Goofy Lunchtime Language Poll

[gnomi]

This poll brought to you as a result of an e-mail exchange with the editor here at work...

[Poll #842379]

Comments

[cbpotts.livejournal.com]

I would like to point out that my free form marching anarchist cooperative:

a) Never marched in step, on principle.
b) Never played music
c) Refused to participate in your right/left oppression. If we can't all be right, then no one has rights, and we should set something on fire!

FBI file? What FBI file?

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I thought of you when I put that option in the poll, I must say. :-)

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

(and why doesn't it surprise me that you're left-handed? That wasn't a left-handed compliment, by the way.)

[asciikitty.livejournal.com]

in a table with n columns, column 1 is the "first" and column n is the "last"

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I considered that. The editor pointed out that "first" and "last" can conceivably reverse when you're talking about foreign languages, so she advocated against "first" and "last."

[asciikitty.livejournal.com]

yes, well. It did occur to me that "first" could be either the leftmost or the rightmost.

[angwantibo.livejournal.com]

Similar. I use 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th. Since my interaction with Israelis and Syrians is somewhat limited, I have never encountered a problem with direction. In addition, the Israelis and Syrians I work with are used to us Americans that use 1st, etc, without any reversing problems.

[bluepapercup]

I say: "furthest to the left" and "furthest to the right".

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Ah! I differentiate between "farthest" (physical distance) and "furthest" (figurative distance).

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

I was wondering what the difference was between them. I wonder if there's a category of folks who say "farthest" versus "furthest," without differentiating between your supposed definitions ... ;)

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I wonder if there's a category of folks who say "farthest" versus "furthest," without differentiating between your supposed definitions

The above difference is from Bryan Garner's A Dictionary of Modern American Usage, First Edition, p. 286 (now Garner's Modern American Usage).

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (Third Edition, p.662) says:

Farther and further have been used interchangeably by many writers sincce the Middle English period. According to a rule of relatively recent origin, however, farther should be reserved for physical distance and further for advancement along a nonphysical dimension. Thus 74 percent of the Usage Panel prefers farther in the sentence If you are planning to drive any farther than Ukiah, you'd better carry chains; whereas 64 percent prefers further in the sentence We won't be able to answer these questions until we are further along in our research. In many cases, however, the distinction is not easy to draw. If we may speak metaphysically of a statement that is far from the truth, for example, the analogous use of farther should be allowed in a sentence such as Nothing could be farther from the truth, though Nothing could be further from the truth is also justifiable.

The American Heritage is the premier prescriptivist dictionary published for American English, in my opinion.

More descriptivist dictionaries, such as the Merriam-Webster, may not make such a distinction.

::points to icon::

[jencallisto]

i would say either "Column 1 is the farthest left." or "Column 1 is the leftmost column."

[whingnut.livejournal.com]

Column 1 is the first column in the row, and Column 6 is the last column in the row.

[tiptoe39.livejournal.com]

I say the left-hand column or the column on the left,

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

I can always tell my left from my right because I've got a dimple in my right cheek but none in my left cheek. Whenever I'm not sure, I smile innocently and touch my face. :)

Here's something from out of nowhere...

[whingnut.livejournal.com]

Today at the food church food pantry I work at, somebody donated two boxes of Yehuda matzo wafers.
Only two people in the whole place (I and an older lady from New York) knew how to use them, so I inherited them.
What I was wondering is, is there a super-collosal-mind-bendingly-awesome Gnomi-patented matzo ball soup recipe, and if I asked REALLY nicely, couldd I have it, please. ***bat, bat***

***okay, so batting my eyes loses its power when I try to do it over the internet and to another female, but a girl usually falls back on what she knows best, no? :D***

Re: Here's something from out of nowhere...

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

gnomi's super-duper chicken souper... handed down by mom-o'-gnomi:

Warning: feeds a veritble army.

Start with an 8-quart pot. Fill it about 1/3 of the way with cold water. Bring water to a boil. Add (washed; skinned if you feel like it, but I barely ever bother) chicken pieces (I tend to use chicken legs and thighs). Bring back to boil. Add 1 lb carrots (peeled, sliced into 1-inch-thick rounds, approx.), 2-3 parsnips (in similar chunks as the carrots), one onion, sliced thickly (if you desire; I don't always put in the onion), 1/2 jar Carmel Kosher (http://www.rokeach.com/itempage-ch00821-155-162-1928.html) soup powder (or any comparable instant soup mix. We call this stuff "yellow powder"). Bring back to the boil, then turn flame down, simmer for ~45 minutes to an hour. Makes yummy soup for an army.

