Hi -- New here.

[Oneuli]

You know, I first tossed out "Hot Babe Chick" a few times expecting SOMETHING. (Like, 'Do NOT Objectify me!', or something like that)

Then I went with "ching girl" to amp things up a bit, ... you know, at least generate a sneer, some kind of 'emotional response'. Naturally, this was done not directly at you (that would be rude and inappropriate) but within 'earshot' so you would 'hear it'.

I don't think I saw those. I've mostly just been clicking on things that show up as "quoting" me in my "notifications," so if people are referencing me indirectly (especially if they don't use my name, which I sometimes word search for), I don't tend to see it.

Anyway, I don't get the point of trolling for negative emotional responses.

Jack's a gambler, and has determined there is a 50/50 chance Oneuli has seen a live performance of Amy Schumer and her Comedy routine.

I have not. I've hit a number of comedy performances, but club-level performances where I'd never heard of the performers.

Conclusion: You're lacking an emotional response and it may be difficult to marry you off.

I think you're mistaking an online personality for a real-world one. I can be very emotional in the real world. But in the real world I actually know the individuals I'm interacting with, and care about what they think. Plus, in the real world they have the ability to make my life better or worse (e.g., a coworker's racism bothers me a lot more than an anonymous web user's). Moreover, to the extent Internet trolls feed on negative emotional responses, I don't want to sustain that by feeding them the meat they're craving.

 

[Oneuli]

Well, one of the services provided at JPP Forum, is in-depth psychoanalyst by other (not having any particular skills mind you) Posters.

I think you said you wanted children? And, like your Mom keeps reminding you 'the clock is ticking'.

I've got a decade before the ticking is terribly loud. The median age for an Asian woman to have her first child in this country is around 30, and I'm sure it's well above that for urban, professional women. If a person is only planning to have one or two kids, there's no great rush. As for why I'm not married -- why would I want to be? I can see benefits of marriage in providing a decent legal framework for child-rearing, but until I'm ready to have kids, why bother?

 

[Jack]

I don't think I saw those. I've mostly just been clicking on things that show up as "quoting" me in my "notifications," so if people are referencing me indirectly (especially if they don't use my name, which I sometimes word search for), I don't tend to see it.

Anyway, I don't get the point of trolling for negative emotional responses.



I have not. I've hit a number of comedy performances, but club-level performances where I'd never heard of the performers.



I think you're mistaking an online personality for a real-world one. I can be very emotional in the real world. But in the real world I actually know the individuals I'm interacting with, and care about what they think. Plus, in the real world they have the ability to make my life better or worse (e.g., a coworker's racism bothers me a lot more than an anonymous web user's). Moreover, to the extent Internet trolls feed on negative emotional responses, I don't want to sustain that by feeding them the meat they're craving.

My only intent is to make you 'smile'. Even my response post above was solely generated to elicit a smile from you. A lot of the banter here is just to amuse each other.
Please, don't take ANYTHING I've said as 'negative'. Now, this is going to be hard for you to believe, and you may think I'm just making it up, but ... some, not a lot, well, maybe a lot ... have said "Jack, don't give up your day job".

I feel I have failed here.

 

[Jack]

I've got a decade before the ticking is terribly loud. The median age for an Asian woman to have her first child in this country is around 30, and I'm sure it's well above that for urban, professional women. If a person is only planning to have one or two kids, there's no great rush. As for why I'm not married -- why would I want to be? I can see benefits of marriage in providing a decent legal framework for child-rearing, but until I'm ready to have kids, why bother?

hahahaha ... that kind of reminds me of this joke delivered by this black comedian woman. She talks about going to a Fair. It's all lit up, Games and Rides everywhere. Right off the bat she wins a big stuffed Panda. Then (comparing it to a husband) begins to moan about having to carry "this mother fucker around all night". hahahahaha

Hey, I agree, why get married until you're ready to have kids, ... even then it isn't necessary.

Side Note: Me and my wife had kids, bought Property, and lived our Life, ... and 25 years later, got 'married'.

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

Out of curiosity, did you take the language lessons in person, or do something self-taught? For my part, I've got trouble committing to a particular schedule for in-person lessons, because my projects for work are really unpredictable, so I've just been playing around on "Duolingo" and various Youtube language lessons. Obviously, that won't be enough to get me fluent, but in my experience it'll be enough to get me to the point where I can read the signs, ask simple questions, and otherwise handle basic tourist functions well enough that the locals will appreciate the effort.

I use the Pimsleur program. It's very effective and can be done at your own pace. Unfortunately it is 100% oral so given the nature of the Russian alphabet you'll definitely want to supplement with written stuff. How do you like Duolingo?

