WTF per se
3So, TIL that "per say" is standard usage. I swear it wasn't like that when I was a kid. And I'm not that old, damnit. More importantly, something somewhere refuses to let me submit a comment on meh using the Latin P-E-R S-E spelling. This is fucking weird.
No matter what I do, if the six character combination I mean to say is in a comment, something (and I initially thought it was meh, but, WTF, imageshack and/or Explorer do it to). I swear I'm not making it up. Try for yourself. Dear God, let it happen for someone else.
If this is a meh bug, I deserve an awesome prize for finding it. If it's not a meh bug, I deserve an awesome prize for putting up with it. Something wordy would be nice.
- 26 comments, 68 replies
- Comment
per se
@pooflady See???!!!!
@pooflady I mean, I'm assuming you spelled it the other way.
@joelmw No, we do not see. Sorry.
Seriously, I feel violated. It's not that I use it often, but I don't even want to say it (I mean orally, not just in writing) if that's the way we have to spell it. Fuckers did it in my thread title too.
Yeah, I'm bordering on pissed right now. Really, I'd say that Pissed and I don't just share a border but some living space.
@persephone per se
@nadroj Yeah, at least they don't make us say "Persayphony."
So I'm wondering now what other autocorrecting is being done and how.
Ummm, I'm seeing it spelled correctly everywhere except in your screen shot, so I think this one is on you.
@PurplePawprints It's not a matter of "correct." It's about what I meant to say. Is there no way to say what I want to say (he says, noticing the now ironic "Say it" button just to the right)?
@PurplePawprints I'd argue, despite acceptance and standardization that my use is correct. It evokes the etymology, which I wager most people who say "per se" don't even fucking know or understand.
@joelmw But what I mean is, I'm seeing it spelled as you meant to spell it. So, I think it's an issue with your computer/browser adjusting for language.
@PurplePawprints My head hurts. Can you post a screen shot? WTF?
@PurplePawprints I mean, seriously. I'm starting to feel like a crazy person. What could I have loaded that would do that specific thing?
@joelmw I don't know. Go into settings and see if there's anywhere that you can set your language, maybe? What browser are you using? I'm not well-versed in this kind of thing, but maybe someone else can help once they know.
Per se works for me. So yeah, either this is a goat vote scheme, or your machine is haunted for Halloween.
@bluedyn But did you try to use the Latin spelling?
@joelmw I only knew about the Latin spelling. I'd never have used "say."
There's something very meta about this. It feels like some fresh, personal hell. Nicely played, meh. Goatfuckers.
Look, this is what I see.
Try with another browser? Seems like yours is set to automatically correct anything it sees. Look at this screenshot:
@kadagan Yeah, it's fine in IE. Weird shit.
function handleText(textNode)
{
var v = textNode.nodeValue;
user = joelmw
v = v.replace(/\bPer Se\b/g, "Per Say");
v = v.replace(/\bper se\b/g, "per say");
v = v.replace(/\bper say\b/g, "per se");
v = v.replace(/\bI dislike this product\b/g, "This is the best thing I've ever purchased!");
}
@hart You're an evil genius.
@hart Mad respect if that's what you really did. Mad respect either way. :-) I'm almost in tears though.
@hart I dislike this product, per se.
@hart This is fantastic
@joelmw Nah, I didn't do it and I'm pretty sure that code wouldn't work. But now you know why they keep me as far away from these things as possible.
@Bingo Whatever is doing it, I just saw it happen. When I looked at the forum, the thread showed "per se" ever so briefly before it changed to the abominable "per say".
@joelmw You probably have a browser script running that edits it. My thought is a spell check or translator plug-in.
@hart How does it look in Korean?
@hart Yeah, I use a ton of Chrome extensions, so I'm guessing there's something in there. A ton. I'll have to work up some sort of binary exclusion process then, won't I? Damnit.
@joelmw I promise you it's not my meh scroller!
@jsh139 Not yet.. ;)
@jsh139 I saw it in there and nary an ill thought crossed my mind. And, indeed, it was innocent, and I'm still enjoying it.
