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The DS game isn't just called Animal Crossing (for Nintendo DS). It's Animal Crossing Wild World. By including the name on the hanging plank in the title of the DS game, Nintendo established a tendency toward a retronym for the GameCube game. Also compare the maximum population of a GameCube town (15) to that of a DS town (8), and compare Sega's renaming of the original Sonic the Hedgehog (for Mega Drive) to Sonic the Hedgehog: Genesis (the origin, start, or point at which something comes into being) for its GBA release to avoid confusion with Sonic the Hedgehog (for Xbox 360).

But that's neither here nor there. The point is that the GameCube games in the AC, Sims, and Harvest Moon franchises all run on Wii (with a GameCube controller), and new Sims and AC titles made specifically for Wii are due in 2007.

Judging by the slashdotters I know, most people on slashdot live like animals.

According to m-w.com, frigging is a word, coming from the Middle English word fryggen (to wiggle).

In that case, I'll see your m-w.com and raise you the Wiktionary (which presumably the GP would claim is also not a word.)

My point is that non-standard, rare, odd, and simply weird neologisms should all be treated by the same standard. "Virii" and "frigging" are outliers for different reasons, but it seems to me both churlish and inconsistent to condemn one of them to nonwordhood while keeping the other.

Ad homonym attacks are counterproductive

eye think ewe have heired.

-Ted

Only a dumbass would think that that joke was funny, jackass.

Only a dumbass would think that that joke was funny, jackass.

An example of this is Japanese's curious, and depreciated, half-width and full-width alpha-numeric characters.

How do you calculate the monetary value of characters? I didn't know they could depreciate.

Or did you mean to say they are deprecated?

maroon (plural maroons)

1. An escaped negro slave of the Caribbean and the Americas or a descendent of escaped slaves.
2. A castaway; a person who has been marooned.

According do wikitionary, it's pronounced "et setera" (of course, this is the anglicized pronunciation). Anyway, I believe the Latin pronunciation was the same, for it is the same in my language too (Portuguese - one of the Vulgar Latin descendants). I'm not sure about French, Spanish and Italian, but they should provide a good clue for the original pronunciation.

As for your "Greek-to-Latin" method, I guess this is a bad example. We know "Caesar" sounded like current-German "Kaiser", but this doesn't mean all Latin "C" sounds like "K". I think it depended on the next vowel, as it does in most current romance languages: "ca", "co" and "cu" sound like "kah", "kow" and "koo", respectively; "ce" and "ci" sound like "se" and "see". Therefore, "et cetera" (it wasn't spelled "et cætera" as you propose), would sound like "et setera", not "et ketera".

Of course, IANAALS (I am not an ancient latin speaker), but I googled a bit and http://www.utexas.edu/courses/cc303/sounds/">found this. I didn't read, so it may disprove my point, but anyway

I think this explains it pretty well:

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

The verb is whacked.

So that's why it's not there!

If it was going to be shit, then it would be spelled "Spoor".

Spoor: spoor (plural spoor or spoors) 1. The track, trail or droppings of an animal

-Don

Your choice. Trouble is, that "someone else" is not doing the same thing we're doing. Most people aren't satisfied with the "more reliable, and faster" competition, because it doesn't do what they want or need.

Um... look at it. It's not like we're discussing deep system internals here, it's a GUI.

All of the GNU utilities are 100% compatible drop-in replacements for UNIX utilities. They may not be the same code. They may not have used any of that code. But for all intents and purposes, they are identical to the UNIX utilities. The average user can't tell the difference. Did they build from the code? No. They built from the specification. But in the end, what exactly is the difference?

Yes, which is why GNU was certainly not written for Linux. It was written for UNIX.

There wasn't any 16-bit code *in* UNIX.

American Dental Association...
Americans for Democratic Action...
Assistant District Attorney...
American Diabetes Association...

which of them [1] are you sick off?

I personaly am sick of people who don't know that a "A female given name."[2] is not spelled all upper case.

Martin

[1] http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ADA
[2] http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Ada

American Dental Association...
Americans for Democratic Action...
Assistant District Attorney...
American Diabetes Association...

which of them [1] are you sick off?

