The only thing missing from this ramble was some fist-shaking exhortation to ‘get off my lawn.’ I’m a dedicated skeptic, but sheesh.

That’s because the word “you” can be either singular or plural, and if you want to speak to a group of people, you want to be clear that you are addressing the group and not a singular individual. So the word “you” gets modified by these other words like “all” or “guys.” Consider it a minor defect of the English language that gets addressed in the vernacular in a not very elegant way.

The plural of “you guys” is “you guyses”. You’ll also hear “your guys’s” as in “How’s your guys’s food?”

The simple word “you” or “your” is sufficient.

Tell me about it. For a little while I went out of my way to use it correctly, and all it ever did was confuse people and derail whatever discussion I was in.

I’ll just note, when I asked my 81 year old father how he was feeling, he said,”I’m old. I ache. I can’t pee and a good bowel movement is highly unusual. How the heck do you THINK I feel?”

Taking that into account, complaintitudessness would seem to be an understandable attribute of the aged.
Now, get those cranky kids off my old lawn,,,

Gary 7

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4632991n

In “Julius Caesar,” Act 3, scene 2, Antony COULD have made his point by simply saying:
“This was the unkindest cut”
or he could have used a redundancy by saying:
“This was the unkindest cut of all”
but instead Shakespeare adds a further redundancy for Antony, to give him rhythm and emphasis:
“This was the most unkindest cut of all.”

From what I gather, the JREF was much bolder and more effective when Randi was in charge, and I wish Phil Plait would stop focusing so much on the internet and start focusing about politics and policy-making, which are much greater influences on a much greater number of people.

I have to agree with some of the other commentators. This is not the way to attract a younger audience IMO. Grumpy old Randi rabbiting on and on like a bad George Carlin/Andy Rooney impression. I like Randi and have respect for his achievements, its just that I was somewhat disappointed after watching it. I thought Phil would be more progressive when it comes to these things.

I still respect the man, of course, and I hope that finds his groove with the videos.

Randi will be in Vancouver at UBC on January 26th and I will be right there.

My modest contribution to the cause consists of responding to “oh my god” by saying “Yes?”

Anyway, fighting the ebb and flow of language is like punching and kicking at the tides, but not as much fun and probably less productive. It strikes me as being cranky.

I find that rather charming.

JC

More randi videos light up my day. I recently introduced one of my friends to his work, she’s overenjoyed. Yet another Randi fan!

Don’t even start me on “organic” foods…

I dunno… I see some things on the grocery store shelves that seem as far removed from “organic” as chunk of aluminum ore. Especially in the children’s cereal section.

Now now Quiet Desperation. Most of those ‘cereals’ require the input of huge amounts of petroleum products. And as any geochemist can tell you, petroleum is organic, and it comes from the earth.