There are lots of things that once were an exciting treat that could become a habit with diminishing emotional returns and a large out of pocket expenditure. My mother, for instance, at one point really enjoyed the occasional manicure as a treat. Over the past few years, the “occasional” manicure has become a weekly expenditure that costs upwards of $60 each time she goes. Even when she was unemployed, she continued to go because it was her “one treat.” But everyone around her can tell that she just doesn’t enjoy it in the same way anymore. When we ask why she still does it, she says she just “has to” now. It’s like an obligation she’s made to herself, and its an expensive one for the very small amount of joy she gets out of it.

It’s fair to point out that when an occasional pleasure becomes a habit and turns into a lifestyle, that you might not be getting the return on that “investment” in your happiness anymore.

The real winner in their class was Ramit, in my opinion.

In fact, even two words that are synonyms on paper are rarely exactly interchangeable. There are shades of meaning that the dictionary (let alone the thesaurus) doesn’t always capture.

Still, the idea that one could set up a forum for the purposes of issuing unfavourable reactions to posts by the author of another forum without directly addressing that author is an interesting one.

Technically, of course, there is no difficulty at all – I could set up “The Trent Hamm Bashers’ Forum” within the hour, and so could most of you.

Morally, however, I would feel certain compunctions about doing so. Suppose that after a few years the forum became so successful that I could sell it for the price of a medium-sized family home in Iowa. Would it be right to cash in on a fellow human’s tin ear for language, or insensitivity to the plight of alcoholics?

One envisages heated debates leading eventually to the formation of the “Trent Hamm Bashers Bashers’ Forum”, whereon questions as to whether any of the first four words should be hyphenated or apostrophized would occupy the first few years of controversy. Thereafter, people would tend to say the same things in the same order until it dawned on them that repetition is a losing life battle.

To every omega-consistent recursive class K of formulae, there correspond recursive class-signs r such that….

OK so whats the difference? Or are you just pointing out that I used a synomym for no apparent reason??

I’m starting to seriously wonder if you’re just arguing for argument sake here or if you think you’re funny or what…

One is a word I used. The other is not.

What do you think the difference between “insulting” and “offensive” is here? Insult and offense are synonyms. So I’m not sure why you point out the different terms and why you think that matters.

Otherwise, no I don’t think she is implying that it takes “extraordinary” insight to spot alcoholism. If you want to take insult at what she said then fine with me. Feel insulted. I doubt think K Ann was trying to insult you nor that she meant any insult. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe K Ann set out to insult you. *shrug* As you said my subjective reaction doesn’t negate yours. But yoru opinion on the matter doesn’t negate mine either.

I was sitting in my dentist’s waiting room one day recently reading TSD comments, and I laughed so loud that everyone looked at me curiously. This blog does provide a valuable service; it’s just not the one originally intended.

It definitely smacks of a made-up conversation.

Second, your subjective reaction to K Ann’s comment does not negate mine. 99% of the time, when someone says “I don’t see it that way,” what they really mean is “You’re wrong to see it that way,” but it doesn’t work like that.

Third, I know how to read, I did notice the “probably,” and I don’t think it helps. That would imply that it takes some kind of extraordinary insight or perceptiveness to understand that Trent’s comparison is inappropriate, and I don’t think it does. This is pretty basic stuff here. If Trent were, say, a teenager, I might be convinced to go along with K Ann’s assessment of “well meaning but clueless.” But he’s a grown-up, he’s supposedly very well read, and he’s gotten feedback in the past about his problematic portrayals of stuff like this. At this point, it can’t be anything other than willful cluelessness.