Apologies if you’re not, but surely you can see why I thought you were?

1. Pro-capitalism
2. Eng(US) spelling

When I was a lecturer, I contacted authors of papers on two occasions (to update slide decks - the papers in question were pay-walled), and both just forwarded the relevant paper on to me. They were both British, which again makes me think there’s a culture difference here.

I think for transparency, and to avoid confusion, it’s worth pointing out to everyone that authors don’t get paid for submissions. This isn’t like book publishing. The publishers take other people’s work and then make money off that. That’s their business model.

Found the American!

I’m not an expert, but I imagine when they change sex, their behaviour changes accordingly.

They don’t need to understand social constructs - they’re changing gender as a result of changing sex.

Fair point, I retract my statement! The idea of using a baked potato as a side sounds bizarre to me, but if it’s a thing I guess it’s a thing.

That’s fair, it’s just that the context suggested otherwise.

I guess if he’s from northern England, and by “dinner” means the midday meal, then it makes sense. Otherwise there is no universe where baked potatoes are served for a fancy dinner. Roast potatoes are a part of a fancy dinner, though. The two cooking techniques are similar enough that I think it’s not unreasonable to assume, again given the context, that it’s just the wrong word.

I just assumed they meant “roast potatoes”.

The money detector button illuminates a bright UV light on the side that you can use to detect fake notes.

No idea about the red button. I heard one reviewer say the word “computer” while pointing at it (all of the reviewers seem to be from the Philippines, a language that I sadly don’t speak), but if found no other clues.

You can tell I’m really cross when I stop using exclamation marks.

FWIW, we have a very similar expression (at least in British English):

“No ifs, ands, or buts”

Also sometimes used as:

“No ifs and/or buts”

“No ifs, no buts”

This is a brilliant reply, thank you!

Headcanon: The wife and husband were supposed to be on this trip. The wife discovers the affair, the other woman explains that she didn’t realise he was married. The wife leaves the husband and takes the other woman on the holiday instead.

I’m admit the term always used to baffle me too.

As a kid I could infer a lot of Americisms from the context, but it took me ages to pin down what ‘bangs’ were. The fact that it’s plural is the weirdest part.

‘Fringe’ makes sense - you have fringed curtains, fringed jackets, etc. ‘Bangs’ seems like such an odd thing to call it - is each hair a bang?

I use ESUN PLA+ for printing minis and would recommend it to anyone.

For reference, the only filament I’ve used that came out nicer was SUNLU high-speed PLA, but would NOT recommend for minis (it can’t cope with the constant retractions).

Oh, and also prime your models before painting them. I just use ordinary spray primer that you can get for dirt cheap - Tetrosyl Trade Spray / Hycote / Motip are all good brands. Just make sure you don’t get gloss finish and you’ll be fine!

A friend, originally Hungarian but speaks numerous languages describes English as “easy to speak, hard to write”.

We really need a do-over with a better alphabet that allows a reader to know exactly how a word is said - one letter, one sound. Of course, I realise that it’s far too late to work - even on our tiny island we can’t agree on how words are pronounced.

We had a tape that had Asterix in Britain followed by the Only Fools And Horses feature-length episode where they go to Florida and Del-Boy gets mistaken for a mob boss.

To this day, I can probably quote both from beginning to end.

This is exactly what I thought of when I read this!

I still watch it every year, the night before my birthday. No matter what else happens or changes, TFTM has become my touchstone.

Totally real. They’re actually looking for suggestions right now for their new manifesto on Twitter, if you use it (search for #manicfesto - note the “c” in there).

Here’s the Wikipedia entry: Official Monster Raving Loony Party

Novelty candidates are a highlight of UK politics - practically every high profile election has some.

The brilliant thing is that they’re treated as seriously as the main party candidates by the election machinery - they appear on politics programmes and appear onstage stood next to the career politicians on count day.

H’Angus the Monkey, the Hartlepool FC football mascot, even got elected as mayor of Hartlepool a few years back.

There’s an entire novelty party, The Monster Raving Looney Party, which has been going strong since the 80s, and fields candidates across the country.

To be fair to him, on his first run at London Mayer, he did get nearly twice as many votes as Count Binface, a candidate who claims to be from space and wears a dustbin on his head.

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