Really trivial stuff that bugs you

[Strange]

So what's the singular for pasta in general?

Pasta is singular already. The plural is paste (the e is pronounced).

I have never seen spaghetto used, but I have seen raviolo on a menu.

[Strange]

I'm European and I'm not exactly poor but I don't eat pasta because I loathe it.

How can you loathe "it"; surely it depends on the type of pasta, the sauce, how it is cooked and so on. That is like saying you don't like drink.

Apart from that, how can you loathe it? Its great!

[Paul Beardsley]

That's quite normal in the UK, where we are at a safe distance from the real ones.

I dunno, some of those lassos are, like, really long!

[Paul Beardsley]

How can you loathe "it"; surely it depends on the type of pasta, the sauce, how it is cooked and so on.

No it doesn't. I find some easier to stomach than others, but in general, if it contains pasta, I don't want it near me. Lasagne really makes me want to puke; other forms, such as pasta shells, are merely unpleasant.

That is like saying you don't like drink.

No it isn't. It's like saying you don't like tomato juice-based drinks.

Apart from that, how can you loathe it? Its great!

No it isn't it's horrible. It's like an earthworm that someone has been sick on.

[Strange]

No it isn't. It's like saying you don't like tomato juice-based drinks.

Maybe that's a bit too narrow (I'll admit mine was too broad). Maybe it's like saying you don't like wine; or you don't like fruit-based drinks.

Oh well, de gustibus and all that. But I can't help feeling you must have only had really bad pasta ...

[Paul Beardsley]

But I can't help feeling you must have only had really bad pasta ...

Everyone else at the table enjoyed it on each occasion. Really, I hate pasta. I'm not the only person either, although I'll grant you it's rare.

[caveman1917]

Everyone else at the table enjoyed it on each occasion. Really, I hate pasta. I'm not the only person either, although I'll grant you it's rare.

So when they ask whether you would like spaghetti you can say "no just a spaghetto for me please, i don't really like it".

[peteshimmon]

Right! Away from food...

Steam cleaning of pavement areas leaving
wiggly lines. Should be neat straight lines.

[swampyankee]

Long threads about trivial things that bug people.

[Perikles]

People complaining about long threads about trivial things that bug people

[Paul Beardsley]

People who think recursive/self-referential jokes are cool.

[Perikles]

People who come up with smart posts where I can't think of a witty reply. I blame the wine.

[Hornblower]

That's because 'cattle' is a plurale tantum. I find it trivially annoying that there is no epicene word for the species.

James Herriot, of All Creatures Great and Small fame, sometimes used "bovine" for the generic singular. I don't know whether or not it is commonplace in the UK. I have never heard it in the USA, where "cow" seems to be the colloquial singular in most circles.

[HenrikOlsen]

I don't know. We still have words like oxen and children, among many other irregular plurals that have survived for hundreds of years.

Those are remnants of a regular plural form used in some parts of England before London area English drove out the other sub-languages. Eyren were the plural of egg there/then.

[Paul Beardsley]

Englidh

Is this a typo? Or am I about to learn something else new?

[closetgeek]

Works for me! When people ask me the difference between a catapult and a trebuchet, I always say its a subset. All trebuchets are catpults, but not all catapults are trebuchets.

How am I to have fun trying to get a rise out of people who won't rise? That bugs me!

[ClaudiaT]

Sometimes people do that double negative bit more or less intentionally, to get a rise out of somebody. Some languages feature double negatives. In those languages, double negatives are correct.

[Strange]

I suspect all languages have double negatives. In English they are used for emphasis, "ain't got nobody".

[Trebuchet]

How am I to have fun trying to get a rise out of people who won't rise? That bugs me!

You just have to use "cowboy" as a pejorative to a native Montanan, like Paul Beardsley. After all, 1/3 of my current small flock of hurling engines is distinctly NOT a trebuchet! Of course, if you'd said something praising air cannons, I might have risen to that. The general opinion among "mechanical" hurlers is that air cannons blow!

