S07.E04: Ants On A Log And A Cheating Winker

[ahpny]

1 hour ago, Chit Chat said:

Mr. Chat had a German boss for a few years, and he would say that American beer is "piss water."  I'm not surprised that Mary turned her nose up at it after tasting the beer in Germany. 

American beer is made to maximize sales and profits - that is, it's made so that people drink as much as possible of it. German beer manufacturers have other priorities. While many (maybe most) might agree that German beer generally tastes better, that's a wholly subjective judgment. On a flight from Zurich to NYC a while back, I sat next to a friendly Swiss gentleman who insisted on ordering an American beer. In his heavily accented English that to me was indistinguishable from that of someone from Germany, he explained he loved everything about the US (apparently including its beer) and was quite weary of anything German because he regarded the freedom enjoyed by Switzerland today as entirely the result of American support during WWII and resistence to Germany.

Regarding the Sheldon's nameless roomate/frenemy and his computer science work on a Pascal compiler, I was surprised to hear that level of detail. Pascal is the first computer language I learned in the early 1980's and I continued to use it into the 1990s. I thought it sort of faded out by 1993 or so, but minimal googling confirms that not only was it still being used then, but work on various compilers for it was indeed also going on during this time.  So, accuracy points for that. It's still around today, but it's sort of the betamax of computer languages at this point.

[proserpina65]

13 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.

They really retconned it. I don’t know whether to be relieved or pissed.

It was nice to see Mary make an effort with Missy. And cut loose.

I'm glad they went the way they did.  Boozy cheating dad and angry Jesus-y mother were funny in the stories Sheldon told but wouldn't have been funny to watch.  I've always suspected that while Sheldon remembers things well, his interpretation of some of the memories were not accurate.

And yes, it was nice to see Mary cut loose a little and really try with Missy.  It made her a much more sympathetic character.  Obviously spending the summer in Germany with Sheldon worked her last nerve.

13 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

I'm kind of happy about this twist, but who's the "mistress" who tried to win Sheldon over? Are they going to have Brenda (or another woman) give Sheldon a gift and he just mistook her intentions?

I think that might very well be how they handle it.  If it comes up at all.

[Phebemarie]

I wonder if the shorter final season changed the course of Mary and George’s marriage.  

[Spartan Girl]

1 hour ago, ams1001 said:

It's toward the end of this clip.

 

Ah. Well we’ve never seen George teach Sheldon archery either so I guess that’s another retcon.

[Skooma]

3 hours ago, appositival said:

Cheat codes are created to help testers get to the part of the game that needs to be tested without having to fight their way through everything before that. If you can't play without cheat codes, you have no skillz.

Or, like me, you don't want to play in the virtual rain constantly.  (I do leave the lightning and thunder on though so I only half cheat, haha).

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, mammaM said:

And I just happened to catch the episode where Leonard and Sheldon are playing Wii archery. He makes a comment about his parents marriage imploding and the woman dives into religion and the man dives into a bottle blonde bartender who tries to buy his love with action figures

2 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Can you make the episode specifically?

1 hour ago, ams1001 said:

It's toward the end of this clip.

1 hour ago, mammaM said:

it's S4E20, The Herb Garden Germination

Yes, it starts at about 1:40 in that clip, here.

And, yes, Sheldon's line reads as:

• Sheldon: …Bernadette is thinking about breaking up with Howard.

  Leonard: Oh. That’s too bad. I wonder what happened.

  Sheldon: Mm, it’s hard to say. I can only speculate based on the data I collected watching my parents’ marriage implode. In that case, the woman dives into religion, while the man dives into a bottle-blonde bartender who tries to buy my love with action figures.

 

So, did the marriage really implode? Or did Sheldon just notice his parents trying to avoid displays of affection in front of him?
Maybe Mary and George continue to snipe at each other in front of the rest of the family to keep their role playing secret. 
Perhaps as the role playing heats up, the marriage seems to be imploding. 
And maybe there will yet be an episode with Mary dressed as Helga giving Sheldon an action figure because of some hilarious comedic awkward mixup — perhaps involving a sex toy, or…?

