BS: The weird year that was 2020

Subject: BS: The wierd year that was 2020
From: Donuel
Date: 20 Nov 20 - 11:19 PM

2020 will be known for many things, this was one thing-
Keith Richards quit smoking. Change is possible.

2020 is almost over and it went by very quickly, like the Dark Ages.

Subject: RE: BS: The wierd year that was 2020
From: gillymor
Date: 21 Nov 20 - 05:53 AM

It ain't over yet, not by a long shot.

Subject: RE: BS: The wierd year that was 2020
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 21 Nov 20 - 06:57 AM

Still enough time for:

(1) The turnip to do as much damage as possible for the incoming presidency to clear up.
(2) Johnson to bring UK businesses that import/export goods, produce and supply chain components to their knees.
(3) Incompetent governments both sides of the pond to exponentially increase Covid cases before vaccine roll out.
(4) Put in place fundamental losses of rights that have taken decades to put in place.
(5) Move vast sums of public money to party-political supporting corporates to increase their wealth while reducing the amount of money in circulation, and thus strangling the economy.
(6) Add millions of people to those already living in poverty.

Subject: RE: BS: The wierd year that was 2020
From: Raggytash
Date: 21 Nov 20 - 07:14 AM

"went by very quickly, like the dark ages"


I doubt if the period of the "Dark Ages" between the 5th and 15th century, approximately 1000 years, went by very quickly.


That is about 4 times the length of time since the American revolution.

Subject: RE: BS: The wierd year that was 2020
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Nov 20 - 07:26 AM

I've always regarded the period from 500 to 1500 as the Middle Ages, and the Dark Ages as approximately the first half of that period, or maybe even less, starting from when there was no longer an emperor in Rome to the reign of Charlemagne. It seems to depend on which google you google...

Subject: RE: BS: The wierd year that was 2020
From: Jos
Date: 21 Nov 20 - 07:26 AM

I used to have an old history book which began by saying that it would start with the 1400s because nothing happened before then that was of any interest (it might have been 'importance' instead of 'interest', I no longer have the book but the idea is very similar).

Subject: RE: BS: The wierd year that was 2020
From: Mrrzy
Date: 21 Nov 20 - 08:21 AM

Also one can revive the old rhyme in its entirety: i before e except after c or else pronounced a as in neighbor or weigh, except neither is it weird for a foreigner to seize leisure.

Subject: RE: BS: The wierd year that was 2020
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 21 Nov 20 - 09:02 AM

i don't think the 'dark ages' is so much a period where nothing happened, just a dearth of written historical accounts of the time.

Subject: RE: BS: The wierd year that was 2020
From: Raggytash
Date: 21 Nov 20 - 09:05 AM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Ages_(historiography)

Steve, I doubt if the original poster would know the difference between 1500 years and 750 years when discussing History.

I would also think like the many Americans I have met he has little concept of European, Asian or Oriental history or the longevity of it.

Sorry to our American cousins, I realise some of you do, but I also believe you are a minority in your country.

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Mrrzy
Date: 21 Nov 20 - 01:56 PM

We sure are

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: pattyClink
Date: 21 Nov 20 - 02:31 PM

Oh dear, perhaps there is another virus running around and it strikes to disable the sense of humor. Pretty sure Donuel was being sarcastic about the Dark Ages passing quickly!!

It was a very weird year indeed, and it seems like a long time since all the craziness started. May it end on December 31, with a gentle whimper.

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Raggytash
Date: 21 Nov 20 - 02:40 PM

Oh, was Donuel making an attempt to be funny.

I'm afraid that the UK sense of humour (please note the correct spelling!) is somewhat different to the American sense of humour which we tend to consider rather juvenile.

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Nov 20 - 03:13 PM

The US didn't participate in those Dark Ages, so perhaps the world view is different. The Dark Ages here started in 2016.

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Raggytash
Date: 21 Nov 20 - 03:33 PM

Hopefully you will only have to undergo four years of them !

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Bill D
Date: 21 Nov 20 - 03:53 PM

Since when does the UK have a monopoly on 'correct' spelling?