Okay. Excuse me while I go fetal. Someone else deserves a prize if they can replicate my insanity. I'm done for now. Sigh.
@joelmw which browser are you using? Check your plugins/extensions/add-ons.. There are some like "FoxReplace" which can be used to replace text in webpages for you.
@kadagan Yup
Does it happen to you on other websites also? My guess is someone might have changed something on your browser as a prank.
@jqubed Or it could be an adware or malware download.
@rockblossom Please don't say those words.
@joelmw Hah! Then check your browser extensions and find the culprit. That's the lesser of evils. If not found there, you need to run a good anti-virus/malware/spyware program.
I have no idea what the problem is. I've read several times and I don't know which way is being corrected nor which way the OP likes it. Testing:
per se
perse
per say
@medz I'm with you, you're on your own @joelmw.
@medz @JonT I'm touched.
@joelmw
@medz I found this. It's horrible. So I thought you might like it. I mean, it makes me amused and ashamed all at once, so I thought you might feel the same.
@joelmw I'm glad someone reads my comic strip!
If you think that's bad, on the Woot forums after Amazon took over it would autocorrect "gay" to "grumpy", so "I'm proud of my brother for coming out as gay to our family" would show up as "...as grumpy to..." etc. I dunno if they outsourced forum moderation to the Westboro Baptist Church or what, but it was pretty shockingly insensitive considering Amazon might have its faults but isn't generally known as a discriminatory company.
@Starblind I don't think that was really the intent. Woot has had goofy filters since well before Amazon, and apply them to the phrases that people post annoyingly. Things like 'first', as well as swearing.
@Mavyn Eh. Not to go all Columbo here, but if the intent wasn't to offend, then why use a negative sterotype associated with that group instead of a random word (like pumpkin), or even a made-up word? For that matter, why did the filter also work on URLs? I dunno, I just don't see how it could happen "innocently" without someone or other stepping in and saying "hey guys, this particular word filter is pretty offensive to a large portion of our own customer base and may not entirely be the greatest idea we've ever had."
@Starblind The list of words filtered and what was replaced changes often. Do they make mistakes? Sure...but given that woot has also created 2 new tees because members requested gender equality--and done so fairly rapidly--I can't say that I'd see any malice there. Under any circumstances, 'gay' is no longer a filtered word at Woot, mostly likely because there aren't many people posting it on woot off threads. I'm completely unaware of any stereotype of 'grumpy' and any sexual preference, as well.
@Starblind Gay can also mean happy. Grumpy is simply the opposite of happy.
@Starblind I'm sure that @snapster can comment on this further, but Woot has had word filters in its forums since at least 2007 (when I joined). I'm assuming that the intent was to remain work safe, as well as to limit the flaming and nonsense that always happens on forums. Oh, and Woot was also trying to be funny. Like, changing the word 'shit' to 'Manos, the hands of fate' which is one of the worst-rated movies of all time on IMDB.
@Starblind Woot has has silly word filters for ages. They probably filtered "gay" because it was commonly used as a negative comment. They filtered it to keep people from using it as an insult.
@Starblind gonna agree with @Thumperchick on this one, from a moderator's POV it makes a lot of sense to have filters for words that are (unfortunately) used in a negative context the majority of the time.
I know we're a lot smaller (right now) and our attitude towards language in general helps, but I'm still pretty proud that we have a community that doesn't need much moderation.
@JonT The problem with that logic is that it entirely nullified any rational discourse on the topic, while I doubt it hindered bullies much (surely they figured out g@y or gäy something). For example, suppose a high school utterly outlawed the word "Jewish" or anything similar. Bullies would just use some other word, whilst history classes, current-events classes, and comparative religion classes would be totally up shit creek. Bullying would be only minorly inconvenienced, but teaching effectively would be nearly impossible.
@Starblind Filtering one slang term does not nullify discourse. The term homosexual(ity) was not filtered. You are stating that an ecommerce forum nullified conversation on homosexuality, by filtering the word gay. I think you're reaching on this.
perse
That wasn't too difficult.
Maybe you have one of those speech-limiting ISPs?
Did the gremlin parse that?
