Upgrading the hard disk of Fujitsu Lifebook A6030

[~misfit~]

Somewhere on teh intarwebs AJL wrote:
> "~misfit~" <sore_n_happy@nospamyahoo.com.au> wrote:
>
>> I just dislike what the Merkins have done to the English language.
>
> I thought, what the heck is a 'Merkin'?? So I looked it up and found
> out that it is a pubic wig. Here's a picture:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkin
>
> Then it dawned on me that a Merkin was an American...

LOL, yeah. I started using the term to mean American after hearing your
president G W Bush use it many, many times. Seriously, listen to any of his
speeches. He's proud to be a Merkin! (I was already aware of the proper
usage of the word and have been for decades for some reason. <g>)

Oh, and from that page you linked to:

"In Europe, "merkin" has also been in common usage as a jocular term for an
American since the 1960s (as it sounds like the half-swallowed pronunciation
of "American" by some Americans, particularly President Lyndon B. Johnson).
The OED reports that the term has become common internet slang for Americans
or American English."
--
Shaun.

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a
monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also
into you." Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

 

[Bob Villa]

On Oct 14, 12:11 pm, AJL <8...@fakeaddress.com> wrote:
> "~misfit~" <sore_n_ha...@nospamyahoo.com.au> wrote:
> >But you are a "smart ass' by Bill's definition...
> >I never did get the whole US infatuation with clever donkeys..
>
> Actually 'smart arse' originated as a British vulgarity. Americans
> corrupted it to 'smart ass'. Since the American-English word 'ass' has
> more than one meaning it often confuses the Brits and their cousins.
> Rest assured that Bill was not referring to you as a donkey...

I also believe we have bastardized the language in many ways. (I
don't go along with fear of the letter "Z" though!)
My huge peeve is when someone says no instead of not. "Are you going
to the park or no?"
I find it disconcerting that the English pronounce things one
way...then when we start to get it...they change it back to the way we
said it it the first place. Example: kilometer!

 

[AJL]

Bob Villa <pheeh.zero@gmail.com> wrote:

>I also believe we have bastardized the language in many ways.

Of course 'bastardized' is in the eye of the beholder. Even with the
availability of the dictionary for the masses (a relatively recent
event-historically speaking) the language refuses to become
standardized. If enough people start using a new 'bastardized' word or
phrase it will become legitimate eventually.

>My huge peeve is when someone says no instead of not. "Are you going
>to the park or no?"

I don't get too worried over correct usage. If I can understand
someone I'm ahead. Here in Phoenix there also is the language problem.
In many of my local fast food hangouts I have to point at the menu
pictures because they don't understand much English and I don't
understand any Spanish...

>I find it disconcerting that the English pronounce things one
>way...then when we start to get it...they change it back to the way we
>said it it the first place. Example: kilometer!

No problem here, we outlawed the metric system for our signs. Miles,
pounds, ect makes perfect sense to us Merkins. But wait, didn't we
inherit that system from the Brits??

 

[AJL]

"~misfit~" <sore_n_happy@nospamyahoo.com.au> wrote:

>I started using the term [merkin] to mean American after hearing your
>president G W Bush use it many, many times.

Depending where you live in Merica you will hear lots worst than Bush.
From New Yawk to the deep south. I sometimes have to really
concentrate to understand "English". But from what I read of the Brits
they too have severe accents in different parts of the country.

>Oh, and from that page you linked to:
>
>"In Europe, "merkin" has also been in common usage as a jocular term for an
>American since the 1960s (as it sounds like the half-swallowed pronunciation
>of "American" by some Americans, particularly President Lyndon B. Johnson).
>The OED reports that the term has become common internet slang for Americans
>or American English."

Guess I didn't read far enough down the page,
I got stuck at the pubic wig...

 

[~misfit~]

Somewhere on teh intarwebs AJL wrote:
> "~misfit~" <sore_n_happy@nospamyahoo.com.au> wrote:
>
>> I started using the term [merkin] to mean American after hearing your
>> president G W Bush use it many, many times.
>
> Depending where you live in Merica you will hear lots worst than Bush.
> From New Yawk to the deep south. I sometimes have to really
> concentrate to understand "English". But from what I read of the Brits
> they too have severe accents in different parts of the country.
>
>> Oh, and from that page you linked to:
>>
>> "In Europe, "merkin" has also been in common usage as a jocular term
>> for an American since the 1960s (as it sounds like the
>> half-swallowed pronunciation of "American" by some Americans,
>> particularly President Lyndon B. Johnson). The OED reports that the
>> term has become common internet slang for Americans or American
>> English."
>
> Guess I didn't read far enough down the page,
> I got stuck at the pubic wig...

LOL, need a toothpick?
--
Shaun.

