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Also, the fact that the author's name is Jonathan Thomas is just too good to pass up.

... We need to know at what speeds the motion detection fails, lest the server room be broken into by someone with alot of patience.

But not if they have just alittle patience? Wait, that doesn't look right...

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/alot

Thanks for that.

I was actually quoting from Commando comics (http://www.commandomag.com/) in which the Germans refer to the british as britishers; but of course that is probably the author trying to put german accent on the germans speaking english.

And thanks to your comment I learn even more:
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Britisher

Britisher is currently rumoured to originate in India!

Nexus-6 is in the dictionary?

nexus six

Nexus-6 is in the dictionary?

nexus six

The card users' rage was effected by the bug, not the cards themselves.

from http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/widget

Blend of window and gadget, coined by George S. Kaufman in his play Beggar on Horseback (1924).

'Irregardless' is a double negative and is thusly illogical by construction

Thusly is not a word either. Thus is already an anderb, so adding the "ly" suffix to the end doesn't make sense.

Sesquipedalian: polysyballic esoteric terminology

Informed? I have a few words for you: Confusopoly. Shrink wrap contract. "Doubt is our product."

That's right, these businesses are actively trying to prevent us from informing ourselves, sowing confusion. When called to account, they often try to weasel out with disclaimers about no real harm having been done, that they didn't intend to keep people in the dark, that it was all an innocent mistake. Inexcusable, and very evil. Be careful about implying it's all the customer's fault with that "won't" assertion you made.

Both work

I, at least, prefer reducing the sheer number of irregular verbs out there.

That is proper grammar. "Military" may be plural or singular.

If you went to the main entry, you’d see:

co-operate (UK), coöperate (uncommon)

The wiki only says it can be spelled with the diaeresis. Note that the first time they spell it in that very sentence, it’s spelled without hyphenation and without the diaeresis:

For example the first two vowels in the word cooperate can be spelt co-operate or, using the diæresis, coöperate.

So yeah, apparently it’s not incorrect to spell it with a diaeresis. However, it’s not the preferred spelling.

That second link is this but Slashdot fucked it up as usual.

Google reckons you're wrong. And Wiktionary reckons it has the diaeresis, or at least is not wrong to have it (not like we trust anything from Wikimedia, of course).

I'd check Oxford too (I trust them more than Webster) but apparently they charge for access to it.

In all fairness, it’s not really incorrect to spell it with the diaeresis. It’s just archaic and unnecessary.

From your own link,

For example the first two vowels in the word cooperate can be spelt co-operate or, using the diæresis, coöperate.

Note that they initially spelled it without the hyphen or the diaeresis. They then said it can (not should) be spelled with either the hyphen or diaeresis.

Furthermore...

cooperate

Alternative spellings
  co-operate (UK), coöperate (uncommon)

It seems no one yet mentioned Wiktionary.org. Over 1 536 000 + in French, a similar number in English. While there's obvious room for improvement, it's generally usable and often useful.

So here's my question, why does Google dives into a new initiative instead of jumping on existing trains? I guess the answers has something to do with control. Google wants to keep the control (which is understandable and not necessarily a bad thing). This Wiktionary-Google Dictionary is not the only example, Google Map Maker and OpenStreetMap.org is another one (both crowdsourcing map data, and yes, OSM was there much before).

taboo (plural taboos)
1. An inhibition or ban that results from social custom or emotional aversion.

Taboo != "bad idea"

Example: In some families, it is taboo to discuss sex. Why? There is no logical reason for this, it is only because social custom dictates that one not talk about their sexuality openly and this often leads people to having a negative emotional response to even thinking about that.

In both of your examples, there are clear and well-known reasons not to engage in either eating raw pork or incest.

When viewed from the "taboo as social custom" standpoint, I'm inclined to agree with FatSean. If the only reason you have for supporting a position is "that's the way it's always been done," then it's probably not the right position. At the very least, you're going to be hard pressed to show "tradition" as hard, logical evidence.

Of course, I'm not discounting that I might be a moron who can't spell, but it could just be one of the differences in the language.

It's actually the former. Sorry, truth hurts.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lead

opus dei (a chatolic sect wholly approved by pope ratzinger)

"Characteristic of or pertaining to being boring or flat"? Well, you nailed that one all right!
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chato
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-lic

opus dei (a chatolic sect wholly approved by pope ratzinger)

"Characteristic of or pertaining to being boring or flat"? Well, you nailed that one all right!
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chato
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-lic

The etymology of the word "crusade" arises from the word "cross", so on that basis alone I don't know if the term "Muslim crusade" makes much sense. Perhaps there's a different term you'd like to use?

