BougieBirdie

I genuinely thought erudite was a noun. Thanks, TIL

I’ll take a crack at this one. For what it’s worth, I think the first couple are just loanwords from another language which sometimes gets used incorrectly, and the last three are uncommon words in conversation. Know your audience.

“This isn’t a meeting about the budget per se”

“This isn’t exactly a meeting about the budget”

“The victim met their demise vis a vis poodle attack”

“The victim met their demise by way of poodle attack.”

“Steve’s a real erudite.”

“Steve’s a real reader.”

“Tom and Jerry is a fun cartoon because of the juxtaposition of the relationship between cat and mouse.”

“Tom and Jerry is a fun cartoon because of the oppositeness of the relationship between cat and mouse”

“I don’t understand, can you elucidate on that?”

“I don’t understand, can you explain?”

I was fortunate to not only have a typing class in school, but also the only computer game my grandma had was Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. Now I type for a living, so hey, I guess it must have paid off.

If you’re already a hunt and peck typer, your brain wants to look at the keyboard to confirm where the key is before you press it. When learning touch typing, you’ll want to shift your focus from the keyboard to the screen.

There are formal methodologies for learning where the keys are in relation to your fingers, but imo the most important thing is to not look at the keyboard. No matter what you end up typing, it’s pretty easy to find backspace and try again. Your eyes verify on the screen if your fingers are giving the correct output, and your fingers find their way eventually.

Many students did benefit from having their hands visually obscured from them when typing. If you find you keep looking at the keyboard then you might want to look into that.

Reminds me of this bit

Here’s a “fun” tidbit: even as late as the 1980’s it was cheaper for films to buy actual human remains than convincing fake skeletons. This happened famously in Poltergeist (1982).

Apparently there are nine surviving Pirate Codes. Some are more equitable than others, and some are… more difficult to read. It definitely wasn’t sunshine and roses at sea, and there was definitely barbarism that happened.

But I particularly like the articles of John Phillips, captain of the Revenge. Nine commandments governing the distribution of wealth, gun control, fire safety, and workers’ comp

I. Every Man Shall obey civil Command; the Captain shall have one full Share and a half of all Prizes; the Master, Carpenter, Boatswain and Gunner shall have one Share and quarter.

II. If any Man shall offer to run away, or keep any Secret from the Company, he shall be marooned with one Bottle of Powder, one Bottle of Water, one small Arm, and Shot.

III. If any Man shall steal any Thing in the Company, or game, to the Value of a Piece of Eight, he shall be marooned or shot.

IV. If any time we shall meet another Marooner that Man shall sign his Articles without the Consent of our Company, shall suffer such Punishment as the Captain and Company shall think fit.

V. That Man that shall strike another whilst these Articles are in force, shall receive Moses’ Law (that is, 40 Stripes lacking one) on the bare Back.

VI. That Man that shall snap his Arms, or smoke Tobacco in the Hold, without a Cap to his Pipe, or carry a Candle lighted without a Lanthorn, shall suffer the same Punishment as in the former Article.

VII. That Man shall not keep his Arms clean, fit for an Engagement, or neglect his Business, shall be cut off from his Share, and suffer such other Punishment as the Captain and the Company shall think fit.

VIII. If any Man shall lose a Joint in time of an Engagement, shall have 400 Pieces of Eight ; if a Limb, 800.

IX. If at any time you meet with a prudent Woman, that Man that offers to meddle with her, without her Consent, shall suffer present Death.

I don’t know who that is, but thanks for the recommendation

While many pirates will gladly R at each other, the salty sea dog’s true love be the C

Pirates were surprisingly democratic. When booty was distributed, each member would get a share rather than wages.

Some people got more shares than others, that’s true. A cabin boy might only be worth half a share, the quartermaster might be worth a share and a half, etc. But most people got a whole share, and the captain was usually only pulling two shares at most. But shares were agreed at the outset, and everyone knew what they were getting into.

This makes a lot of sense when you’re engaged in organized crime against the state. The captain gets final say in most matters, but the risk of mutiny or a crew member turning informant was a sure way to end a captain’s career. By splitting the wealth more equitably, the crew becomes more loyal.

You may have heard stories about pirates attacking a ship and then recruiting people from the crew they just attacked. A lot of the time in the stories this is framed as “join us or die” but the truth was a bit different. If pirates were known to kill everyone they meet, people would fight to the death to defend their boss’ merchandise. But if the pirates boarded you, you were likely given a chance to surrender in exchange for the loot. Then if they were looking for more crew, they’d start recruiting.

So imagine you’re working for a real slave driver (I mean, perhaps literally even), and you get a pittance for your wages. You get raided by pirates, and it’s your boss’ money or your life. Most people would sooner hand over their boss’ money. But then they ask if you’d like to work for someone who doesn’t treat you like garbage AND you get a cut of the loot you just handed over. That’s a compelling argument.

Also Canada, my optometrist has never given me a problem asking for my prescription. However, they don’t measure the Pupil Distance (PD) which your lens fitters might require.

This measurement is the distance between your pupils in millimetres. It can be measured with a standard ruler. Mine is 69 (nice)

My optometrist explicitly does not measure the PD because the glasses shop they have adjoining doors with will do it for you. We often just measure ours at home because it’s far cheaper to shop for glasses online.

If you’ve never tried it before, a grilled cheese sandwich cut into your favourite shapes just calls out to be dipped in ketchup. And if ketchup is too much, a creamy tomato soup is also acceptable.

I second this.

I’d eat a peanut butter sandwich without the jelly, but I don’t think I’d ever eat just a jelly sandwich.

Similar question for cheese and ketchup, you’d be more likely to eat a cheese sandwich without ketchup than a ketchup sandwich without cheese