[ExI] buttload

[spike]

>... On Behalf Of Anders Sandberg
Subject: Re: [ExI] buttload

>...During dinner last night a person having to leave early gave Nick a few
bills to pay for his share. The look of revulsion on Nick's face when he
touched the money was impressive. And indeed, money does tend to carry a lot
of germs...

{8^D  Thanks Anders.  My limited contact with Nick made me think he might be
slightly up-tight about that sort of thing.

At a dinner gathering, it's fun to make comments such as "Currency is
filthy, revolting, germ laden material, so clearly this is why god gave us
such wonderfully competent immune systems, that we may retain our health
while handling so much money."

>...As far as I know, this is not entirely true. There are always some words
which are outside cultured discourse, but which set it is changes over time.
Plenty of pre-Victorian English text is pretty... earthy. The real problem
is that the swears we use in speech tend to be different from the ones we
write. There is a blossoming subfield of etymology and linguistics studying
swear words... -- Anders Sandberg

The beauty of the written word, especially the internet, is that one can use
language that one will never utter in sound space.  If one is interested in
linguistics, especially etymology, this represents complete freedom, for one
can write things one would ordinarily never write.  If one is on the
internet, one has admittedly dubious but plausible deniability for any post,
for there is no way to prove who is the actual writer.  Finally, on the
internet, one is perfectly free to make comments one would never make in
polite company, for I have no way of proving that all who read are uniformly
polite company.  {8^D

Best wishes to Nick.

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!

{8-]

Do jump at every opportunity to stay off the roads this weekend, regardless
of the status of your account with Alcor.

spike