[aqusdealer]

3 hours ago, Chit Chat said:

I'm wondering if writers & TPTB of this show saw all of the negative feedback about George & Mary's marital problems.  It certainly weighed the show down for me and made it quite depressing.

For me, the show took a turn when they stopped interacting Sheldon with Dr. Sturgiss and ramped up his mental problems. After that Sturgiss screen time seemed minimal. I hate Dale and Meemaw got mean. Depressing seems like a fit description. 👍

[mammaM]

46 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Ah. Well we’ve never seen George teach Sheldon archery either so I guess that’s another retcon.

WE'VE never seen it. Doesn't mean it didn't happen at some point in sheldon's life.😂

Edited March 8 by mammaM

[possibilities]

Mary was religious long before any potential cheating, unless it happened earlier in the marriage than anything shown on the show.

[MollyMelrose]

Big Bang Mary's personality emerged in a big way this episode. Instead of coddling Sheldon, nice to see her throwing a few zingers his way.

Sheldon obviously gained not one whit of humility from his experiences in Germany.

Delighted to learn that Helga is "the other woman."  

[chitowngirl]

1 hour ago, MollyMelrose said:

Big Bang Mary's personality emerged in a big way this episode. Instead of coddling Sheldon, nice to see her throwing a few zingers his way.

Sheldon obviously gained not one whit of humility from his experiences in Germany.

Delighted to learn that Helga is "the other woman."  

Definitely saw TBBT’s Mary here! Especially when she was making breakfast and asking everyone “Do you WANT me to go get Sheldon?” 😆

Adding to Sheldon not being reliable about remembering his dad with the blonde woman-he’s probably still jet lagged, had no place to sleep, then stayed up all night with the video game, followed by a hallway nap….

[tennisgurl]

A big cookie for everyone who guessed, seriously or jokingly, that the blond who George supposedly cheated on Mary with was actually Mary in a blond wig. Its obviously a retcon and I am not sure how I feel about that, but I am also really happy that we wont have a whole depressing story where George has an affair, George and Mary's marriage falls apart, and then George dies. 

Germany was certainly good for Mary, she has really loosened up! She was so cute at football practice and now that her beer pallet has been fancied up, I just want her to open a hipster mico-brewerery. 

[Unathletic Club]

17 hours ago, shura said:

 

Sheldon would never say “it brought what’s-his-name and I closer together.”  He would have used “me”.

The misuse of subjective / objective pronouns is one of my pet peeves. Sheldon would not have made this mistake. Especially back then when  it wasn't rampant like it is now. 

It will be nice to have the show wrap up soon. I have enjoyed it but there was a sweetness to the first few shows that is  missing now.  It's time.

[tkc]

36 minutes ago, Unathletic Club said:

The misuse of subjective / objective pronouns is one of my pet peeves.

Shouldn't you have written "The misuse of subjective / objective pronouns is one of I's pet peeves?"  😀

BTW, I noticed Sheldon's mistake too!

Edited March 8 by tkc

[Pietr]

Am I the only one who was amused at Sheldon being blocked by the origin of the bathroom schedule that he so rigorously enforces in BBT?

[januaryman]

The plane sequence was hysterical - "Sometimes mothers can't quiet their children no matter how hard they try". Nice touch that no one seemed happy to see Sheldon at the airport. 

Loving this season so far.

[Chit Chat]

7 hours ago, ahpny said:

While many (maybe most) might agree that German beer generally tastes better, that's a wholly subjective judgment.

Mr. Chat was told that Germans generally start drinking beer in their teens.  It wasn't a big deal (supposedly so many years ago).  I don't know if that's still true.  Maybe if it's the only beer they've ever tasted and known, then they consider all other beer to be inferior!  Again, this was years ago, so I don't know what the norm is for beer drinking in Germany!  Mary seemed to be enjoying it though!

 

[Sarah 103]

22 hours ago, Tattooeddancer said:

George should let Mary be Team Mom. 

