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[Rockphed]

Facepalm moment...  Not from in-game, but still related.  Hopefully this counts - a specific post from this thread was linked in IRC.

<Leaf> >Almost all of that was inevitable.
<mouse> DF quotes have become memetically contagious.
<Leaf> ...it was inevitable.
<ball> The world is the same as ever.
<Leaf> It is terrifying.

[...] (or her, or... yeah, whatever --- when teaching I tell my students that to my mind "students have no sex", i.e. any gendered form I use applies to all unless I explicitly stress the gender, and usually this is met with quite some giggles ;p )
[...]

That's the reason that we have the words "they"/"them"/"their" in English.  Those are neutral pronouns.

They are neuter plural pronouns.  The neuter singular pronoun is "it", which people take umbridge to being called.

[Moonstone_Flower]

[...]

[...] (or her, or... yeah, whatever --- when teaching I tell my students that to my mind "students have no sex", i.e. any gendered form I use applies to all unless I explicitly stress the gender, and usually this is met with quite some giggles ;p )
[...]

That's the reason that we have the words "they"/"them"/"their" in English.  Those are neutral pronouns.

They are neuter plural pronouns.  The neuter singular pronoun is "it", which people take umbridge to being called.

*facepalm*

"They" is also a valid singular pronoun, as I was saying.  "Them" and "their" are valid for use with a single person, as well.  This is true in both British and American English, and has been for a long time.

To say this another way:  They are valid for both plural and singular use in both BrE and AmE.

[Runaway_char]

Its interesting, because our language is evolving that way - English lacked a singular they, so people took to using they/them/their in a singular way.  We can actually see this happen in our lifetime, as linguists are updating the rules to reflect the consensus

[gunpowdertea]

It's interesting, because our language is evolving that way - English lacked a singular they, so people took to using they/them/their in a singular way.  We can actually see this happen in our lifetime, as linguists are updating the rules to reflect the consensus

Yes, language changes, which is sort of cool (and useful, especially in this case) - though in some cases I would rather have it stay the way I learned it (and out of curiosity, how long has this use of the personal pronoun of 3rd p. pl. for 3rd. p. sg. been allowed in English (any form)? Not a native speaker etc.)

The Swedish actually invented a new pronoun ("hen") that means "this is a person, not a thing, of unknown gender - and it is not important in this context anyway". Sadly, other languages (that I actually speak) lack this... plus professions are generally in the male form in (I guess most) Germanic languages[1], with some exceptions (like "midwife"[2]). This leads to extremely cluttered texts in German, when you have to inlcude both masculinum and feminum forms of professions (like Student/Studentin, or StudentIn or Student/In or Student*in or whatever construct) in official texts, and this is absolutely ridiculous in speech. Jumping randomly between both forms sounds fun but is annoying after a while (I tried it). I settled on using the female form only, at least for a while, because in general we had more female than male students (this also felt weird, I mean the language not the students). Anyway, I should stop complaining now. (am I getting old? probably).

Meh, let's go back on topic...

*facepalm*: I seemed to recall that an aquifer stops leaking when you smooth the walls. Apparently not... to avoid the aquarium in the first fort I played in the newest version I had to resort to dfhack liquids (created an obsidian wall to block it). Has this changed in recent (well...) versions?
And then my exploratory dig went through the roof of  a spire, I was not paying attention.


[1] in Norwegian it is the "utrum", which is both feminum and masculinum, though there is an explicit femininum, except in some of the dialects. Actually the "utrum" is more like masculinum, to be honest. Still, it is considered correct to use it for both sexes, in Swedish as well.

[2] yes, there is (e.g. in German) a general form, which by its grammatical genus is again masculinum, so you now have to include the male and female form in the texts as well - ARGH!

[Bumber]

(and out of curiosity, how long has this use of the personal pronoun of 3rd p. pl. for 3rd. p. sg. been allowed in English (any form)? Not a native speaker etc.)

If it was used to refer to royalty (see:royal "we"), then maybe a long time.

[gunpowdertea]

(and out of curiosity, how long has this use of the personal pronoun of 3rd p. pl. for 3rd. p. sg. been allowed in English (any form)? Not a native speaker etc.)

