Um, what?!
I'm thinking the writer means that half of all words used in English conversation could be found amongst the 100 most-common words.
Zoe: Next time we smuggle stock, let's make it something smaller. Wash: Yeah, we should start dealing in those black-market beagles.
'Safe'
Natter .44 Magnum: Do You Feel Chatty, Punk?
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
tommyrot - May 01, 2006 8:17:40 am PDT #4731 of 10002
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
§ ita § - May 01, 2006 8:18:29 am PDT #4732 of 10002
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
tommyrot - May 01, 2006 8:19:20 am PDT #4733 of 10002
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
Stupid fake pet communication trick
Heh.
Yeah, makes sense that the parrot had been exposed as a fraud years ago....
bon bon - May 01, 2006 8:24:09 am PDT #4734 of 10002
It's five thousand for kissing, ten thousand for snuggling... End of list.
I'm glad Language Log caught that "deathlessly moronic" line. I imagine the parrot doesn't actually use the 100 common words like, say, definite and indefinite articles, pronouns, verbs...
Good lord that was a stupid assertion.
ETA: I mean, imagine! You only have to learn 100 words in English and you can read it pretty well!
Strega - May 01, 2006 8:26:37 am PDT #4735 of 10002
The "project" site linked somewhere in there is pretty amusing, too
Aimee is part of an emerging group of conceptually based artists interested in exploring our human relationship with Nature in work dealing with animals, biology, environmental concerns, and quantum aspects of consciousness.
She's also well versed in Newspeak!
Tom Scola - May 01, 2006 8:27:18 am PDT #4736 of 10002
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
You would think that someone qualified to be a journalist would be able to understand the concept of grammar.
tommyrot - May 01, 2006 8:31:29 am PDT #4737 of 10002
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
I ran across the link on Digg, which has a pretty low BS threshold or something.
Here's the Digg page: [link]
This comment cracked me up:
And finally - what's with the thousands of parrot articles posted by [user] iCEFX? Is this digg.com, news for parrots or something? Thought this site was about technology, not parrots, even if they are psychic.
Another great comment, sadly lacking in sarcasm:
I actually didn't believe this story until I saw that it came from the BBC.
Jessica - May 01, 2006 8:32:07 am PDT #4738 of 10002
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
Any NYCistas work near Lincoln Center? David Blaine is getting into his aquarium sphere right now, apparently. I so dearly want someone to break it out of whatever stand its on and roll it down the street...
§ ita § - May 01, 2006 8:33:03 am PDT #4739 of 10002
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Is that where he gets Drowned Alive? That phrase is a dumb one.
Jessica - May 01, 2006 8:34:27 am PDT #4740 of 10002
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
Yeah, he's going to spend a week in there with food/water/air tubes, and then he's going to have the tubes removed so he can set the world record for underwater breath-holding.