn-all", so even that doesn't rhyme with "banal" (the difference being in the second syllable in "anal" rhymes with "all" while the second syllable in "banal" rhymes with "Al", like Al Bundy).

But that really just goes more to regional accent and cultural exposure, I think. And the one thing I've learned form Metafilter more than anything, is that regional differences and cultural exposure are MAJOR factors in miscommunication and misunderstandings. The whole "Ask vs Guess" thing is an extreme example, but also a very good one to be very aware of.
posted by daq at 1:18 PM on May 9, 2014

and came across "faux pas" and proceeded to pronounce it as "fox pass"

Heh, this explains a lot. I was in French immersion as a kid so I always knew how it was pronounced, but until now I thought it was odd that all the American left-wing blogs used to call Fox News "Faux News" (other than the fact "faux" works in meaning, at least). But I didn't realize people actually read "Faux" and "Fox" the same.
posted by Hoopo at 1:43 PM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

Hah, you guys are the best. I can reintroduce banal into my vocabulary now! (I may have grudgingly accepted the canal pronunciation, but I sure as hell wasn't going to actually say it that way...) In my glee, I got sucked down the dictionary rabbit hole this afternoon and learned that I am also allowed to continue pronouncing "niche" to rhyme with "witch" instead of "quiche." Thanks, MetaFilter!
posted by coppermoss at 1:46 PM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

Since we're talking incorrect pronunciations, my former sister-in-law thought pasta bowties were pasta "boaties."
posted by mudpuppie at 2:02 PM on May 9, 2014 [4 favorites]

Like zarq says, both are fine. You can't believe everything you read on MetaFilter, especially when it comes to language. (I rhyme "banal" with "anal," and I AM LANGUAGEHAT.)

Man, I went from surprise to disappointment to affirmation in all of 37 seconds.
posted by SpacemanStix at 2:09 PM on May 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

Just impressed my entire office with the palmaris longus thing. Thanks guys.
posted by craven_morhead at 2:42 PM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

God, I am so relieved other people are with me on biopic. I didn't get that one figured out until well into my 30s.
posted by something something at 3:03 PM on May 9, 2014

I always thought the "buh-NAHL" pronunciation was supposed to be ironically pretentious.
posted by Etrigan at 3:11 PM on May 9, 2014 [4 favorites]

Since we're talking incorrect pronunciations, my former sister-in-law thought pasta bowties were pasta "boaties."

I've always preferred farfalle, which means butterfly, because it's prettier.
posted by Diablevert at 3:28 PM on May 9, 2014

I didn't realize that "synecdoche" wasn't pronounced "SIN-eck-doash" until like three years ago.
posted by KathrynT at 3:49 PM on May 9, 2014

I've learned the longer it takes someone to explain a relationship, the more likely the relationship is a bad one.
posted by kinetic at 3:56 PM on May 9, 2014 [13 favorites]

I prefer orecchiette because I like nibbling on ears.
posted by maryr at 3:57 PM on May 9, 2014

I didn't realize that "synecdoche" wasn't pronounced "SIN-eck-doash" until like three years ago.

When I see this word I still have to say in my head: Synecdoche rhymes with Schenectady.
posted by Lutoslawski at 3:59 PM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

Huh, I just learned from here that there is a thing called palmaris longus and that I have one in each arm (the only bone I've broken is a rib, apparently - I didn't know that had happened until a couple of years later when a doctor commented on it when looking at an x-ray).
posted by dg at 4:14 PM on May 9, 2014

Azumanga Daioh. My life would have been poorer without Osaka and Chio Chan in it.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 4:38 PM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

Azumanga Daioh. My life would have been poorer without Osaka and Chio Chan in it.

BEWARE THE CAT.
posted by JHarris at 7:20 PM on May 9, 2014

I learned that elephants have a snout finger for delicate prodding.
posted by southern_sky at 7:23 PM on May 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

I was considering signing up 'synecd' as a sockpuppet, but I think somebody may have beaten me to the same general idea (if indeed I didn't pick it up from them subliminally) and besides, we already have a perfectly good synecdoche I didn't want to irritate.
posted by jamjam at 8:06 PM on May 9, 2014

I have received recommendations for the now-28 pages of unread books in my kindle from metafilter's suggestions.

