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   Feart n Tired ??????? (feartntired@spinster.xyz)'s status on Saturday, 21-Feb-2026 00:34:37 JST Feart n Tired ???????

   • Flick ??
   • The Dread Slender Gnome
   @Flick @Gnomeshatecheese palaver
   
   origin shows from Portuguese and says it means "a long discussion or procedure"
   
   I certainly wouldn't attach it to discussion. procedure - in the sense of all the stupid hoops you have to jump through with registering and passwords and log ins to get something basic, you'd say of that it was a palaver. yes?
   • Embed this notice
     HebrideanHecate (hebrideanhecate@spinster.xyz)'s status on Saturday, 21-Feb-2026 00:34:36 JST HebrideanHecate

     in reply to

     • Flick ??
     • The Dread Slender Gnome

     @Flick @FeartnTired @Gnomeshatecheese Then there's Foote's Farrago.

     So she went into the garden to cut a cabbage-leaf to make an apple-pie; and at the same time a great she-bear, coming up the street, pops its head into the shop. "What! No soap?" So he died, and she very imprudently married the barber; and there were present the Picninnies, and the Joblillies, and the Garyalies, and the grand Panjandrum himself, with the little round button at top, and they all fell to playing the game of catch-as-catch-can till the gunpowder ran out at the heels of their boots

     Used to test the actor Charles Macklin, who'd said he could rad anything once and then recite it, but when a thing doesn't make any sense, is incoherent, it becomes impossible to memorise said Foote. As to whether Macklin did it or not I have no idea.

   • Embed this notice
     The Dread Slender Gnome (gnomeshatecheese@spinster.xyz)'s status on Saturday, 21-Feb-2026 00:34:36 JST The Dread Slender Gnome

     in reply to

     • HebrideanHecate
     • Flick ??

     @HebrideanHecate @Flick @FeartnTired This is very similar to Chomsky's demonstration about how syntax isn't dependent on semantics, i.e. you can have a semantically nonsensical sentence which is nevertheless grammatically perfectly correct. It's basically an illustration of the difference between syntax and semantics. He was also making a point about how probabilistic grammar analyses are inadequate when it comes to explaining whether highly unlikely sentences are grammatical or not, but that's a very geeky side point.

     His was colourless green ideas sleep furiously.

     Politically Chomsky's a right weirdo, but as a linguist he was not without contributions. Although his TG grammar has since been determined to be of much more limited utility than originally thought.

     KeepTakingTheSoma likes this.
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     Flick ?? (flick@spinster.xyz)'s status on Saturday, 21-Feb-2026 00:34:37 JST Flick ??

     in reply to

     • The Dread Slender Gnome

     @FeartnTired @Gnomeshatecheese Yes. Also faff: “we were trying to sort out who went into which car on the way to the wedding and it was a right palaver”.