Posts by Oubliette

I've been reading Steven Pinker's latest work: The Sense of Style. He sheds a lot of very clear light on how language works as well as how it doesn't through common mistakes in construction of sentences, paragraphs and longer forms.

He also bashes a lot of grammar myths concerning what is "right" and what is "wrong."

As it turns out, a lot of well-entrenched grammar rules are just wrong. If it makes sense it's good. A lot of what is left is simply a matter of style, particularly formal versus informal.

For those that don't know, Steven Pinker is a Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. He conducts research on language and cognition

25

The Edit

by compound complex in

original:.

mary had a little lamb.

whose fleece was white as snow,.

Oubliette

Mary had a little lamb, with a little side of mint sauce and roasted root vegetable. It paired nicely with a Pinot Noir.

19

JW going to prestigious university

by ivanatahan in

jw
friends

i've been debating this, and my mother (the spiritual head of my family, she even controls my father spiritually, who is an elder) doesn't seem to be starkly against me going to a prestigious university.

in fact, i've been going over my chances, and i'd say i have a pretty decent chance of going to my dream university, oxford university, to study philosophy, politics, and economics.

naturally i wouldn't tell my mother about me wanting to take the three most hated subjects of jws at a university that would bring me into bad relations with "spiritually sound jws".. do you guys know any ex-jw or knowledgeable jw who knows ttatt that went to a randall group or ivy league school?

Oubliette

LS: Why doesn't the watchtower just open their own university?

Because they don't have any qualified people to run one.

How likely is it WTBTS Leadership:

Would be able to get JWs with PhDs in all core curriculum subjects? (Humanities, Math, Sciences, etc).
Would pay them a competitive salary with full benefits? ($90,000 - 150,000/yr. plus full medical coverage)

The WTBTS model is to get volunteers to work for free, or for the minimum: Food and shelter. That's it.

It'll never happen.

Oubliette

39

Sad topic but wrongly worded.

by compound complex in

"glenn close stepped on the stage to honor the academy members who sadly passed away this evening.".

.. what did the reporter mean to say?

coco.

Oubliette

What are we having for dinner? Mother!

What's that lying in the road? A head!

I've been reading Steven Pinker's latests, The Sense of Style. In it, he spends a good amount of time dealing with issues of prosody, such as the above, where we would understand the speaker's intentions if we heard it, but when phrases such as these are written, they can be ambiguous and confusing.

24

Letter to a DF Parent

by thedepressedsoul in

thank you for raising me in this religion, this religion that when people get disfellowshipped you have to cut off all communication, even family.

thank you for making sure all of my friends, work partners, family and 99% of my life was centered around this organization.

thank you for taking the time to study with me, read the bible, making me excluded from all school activities and friends so that my whole social life was surrounded by jw.

Oubliette

Four kids all raised the same and yet one can't forgive...the 'Christian' one.

Having no natural affection, ... having an appearance of godliness but proving false to its power - 2 Timothy 3:3, 5

39

Sad topic but wrongly worded.

by compound complex in

"glenn close stepped on the stage to honor the academy members who sadly passed away this evening.".

.. what did the reporter mean to say?

coco.

Oubliette

The young girl was walking the dog in a short skirt.

39

Sad topic but wrongly worded.

by compound complex in

"glenn close stepped on the stage to honor the academy members who sadly passed away this evening.".

.. what did the reporter mean to say?

coco.

Oubliette

I love it when a store walks down the street.

24

Letter to a DF Parent

by thedepressedsoul in

thank you for raising me in this religion, this religion that when people get disfellowshipped you have to cut off all communication, even family.

thank you for making sure all of my friends, work partners, family and 99% of my life was centered around this organization.

thank you for taking the time to study with me, read the bible, making me excluded from all school activities and friends so that my whole social life was surrounded by jw.

Oubliette

TDS: This post had nothing to do with me, I wrote it for whinny people like who who get all hurt when people won't talk to them, to see the other side of the coin. Get over it!

Really?

That's just mean.

You nailed the "other side of the coin" really well: a self-centered complainer completely lacking in empathy; a person that won't take any responsibility, shifts blame and just can't get over it themselves.

Maybe that explains why my children continue to shun me.