I have also learned a lot about life in New York City; m knowledge of this magical land had previously been informed by sitcoms and novels about flappers. I am always delighted when there's a very New York-y thread on the blue and you guys start fighting about something New Yorky. I feel like an observing anthropologist, its awesome.

Although I consider myself fairly well-traveled, I just somehow have never been to NYC so all my knowledge of it and my metafilter-created fascination with it are entirely vicarious.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:44 PM on May 9, 2014 [6 favorites]

Eyebrows McGee, you must visit NYC! If I still lived there I would offer to buy you a drink, but I'm sure many of the resident MeFites will pick up the slack. Your life is not complete without that visit!
posted by languagehat at 6:14 AM on May 10, 2014 [1 favorite]

Yes, you must! We would love to see you.
posted by ocherdraco at 6:31 AM on May 10, 2014 [3 favorites]

That tendon thing is amazing. I have it in both arms but have to flex my left wrist at the same time to see it. It is pretty much always visible on my right (dominant) hand. (I also have a mild case of aranchnodactyly (No actual spiders involved, promise) so I don't even have to do more than move my thumb to make them visible)

Also, I have always said bi-op-pic too! Another new thing has been learnt today!
posted by halcyonday at 8:15 AM on May 10, 2014

I said SEG-you.
posted by Obscure Reference at 9:34 AM on May 10, 2014 [1 favorite]

Psst, Alia - if you liked Azumanga, you'll probably enjoy K-ON! too. It's not quite as amazing (nothing compares to Osaka) but it's similarly cute.
posted by maryr at 9:37 AM on May 10, 2014

FYI Daniel was/is common name for males of a certain age because it was a Catholic Saint name (My brothers and I all have Catholic Saint names. It was a thing before Jaxon and such came along).
posted by srboisvert at 1:29 PM on May 10, 2014

coppermoss: "ON THE TOPIC OF PRONUNCIATIONS, MetaFilter finally convinced me that "banal" rhymes with "canal" and not "anal." I'm still mad about it."

It also kind of rhymes with 'Daniel'
posted by schmod at 4:08 PM on May 10, 2014 [3 favorites]

Oh wow, the Palmaris Longus, I have 'em in both arms, thought that the aliens had implanted rhubarb stalks in me *again*.

Also that I love you all, although I once again remind you that my love is nothing to be sought after, as it extracts a heavy toll.
posted by Divine_Wino at 5:53 PM on May 10, 2014 [1 favorite]

Today I learned that some people don't have the Palmaris Longus, whereas I have two in each arm. How do those people retract and extend their claws?
posted by trip and a half at 11:23 PM on May 10, 2014 [1 favorite]

I have learned so much from Metafilter in the last handful of years, I barely know where to start. But there is SO MUCH that I have learned about how to be compassionate and understanding of other people, about how to be respectful and patient and to just listen, and to ask questions rather than correcting, to pick my battles (and what that really meant), and to do the research rather than just assuming.
Metafilter has, no exaggeration, made me a better person.

Plus, I learned about NaNoWriMo, Boggle the Owl, incluing, and how to pay attention to my feelings without having to listen to them.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 12:25 AM on May 11, 2014

Nthing that everything I learned about trans* issues I learned from MetaFilter, and I now make an effort to be a good ally by calling out / educating my cis* acquaintances when they say / write something ignorant.

MetaFilter has also helped de-radicalize me. I used to be much more extreme in my Libertarian positions and I thought that all y'all commie pinkos were being deliberately evil. Now I favor a more incrementalist approach and have come to understand that people in favor of big government "solutions" sincerely mean well despite being wrong about almost everything. ;P

MetaFilter gives me insights into different perspectives than the right-wing / libertarian pundits' talking points being parroted by most of my Facebook friends and IRL acquaintances. I don't mind being in a tiny political minority and ending up in the occasional me-and-corb-vs-everyone spats here because the alternative is the degeneration of critical thinking and argumentation skills that I've seen too many of my co-idealogues suffer over the years as they grow soft and complacent in their internet-enabled echo chambers.