No. Mary needs something in life that's hers. Even if her paid income was never something she viewed as a serious career and just something she was doing on the side to help out, her work was important to her and gave her something worthwhile to do. Now she's adrift and she needs something to fill her time, but I don't think Team Mom is the answer. 

7 hours ago, possibilities said:

Mary was religious long before any potential cheating, unless it happened earlier in the marriage than anything shown on the show.

Mary was a wild child in her teens. After a real health scare when the twins were born (I think Missy almost died) Mary became religious. 

2 hours ago, Pietr said:

Am I the only one who was amused at Sheldon being blocked by the origin of the bathroom schedule that he so rigorously enforces in BBT?

You are not alone. I thought that was a fantastic shout-out/easter egg to TBBT. 

[Skooma]

4 hours ago, Unathletic Club said:

The misuse of subjective / objective pronouns is one of my pet peeves. Sheldon would not have made this mistake. Especially back then when  it wasn't rampant like it is now.

To each their own.  I prefer "I" to "me."  It just plain sounds better and I hate grammar rules anyway.  Let the river of language flow free and evolve and don't dam it up is my motto.  Otherwise we would still be back with thee and thou.

[shapeshifter]

9 minutes ago, Skooma said:

To each their own.  I prefer "I" to "me."  It just plain sounds better and I hate grammar rules anyway.  Let the river of language flow free and evolve and don't dam it up is my motto.  Otherwise we would still be back with thee and thou.

Dear @Skooma, I hope you'll chuckle a bit at my use of the new Angry icon:

But feel free to let me know if it bothers you, and I'll change it.

As Sheldon would phrase it, I am another for whom:

4 hours ago, Unathletic Club said:

The misuse of subjective / objective pronouns is one of my pet peeves.

And yet, @Skooma, I respect your ability to be more flexible than I regarding grammar.

But on the third hand, this is more an issue of staying true to the character than to any rules of grammar.🙃😉

Edited March 9 by shapeshifter

[Tattooeddancer]

14 hours ago, Katy M said:

I"m OK with the retcon as I've always viewed this as a separate show. However, I'm calling it a retcon. I, in no way, shape or form, believe BBT Sheldon is stupid enough to not know his own mother's voice, even with a fake accent.  Plus, as others have mentioned, the action figure, etc.  

People are bringing up ways to excuse away the bottle blonde bartender buying his affection with action figures, but he also mentioned his father living with a girlfriend at some point. So while YS George may not have cheated, BBT George did. I'll go with that during the black hole episode they ended up in a different universe.

[SoMuchTV]

50 minutes ago, Skooma said:

To each their own.  I prefer "I" to "me."  It just plain sounds better and I hate grammar rules anyway.  Let the river of language flow free and evolve and don't dam it up is my motto.  Otherwise we would still be back with thee and thou.

 

43 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Dear @Skooma, I hope you'll chuckle a bit at my use of the new Angry icon:

But feel free to let me know if it bothers you, and I'll change it.

As Sheldon would phrase it, I am another for whom:

And yet, @Skooma, I respect your ability to be more flexible than I regarding grammar.

But on the third hand, this is more an issue of staying true to the character than to any rules of grammar.🙃😉

This is not directed at any posters in particular. But can I just say, I hope there is no overlap in the Venn diagram of people who say “language changes. Go with it.” and “they is plural! Using it for a single person just isn’t right!”

[Skooma]

9 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

This is not directed at any posters in particular. But can I just say, I hope there is no overlap in the Venn diagram of people who say “language changes. Go with it.” and “they is plural! Using it for a single person just isn’t right!”

Lol, not with me.  I use "they" either way and "guy" for both genders.

[Skooma]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

Dear @Skooma, I hope you'll chuckle a bit at my use of the new Angry icon:

But feel free to let me know if it bothers you, and I'll change it.

As Sheldon would phrase it, I am another for whom:

And yet, @Skooma, I respect your ability to be more flexible than I regarding grammar.

