Monday, October 28

Why do "overlook" and "oversee" mean opposite things?



In response to last week’s question, " Why do "overlook" and "oversee" mean opposite things?", my musical friend Blair concluded, "One may look but not really see. In that case, one has overlooked what should have been seen."  My friend Richard added, "In the same vein, one will not see everything one should.  When one “oversees” something, one is focused on what is truly happening and so is less likely to “overlook” anything important.  I’m sure my wife could confirm that I am much better at overlooking things than I am at overseeing them!"

My dad's beach buddy Bob advised, "Usually because if you look over the top you will never see what you are supposed to be paying attention to."

When my friend Royce wrote, "Because Noah Webster says so," my often humorous friend Lon added, "If you reverse each word segment, then you get "lookover" and "seeover".  Not sure that this means anything  but it sounds good."

My social media friend Mark noted, "Because it is American English. Why are the definitions for to, two, and too different? 'Why can you read a book, but you have read a book, that has pages made of reeds?' said my friend Reid, who has red hair."

And then my friend Patrick queried, "Even more importantly, why is 'cleave' the opposite of 'cleave'?"

Please share your thoughts about "things that make you go 'Hmmm' “:

What do candy corns grow on?

Live well...laugh often and heartily.... have a good week and never regret anything that made you smile!

Hal

Happy birthday to our son Zak on Tue.  And have a safe and fun Haloween.
 
[Thanks to Demetri Martin, Steven Wright and George Carlin for the inspiration.]

Monday, October 21



In response to last week’s question, "How is it that when worn once, shirts and underwear are dirty but pants aren't?", my dad's beach buddy Bob concluded, "Because they have liners on the inside.  It is called underwear," to which my birthday bud Jon expounded, "The pants have the underwear to thank for that! They took the hit."

When my sailing friend Kurt responded, "They aren't?", my Parrothead friend Sam explained, "It's not that the pants aren't dirty... Simply, the pants are further from people 's vision and we notice the dirt less."   And my IT friend Kosol added "Oh yes. they're dirty, just not smelly. They don't contact your skin directly like a shirt or underwear does.  Now if you don't wear underwear, I hope you're not using pants more than once.  That would just be awful!" 

My social media friend Mark shared, "You can stretch your underwear one more day by turning them inside out. But then your pants frequency changes."
My writing and sailing friend Rich pondered, "They say you never understand someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes. I am guessing a mile in their underwear is too much information."  And my cycling friend Ted  responded, "There was a musical episode of the series "Scrubs" which I think says it all-- 'It all comes down to Poo.' "
Please share your thoughts about "things that make you go 'Hmmm' “:
 
Why do "overlook" and "oversee" mean opposite things?

Live well...laugh often and heartily.... have a good week and never regret anything that made you smile!

Hal

In response to a prior question about why people talk to dog in full sentences, my sailing friend Norman wrote, "I am positive my dog, Gracie,  understands every word we say to her.  Maybe she can't speak, but, her vocabulary is extensive.  If you need proof, come on by and we can have a conversation with her." 

And my friend with start-up www.rallyin.com explained, "There is a scientific study -- well done study -- showing dogs can and do understand full sentences. To take it further: The woman (whose name I don't know), who started the assistive dogs thing a few decades ago, has been experimenting and training dogs -- including Golden retrievers -- to read  ... not just single words, but also word combinations and strings of words. 

As she puts the single words together in different combinations on placards, a dog has to glean contextual meaning -- the context of each word in its relative position and then grasp the full meaning of the sentence -- and then respond accordingly (e.g., go to the restroom and bring me a towel).  She trains the dog to recognize the idea of written symbolic language -- now that in itself is mind blowing. 

There is also a solid body of well-done scientific work that is not anthropomorphic and shows that dogs emotionally really do care. This is wonderfully amazing. They care!

There's an interesting though painfully dull reading book published for public consumption in the past five years called "Inside a Dog". It's worth plodding through. It resulted from studies about this kind of stuff at Columbia University.   I understand the issue of anthropomorphism and its potential for interfering with perceiving what is really going on inside of a dog. But, it turns out that, anthropomorphism removed, dogs are actually very much what we think they are and know ... or as a friend of mine once put it, "Dogs are people too, ya know."  

