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Let's play a forum game.
2013-10-14, 5:21 AM #201
Originally posted by Jon`C:
You know you're not smart, right?


Best evidenced by me wasting my time bothering to talk to you. :) TROLL DISMISSED. Thanks for the assist.

Peace & love.
幻術
2013-10-14, 5:22 AM #202
Also, the way you use emoticons is terrible. The way you use images in your posts is worse.
>>untie shoes
2013-10-14, 5:25 AM #203
Originally posted by Koobie:
Re: authority, I'm talking about writers like Stephen King and the like. I really can't be bothered to start naming names of all the authors I read & respect who recommend The Elements of Style. Though maybe I've paid them all and the Time magazine to boot. Who knows.
Yes, thank you for illustrating what a fallacious appeal to authority is.
2013-10-14, 5:28 AM #204
Stephen King, popular traditionally-published author* fetishizes a textbook because he was told to in his first-year English comp course, and that means more to me than the opinion of a full professor of grammar at a top-10 university.

* but being a popular, traditionally-published author doesn't mean anything and self-published underground authors like me are just as good.
2013-10-14, 5:30 AM #205
Originally posted by Antony:
Also, the way you use emoticons is terrible. The way you use images in your posts is worse.


[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRlonrXx19ZyWkKQ9BqM5qp438uedjzQKciaisOKq0xIc56zREx]

:D :D :D
幻術
2013-10-14, 5:30 AM #206
It's so nice that Jon`C is just a troll, otherwise I might have to think about the things he is saying and thinking is hard.
2013-10-14, 5:35 AM #207
You do know that you are not smart, right? ;)
幻術
2013-10-14, 5:36 AM #208
Did koobie just use the "I know you are but what am I?"
>>untie shoes
2013-10-14, 5:39 AM #209
Originally posted by Jon`C:
It's so nice that Jon`C is just a troll, otherwise I might have to think about the things he is saying and thinking is hard.


Talking to you is like talking to a legless donkey; it's an exercise in futility. The reason I remembered Stephen King is because he specifically referred to the book in On Writing. Like I've mentioned earlier, I can't be bothered to look up the names of everyone else who recommended it right now.
幻術
2013-10-14, 5:45 AM #210
Originally posted by Koobie:
Talking to you is like talking to a legless donkey; it's an exercise in futility.

What does the donkey being legless have to do with talking to it? Wouldn't it be just as futile to talk to a legged donkey? I thought good writing was concise.
2013-10-14, 5:46 AM #211
Did you mean 'riding a legless donkey'? Because that makes a whole lot more sense.
2013-10-14, 5:52 AM #212
Originally posted by Koobie:
You do know that you are not smart, right? ;)

I do, actually. That's something that comes when you've learned enough about a breadth of fields to appreciate the incredible labors of the people who study them; when you've learned enough about the world to understand how little you know, and more importantly that even with a lifetime of study you'll never truly be the master of any pursuit.

rubber, glue, etc.
2013-10-14, 5:53 AM #213
I'm painfully aware of my limitations. But not as painfully aware as I am of your postings.

yospos bithc
2013-10-14, 5:58 AM #214
Originally posted by Jon`C:
Did you mean 'riding a legless donkey'? Because that makes a whole lot more sense.


Welcome to the world of similes, Mr. Jon'C. ;)
Since you've asked: I'm talking to you, not riding you. Donkeys are known for their stubbornness and being hard to move from one spot. A legless donkey's all that harder to move. Talking to a legless donkey is pretty much as futile as it gets. Heh.
幻術
2013-10-14, 6:01 AM #215
Originally posted by Koobie:
Welcome to the world of similes, Mr. Jon'C. ;)
Since you've asked: I'm talking to you, not riding you. Donkeys are known for their stubbornness and being hard to move from one spot. A legless donkey's all that harder to move. ;)
Surely a legless donkey would be easier to move, since you could just drag it and it couldn't really fight back? idgi.

It's kind of cool that you'd use a donkey metaphor though. I was talking about this thread with Antony in the chat, and I used a donkey metaphor for you too, but it wasn't as polite. Oh well. "Great" minds and all that.
2013-10-14, 6:01 AM #216
That is not even a remotely effective simile.
>>untie shoes
2013-10-14, 6:05 AM #217
Originally posted by Jon`C:
Surely a legless donkey would be easier to move, since you could just drag it and it couldn't really fight back? idgi.

It's kind of cool that you'd use a donkey metaphor though. I was talking about this thread with Antony in the chat, and I used a donkey metaphor for you too, but it wasn't as polite. Oh well. "Great" minds and all that.


Ah, no. The CHAT. The HORROR. Whatever will I do.

Hmm. Yes. A legless donkey is surely easier to move than a donkey with some legs on it when all you do is talk to it. Yes. Most def. No doubt about it.
幻術
2013-10-14, 6:07 AM #218
Why are you talking to a donkey to begin with?
>>untie shoes
2013-10-14, 6:08 AM #219
But thanks for letting me know you've taken the opportunity to talk **** about me to someone else, I guess? It's thrilling stuff. Great mind indeed. ;)
幻術
2013-10-14, 6:09 AM #220
Originally posted by Antony:
Why are you talking to a donkey to begin with?


