Originally Posted by lawleypop

I'm running up and down Sterling AS WE SPEAK.

I refuse to believe you're running :|

Originally Posted by reeves

I refuse to believe you're running :|

... I'm walking quickly? XD

Originally Posted by lawleypop

... I'm walking quickly? XD

Yeah, no. I've seen you walk. You cant do that.

Originally Posted by reeves

Yeah, no. I've seen you walk. You cant do that.

Whatever.

Point is, I'll find him. Even if it takes me all night.

Originally Posted by lawleypop

Whatever.

Point is, I'll find him. Even if it takes me all night.

At the rate you walk, and your sense of direction, he's safe for a few hundred years.

Originally Posted by reeves

At the rate you walk, and your sense of direction, he's safe for a few hundred years.

LMAO.
THE BUS LADY SAID IT WAS WESTBOUND.

Gahhhhhhhh.

Go jump shot the whiteball and sink it in the pocket without it even rolling. D:

hahaha.

So I just have to watch out for a blonde midget running at me? Got it. I'll carry my pogo stick with me. ftw!

Originally Posted by lawleypop

Whatever.

Point is, I'll find him. Even if it takes me all night.

Hey Cheri! I am really happy for you and Ima gonna let you finish but tooth fairy is the greatest home intruder of all time! of all time!! *shrugs*

Originally Posted by ice8

Hey Cheri! I am really happy for you and Ima gonna let you finish but tooth fairy is the greatest home intruder of all time! of all time!! *shrugs*

Lies. Santa is.

Imagine how hard it is getting his fat ass through a chimney. That's skill.

Originally Posted by lawleypop

Lies. Santa is.

Imagine how hard it is getting his fat ass through a chimney. That's skill.

Yes but it is a Kanye west spoof, its suppose to be wrong.

Here are my thoughts:

1) Art is not as standardized as was implied in this thread.

Case in point: White = purity, Black = Death? Many chinese immigrants/refugees during the 1940's ish were frightened and refused to go into hospitals because doctors would wear white. (White is their colour of death, and they thought of it as a 'place of death.')

Red on the other hand, to us, is a colour of pain, of blood. To the Chinese, it's a colour of prosperity, of luck.

It's as different as night and day.

2) You can't expect me to read this and not put in my 2 cents regarding Math. :p

Math is not a universal language. It is simply universal. Clearly it's not a language, since basic mathematics/arithmetic which is accessible to most of the world is not even standardized. Symbolism varies considerably, again I use the example of China. They have an entirely different form of arithmetic, and as I was saying in a much earlier post (on the order of months ago), Roman Numeral arithmetic is actually way more convenient in some special cases.

It's not standardized...but it's universal. And what do I mean by this?



If I throw down some math (this is called a chain complex by the way), then it is universal because:

a) Mathematicians will understand it, whether they speak English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, German, etc. because there are no english words.
b) Laymen will NOT understand it, whether they speak English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, German, etc. because the math is complicated.


Universality isn't about its accessibility...it's about how 'all populations would react the same way.'


3) I concur that music is pretty universal...a 'sad song' can invoke feelings of sadness in me, even if it's written in Japanese.

What's interesting though, is that there is a definite mathematical structure to music! (That's why harmony is so well studied) It's applied math!

Sure, looking at notes and scales as mathematics kind of takes the magic out of things, it's kind of like thinking about how the book you're reading is made of molecules.

EDIT:

4) Neglected to mention that I think stupidity is the universal language. Everyone does stupid things, and everyone else seems to be able to recognize when someone's done a stupid thing.

Not going to lie, as soon as Math came up I was wondering how long it would take you to post a response

Definitely an interesting post.

Originally Posted by Mowicz

Here are my thoughts:

2) You can't expect me to read this and not put in my 2 cents regarding Math. :p

Math is not a universal language. It is simply universal. Clearly it's not a language, since basic mathematics/arithmetic which is accessible to most of the world is not even standardized. Symbolism varies considerably, again I use the example of China. They have an entirely different form of arithmetic, and as I was saying in a much earlier post (on the order of months ago), Roman Numeral arithmetic is actually way more convenient in some special cases.

It's not standardized...but it's universal. And what do I mean by this?



If I throw down some math (this is called a chain complex by the way), then it is universal because:

a) Mathematicians will understand it, whether they speak English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, German, etc. because there are no english words.
b) Laymen will NOT understand it, whether they speak English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, German, etc. because the math is complicated.


Universality isn't about its accessibility...it's about how 'all populations would react the same way.'

This is exactly what I was trying to get across before when I was arguing that math is universal (although I thought it might be a language since it is a way of communicating). Needless to say, you managed to put it a much better way!

I actually thought it was pretty obvious that math is universal...I guess there will always be that one person who argues solid facts and bases everything on a tribe that isnt able to understand numbers.....:rolleyes :

Originally Posted by Taunton

When you talk about actual languages (not math, or drawing, or music) but ways of speaking and writing abstract concepts down, English is the closest language to a universal language. It's called the modern lingua franca. You can't go to Europe, or South America or Africa and speak Mandarin (or Math) and expect people to understand you. You can go to these places and expect people to understand English.

This isn't being elitist, and it's true.

Your argument as to why India has the second most english speakers might be somewhat true, but it is in fact because of how much business has been outsourced from North America and Europe to India. Since business requires it, many many Indian people know English.

I know most people are over this but I just want to point something out. You should NEVER go to a country whose first language is not English and EXPECT the citizens to speak English. That is extremely anglocentric and quite rude. I can guarantee you that most people in Romania or Georgia do not know English, and you absolutely should not expect them to know English. No one is going to cater to you just because you know English. Please get out of your little bubble.

Also – “many many Indian people” may know English, but if you go to India with the intention of only speaking English, you will NOT be able to communicate with more than 50% of the people you meet. Do not throw statistics at me. I have been there 3 times, I know.

English may be a very important and popular language (it might even be the most important language in the world atm), but it is FAR from universal.

Originally Posted by rrtt

This is exactly what I was trying to get across before when I was arguing that math is universal (although I thought it might be a language since it is a way of communicating). Needless to say, you managed to put it a much better way!

I actually thought it was pretty obvious that math is universal...I guess there will always be that one person who argues solid facts and bases everything on a tribe that isnt able to understand numbers.....:rolleyes :

Righttt. Even though I said exactly "a) Mathematicians will understand it, whether they speak English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, German, etc. because there are no english words.
b) Laymen will NOT understand it, whether they speak English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, German, etc. because the math is complicated."

How you're a volunteer for this site is beyond me. See, if I'm going to be a *****, I'm going to acknowledge that fact. I don't try and subtly (subtlely?) hide it.

I acknowledged the fact that it was universal by saying "Yes, it's the same everywhere". And then I argued that something being "universal" is arbitrary if not EVERYONE understands it. And the majority of humans DON'T understand math beyond basic arithmetic. Glad you understood my point though.