You challenge me, MetaFilter, and I love you for it!
posted by Jacqueline at 1:35 AM on May 11, 2014 [7 favorites]

Jacqueline and corb have taught me that libertarians aren't evil people on a quest to destroy the world. They want the same peace and prosperity that the rest of us do, it's just that they are wrong about everything in terms of how to get there. :D
posted by double block and bleed at 1:32 PM on May 11, 2014 [10 favorites]

Humorously, I love Jacqueline and corb and double block and bleed equally. :-)



But, then, I like never participate in political threads, so maybe that's why.
posted by Michele in California at 1:36 PM on May 11, 2014 [2 favorites]

daq: "...I had always only read the word "faux pas" and one day in English class (or history, can't quite recall clearly) I was having to read something aloud, and came across "faux pas" and proceeded to pronounce it as "fox pass", since I had never connected the spoken phrase with the written word."

I have to stop my self every time I read the word "infrared". To this day, my mind wants to pronounce that as "in-fRAREd" instead of the correct "in-fra-red".
posted by double block and bleed at 1:36 PM on May 11, 2014 [3 favorites]

I have this problem with "misled." I want to pronounce it "MY-zuld." Like "A miser misled me."
posted by workerant at 3:13 PM on May 11, 2014 [4 favorites]

As a kid I pronounced "horizontal" as if you just stuck "-tal" onto "horizon."
posted by desjardins at 5:06 PM on May 11, 2014 [2 favorites]

I thought "monotonous" was "mono-TONE-us" until embarrassingly late in life. Although really, it's not a cause for embarrassment (I now believe), it's just a sign that you're well-read that you have words in your vocabulary that you can't correctly pronounce.

I will come to NYC some day! Probably when my kids are older and I can leave the house again. Until then I will just enjoy the New-York-fight threads and continue creating imaginary New York in my mind. :D
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:28 PM on May 11, 2014 [2 favorites]

I was to feel high and mighty but I once spoke, out loud in English class, about the character of Anti-gone in Greek drama.
posted by The Whelk at 5:36 PM on May 11, 2014 [2 favorites]

I still prefer my pronunciation of trebuchet.
posted by bibliogrrl at 6:01 PM on May 11, 2014 [3 favorites]

Oh god, bibliogrrl, before clicking through to your comment, I thought to myself "Oh, I hope she pronounced it tra-bucket" so tree-bucket was really just icing on the cake.
posted by maryr at 9:10 PM on May 11, 2014 [3 favorites]

I learned the correct spelling of milquetoast/etymology. I had always heard the word before and thought it was "milk toast" and meant blandness because of the relatively bland food. Then someone used it in a MetaFilter comment - and I had to google to find out it's a character in a 1920s cartoon comic series. Thanks MetaFilter!

Also - the phrase lava balling. Because I now hurl that at jerks on the R6.
posted by Suffocating Kitty at 5:08 AM on May 12, 2014 [2 favorites]

This reminds me of the time in high-school English when I was reading the butler's part at the end of The Importance of Being Earnest. I had to yell "Laetitia!" but, having never seen or heard that name, I pronounced it "Lateesha!" The whole class laughed for at least a minute. It was awkward for a variety of reasons.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 8:34 AM on May 12, 2014 [2 favorites]

I thought I was such a hot shit in third grade I didn't bother looking up the real definitions of new vocabulary words, which is why I proudly turned in a worksheet claiming that "irony" means something "contains iron."

My teacher did not bother chastising me, perhaps astutely aware that I would learn the truth on my own and carry that embarrassment silently FOREVER.

I also now look up absolutely every word I'm not sure of the meaning of.
posted by psoas at 8:42 AM on May 12, 2014 [4 favorites]

I had to yell "Laetitia!" but, having never seen or heard that name, I pronounced it "Lateesha!"

