StatisticalOutlier

Shaun T needs somebody to teach him some math. He said Latasha's body fat went from 49.7% to 45%, and added, "You lost 4.7% of your body fat." No she didn't. She lost 9.5% of her body fat, or 4.7 percentage points. That error always grates, and it's particularly annoying in a show where they're "grading" these people on the percentage of body weight they lose, which they manage to calculate correctly. At the beginning of that sequence, there was a thing on my screen that said it was 8:00 a.m. and 33 degrees. And the wind was really blowing. Cold, and good for keeping Latasha from sweating up her pearls or ruining her eye makeup. I'm glad somebody finally said it. I'm usually not hungry in the morning, so I see no reason to eat. Sometimes I won't eat until well into the afternoon, if I'm busy doing something else. Other times I'll go to Whataburger at 9:00 a.m. because I happen to be hungry and they serve hamburgers and fries 24/7. Basically, I eat when I want to eat, not when people think I should eat, and it works well for me. ETA: Plus, like the trainer, I find that eating a nominal breakfast--something to just get something in my stomach--somehow makes me hungrier during the day, like it kick-starts the whole thing. If I eat something like that, then I'm eating again at the same time I would have if I hadn't eaten breakfast, and I'm not eating any less at that point. And speaking of one size not fitting all, I have to admit that I'm a little bit on Taj's side. That girl was sweating up a storm during her yellow belt test, and she said she was tired. It looked to me like she'd been working pretty hard. I don't know what her deal is, but I'm about the least competitive person in the world, and when people exhort me to do something, there's a fine line they have to walk because I am very able to say, "I don't give a shit." Because I usually don't. What I think is that Taj wasn't all into whatever martial arts thing she was doing, and the yellow belt was something she just didn't really care about. It might be hard for some people to grasp, but I just don't care about things like achieving a certain color of belt, and certainly not a yellow one. I like to accomplish things, but rarely does "winning" motivate me. Taj might have some of the same traits, and if she does, I can definitely see working to exhaustion during the test, and then when told to dig deep and do more, stopping because she'd given it all she had to give, screw the belt. But when they did that thing where they held the ball over their heads? That girl was totally into it, with a steely look on her face that was impressive, and even hollering at Jasmine, I think, not to give up, even though Jasmine giving up was going to make Taj win. Looks to me like that was something that struck something in her, and it wasn't winning that was making her go. I totally get that. Now, why she cheated on her diet, and then quit, I don't know. But I do know that I wouldn't be thrilled about someone telling me on national teevee that I needed therapy. I would have been inclined to tell that trainer she needs to get a nose job, or quit letting the camera frame her in profile. And in other shallow news, why didn't the men take off their shirts for the final weigh-in? Could Baby Huey have been wearing some shapewear? Because in the before picture his belly was hanging waaaaay down over his shorts, and if he lost a lot of the fat behind that, then he has to have a skirt of that excess skin now, and it didn't really look like it.

Well, shit. I tried. I really did.

Were those really the goat's balls? I thought it had to be an udder.

I tend to associate wearing hats like that with a certain socioeconomic group, and this did not disappoint. Oh, and my 13-year-old nephew. He likes to wear a hat. I'm assuming he'll grow out of it. And I don't know if this is the scene you're talking about, but the pastor was saying he's learned to move off to the side at the end of the vows so he's not photo-bombing the picture of the kiss. He added something about avoiding having ugly people, or something, in the photo, and the camera cut to Butch. I don't like Butch but thought it was kind of harsh. And hilarious. ETA: Leaving a verb of out of sentence does not make for clarity; leaving "did not" out really doesn't help things..

Derek's mother mentions her own mother, Rose: "[Grandma Rose] and Derek had a very strong bond. She would love nothing more than to meet Sophia as well." I'd venture to say Grandma Rose hasn't seen the show.

I found something to admire about Farrah! When she was talking to Sophia about how Daddy Derek (ugh) died, she said, "It was out of your and my hands." Not "you and I's hands" or some other heinous variation on that theme. Girl knows her pronouns!

