Local Unmentionables: Notes on YOUR corner of the world

dpbd: oops, went waaay too far into parlor or PP.

In other news: any last-minute tips for taking my iPhone to Finland? Worst case, I was thinking I'd just use it only on Wifi for data, while getting a local cheapo phone.

Anything I should know about power adapters? Anything I need other than prong adapters?

ddt

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ddt
Anything I need other than prong adapters?

Nope, once you're compatible with the local reindeer, you're set.

Okay, thanks.

Wait -- how many dates before I should expect to know if we're compatible or not?

ddt

I expect that you'll find out after a good pronging.

Remember to take plenty of extra vowels...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/30/2011 02:24AM by Ron Burns.

Thanks for the tip, Ron. Though I might start a trade zone between Helsinki and Honolulu.

ddt

Daniel, for your Macbook you can buy these things: http://www.amazon.com/Apple-compatible-Interchange-Adapter-Plug-European/dp/B001CC215M But the reviews aren't great, although I've yet run into an issue.

As for the iPhone, just buy a cheapish USB charger once you're in Finland.

Worked my tail off today. Could not sleep worth a darn. 1:30 am started updating two Macs that I've hesitated to updated. Everything went swimmingly.

Waited for daylight and go out and pruned/trimmed a tree that has been let go/overgrown. Got two new, cheap ($20) chairs for front porch. Cleaned, and vacuumed the bugs out of the light fixtures outside. Torn-down an old bench for the trash.

Hmm. Sounds less impressive when written down.

Lay off the trucker speed, Bill.

Just call him Speedball Tucker

ugh. last night was worse. What SPEED should I lay ON, then, if not my TRUCKER SPEED? :)
Actually, I have cut way back on all my meds. I think they were messing me up, and the desired outcome (gaining weight) has not happened in 2.5 years, so I see no reason to keep spending. I can put the money towards sprucing up the Turrets thread, maybe? :)

You could try this...

I was discussing linguistic phenomena with one of my daughters, and we started talking about referring to people as "dude" or "man." As in the phrase,

"Hey, man, what time is it?" vs. "Hey, dude, what time is it?"

My theory is that "man" was a holdover from the sixties, or even earlier, and was falling into disuse. Its successor was "dude." (When I was a kid, a "dude" was just a wanna-be cowboy who went to a horse-riding camp for the summer.) My daughter, who is much more plugged into today's speech patterns, told me that some of her peers used one word in preference to the other, or both interchangeably. She thought that "dude" was more general, though.

Perhaps "man" is used more as an expression of exasperation or emphasis ("Oh, man, I'm late!" or "Man, I'm tired.") than as a form of address. Has this changed over time?

Any thoughts? (Let's leave "my nizzle" out of this particular consideration.)

Feel free to ignore this if you like, man.

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John Willoughby
Feel free to ignore this if you like, man.

Man, that's, like, a totally different discussion, dude.

Somewhat more seriously, it's interesting to me that it hasn't moved into something else entirely at this point. IIRC, 'dude' moved more into the general lexicon (post-cowboy-wannabe) with the surfer culture, late 70's, early 80's (as exemplified by Fast Times at Ridgemont High). 30 years for that and 40-50 years? for 'man' as a mode of address, and still prominent. Wow. Of course there are 'dawg', 'homs' (short for homie?), 'bro', the even worse 'brah',...

The evolution of language is highly entertaining.

Not to mention the use of "bitches", even for male or mixed groups.

[EDIT]

I just saw a Russian website, where the author postulated that English-speakers use terms like this as a substitute for the familiar pronouns English has deprecated and the verb conjugations that implied them. ("Thou hast seriously weirded me out, dude!") Interesting.

Oh, and I put this in local unmentionables because I thought that there might be regional factors at play.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/2011 02:40PM by John Willoughby.

Well, you don't call someone "dawg" as a term of endearment downunder.

Dog means the opposite, something low and despicable - "that's a dog act" or it can imply snitching ie "you don't dog on your mates"

YMMV (mate)

That would explain Randy Jackson's near-lynching in Perth...

I can't stand the use of dude.
I only recently began calling people (other men) MAN. Like, "Thanks, man!"
I usually just say sir. In today's world, I personally feel that SIR acknowledges that we are indeed properly behaved men, and not women, and that should be reflected in our interactions.

I have to admit I use both liberally. I picked up 'dude' from a high school friend who used it exclusively, and now I guess it's something I use to indicate an unserious comraderie to someone to put them at ease. I will use either with my wife, even, when I'm appreciating her as my best friend.

Dude, if you think West End, inner-city Brisbane is "racist" don't ever do a show in Townsville...

(West End is pretty much the open-minded, Bohemian hippie-central of Brisbane)

I guess if he'd done the show in my suburb (New Farm) he'd be saying Brisbane is "gay as f**k" ...