What's making you happy today?

[Cicero]

Originally Posted by HungLikeJesus

Tomorrow morning we head for Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, for two weeks. The vacation actually starts tonight, as we'll go to a hotel near the airport and leave our car there.

I'll have my computer, but probably no internet. I hope you don't all forget me while I'm gone.

Hmmm....I'm still freezeing to death from being outside this morning.......I am shivering and trying to type....So are you going to be on a warm beach with an organic cocktail? Short version: how much should I despise this post right now?!? Most hotels have computers with internet access....There is no excuse for not keeping us posted so I may warm my cockles by the fire of my own petty jealousy.


Have fun! And at least remember to take some photos to post here!

[HungLikeJesus]

Originally Posted by case

Have a great time! Perth and I went there for our honeymoon. It was great fun. Just don't get your wallet stolen in the Houston Airport like we did.

We're flying direct. I don't want my wallet stolen until we get into Mexico.

Originally Posted by DanaC

Hunglike who? :p

Jesus, you forgot already.

Originally Posted by Cicero

Hmmm....I'm still freezeing to death from being outside this morning.......I am shivering and trying to type....So are you going to be on a warm beach with an organic cocktail? Short version: how much should I despise this post right now?!? Most hotels have computers with internet access....There is no excuse for not keeping us posted so I may warm my cockles by the fire of my own petty jealousy.


Have fun! And at least remember to take some photos to post here!

I don't associate New Mexico with cold. How cold was it?

Most of the hotels we stay in don't even have running water, let alone internet. But if I can get a connection, of what would you like a picture?

[Clodfobble]

It's a girl! (Well, they're 90% sure anyway, there was this pesky umbilical cord in the way...)

[jinx]

Woohoo! Congrats

[Cicero]

HLJ-I'll make it easy...just post the photos when you get back. It's vacation time, have fun! Oh, I want a beach sunset photo with you wearing something very attractive if you are taking requests.

35 degrees when I left the house this morning. We don't live in a low lying desert. We are at a high altitude, higher than people think. Before I got here I didn't even think it snowed here. I was so....so wrong. Naive about NM.......

Yes, we have to wear coats, gloves, and scarves right now like everyone in the north right now. All the photos of NM just look really hot unless you take a photo of all the snow. It's a desert, yet it is a high desert, and that makes all the difference. I was snowed in, in Taos, (on vacation) in May. Maybe not as cold as everyone else right now, but yes, cold.


Clod- Wow, congratulations!!! Girls rock!!!

[DanaC]

Yey! Congrats Clod! All good wishes for the little clodchen

[jester]

Awesome, congrats Clob.

[ZenGum]

This

From CNN:

When some of the world's leading religious scholars gather in San Diego this weekend, pasta will be on the intellectual menu. They'll be talking about a satirical pseudo-deity called the Flying Spaghetti Monster, whose growing pop culture fame gets laughs but also raises serious questions about the essence of religion.

The appearance of the Flying Spaghetti Monster on the agenda of the American Academy of Religion's annual meeting gives a kind of scholarly imprimatur to a phenomenon that first emerged in 2005 ....

RAmen!

[Chocolatl]

Congrats Clod!

[HungLikeJesus]

In concept, FSM is really no different than Scientology or Mormonism.

edit: different from or different than?

[DanaC]

from or to.....I think 'to' actually.

Something differs from...but is different to...I think.

[Clodfobble]

I think in this case you mean different from. "Than" would imply that Scientology and Mormonism are different (from something else, i.e. standard religions) and FSM is no more different than they are. At the very least, "than" would require a modifier like "more" or less to indicate a side (like you could say A is uglier than B, but not "A is as ugly than B.")

Are you sad you asked?

Edit: regarding Dana's post, "different to" is entirely a British idiom.

[DanaC]

Edit: regarding Dana's post, "different to" is entirely a British idiom.

Ahh. I didn't realise that.

[HungLikeJesus]

Originally Posted by DanaC

from or to.....I think 'to' actually.

Something differs from...but is different to...I think.

Dana, I'm glad we had this exchange. It inspired me to look up different.

Here's what it says about different in Dictionary.com:

—Usage note Although it is frequently claimed that different should be followed only by from, not by than, in actual usage both words occur and have for at least 300 years. From is more common today in introducing a phrase, but than is also used: New York speech is different from (or than) that of Chicago. Than is used to introduce a clause: The stream followed a different course than the map showed. In sentences of this type, from is sometimes used instead of than; when it is, more words are necessary: a different course from the one the map showed. Regardless of the sentence construction, both from and than are standard after different in all varieties of spoken and written American English. In British English to frequently follows different: The early illustrations are very different to the later ones. The use of different in the sense “unusual” is well established in all but the most formal American English: The décor in the new restaurant is really different.

So different words can be used after different, and the different words are different in American and British English.

Does anyone have a different opinion?

[Perry Winkle]

Originally Posted by HungLikeJesus

Does anyone have a different opinion?

"Different from" and "different to" sound foreign to me. I understand them, but they are definitely a linguistic out-marker to me.

I routinely hear both now that I live in the UK. Before I came here, "different to/from" wasn't something I heard said.

If you want, I can try and formalize some of the grammatical oddities in the speech here (I'm talking mainstream British English, not Geordie) and post it in another thread.