[Trebuchet]

In honor of the Landing of Curiosity: I'm getting more and more annoyed with bloggers, in their multitudes, announcing the landing time of Curiosity in EDT. It's the WORLD WIDE Web, folks. Your readers can be anywhere. The only time you should be announcing is UTC, or, just because JPL is in Pasadena, PDT. EDT is irrelevant, as are all other zones. You Londoners get a pass on this one!

[HenrikOlsen]

Is this a typo? Or am I about to learn something else new?

Typing on the phone sucks.

[Paul Beardsley]

You just have to use "cowboy" as a pejorative to a native Montanan, like Paul Beardsley.

I'm not a native Montanan!

[Tobin Dax]

I want to respond to Paul Beardsley rising to the occasion, but that amuses me. Luckily, I'm bugged by that, so I can post it here.

[Strange]

I can't decide if I am annoyed or amused when yet another very obvious sock-puppet is created to make exactly the same stupid points in exactly the same stupid style.

He thinks we won't notice or something?!?

OK, obviously more annoyed than amused.

[SeanF]

I have never heard it in the USA, where "cow" seems to be the colloquial singular in most circles.

Dictionary.com lists the third definition of "cow" as "a domestic bovine of either sex and any age," although it does specify that it is informal.

[NEOWatcher]

On the topic of catapults, the term Pumpkin Chunkin' annoys me.

Where I come from to "chuck" means to throw, so it should be "Pumpkin Chuckin'"

Maybe Chunkin' has a meaning I'm missing, but my brain refuses accept the term as being correct (even if it rhymes).

Maybe it's just a reference to the aftermath.

[Gillianren]

If anyone is expecting grammar arbitration from Gillian, you'll have to wait until tomorrow evening, as she's currently out standing in someone's field. Along with lots of other folks. I went down and said "Hi" this morning!

And it was lovely to see you. You will be pleased to know that we survived, though I think the camels (why did we have camels?) had a better time of it than we did. Why do so many Washingtonians complain that we don't ever get real summer than avoid doing anything when it's as warm as they think they want it to be?

In the "stuff that bugs you" department: How can you have all that lovely medieval stuff and not a single trebuchet?

I assume it's a space issue. Where would we fire it, into the parking lot? The merchants' parking lot? Rent out another field?

No it isn't. It's like saying you don't like tomato juice-based drinks.

I took that to mean "I don't like drink" as in "I don't like alcoholic beverages." Since I don't, I didn't see the problem.

I use data as both a plural and a singular, depending on my contextual need. Ha!

[Strange]

Why do so many Washingtonians complain that we don't ever get real summer than avoid doing anything when it's as warm as they think they want it to be?

Ha! That's one of my pet peeves over here. "It's so cold and wet all the time." Then, one week later, the temperature having shot up to the mid-teens (centigrade), "its too hot, I can't breath."

I took that to mean "I don't like drink" as in "I don't like alcoholic beverages." Since I don't, I didn't see the problem.

It was deliberately ambiguous.

I use data as both a plural and a singular, depending on my contextual need.

Hurrah! I always say that datum is not the singular of data, it is a fiducial mark. (But that is just because I like the sound of "fiducial"). For me, data is just a synonym of information and therefore a non-count noun. But I am not going to change other people's usage (either way) when I am copy editing.

[Gillianren]

Ha! That's one of my pet peeves over here. "It's so cold and wet all the time." Then, one week later, the temperature having shot up to the mid-teens (centigrade), "its too hot, I can't breath."

Ha! I just did the conversion, and Google says it was 35 out in that field this weekend. Mid-teens is about my ideal, personally.

It was deliberately ambiguous.

Fair enough.

Hurrah! I always say that datum is not the singular of data, it is a fiducial mark. (But that is just because I like the sound of "fiducial"). For me, data is just a synonym of information and therefore a non-count noun. But I am not going to change other people's usage (either way) when I am copy editing.

I am constantly using words just because I like the sound of them. Our conversations around here sound very odd.

[swampyankee]

I assume it's a space issue. Where would we fire it, into the parking lot? The merchants' parking lot? Rent out another field?

Come on! Use the trebuchets as they were intended! Conquer Tacoma!