I put it on hold for a while since I'm working towards a BS in Native American Studies, part of which includes Ojibwe language instruction. It's funny when you know a smattering of different languages how you're tempted to insert a known word for the right (but unknown) one when trying to form a sentence. For instance if I'm thinking of saying "I'm walking to the lake" in Ojibwe but forget the word for "to" it pops into my head as "N'bimose zum zaaga'iganiing." lol

 

[anonymoose]

I'm not a Russian lit fan, but I've done the same thing -- taken Russian language lessons in the hopes of someday visiting. Do you have a particular area or city in mind? For me it's St. Petersburg and the museums, then the far eastern regions including Siberia.

I've noticed that cons try to deflect away from Trump by labeling anyone who's unhappy with the Russian meddling a "Russophobe."

I once visited an oil city, Megion, in Siberia. Went there in late Oct. , early Nov. About like Fairbanks that time of yr., dead of winter.
Weather was bleak, city was bleak but the people were warm.
Got very drunk one evening with a group on their vodka which to me was more like schnapps.

 

[Legion]

I've got a girlfriend who has been learning Swedish, so we've got some half-baked plans of maybe doing a week where we hit Stockholm for a couple days, then fly to St. Petersburg for a couple, then another flight to Moscow for two more.

Cool story, sock.

A Story for Every Occasion™.

 

[Oneuli]

My only intent is to make you 'smile'. Even my response post above was solely generated to elicit a smile from you. A lot of the banter here is just to amuse each other.
Please, don't take ANYTHING I've said as 'negative'. Now, this is going to be hard for you to believe, and you may think I'm just making it up, but ... some, not a lot, well, maybe a lot ... have said "Jack, don't give up your day job".

I feel I have failed here.

No worries. My free advice, though, is you're not likely to get a lot of smiles from using phrases like "ching girl," discussing the vaginas of women you've never met, and suggesting that the reason a woman isn't married is that she doesn't respond emotionally to such things.

 

[Oneuli]

I use the Pimsleur program. It's very effective and can be done at your own pace. Unfortunately it is 100% oral so given the nature of the Russian alphabet you'll definitely want to supplement with written stuff. How do you like Duolingo?

I put it on hold for a while since I'm working towards a BS in Native American Studies, part of which includes Ojibwe language instruction. It's funny when you know a smattering of different languages how you're tempted to insert a known word for the right (but unknown) one when trying to form a sentence. For instance if I'm thinking of saying "I'm walking to the lake" in Ojibwe but forget the word for "to" it pops into my head as "N'bimose zum zaaga'iganiing." lol

I've done Pimsleur for other languages. The huge amount of oral repetition is good for making speaking and listening more natural, so it's probably a great groundwork for a useful command of the language. However, my issue is that I find it really boring, relative to Rosetta Stone, or Duolingo, or something similar that's a bit more game-like.

 

[anonymoose]

I've got a girlfriend who has been learning Swedish, so we've got some half-baked plans of maybe doing a week where we hit Stockholm for a couple days, then fly to St. Petersburg for a couple, then another flight to Moscow for two more.

Admirable your friend trying to learn some Swedish but most everybody speaks pretty good English , if not fluent as I'm sure you know.
It's not as prevalent in Germany but it did slow down my learning, most everyone speaking back to me in English in the beginning.

 

[Oneuli]

Admirable your friend trying to learn some Swedish but most everybody speaks pretty good English , if not fluent as I'm sure you know.
It's not as prevalent in Germany but it did slow down my learning, most everyone speaking back to me in English in the beginning.

Yes. That's discouraging -- when you put in a ton of effort to learn a foreign language, but then can't move past basic proficiency, because everyone you meet there speaks English better than you speak their language, and so they just switch to English. Much of Western Europe has that problem. Most parts of Italy don't, though, so Italian isn't a bad one to learn. Spanish is probably the most practical option, though, since a fairly small share of people in Latin America speak decent English.

As for my girlfriend, she's been watching Swedish shows on Netflix and just liked the sound of it.

 

[Ross Dolan]

I'm not a Russian lit fan, but I've done the same thing -- taken Russian language lessons in the hopes of someday visiting. Do you have a particular area or city in mind? For me it's St. Petersburg and the museums, then the far eastern regions including Siberia.

I've noticed that cons try to deflect away from Trump by labeling anyone who's unhappy with the Russian meddling a "Russophobe."

And the American conservatives were the original Russophobes.

But now their puppet masters are requiring that they go to the other side...

...and like the obedient sheep they are, they do it.

 

[Legion]

And the American conservatives were the original Russophobes. But now their puppet masters are requiring that they go to the other side......and like the obedient sheep they are, they do it.

I suppose you missed the collapse of the Soviet Union some time ago. It was quite an event. Perhaps you were distracted by your alleged partying with Frank Sinatra, Gina Lollobrigida, and Cary Grant.