I don't think I'd mind exercising in public. But that would not include doing squats in the produce section of the grocery store.

Butch did put some distance--he moved into the camper in the driveway of the house they rented. Classy. Then he moved to a campground, so I wonder if the neighbors complained. I think she made that up, or at least exaggerated a lot, maybe as a way to make herself more relatable. You know, struggling just like everybody else. Only not. I think it's of a piece with her belief that she has accomplished so very much at such a young age. Take the MTV money and the bennies that come with it (e.g. book-buying fans), but never acknowledge it. I think it doesn't matter what they look like because I'm afraid her fans will buy them regardless. I thought they were really nice, but it never even occurred to me to think he wrote them himself.

Interesting on the affair angle. But I still don't know why she would have said, "giving everything to that one person and committing to them." Maybe it was a married woman she was having an affair with.

Oops--I may have outed myself as having been raised in Texas, where mispronunciations abound. If it's a regional thing, then I can't figure out why people think it's spelled rediculous.

That was JoJo, and I'm not sure it was a guy. She said something about ending a relationship and having trust issues, and Ben asked, "Did he cheat on you?" She said, "I wasn't the only person involved in their life and while I was giving everything to that one person and committing to them..." I think it would have been much more natural for her to say "he" and "him" and wonder why she didn't. It's like when people are prohibited from using someone's name in a reality TV conversation, it can sound a little tortured. Like a woman will be talking to her mother and say, "When my ex-husband and I were here for Christmas." I think "they" instead of "he" and "she" is still at the stage where it's done thoughtfully and intentionally, so it seemed strange.

What about the fathers or other adults? Poor Nick. He's sitting there overhearing Tyler's speech about attempted suicide, and even piped up and Tyler was like, "Oh, I forgot he was here," and then he continued on with comments about rope burns around his neck. WTF? And then in the car, Nick was in the back seat when Tyler and Butch were talking about BrandonandTeresa not wanting Butch to meet Carly, etc. Why is he hearing all that? Because he's so used to watching Butch and April fight, or Butch and Tyler fight, or April and Caitlyn fight, that they figure he can take it? That is so annoying. I was just picturing all these teenagers thinking, "Wow, if I have a baby I'll get to start my own business and have photo shoots and have my friends be the models!" And I don't think he was joking when he said he'd run off to "Baruba." Peignoir! That's exactly what she was wearing. Still doesn't explain "why," but at least we know "what." I don't think Butch is Nick's father. I can't swear to it because every time I try to untangle that whole mess my brain hurts, but I'm pretty sure. And he is a very sweet boy, which also makes me think he's not related to Butch. Also...I think there's more going on with the Debra vs. Michael staying with Sophia thing. Obviously the conversations we see are at least edited, if not re-created, so you can never know for sure. But Debra said Michael couldn't watch Sophia full time, presumably based on what he told her. And when Farrah got Michael on the phone when they were at Debra's house, she started, in true Farrah fashion, with, "Did you lie to me earlier and say you can watch Sophia?" He said, "My job stuff, don't worry. I can do everything I can here and I will work something out." And then, "Take a breather, when we talk we'll work things out." So what's to be worked out? Apparently it's not the case that he'll just fly down to Austin and take care of Sophia. So Debra has a point. Unfortunately, she's also vile and insane, so if the point of her having a point is to be able to watch Sophia, then it's a moot point. Or it would be for me because I wouldn't let her near my kid. But it's Farrah we're talking about, and for some reason these three people just cannot stay away from each other. I just find it so ironic that Debra and Michael take all this shit from Farrah, I assume mostly because they don't want to lose Sophia. But I think they need to be mindful of "Watch out what you ask for because you just might get it."

