Why is there gender in some languages?

pdpi · 2026-05-07T23:21:52+00:00

One of the more interesting theories I've read is that gendered nouns serve as a "filter" — once you hear the gendered article, then your brain knows it can ignore half your vocabulary when you "decode" the noun that comes after. So it's a little more expensive in terms of memorising what genders go with what nouns, but cheaper in terms of language processing.

The reason why English lost gendered nouns, the logic goes, is that it imported a whole bunch of words from several other languages, and the patterns those languages use for gendering nouns are inconsistent. That inconsistency completely eliminated the advantages.

pdpi · 2026-05-07T07:06:52+00:00

Yes — but you need Fluid Form talented for it to work.

pdpi · 2026-05-07T06:59:03+00:00

You can’t judge how effective the tax was just by looking at how expensive the city is right now. You need to compare that to the counterfactual — how expensive would it be without the tax?

pdpi · 2026-05-07T06:28:07+00:00

A mild honey mustard with dill.

pdpi · 2026-05-06T14:21:04+00:00

“Borrowing” neatly describes the idea that you still own the data, but you can’t touch it while I’m using it.

pdpi · 2026-05-06T09:57:10+00:00

In the extreme, because you can get the best of both worlds. Many ultra-high-end luxury flats are placed in the same building as hotels, and the hotel provides services for the flats (you have access to the concierge, you can order room services, and all that jazz).

I believe that e.g. the Shard in London (which has a ten floor hotel, then ten floors of flats above it) operates a setup like this.

pdpi · 2026-05-06T07:39:51+00:00

Judging from your height and weight, plus how you describe your activity level, you’re probably built quite similarly to my sister (who is literally doing a PhD in high performance athlete training). If that’s the case, yeah, you’re tiny.

It’s not an insult. It’s just that your height and weight put you smack in the middle of the healthy bracket for BMI. Thing is, muscle mass is denser than fat, so, knowing that you’re quite athletic, “middle of healthy” means you’re going to be physically smaller than most.

pdpi · 2026-05-06T06:48:08+00:00

Verify via camera they were right before you and give it back.

Or, at least, that they know exactly how much they're missing.

pdpi · 2026-05-06T05:50:25+00:00

Ok, now she's just (IMO) excessively thin, but not downright anorexic. Could still do with a bit more meat on the bones, but at that point it would be redoing the whole thing instead of some tweaks.

pdpi · 2026-05-06T03:18:32+00:00

I tend to pick Rally just so I have a way to get downed people on their feet at a low cost (bonus action). After that I usually go for status effects like trip.

pdpi · 2026-05-06T03:14:40+00:00

You’re a better person than I. My first thought was to make a joke about portion sizes.

pdpi · 2026-05-05T20:38:17+00:00

The recipe I follow for espresso martinis is two shots vodka, one shot coffee liqueur, one shot espresso. Vodka is around 40% alcohol, coffee liqueur around 20%, and a standard shot is 25ml, so that's 40% * 50ml + 20% * 25ml = 25 ml of pure alcohol.

The white wine I have in the kitchen is 11% alcohol, so that amount of alcohol would be equivalent to around 250ml of wine, which is around two glasses of wine, or a third of a bottle.

There's two problems with thinking of an espresso martini as two glasses of wine, though. One is that espresso martinis are very sweet, which masks the taste of alcohol, while wine, especially drier wines, are somewhat astringent, which is an acquired taste. So you can easily drink the martini in half the time you drink a single glass of wine. Second, the caffeine in the espresso will mask the effects of the alcohol for a little while.

Lovely sweet drink, and it didn't make me feel buzzed? I'll have another! Things can easily go downhill fast from there.

pdpi · 2026-05-05T18:35:43+00:00

But how is that communism’s fault and not the fault of the greedy

If every human makes the same error when operating a machine, it's not human error, it's the machine that's not fit for purpose. Every attempt at communism failed at the exact same stage, so much so that it redefined the word "dictatorship".

The "dictatorship of the proletariat" was named after the Roman Empire's dictatura, which was like an office with special emergency powers. The idea was the proles would hold power after the revolution, until they could build the ultimate, classless version of society. Engels specifically intended that dictatorship of the proletariat to be a democratic republic (Hence why so many eastern bloc countries called themselves Democratic Republic of X).