And there is a huge variety of 'senses of humor' in America.

It seems some have an ongoing hobby of critiquing anything Americans do differently... even if it's only a small number.

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Raggytash
Date: 21 Nov 20 - 04:49 PM

Well ............... Americans allegedly speak the ENGLISH language so I would suggest that English spelling would be the sensible one adopt.

The lack of the vowel U in such words as colour and humour is just the tip of the iceberg.

I'll leave pronunciation till later.

As for your current president and his butchery of the English language ........... !!

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Nov 20 - 06:01 PM

Covid didn't break us in 2020, it magnified where we were already broken.

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Nov 20 - 06:53 PM

Good times, end times
as events grow worse
its too late for some
who're breathing the curse
We are subject to
all who have fun
Even the dark age
was golden for some
Hail Cicero
and raggytash
who chronical time
One was great, the other ~ fine.

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Nov 20 - 07:04 PM

You're dead right, Bill. We have no such monopoly and I've posted as such so many times on various threads. Whichever side of the pond is yours, you don't have to like what the other side does, but, if lots of people use a particular spelling, and have done for a while, it's standard English. What raises an eyebrow over here compared with what raises an eyebrow over there does nothing except raise an eyebrow.

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Ebbie
Date: 22 Nov 20 - 04:15 AM

Raggytash I have read that because the REAL English speakers followed the speech peculiarities of one lone English monarch at one particular time, what Americans speak is more like the original - therefore CORRECT- pronunciations of our mutual language. That is OK, though, we won't be so impolite as to point out your vagaries. Bless your little heart.

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Nov 20 - 04:49 AM

Well I could argue with that by parroting my usual point that "correct," when it comes to language, is a very dodgy concept. Language is forever evolving, and what might have been regarded as "correct" a hundred years ago, or even less, can now sound archaic, even comical. That can apply to mode of expression, to spelling and to pronunciation. Even the Queen, over a mere sixty years, has largely ditched that plum-in-mouth mode of pronunciation that was all the rage among the upper classes just a few decades ago. Employ that today and you're likely to become the object of derision and of comedy sketches. Language in all its facets is wot people say, write, spell and pronounce. It can be hard at times to keep up with it, but, in m'humble, it should be something to celebrate.

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Mr Red
Date: 22 Nov 20 - 05:53 AM

Surely the Dark Ages were so referred because of the paucity of written records. For the UK that is approx pre 1066. One only has to look at the records of incumbents in most old churches - very few list clerics' names pre 1066.

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Nov 20 - 07:26 AM

The Dark Ages were dark and was primarily a climate event. The cause of the event was harder to prove but was likely an impact event in the western hemisphere. The resulting crop failures and extreme cold had global consequences. The little ice age - Unger event.

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Bill D
Date: 22 Nov 20 - 11:35 AM

"Americans allegedly speak the ENGLISH language"

Yep.. 'English' is a convenient term for what we and many others speak around the world. It is a descriptive way to indicate a common origin, but not a **prescriptive** term to castigate those who don't spell & pronounce it exactly like you do.
I have remarked before, in an attempt at ...ummm... humor...that we poor colonists had to be thrifty and succinct as we established newspapers...etc. Just look at the $$$ we have saved in metal type ... and now in ink by eliminating all those extraneous u's that add nothing to the pronunciation ;>)!
   Ebbie made a point above about scholarly debates as to the origin of your favored spellings and pronunciation... but *shrug* we don't carry on a campaign to suggest that you ought to revert:
see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_English

"Early Modern English – the language used by William Shakespeare – is dated from around 1500. It incorporated many Renaissance-era loans from Latin and Ancient Greek, as well as borrowings from other European languages, including French, German and Dutch. Significant pronunciation changes in this period included the ongoing Great Vowel Shift, which affected the qualities of most long vowels. Modern English proper, similar in most respects to that spoken today, was in place by the late 17th century."

No matter.. we are pretty stubborn over here, and we, as well as you, have immigrant speakers who stretch the norms to the breaking point sometimes.