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a
monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also
into you." Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

 

[Bob Villa]

On Oct 15, 8:24 pm, AJL <8...@fakeaddress.com> wrote:
> "~misfit~" <sore_n_ha...@nospamyahoo.com.au> wrote:
> >I started using the term [merkin] to mean American after hearing your
> >president G W Bush use it many, many times.
>
> Depending where you live in Merica you will hear lots worst than Bush.
> From New Yawk to the deep south. I sometimes have to really
> concentrate to understand "English". But from what I read of the Brits
> they too have severe accents in different parts of the country.
>
> >Oh, and from that page you linked to:
>
> >"In Europe, "merkin" has also been in common usage as a jocular term foran
> >American since the 1960s (as it sounds like the half-swallowed pronunciation
> >of "American" by some Americans, particularly President Lyndon B. Johnson).
> >The OED reports that the term has become common internet slang for Americans
> >or American English."
>
> Guess I didn't read far enough down the page,
> I got stuck at the pubic wig...

Then there's the high school or college girl that says, "It was like
this or like, I can't remember like what you told me!". I've heard
"like" four times in one sentence many times! WTH!

 

[BillW50]

In
news:417da52c-abe6-4193-95d7-70ddf038a2e3@t8g2000yqk.googlegroups.com,
Bob Villa typed on Sat, 16 Oct 2010 05:45:23 -0700 (PDT):
> On Oct 15, 8:24 pm, AJL <8...@fakeaddress.com> wrote:
>> "~misfit~" <sore_n_ha...@nospamyahoo.com.au> wrote:
>>> I started using the term [merkin] to mean American after hearing
>>> your president G W Bush use it many, many times.
>>
>> Depending where you live in Merica you will hear lots worst than
>> Bush. From New Yawk to the deep south. I sometimes have to really
>> concentrate to understand "English". But from what I read of the
>> Brits they too have severe accents in different parts of the country.
>>
>>> Oh, and from that page you linked to:
>>
>>> "In Europe, "merkin" has also been in common usage as a jocular
>>> term for an American since the 1960s (as it sounds like the
>>> half-swallowed pronunciation of "American" by some Americans,
>>> particularly President Lyndon B. Johnson). The OED reports that the
>>> term has become common internet slang for Americans or American
>>> English."
>>
>> Guess I didn't read far enough down the page,
>> I got stuck at the pubic wig...
>
> Then there's the high school or college girl that says, "It was like
> this or like, I can't remember like what you told me!". I've heard
> "like" four times in one sentence many times! WTH!

Those are High Society Valley Girls.

--
Bill
Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) 1 of 3 - Windows XP SP2

 

[AJL]

Like, more OT Stuff...

Bob Villa <pheeh.zero@gmail.com> wrote:

>Then there's the high school or college girl that says, "It was like
>this or like, I can't remember like what you told me!". I've heard
>"like" four times in one sentence many times! WTH!

Although the excessive use of the word "like" is annoying to you, it
is apparently standard English. I was surprised to learn from
Wikipedia (shamelessly copied below) that the practice originated in
the 19th century.
-----
The word "like" as a discourse particle or interjection:

Like can also be used in much the same way as "um..." as a discourse
particle. It has become a trend among North American teenagers to use
the word like in this way.(see Valspeak, discourse marker, and speech
disfluency):

* I, like, don't know what to do.

It is also becoming more often used (Northern England and
Hiberno-English in particular) at the end of a sentence, as an
alternative to you know:

* I didn't say anything, like.

Use of "like" as a filler is a fairly old practice in Welsh English.
In Scotland, it was used at least as early as 19th century, e.g. in R
L Stevenson's 1886 novel Kidnapped:

What'll like be your business, mannie? (p 7)
'What's like wrong with him?' said she at last. (p 193)

See Fleischman (199 for a similar discourse particle in French.

 

[BillW50]

In news:i9c97j$37q$1@news.eternal-september.org,
BillW50 typed on Sat, 16 Oct 2010 08:27:12 -0500:
> In
> news:417da52c-abe6-4193-95d7-70ddf038a2e3@t8g2000yqk.googlegroups.com,
> Bob Villa typed on Sat, 16 Oct 2010 05:45:23 -0700 (PDT):
>> Then there's the high school or college girl that says, "It was like
>> this or like, I can't remember like what you told me!". I've heard
>> "like" four times in one sentence many times! WTH!
>
> Those are High Society Valley Girls.

I am no expert, but about 100 miles within Silicon Valley (just south of
San Francisco). I also heard some around the Florida Keys talk like that
too. My guess is the parents retired from Silicon Valley and moved to
Florida and the daughters went with them. Otherwise I think it is pretty
rare in the states. The pitch of their voice is a bit higher than normal
too, right?

--
Bill
Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) 1 of 3 - Windows XP SP2

 

[Bob Villa]

Re: Like, more OT Stuff...

