Open Thread

“OK, I may be be partly responsible for initiating our meta-argument today”

Uh, yeah, ya did, Slopey! Donatella, too. But I fell on my sword.

*rob*, a friend of mine who is reading other threads wants to know to whom you’re referring when you say “riff-raff”?

OK, I may be be partly responsible for initiating our meta-argument today, so here is my peace offering (I haven’t needed this since you-know-who was posting in the OT).

M: Oh look, this isn’t an argument!
(pause)
O: Yes it is!
M: No it isn’t! (pause)
M: It’s just contradiction!
O: No it isn’t!
M: It IS!
O: It is NOT!
M: You just contradicted me!
O: No I didn’t!
M: You DID!
O: No no no!
M: You did just then!
O: Nonsense!
M: (exasperated) Oh, this is futile!!
O: No it isn’t!
M: Yes it is! Look, I came here for a good argument!
O: AH, no you didn’t, you came here for an argument!
M: An argument isn’t just contradiction.
O: Well! it CAN be!
M: No it can’t! An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition.
O: No it isn’t!
M: Yes it is! ’tisn’t just contradiction.
O: Look, if I *argue* with you, I must take up a contrary position!
M: Yes but it isn’t just saying ‘no it isn’t’.
O: Yes it is!
M: No it isn’t! Argument is an intellectual process. Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of anything the other person says.
O: It is NOT!
M: It is!

“I’d never rent to rob because I wouldn’t want my personal life aired all over the OT every time he had an issue with me.”

You’re just afraid he’ll provide all the details before you get a chance to.

I’d never rent to rob because I wouldn’t want my personal life aired all over the OT every time he had an issue with me.