"You say toMAto and I say toMAHto...lets call the whole thing off."

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Mr Red
Date: 22 Nov 20 - 11:46 AM

Sorry Donuel - Dark Ages may mean climate to some, but to historians it is very much about knowing or not to be more precise.

But to be fair, when you couldn't grow food - writing was not high on the agenda.

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Nov 20 - 12:03 PM

We used to print S's that looked like F's.
The origin of the alphabet goes back to sansript and some heiroglyphics like the letter B that was 1st a pictogram for 'bull'. A rebus is a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to capture sounds. Many ancient writing systems used the rebus principle to represent abstract words, which otherwise would be hard to represent with pictograms. Clay tablet Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. Originally, pictographs were either drawn on clay tablets in vertical columns with a sharpened reed stylus or incised in stone. Ugaritic was written using the Ugaritic alphabet, a standard Semitic style alphabet. Spelling is a fairly liberal practice and does not follow Rosetta Stone rules, now more than ever. We are really ignoring 2020.

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Nov 20 - 10:19 AM

Covid didn't break us in 2020, it magnified where we were already broken.
It does not feel like a world of right or wrong anymore.
It feels like SANE or INSANE.

Perhaps it has always been the case but its more obvious to me now.
I have always supported helping people regain their sanity...
But where and how do we profit to help Trump to regain a sanity he has never had? Sometimes there is no cure. I only know that truth and its delivery system humor, is an effective vaccine to stem the infection of insanity.

It is my belief more insanity is learned than are born with it.
Insanity itself is a pandemic. I repeat
Insanity itself has its own pandemic today.
Socially distancing ourselves from insanity has always been done.
When the insane gather on social media, infection spreads uncontrolably. Its spreads even faster when the incompetant are paid money or salaries to repeat and support insanity.

My CREDO: Keep your head high and your ego low.

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Neil D
Date: 23 Nov 20 - 11:37 AM

"I'm afraid that the UK sense of humour (please note the correct spelling!) is somewhat different to the American sense of humour which we tend to consider rather juvenile." Sure Raggytash, that Benny Hill sure was intellectual. And as far as that extraneous "u" to which you Brits so hopelessly cling, it's not correct, it's just old fashioned.

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Nov 20 - 01:00 PM

Benny Hill was a long time ago, Neil, and there are plenty of us to whom it never appealed. More recently we've delivered Fawlty Towers, Blackadder, Secret Policeman's Ball, Monty Python, The Office and Black Books (as well as plenty of turkeys). I wonder what you'd think of Sorry I Haven't A Clue. You gave us Airplane!, Blazing Saddles and those amazing Naked Gun films. We gave you Pink Panther. I loved Love And Marriage from your end. I don't think we should let ourselves get polarised about this. I would just say, however, that some of the "jokes" you yanks put in the joke threads have me scratching my head at times. The worst offender appears to be Donuel (with Mrrzy not far behind), who doesn't seem to know what a joke actually is, but I'm not going to judge all yanks on that. As for that extraneous "U," I'm sort of with you on that, but we can't stop using it as everyone here would just think we were odd if we did. Either we all drop it or no-one drops it...

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Nov 20 - 01:24 PM

As a worst offender: no humans were were harmed in the attempt to make original jokes, except Steve.

I am proud of SNL skit humor which includes many outstanding similar Brit examples. Sure half of them fall flat but the great ones are forever.

I knew Steven Wright from Boston's Harvard Square. He had found his schtick and supporting friends. I am forever searching for the something new. Sometimes its just about the journey and not the destination.

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Nov 20 - 01:52 PM

Classic SNL skit (Julia Child)

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Nov 20 - 01:57 PM

Bassomatic.
Its a dessert topping, its a floor wax.
Cheeburgercheeburgercheeburger

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Nov 20 - 04:09 PM

That sketch was just horrid.

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Raggytash
Date: 23 Nov 20 - 04:33 PM

Was that sketch supposed to be funny?

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 23 Nov 20 - 05:03 PM

I thought it quite funny; rather Pythonesque.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Nov 20 - 05:55 PM

Pythonesque only in the sense of the exploding fat man in the restaurant, in m'humble. One of the Python sketches that was nastily unfunny.

