quote:Originally posted by discodamage: is that top from primani?
No from New Look, although no doubt I could have got the same for half the price from my beloved primani.
Yesterday's word of the day was sere which was exactly how I felt. Today's word of the day is dolorous, I get word of the day emailed to me. Best word of the day of recent time was sui generis. A word I love is discombobulated as it makes your mouth feel nice to say it.
Edit: Just got another one - foofaraw (Excessive or flashy ornamentation or decoration or a fuss over a matter of little importance.)
Of course, there are lots of good words. This thread could run and run!
Astromariner
Going the right way for a smacked bottom
posted
Also!
eldritch
The problem with good words though is that I have a randomly retentive memory for them. So I'll see a word (most often in Will Self book or a LouchePost) and think: I am going to use that word. It will be mine. And I say it over and over agin in my head to try to make it sink in. Occasionally it will, but mostly it won't. Sadly, I frequently can't even remember boring words like 'umbrella' or 'sandwich', so it seems unlikely that my vocabulary will ever increase to Selfian proportions. I should maybe try thinking in words more, rather than in vague half-formed sounds and pictures.
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quote:Originally posted by Uber Trick: Edit: Just got another one - foofaraw (Excessive or flashy ornamentation or decoration or a fuss over a matter of little importance.)
huge intake of breath- that will go so nicely in the braincorner where i keep my baubles, doodads, geegaws, and trinkets.
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posted
New Good Word = homology. Not the study of gays, but the inference of common ancestry of species.
Geology is full of Good Word&Phrases. Watch out for those dyke swarms in Scotchland.
-------------------- What I object to is the colour of some of these wheelie bins and where they are left, in some areas outside all week in the front garden. Posts: 4941
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-------------------- What I object to is the colour of some of these wheelie bins and where they are left, in some areas outside all week in the front garden. Posts: 4941
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posted
lol @ my naivety in genuinely not thinking of that.
in fairness the lyrics are presented with a break between those two lines, splitting the name, and there's no capital on "tony" in the versions I have looked at.
quote:Stick boney but the pockets are fat like tony
Soprano the roc handle Like van Exel
I don't understand "the roc" or know who "van Exel" is either, I'm afraid. Is it acceptable to pronounce green beret "green berett", as Jaz-Z subsequently does?
quote:Originally posted by kovacs: in fairness the lyrics are presented with a break between those two lines, splitting the name, and there's no capital on "tony" in the versions I have looked at.
Yeah, it's sort of traditional in hip-hop lyrics that you can get away with that and, in the right hands, it comes across as a purposeful harking back to the 'old skool' days but done to often it just looks lazy. Whether Jay-Z does do it a lot I couldn't comment, the only stuff of his I've got is The Grey Album and The Slack Album which I enjoy more for the talents of the DJ's who put them together than for his rhymes.
quote:Originally posted by kovacs: I don't understand "the roc" or know who "van Exel" is either, I'm afraid.
The roc I'm not sure about, Rocafella records is Jay-Z's label and it's sometimes referred to as simply roc although I don't see the connection with Tony Sporano or 'handle'. Unless it some reference to Jay-Z being the head of Rocafella Recrods like Tony Soprano is of the mob but I don't really know. Nick Van Exel is a basketball player for the Portland Blazers and I think his name is actually part of the next couplet, comparing Van Exel's abilites on the coaurt to Jay-Z's as a rapper.
quote:Originally posted by kovacs: Is it acceptable to pronounce green beret "green berett", as Jaz-Z subsequently does?
Again you can get away with a certain amount of artistic license when it come to pronounciation but to me it always just sounds like they couldn't come up with a better rhyme to be honest.
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quote:Originally posted by kovacs: I think in the lyric, if the transcription I've got is correct, he calls himself "hova". What is up with that.
This is certainly true and I found these lyrics that prove this is a self-given title but I'm not entirely sure what it means. I did find a review of The Black Album in which the reviewer expresses distaste at Jay-Z calling himself Jay-Hova (i.e. Jehovah) so it could just be the usual thing of a rapper elevating himself above others by comparing himself to Jesus or God.
Oh, and the layout of thses lyrics to Crazy In Love make the handle/Van Axel thing clearer. Given the lyrical density of hip-hop tunes the meaning can shift hugely with different typesetting.
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posted
This site confirms my reading of the meaning of 'hova' so that ties that up. Unfortunately it doesn't cover Crazy In Love (or much else for that matter).
