Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

Thanks to everyone. I am going to look into reading one of these. I've started to become much more interested in linguistic theory. I blame law school.

To be honest, I didn't have any concrete examples coming in. I just assumed that this would come through with words that have built in ambiguity. An example that I might think of is that a mathy-sciency person might think conceptualize "few" differently than someone with an arts background...

Hm. Maybe I'll be a little less ambition. Any suggestions on a good general treatment of regional interpretation or variation in semantic meaning?

I know Katya (peace be upon the patron saint) is the linguistics queen. I think another linguistics major/grad student is around here too. I thought I'd come here to ask. Are any of you familiar with good academic works on how social background changes linguistic interpretation or construction? For ...

I think Mormon culture moves faster than just about any other American sub-culture that I know of, but there are still a wide range. Agreed on both points. I'd wager to say that going narrower, young adults at BYU and BYU-Idaho have the shortest courtship period of any American group. There might b...

I'm married. It never came up with anyone other than my wife. With my wife, it came up when I proposed. It was pretty obvious from other discussion topics that we were ready for marriage (we had talked about what each other expected in terms of kids, career, etc.) I think it's going to be very diffe...

Zedability wrote:Next year is 2013...

My post was in 2012.... forget it.

NerdGirl wrote:If this is the raciest thread of the year, we really need to try harder next year.

.... That's what she said?

(Taking racier to the next level for 2012!)

#patronsaintof100HB

So this is one of the problems with post-massacre gun debates. The discussion takes place with the emotional background an anomaly, discussing statistics that are relevant to a completely different context (i.e. gang and drug-related violence). I'm open to increase gun control regulation, but I disl...

Interested to know if anyone saw any strong statements via pants today.

Marduk, do you have the same reaction to a guy wearing a skirt to Church? Would discouraging boys from wearing skirts be misandry? Are there significant practical advantages (modesty, warmth, ease of movement) to wearing a skirt? Are skirts (or kilts or lava lavas) the standard formal or profession...

Plus pants do seem less dressed-up to me, and less "reverent." And this is exactly the problem. Unspoken misogyny is still misogyny. It doesn't need to be institutionalized to be real. The fact that you've been indoctrinated to accept that somehow pants aren't "reverent" means t...

snit (noun)

1. an agitated or irritated state

(From one of Portia's posts.)

No offense intended in my observation. I definitely did not think you meant it in any sort of "Look at me" way. Nor do I get that vibe from you generally. It's just a fun sound bite to pull out and created a funny image.

for me personally, communication with the spirit is near constant. I don't know, but every time I come back to this thread, that comment stands out to me as harmlessly intended, but hilariously over-pious. I just imagine Che Guevara dressed in the Dalai Lama's garb in a constant state of meditation.

-Create parity in the Young Women and Young Men organizations through equivalent budgets, educational programs (leadership, career, and spiritual training,) and activities (sports, service, and outdoor events). -Encourage leaders to use gender-inclusive language whenever possible. Can I ask why you...

I wholeheartedly agree with these: -Encourage partnership in marriage, and eliminate the idea that husbands preside over their wives. -Balance the stories and images of boys and men in church publications, talks, and other media with stories and images of girls and women. -Recognize that girls and b...

This article says that they are doing this to "to advocate for equality within our faith." http://www.ksl.com/?sid=23355976&nid=1016&title=group-pushes-for-lds-women-to-wear-pants-to-church&s_cid=queue-7 So which is it? Is this to bring attention to struggling sisters, or prov...

Skirts and dresses = more formal than slacks. I think this really depends on the style of the piece of clothing in question. The dress pants I wear when I see patients are more dressy and formal than a good 1/3-1/2 of the skirts and dresses I wear to church. Dress pants will always be more formal t...