English thread. Why not?

[Drake Raider]

I've always thought that someone's "Smartness" should be judged on the number of different manners in which they can communicate, that is, to help an audience understand their message, or variety of audiences they can communicate too. Someone who only knows big words is just as uneducated as a illegible boor.

Fortunately I think I've improved in this area as I've gotten older, though not nearly to the level I hope to be some day.

[Naniyue]

George Carlin says it all! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11lEtj-MuMk

I just remembered this one recently: "Keeping honest people honest."

Well, if you have to keep them honest, then they aren't honest in the first place!

Oh! And my favorite: Euphemisms! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuEQixrBKCc

[Naniyue]

Searching through my books, I found my copy of . . .

Anguished English!!!
https://www.amazon.com/Anguished-Englis ... 044020352X

"At restaurant-gas stations throughout the nation: Eat here and get gas."

Actual newspaper headlines (from the book):

COUNTY OFFICIALS TO TALK RUBBISH
GENETIC ENGINEERING SPLITS SCIENTISTS
IRAQUI HEAD SEEKS ARMS
DOCTOR TESTIFIES IN HORSE SUIT
TWO CONVICTS EVADE NOOSE; JURY HUNG

[Trance]

FOOT HEADS ARMS BODY
SQUAD HELPS DOG BITE VICTIM

[Gez]

Some of them wouldn't be as funny if people knew when to use hyphens.

It reminds me of "I helped my uncle Jack off a horse" which is sometimes used to tell people that capitalization of proper names is important!

[Matt]

FOOT HEADS ARMS BODY
SQUAD HELPS DOG BITE VICTIM

Who else read this as a single headline?
(they bit him on both heads...)

[Naniyue]

Hilarious!

[Reactor]

Gez has a point about capitalization at every single word. I don't know who invented it, but after a while, it's damn confusing and annoying To See Every Word Like This.

[NeuralStunner]

It reminds me of "I helped my uncle Jack off a horse" which is sometimes used to tell people that capitalization of proper names is important!

A horse which, as we now know, is actually a doctor in a suit. :v

[Naniyue]

WARNING! EXTREME PROFANITY!
But funny nonetheless.
http://thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=epic

All of us make mistakes in language, like me with parentheses and quotes, but things like "epic fail" are simply wrong! And, in case you didn't already know, it's "Where are you?" NOT "Where you at?"!

Gez: I remember learning capitalization of titles way back when, but I still get it wrong!

[Naniyue]

I wonder how it is in other languages. The only other language I have any clue about is Japanese, but I'm curious what sort of issues occur in Spanish, for example.

[Reactor]

This one was bugging me since the altering of the forum. What's the key difference between "assets" and "resources"? In computer gaming, the two things are exactly the same, and so in auditing-accounting.

Another interesting pair of words is "volley" and "salvo". A volley of missiles differs from a salvo of missiles or not?

[wildweasel]

This one was bugging me since the altering of the forum. What's the key difference between "assets" and "resources"? In computer gaming, the two things are exactly the same, and so in auditing-accounting.

It's more a contextual difference in the case of this forum - the "resources" forum is a place to put things you've made, that you are declaring free to use by other modders. The "assets" forum is for asking questions about the use of such resources, or about how to create them.

[Reactor]

Oh, so they're made to be distinct only for the better organization of the forum. In common speech, assets and resources are pretty much synonyms.

[wrkq]

You know, the way my gut feeling about them goes - resources is something you have a limited amount for and need to spend/allocate.
So, time, workforce/employees, raw materials, parts, etc.

Assets are something that you own and which "make you wealthier" by its existence. It doesn't deplete with use.
Patents, a house, your expert knowledge, that Rembrandt painting in your office, so on.

For the other question, a salvo is an amount - same as "some" or "a herd of". Volley is more of a uh, 3d concept, where you have the projectiles fly and hit vaguely along a targeting line.
Again, the way my upper intestine feels about it, no particular logic or arguments I can bring for it.