I personaly am sick of people who don't know that a "A female given name."[2] is not spelled all upper case.

Martin

[1] http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ADA
[2] http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Ada

BTW, previews do not count as commercials, at least not in a cinema.

commercial - n. 1. An advertisement in a common media format, usually television.

Anyone can hack into your brain right this day. It can take the form of social engineering, indoctrination, culture, advertisement. People are constantly trying to break into your mind and place ideas there with the explicit intent of "programming you" to do something they want you to do, and I'd wager that's a more real concern that some physical tampering. Heck, I am doing it now by introducing this idea that wasn't there before. Are you aware of the the things you "know"? Do you have any idea of how much of that "knowledge" is belief rather than fact? (you don't need to answer me, these are rhetorical questions).

On the other hand, since we are speculating about something not even remotely feasible for the foreseeable next 10 to 20 years (this is one of my beliefs, not a fact) I'd bet that any wetware interfaces would have to be regulated under the same category that critical systems are. One would not, and legally can't use plain vanilla Linux, Windows or OSX for certain applications where the failure to operate properly may result in injuries or loss of human life, such as in some medical and military settings. One needs specially certified systems, so in all likelihood any computational devices that they placed in your brain should operate under those standards and not under shrink-wrap commercial software with guarantees that disclaim suitability for any particular purpose.

You can go and get elective surgery like lasik at discount prices (I did!) but even then they have to perform very thorough studies lest you walk out blind. And you should strive to get informed when undergoing any such process, which are fundamentally different from purchasing consumer electronics (which you should also ideally research at least a little, but if you blow it buying a cheap Chinese knock-off gadget, the most you usually stand to lose is money [and even Brand companies sell exploding batteries sometimes, don't they?]).

Remeber kids, [meme]You don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate for[/meme]. So it stands to reason that anyone considering stuffing electronics and software inside their skulls should research the risks it entails, and to protect the Darwin Award would-be-candidates from themselves there would be medical regulations in place at least similar to those that exist for other elective surgery procedures. And that's assuming it would ever attain the status of elective. I think that the world is drifting towards 1984 rather than Neuromancer, so extrapolating from where we stand now it seems unlikely that anyone could purchase brain implants in back alley shops that wouldn't be regulated leaving them exposed to unauthorized tampering.

Anyone can hack into your brain right this day. It can take the form of social engineering, indoctrination, culture, advertisement. People are constantly trying to break into your mind and place ideas there with the explicit intent of "programming you" to do something they want you to do, and I'd wager that's a more real concern that some physical tampering. Heck, I am doing it now by introducing this idea that wasn't there before. Are you aware of the the things you "know"? Do you have any idea of how much of that "knowledge" is belief rather than fact? (you don't need to answer me, these are rhetorical questions).

On the other hand, since we are speculating about something not even remotely feasible for the foreseeable next 10 to 20 years (this is one of my beliefs, not a fact) I'd bet that any wetware interfaces would have to be regulated under the same category that critical systems are. One would not, and legally can't use plain vanilla Linux, Windows or OSX for certain applications where the failure to operate properly may result in injuries or loss of human life, such as in some medical and military settings. One needs specially certified systems, so in all likelihood any computational devices that they placed in your brain should operate under those standards and not under shrink-wrap commercial software with guarantees that disclaim suitability for any particular purpose.

You can go and get elective surgery like lasik at discount prices (I did!) but even then they have to perform very thorough studies lest you walk out blind. And you should strive to get informed when undergoing any such process, which are fundamentally different from purchasing consumer electronics (which you should also ideally research at least a little, but if you blow it buying a cheap Chinese knock-off gadget, the most you usually stand to lose is money [and even Brand companies sell exploding batteries sometimes, don't they?]).

Remeber kids, [meme]You don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate for[/meme]. So it stands to reason that anyone considering stuffing electronics and software inside their skulls should research the risks it entails, and to protect the Darwin Award would-be-candidates from themselves there would be medical regulations in place at least similar to those that exist for other elective surgery procedures. And that's assuming it would ever attain the status of elective. I think that the world is drifting towards 1984 rather than Neuromancer, so extrapolating from where we stand now it seems unlikely that anyone could purchase brain implants in back alley shops that wouldn't be regulated leaving them exposed to unauthorized tampering.