Matzah balls: I use the recipe on the side of the Streits Matzah Meal box; I'll transcribe it when I get home, if you wish. :-) One note -- always make your matzah balls in a pot of plain boiling water (well, salted, if you wish), because making them in the soup directly will eat up all your soup broth.

Re: Here's something from out of nowhere...

[whingnut.livejournal.com]

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! This looks yummy /and/ easy!!! Thanks so much!!!

I had a recipe...back in the summer...before we moved (now there's no telling where that one lonesome little newspaper clipping has gotten to). I'm all excited to try this now that the weather is turning to soup-eating weather!!!

Re: Here's something from out of nowhere...

[whingnut.livejournal.com]

I should also add that working at the food pantry (Methodist run) lends itself to all kinds of hilarity. One of the ladies took a glance at the boxes of wafers and asked me "are they Greek?".
Later, Danny made an appearance to donate some paperbacks and the ladies all fussed over him. They think Danny is hawwwwwwwwwwwt!!! Danny's alleged hotness is debatable (I tend to think of him more as adorable), but it's the fact of having these elderly ladies get all dithery over him that tickles me.:D

Re: Here's something from out of nowhere...

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Oh! And the matzah balls:

Matzah Balls, from the Streits box, but with changes a la gnomi and her matzah ball mentor, beckyfeld

1 cup matzah meal
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup water
1 tsp. salt
Dash of pepper (more if you like peppery matzah balls)
4 eggs

Beat eggs and add water, oil, salt, and pepper. Mix well.
Add matzah meal and stir thoroughly.

Cover bowl (with Saran Wrap or the functional equivalent), and refrigerate one hour.

After the hour, remove from fridge. Prepare a bowl of plain water, to sit to the side. Wet your hands with the water from the bowl. Spoon about a teaspoon or so's worth of the mix into your hands and roll into a ball. Form all the balls before starting to boil any of them, or you'll have to be watching the pot and forming the balls all at the same time, which is just crazy-making. You can put a piece of Saran Wrap or the functional equivalent on a dinner plate and put the formed balls onto the plate until you're ready to boil them (or you can just put them on the plate directly, but then you may be cleaning lots of matzah-egg-oil mixture off your plate, which can be annoying).

Bring about 2 quarts of water (lightly salted) to a boil in a 3-4 quart pot. Carefully drop the formed balls one at a time into the boiling water. Cook uncovered for 20-25 minutes.

Note: This recipe tends toward the denser matzah balls rather than the light-and-fluffy ones. Just so you know. :-)

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

what does marching band have to do with it? (except that occasionally during practice someone would turn the wrong way and smack into whoever was next to them....)

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I've found that folks that were in marching band are more likely to know their right and left automatically, because they've been drilled on left and right over and over and over and over...

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

I said I sometimes know my right from my left. In fact, I almost always do, but there's one circumstance in which it's easy to get confused, and that's dancing. It's pretty common in contra dances, for example, to hear something like this: "Allemande left!...Your OTHER left!"

[oldblackbird.livejournal.com]

I would describe them like this:

column one - the far left
column two - second from the left
column three - just left from the middle
column four - just right from the middle
column five - second from the right
column six - the far right

;-)

[tygerseye.livejournal.com]

Um... far lefthand column and far righthand column. Whether I get right and left right correct is irrelevant. :P

*goes back to packing*

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

::loves all over your icon::

[kuroshii.livejournal.com]

i generally say "first" and "last," because most of my tables are in excel and thus are lettered accordingly.

[llennhoff.livejournal.com]

I can always tell left from right as long as I am married. I don't even have to look at my hand, somehow the left just feels heavier. When I'm single I get confused a lot.

[half-double.livejournal.com]

It's "far left" and "far right" for my co-workers, but "leftmost" and "rightmost" for leorathesane 'cause she loves when I'm geeky like that.

I do always know left from right, but sometimes I have to think about it first.

leorathesane does not generally know left from right. She is, however, one of those annoying people who always knows what direction they're pointed in. I am not. This leads to amusing conversations when I am driving and she is navigating:

SHE: You'll need to turn north at this light.
I: And north would be...?
SHE: Ummm...my way.