MetaTalk posts tagged with language

Why the sudden rash of "honey"s?

obliquicity — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:33:49 -0800

Is it me, or has MeFi been infected with "honey" recently? It seems as though in the past week or so, every thread I go into has someone referring to another poster as "honey" or "hon" -- a term that I find startlingly condescending (with overtones of ageism and sexism, to boot). I'd assume that the people saying it mean it to come across that way, except that their comments otherwise seem likely to be genuinely caring/trying to be helpful. Is this just the painful extension of a general cultural tendency to pretend we live in the 1950s again? To be completely clear, to offer someone advice and then append that advice with the endearment "hon," is to suggest that you are oh-so-much-older-and-wiser than they are, and that they will, one day, realize how sweetly naïve they were for not realizing all along the wisdom of the pearls you just shared. Plus, you don't know them (unless of course you do, I suppose) -- so why are terms of endearment even appropriate at all? None of the posts or comments to which these comments are responding ask for demonstrations of maternal affection. If I'm the only one interpreting this word this way, then I will of course tuck my sweet li'l tail between my legs and go home.

aff-row-BLAHN-co, where 'blahn' rhymes with 'tron'

Afroblanco — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:28:01 -0800

How do you pronounce your username? Of course I sound it out in my head, but I want to know how you say it.

Thanks a lot, Tower of Babel

Rhaomi — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:50:52 -0800

I'm working on a post in which I'd like to use a certain article that provides useful and interesting background information, information I can't find anywhere else. Unfortunately this article is a PDF file... and in Spanish. If it were a regular page I'd just toss it into Google Translate and link to that, but the PDF the article is in is too large. And Google hasn't yet crawled the file, so there's no translation available in their cache, either. I did manage to extract the plain text from the PDF and ran that through Google Translate with serviceable results... but I can't find any way to link to the translation. So, short of directing people to the Spanish PDF and leaving it up to them to extract and translate the text themselves, is there any acceptable way to include the translated text in my post that would not skirt the rules? I'm thinking some third-party site that will host small text files.

The etymology of HURF DURF

DecemberBoy — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:55:59 -0800

I've seen a few comments recently claiming or intimating that "HURF DURF" originated here, and I would like to set the record straight on this extremely trivial matter. "HURF DURF" originated in the Portal Of Evil/POE-News/SexSexWorld/Old Man Murray forum culture, and was originally brought here by u.n. owen, who posted at POE-News as MusingMelpomene. I would link to early uses of the term or to the infamous MusingMelpomene "whole stick of butter" thread, but unfortunately the POE/POE-News webmaster wiped out all threads prior to January 1, 2007 due to "database problems" and thus shoved our whole history down the memory hole.

that's what my daddy made me

plexi — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:29:01 -0800

nasreddin hit one out of the park today.

Kenya hack it?

sunshinesky — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:52:41 -0800

Would you people stop trying to hack stuff? Yes, we all loved the movie but for Jod's sake, you can't hack sex.

25 new posts about how it doesn't say that.

Memo — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 15:02:02 -0800

Very short question. Why does it say 'X new links' when most posts here don't have links? Shouldn't it say 'X new posts or X new flameouts/hugesexismthreads/podcasts'?

regulation

four panels — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 12:43:28 -0800

Recently jessamyn rushed to edit the title of an Ask Metafilter question, changing it from "Nice bag that isn't gay" to simply "Nice bag." Today, on Metafilter, there is "It's harder than you think to differentiate between what's gay and what's High School Musical." Why is one offensive, and one is not, if they both reference ideas that are generally accepted as being attractive to gay men?

[less inside]

notsnot — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 08:53:51 -0800

On this question, brownpau claims that there is information missing from the original question. However, it's just that the words "[more inside]" are not displayed in the question's page. I've noticed this a few other times; a turn of the phrase that is meant to end in the [more inside] looks out of whack and, until I realize that it's happened again, appears to be have something missing. Should [more inside] perhaps be placed inside the thread, as well, to lessen confusion, even though, technically, we're already inside?

Should we say "digg-effected" or "digg-affected"?

OverlappingElvis — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 13:28:53 -0800

One of the links in this FPP references a "digg-effected link." This is probably overly nitpicky and more a matter of curiosity than anything else, but would it be "digg-effected" or "digg-affected?" It's a link that fell prey to the "digg effect," but on the other hand it was "affected by digg." Thoughts?

That said, I don't want to hear it anymore.

