Former Member

Not from me you won’t! ;-)

I would submit that the small population of the Netherlands proves that big balls aren’t necessarily related to fertility! Remember where the highest population countries are! Testicle size is an aesthetic preference, not necessarily a biological advantage. ;-) Are you suggesting that the bisexual male population of the Netherlands is responsible for entire reproductivity of the country? (Since all the straight boys are stoned out of their minds while plugging the holes in dikes and all the Gay boys are unlikely to be reproducing in large numbers.) That might explain why prostitutes need to advertise themselves in brothel windows to drum up business! ;-)

Since they’re all stoned all the time, they probably don’t notice! ;-)

With the US, we coopted the adjective for pretty much an entire hemisphere, while you use the name of two states to describe yourself – it’s as if we called ourselves ‘Dakota’ or ‘Carolina’! ;-)

Naw! We know you all live in windmills, wear wooden shoes, and call your whole country ‘Holland’! ;-) Oh, and little boys have to poke their fingers in tiny holes in dikes to plug them all the time! Do they have classes outdoors for all those kids stuck sealing the holes? And haven’t they figured out a way to prevent those holes from eroding through all of your dikes yet? ;-)

I’ve been thinking: if we took Ryder out of the equation, how many parents would want their thirteen-year-old being left in a patient’s room in the psych ward? But their mother’s reaction to finding her baby boy, Oli, in Ryder’s room was justified in her mind because that only multiplied that discomfort! She wouldn’t have been happy with Teddy no matter who the patient was! She would have wanted her baby to be doing his homework in Teddy’s office or at least a quiet lounge or waiting room. ;-)

Yay! ;-)

Oliver is almost the kid Teddy & Ryder should have had after Teddy graduated from high school and they got married. Explaining things to Oli helps them begin to understand things better themselves. Oli is a catalyst for changes in Teddy & Ryder’s relationship. (Kind of like how your car’s catalytic converter transforms toxic gasses into cleaner air.) ;-)

Are they as terrifying as Doctor Who’s Weeping Angels? ;-)

Yes! Soul Music is definitely a carefully crafted tale with well developed characters and a compelling story arc! While I enjoy a select group of US sitcoms, I also enjoy a selection of Britcoms ranging from As Time Goes By and To The Manor Born to Red Dwarf. There is a time and place for flashy as well as compelling! ;-)

So now you’re going to take away my Y chromosome because I don’t like fights or violence? ;-)

There are many other stories here for the Short Attention Span crowd. Stories without a coherent plot line or story arc and poorly developed characters. Loud and flashy gets a lot of attention, but carefully crafted tales with well developed characters and a compelling story arc will stand the test of time. ;-)

I finished reading all of Nigel Gordon’s stories and have started on finishing all of Rick Beck’s stories that I haven’t read yet. At the moment it’s Age of Discovering, a revised version being posted on Awesome Dude, and the pre-revision version on iomfats.org because I wanted to find out how it ends! I’d read many of Rick’s stories previously. ;-)

There are cases where two words are homonyms (or near-homonyms) in some accents or dialects, but don’t sound alike to the rest of us. I don’t think that’s happening in your example, but it is a slight possibility. Hearing a British news reporter talking about ‘glass ee urs’ when we would say ‘glay shurs’ always amuses me! But ‘shed yules’ and ‘left ten nents’ are nearly as amusing to me! ;-) Those would be spelled glaciers, schedules, and lieutenants, respectively. And we’d say ’sked you uls’ and ‘loo ten nents’ instead. I’m not even going to try to describe how Australians sound to me! ;-)

Are you referring to this one by Joel?

I have no problem with very obscure words or unusual synonyms. I have no problem with slang. I only pointed out that some authors try to make their text more interesting without really understanding the meaning(s) of a word the chosen at random out of a thesaurus. ;-) I like expanding my vocabulary even if I forget the word a few minutes after I’ve looked it up. But in some cases, I’ll vaguely remember hearing a word that defines a concept. But I’ll have forgotten not only the word, but also where I came across it! ;-) Just remember how silly some machine translations of non-Indo-European languages into English can be! Ask Timmy about odd machine translations from English to Danish! Nobody really wants a reader to think that’s what they’re reading! ;-)

@Cole Matthews, your posting of Replies suggest that a new chapter is coming very soon! ;-)

Sensitivity training should be part of kindergarten class along with sharing! We’d all be better off if everybody learned these lessons. Some adults seemed to have miss out on both of them. ;-)

I hope now that Daniel is permanently gone, Dick will be able to relax and deal with his anxiety problem. I’m sure Nellie will notice the mug she gave him is missing and will ask about it at some point. How will Dick explain everything to kindergartener Nellie? A very complete story in 2000 words! ;-)

Geoff lacks self-confidence and assertiveness precisely because his mother continually puts him down. My parents weren’t like Geoff’s mother, but I interpreted what they said to me as putdowns. They never seemed to realize just how much more sensitive I was to criticism than my brothers were. Even now it’s difficult for me to change lifelong patterns even with the help of therapists. ;-) I could use an empathetic Dane like Peter now, @Timothy M.. ;-)

It’s silly I know, but I tend to think that the US has a monopoly on homophobes (at least among the major English-speaking countries)! Then I remember Margaret Court and realize that they’re everywhere. As difficult to eradicate as any other vermin that infest shadowy crevices and hidden places. Geoff has had the triumph of retaining a job. With Tony’s assistance, he’s working on Coming Out to his rather clueless mother. He and Tony are also progressing slowly in their relationship – even to the point of buying a bed together! Hopefully the loudly bigoted woman won’t slow Geoff’s gradually increasing confidence! ;-)

That’s what I thought! But since Cait said she’d call Teddy & Oliver’s mother, I’m thinking it’s Harry! And I’m worried because things are going so well right now! I’m really afraid for Harry. I think Ryder would make a good mentor for Oli. Unlike Teddy who he knows warts and all (mostly warts from Oli’s perspective), Ryder is someone who understands not being popular and not doing well in school. The major advantage is that he’s more likely to listen to what Ryder says even if it’s exactly the same thing Teddy and their parents have been trying to tell him! Old just needs to get past his hero worship of a very flawed rock star! ;-)

When I come across an unusual word that I’m unfamiliar with, I look it up. But sometimes the definitions that do appear seem to be off from what the writer intended. In those cases, I have to believe that a thesaurus was used to find a synonym, but wasn’t double-checked for the actual meaning and whether it fits the context! I realize that the ‘wrong’ words are sometimes chosen for effect, but there are cases when it’s just too far off to be intentional. ;-) While the intent is admirable, care should be taken so readers remain impressed by your vocabulary rather than amused by your mistakes. ;-)

That seems to fit my homelessness more than any jobs I’ve had. I learned more during that period than probably any other time in my life! It certainly reinforced my [pointedly unmentioned] political beliefs! ;-)

All of my jobs were initially very confusing. I don’t do well in new situations and try to avoid them as much as possible – I even try to take friends with me when I go new places! But after I got used to the conditions (which in retail always involved learning how to operate the system that the cash register was running – including a manual register back in 1977!), things eventually became boring and routine (and my mind began to wander). ;-)