The very many questions-not-worth-their-own-thread question thread XXIII

[Quackers]

But you didn't answer my question. I'd like to know the answer, because I don't know. Beyond the implication that women are second class.

How should I know?

 

[Borachio]

Wedding rings are usually the signal that someone's off limits. And I've had a few flashed in my direction, I can tell you.

Yet men are supposed to wear them too. For similar reasons. So why not use the same tactic with the title?

How should I know?

I don't suggest you should. But, if it's no big deal to you, would you consider doing so when you marry yourself? As the hipster trend-setter that you are.

 

[Quackers]

....what?

 

[Farm Boy]

Wedding rings are usually the signal that someone's off limits. And I've had a few flashed in my direction, I can tell you.

Yet men are supposed to wear them too. For similar reasons. So why not use the same tactic with the title?

Yet they aren't universal. Particularly in careers like nursing where they are typically taken off while working. Mine comes off when I'm working I know. Otherwise I usually operate something that vibrates or I jam my hand and once the swelling starts I have to make sure that finger doesn't turn too blue before I acquire a tool that could be used to cut the ring off. I also know more than my share of gentlemen who when meeting or looking at woman notice a wide variety of things. Face, makeup, several anatomical features - but many of them don't much notice jewelry at all. I'd say a corresponding title change with marriage for men wouldn't be out of line really, but that women are usually sharp enough, generally possess greater social skill, and less frequently are responsible for "making the first move" in the mating game that the differing titles still hold at least some value as they are now.

 

[Borachio]

Really? I've never been alerted to a woman's marital (or engaged) status by her title (though it's not impossible - but it would be very unlikely in a social situation), but by a wedding ring or some reference to a partner early on in a conversation.

 

[Farm Boy]

Enough people are introduced to their future mates at work that I figure it's not entirely unsound. Or, perhaps, through events for their children if they happen to be at an age when school functions are primary social-ish outings.

 

[warpus]

I always thought Ms = Miss

Weird

 

[Farm Boy]

Pronounced slightly differently. Ms. = "miz"

Madam is a nice compromise but it comes saddled erratically with prostitution connotations.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Why do woman get so touchy over the whole Mrs, miss and Ms stuff?

Well Mr. doesnt tell you about whether you're married or not, so why should Ms. and Mrs?

 

[Quackers]

That implies i'm in support of the status quo. I'm not, I'm just an observer of this phenomona.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Here's another question that I'm frequently asked.

What is the purpose of parasites?

I can think of an answer, but I don't think it will work.

Animal kingdom parasites ot Atlas Shrugged parasites?

Animal kingdom parasites have just found an efficient way to gain resources: by stealing them from other animals or plants. Thats how evolution works - a species carves out a niche for itself usually centered around how it obtains energy. Parasites simply follow a parasitic route to doing that.

The Atlas Shrugged variety is largly a hyperbolic myth.

 

[Borachio]

And that implies that all species are parasitic. Which is fine by me.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

No it doesn't in the usual sense unless you are equating carnivors as parasites or going further and saying plants are parasites of the sun. I don't subscribe to either of those and didnt intend to suggest it.

 

[Borachio]

Well, certainly predators prey on... their prey. I'm not sure that an internal or external parasite acts in any fundamentally different way. Except that it doesn't usually destroy its host. But then neither does a milkmaid.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Parasites don't aim to kill their host.

 

[Borachio]

Carnivores don't aim on exterminating their prey species. It's a matter of degree.

 

[Cutlass]

Here's another question that I'm frequently asked.

What is the purpose of parasites?

I can think of an answer, but I don't think it will work.

To continue to exist and pass on their genes to their descendents, as with all living things.

 

[Borachio]

Aren't parasites just lonely little critters looking to have a meaningful symbiotic relationship with another species.

But they just haven't found it yet?

Their purpose is in the looking.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Carnivores don't aim on exterminating their prey species. It's a matter of degree.

But they do kill the prey they selected. The predator who killed the prey doesn't die when this happens, unlike a particular parasite that has killed its particular host.

 

[Borachio]

Yes. I know. This is all true.

But to pursue this a bit further.

If the predator species kills all its prey species it will die out too.

It's a matter of perspective.