The Grammar of Politics Thread

The Grammar of Politics Thread

by Luckbox Inc P

Now that I think about it, the "with your bullshit" part is actually always there when you tell a person to **** off. It's implied. No one ever gets told to **** off unless they just said some bullshit.

But the subject wouldn't be "you"-- "you" is the direct object. The speaker (in this case me), would be the subject. Since it's an imperative (e.g. a command), think of it as "[strike]I want you to[/strike] **** off [strike]with your bullshit

Well this brings me back to the horrors of grammar classes taught by Sister Martin. But the subject of an imperative sentence is always you. 😀

This may sound strange, but every single command has the same subject! Yikes! How is that even possible?

Well, since commands are always speaking to someone or something (you've got to address them if you're going to ask them to do something), the subject is always the word you.

You may have noticed that the word "you" is not even in a command. Because of this, the subject is actually called you understood, and it is written like this: (you)

This means that the subject is the word you, but since you is not written or spoken in the sentence, it is simply understood and is written in parentheses.

04 March 2024 at 02:36 AM
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No that's not the answer.




Dear Schlitz,

You have a music thread. Please go there.

Thanks,

Luckbox.


Could you define phonologically complex?


Well I had to Google "phonology", but having seen the definition, I'd guess "shrewd".

ETA: would probably have made the same guess without looking it up given the phono- prefix, but I wanted to confirm it didn't mean something really specific that was not possible to infer from its construction.


Shrewd only has four separate sounds though, there are many single syllable words with that many.

Just off the top of my head, "crisp" has five.

I guess I still need a definition.


Hmm fair.

Is "aye" one syllable? If so, "driest"?


Nah, don't think we get away with that being one syllable, it's dry-est.


"Shrimps" has 6 sounds in one syllable.


"Stretched" has at least 6. The T and the second E aren't really pronounced I guess.


"Sprints" has 7. Going to be tough to get any more in one syllable.


Nice. I concede.


I've thought of a few more with 7,so I guess that's not the answer. Do I hear 8?


Hmm. Would have to find the right consonant combos. Is it distinct sounds? For example is "sts" 2 sounds or 3?


by d2_e4 P

Hmm. Would have to find the right consonant combos. Is it distinct sounds? For example is "sts" 2 sounds or 3?

I assume that would be three, but we still need a definition from Luckbox.


by chillrob P

I assume that would be three, but we still need a definition from Luckbox.

If it's 2 then "sprints" becomes a 6.


by chillrob P

"Sprints" has 7. Going to be tough to get any more in one syllable.

by d2_e4 P

Hmm. Would have to find the right consonant combos. Is it distinct sounds? For example is "sts" 2 sounds or 3?

[sprɪnʦ] is super close and it could definitely be transcribed like I did there with the ts as one phoneme [t͡s]-- this is called an affricate, where you have a stop consonant and a fricative produced at the same time.

However-- [t͡s] is not a phoneme in English. It exists in Italian, Greek I think, German. English has [t͡ʃ] and [d͡ʒ] like in "cheese" and "just" but the question wasn't for the most phonetically complex one syllable word it was for the most phonologically complex one, and phonologically /t/ and /s/ are definitely represented in the mind as two separate sounds even if they come out as one there-- so "sprints" should count.

There is one other word (that I know of) that has the structure CCCVCCC that I had in mind though that you guys haven't gotten yet.


So you don't have anything longer than CCCVCCC? I thought of a few more of those before I went to sleep. Now trying to remember them.

"Strengths" is one of them. Could be what you were thinking of, as it looks even more complicated than it is. But "ng" and "th" are really just one sound each.

"Scripts" and "scrimps" are others.


by chillrob P

So you don't have anything longer than CCCVCCC? I thought of a few more of those before I went to sleep. Now trying to remember them.

"Strengths" is one of them. Could be what you were thinking of, as it looks even more complicated than it is. But "ng" and "th" are really just one sound each.

"Scripts" and "scrimps" are others.

Strength was what I was looking for and I didn't consider making it a plural noun----but I don't think the "ng" is a single phoneme there like it is in a word like "tangy"-- there is a 'release' with the g when the tongue moves from your velum to between your teeth-- you could pronounce it without the release but no one does.

In "scripts", the t there is just silent. "Scrimps" works though.


OK, here's mine. Obviously without Googling - longest English word without repeated letters.

Hint: think of what the ending could be.


by d2_e4 P

OK, here's mine. Obviously without Googling - longest English word without repeated letters.

Hint: think of what the ending could be.

Damn. I feel like this is a bit of trivia that I've heard before but unlike the number of bones in the human body it isn't one that's stuck.


by Luckbox Inc P

In "scripts", the t there is just silent.

Not where I come from.


by Luckbox Inc P

Damn. I feel like this is a bit of trivia that I've heard before but unlike the number of bones in the human body it isn't one that's stuck.

I didn't get this one when I heard it about 25 years ago, but I feel I should get half points because I was looking at the right ending. Probably from playing scrabble at a high-ish amateur level.

I'll tell you now that it is longer than 10 letters.


by Didace P

Not where I come from.

Yeah, eliding over the t completely sounds like some backwoods thing.


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