TIL: Today I Learned

[Ferocitus]

TIL that the delightful phenomenon, petrichor, is not always a benign, evocative
smell of rain after a prolonged dry spell.
The aerosols created when raindrops impact on dry soil can contain E. Coli and
harmful viruses.

 

[sophie]

TIL that the president elect doesn't know that the media is plural. (That the president elect is a really whiny kind of person is not something new indeed. I learned that quite a while ago.)

I mean I love ragging on Trump and his ignorance just as much as the next guy, but in English, or at the very least in American English, media can be expressed as a collective noun, particularly when referring to television, print, or news media. Or the entertainment or journalist community in general. (Mainstream media is out to destroy me!). In much the same way that press is treated as a collective noun (The press is putting me through the ringer!). If you are referring to various forms of artistic media, or using the word in the original sense of a medium then, obviously, media is plural and treated as such. Another exception is a medium (i.e. a psychic). The plural of that is, confusingly, mediums.

Gotta love English.

 

[Arakhor]

I'd still say "the press are out to get me", but I'm not sure about "mainstream media".

 

[sophie]

I'd still say "the press are out to get me", but I'm not sure about "mainstream media".

Yeah but you Brits observe the same rule regarding, e.g. sports teams: "Arsenal are looking dominant today!" In American English we treat sports teams as a collective noun when the team name isn't inherently plural or when referring to the team's city. So you'd say "The Yankees are a good team", because it ends in -s. But you'd also say, "New York has been a good team in the past".

 

[Arakhor]

To quote someone well-known in these parts, gotta love English.

 

[Traitorfish]

Also, consider that Trump's narrative is that the mainstream media is a coherent force being directed towards him, personally. All convention aside, it makes sense that he'd describe it as a single entity. Plurals suggest pluralism, and you can't wage a one-man culture war if you accept the existence of more than two possible and directly opposed opinions.

 

[Agent327]

I mean I love ragging on Trump and his ignorance just as much as the next guy, but in English, or at the very least in American English, media can be expressed as a collective noun, particularly when referring to television, print, or news media. Or the entertainment or journalist community in general. (Mainstream media is out to destroy me!). In much the same way that press is treated as a collective noun (The press is putting me through the ringer!). If you are referring to various forms of artistic media, or using the word in the original sense of a medium then, obviously, media is plural and treated as such. Another exception is a medium (i.e. a psychic). The plural of that is, confusingly, mediums.

Gotta love English.

Yes. Except, I understand that the president simply lumps all media together. No way that's a singular. (He doesn't even use the meme 'mainstream media'. To him it's just a singular phenomenon. It seems to be part of his mental matrix.)

 

[Takhisis]

Gotta love English.

Away with ye!

I'd still say "the press are out to get me", but I'm not sure about "mainstream media".

That's because it would be strange for a printing press to knock on your door and try to kill you, unless it was a Dalek in disguise.

 

[sophie]

Away with ye!

*you

OOP goes in the objective case, bro.

 

[Takhisis]

Na' accordin' tae th' modren Scots grammar, me lad.

 

[sophie]

Na' accordin' tae th' modren Scots grammar, me lad.

Well what do they know, anyway?

 

[Takhisis]

Whit are ye sayin? ‘Modren Scots grammar’ is the teetle o a book, ye numptie: ISBN 1-908373-39-3.

 

[Arakhor]

Surprisingly, that book actually exists.

 

[Takhisis]

Of course it exists. I happen to have a copy.

 

[Zkribbler]

TIL the first actor considered for the role of Monk was Michael "Kramer" Richards.

 

[civvver]

I recently discovered what the Weissman score is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weissman_score

And then I discovered shortly after that it is fictitious. Seemed so real when the show was discussing it.

 

[GoodEnoughForMe]

TIL that 15 pizza rolls is only 220 calories, and my life is forever changed.

 

[Takhisis]

What is a pizza roll?

 

[Zkribbler]

What is a pizza roll?

They're like egg rolls, about the size of your finger. Pizza crust wrapped around pizza sauce, cheese, and toppings.

 

[GoodEnoughForMe]

What is a pizza roll?

The best thing about America