Wait... how should it be pronounced?
posted by Etrigan at 8:53 AM on May 12, 2014 [4 favorites]

The middle syllable is accented and should rhyme with "dish," "wish," "fish," etc.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 9:00 AM on May 12, 2014

In English, Lay-TEESH-ah.

In Latin, Lie-Ti-ti-ah.
posted by zarq at 9:02 AM on May 12, 2014

So last night right before I turned off the TV and put away my screens, I was reading this thread and realized that almost every example of a read-word's mispronunciation was something that I had done too. So I started worrying about how many words I still wouldn't pronounce right if I said them.

But I talked myself out of it, and put away my tablet, but as I turned off the TV, the announcer on the TCM commercial said the word "propaganda" but she said it with a long o, so it was like "prope-aganda" and I went to bed thinking I'd never speak aloud again.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:22 AM on May 12, 2014 [7 favorites]

Also, I remembered a life lesson when I was getting dressed this morning that probably didn't get a huge following because it came up in a Chicago IRL discussion when phunniemee was trying to figure out what to buy her dad for Christmas, and readery wisely suggested:

Quality socks are a dad's best friend. Or new undershirts. The key is quality, because dad's tend to cheap out. It is a daily blessing to have every day items be of superior quality.

I have started buying more, nicer undershirts and getting rid of socks even with the smallest holes and trying, where affordable, to live with this mantra. And as ridiculous as it may sound, it has made me a happier -- maybe even a better -- person.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:27 AM on May 12, 2014 [6 favorites]

Pleased to be of assistance. This was a hard lesson for me to learn as I come from people whose favorite topic of conversation is how they got something cheap or in someway martyred themselves. But to what end?

I am extremely cautious with a buck, but have learned to not be a martyr over $20. Offering my sufferings up to the Sacred Heart of Jesus will get me precisely nowhere.

imagine my surprise to open this thread at the exact minute you commented. I am not stalking, swear.
posted by readery at 10:54 AM on May 12, 2014 [4 favorites]

readery also told me to never trust my boss. She was right!
posted by SpiffyRob at 1:54 PM on May 12, 2014 [3 favorites]

> In English, Lay-TEESH-ah.

No, Rustic Etruscan is correct: it's le-TISH-uh (or, better, lə-TISH-ə).
posted by languagehat at 2:52 PM on May 12, 2014 [2 favorites]

Heh. Thanks! I should just keep my mouth shut. Would be less embarrassing. :D
posted by zarq at 2:59 PM on May 12, 2014

I dunno, I'm pretty sure the modern day name "Lateesha" is a variant spelling of Letitia. It's just that it's an interesting example of a name that once read as posh and Latinate and now reads as low-class/street.
posted by Sara C. at 3:20 PM on May 12, 2014

It may be derived from Letitia, but it's not just a variant spelling, since it's pronounced differently. Check any reference work if you don't believe me (I just looked it up in Daniel Jones' Pronouncing Dictionary).
posted by languagehat at 3:24 PM on May 12, 2014 [1 favorite]

Any link to video or other evidence that it was actually pronounced differently in an Anglophone 19th/early 20th century context, as opposed to what "proper" Latin pronunciation should be? I guess the "ae" in the first syllable has a fixed correct pronunciation in scholarly Latin circles that is generally not hewed to in English, but as an English speaker I really can't see any other way to pronounce that name other than "La-TEE-sha" or maybe "La-TISH-ah".

Which sort of gets into an "A-LEE-sha"/"A-LISH-a" debate that has nothing to do with correct pronunciation and everything to do with how people happen to actually pronounce things in real life.

If the name Alicia had as strong an upper/lower class divide as Letitia does, you'd probably see people arguing that "Alicia" and "Aleesha" are obviously totally different names that are pronounced differently and have nothing to do with each other, too.

FWIW the Baby Name Wizard site (pretty definitive as onomastics sites go) lists Lateesha as a variant spelling of Laetitia, with a few different accepted pronunciations. "La-TEE-sha" being among them.
posted by Sara C. at 3:32 PM on May 12, 2014

Mod note: you guys get maybe one more pedantic go-round with this before it might be polite to take it to MeMail.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:37 PM on May 12, 2014 [3 favorites]

To-may-sha, to-mi-sha.
posted by Dip Flash at 3:46 PM on May 12, 2014 [3 favorites]

you'd probably see people arguing that "Alicia" and "Aleesha" are obviously totally different names that are pronounced differently and have nothing to do with each other, too.

