Did Japan's brutality and 'no surrender' actions contribute to its defeat?

World War II Japanese Military
#41

Well, I suppose such contrary conduct is to be expected from a contrary nation which drives on the wrong side of the road; can’t spell words such as colour and theatre properly; calls a car boot a trunk and a car bonnet a hood; and thinks that sucking on a *** is disgusting conduct between gentlemen instead of smoking a cigarette. :wink: :smiley:

Yup. Sucking on a *** seems to be in the ‘must be asterisked to avoid corrupting the young’ category, in the US anyway.

Down here, we grew up sucking on fags, which were lollies imitating cigarettes like most of our parents smoked.

Way back before the wowsers decided that more than two alcoholic drinks a day was positively ruinous for men, and one for women; and smacking children should be a crime; and smoking the same; not to mention the horror of gambling; despite the governments which promote those negative messages:

  1. Being dependent upon the tax on alcohol;
  2. Belting the **** out of kids in government care since time immemorial; and,
  3. Being dependent upon the tax on cigarettes.
  4. Being dependent upon the tax on gambling.
  5. Issuing, for a fee, the right to sell alcohol, cigarettes and gambling.

Anyway, here’s what a packet of fags looks like.

Which, curiously allows the plural fags through but not ***, which makes me wonder if ****s could get through but not ****.

173795031e95fa832ea.jpg

#42

Well, RS, I used to live in Canada where the non-essential vowel “u” was used. I respect the fact that we are divided by a common language but point out that we outnumber you by a healthy margin thus the “common usages” of language as you delight in point out all tilt in our favor. I’m not sure how many countries still drive on “your” side of the road but even Canada never went along with that and, as I recall, Sweden changed to the “other side” some time ago over a single weekend. I think the Japanese still drive on the left, but that’s no recommendation.

#43

U… non essential?
But what about the crucial difference in meaning in ‘Poser’ [ puzzle] & Poseur [ show-off]?..

#44

A poser may be regarded as essential.

A poseur is not.

#45

Usage by a majority does not determine correct usage.

If it did, text messaging language would be correct English usage, as would gangsta rap.

Sometimes it falls to a minority to preserve a language, or other standard, in the face of corruption by a majority.

Which, mate, is why us down here speak English proper. :wink: :smiley:

#46

One of the few things that stuck from my college linguistics classes is that linguistic purity is a myth. The improvements in communications over the last century are likely to promote homogeniety; in all probability, we will all be speaking a variety of American English down the road. Mind you, I still find some “Americanisms” irritating - such as the relatively recent habit of preceding the most inappropriate piece of communications with “so …”. I believe we can thank the tv series “Friends” for this linguistic tragedy (sigh !). Best regards, JR.

#47

Add:

  • ‘like’, the modern gap filler for “Um”, as in 'She was, like, totally out there and, like, she was like off her face and, like, when I told her she was like drunk 'n shit, she was like **** you and I was like then **** you too. And then, like, she didn’t like that. ‘n shit.’.
  • ‘they’, the plural used as a gender neutral singular attached to a singular verb to conform with the demands of the anti-sexism nazis. As in “when the person does this they are” … As distinct from the converse: “When hundreds of people do this they is …”
  • constant misuse of singular verbs attached to plural nouns and vice versa, like, they is and, like there are a number of and, like, the government are and, like, the club are and like the nation are …
  • American preference for several words when one is sufficient, as in “At this point in time” = “Now”; “That is a negative” = “No”
  • Australian preference for several words when one is sufficient, as in “playing group” = “team”
  • management speak preference for empty words as in “You all need to be in the tent so we can get traction for lift off to pick the low fruit on the way to the stars.”
#48

Haha, JAW. Americans don’t use “poser” for puzzle in any case…

#49

U… non essential?

A new meaning for “U don’t say!”?

Actually, much as I hate supporting those folks on the wrong side of the pond, I’ll note that English is the world-wide lingua franca of the aviation industry. And unfortunately, the industry is misguided enough that its standard is British English. Maybe that’s the reason for so many foul-ups at airports? :slight_smile:

#50

Language is an endlessly fascinating topic.

In the US:

If you don’t agree with someone, or have no answer, or are just baffled by the complexity of life, just say, “Whatever…”

On TV, a currently useless phrase is. “From now ‘going forward’…” Forward to where, exactly? Just tack it on the beginning or end of any sentence to enhance the appearance of erudition.