@capguncowboy I see "perse" which makes my skin crawl almost as much as "per say." ;-)
Well, damnit, I found it. It is in fact an "eggcorn" extension.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggcorn
The scary thing is that I vaguely recall having loaded it at some point in time. I do not know why. I do shit like that. I am a goat's ass.
God only knows what poor souls I've misjudged for their awkward mishandling of the language.
Or idiomatic errors I might have made, because, well, blunder-fuck, yes, it did indeed change the text at dictionary sites as well.
I need several doses of hard liquor.
Sigh.
This is all @Thumperchick's fault.
Anyway, so, um . . .
@joelmw Soo u meen al this tyme arr spellling misstakes were goinng unoticed to yoo?
@jsh139 No, I mean all this time I thought you were saying "awl this thyme." Not really. Thank God, the extension has a fairly limited set of expressions.
@joelmw
Which is actually an "eggcorn" itself.
Needless to say, "per se" is correct and "per say" is not.
I lost all confidence when they changed the official definition of "literally" to mean "not really literally." Again. I blame @Thumperchick.
Sad that this wasn't a discussion about Per Se
@ChadP
You're really working for that Goatvember nomination, aren't you?
@Thumperchick That would have been a fiendish plan. I wish I could take credit for it.
Don't worry @joelmw, for all intensive purposes we knew what you were trying to say.
@Starblind On no....
@Starblind Eggsactly.
@tightwad Without farther adieu, I'll say that your reply peed my interest. I was just trying to create a useful suppository of information by acting in one Fall soup, and just wanted to make sure any self-depreciating comments by @joelmw were nipped in the butt. He did good by making this thread and should be given some leadway. I should of preceded in a way that more jives with the fax, but irregardless, isn't it a mood point by now? It's a doggy-dog world.
@Starblind @joelmw was really hoisted by his own petar.
@JonT He just has to wait for the statue of limitations to be over, then he'll be off Scott Free.
I wasn't going to do this, because I was so traumatized and embarrassed, but I'm almost over it now. In case you want to torment your friends, enemies--or, yaknow, like me, yourself--the Chrome extension is called "Eggstension." It's a subtle form of torture, but I hear those are the most effective. I'm pretty sure I'm staggering away from this one with a permanent tic.
And, wait, what's this? It's put out by mediocre.com. That maybe has something to do with why I ever even stumbled upon it in the first place. I'm sure meh, mediocre labs and @snapster are behind it somehow.
Still, in any case, all @Thumperchick's fault.
@joelmw Step away from the keyboard and go find a chapter of Downloaders Anonymous. It's going to be a difficult 23-step program to recovery, but you will be glad you did it. The alternative is a life of .. of .. unbareable pane and suppering. Right a book about your oddisea and you could win a Pullet Surprize.
I was sort of joking. I forgot that's their web site. What devilry is this?
@rockblossom That would be the wise thing to do . . .
@joelmw So that extension was totally made by @shawn. So really this entire thread is his fault. THANKS A LOT @shawn.
@joelmw I did this on purpose
I feel like this guy:
@joelmw Great movie
@jsh139 It is.
@joelmw So that extension was totally made by @shawn. So really this entire thread is his fault. THANKS A LOT @shawn.
@JonT Nice one, @shawn. You almost made a grown man cry. First when he thought the rules of language had shifted beneath his metaphorical feet; then when he thought he was losing his mind; then when he knew he'd been had; then when he realized that ultimately (excepting you and @Thumperchick), it was mostly his own stupid fault. I'm sure there are other "thens" but it's been one damned exhausting day, so I'm done listing them.
@JonT @shawn It's actually a funny extension. At first I rated it one star out of spite. Then, when I was farther from shame and farther into laughter, I changed my rating to five stars, but left the original comment and just added a new one.
@JonT I really hope @shawn gets a raise out of this, or at least a bonus.
@joelmw This is the hardest I've laughed in a while- thank you for not only inflicting this pain on yourself, but sticking around to find out what the problem was.
@dashcloud It's apparently what I do. There are those who live their lives unfulfilled, never knowing their purpose or calling. Not so this jackass. Apparently. Sigh.
@shawn Faved for Charlie. swoons