No one claimed that they're unrelated, only that they're spelled and usually pronounced differently. The older name could be pronounced both ways, but the newer name, only one.

I strongly doubt this conversation will lead to Neat Things Someone Learned From Metafilter. I told my story; I'd be glad to see the ancillary discussion go to MeMail.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 3:55 PM on May 12, 2014

> Any link to video or other evidence that it was actually pronounced differently in an Anglophone 19th/early 20th century context, as opposed to what "proper" Latin pronunciation should be?

I was not talking about Latin (as I would have thought would be obvious). I quoted a standard, extremely reliable reference work.

> Which sort of gets into an "A-LEE-sha"/"A-LISH-a" debate that has nothing to do with correct pronunciation and everything to do with how people happen to actually pronounce things in real life.

Look, you can pronounce it however you like; I'm pretty sure everybody here is aware I am not Mister Authoritarian Bookwaver. The traditional pronunciation is lə-TISH-ə; that's simply a fact, and as I said you can look it up in any reference work. That said, the Baby Name Wizard site is not exactly what I had in mind as a reference work.

But like I said, pronounce it however pleases you. I am not the Word Cop.
posted by languagehat at 4:28 PM on May 12, 2014 [5 favorites]

Dip Flash: "To-may-sha, to-mi-sha."

Please please let Tomaetitia or Tomaeticia or some such variant turn into a real baby name. C'mon. We can do this.
posted by desuetude at 6:12 PM on May 12, 2014 [6 favorites]

It would be inevitable that any such child would be called "tomato" by almost everyone.
posted by double block and bleed at 6:20 AM on May 14, 2014

Unless they lived in the south, where it would, of course, be "tomater".
posted by double block and bleed at 6:21 AM on May 14, 2014

but everyone would only call them "'mater."
posted by nadawi at 8:19 AM on May 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

My first son was a tomato for his first Halloween at ~4 months old.
posted by double block and bleed at 2:01 PM on May 14, 2014

I've learned about a lot of bits of gay history that I grew up too late for (Bronski Beat comes to mind), largely thanks to The Whelk.
posted by spitefulcrow at 7:51 AM on May 15, 2014

I just spent too long trying to figure out what that had to do with tomatoes.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:05 AM on May 15, 2014 [3 favorites]

People suffering depression ask mostly the same questions, again and again, but personal, individual responses actually do seem to help quite a bit.
posted by talldean at 8:12 AM on May 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

oh shit that fuckin rhino bladder thing
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:52 AM on May 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

I had forgotten about the rhino bladder question.
posted by zarq at 12:01 PM on May 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

Y'all are making me wonder if the crazy question I am tentatively dreaming up for next week's Ask might actually be not only allowed as a proper Ask but even taken seriously.
posted by Michele in California at 12:19 PM on May 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

Some men -- including otherwise incredibly smart men like cortex -- cannot figure out how to use their own underpants.
posted by The Bellman at 2:55 PM on May 15, 2014

That no-one in the real world knows what the (rather useful) word "beanplating" means.
posted by Jabberwocky at 2:48 PM on May 23, 2014

In case anyone cared, I did my crazy Ask and it is being taken seriously and it is awesome to see it treated that way. I was seriously thinking "naw, the mods will delete this crazy shit" when, you know, zarq ponied up the link to the rhino bladder question (or whatever) and...

anyway, here it is: How Big of a Tentacle Beast Would It Take... (it is totally safe for work and has nothing to do with hentai porn).

:-)
posted by Michele in California at 3:08 PM on May 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

Ponies are not baby horses!
posted by Room 641-A at 7:01 AM on May 25, 2014

And thanks to Michele in California, I now know that an octopus can walk on land. Yow!
posted by rmd1023 at 7:22 AM on May 25, 2014