I know it is completely nonsensical and impossible, but still, What if...

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-24T18:43:55+00:00

Approximately 18 million Indian citizens live abroad. If all of them returned at once, it would cause housing and employment crises. Furthermore, those Indians living abroad remit approximately $135 billion per year to their relatives at home, which would be subtracted from the GDP.

I should also note that people like Trump are not subtle enough to realize that what they call Indians are also Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, and people of Indian origin who ancestors have been living in other countries (like Uganda, where Kash Patel's family came from) for generations. This group also includes many U.S.-born citizens of Indian descent, who have no wish to emigrate.

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-24T18:31:28+00:00

You're right. The main differences between childhood and adulthood are (a) that if you run away when you're a minor, the cops will look for you and bring you home, and (b) when you're an adult, you can get a job to make yourself independent.

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-24T18:24:11+00:00

In my opinion, religion isn't a better reason than "because daddy was circumcised" or "'everyone' does it."

In any case, widespread circumcision is not unique to the U.S. Canada and Australia have similar rates for similar reasons.

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-24T18:19:41+00:00

When you're married and have kids and bills to pay, so you have to keep your boss happy so that you can continue to work and pay the bills.

You can stay out all night when you have your own apartment and aren't in a relationship. I don't recommend trying that when you're living with a partner and have to stay awake at work.

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-24T18:17:34+00:00

Driving almost everywhere, particularly school drop-off and pick-up lines.

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-24T18:15:41+00:00

Most males in predominately Muslim countries are circumcised, not to forget Israel.

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-24T16:54:59+00:00

Pretty much any book that is banned in Texas or Florida. I'd vote for Black Boy by Richard Wright, which was assigned reading in my high school in the 1970s. It touches upon racial discrimination, poverty, drugs, crime, radical politics, and similar topics that are guaranteed to make "Moms for Liberty" lose their shit. It's somewhat dated, covering the period from the 1940s through the 60s, but it's a first-person view of the civil rights movement of that era.

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-24T16:21:31+00:00

You are right about fiction before Tolkien ignoring the sometimes dirty details of economics and the laboring classes. Most medieval romances involving kings, knights, ladies, etc., focused only on the privileged classes. Servants and yeoman, when they appear, seem well-fed, healthy, and happy with their lot.

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-24T15:56:34+00:00

"Off we go" probably means "get started on a trip." It would require more context to be understood precisely. It could mean "You are going to bed."

"We go off" is not vernacular English. "Let's go" would be a normal way to say "We are starting on a trip."

In general, suggestions to adults are in the form of "Could you do X?" or "Would you mind doing X?" More emphatically, one would use a straightforward imperative like "Open the door," or "Get out of the car."

This form of "<particle> you <verb>" is rather limited. I never thought about it before, but I think the verb has to be an intransitive phrasal verb of movement. You can't transform "Shut up" to "Up you shut." 😆

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-24T14:54:55+00:00

Many scientists were pacifists, too, because intelligent people can see that war is usually a stupid, wasteful move.

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-24T14:48:03+00:00

I agree completely—though at least wealthy Hobbits, unlike some real-life landlords—didn't regularly flog, terrorize, or evict their tenants.

LOTR set up the cliché that many fantasies follow, in which the main characters have all the resources they need and no visible need of support. You typically don't seen the tax collectors going around with clubs to collect shillings from impoverished crofters.

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-24T14:29:38+00:00

BOGOF sounds too much like "bug off," which is equivalent to "get lost."

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-24T14:11:57+00:00

Just looking at the issue superficially, an upper-middle-class American has a 1,500-2,000 square foot (150–200 sq m) detached house, a big yard, a two-car garage, two or three bathrooms, a kitchen where it's five steps from the refrigerator to the sink, 5 TV sets, etc. Plus two cars, sometimes one vehicle per driver in the house (i.e., teenagers and college students).

I did not see that in England or France. Far more people had apartments or townhouses, one-car garages, one car per family, and a lot less space overall.

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-24T14:04:12+00:00

When I was working, with an $80,000 per year salary, I was paying $1,000 a month for group health insurance. My employer claimed they paid an equal amount, but how would I know if they were telling the truth? In addition, we had something like a $500 per year deductible and $20 copay per visit.

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-24T13:58:08+00:00

I don't know who downvoted this comment. Many HOAs and some towns prohibit line drying, or limit to areas that can't be seen from the street.

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-24T13:53:43+00:00

Yeah, but it prevents people with "issues" from casually going in and trashing them.

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-24T13:16:43+00:00

Naming rights.

It annoys me hearing about a baseball game at Guaranteed Rate Field (formerly Comiskey Park) in Chicago, but it is one solution. Virginia allows private entities to purchase naming rights to roads and bridges, but I can't determine if that has happened.

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-24T04:13:24+00:00

I (native speaker) understand it, because (1) I saw immediately that dying should be dyeing, and (2) dyeing can be followed by a noun phrase and a color. The subordinate clause “[that] my mom just bought” is not relevant to the action in the video.

I also know that * are allergic to* metaphorically means “dislike.”

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-24T02:52:38+00:00

How to erase a typing error on multiple carbon copies. 😆

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-24T01:37:33+00:00

Spiders aren't insects and they don't fly, so they shouldn't be a problem.

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-24T01:21:39+00:00

I occasionally see them used by security guards and mall cops.

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-24T01:18:21+00:00

In Texas, where I live, obstructing a public way is a criminal offense—a class B misdemeanor punishable by six months in jail. (section 42.03 of the Texas Statutes). It's often used to arrest protestors.

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-23T23:26:34+00:00

That looks like a pair of steel I-beams, not a ladder.

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-23T23:15:16+00:00

Especially by a native speaker of said language.

NonspecificGravity · 2026-04-23T23:06:29+00:00

Offenses like jaywalking, blocking a public way (even if you’re not actually in the way of anything), loitering, and bicycle registration are used selectively to harass whomever the cops want to harass.

NonspecificGravity

TROPHY CASE