<shameful admission> Only from browsing it's meagre list of 'translated' lyrics do I now know that O.P.P stands for "Other People's Pussy/Penis". I've always wanted to know but was too afraid to ask. </shameful admission>
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posted
Overall I would say that's a pretty clumsy rap. In terms of content it does no more than introduce who Jay-Z is or would like you to think he is, over twenty lines; and the bragging isn't even elegant. Apart from the tastelessness of bigging yourself up in the currency of bling and chinchilla fur, the comparisons are so wide-ranging as to be absurd, a desperate grabbing for anything that almost-rhymes if you mispronounce it and scans if you jack it in with a crowbar.
First he's Jehova, an ultimate high status which you shouldn't even need to qualify with further parallels. If you're as good as God, what's the point in diluting that boast by adding "I'm also as fit as Vin Diesel". It's like, I got a PhD in astrophysics and by the way I also got an A in GCSE maths.
So he's on deity level -- but he's as good as Ringo Starr (for fuck's sake! not even Harrison). The Tony Soprano line is a struggle for rhythm as well as meaning. The final remarks about chain smokers and his label just seem randomly tagged on, some piddlingly obscure claims that I'm sure mean something to Jay-Z fans: but really, in a guest slot for a crossover, mainstream track shouldn't arsey little injokes be edited out? It's like he really has got nothing else to say and is doing the equivalent of "yeah by the way Martin D from Eltham I could have you."
But thanks Bamba it has been educational, even if I felt Jay-Z's contribution sounded better before I knew the lyrics.
posted
I think you just get "pass" (eg. acceptable to superb), "referral" (go away and do more work on it, then resubmit) or "fail". To be frank I think if someone gets a fail for their PhD they shouldn't really have been doing it in the first place -- or else they should have known not to submit it yet -- and/or they have a terrible supervisor, because if you can't help someone get work to an acceptable standard over three years miniumum and know when they should submit it to your own academic peers (the examiners) you must have very bad judgement.
A - Pass with no changes B - Pass with minor alterations, examiners to reread new sections only. C - Potential Pass if changes are made. D - Fail: It is not thought that it is worthwhile/possible to make thesis of required standard.
A, B and C are all fairly common - B usually means adding a couple of paragraphs/changing grammar mistakes and you get about a month to do it. C usually means another 6 months before resubmission and involves more substantially rewriting sections.
However, once you get A or B then you get a "Pass" and your grade becomes irrelevant.
D grades usually only happen when someone falls out with/goes against their supervisor and attempts to submit a thesis without any help.
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posted
I really wish I'd done a PhD. It's not the kind of thing I ever thought I'd regret, but I was talking about it with VP a few weeks ago and I realised how much I wish I'd done it, now.
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posted
Yeah that's how it came up - she said it was something I should look into, but I do think I would have found it easier in terms of fitting it into my life if I'd gone straight into it after graduating, as well as the fact that I probably would have been academically more on the ball.
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Astromariner
Going the right way for a smacked bottom
posted
quote:Originally posted by Thorn Davis: I probably would have been academically more on the ball.
It's not really the same thing, but I started a second degree last year, and I was worried that after four years of brainrot in various admin jobs, I'd find it difficult to return to academic studies. In the event though, I found that whilst fitting study around a full time job can be a demanding and sometimes thankless grind, the habits learned during four years of university hadn't disappeared. If anything, I'm a much more diligent student now than I was then: I'm enjoying the experience of learning, and I'm paying for it out of my own pocket, which is an incentive in itself.
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posted
It depends partly on what you'd want to do your thesis on. People I know who are doing phds and working full-time tend to either make their thesis related to their job in some way, or they pick something that doesn't require them to do a whole lot of field work.
My thesis is heavily field work based and I have been doing it full-time for 2 years (1 year to go) and working part-time. I reckon that doing one that involved a minimum of primary research over 4/5 years while working would be totally manageable. I think you are supposed to spend between 8-12 hours a week on it if you are studying part-time.
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posted
I don't think I would have been able to do a PhD (or wouldn't have done it as well) if I'd gone straight from BA thru MA and into research. I started mine at 26 which seems a long time ago now, but I think I needed that gap.
-------------------- "People look at me and say, 'oh, he shouldn't be drinking.' If you had to live in my head for a day, you'd fucking drink too." - Ozzy Osbourne Posts: 68
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