Carol the Dabbler

If you're saying that your previous question ("What about the people...?") was merely rhetorical, I think we understand that now.

Just happened across this article about one of Benedict Cumberbatch's forthcoming movies, The Electric Life of Louis Wain, in which he plays the late 19th/early 20th-century English artist famous for his whimsical cat paintings. The film is currently in post-production.

Makes sense to me! By the way, a cichlid is any fish from the family Cichlidae. Certain African species are popular aquarium fish. (No, I didn't know that, I looked it up.)

Well, she's already played a nurse! And goodness knows she's good at quirky roles.

Thanks for your analysis, Distrofol. It seems that the forum software is messing up again, making Distrofol's bullet points basically illegible for anyone using the dark theme. I have not yet found a way to fix such problems by editing, though I do see that switching to the light theme fixes both that and Hikari's white-box problem above. The quick way for the reader to make such dark-on-dark text visible in the dark theme is to highlight it, as though you were planning to copy it (though this may not work on some devices).

Thanks, Herlock. After re-reading the quote that Hikari posted, I agree with both of you. Holmes had no reason to think that Openshaw would leave the main streets, where he should have been reasonably safe. Of course it's possible that his pursuers had trailed him to Baker Street, "borrowed" a cab (I fear for the real driver!) while he was consulting with Holmes, and then "just happened to come along" when he was leaving. Shades of Jefferson Hope!

Right! The staff of this forum is all in favor of letting people post on any threads they want to (other than a very few that may have been locked for various unusual reasons). And we don't understand why the staffs of some other forums will scold members who post in threads that haven't been posted in recently and/or will lock such threads. We're looking into ways of letting people know that the latter is NOT our policy -- because we suspect that some new members needlessly hesitate to post in old threads on this forum, for fear of being chastised.

Hear, hear! Maybe they don't want people posting on old threads because it isn't tidy? Or because it's AGAINST THE RULES!!!!? In any case, you'd think they'd warn you when you join. Oh, wait a minute -- maybe I didn't exactly read the rules? (There are only so many times that I can read the same blinking "be nice" rules before I go nuts. So if a forum I joined recently happened to sneak in something different, I wouldn't have noticed.)

Personally, I always disliked being called miss, because (around here, at least) it often carries a connotation of speaker superiority. For example, a waitress is likely to be called miss, pretty much regardless of her apparent age or the age of the speaker. I will add that "young lady" was even worse, for similar reasons, and also because it frequently accompanied a scolding of some sort. I currently find myself addressing just about any adult or late-teen female as ma'am, especially on the phone, where it's hard to judge ages. I have no idea how younger women take being called that, but to me it's a term of respect. All this depends on where you are, of course. I've heard that in some places it's considered servile to use any such term, rather than calling a person by name or just saying "you." But around here, it's always been sir and ma'am. Also of course, it depends on what language one is speaking, since translations are rarely precise. In which case "ma'am" would be a very good translation!

The important thing is that you HAVE learned this now. And because it was a hard lesson, you're more likely to remember it and therefore benefit from it. I might prefer the assembly line over IT work as well, because I think the most important aspect of a job is the people you work with. I did temporary office work (typing, answering the phone, etc.) for a couple of years, and have fond memories of that job because the virtually all of the people were so nice. I've known a few people who actually are mentally challenged, and they're a lot like anybody else. For example, most are very nice, though some have unpleasant quirks. And (again, just like the rest of us) once they find a job that they're well suited for, they generally do good work.

Thanks, Caya. That's disturbing news. I wish I knew how accurate it is, or how widespread the alleged misbehavior is. A lot of things seem to go viral without much basis -- but of course that doesn't mean everything on the internet is made up!

Don't worry about the white boxes -- they would set the quotation off nicely from the rest of your post if they didn't persist into your final comments. Thanks for your take on the story. Hopefully Distrofol will come back and see it.

This is the first I've heard of Amazon mistreating their employees -- but maybe it's only in Belgium. What sort of mistreatment are you talking about?

Yes, we are online. And no, we're no longer relying on dial-up service. Right now we have DSL service from our (landline) phone company; it's what I'd call medium-speed. So if you'd be happy with that, you're welcome to come visit us! Fortunately we do not have a dog. My favorite is when they do "the wave." (The first time, I thought I was imagining it.) But I haven't seen them do it lately. Of course it never was all night long or even every night, so for all I know I simply haven't been looking at the right time.

Just off the top of my English-speaking head, I'd say that it is used mostly an adjective: I am able to write. I am not able [or I am unable] to fly. But it is also used more or less as an adverb in the expression "able-bodied," meaning physically capable of doing the things that most humans can do. The adjective and adverb are related to the noun "ability": I have the ability to write. I do not have the ability to fly. They're also related to the verbs enable and disable: This pass will enable you to enter. I have disabled the power switch. Well, not exactly! The two related verbs, enable and disable, that I mentioned above, do have those forms. But I can't offhand think of any context where just able is used as a verb. Anyone who can think of such a context is encouraged to post it here.