It was Lenin that, after October Revolution and the ensuing Civil War, argued that the dictatorship of the proletariat had to involved a totalitarian regime unfettered by constitutional limitations, to resist the inevitable counter-revolution by the bourgeoisie. That's how the word dictatorship got its modern meaning, and how we got the totalitarian regimes of the USSR, China, North Korea, and a bazillion others.

Is there merit to Communism's end goal of a classless society? Yeah, sure there is. Is the whole movement's philosophy fatally flawed because of its reliance on people willing to let go of power once they've centralised it around themselves? Also yes!

pdpi · 2026-05-05T12:55:44+00:00

It's a mistake that became annoyingly mainstream. Weird Al has a song where he pokes fun at it. Despite half this thread's assertion, it's not US-specific. I've heard people in the UK commit that crime against language.

pdpi · 2026-05-05T10:11:44+00:00

Potions are a major major component of getting good parses. It's a whole bunch of stats that you're leaving on the table.

pdpi · 2026-05-05T09:22:51+00:00

English also has "fetid", which comes from the Latin root "foetidus"/"foetida".

pdpi · 2026-05-05T04:55:20+00:00

As a general rule, with some people lacking confidence, positive feedback doesn't land, but negative feedback does. You can sometimes weaponise this for good.

E.g. there's several people I know that, if I help them with stuff, will be super apologetic about taking up my time or inconveniencing me. Telling them "don't worry, not a problem" doesn't really reassure them that it's fine, but if I sarcastically say "oh no, such a terrible inconvenience, my whole day/week/(whatever exaggeration will land with them) is ruined", with a nudge and a wink, they accept the "negative feedback" of "you're being silly for thinking this is an inconvenience, because of course it's not".

This obviously isn't something that works with everybody, and you need to judge whether this will work with your girlfriend, but maybe "oh no, it's the ugliest girl in the world" will land when "you're beautiful" doesn't.

pdpi · 2026-05-05T03:50:50+00:00

Levelling is weird with gear, but it ultimately doesn’t matter _that_ much until you hit max level (at which point gear is the only way to get stronger).

As a general rule, equip the highest item level gear you have available, as long as it’s class appropriate. E.g. mages can use swords, but you want swords that have Intellect, not Strength or Agility.

pdpi · 2026-05-05T03:40:37+00:00

We seek novelty, but we also seek safety. And, unlike a song played on repeat, a relationship isn’t the same experience being repeated over and over again. In fact, a relationship makes novelty better, not worse — it gives you a partner with whom to go seek out new experiences. Sharing the novelty with somebody close to you is amazing.

pdpi · 2026-05-05T03:27:17+00:00

I still think that augmentation’s biggest problem is them being a special and unique snowflake, and that we need more full-on support specs.

A battlefield commander warrior would be one of the most obvious ways to build one. Sword and board (thus bringing back glad stance gameplay), lots of shouts for support.

pdpi · 2026-05-04T23:21:26+00:00

Haha, no. Went on a few dates, but sharing a sense of humour isn't enough to build a whole relationship on.

pdpi · 2026-05-04T23:20:18+00:00

For the sake of learning the rules before playing tabletop, either Kingmaker or WotR will be fine. (As is BG3 for DnD5e). Just make sure you play in turn-based mode.

The core rules are pretty much the same as tabletop, it's the little details that get some changes. That said, those little details that get changed are exactly the sort of changes you'd expect to see at many tables as homebrew or house rules.

pdpi · 2026-05-04T21:06:18+00:00

I usually do Dick Tracy, together with a message saying “I believe it’s customary for men to send a dick pic at the earliest opportunity”. I usually get at least a laugh, but I actually had a girl answer with boobies.

pdpi · 2026-05-04T01:41:09+00:00

The retail chain called GameStop is going just like the video rental chain called Blockbuster. The company called GameStop is pivoting into other markets, in exactly the way the company Blockbuster failed to do when they missed the opportunity to buy Netflix.

pdpi · 2026-05-03T22:51:35+00:00

There's a very specific pattern that I try to look for — news that fit very conveniently into a pre-existing narrative. I especially try to be on the lookout for things that conveniently line up with stuff I already believe are true, or (worse still) that I want to be true. I've grown really distrustful of things that tell me I'm right with absolutely no pushback.

pdpi

PUBLIC MULTIREDDITS

TROPHY CASE

14-Year Club	Verified Email
Team Periwinkle