Time to abandon TAS?

[Gene]

Of course, I can't remember the last time a moderator chided someone for not using TAS. I can't recall doing it... and the non-TAS word is used in this thread and I haven't said a word. . . yes, I'm enjoying myself using non-TAS instead of the word. I need something to smile about today.

What is not wanted are links to auctions posted in the classified area or the forum itself.

We typically all behave well here and as long as we are thinking of others and apologizing if we get out of hand sometimes, I think this gathering place will do alright.

Now back to our irregularly scheduled calculator discussions... such as my debates on HHC 2020 presentations.

Maybe ...

The top 10 worst HP calculators ever made
The best non-graphing TI model ever made
Collecting calculators: Whatever you do, don't buy these!

[Valentin Albillo]

.
Hi, Bob:

(06-20-2020 09:54 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  My intention was to comment that by being German, you are inherently both direct and an advocate for what you think is right (even if others don't agree).

Funny, I'm like that too and I'm not German.

Stereotyping much ?

Best regards.
V.

[mfleming]

(06-20-2020 10:16 PM)Gene Wrote:  Maybe ...

The top 10 worst HP calculators ever made
The best non-graphing TI model ever made
Collecting calculators: Whatever you do, don't buy these!

What were they thinking: Bugs, color schemes, key layouts and other irritants

Post any of these as a thread topic and the presentation will write itself

[Dave Britten]

(06-20-2020 10:16 PM)Gene Wrote:  Now back to our irregularly scheduled calculator discussions... such as my debates on HHC 2020 presentations.

Maybe ...

The top 10 worst HP calculators ever made
The best non-graphing TI model ever made
Collecting calculators: Whatever you do, don't buy these!

How about the Casio fc-200 (not the fc-200V), which is one of my favorite financial/business calculators?

[rprosperi]

(06-21-2020 12:05 AM)Valentin Albillo Wrote:  Funny, I'm like that too and I'm not German.

Stereotyping much ?

Best regards.
V.

Me too, and neither am I.

So, probably best to not stereotype and should have never done so, whatever my intentions. It seems folks only seem to find negatives so probably best not to opine further. But I've no problem at all Valentin with you calling me out for stereotyping; it's simply wrong.

[Nad]

Hello!

(06-21-2020 01:46 AM)rprosperi Wrote:  It seems folks only seem to find negatives...

People are easily offended these days, look at the decline in comedy over the years due to political correctness.

[Thomas Okken]

(06-21-2020 05:31 AM)Nad Wrote:  Hello!

(06-21-2020 01:46 AM)rprosperi Wrote:  It seems folks only seem to find negatives...

People are easily offended these days, look at the decline in comedy over the years due to political correctness.

Citation needed.

Maybe there is a decline in bigoted jokes. Those were never funny to begin with, so good riddance. Those people will just have to find themselves a safe space, I guess.

[Guenter Schink]

(06-21-2020 12:05 AM)Valentin Albillo Wrote:  Stereotyping much ?

About stereotyping: In the early 90s I served as a field officer at SHAPE (European military Headquarters of NATO) at Mons in Belgium. There we had our fun with stereotyping, we took the opposite of what was expected. Some examples I recall

A perfect NATO-Officer should be:
humorous like a German
flexible like an American(US)
straightforward like a Brit
available like a Belgian
sober like a Canadian
always on time like an Italian
multilingual like a French
generous like a Dutch

etc...

Another one:
The world would be heaven
if the police was British
the lovers were Italian
the engineers were German
the bankers were Swiss
the cooks were French

But the world would be hell
if the police was German
the bankers were Italian
the cooks were British
the engineers were French
the lovers were Swiss

Günter

My apologies for this silly contribution

[Thomas Okken]

(06-21-2020 08:31 PM)Guenter Schink Wrote:  But the world would be hell
if the police was German
the bankers were Italian
the cooks were British
the engineers were French
the lovers were Swiss

I think French engineers and British cooks are getting a bad rap here.
Regarding the former, consider the Eiffel Tower, the TGV, the Concorde, the Millau Viaduct, and the Citroën DS, to name a few.
Regarding the latter, consider the Full English Breakfast. Checkmate.

[pinkman]

I’m a French engineer, and I also enjoy eating scones, English muffins, and even Marmite (or should I say TOM - the other marmelade?). So what should I think? I’m joking, if not said seriously, I’ve always found these jokes funny. I remember having read this one in an Italian restaurant in Switzerland near the French border, it had all its sense!

