The "I Didn't Comment in Another Thread" Thread

[MNblockhead]

I've been prone to homonym substitutions my whole life. Its a fun flaw to have as someone who used to make a living as an editor.

Yeah. I can find it easier to notice errors in someone else's writing than my own, though I suppose that is true for most people.

That's where viewing linguistics as descriptive rathe than prescriptive comes in handy.

I'm a prescriptionist by nature. But it is less that I want to force everyone to hew to tradition and not let language evolve, but more that I want to become Dictator of the World and make everyone use Glosa as an international auxiliary language.

 

[Gradine]

Wait until Southern California's climate becomes really terrible in the next few years. You'll have more Mexican (and Thai) food than you can imagine.

Blah, misunderstood you as being in Oregon.

I mean, climate-wise we might as well be in Oregon. And we have gotten a lot of great Thai food in recent years.

 

[overgeeked]

So I can get really great mexican food at any one of the large number of authentic and excellent mexican food restaurants in my area (I may be close to the Oregon border, but Cali is still gonna Cali).

What I cannot get from any one of those, however, is a mexican pizza, and there are days when a mexican pizza is all that will do. On days like this, I am grateful for Taco Bell

Growing up it was the enchirito for me. Taco Bell's enchilada. Now I like proper Mexican enchiladas so much better.

You can make Mexican Pizzas at home. They won't be identical, but they'll be healthier. Just buy tostada shells at the store, get some ground beef and a taco seasoning packet (Taco Bell makes one), a can of beans, cheese, and some chunky salsa. There are a lot of copycat recipe sites and YouTube channels.

 

[MNblockhead]

I’ve mentioned this before, but for some reason I get irritated at how often people say “less” when they mean “fewer”.

Same here, but I have to be careful. It is easy to call someone out on this and be wrong. There are good arguments to be made that "10 items or less" is grammatically correct. "Less" was used in English for countable nouns from the dawn of printed English, until Robert Baker decided he didn't like that in 1770. But even if we agree that the current, correct usage is not to use less with countable nouns, countability is a gradient and the name noun can be countable or uncountable depending on the context. Think of money for example. I would think most people would find it strange to read "he makes fewer than $100,000 a year."

 

[Thomas Shey]

I have some experience in that area as well. It has made me very snooty about how poor most tech manuals and instructions are.

I can answer why in many cases: because companies will try to do them in-house, either having which ever is the most capable of said technical personnel do it (which is often a pretty low bar) or some more document-savvy person who may well not understand what the technicals are telling them particularly well, so they end up just, essentially, quoting them.

I feel tech writing (I'm thinking more about software manuals and tutorials as I write this) has gotten worse as more companies increasingly rely on frequently updated, online manuals. On the plus side, videos help a lot. But where you are looking for a quick answer, it can be frustrating when the answer to your question is hidden away in along video.

Oh, gods, don't get me started about having to dig things out of a video. They're fine as a general tutorial about a topic, but as a reference they're useless.

 

[MNblockhead]

Alpha-Bits, the cereal, for what it's worth, was discontinued in 2021.

Great, now we are just stuck eating O's.

Given that I am not a morning person, I always thought there should be an "ugh" cereal.

"Buy honey-dipped ughs today! The only breakfast cereal made to be eaten in a bowl of hot coffee!"

 

[CleverNickName]

Here are three fundamental truths about Mexican-American food.

1. If you're in New Mexico, Arizona, or Texas, and someone's grandmother brings you a bag of homemade tamales, you have just been visited by an angel. If you aren't moved to tears by this gesture, you are unworthy of such a kingly gift.

2. Corn or flour, yellow or white or blue, none of that matters. What truly matters about a tortilla is that when you dip it into your bowl of chili, you don't tear pieces off of it first. You're supposed to roll it up and dip it, what's the matter with you?

3. Pico de gallo is Spanish for "rooster beak" and nobody knows why, or what it has to do with fresh salsa.

 

[MNblockhead]

(Literally about the food I just ate)

Taco Bell tacos are not great tacos, but they are great Taco Bell tacos and hit the spot just fine when that is what is wanted (and when there is no line at the drive thru and it takes like two minutes total to get them).

I miss their bean burritos with their original "guacamole" paste packets from the early 90s. The beans and guac were the consistency of food squirted from a NASA food tube, but together, late at night, after a long night of, uh, "studying", they were magic.

 

[MNblockhead]

What kills me are the people in the Southwest going to Taco Bell, when they could get drive-thru non-chain tacos that are going to be vastly better and typically cheaper.

Folks in the rest of the county, you have an excuse.

Munchies - Hungry and High - Top Fast-Food Destinations

Marijuana users can crave different foods when they’re high, but which restaurants are most popular to hit up when the munchies kick in? 1,000 person survey.

rehabs.com

 

[MNblockhead]

Is it bad that my favorite tacos in town are the Spicy Chicken ones at the Pad-Thai, Street Food, and Noodle Bar place? (With steamed chicken dumplings for the side).

No, that sounds awesome. Stop it guys. You are going to make me spend too much money on grub-hub tonight. I have no excuse. I have a fridge full of home-cooked meals prepped to be microwaved.