We'll just have to agree to disagree because I think a lot of it IS worse if it causes confusion. So what is the role of dictionary editors? They obviously don't include every single variation of every single word or usage, so there is some selection going on. I think the reason the "i" was changed to an "e" was that's how people hear it pronounced: ree dik u lus. And the "ree" becomes even more pronounced for emphasis: "That is reeee DIK u lus." I would venture that you've actually read the word correctly spelled, and even thought for a second and realized it's derived from "ridicule," which is not pronounced with "ree" at the beginning. In fact, it's really hard to put a "ree" at the beginning of "ridicule," so it's obvious that it's "ri" at the beginning and not "re." But that's the province of people who see it spelled correctly. "Redic" just grates even more. I think the same thing has happened with "should have" becoming "should of." People are saying "should've" as a contraction of "should have," and it definitely sounds like "should of." The problem is that so much of what people read these days isn't edited, or even written by people who take the time to write correctly, so you start seeing "should of" everywhere and there's nothing to indicate it's not correct. I don't really have a problem with people mis-hearing things, and actually find it kind of charming sometimes. That's what an egg-corn is: something that people mis-hear. However, it's vastly different from turning "should have" into "should of" because a true eggcorn requires the person to come up with a basis for the substituted word. Eggcorn=acorn because people think of the little oval thing that falls from a tree as an egg. So they come up with "eggcorn." But I respect those because at least they have thought, and sometimes clever thought, behind them. Saying "should of" or using "literally" incorrectly doesn't. They're just wrong.

What is it with fat people and their canes? Something about the way they sit always makes them look so imperious.

Will a hilarious AND well-written piece about that very show make you less sad? http://previously.tv/fit-to-fat-to-fit/should-you-sit-down-for-a-big-helping-of-fit-to-fat-to-fit/ "No, I cannot do a single pull-up, but I can polish off a plate of cheese enchiladas without bursting into tears, falling into a fugue state, or vomiting, making me tougher than and superior to nearly every trainer on this show. I win!" She said "tougher than and superior to" in a piece about a stupid TV show. Warms my heart. Am I wrong about the purpose of language? I always figured we came up with words because they were better than grunts, the goal being to communicate better. And if language changes make communicating more difficult, why should the gate-keepers capitulate? Why have "figuratively" as a secondary meaning for "literally," when it literally means the opposite? What is being advanced? Certainly not clarity. I understand that words change, and that they can take on quite different meanings. Like "bad." It started to be used as somewhat of a synonym for "good" in certain cases. Not a 100% synonym, because "bad" for "good" generally implied an edginess of sorts. However, you could tell from the context and usage whether that alternate meaning was intended. And when spoken, it often had a different inflection that would help indicate its meaning. It was also predominantly used in very casual speech. And perhaps most important: people knew they were using the word to mean something other than its traditional meaning. I would bet big money that every single person who used "bad" as a synonym for "good" had a reflex the first time they ever heard it used that way, and then adopted it. But none of this is the case with "literally" vs. "figuratively." People who are misusing it don't know they're misusing it, and definitely aren't intending any sort of ironic twist. And it's not used only in very casual speech, or only situations that would tip one off that the "alternate" meaning was being used. I refer back to the very first post in this thread, by candall: Only because it's such a ridiculous usage do we know that she didn't really mean "literally." But even then, you still have to stop and evaluate. My beef is that there are other words that would convey the same thing without abusing poor old "literally." Like, "This crime really makes my blood boil." Or, "This crime totally makes my blood boil." Or even, "This crime makes my blood boil" because do you really need to make that "more"? Boiling blood isn't enough? (And if you want to double over laughing, read walnutqueen's reply.) So take my example of, "I literally throw up when someone mentions caviar." If "literally" and "figuratively" mean the same thing, there's no way to know what he meant. How can that possibly be a good thing? Or even acceptable? Leave "literally" meaning "literally," and if people are going to misuse it, so be it. But don't change the very meaning of the word "literally" as a way of acknowledging the misuse. Are we just going to crowd-source dictionaries now? I definitely don't want the one on my desk to read like the Urban Dictionary that's online. But that's sure what it looks like the editors at Merriam-Webster are doing. What they're also doing is eliminating a very useful word because if "literally" can mean either "literally" or "figuratively," then someone who really does mean "literally" just can't use it any more. How is that acceptable? The only substitute I can think of is "actually," and that one's already being mangled to death. House Hunters is the worst: Agent invariably says, "This home actually has three bedrooms," when the HH is looking for a three-bedroom house and all the other houses the agent has shown have three bedrooms. On some other show, I heard a woman say, "My mother actually died last year." So I'm resentful that a very good word, "literally," is not only being grossly misused but is furthermore being taken away from careful writers/speakers everywhere, with no good substitute. How is that okay? What's next? "Penultimate"? I guarantee you that the vast majority of English speakers think it means "really good" and not "second-to-last." I just can't accept that that's a reason to change its dictionary meaning. Wait, here's a thought: Maybe dip into mathematics and use a superscript "2" if you mean literally as literally. Like, "I literally² throw up when someone mentions caviar." "Literally squared" in speech sound awkward. Maybe something like "air quotes"? Just one "air quote" with the right hand?

