helenofjoy wrote: 
I hear you!   I have a woman on my floor that hates my cat.  she is a busy body and nasty to me even before she knew i had a cat.  I live next to the elevator and she gets paranoid that I listen to her talking to people there.  i don't.  nothing bores me more.  she accused me of watching her.   i truly never did or do.  the people in the building seem to like her.   she talks to everyone.  she knocked on my door at 12:30 at night accusing my cat of cruising the hall.   my cat never goes out in the hall unless I am with her.  we have gone for walks side by side after midnight when nobody is around, and if we hear someone we run back in. we do this maybe once a month.  she said my cat peed on the carpet.  my cat has never peed anywhere but in the bathroom.   then she got on the board!  and then it was posted that no animals should be without a leash in the halls.   then she knocked again and asked me if I saw that.  i don't like her.   one time in the laundry room she put one piece of clothing in each of the dryers after I did a wash and i couldn't dry my clothes for hours.  she is crazy!

 samiyam wrote: 
The crazy woman that lives in the building next door to me is really crazy too!  I can't keep my big mouth shut and I'm afraid she will retaliate someday for my confrontational behavior.  She's dealing meth out of her apartment, she's on every social and private program she can get, is legally disabled for a "serious mental illness," and she is cagey as a fox.  She juggles all these case workers and church people like its childs play.  I'm amazed and astounded at what she gets away with, all the while we pay for it.  She calls the ambulance at least twice a month for her many crises.  She tries to act like everybody's best friend and I'm worried she will poison my dog if I don't start playing along!  This is not merely paranoia.

The crazy woman upstairs is really crazy.

 starcloud wrote: 
I've never had want of one.

you've never had a true friend

 cookinlover wrote: 
for fully automatic function, nicorette is recommended.

You can make a working pistol using chewing gum and sawdust. If you're going for high caliber, be sure to buy Wrigley's gum.

 dionysius wrote: 
Would you say all that again in plain Ingrish?

Actually I think it is OK to Hassle the Hoff.

I'm big in Japan

 the term nerd was invented by Dr. Seuss
... in his 1950 book, "If I Ran the Zoo."

FYI, Derek Bickerton's not just a gifted linguist and author; he's also the proud father of two famous sons:  Ashley Bickerton, an astoundingly talented and successful mixed-media artist, and James Bickerton, a Honolulu superlawyer whose skillful advocacy on environmental, free speech, and community issues has been instrumental in preserving our quality of life here in Hawaii.  (Ash and Jim are also amazing surfers . . . they travel all over the world chasing the best waves.) 

 Lazy8 wrote: 
You're very welcome.  It's a great read . . . that "somebody" will really enjoy it! 

justin_thyme wrote:
I'll have to check that out!  I read his book Language and Species when I was in college and really enjoyed it..   He is a good writer, too.  Keeps you engaged.

 justin_thyme wrote:
 
Thanks, I now have the perfect gift for somebody!

 Lazy8 wrote: 
Speaking of languages:  I recently finished re-reading Bastard Tongues by linguist Derek Bickerton.  It's a fascinating and very entertaining exploration of the evolution of creole languages around the world — as much an adventure story as anything else.  I heartily recommend it!  Here's the Amazon link in case anyone's interested.

JustineFromWyoming wrote:
Sooooo wish I could help you!

Eating all this English toffee won't make me any less sleepy.

 Lazy8 wrote: 

Not true with the lexicon for any given modern language, for example, which tends to get bigger and more complex as time goes by. English itself is a famous example. Why, we have a word for everything.  And some modern languages are quite conservative grammatically, like Lithuanian, which proudly boasts all seven of the original Indo-European noun cases (wow, an instrumental case?!). Lithuanian also has the richest participle system of all I-E languages, with participles derived from all tenses with distinct active and passive forms, and several gerund forms. Sounds exhausting. Linguistic evolution isn't simply a progress from complexity to simplicity or vice versa; change can work in many different ways, some of them producing greater complexity, or leaving past complexity in place.

 Lazy8 wrote: