So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Edward]

My fiancee has one of those. We'll be out somewhere doing whatever, a question will come up, and suddenly she turns into Dick Tracy. Speaking into her wristwatch: "Siri, who starred in (insert movie name here) in 2003?"

I gather research is now showing human memory isn't what it was now we have such ready access to information. Appropriately for this thread, what annoys me most about it all is that it's ruining pub quizzes - too many people just sitting googling the answers instead of relying on their knowledge, which is the fun of it. At least for trivia-sponges like me who never much excelled at anything else that was competitive...

 

[tonyb]

The kids have a phrase for it: "Main Character Syndrome," the idea that any one individual lives their life as the "main character" in their own personal video game, and all the rest of us are the generic Non-Playable Characters filling out the background.

A new name for a phenomenon as old as the species itself.

A fellow of some celebrity in circles I occasionally run in (our paths had crossed maybe half a dozen times) up and died here recently. The fond remembrances flowed freely for a few days, and rightly so, seeing how he was accomplished and a pretty big fish in that smallish pond. I was left to bite my tongue, because, 1.) I didn’t know the departed very well and I therefore had little of value to add, and, 2.) while we never had harsh words for each other he kind of annoyed me because he tended toward dominating conversations when he should have known that was my job.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I gather research is now showing human memory isn't what it was now we have such ready access to information. Appropriately for this thread, what annoys me most about it all is that it's ruining pub quizzes - too many people just sitting googling the answers instead of relying on their knowledge, which is the fun of it. At least for trivia-sponges like me who never much excelled at anything else that was competitive...

It's time to step things up and require essay-question answers at Trivia Night. Don't tell us what, tell us *why," which is usually a problem for grads of the University of Wikipedia.

 

[GHT]

"Main Character Syndrome". I like that, and it seems appropriate based on some of the behaviors I've observed. Thank you!

Main Character Syndrome did make me smile. Those sort are always headstrong, I might have said assertive, but that would be complimentary. They may have command of, or appear to have command of, today's technology, which invariably means the cell phone. However, without the use of auto-correct, ask that same character to spell definitely.

You have to forgive that wrongly spelt indefinitely in as much that when spoken there is a hint in the pronunciation that it might sound like the misspelling.

No such forgiveness here though. The omission of the letter 'P' makes the word look more like something disgusting that you could have trod in.

Let's all protest. English is America's only lanaguage! Only what? My spell checker just had a right royal hissy.

Americans don't have the monopoly on poor spelling. Our (look out spell checker) pedestrains have to be cautious about the site enterance.

In the UK we have a system known as self-certification when an employee goes sick. How many ways do you think there are to spell diarrhoea? I tell you, my managers and I used to have bets.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

I'm currently in Beijing, where it's the norm to use a phone app for *everything*. Even a Citizenship Card can be had in digital form; the Chinese don't carry wallets or cards or anything - all done on their phones,

If that just doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies. The PRC has such a splendid record of respecting the rights and privacy of its citizens. NOT!

 

[Edward]

If that just doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies. The PRC has such a splendid record of respecting the rights and privacy of its citizens. NOT!

The Personal Information Protection Law 2021 is one of the most extensive data protection laws in the world, though in the digital environment of course it's debatable what the limits to enforcement are. There are certainly a lot of places I'd be wwary of sending my personal data, both West and East from home. All else would be an ecumenical matter, so to speak.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

The Personal Information Protection Law 2021 is one of the most extensive data protection laws in the world... There are certainly a lot of places I'd be wwary of sending my personal data, both West and East from home. All else would be an ecumenical matter, so to speak.

The Sino/Slavic assault on western data source is given and stay safe at Starbucks.

 

[Zombie_61]

View attachment 616900
Let's all protest. English is America's only lanaguage! Only what? My spell checker just had a right royal hissy.

This is wrong on two or three levels, but even the average American wouldn't know why. Spelling aside, the United States of America does not have an official language for the simple reason that our Government has never chosen one. I've never found an exact reason for this, but I assume it's because America is known historically as a "melting pot" of people and cultures, so to choose one above all others might be seen as exclusionary (as if America hasn't done that before ).

 

[LizzieMaine]

To say nothing of the vast differences in regional dialects. I've known people from the Deep South whose accents I've found completely incomprehensible, and I'm someone who has actually *studied* dialects. And it goes both ways -- when my brother was in the Army, some of the Southern kids in his barracks couldn't understand a word he said.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

Alabama meets Brooklyn

 

[EngProf]

To say nothing of the vast differences in regional dialects. I've known people from the Deep South whose accents I've found completely incomprehensible, and I'm someone who has actually *studied* dialects. And it goes both ways -- when my brother was in the Army, some of the Southern kids in his barracks couldn't understand a word he said.

I'm from the Mid-South (not Deep South) and I have some difficulty understanding those from far-off Yankee-land.
I also have trouble with British accents in movies.

 

[EngProf]

I'm from the Mid-South (not Deep South) and I have some difficulty understanding those from far-off Yankee-land.
I also have trouble with British accents in movies.

I have been watching the Karen Read murder trial from near Boston, and I have to do an internal tape-delay translation to get it.
A witness will say "He pocked the cah." and after a few seconds I say to myself, "Oh, "He parked the car.""

 

[LizzieMaine]

Alabama meets Brooklyn

Even more fascinating from a dialectician's point of view is the very close intersection between classical Brooklynese and the New Orleans "Yat" dialect -- you listen to recordings of Louis Armstrong speaking and there are certain pronunciations he uses that would lead you to swear he came from Bensonhurst. The explanation, it seems, is that both dialects grow from the same profoundly-non-rhotic root, heavily influenced by various European, and especially Jewish, dialects.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

I also have trouble with British accents in movies.

I am of course deeply shocked at this revelation. Quite.

 

[ChrisB]

I am still deeply unsettled when I hear somebody come up behind me on the street talking a loud conversation into one of those idiotic Bluetooth earpieces, or whatever they are. Catching three or four second snatches of somebody's one-sided conversation about their proctologist is an experience I wish I could never have.

It used to be that when you heard someone talking to themself, you assumed they were crazy. Now you don’t know if they are crazy or if it is bluetooth, although the two are not mutually exclusive.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Are regional U.S. accents fading away? I’m concerned that they are being replaced by Hollywood English.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

I’m concerned that they are being replaced by Hollywood English.

Robin Waldun, an academic reader and YouTube channel Australian speaks a decidedly
American accent, definitely not ''Stral,'' hell no.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

Are regional U.S. accents fading away? I’m concerned that they are being replaced by Hollywood English.

Probably only among what the British would call "posh". I don't think it has caught on among the people working for hourly wages.

 

[GHT]

Posh, the perfect acronym for the rich, privileged types. When they went on their cruises they liked the sun on their side of the ship so two cabins were booked. Outbound saw them on the port side. coming back they changed to the opposite side. Hence: Port Out. Starboard Home.

 

[rogueclimber]

Posh, the perfect acronym for the rich, privileged types. When they went on their cruises they liked the sun on their side of the ship so two cabins were booked. Outbound saw them on the port side. coming back they changed to the opposite side. Hence: Port Out. Starboard Home.

Though, as with many origin stories, there are those that doubt

https://www.merriam-webster.com/help/faq-posh