Hmm...I just realized that calling a game well means talking constantly and not leaving any empty air, so...yeah.

I enjoy the camaraderie among the hosts, but it takes me only about 15 minutes to watch one of these episodes because I FF through so much. I do think Sunny missed her calling as a sports announcer, given the way she calls the tool takedowns. She's surprisingly good at that. The main reason I watch is to see how much more like Pee Wee Herman Jeff Mauro looks each week. First it was his hair, and now it's his entire profile. When he's watching someone do something, he has the exact same expression Pee Wee had when he was concentrating.

I didn't see the show, but I've had this place in Vegas on my radar for some time. I think Mr. Outlier would love it. He once hopped in a forklift and figured out how to use it to move a load of bricks, and said it was a lot of fun. I can imagine that really big machinery would be a gas. I didn't realize there was another outfit doing this, and I went to the Extreme Sandbox website. I think they're more expensive than the one in Las Vegas. But I noticed a link to a fire truck, and ironically, Mr. Outlier programs vehicle simulators, and among them are fire trucks, with tillers. Unfortunately, Extreme Sandbox doesn't let you drive the fire truck, but instead uses it kind of like a limousine. Too bad--I think it would be really fun to set two friends loose in a fire truck to maneuver through a course--one driving the truck and one driving the tiller. And hey, fill it with water so it's real tippy.

That's the thing: If she "shouldn't" be eating cheese, give a valid reason for it. She said the macaroni and cheese she makes has something like 7 different cheeses, and it costs $90 to make a pan of it. Number one, hand me a fork. But number two, she's obviously using the "good" stuff, and needs to know why it might not be compatible with the diet she's supposed to be following. I don't think the woman is stupid, and someone looking for loopholes, which I suspect she's inclined to do, shouldn't be given nonsensical reasons. Anybody rubbing two brain cells together will highly suspect that Cheese Whiz is probably not weight-loss friendly, but "real" cheese, like the kind you pay a lot for at Whole Foods and is found on the perimeter of the store? You're gonna have to convince me why I shouldn't be eating that, and the "bad bacteria" thing smells of bullshit. ETA: I glanced at it. All I saw was a fitness fanatic overeating and being miserable, lying on the couch all the time, and scaring his family. Pinching a teeny bit of extra skin on his side and declaring it muffin top. Claiming he's afraid he might become complacent being like that. I highly doubt it. And you can't tell me that there's any way he's going to have the same experience trying to lose weight that his clients do. So what's the point? Also, thanks in general for the brief discussions on Biggest Loser. I've never seen it and now know to avoid it like the plague. Bullying fat people? Really? I always thought "Biggest Loser" was kind of a pun, but it sounds like they actually mean it.