Good ****ing question, man. ;)
幻術
2013-10-14, 6:14 AM #221
Originally posted by Koobie:
Hmm. Yes. A legless donkey is surely easier to move than a donkey with some legs on it when all you do is talk to it. Yes. Most def. No doubt about it.
Why would you talk to it instead of using its lead? I'm pretty sure the stubbornness of a donkey is that it fights a lead, rather than a conscious refusal to listen to verbal commands.
2013-10-14, 6:14 AM #222
Do not attempt to redefine your terrible simile to mean that you were calling Jon`C a donkey. Really, if you had called Jon`C a donkey, we would infer that it was a metaphor, instead of the terrible simile you used. I'm not sure you even understand how these parts of speech work, though.

As I said to Jon`C earlier in the chat (OMG NOT THE CHAT AGAIN!), I think it's beautifully ironic that you spend so much time purporting to be a talented author when you have (at best) a tenuous understanding of the English language.
>>untie shoes
2013-10-14, 6:17 AM #223
Also the donkey simile I used in the chat was that your promotion of The Elements of Style is impressive like performing in a donkey show is impressive: not something to be proud of, just sociologically interesting that someone would choose to hurt themselves like that.

So, like, an actual simile. Rather than word salad.
2013-10-14, 6:20 AM #224
I've never in my life purported to be a talented writer. I've only suggested that Jon'C has zero clue about what he's talking about, even though he apparently thinks that he does.

A simile is where two things are directly compared because they share a common feature. The common feature in this case is stubbornness.
幻術
2013-10-14, 6:23 AM #225
Originally posted by Koobie:
A simile is where two things are directly compared because they share a common feature.


lol.

So there's a language barrier here, right? You aren't a native speaker?
2013-10-14, 6:26 AM #226
Pulling the wings off a fly is like pulling the wings off a dog because they both feel pain.
2013-10-14, 6:29 AM #227
I'm not actually. You can call me bi-lingual, I suppose. Anyway, I do know what a simile is. For the sake of expediency I copy & pasted the definition instead of typing it out.
I copy & pasted it from here because it was the very first search result (IIRC) and it was succinct & correct: http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/english/PC_met.htm
幻術
2013-10-14, 6:30 AM #228
A simile is like an analogy because they both reference things.
>>untie shoes
2013-10-14, 6:31 AM #229
Originally posted by Jon`C:
Pulling the wings off a fly is like pulling the wings off a dog because they both feel pain.


Talking to Jon'C is like talking to a legless donkey.
Unless you kick it, it won't budge.
Better? ;)
幻術
2013-10-14, 6:32 AM #230
That is still not a simile.
>>untie shoes
2013-10-14, 6:34 AM #231
Koobie this is like the perfect example of why you should learn something about e.g. linguistics, instead of taking prescriptive dogma at face value. You can read definitions all day, but it's a really idiomatic feature of language that can't be nailed down in a textbook description. If that donkey thing is your idea of a good simile, I'm sorry, but you really don't know what similes are.
2013-10-14, 6:34 AM #232
Originally posted by Koobie:
Talking to Jon'C is like talking to a legless donkey.
Unless you kick it, it won't budge.
Better? ;)


Why would kicking a legless donkey make it move? It has no legs.
2013-10-14, 6:34 AM #233
Originally posted by Antony:
That is still not a simile.


[http://www.ijreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/facedesk-facedesk-facepalm-fail-demotivational-posters-13106446171.jpg]
幻術
2013-10-14, 6:36 AM #234
Originally posted by Jon`C:
Why would kicking a legless donkey make it move? It has no legs.


Because living things move when they get kicked? Not saying it'll miraculously grow legs and gallop into the wilderness here, I'm afraid it's a little too late for that...
幻術
2013-10-14, 6:37 AM #235
Acting like you are frustrated with me doesn't suddenly mean you understand what a simile is. I will give you one more chance to post an actual simile to redeem yourself.
>>untie shoes
2013-10-14, 6:42 AM #236
I'll help you: Getting you to understand this is like squeezing water out of a rock.
>>untie shoes
2013-10-14, 6:43 AM #237
Originally posted by Antony:
Acting like you are frustrated with me doesn't suddenly mean you understand what a simile is. I will give you one more chance to post an actual simile to redeem yourself.


I think the one was quite enough.
It's not exactly rocket science.
OH WAIT! HOLY KAK! I JUST USED A METAPHOR!
You better get back to your chat. ;)
幻術
2013-10-14, 6:45 AM #238
Originally posted by Koobie:
Because living things move when they get kicked? Not saying it'll miraculously grow legs and gallop into the wilderness here, I'm afraid it's a little too late for that...

How. How is it moving.

Similes, metaphors, fictional words are all examples of things that are only really recognizable by a native speaker. For example, the linguistic approach for identifying possible words is whether or not a native speaker thinks it may be a word, since in many languages there are no sure rules for lexeme construction. Like the English lexicon permits both Latin and Greek suffixes, but it normally prohibits mixing Latin roots with Greek suffixes and vice-versa, because most of those words sound awkward, but sometimes it's permitted. You can't just use a textbook.

In the case of metaphor, English has an idiom to refer to the sort of unnatural thing you did - a mixed metaphor. Our metaphors depend on having a certain internal logic that might not be featured in other languages. You'd never talk to a donkey, legless or not, so you'd never compare talking to someone to talking to a donkey.
2013-10-14, 6:46 AM #239
Originally posted by Koobie:
I think the two were quite enough.
It's not exactly rocket science.
OH WAIT! HOLY KAK! I JUST USED A METAPHOR!
You better get back to your chat. ;)


No, you used an idiom.
2013-10-14, 6:48 AM #240
Yeah, I was gonna say the same thing.

Allow me to elaborate: "rocket science" is a metaphor. "It's not exactly rocket science" is an idiom, or possibly even a set phrase.
>>untie shoes
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