[SSGGeezer]

I like you too Bob.

You're like a big brother to me.

Did you say big Bother?

[Racer X 69]

Who needs that much apple sauce?

Why Eric Cartman of course. It gives him excessive gas. And that helps him get the answers he needs when interrogating criminals.

Guess I should have included a picture of the man himself.

[Racer X 69]

Did you say big Bother?

Brother.

[SSGGeezer]

Like you said, bother.

[bertwert]

Big Brother is always watching.

[Racer X 69]

Like you said, bother.

[dbs]

I was up at my regular time... proof here:

Hi Bert

then now is lunchtime
I fear you are a day behind then
It's Wednesday the 5th September here


Dave

[tim60]

Very true! I've had a Chinese guy work for me at one point. Very confusing. As for "moral turpitude": Is that some sort of paint brush cleaner?

Paint brush cleaner - that is about what I thought, and this is on the form you used to have to sign prior to arrival, when have asleep and confused at the end of a 14 hour flight. Just as well I had never been convicted of any crime, and therefore could not have been convicted of any particular class of crime.

[tim60]

what I hate about names is the computer and other forms which make you fill in

First Name

Middle Initial

Last Name

as one of many who go by a middle name ( and/or those who go by a nick name )

I hate that junk

I am not impressed by forms that only allow one middle name, since I have two. At least not like the royal family that have a dictionary full of middle names.

[tim60]

Yes, JRR knew well his Norse mythology.

JRR's old house was for sale last year.

[tim60]

More on common naming:
Chinese people normally use both given names. In many families the first of them tells the generation, so all the kids have the same first given name, and often parents choose a second with a similar first consonant sound, with the result that letters addressed to surname and initials would be ambiguously addressed.
Vietnamese people commonly use the second of their two given names, and seem to feel offended if named in the Chinese convention of using both.
If English speaking people shorten their name for common use, it is usually the first part of the first given name, or possibly the given name they choose to be known by.
But I have found many Indians and some Indonesians shorten their name by taking the last one or two syllables of their given name. Takes a while to get used to.
Chinese people regard the characters for writing their name as their name, so the pronunciation changes between Chinese dialects: the surnames Lim and Lin are the same, Chen, Chan, Tan and Taing are all the same.
Also, many Chinese people following that idea decide to go by a western sounding name when in English speaking places. Sometimes they make that official on their paperwork. I once attended a graduation with a long line of graduands with the name Jacky (in various spellings) Chan. I once had a Chinese student who had named himself, in the official systems of the University, and therefore must have had documentation to support the name: Lucifer + surname.


These are things one just needs to learn to avoid embarrassing confusions. Middle Eastern naming conventions and abbreviations etc are something I have not had experience to know anything about. I guess they have a whole lot of different conventions and differences between groups.

[MarkJerling]

Paint brush cleaner - that is about what I thought, and this is on the form you used to have to sign prior to arrival, when have asleep and confused at the end of a 14 hour flight. Just as well I had never been convicted of any crime, and therefore could not have been convicted of any particular class of crime.

"And they all moved away from me on the bench there, until I said "And creating a nuisance", when they all came back and shook my hand..."

[MarkJerling]

Chinese people regard the characters for writing their name as their name, so the pronunciation changes between Chinese dialects: the surnames Lim and Lin are the same, Chen, Chan, Tan and Taing are all the same.
.

Very interesting Tim! I'd love to see their phone book.

[tim60]

Very interesting Tim! I'd love to see their phone book.

That depends which country.


In Singapore the phone book (at least the last edition I saw, they may have stopped publishing it on paper because of the strong push there for citizens to interact with government and other similar organisations online) in Roman characters had names in alphabetical order of how it was officially spelt. Singapore and Malaysia seem to allow people to anglicise their name according to the dialect they speak. The phone book wrote out the given names in full, and it was surprising scanning the lists how rarely whole names seemed to be repeated, giving that all the Chinese names involve assembling three characters and the limited number of surnames. I believe there are only two surnames which have two characters, anglicised as Ouyang and Moey.


In Taiwan they would all appear together under the Chinese character which is pronounced Chen in Mandarin. There is a Chinese method of putting characters into a 'dictionary order', so dictionaries in Chinese are a practical possibility and do exist. That also enables a phone book. However, Chinese people seem to only contact people they have made f2f contact with, and use businesses their friends have recommended, so western ideas like a yellow pages to find businesses are out of culture. This is a reason why they make a big deal of the business card and will exchange them even in social meeting situations.

[clackers]

Yes, JRR knew well his Norse mythology.

Yes, whoever holds the rights to the Beowulf tale needs to file a lawsuit against The Hobbit.

I wouldn't want to say the words 'copyright expiration' to a seven foot hairy armoured dude with an axe standing in front of me.