I guess I'm a low-class person, then.

Fuck. And here I thought I was fuckin' middle-class.

Well, shit.

Yep. Time for MM to take up bowling... and maybe get a pickup truck... and a Camaro on blocks on the front lawn....

yeah, in the States it's a word you use not just to be insulting, but either in lieu of or as an open invitation to a physical fight.

Yeah, I use it as everything from an insult to a verb to a term of affection. Sometimes all three in one sentence!

Didn't have a clue to this fact until I said that I needed a fanny pack, in front of a group of fresh faced university students in Cambridge.

Ahahahahahahahahahha!

I was at a friend's house for dinner once when I was about eight, and her American family were visiting. The mom told the daughter of the family that she was going 'to smack her fanny'. My friend and I burst into hysterics and got sent away from the table.

In the category of "that doesn't happen every day," a well-dressed man with a very pricey large-format camera just knocked at my door and asked if he could take pictures of my native azalea. He saw it driving by and said it was the first one he'd seen in bloom. I said yes, of course. I'm pretty sure there's no way for an azalea to sign a photo release.

I do not cuss in front of my mother. Sometimes I recommend a movie and then she gets all upset about the language, which I had not noticed at all.

Yep. Time for MM to take up bowling... and maybe get a pickup truck... and a Camaro on blocks on the front lawn....

And switch from smoking to chewin' tobaccy.

Sometimes I recommend a movie and then she gets all upset about the language, which I had not noticed at all.

My dad does that. For instance, he walked in on me watching Pulp Fiction during the overdose scene. And he walked away from The Usual Suspects pretty quickly.

Okay, clue the clueless Amurcian in. What connotation does fanny have in Britain?

Only tangentially related to swearing...in that I've done some swearing about it in the last few days.

I wanted to ask Vortex and other lawyerly/intellectual property types a question about the Company X situation.

Vortex, I really appreciated the c&d language you offered yesterday. My question now focuses on me not really trusting myself to handle this situation with any clarity.

If I were to get a lawyer to assist me with getting the company to either, quit using my ideas or to pay me for the privilege of using my ideas, what would I need to have in order to present to that lawyer? I have the original document, the computer it was written on, and a series of emails.

And where does one look for an intellectual property attorney?

I just feel like I screwed myself by not being more vigilant when I first talked to this company and I don't want to make such gross errors again. I feel like I need an outline of steps and a direction in which to point my efforts.

Thanking you in advance for any insight!!

Hey, MM, I swear a lot, too! I think that MOST people don't because there is a weird cultural expectation that it's not what "nice" people do. It's holdover, but I think it's still a part of American mores. Swearing is still routinely bleeped on TV and the FCC brings fines for it. Kids aren't allowed to do it in school or writers in newspapers. Why it's such a big issue, I don't know.

FTR--I swear and many people I know and respect do too.

Okay, I have gone bowling, and enjoyed it.

I did used to own a pickup truck.

Never had the Camaro, or blocks, or, until recently, a lawn on which to put them.

I tried chewin t'baccy once and it damn near made me puke.

So, contrary to what I thought, I guess I am just a low-class redneck yokel.

I may as well scream "FUCK!" at the top of my lungs and piss in the potted plant in the lobby. I obviously cain't be 'spected ta unnerstand no inside terlet!

What connotation does fanny have in Britain?

It's the kind-of-dirty kidsy word for vagina.