But etcetera is one word. Confusion!

Correlation, causation, etcetera.

May I submit http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/irony

The "unexpected" part is that it was supposed to be kept under wraps until it was ready. Were you expecting to hear about this site before the /. article? No? I wasn't expecting to hear about it either. So its leak was unexpected.

Were you amused by it being leaked? I was. I thought it was very amusing.

QED.

For those of you Slashdotters wondering, the term "blag" means "to obtain for free, particularly by guile or persuasion." It is, unfortunately, not a clever reference to xkcd, nor is it a subtly satirical commentary on today's wired-together yet disconnected, hermitic, and egocentric blogging-obsessed youth. Oh well.

Yes, "defence" is an odd Canadian spelling of "defense," if by that, you mean "is defense an odd American spelling of 'defence'?"

Defence-with-a-c is far more common worldwide and precedes the usage of defense-with-an-s.

Yes, "defence" is an odd Canadian spelling of "defense," if by that, you mean "is defense an odd American spelling of 'defence'?"

Defence-with-a-c is far more common worldwide and precedes the usage of defense-with-an-s.

by spam slang, do you mean stuff like V1AGRA or V14GR4 or V1I1A1G1R1A?
If so, I'm pretty sure thats a pattern recognition problem.
As long as the AI knew what the correct spelling for viagra,it would be able to recognise the characters of the word viagra in V1I1A1G1R1A.
Also you could train an AI to recognise 1 as I or L so that when the text V14GRA appears, it knows what viagra is, and realises it looks like V14GR4 so it raises the probability of the text being spam.

More abstract phrases would be harder to classify, but there is a link to slang words for stuff like http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wikisaurus:penis#Eng lish

so stuff like "got wood?" etc could in theory be classified.

Squinting your eyes also works.

Well, I am brazilian and I think that what they did was included on the definition of "make out". :)

Then I've found that according to Wiktionary, it means "To kiss or to make love".

That's an ambiguous definition.

fag (plural: fags)
(UK, Aus/UK slang) A cigarette.
(UK slang) A chore; an arduous and timesome task.
[...]

You do know that I was joking, right? :)

(1) if the RIAA companies never ceded the right to contract their copyrights to this orginization, will U.S. courts respect the establishment of a foreign orginization given that power by law?

Go look up the definition of sovereignty. US law does not apply to Russia by definition, and the RIAA doesn't have a damn thing to stand on.

(2) Even if that organiziation has the power to order such sales in Russia what effect if any does that have on sales conducted with U.S. citizens in the United States?

The liability is on the U.S. citizens, not AllOfMP3.

3) To what degree does AllofMp3 conduct business within the United States, and what effect does that have on the agreement AllofMP3 made with the Russian copyright group?

No extent whatsoever.

Although it may not relate to your quote, you may be interested to know that wherefore means why .

I think "Gambit" is a mutant. Or at least a mutation of the English language.

Not sure what you're talking about here (mutant), GP is correct.

A gambit is a chess opening with at least one pawn sacrifice. There are other meanings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambit_(disambiguati on)) that usually refer to the one taken from chess.
The word is derived from "dare il gambetto" (although my Italian colleague says it should be "fare.."), which means "to trip someone up".

"Runs the gamut" would have been the correct phrase, "gamut" meaning "complete range": http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gamut

You're wrong. Blimp was probably named for the noise it makes when you strike it. Take a look here

Hydrogen is not an alternative fuel.

Yes, it is. You mean it's not an alternative energy source.

I think you just mistyped but the inability to make a distinction between an energy source and a way to store energy or, a fuel, makes alternative energy debate in the media and with joe voter almost impossible and it's one of my pet peeves.

Too, not two. They're different words.

Too, not two. They're different words.

We just need to go to a better authority:

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

(which strikes me as actually being wrong...)

I hadn't ever really looked at wiktionary before, but the synonym as definition of synonym stuff is a poor idea.

