A little help:)
Clumsy
I'm just a girl, living in captivity
Your rule of thumb
Makes me worry some
[...]
I'm just a girl, lucky me
Twiddle-dum there's no comparison
What's a "rule of thumb"? And what does: "Twiddle-dum there's no comparison"
mean??
Can anyone help me?:) Thanks:)
Paul Pfalzner
"Clumsy" <darkon...@tiscalinet.it> wrote in message
news:m4jm6.16925$Yx4.6...@news6.giganews.com...
behind pseudonyms.
It may be a rule of thumb.
Twiddledee.
P.
Charles Riggs
<darkon...@tiscalinet.it> wrote:
>There are a few parts of a No Doubt song that I really don't understand...:
>
>I'm just a girl, living in captivity
>Your rule of thumb
>Makes me worry some
>[...]
>I'm just a girl, lucky me
>Twiddle-dum there's no comparison
>
>What's a "rule of thumb"?
A saying, a "rule", which, some suppose, can be relied on to be
generally true. Example: "Chinese men are known to have small peckers"
is a rule of thumb. Many "rules of thumb" are not always true.
>And what does: "Twiddle-dum there's no comparison"
>mean??
Tweedledee and Tweedledum were a pair of twins in Through the
Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. I suppose you could compare them to
each other in that they looked alike and both tended to say similar
daft things. Great book, though.
Charles Riggs
John Varela
> Your rule of thumb
> Makes me worry some
This could refer to the urban legend that "rule of thumb" has its origins in a
British common law rule which, supposedly, allowed husbands to beat their
wives with a stick no thicker than their thumb.
http://www.urbanlegends.com/language/etymology/rule_of_thumb.html
--
John Varela
Tim Scullion
comparison"
> mean??
"Rule of thumb" means a rule taken from experience, not theory. It refers
either to the use of a thumb's width as a rough and ready means of
measurement or to the use of a thumb for dipping into liquids to test them.
Use of the phrase was first recorded in 1692. However, "Twiddle-dum there's
no comparison" means that Gwen Stefani is a crap lyricist.
Tim Scullion
Matti Lamprhey
> "Clumsy" <darkon...@tiscalinet.it> wrote:
>
> > Your rule of thumb
> > Makes me worry some
>
> This could refer to the urban legend that "rule of thumb" has its origins
> in a British common law rule which, supposedly, allowed husbands to
> beat their wives with a stick no thicker than their thumb.
>
> http://www.urbanlegends.com/language/etymology/rule_of_thumb.html
Surely such a rule would specify a *minimum*, as well as a *maximum*
thickness?
A more likely candidate would seem to be that the breadth of the thumb,
taken as equal to an inch, was used as a measure in the cloth trade; it
was customary to allow a thumb in addition to each yard of cloth measured.
Matti
Clumsy
> I regret that my groundrules do not permit me to assist those who hide
> behind pseudonyms.
> It may be a rule of thumb.
I regret that my groundrules do not permit me to think that every name and
surname I read in this newsgroup is true....
Mine is deliberately false, I'm coherent at least, aren't I? :)
By the way, my pseudonym tells more about myself than your real name does ;)
Thanks for your indirect help, bye!
Fabian
"Paul Pfalzner" hu kiteb
> I regret that my groundrules do not permit me to assist those who hide
> behind pseudonyms.
You know, it is possible that one day you will gravely insult someone with
that rule of thumb, when they reply most drily "That is my real name". It
happened to me once before.
--
--
Fabian
Find your enemy's weakest point, and destroy it.
But remember who your own worst enemy is.
Tootsie
Ross Howard wrote in message
>"Fabian" wrote:
[...]
>>"Paul Pfalzner" hu kiteb
>>> I regret that my groundrules do not permit me to assist those who
hide
>>> behind pseudonyms.
>That's a bit hard on Skitt, Perchprism and Polar (PIP),* isn't it?
>
>[* Posting In Peace elsewhere]
What Paul may not realize is that there are sensible reasons for some of
us to use a pseudonym -- or, in my case, a nickname.
And who is to say that "Paul Pfalzner" is not a pseudonym? How does one
know for sure that any name used here reads the same on that poster's
driver's license? Plus, many of us here *do* know the real names of some
of the "pseudonymed" and know that they are not "hiding" so much as just
being cautious.
Refusing to assist someone because of his or her online name is a bit
judgemental, I think.
"Tootsie" (A real nickname I happen to like, though I will answer to
"Maria" as well.)
Clumsy
> I think pseudonyms are a problem. One is faced with someone posting who
has
> no normal identity. They may be jokers, fools, trolls, drive-by shooters -
> and their anonymity may lead them into believing that they have no
> responsibility to anyone.
How childish! And do you think that a name is enough to take one's
responsibilities? I could be a joker, a fool or even a serial killer even if
I had signed with a (supposedly real) full name!
>Some seem to think they can ask here any kind of
> question, no matter how trivial, which they could most likely easily find
> an answer to by a little effort.
Sorry... I didn't mean to make trivial questions but you know, I posted my
request on an Italian Newsgroup about English language (I'm an Italian
student) and nobody has been able to give me an answer...
Maybe you should learn the concept of "relativity"... someone has already
discovered it, don't you know?
So these I would avoid giving any
> assistance to.
Someone has already provided to give me what I asked for.. I'm afraid you're
not indispensable...
Paul Pfalzner
"Tootsie" <too...@sprynet.com> wrote in message
news:97h9nn$q8c$1...@slb3.atl.mindspring.net...
>
> Ross Howard wrote in message
> >"Fabian" wrote:
> [...]
> >>"Paul Pfalzner" hu kiteb
>
> >>> I regret that my groundrules do not permit me to assist those who
> hide
> >>> behind pseudonyms.
>
> >That's a bit hard on Skitt, Perchprism and Polar (PIP),* isn't it?
>
>
> us to use a pseudonym -- or, in my case, a nickname.
>
posters are indeed very pleasant guys (m. and f.) Anyway, my remark should
not be taken all that seriously, I was driven to use this to hint at what a
"rule of thumb" might be. It could be related to "thumbs down", I should
have said.
> And who is to say that "Paul Pfalzner" is not a pseudonym?
Keeps you awake at night, don't it?
>
> "Tootsie" (A real nickname I happen to like, though I will answer to
> "Maria" as well.)
Ave
Paul
PS My "real" name is Michael Foss.
Fabian
"Paul Pfalzner" hu kiteb
> > >"Paul Pfalzner" hu kiteb
> > >
> > >> I regret that my groundrules do not permit me to assist those who
hide
> > >> behind pseudonyms.
> >
> > That's a bit hard on Skitt, Perchprism and Polar (PIP),* isn't it?
> >
> I think pseudonyms are a problem. One is faced with someone posting who
has
> no normal identity. They may be jokers, fools, trolls, drive-by shooters -
> and their anonymity may lead them into believing that they have no
> responsibility to anyone. Some seem to think they can ask here any kind of
> question, no matter how trivial, which they could most likely easily find
> an answer to by a little effort. So these I would avoid giving any
> assistance to.
Bear in mind the number of common names worldwide, and that you cannot be
familiar with them all. It is shockingly easy to accuse someone of having a
made-up name, simply because that name is not common in your area.
Also bear in mind that any of these apparently real names can quite easily
be a pseudonym - a made-up name need not be a nonce word.
Please, I realise we must all judge other people, as is human nature. But
judge them on what they say, not by the name they choose to present to us.