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Bill D
Date: 23 Nov 20 - 07:08 PM

SNL has not been 'really' funny for several years... except for a few skits parodying Trump and his cohorts. I usually don't bother with it.
I DO miss the heyday of Monty Python and Blackadder and saw 'most' of Blackadder a few years ago when NPR ran them.. not always in order.
   Humo(u)r, however you spell it, is always a touchy topic. I know a couple of intelligent, nice guys who seem to favor jokes common with adolescent boys that I didn't find funny when I was their age. I even watch 'classic' comedy like The 3 Stooges and the Marx Brothers with reservations. They were innovative, but so often mean and crude in their depiction of women and minorities.
   These days it seems that American stand-up comedians feel bound to include a lot of sexual humor that is way too 'heavy'. (yes, Benny Hill was seen over here many years ago and it was 'cleverly' smarmy.)
   Most humor has always been based on discomfort or embarrassment or ridicule of 'someone', and this can be done with varying degrees of subtleness and taste, especially when the butt is some ethnic or racial group. I have seen some jokes that were VERY creative and clever, but hateful and nasty. It ain't easy..

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Nov 20 - 08:06 PM

Couldn't agree more with all that, Bill. I'd also say that whatever our individual takes on humour are, no-one gets hurt if we don't agree...

I happen to be an especial fan of the sort of humour that appeals to the average five-year-old. It's not silly, not at all, it's very funny! That chimes with my life's philosophy, which is that I've never wanted to grow up. I mean, how boring is that...

"Mummy, mummy, when I grow up I want to be a politician!"

"Don't be silly, dear, you can't do both..."

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Bill D
Date: 24 Nov 20 - 10:41 AM

Ahh.. but 5 year old humor is different than 12 year old...

"Look down your shirt and spell 'attic'." I didn't

and even at 12, I saw little humor in these:
https://humoropedia.com/little-johnny-jokes/

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Bill D
Date: 24 Nov 20 - 10:51 AM

Well.. some of those are clever, but the one I thought was there was not.. here it is:
https://thebigsmoke.com/2018/11/28/i-am-so-offended-by-this-joke/

It goes on to list several examples of what I avoided... (it really wasn't a matter of being **offended** by them... it was that idea that teller telegraphed the punchline in the setup. A good joke makes the punchline a surprise.)

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 Nov 20 - 01:10 PM

I think they are over-clever, often with an unpleasant streak, and some are classic examples of why some Brits find some American humour unfunny. Sorry, Bill! I thought the doctor one was pretty good, though it's an exceptionally old one.

Doctor to patient, your problem is that you've got hypochondria. Sez patient with a sigh, I might as well have that - I've got everything else...

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Bill D
Date: 24 Nov 20 - 05:47 PM

Yeah.. that one was pretty clever. It's close enough to reality to make a point. I really like jokes that mirror human foibles without being TOO crude or offensive to folks. I've posted some in the past in joke threads.

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Bill D
Date: 24 Nov 20 - 05:52 PM

Here.. 2015
2015

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Bill D
Date: 24 Nov 20 - 05:57 PM

You have some good ones there also

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Nov 20 - 06:46 PM

I suppose we wish that 2020 was funnier

Humans were harmed in the course of this year. Pets have had extra loving attention.

Subject: RE: BS: The weird year that was 2020
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Nov 20 - 10:33 AM

The human race was hit by a new contagious virus in 2020
The entire race slowed down and there was time to think
There were still the essential people who care and feed us
There are still people racing to pay the rent and find food.
But I had time to think of people I had misjudged or forgotten.
We can only see the eyes of some but that is a very good thing.
Just like our teeth are our only visible skeleton our eyes
are our only visible part of our brain and nervous system.
Looking deeper, first impressions and tendancies no longer matter.
Beyond introspection there are the projects old made new again.
There are a few new beginings and even more closed books.
Mortality pushes some away but draws many closer to life.
So I love you all even when your inlination is to tell me to
Fuck Off.