 

[Gotcha68]

Yes. That's discouraging -- when you put in a ton of effort to learn a foreign language, but then can't move past basic proficiency, because everyone you meet there speaks English better than you speak their language, and so they just switch to English. Much of Western Europe has that problem. Most parts of Italy don't, though, so Italian isn't a bad one to learn. Spanish is probably the most practical option, though, since a fairly small share of people in Latin America speak decent English.

As for my girlfriend, she's been watching Swedish shows on Netflix and just liked the sound of it.

I've heard that if you want to learn a language quicker as an adult then date/fall in love with someone who speaks another language. You will be inspired to impress them with your abilities and desires to speak to them in their own tongue.

 

[Jack]

No worries. My free advice, though, is you're not likely to get a lot of smiles from using phrases like "ching girl," discussing the vaginas of women you've never met, and suggesting that the reason a woman isn't married is that she doesn't respond emotionally to such things.

My apologies.

1. I'm from California, 'ching girl' is a good opening line with asian girls, they smile and think it's funny. (Like "What's a nice ching girl like you doing in a place like this")
2. "Asian women have small vaginas" is a comedic routine that Amy Schumer employs with her 'trendy, upscale, Progressive' audience. I tossed it out there figuring you were familiar with Amy Schumer.
3. "... suggesting that the reason a woman isn't married is that she doesn't respond emotionally to such things." You said something about "emotional response" ... It sounded like a challenge ... "Try to make me laugh" Jack did his best.

I use self deprecating humor like "Maximum Brain Power" followed by "10 piece Jigsaw Puzzle". It usually brings an eye roll, audible grunt, head shake, or an uptick on the 'funny scale'.

I will note your 'serious' nature and refrain from any attempt at provoking an 'emotional response'.

A.n.y.w.a.y. ... I got to go, but would like talking about VAT (value added tax) as a way to raise money to pay off the Debt, I heard you talking about 'Debt' earlier. The 'State Capitalism vs. Free Capitalism' question. And which is a better form of Government "One Party vs. Multi-Party". I gotta' go, talk to you later.

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

I once visited an oil city, Megion, in Siberia. Went there in late Oct. , early Nov. About like Fairbanks that time of yr., dead of winter.
Weather was bleak, city was bleak but the people were warm.
Got very drunk one evening with a group on their vodka which to me was more like schnapps.

How cool!

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

I've done Pimsleur for other languages. The huge amount of oral repetition is good for making speaking and listening more natural, so it's probably a great groundwork for a useful command of the language. However, my issue is that I find it really boring, relative to Rosetta Stone, or Duolingo, or something similar that's a bit more game-like.

I'm going to try Duolingo. The repetition in the Pimsleur programs *is* boring. OTOH, I used to do the practices on the way to and from school, which was a 30 minute each way drive.... the same length of time as each lesson. It relieved the boredom of driving. In addition, I think that they saved my brain. I had a stroke in 2003 (a ruptured brain aneurysm) at school. My short-term memory was wrecked. Even so I forced myself to return 3 weeks later; had to drop the A&P class and lab because I simply couldn't remember anything. Listening to those language tapes I believe built new pathways; plus the repetition made it "stick." I retook A&P the following semester and aced it. Thanks, Pimsleur!

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

No worries. My free advice, though, is you're not likely to get a lot of smiles from using phrases like "ching girl," discussing the vaginas of women you've never met, and suggesting that the reason a woman isn't married is that she doesn't respond emotionally to such things.

*applause*

I can hardly wait to hear the oh-so-charming no-really-I-am-NOT-a-racist-misogynist explanation.

 

[Gotcha68]

I'm going to try Duolingo. The repetition in the Pimsleur programs *is* boring. OTOH, I used to do the practices on the way to and from school, which was a 30 minute each way drive.... the same length of time as each lesson. It relieved the boredom of driving. In addition, I think that they saved my brain. I had a stroke in 2003 (a ruptured brain aneurysm) at school. My short-term memory was wrecked. Even so I forced myself to return 3 weeks later; had to drop the A&P class and lab because I simply couldn't remember anything. Listening to those language tapes I believe built new pathways; plus the repetition made it "stick." I retook A&P the following semester and aced it. Thanks, Pimsleur!

I used Duolingo in college to help with Spanish classes. Enjoyable and helpful.

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

Yes. That's discouraging -- when you put in a ton of effort to learn a foreign language, but then can't move past basic proficiency, because everyone you meet there speaks English better than you speak their language, and so they just switch to English. Much of Western Europe has that problem. Most parts of Italy don't, though, so Italian isn't a bad one to learn. Spanish is probably the most practical option, though, since a fairly small share of people in Latin America speak decent English.

As for my girlfriend, she's been watching Swedish shows on Netflix and just liked the sound of it.

What languages other than Russian have you studied?