SASQ

[Weremensh]

You mean, we could've had commercially viable blimp travel if it weren't for one really stupid mistake?

I want my Blimp Airways!

There were other problems with lighter than air craft, and they led to assorted other wrecks; they're rather fragile, and hard to control in bad weather. They're also expensive to operate, and tricky to unload (they tend to want to rise when they lose ballast). Still, some of these problems have been dealt with, and they have great fuel economy compared to heavier than air craft; so we may well see Dirigible Air by and by.

Btw; blimps aren't rigid, dirigibles are. The latter would be much more useful to handle significant cargo or passenger loads. Heck; someday everyone in America could by flying one. We could truly be one nation in dirigible!

(runs)

[gorilla]

that was the worst pun i've heard
*looks for shotgun reloads*

[Crake]

You haven't been around sluggy.net long enough if that is the worst pun you have ever heard.

Grammar question: In the English language, every pronoun except "I" is not capitalized. What is so special about "I"?

[Malice]

Grammar question: In the English language, every pronoun except "I" is not capitalized. What is so special about "I"?

Either that reflects a linguistic narcissism in setting the self above all others--or whoever invented that just thought the "dot" would look dorky all by itself.

Besides, we all know there are no real reasons for anything in the English language.

[Surgoshan]

Mostly it was to avoid confusion. Remember that before the 19th century everything was written by hand. "i" is really a tiny letter, and it's easy to confuse it as part of another word. In an era where spelling was really a matter of personal preference, this could lead to confusion very rapidly.

Almost as soon as people stopped using the germanic "ich" as the first person singular pronoun, they began capitalizing the "i" that had taken its place. In most of England, this shift took place in the 13th and 14th centuries, and by the 15th was firmly established everywhere but the south of England, where "ich" was still seen as late as the 18th century.

Plus, early typesetters often used "J" and "j" to represent the pronoun. English was not an easily read language.

So, in Middle English "i eek" (translation: I also)... Is that

"i eek"
"ieek"
"jeek"
"j eek"

Write that by hand in a heavy gothic script and tell me it'd be easy to distinguish without capitalizing? It's not a matter of ego, but of necessity.

[Kea]

Random grammar question.
Can you pluralize the word "manga"?
Is there such thing as "mangas"?

Or is Manga like Moose? (Now there's a funny mental image.)

[angrysunbird]

Random grammar question.
Can you pluralize the word "manga"?
Is there such thing as "mangas"?

Or is Manga like Moose? (Now there's a funny mental image.)

I always thought as a genre, it couldn't be capitalised. You can't have multiple music, or literature, or Anime.

[FreakyBoy]

Random grammar question.
Can you pluralize the word "manga"?
Is there such thing as "mangas"?

Or is Manga like Moose? (Now there's a funny mental image.)

You'd have to ask the Japanese. Technically, "manga" doesn't follow English grammar rules, being a Japanese word. It hasn't been adopted into the lexicon (as have words like crossant), so it still follows Japanese rules.

Personally, I'd pluralise "manga" into "Japanese comics", but I'm weird like that. The usage I most commonly hear does make it a word like moose.

[qcubed]

Random grammar question.
Can you pluralize the word "manga"?
Is there such thing as "mangas"?

Or is Manga like Moose? (Now there's a funny mental image.)

You'd have to ask the Japanese. Technically, "manga" doesn't follow English grammar rules, being a Japanese word. It hasn't been adopted into the lexicon (as have words like crossant), so it still follows Japanese rules.

Personally, I'd pluralise "manga" into "Japanese comics", but I'm weird like that. The usage I most commonly hear does make it a word like moose.

Maybe in English.

In Japanese and Korean (and I think Chinese), you don't have plural nouns as such--quantities are denoted by counter particles--so, 1-counter manga, 2-counter manga, 3-counter manga, or 1-counter human, 2-counter human, 3-counter human. Without the counter, context reveals whether it should be taken in plural or singular sense.

[Kea]

In which case, I kept manga singular. I've mostly seen English articles refer to it as singular too. I was just having to edit an art criticism essay written by a French woman in English, and she kept sticking an S on manga. I practically had to rewrite half the sentences, they sounded so awkward.

[gorilla]

Q: Is Goofy a dog?

[kirby1024]

Random grammar question.
Can you pluralize the word "manga"?
Is there such thing as "mangas"?

Are we talking about the comic book itself or the genre? Genre labels can be pluralised, much the way that "people" can be pluralised into "peoples" (as in "The different peoples of the world"), so you could talk about the many mangas of the world (and I personally don't sense anything wrong with that). If it's just the comic book itself, again, I don't see an issue with pluralising it (as in "I read three mangas in a row").

Manga's probably not fully naturalised, it's true, but it's pretty damn close in several subcultures. Pluralise it as your dialect demands.

Q: Is Goofy a dog?

In theory, yes. Pluto is also a dog, but a much doggier dog.

[kinkajou]

Can you pluralize the word "manga"?

Well... if you adopt latin rules you get the plural of manga to be mangae, or if you regard manga as already plural, the singular would be mangum.

Sure it's pluralisable! Whether you'd actually use a plural like that is another matter...

Sorry... couldn't resist. I'll climb back under my rock...

[Surgoshan]

"Mangum" sounds particularly dirty.

[qcubed]

Not being a Goofy fan, I'll say this: he's not a dog, he's crap that's supposed to be comical but isn't. Bully on Disney for creating that eyesore of a character.

My question:

How is reality TV interesting at all? How in the hell could American Idol be that riveting?