It's no bit of fantasy or wishful thinking or anthropomorphism after all that dogs and people deeply bond and sincerely love each other and connect spiritually and communicate as we do. It's the real thing. It's unique. And what a blessing and gift for both of us. For those that insist on the science to prove it, it's there too now. 

So, don't kid yourself that dogs don't get it. And you can sense and "see" that they get things we don't get. 


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[Thanks to Demetri Martin, Steven Wright and George Carlin for the inspiration.]

Monday, October 14

Why do people talk to their dog or cat in full sentences?



In response to last week’s question, "Why do people talk to their dog or cat in full sentences?," my experimental psychology friend Richard explained, "Because dogs are domesticated, we think they actually care about what we say.  However, we understand that cats are utterly indifferent to what we say, so every interaction with them feels like we’re serving a sentence."

My sailing friend Kurt replied, "For the same reason I use full sentences when talking to my teenage son, I don't think either of them understand what I am saying but at least I know what I meant."  To this, my college roomie John added, "Just being formal with our pets.  They deserve it."

My Parrothead friend Samantha declared, "To set a good example -- we don't want them to answer back in a sentence fragment.  That would be absurd."  My IT friend Kosol agreed, "Because it would lead them to be speaking in fragments. We wouldn't want that would we?"

My cycling friend Ted observed, "Judging by my children's grammar, I figure my dog has a better chance of understanding grammatically correct sentences!" My product management friend, Doug, annotated, "In this world of instant communication (e.g. text messages, twitter, etc…)  the art of the complete sentence has been lost.  I have two teenage daughters as evidence. Dogs and Cats are the only animals remaining that have the attention span needed to listen to a complete sentence.  Case in point, I just checked my iPhone three times while typing this message."

My hiking friend Kelly shared his personal experience, "It’s hard to tell them 'I’m going to drop you in an active volcano if you piss on my floor again' without using full sentences."

My writing and sailing friend Rich suggested, "I need to rephrase the question. Why does my wife tell the dog and cat what she wants from them but expects me to read her mind?"

And then my dad's beach buddy Bob asked, "Do people really do that?  Do they expect a  response?  When I had a dog the conversation went like this.  Sit, Stay, Down.  Shush, and go Poop.  When I asked the dog to speak, she howled sort of trying to sing.  All one word except 'go Poop'."

Please share your thoughts about "things that make you go 'Hmmm' “:

How is it that when worn once, shirts and underwear are dirty but pants aren't?    (from my friend Mark)

Live well...laugh often and heartily.... have a good week and never regret anything that made you smile!

Hal

Thanks to the many, many people who organized and brought more than 100 golden retrievers to the www.grra.com party yesterday.  Wow, dog people are wonderfully friendly and compassionate.  

[Thanks to Demetri Martin, Steven Wright and George Carlin for the inspiration.]

Monday, October 7

Why don’t Latinos speak Latin?



In response to last week’s question, "Why don’t Latinos speak Latin?", my news service friend Patrick declared, "Dan Quayle thinks they do."

My sailing friend Kurt observed, "Latinos do speak Latin just like Americans speak English. Both have had all of the sharp corners and rough edges worn off."

My social media friend Mark replied, "I'll bet some of them do" to which my writing and sailing friend
Rich added, "Latinos are speaking Latin just like the Brits and Americans are speaking German. Jump in the way back machine and see if it ain't 'veritas'."

My shop owner friend Bruce then clarified, "Simple - they are not really Latinos...they are (according to the Nixon Administration, who popularized the term) "Hispanic."  But the grand majority of those claiming this cultural title are not from ancient Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula), either...  Lo siento!"

My dad's beach buddy Bob concluded, "Because Latin is a dead language that only Romans speak."  To this, my cousin Wes added, "Only retro-Catholic priests do. Actually Latinos who speak Espanol speak a "Latin" language. God bless those Romans, otherwise we might all be Greekos."

Please share your thoughts about "things that make you go 'Hmmm' “:

Why do people talk to their dog or cat in full sentences?

Life  is too short for drama and petty things, so kiss slowly, laugh insanely, love truly, and forgive  quickly.

Hal 
Hal Schlenger

If you know someone with a golden retriever in the ATL area, please let me know so that I can invite them to a great dog party (a petting zoo of sorts) on Oct 13.  Info at www.grra.com.
What is a dog's favorite food? Anything that is on your plate!

    
[Thanks to Demetri Martin, Steven Wright and George Carlin for the inspiration.]