Overconfidence in language abilities
Posted Thursday May 8th, 11:11 AM by Zeph

I feel pretty proud that I don't correct people's French. Poll of the Day is killing me right now with that one thread's mistake and I had weeks of cringing when everyone was seeing "Ratatouille" but hey, mistakes are inevitable. I understand that everyone makes them. I can't imagine how my French profs must feel when they grade our stuff.

But it gets to be really irksome when people are super proud of their abilities in a language. Like my dad, who claimed he knew Spanish because he could poorly pronounce a few phrases his students taught him. He still didn't know what the word "conjugate" meant or how to make his own sentences. My old boss at the Cajun restaurant wrote on her menu that she was fluent in French, her "native tongue". All she could say was "But yes, I speak Cajun French." Twice customers came in who spoke some French and she just smiled and walked off when they spoke. When I continued to have a conversation with them in French she threated to take me off the clock.

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Featured Poll of The Day: Favorite Source of Exercise
Posted Thursday May 8th, 3:34 AM by MFS

Every day, we have a featured poll at our Poll Of The Day blog. Check it out for the newest polls, or just take this random one:

What's your favorite way to work out?

Cycling
Swimming
Running
Some random sport
Typing on a keyboard and clicking a mouse
Being chased by rabid weasels
Sleeping
Jogging

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I am a chef.
Posted Sunday May 4th, 8:02 PM by Helium

I made cupcakes today! They're nothing special, just a yellow cake mix from this cook book I've had since I was a baby and only recently started cooking out of, and I threw some cocoa powder in some to make them chocolate. But I gave them fancily colored frosting, some with peppermint extract and some with orange extract, so they have a little more kick than just plain cupcakes would.





That frosting that looks all nasty and brown is actually really really dark purple. Yay!
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public service announcement about Wikipedia in academics
Posted Sunday April 27th, 3:14 PM by Spacefem

People please: thou shalt not cite Wikipedia as a source in research papers that you turn in for school.

First, it's an encyclopedia. Anything in an encyclopedia is generally considered common knowledge, and shouldn't be cited anyway.

Second, ANYONE CAN EDIT IT! I can put down in an article that I'm the coolest person in the world, add a "retrieved from" to my citation so it's good forever, and then even if a responsible mod or user reverts my statements on there, it's still in the history forever. That doesn't make it valid.

Third, you're better than that. C'mon, would you really choose a topic for a paper that's so cut and dry that you can learn everything you need to know about it (or even a significant portion) from Wikipedia? Go beyond, reach higher, catch the stars, all that.

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