I like the video a lot, but I admit the song isn’t quite my style. I’d gladly recommend it to someone who’s a little more hip than I am. I really like how naturally styled the performers are, and that they didn’t fall into the cliches of someone not being “cool” enough to join them.

It’s kind of funny: maybe I’m just in the throes of withdrawal or depression still, but I can’t think of much I’d like to be asked. I don’t think I have anything too interesting to say, honestly, but I’ll talk your ear off if you let me, so perhaps it’s better that I don’t be asked things.

It reminds me of the people who ask you straight away what you’re passionate about or say they “hate small talk and want to talk about real stuff”. I don’t know. I just met you and I am not comfortable with this level of intimacy. No one likes small talk, but building a rapport before you start asking me to impress…

He’s like Boneitis Guy from Futurama. A relic of the 80s that did not age well and has nothing on his mind but 80s business success.

I may have misunderstood! It is hard to get particular sounds across in writing, especially if you’re using very specific linguistic terms (my sister’s a linguist, so I know what a glottal stop is, but anything else is beyond me).

I think there’s a big difference between public and private speaking, as well as the frequency in which one uses a particular vocal inflection.

It’s really common in the American Midwest. The Minnesotan accent has tons of them. The most common one, I think, is “mittens”, which the “t”s just sort of drop out of. I don’t do it on purpose, and generally avoid it, because the Minnesotan accent tends to be seen as “simple” and “unintelligent”. But it’s just how…

You should do more things you don’t think you’re good at, because this made me laugh so hard that I sent it to three other people!

This bothers me, too. I have about 5-6 long-term casual relationships (recently, when joking that we didn’t have a good term for what we were, one of my partners suggested BFFWBs, which I have to admit is pretty fun), and they’ve been going on for between 1-6 years. I have occasional one-night stands (mostly out of…

I mean, a contract can be a good idea, so everyone’s on the same page.

I lived in a building full of Chinese students and was the only white person from the basement to the roof. Truly, I am the pioneering of pioneerists, and that means I get to use racial slurs or make ching-chong jokes, right?

Some people do that because they’re hiking into the forest and don’t want to carry dog poop for 3+ hours, and intend to “pick it up” when they come back - hanging from the tree is noticeable, so presumably, they’d see it and not forget.

I’m honestly on your side about this. I think people are too hard on her language skills. She’s an asshole in general, and there’s plenty to criticize her for, but I don’t think her English is one of them (her likely lying about speaking 5 languages, because she lies a lot? Yeah, okay, fair play).

On that, I will defend her. Learning another language is hard, and even people I know who are fluent in English, study/work in English, and write their dissertations in English make mistakes like she does. There are so many skills in language beyond just nailing the grammar (though we tend to focus on speaking…

I have to tell my mom not to pick up when work calls when she’s on vacation. She takes time off when I come back to visit, and ends up working half the time anyway, because they “need her”. I ask her what her workplace would do if she really weren’t in the area and physically could not come in. They need to plan…

I mean, I’d been told that, too. I assumed it was blood/body odors that they smelled, like sharks, perhaps, and came to investigate, because maybe it smelled like an injured animal/easy prey.

Admittedly, it wouldn’t be so uncommon in Slovenia to speak multiple languages, especially in the Slavic language family. Europeans tend to speak more languages than Americans do because they live in a more linguistically-rich area, whereas many Americans (especially in Middle America) might live in a mono-lingual…

Thank you for the advice! Funny story - I lived south of L.A. for a little while with my sister (and wow, it really was expensive)! I met someone wonderful there who was one of the most monogamous people I’ve ever known. He tried so hard to be open (after I moved away, we thought perhaps an open relationship might…

Wow, that sounds so stressful! Being around family can really take it out of you, especially with the invisible contracts. I’d rather have nothing than passive-aggressive comments and actions, too.

I know this is an old discussion, but I would explain to them that no, telling them what to do is just another chore for you. They are 18 and 12, so, old enough to be able to sort some of this out: I resent having to be the one to maintain the household. By telling me I need to tell you what you need to do, you’re…