(NB: Some reference material for those so inclined -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam#History)

Cheers,

I think people with a low viscosity would be frightening.

(Today's "look it up" word is: foment)

There are other important reasons for anonymous speech: I am more than willing to stand behind what I'm writing here, but I want you to answer me here, based on my arguments in the current context, instead of taking my arguments out of context and using them to discredit me that way. I also do not want to be reduced to my current point of view. Published information is archived everywhere, but the mode of communication on message boards is more like oral conversation. I might express opinions that I revise, even as a consequence of the discussion, but a search engine will always bring back my old opinion.

I'd think any true geek out there would appreciate the mechanical complexity of a quality watch (read: not quartz).

I do. They are amazing bits of engineering and manufacturing prowess. It does not logically follow though that I want to wear a wristwatch because of that admiration.

I have a few watches for the rare occasions when I actually need to carry a watch. Ordinarily I find a wristwatch more annoying than useful, so most of the time they are in a drawer somewhere.

A Rolex is a rather accurate and reliable pretentiousness detector.

I agree with your pluralization, but think dei is OK too http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/deus

So let's try what you actually claimed as a quote.

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=%22will+pwn+Microsoft+in+the+next+few+years,+just+you+see!%22&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Nope, not a single match.

Well no shit, you obviously don't understand the concept of humor when I was writing every in a dumbed down English. Obviously you're not going to get a match when the entire sentence is dumbed down like that. Are you trying to be a smart ass (yes, I'm linking this, because I get the feeling you're going to try to twist the meaning of my words again)?

What you wrote was just a lazy start to a straw man argument.

I don't see it as such, I have seen it plenty of times on Slashdot and elsewhere from many individuals, infact if I look at the link I gave, going through the pages, I already found quite a few.

If you are speaking Latin, the plural of campus is campi. If you are speaking English, it's campuses.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/campus
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Plural_of_campus
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/campi
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-151248.html
http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-cobuild/campus

Both are valid. Campuses is standard, campi is not.

*shrugs*

If you are speaking Latin, the plural of campus is campi. If you are speaking English, it's campuses.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/campus
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Plural_of_campus
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/campi
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-151248.html
http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-cobuild/campus

Both are valid. Campuses is standard, campi is not.

*shrugs*

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/American

Get off of your high horse.

The bad news is that artificial intelligence has yet to fully deliver on its promises.

Only idiots, marketers, businessmen and outsiders ever thought we would be completely replaced by artificially intelligent machines. The people actually putting artificial intelligence into practice knew that AI, like so many other things, would benefit us in small steps. So many forms of automation are technically basic artificial intelligence, it's just very simple artificial intelligence. While you might want to argue that the things we benefit from are heuristics, statistics and messes of if/then decision trees, successful AI is nothing more than that. Everyone reading this enjoys benefits of AI but you probably don't know it. For instance, your hand written mail is most likely read by a machine that uses optical character recognition to decide where it goes with a pretty good success rate and confidence factor to fail over to humans. Recommendation systems are often based on AI algorithms. I mean, the article even says this:

The ability of your bank's financial software to detect potentially fraudulent activity on your accounts or alter your credit score when you miss a mortgage payment are just two of many common examples of AI at work, says Mow. Speech and handwriting recognition, business process management, data mining, and medical diagnostics -- they all owe a debt to AI.

Having taken several courses on AI, I never found a contributor to the field that promised it to be the silver bullet -- or even remotely comparable to the human mind. I don't ever recall reading anything other than fiction claiming that humans would soon be replaced completely by thinking machines.

In short, I don't think it's fair to put it in this list as it has had success. It's easy to dismiss AI if the only person you hear talking about it is the cult-like Ray Kurzweil but I assure you the field is a valid one (unlike CASE or ERP). In short, AI will never die because the list of applications -- though small -- slowly but surely grows. It has not gone 'bunk' (whatever the hell that means). You can say expert systems have failed to keep their promises but not AI on the whole. The only thing that's left a sour taste in your mouth is salesmen and businessmen promising you something they simply cannot deliver on. And that's nothing new nor anything specific to AI.

How about if we just say it's, "difficult to learn". The phrase is more clear, less pretentious, and less cliché.

There's nothing inherently wrong with your request. It's just that it's not going to happen.

Language evolves and what sounds imprecise, pretentious or cliché to you now, can become standard usage tomorrow. There's little that any of us can do about that.

