Posts by Matthew Booth2

frozenheron7 said:Great. 🙂

There’s actually a law in Finland that penalizes spelling mistakes on public signage, posters, and stuff like that. Honestly, I’m kind of on board with it. It affects all of us who have to walk past them and read them. If we had that here, about 90% of our local bakeries would be getting slapped with fines and forced to redo their signs immediately.

I get where that's coming from, I really do, but language is this living, breathing thing that’s constantly shifting. Words die out, others morph, new ones just pop up out of nowhere. If you try to freeze everything in place, we’d probably end up losing entire letters altogether. Take me, for example—I can't be bothered with accents, and I'm definitely not typing out things like "tch" or whatever...😁

Sandra Brooks28 said:...for me... sometimes... purely for my own personal aesthetic reasons...🤣🤣🤣

I guess everyone’s got their own thing going on. 😉🙂

🙂 no way.....
Don't get me wrong—emojis aren't inherently bad. Digital screens feel pretty sterile, and if you tell someone to "get lost" without adding a little smiley face at the end, they might take it much harder than you intended. In that sense, emojis are actually useful tools to prevent misunderstandings.
The problem is that people often lean on them just to mask a limited vocabulary. Pictures can convey just as much weight as words, right?

If you look at it that way, even the ellipses people leave behind actually carry weight. All those little punctuation marks are essentially visual substitutes for something else. Ellipses, dashes... they act as a pause in thought, or maybe they’re just a way to signal a mood, depending on what's being discussed.

Some people gravitate toward images, others prefer words. Who knows? Maybe one day I'll stumble upon a musical score posted here too...

I’ve always had a soft spot for those little emojis... 😁
But honestly, seeing them all over my Facebook feed is getting exhausting.
To me, it just feels like people are running out of actual words to say.

Dennis Adams said:Man, I am totally with you on this. I could never bring myself to trash talk someone in front of a crowd just to look like some big shot. If I've got something to say to someone, it’s a one-on-one thing. And yeah, like you said, you shouldn't go sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. It weirds me out how people claim they want the truth, but then they get all offended the second you actually give it to them.

"The truth shall set you free," or so some wise guy once said.
But let's be real—there are certain truths that are just plain brutal to face, even when you're alone with your own thoughts. Usually, when people get angry about hearing the truth, it’s because it’s something they’ve been desperately trying to ignore in themselves.
When you're navigating these waters, you have to realize that if there's a part of the truth someone isn't ready to swallow, it might be smarter to hold your tongue or just wait for a better moment to bring it up.

Joseph Gonzalez57 said:Naivety is essentially just accepting information from various sources without ever pausing to question if they're actually credible; naiva is really just about misplaced trust, where a naive individual simply wants to believe whoever happens to be serving them a narrative.
It isn't some sort of pathology or medical condition... it's a choice.
Is it curable? Not exactly. But one could certainly attempt to nudge someone in a different direction using more subtle, non-invasive methods... because the moment they realize what you're doing, they'll grow suspicious and likely double down on their faith in the other side.

I'm with you on this one. It really does come down to a choice.
Personally, I choose to give people the benefit of the doubt. Sure, I get burned sometimes, but I figure everyone is innocent until proven otherwise. Does that make me naive? Probably.
But honestly, turning into someone who trusts absolutely nobody sounds like a pretty miserable way to live.

Keith Ortiz4 said:So, I’m out for a walk today with my three-month-old (who basically lives in my arms), and we decide to stop at an outdoor patio for a quick break. I order two sparkling waters, and within minutes, the baby just starts crying. It’s not just a whimper—it’s a full-on meltdown. I tried holding him, but nothing worked; he just wanted to be carried. He was clearly overstimulated and fussy. Honestly, I felt so embarrassed. In a moment of total desperation, I just set him down to lie there and cry for about ten minutes while I had a cigarette and finished my water. Eventually, the crying turned into this intense, piercing screaming.

Just a few yards away, there was this group of about six people in their 30s, and they were staring at me the whole time.

When I finally decided to head out, I apologized for the noise. They didn't even say anything back; one of them just gave a little wave, like a "whatever" gesture.

I really want to know what you guys think. Was I being judged?

Was it because I was being "rude" by staying and making everyone listen to the screaming instead of just leaving immediately? Or were they judging me for letting the baby cry while I sat there calmly smoking and drinking?

How would you have reacted if you saw this happening? What would your take be, and honestly, how should I have handled it?

You pretty much answered your own question about why they thought it was weird.
My advice? Grab a sparkling water at some local corner cafe. The regulars who actually know you usually have a bit more empathy—they might even offer to help with the baby.
As for me, if I saw that happening, I’d feel for the woman. But if I actually stepped in and offered to hold the baby so she could get a break, I’d probably end up being labeled the crazy one.

Quote: slip?

Lord Byron says: I couldn't find much of substance on the topic after digging through Google, so I'm left wondering: if you actually ran into him, would you view that specific association—using a dick as a symbol for being annoying—as a totally random, unconscious choice made without any deeper intent? Or do you think that when people are swearing (and we can safely assume profanity happens when self-control is at its lowest), they occasionally stumble into a Freudian

haha, yeah, I suspect there might be something to that Freud stuff...
though could it just be a plain old case of having a limited vocabulary?