On Oct 16, 11:21 am, AJL <8...@fakeaddress.com> wrote:
> Bob Villa <pheeh.z...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >Then there's the high school or college girl that says, "It was like
> >this or like, I can't remember like what you told me!".   I've heard
> >"like" four times in one sentence many times!  WTH!
>
> Although the excessive use of the word "like" is annoying to you, it
> is apparently standard English. I was surprised to learn from
> Wikipedia (shamelessly copied below) that the practice originated in
> the 19th century.
> -----
> The word "like" as a discourse particle or interjection:
>
> Like can also be used in much the same way as "um..." as a discourse
> particle. It has become a trend among North American teenagers to use
> the word like in this way.(see Valspeak, discourse marker, and speech
> disfluency):
>
>     * I, like, don't know what to do.
>
> It is also becoming more often used (Northern England and
> Hiberno-English in particular) at the end of a sentence, as an
> alternative to you know:
>
>     * I didn't say anything, like.
>
> Use of "like" as a filler is a fairly old practice in Welsh English.
> In Scotland, it was used at least as early as 19th century, e.g. in R
> L Stevenson's 1886 novel Kidnapped:
>
>     What'll like be your business, mannie? (p 7)
>     'What's like wrong with him?' said she at last. (p 193)
>
> See Fleischman (199 for a similar discourse particle in French.

My thought is it spread through the college system (from wherever it
originated) because I worked occasionally at the UW campus in Stevens
Point, WI 20 some years ago. It is still rampant and it has spread to
mothers of these grads. Good God!
I don't accept your theory...it is too excessive to be the norm.

 

[AJL]

Re: Like, more OT Stuff...

Bob Villa <pheeh.zero@gmail.com> wrote:

>I don't accept your theory...it [like] is too excessive to be the norm.

It may be a regional thing as I don't hear it out here (Phoenix) that
often. I have several teenage grandkids but they're always texting so
I don't hear much audio from them at all...

I do hear the filler "you know" often but mostly from grownups and
lots of times in TV interviews.

 

[Bob Villa]

Re: Like, more OT Stuff...

On Oct 17, 12:56 pm, AJL <17...@fakeaddress.com> wrote:
> Bob Villa <pheeh.z...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >I don't accept your theory...it [like] is too excessive to be the norm.
>
> It may be a regional thing as I don't hear it out here (Phoenix) that
> often. I have several teenage grandkids but they're always texting so
> I don't hear much audio from them at all...
>
> I do hear the filler "you know" often but mostly from grownups and
> lots of times in TV interviews.

I take your interjection of my quote as an insult...ya know what I
mean?

 

[AJL]

Re: Like, more OT Stuff...

Bob Villa <pheeh.zero@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Oct 17, 12:56 pm, AJL <17...@fakeaddress.com> wrote:
>> Bob Villa <pheeh.z...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> >I don't accept your theory...it [like] is too excessive to be the norm.
>>
>> It may be a regional thing as I don't hear it out here (Phoenix) that
>> often. I have several teenage grandkids but they're always texting so
>> I don't hear much audio from them at all...
>>
>> I do hear the filler "you know" often but mostly from grownups and
>> lots of times in TV interviews.
>
>I take your interjection of my quote as an insult...ya know what I
>mean?

The absence of a smiley seems to indicate you're really insulted.
Perhaps you're reading your quote and my bracket literally as one
complete sentence. That's not how it works. In English prose the
square bracket is understood to show explanatory material in a quote
and is understood to come from someone other than the quote's author.
In this case the bracket shows that "it" means "like" to clarify your
quote since I had removed the rest of your post for clarity and
brevity as is Usenet standard practice (or should be).

From Wikipedia:

Square brackets [ ]

Square brackets – also called simply brackets (US) – are mainly used
to enclose explanatory or missing material usually added by someone
other than the original author, especially in quoted text.[5] Examples
include: "I appreciate it [the honor], but I must refuse", and "the
future of psionics [see definition] is in doubt".

But now that you mention it, it is kind of funny how it seems to put
that horrid word in your mouth...

 

[Bob Villa]

Re: Like, more OT Stuff...

On Oct 17, 4:28 pm, AJL <17...@fakeaddress.com> wrote:
> Bob Villa <pheeh.z...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >On Oct 17, 12:56 pm, AJL <17...@fakeaddress.com> wrote:
> >> Bob Villa <pheeh.z...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> >I don't accept your theory...it [like] is too excessive to be the norm.
>
> >> It may be a regional thing as I don't hear it out here (Phoenix) that
> >> often. I have several teenage grandkids but they're always texting so
> >> I don't hear much audio from them at all...
>
> >> I do hear the filler "you know" often but mostly from grownups and
> >> lots of times in TV interviews.
>
> >I take your interjection of my quote as an insult...ya know what I
> >mean?
>
> The absence of a smiley seems to indicate you're really insulted.
> Perhaps you're reading your quote and my bracket literally as one
> complete sentence. That's not how it works. In English prose the
> square bracket is understood to show explanatory material in a quote
> and is understood to come from someone other than the quote's author.
> In this case the bracket shows that "it" means "like" to clarify your
> quote since I had removed the rest of your post for clarity and
> brevity as is Usenet standard practice (or should be).
>
> From Wikipedia:
>
> Square brackets [ ]
>
> Square brackets – also called simply brackets (US) – are mainly used
> to enclose explanatory or missing material usually added by someone
> other than the original author, especially in quoted text.[5] Examples
> include: "I appreciate it [the honor], but I must refuse", and "the
> future of psionics [see definition] is in doubt".
>
> But now that you mention it, it is kind of funny how it seems to put
> that horrid word in your mouth...

You're almost funny.