And speaking of cliché, please keep your pulpy mass out of the discussion. I find it confusing and pretentious. Just say it's over-used. ... or don't.

adsorption (plural adsorptions) The process by which a liquid or gas adsorbate is adsorbed by an adsorbent, forming a film on the adsorbent's surface.

You missed the part of the definition that would have helped you:

Etymology
adsorb + -ion

Try looking up the root (adsorb). I've added in the link to the root for you above, just as they do on wiktionary.

Don't hate wiktionary. Hate not knowing how to use a dictionary instead.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/irregardless

Methinks you don't understand what "exclusive" means.

It doesn't mean "nobody else is doing it".

It means "nobody else is is *allowed* to do it" (examine the root "exclude")

Technically, it's not a semantic flame, it's a lack of understanding on your part flame. There's this thing called sarcasm. Until you understand that things can mean the opposite of what you would expect, this will baffle you.

Just to help you out: Little John was the largest of the Merry Men, Fat chance means hardly any chance at all, and you speak English very well...

Come on people... there is no such word as noone It's 'no one' !!

You'd think all the literate people on this blog would eventually call people who do this...

Oh, that's right, Slashdot... grammer doesn't count, drivel does.

noone - Wiktionary

or

noone from Merriam-Webster dictionary

word natzy

HP servers running Unix. Hitachi SAN. Oracle RAC. Java.

To this stable solution add one MCSE engineer. WARNING : Solution may be hypergolic.

2) http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/box : you are only allowed to use 'boxen' in a whimsical fashion!

That's so true, have you ever tried to herd boxen? More stubborn than mules I tell you. If they get a mind to they will literally sit in one place for weeks without going anywhere, no matter how hard you poke and prod them.

1) Thankyou, that was the whole point. I do still have a bike, a really expensive one, it still has the little box in it, it is still very effectively protected by obscurity.

Although obviously I'll be sitting by it all night now armed with a LART waiting for the hoards of Slashdot-reading, identity cracking, angle-grinder and van equipped slashdot criminals to arrive.

2) http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/box : you are only allowed to use 'boxen' in a whimsical fashion!

I was looking for a serious response. Here are some great definitions of sexism: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sexism

Which one do you think applies the most to the statement you quoted?

Hypotheses. FTFY.

No. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hypo-

Can we stop misspelling the word hypocrisy please? Thanks.

I can't find that word in the dictionary.

You are using a shitty dictionary. Try wiktionary.

I challenge you to look up the definitions of words.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/amoral

Adjective

amoral (comparative more amoral, superlative most amoral)

Positive
amoral

Comparative
more amoral

Superlative
most amoral

      1. (of acts) being neither moral nor immoral
      2. (of people) not believing in or caring for morality and immorality

In more than a few languages, actually - certainly in all Slavic languages.

'By openly flaunting the call-blocking prohibition that applies to its competitors, Google is acting in a manner inconsistent with the spirit, if not the letter, of the FCC's fourth principle contained in its Internet Policy Statement,' Robert Quinn, AT&T's senior vice president focusing on federal regulation,

The word is "flout", which means

1. To express contempt for the rules by word or action.
2. To scorn.
    "They flouted the conventions and were asked to leave."

Not "flaunt"

1. (transitive) To parade, display with ostentation.
    "She's always flaunting her designer clothes."
2. (intransitive) (archaic or literary) To show off with flashy clothing.

AT&T flaunts its hypocrisy by flouting not only Net Neutrality rules and principles, but also by ignoring the rules of using words correctly. Triple hypocrisy word score! AT&T wins again!

'By openly flaunting the call-blocking prohibition that applies to its competitors, Google is acting in a manner inconsistent with the spirit, if not the letter, of the FCC's fourth principle contained in its Internet Policy Statement,' Robert Quinn, AT&T's senior vice president focusing on federal regulation,

The word is "flout", which means

1. To express contempt for the rules by word or action.
2. To scorn.
    "They flouted the conventions and were asked to leave."

Not "flaunt"

1. (transitive) To parade, display with ostentation.
    "She's always flaunting her designer clothes."
2. (intransitive) (archaic or literary) To show off with flashy clothing.

AT&T flaunts its hypocrisy by flouting not only Net Neutrality rules and principles, but also by ignoring the rules of using words correctly. Triple hypocrisy word score! AT&T wins again!

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/taint
Seems to think the "to soil" meaning came first, independent of the slang meaning referring to your perineum.