Anything vaguely or overtly disreputable or low-class: “That’s really ghetto…” My daughters use this a lot.

Or, “To your point…” The point on your head, perhaps?

Gratefully, the youthful word, “tubular” has gone out of use and we’re back to “cool”. The overuse of the word “cool”

The obnoxious overuse of the word “awesome” applied universally to things that are anything but “awesome”

The decorous word “Wassup?”, now elegantly replaced with “'Sup?”

And when someone says “Duh” after you’ve said something, you’ve been made to look like a dumb ***.

The disastrous use, in any kind of public writing of text-speak “words” such as “str8” for “straight”, “ur” for “your” or “you’re”, or “b4” for “before”, or IMHO for “in my honest opinion” (without it, should we think it might not be an “honest” opinion?) LMFAO, ROFL are all part of this…

The English use of “massive(ly)” for “hugely”, LOL. The use of LOL…

Use of the phrase, “That’s random…”, the meaning of which escapes me completely but must be vaguely negative…

Many schools in the US are abandoning teaching cursive writing and reading because no one uses it any more. Reminds me of studying German in “Fraktur” which I swear caused astigmatism…

And on and on…

Fun, but often annoying…

#51

& here in ‘Straya’ we have ‘average/ordinary’ used as meaning sub-standard, & ‘2nd-hand’ as utterly worthless…

Yet ‘sick’ [or preferably, ‘fully sick’] is tops…

#52

One for horse racing enthusiasts - some British and Irish trainers will describe a horse as “moderate”. This tends to mean that, on mature consideration, they have concluded that the horse actually does have four legs, but is never likely to win anything. Not, mind you, that they object to deluded owners continuing to pay for the donkey-wonkey’s training and keep … JR.

#53

I like the US usage, primarily by offended women, of “Excuse me?” as a challenge rather than an apology. The obvious response of “Why, what did you do?” is guaranteed to raise the next “Excuse me?” a few octaves.

Equivalent here (at least in my state - usage varies from state to state) is ‘povvo’ = poverty.

I reckon there are several Ph D theses in the use of extreme words applied to modest and non events. ‘Awesome’ used to annoy me a lot more until I recalled that in my childhood / youth the standard term for something very good was the equally misapplied ‘terrific’.

Gets even further up my fundamental orifice when it has ‘dog’ appended, as in ‘Sup dog?’.

And the upper class use of ‘ghastly’, as in 'What a ghastly dress."

The universal misuse of ‘enormity’ for ‘immensity’; ‘fulsome’ as a positive, as in ‘fulsome praise’; literally for figurative expressions, as in ‘When I saw she was wearing the same dress as mine, I literally died.’; ‘incredibly’ for things which are entirely credible; ‘absolutely’ as a substitute for misusing incredibly or just ‘Yes’; and so on ad nauseam, all literally piss me off immensely.

#54

Except that the majority doesn’t speak or write “text” or “gangsta”. Still, the differences among us is what keeps things interesting.

#55

Depends on the age bracket you choose.

I know academics who are distressed by the frequency of text language elements in essays, which essays commonly regard Wikipedia as an authoritative source.

I also know that among some of my children’s (23 and 19 yo) more boneheaded friends, the word ‘lol’ is a synonym for ‘laugh’. As in "I really lolled when she said that.’

#56

I find the retort ‘Whatever’ to be generally used as a rude, supercilious, dismissal…

& in that circumstance, will usually reply by saying “who-ever, when-ever, if-ever…”

#57

Yes, it probably is all that and more. And who knows what the shape of language will be 20 years from now. We may not like it, but I won’t be around to deal with it either.

#58

Personally, I think it’s long past time for a Mod to close this thread…its hard to think of another that has gone on so long, so off topic… JMHO. :slight_smile:

#59

Ardee, that’s hilarious… & to quote Monty Python, “Shut up you silly bitch, its only a bit of fun”…

#60

JAW, what you lack in wit, manners, and experience here is clearly not made up for with your sense of tact.

As you may have noticed – I claim no knowledge as to your actual powers of observation – I have participated in some of the fun you mentioned.

I might suggest that it is also not smart to call other members here names, even when buried in a quote, especially when you’ve already been temporarily banned at least once that I know of.

In any case, my polite suggestion was exactly that – a suggestion. And if you get the sense I’m laughing at you – you would be completely correct. Toodles!