Thanks Thomas for the defense of the French Engineering, but don’t worry, we did not really sell any Concorde, we created the Minitel, and our PC keyboards have 1 dedicated key for an accentuated character used in only 1 word!
Fortunately Bernard Parisse is French, he saves all of us!

[Edit] Cyrille de Brebisson is French also, French engineers are saved!

[rprosperi]

(06-21-2020 10:05 PM)pinkman Wrote:  ... our PC keyboard have 1 dedicated key for an accentuated character used in only 1 word!

Don't keep us in suspense... we've got know... what is the word???

Fortunately, Sylvain Côté is French Canadian, as I'm sure he'd have a different opinion.

[Thomas Okken]

(06-22-2020 01:09 AM)rprosperi Wrote:  

(06-21-2020 10:05 PM)pinkman Wrote:  ... our PC keyboard have 1 dedicated key for an accentuated character used in only 1 word!

Don't keep us in suspense... we've got know... what is the word???

Fortunately, Sylvain Côté is French Canadian, as I'm sure he'd have a different opinion.

où

Just one word, but it is a common one, at least!

[pinkman]

(06-22-2020 01:11 AM)Thomas Okken Wrote:  où

Just one word, but it is a common one, at least!

Yes. “où” = “where”.
The accent helps to avoid confusion with “ou” = “or”.

[grsbanks]

(06-21-2020 10:05 PM)pinkman Wrote:  we created the Minitel

You mean that device that completely stifled the development of the internet in France in the '90s because France Telecom was still pushing paid for telematic services over a slow (1200 baud down, 75 baud up) line?

Thankfully, the infrastructure in France caught up massively once the minitel had died its death. I remember in Chinon back in 2004 getting connection speeds that equalled and sometimes surpassed what I'm getting today in the UK, and I got phone calls to about 30 countries at no charge on top of my internet subscription.

[pinkman]

We all cried because the people in charge of the Minitel did not think to reuse the VT100 de facto standard (“not invented here” syndrome). And yes they used the Minitel argument to denigrate Internet.
Then the opening of the telco market to other competitors than France Telecom only was done upon the FT infrastructure, which accelerated it, but it was too late to develop the startup infrastructure we saw growing so fast in the Silicon Valley (and other places).

[toml_12953]

(06-22-2020 05:11 AM)pinkman Wrote:  

(06-22-2020 01:11 AM)Thomas Okken Wrote:  où

Just one word, but it is a common one, at least!

Yes. “où” = “where”.
The accent helps to avoid confusion with “ou” = “or”.

Context could do the same thing, couldn't it?
Où est le livre?
Ou est le livre?

Would anyone wonder what was meant in the second sentence? Or is the book?

Oh well. I always wondered why the French took a character out of some words but then inserted a mark to remind us that the character is missing:
Old French: fenestre
New French: fenêtre

[pinkman]

There are lots of examples like this one. Hôpital, maître, île...

Other tricky namesakes:
Votre -> Your
Vôtre -> Yours
Voir -> See
Voire (don’t pronounce the “e”) -> Even

And also, inexistant grammatical rules:
Adjective qualifiers:
- English: before the name
- French: often after, sometimes before, sometimes before or after, with the risk of changing the significance of the sentence... (“un homme grand”: a tall man ; “un grand homme”: a famous man)

We love these traps! We use them to be sure that a French man/woman abroad will never be unemployed, at worst s/he will be a French teacher.

[Thomas Okken]

(06-22-2020 12:49 PM)toml_12953 Wrote:  Oh well. I always wondered why the French took a character out of some words but then inserted a mark to remind us that the character is missing:
Old French: fenestre
New French: fenêtre

It's not just a reminder, or at least it wasn't always. The circumflex used to indicate vowel lengthening, and in some cases it still does, like votre/vôtre, or in Belgian French in general.

[grsbanks]

(06-22-2020 04:15 PM)Thomas Okken Wrote:  It's not just a reminder, or at least it wasn't always. The circumflex used to indicate vowel lengthening, and in some cases it still does, like votre/vôtre, or in Belgian French in general.

It still does in Welsh, for example.

Trivia question: how many letters are there in the Welsh alphabet? It's less than 26...

[Geoff Quickfall]

“ Trivia question: how many letters are there in the Welsh alphabet? It's less than 26...”

20 and they are all consonants:

B,C,D,F,G,H,J,K,L,M,N,P,Q,R,S,T,V,W,X,Z

GFF QCKFLL