Kilby: I can release comments in the “Recent News” thread from moderation, although there may be a fair amount of latency in the release time.
“someone was ‘reticent’ to take some action.”
“He’s taking action, folks, but he won’t tell us why!”
Well, that was wrong . . . here’s what it was SUPPOSED to be . . .
American kids are so intelligent! Kids anywhere else wouldn’t get more than 37.
So I guess even my misteak leads to funny comments. I won’t request my misteaken post be removed, just ’cause Olivier made the best possible reply.
I turned 75 a few days ago, and have been responding to correspondents who noted the fact by musing that back in high school, “75” was usually the bare minimum passing score, so I can now claim to have finally cinched a “D-Minus” grade on my own life.
(I guess that means I won’t be held back and have to repeat it all over again next turn of the Wheel?)
Lesson Grade (%) Letter Equivalent Rating
90-100 A Excellent
80-89 B Good
70-79 C Average
65-69 D Passing
Below 65 F
Continued from above:
Below 65 F Failing
I meant to write: How things have changed; the bar has been lowered. Today, you [and I] would be average.
Hey 98.6!
Just remember, D’s get diplomas.
That’s great, Olivier. What other goods do you have to cels us?
MiB, or as my friend used to say, “You know what they call the guy who graduates last in med school? Doctor”
“The world is run by C students” . . . with my addendum: ‘If we’re lucky.”
Well, I just heard Former FLOTUS Michelle Obama use ‘decimate’ incorrectly, so I guess it’s generally accepted not to mean ‘every ten’.
I think we’ve established that a meaning outside of “one in ten” is not incorrect and hasn’t been for a long time.
I’m less interested in relitigating the correct usage of ‘decimate’ than I am intrigued by the idea that Michelle Obama is our standard for what’s “generally accepted.”
Actually, I was being sarcastic to that point.
Just ran across this passage in a Chicago NPR newsletter:
The news comes as the city’s finances have been decimated by the pandemic, resulting in a $800 million deficit in this year’s budget and a $1.2 billion shortfall in next year’s budget. Lightfoot is expected later this month to unveil her plan for closing the budget gap, and she has not ruled out rising property taxes and laying off city workers.
Andréa, if Michelle Obama isn’t going to be our standard, then who is?
make up your mind; either she is, or she isn’t.
Still beats “one of the only.” (And I suspect the McDonald’s burger company might at least try to argue about “most recognizable.”)
Yep. I argued earlier that “one of the best (or most)” was fine (unlike “one of the only”). So I would find the xkcd example annoying as unnecessary hedging, rather than grammatically wrong.
When I was a kid, there was a McDonalds on a boat in the Mississippi river by the Gateway Arch. Image search shows that it didn’t itself have large arches, though.
Whoever designed that arch was a very bad croquet player.
Same source, next day.
“Even before the pandemic decimated the city’s budget, Chicago faced huge financial challenges. “
So I guess it’s official: our budget will be 90% of what it was previously set at?
Even better than “one of the” is “arguably”.
“Arguably” is a word that literally means “not”.
“The Gateway Arch is arguably the most recognizable landmark in the United States.”
MiB, I agree that that’s what the word appears it should mean. But my handy dictionary says it actually means, “As can be shown by argument”.
Merriam-Webster says, in part:
“Used to say that a statement is very possibly true even if it is not certainly true.”
That being said, I’d guess the Washington Monument or Mount Rushmore would be the most recognizable, but the Gateway Arch would be right up there. As far as its shape, it’s a type of caternary curve.
I’d go for the ‘Statue de la Liberté’.
@ Brian in StL – Almost: it’s a catenary (only one R) curve, the same shape (but in the opposite direction) as a rope or chain hung from two supports.
I had looked up the spelling but somehow failed to get it in the message correctly.
Comics I Don't Understand 
Kilby: I can release comments in the “Recent News” thread from moderation, although there may be a fair amount of latency in the release time.
“someone was ‘reticent’ to take some action.”
“He’s taking action, folks, but he won’t tell us why!”
Well, that was wrong . . . here’s what it was SUPPOSED to be . . .
American kids are so intelligent! Kids anywhere else wouldn’t get more than 37.
So I guess even my misteak leads to funny comments. I won’t request my misteaken post be removed, just ’cause Olivier made the best possible reply.
I turned 75 a few days ago, and have been responding to correspondents who noted the fact by musing that back in high school, “75” was usually the bare minimum passing score, so I can now claim to have finally cinched a “D-Minus” grade on my own life.
(I guess that means I won’t be held back and have to repeat it all over again next turn of the Wheel?)
Lesson Grade (%) Letter Equivalent Rating
90-100 A Excellent
80-89 B Good
70-79 C Average
65-69 D Passing
Below 65 F
Continued from above:
Below 65 F Failing
I meant to write: How things have changed; the bar has been lowered. Today, you [and I] would be average.
Hey 98.6!
Just remember, D’s get diplomas.
That’s great, Olivier. What other goods do you have to cels us?
MiB, or as my friend used to say, “You know what they call the guy who graduates last in med school? Doctor”
“The world is run by C students” . . . with my addendum: ‘If we’re lucky.”
Well, I just heard Former FLOTUS Michelle Obama use ‘decimate’ incorrectly, so I guess it’s generally accepted not to mean ‘every ten’.
I think we’ve established that a meaning outside of “one in ten” is not incorrect and hasn’t been for a long time.
I’m less interested in relitigating the correct usage of ‘decimate’ than I am intrigued by the idea that Michelle Obama is our standard for what’s “generally accepted.”
Actually, I was being sarcastic to that point.
Just ran across this passage in a Chicago NPR newsletter:
The news comes as the city’s finances have been decimated by the pandemic, resulting in a $800 million deficit in this year’s budget and a $1.2 billion shortfall in next year’s budget. Lightfoot is expected later this month to unveil her plan for closing the budget gap, and she has not ruled out rising property taxes and laying off city workers.
Andréa, if Michelle Obama isn’t going to be our standard, then who is?
make up your mind; either she is, or she isn’t.
Still beats “one of the only.” (And I suspect the McDonald’s burger company might at least try to argue about “most recognizable.”)
Yep. I argued earlier that “one of the best (or most)” was fine (unlike “one of the only”). So I would find the xkcd example annoying as unnecessary hedging, rather than grammatically wrong.
When I was a kid, there was a McDonalds on a boat in the Mississippi river by the Gateway Arch. Image search shows that it didn’t itself have large arches, though.
Whoever designed that arch was a very bad croquet player.
Same source, next day.
“Even before the pandemic decimated the city’s budget, Chicago faced huge financial challenges. “
So I guess it’s official: our budget will be 90% of what it was previously set at?
Even better than “one of the” is “arguably”.
“Arguably” is a word that literally means “not”.
“The Gateway Arch is arguably the most recognizable landmark in the United States.”
MiB, I agree that that’s what the word appears it should mean. But my handy dictionary says it actually means, “As can be shown by argument”.
Merriam-Webster says, in part:
“Used to say that a statement is very possibly true even if it is not certainly true.”
That being said, I’d guess the Washington Monument or Mount Rushmore would be the most recognizable, but the Gateway Arch would be right up there. As far as its shape, it’s a type of caternary curve.
I’d go for the ‘Statue de la Liberté’.
@ Brian in StL – Almost: it’s a catenary (only one R) curve, the same shape (but in the opposite direction) as a rope or chain hung from two supports.
I had looked up the spelling but somehow failed to get it in the message correctly.