When you buy that CDROM drive, you have paid a licencing fee. Without paying that licencing fee, you can't listen to your CD.

Yes. And with that CDROM drive I can do what the hell I like with it. For example - I can install it in my own music playing device, or I could disassemble it or modify it - whatever.

With a DRM system that is usually not an option - the licence will restrict what I can do with the decoder, and the EUCD makes it illegal for me to reverse engineer it.

choosing not to buy a product is not really "boycotting"

I suggest you look up the meaning of the word.
boycott To abstain,either as an individual or group, from using, buying, or dealing with someone or some organisation as an expression of protest or as a means of coercion.

Excellent post!

I could not have said it better... with one small exeception:

I believe that in the third-from-last line you may have meant "remuneration"
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/remuneration

- The Pedantic One

Odd... my AC "CAPCHA" code is 'abstruse'

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/planet Really, was that so hard?

Lets see now.. democratically deciding a definition? hmm...

""To the extent that the term 'electronic mail' is not sufficiently defined by the statute, we interpret it as including both email and instant message communications sent to a specific individual." But what was her basis for saying that "electronic mail" was not sufficiently defined in the first place? "

You ask what her basis was? The fact that only the words "electronic" and "mail" were used. There was no mention of RFCs, no mention of SMTP or POP3 or anything of the kind. All that was received from the legislature was that there is something that somehow resembles "mail," differing from regular mail in that it is "electronic." The phrase may heavily imply to you that the law must only apply to SMTP, etc, however the courts are constitutionally bound to go with what the legislature tells them to work with.

Since they're only given the noun "mail" and the adjective "electronic," it is proper to include forms of written correspondance, resembling "mail," that is sent from one point to the other "electronically," regardless of the protocols that are used.

We have a hard enough time keeping track of acronyms around here (ISA? DDR?), the best you and I have to go with is context. But the only context the courts are allowed to go by, constitutionally, is the context the state legislature has provided them in writing the laws. This is the "rule of law" you claim to be arguing in favor of.

"However, she could have taken a stand in favor of the rule of law, by saying that Simmons clearly didn't violate the law against transmitting harmful to minors material by e-mail, "

You're not arguing in favor of the rule of law, though. You're arguing in favor of the rule of law as amended by tech geek lingo, demanding that "electronic mail" be defined as you understand it rather than as the legislature understood it. Further, you are attempting to change the definition of "electronic" in "electronic mail" to mean something more limiting than what is commonly accepted, on the basis of what can only be described as slang.

republic (plural republics)

1. A state where sovereignty rests with the people or their representatives, rather than with a monarch or emperor; a country with no monarchy.

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

I think you mean smartass.

• Search in wikipedia: http://www.google.com/search?q=%25s+site:en.wikipe dia.org
• Go to wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%25s
• Go to wiktionary: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%25s

I have no idea what they teach in red states. I live in Northern California.

However, I don't think you can point to any of bin Laden's statements as an endorsement of George Bush. Construing the release of his October 2004 statement as an attempt to influence the election in his favor is, at best, conjecture - and even if true, would not have comprised an endorsement, per se.

Last but not least, I don't think your patronizing and insulting tone is appropriate, and it discredits you in this discussion.

I guess a dictionary would be an authoritative reference, huh?

Even a Wiktionary would be an authoritative reference.

The best part was when the little boy cried out "But the Emperor has nothing at all on!" OOPS sorry I read the wrong article! I was wondering where that Malarkey guy went too.

I liked your idea and it made me wonder if something like that doesn't already exit. Quick search led me to this website:

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

"Welcome to the English-language Wiktionary, a collaborative project to produce a free, multilingual dictionary with definitions, etymologies, pronunciations, sample quotations, synonyms, antonyms and translations. Wiktionary is the lexical companion to the open-content encyclopedia Wikipedia. In this English edition, started on December 12, 2002, we currently have 296,178 entries in 124 languages."

Looks good I'd say! :)

Hmm, this would also be a wonderful way to preserve languages which are about to become extinct. Too bad that those languages are often spoken in areas with little to no internet connectivity...