Afroblanco — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 20:59:24 -0800

Hey guys, can we take this one out behind the barn and shoot it, already?

so cool!

grateful — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 13:48:12 -0800

Posting to Metafilter is so cool. Click previous sentence for more information.

Pronunciation of MeFi and MeFite?

heatherann — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 22:01:21 -0800

MeFi: may-fee [mefi] or mee-fie [mifaɪ]? Mefite: mee-fight or may-fight? I was a little disconcerted at a meet-up to realise that some people pronounce these terms differently than I do. Is there a dominant pronounciation? Any other variants? (idle curiosity of a linguistics student)

strawmen everywhere!

flarbuse — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 19:50:44 -0800

During my sophomore year in college, my classmates apparently all simultaneously discovered the word "ambiguous." We couldn't go through five minutes of a class discussion without the word being used. It was like, "I'm smart! Look at my new word! Watch me use it in any mildly appropriate way!"

I can't get ten comments through a thread here without someone cleverly pointing out a "straw man" argument. Not every argument that is contrary to your own is a "straw man" argument. An unsupported argument is not a "staw man" argument. If you disagree with someone's point, then take the time to attack the logic or the premise of that argument. Don't just call that person a "straw man." It's too ambiguous.

What happened to ?? ?

philida — Sun, 23 Oct 2005 17:20:20 -0800

What happened to 김치? Because if for nothing else, he actuated this and i liked it.
plus the caps lock thread kicks this year's anniversay thread in the ash.

weird phrasing in question

Methylviolet — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 10:30:03 -0800

Strange superlative.

I have many delicious vegetarian recipes, but I better not tell this guy. I would hate to be responsible for him punching his mother in the mouth.

Or worse, my mother.

MetaFilter Members In Iraq

Mo Nickels — Sat, 06 Aug 2005 11:30:16 -0800

Are there any members who are serving or have served in Iraq? Any members who live, or have constant contact with someone who lives, in Iraq? If you're willing, I have language-related questions, both about American military usage and colloquial modern Iraqi Arabic. Email me at the address on the web site linked in my profile.

It's the best of the web - and it is not in English

matteo — Sun, 06 Mar 2005 06:47:31 -0800

Posting links to websites in languages other than English: previously discussed, but without clear guidelines. There's a great link I could post -- but even if the images are a key part of what makes that site's interesting, it's not in English. More inside.

Troll is so ... quaint

MiguelCardoso — Mon, 30 Aug 2004 22:56:51 -0800

"Troll" may have a respectable lineage on the Web but, frankly, for some of us who joined later in the day, it seems like a quaint, medieval way of classifying anyone who's the least bit provocative, thought-provoking or even unorthodox. Recently, any forceful, strongly-worded attempt to spark discussion with a non-mainstream viewpoint, generally from the Left, has been lamely denounced as a "troll". Could it be time to give the ye olde troll accusation a well-deserved rest? I hope so. The English language is one of the richest in the world and troll sounds parochial, pimply, nerdish, cliquey, incestuous and, ultimately, meaningless.

[Max field length is 100] Is a bad choice of words a derogation during Ask Mefi?

wendell — Sat, 31 Jul 2004 11:22:08 -0800

Is a bad choice of words a derogation during Ask Mefi?

I did not stumble; I came with purpose!

Opus Dark — Mon, 14 Jun 2004 12:19:37 -0800

You've stumbled upon a non-existent post, or one that was deleted for various reasons.

Interesting use of language in feed description

feelinglistless — Sat, 22 May 2004 16:05:27 -0800

Interesting use of language in feed description. Well yes I laughed and went straight to the article for an explaination. It is a great link. I have no problem with the use of colourful language under normal circumstances and I don't want to sound like a prude, but I was just worried about site image. Also aren't there going to be issues in some workplaces with filters and that sort of thing?

Be Nice to the N00bs.

jpoulos — Thu, 29 Apr 2004 08:22:23 -0800

I'd like to remind everyone that we have some new users, and we really ought to encourage them as much as possible. While I agree entirely with the Q-man's sentiment, name-calling is counterproductive to the site, especially when it's a user's first FPP.

This isn't so much a call-out on quonsar, but a reminder that discouraging the new users is detrimental to the health of the site.

Can we stop with the vagina comments?

monju_bosatsu — Fri, 05 Dec 2003 08:16:36 -0800

Can we stop with the vagina comments?

Nice posts, but extremely aggravating titles.

hama7 — Wed, 12 Feb 2003 02:12:45 -0800

Nice posts, but extremely aggravating titles.