points by Jeaye 9 years ago

So, it was couped up in that apartment for a long time...

throwanem 9 years ago

I do not hate fun, yet downvoted your pun; I agree that that's sad, but the pun is so bad! It's such a poor line that the sign seemed condign - of the delta it gives to your karma, that is.

My doggerel here merits no more excuse, but remains with intent that you feel no misuse; the lesson, I hope, you will find salutary, when next you should chance on the urge to make merry.

  • pavel_lishin 9 years ago

    > condign

    Thank you for teaching me a new word.

    • jacobush 9 years ago

      Thank you for not letting me assume it was a typo.

      • throwanem 9 years ago

        Nice thing about verses, unless they're the worst, is the scan and the rhyme can in parsing save time; when a word fits the scheme, though unlikely it seem, it's been chosen with care for the meaning that's there.

        (What did you think it was a typo for?)

        • pavel_lishin 9 years ago

          > Nice thing about verses, unless they're the worst, is the scan and the rhyme can in parsing save time;

          I remember someone mentioning that in the oral tradition - pre-literate stuff - rhyming was a sort of checksum to make sure that your story didn't drift too much with retellings.

          • jacobush 9 years ago

            A very good checksum. Even if the listener might not always be able to recite a saga or poem, she would likely be pretty able to detect a deviation from the standard telling.

            I think the rhyming did not exactly prevent changes, but made patches obvious. Kinda like git and source control. :)

            Oral tradition has been proven to be extremely stable under the right circumstances. Australia has tales about ancestral hunting grounds which have been lost to the sea for millennia.

            https://www.sott.net/article/291976-Australian-aboriginal-st...