This literally makes my blood boil. Heh. Why can't something just be wrong, and stay wrong, no matter how many people are doing it? What are Merriam-Webster's standards? Did their mothers not say, "If your friends jumped off a cliff, would you do it, too?"? Or I guess they did, and M-W's editors all answered, "Of course." So now an alternate spelling of "definitely" is going to be "definately"? How long until "defiantly" is also accepted? Or will they change the meaning of "defiantly" to be a synonym for "definitely"? Used to be, uneducated language abusers weren't on TV all the time, except for the occasional mine collapse in West Virginia, and nobody could understand what they were saying anyway. But with reality TV and now youtube putting anybody in front of the viewing public, their language mangling is what we hear as part of general conversation. These are the same people who have turned "it was a fight between she and I" into common usage, along with "I'd like your guys's opinion on this." When what we were exposed to was written by writers, or spoken by generally literate people who ascended to being on our screens, you didn't get this crap. Now that's all you hear. And it's the written language, too. Websites and blogs (which are NOT the same thing, but I digress) are bad enough--those have plenty of space to craft sentences properly, and presumably aren't emergencies, so there's time to put thought into what one writes there, if one is so inclined. But now with Twitter and Facebook, it's a BAD thing to spend more than one second thinking about what you're going to say, never mind wasting time making it readable. Or even coherent. My question is: Why are we letting that dictate what is right? Isn't language supposed to be a tool for communication, and presumably a tool that makes it easier? How is changing it to give an individual word two completely opposite meanings advancing communication? If a person says, "I literally throw up when someone mentions caviar," a halfway intelligent listener will have to stop and consider whether actual upchucking occurs, or whether the person simply finds caviar to be gross. If "literally" now means "literally" OR "figuratively," the listener STILL has to stop and figure out what the speaker meant. How is that any better, except making the speaker "not wrong"? What's next...mathematics? Because up there with the prevalence of misusing "literally" is people saying, "He did a 360" when they mean someone changed his mind. So in common usage, "360 degrees" now means "180 degrees." Will we be changing math books to reflect the popular consensus?

I thought that was hilarious. Along with, "Can a brain tumor wear an open-toe sandal?" But I like Anthony Anderson's delivery and over-the-topness, a lot.

Not just away from home...she's at work! But Amber will always have a soft spot in my heart for bitching about how Gary's treating her and saying, "What was the point of going to prison?"

This "literally" business is getting completely out of hand. Which means that shortly, the definition will be changed to mean "figuratively" because of common usage.

I find Farrah so fascinating. I'm kind of sheltered in that I have almost no experience with people so untethered to reality. I understand this "people hate on me because they're jealous" thing, but she takes it to such an extreme level that it's simultaneously thrilling and frightening to me. Her level of delusion is just breathtaking. And the way she treats people? Completely unheard of in my world. I just can't look away. I do feel sorry for that poor damn Sophia. As others have noted, she's an unfortunate looking child, and Farrah's focus on beauty is not going to play out well with that little troll. Having what appears to be a developing heinous personality is not going to help. Although in quiet moments, maybe Farrah thinks, "Well, I'm kind of gross looking, especially with this plastic surgery, and my personality is the worst in recorded history, yet I'm successful so maybe it'll work for Sophia, too."

That is majorly fucked up. Really, really disturbing. This week's Frontline on PBS was about the dietary supplement industry, and how it's completely unregulated. Health claims have no oversight whatsoever. And even if the product could work, there aren't any compliance standards for what's actually in the bottle. People have done independent testing, comparing what the label says is in the bottle and what's actually in the bottle, and the results are scary. On the heels of that, I see this new trainer having Latasha spend god knows how much money on these things at the grocery store. At the same time as he complains about cheese because it's "processed" and they take out the good bacteria at the same time they remove the bad bacteria But ingesting things from a bottle that you have no idea what they are--that's okay, and in fact the secret to weight loss. Bleh. It's a shame because I like him as a motivator. Actually, I think they're all good motivators, and I suspect that's a huge part of these dieters' success; it will be interesting to see how they do on their own. Although they'll still have their trainers in the back of their minds, pushing them. That's got to help. But I don't want to watch them run. Really, any distance, much less many miles. Why can't they have them swim? Or use a kickboard if going long distances? It's vastly easier on the joints. I mean, that's IF they have to have this ultimate challenge thing, which I think is stupid anyway.