If it was used to refer to royalty (see:royal "we"), then maybe a long time.

thanks! (and sorry for derailing the thread...  )

Anybody has ideas about the wall smoothing / aquifers? Was it just a glitch?

And the *fp*s are coming along nicely... "new" version, new features - and having been away from the game for about a year (or maybe two?).

1) I sort of forgot how deadly dangerous magma crabs are. Now The stockpile with the refined coal is on fire. I could open the aquifer (I keep embarking on those... on purpose) and drown the fort or wall my current access to the magma sea close (or both). I lost the mother to the first baby born in the fort and she wasn't even in the military.

Yes: I used to drain / pump magma into a separate chamber under the forges - now that you mention it At least the remains are no longer melting hot...

2) I need to edit the init file again... I missed (or messed up?) the "bury pets" option. Now I have a bunch of (ok, three, but still!) masterworked coffins containing blue peackock remains that were killed by the seasonal rhesus macaque infestation. I need to get some guard lions or at least dogs. Or maybe magma crabs - but that's waiting for the next *FP* (I think I should do that!) - !!FUN!!

[bloop_bleep]

And the *fp*s are coming along nicely... "new" version, new features - and having been away from the game for about a year (or maybe two?).

1) I sort of forgot how deadly dangerous magma crabs are. Now The stockpile with the refined coal is on fire. I could open the aquifer (I keep embarking on those... on purpose) and drown the fort or wall my current access to the magma sea close (or both). I lost the mother to the first baby born in the fort and she wasn't even in the military.

Yes: I used to drain / pump magma into a separate chamber under the forges - now that you mention it At least the remains are no longer melting hot...

2) I need to edit the init file again... I missed (or messed up?) the "bury pets" option. Now I have a bunch of (ok, three, but still!) masterworked coffins containing blue peackock remains that were killed by the seasonal rhesus macaque infestation. I need to get some guard lions or at least dogs. Or maybe magma crabs - but that's waiting for the next *FP* (I think I should do that!) - !!FUN!!

If you use magma crabs, you should build a paved road in front of the entrance, otherwise when the magma crabs shoot magma it might set fire to the entire surface.

[andrian]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

IT HAPPENED AGAIN!

[Eschar]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

IT HAPPENED AGAIN!

... "giving and kindness"?

[wertyzerty]

I think "Give over your weapons foolish mortals" more than let's all share plump helmets and that.

[Powersteve621]

In my current fort I'm having anvil troubles. I've got my embark one but I'm yet to find any iron and I'm also having caravan issues so no trading for the past year and a half. So imagine my glee when a possessed metalsmith comes up with an awesome gem-encrusted lead anvil! Even if it's not magma-safe, I can still use it to build a conventional forge.

Or... not as it turns out, because not only is lead not magma-safe, its not even FIRE safe. I can't do anything with it, bloody thing might as well be made out of chocolate. I suppose I can at least drop it on somebody like dwarven looney toons, but I'm tempted for that somebody to be they guy who made it. I mean hey it was a possession so it's not like he's legendary now or anything.

[Dunamisdeos]

Kindly give me your brain matter, please and thank you.

[Powersteve621]

edit:  posted a message in wrong thread woops

[andrian]

Yeah, that's the second time I've had to deal with a titan with an aura of giving and kindness. I kindly gave it many crossbow bolts from behind my fortifications.

[Mathel]

In my current fort I'm having anvil troubles. I've got my embark one but I'm yet to find any iron and I'm also having caravan issues so no trading for the past year and a half. So imagine my glee when a possessed metalsmith comes up with an awesome gem-encrusted lead anvil! Even if it's not magma-safe, I can still use it to build a conventional forge.

Or... not as it turns out, because not only is lead not magma-safe, its not even FIRE safe. I can't do anything with it, bloody thing might as well be made out of chocolate. I suppose I can at least drop it on somebody like dwarven looney toons, but I'm tempted for that somebody to be they guy who made it. I mean hey it was a possession so it's not like he's legendary now or anything.

Put the anvil on a trapdoor (floor hatch/grate) above a pressure plate that opens it. Lead is heavy, so it will do a lot of damage. But it will have to be hauled up after use.