But on the third hand, this is more an issue of staying true to the character than to any rules of grammar.🙃😉

I ain't bothered no dern how by it, lol.  😁

Now Sheldon would indeed faint dead away at my free flowing, language using, participle dangling ways.  But I think you are made of sterner stuff and will survive.  👍

[shura]

48 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

This is not directed at any posters in particular. But can I just say, I hope there is no overlap in the Venn diagram of people who say “language changes. Go with it.” and “they is plural! Using it for a single person just isn’t right!”

Ha, I was just thinking that soon enough we will only have two pronouns, they and they’s (the second one is possessive).  Then we will see a sentence “George and Mary were talking, and they told them they’s car needs gas” and pronouns will become obsolete.

I almost drowned in that river of language when I once heard someone say “Brian and I’s relationship”.

[SoMuchTV]

3 minutes ago, shura said:

Ha, I was just thinking that soon enough we will only have two pronouns, they and they’s (the second one is possessive).  Then we will see a sentence “George and Mary were talking, and they told them they’s car needs gas” and pronouns will become obsolete.

I almost drowned in that river of language when I once heard someone say “Brian and I’s relationship”.

Well, you know, you could say, we’ve been dealing with a singular/plural pronoun for our whole lives. And you’ve been pretty much able to figure it out. Or we came up with something like y’all, y’ins, or, you know…

[shura]

1 minute ago, SoMuchTV said:

Well, you know, you could say, we’ve been dealing with a singular/plural pronoun for our whole lives. And you’ve been pretty much able to figure it out. Or we came up with something like y’all, y’ins, or, you know…

I have no problem with that. But good luck trying to figure out whose car needs gas and who said that to whom.

[Sarah 103]

4 hours ago, shura said:

Ha, I was just thinking that soon enough we will only have two pronouns, they and they’s (the second one is possessive). 

Just a quick FYI/PSA: Individuals who use plural pronouns tend to use they/them/theirs (at least that's been my experience).

There was a movement to create a gender neutral pronouns. I think it was something like ze, hir, hirs, but it didn't really catch on the way Mx. did as a gender neutral version of Mr, Mrs, or Ms. 

And now back to the show:

I don't think this was the first mention of bathroom schedules. I am almost sure there was a mention of one while he was still in high-school. I think he offered to create one for someone who was sort of acting as protector/bodyguard. 

 

[Mellowyellow]

Woooooohoooooooo they walked it back!!!!

I’m so relieved! YS George is too good of a character to destroy. I don’t care if it doesn’t 100% make perfect sense. They started this show after TBBT and there was no way they could have known how the characters would evolve or what the actors would make of their characters. It’s more feel good this way and I’m all for feeling good!

Plus if one wants to be super picky, how do you explain that Leonard’s bully looks identical to George? Reincarnation? Doppelgänger? 

I’m so happy they decided to go with this!

[SnapHappy]

There is still plenty of time for George & Mary's relationship to deteriorate, implode, have them split up, Mary deep-dive back into God, and George get a girlfriend.  

And it doesn't have to happen on screen, in this show. 

Spoiler

Isn't there almost 2 years left before Sheldon leaves home & George has his fatal heart attack?

I don't think this occurance necessarily has to be what Sheldon later refers to regarding the bottle-blonde.  

 

Edited March 9 by SnapHappy

[Chit Chat]

1 hour ago, SnapHappy said:

There is still plenty of time for George & Mary's relationship to deteriorate, implode, have them split up, Mary deep-dive back into God, and George get a girlfriend.  

I am thrilled that we didn't have to witness it though!  Comedies are supposed to make us laugh.  The never-ending hostility between George & Mary was ruining the show for me.  Even though I know how TBBT described those roles, I was always hoping that they'd find a way around it on YS.  

I'm hoping YS will end on a happy note and then anything after that can be left to our own imaginations.  

[Yeah No]

23 hours ago, ahpny said:

American beer is made to maximize sales and profits - that is, it's made so that people drink as much as possible of it. German beer manufacturers have other priorities. While many (maybe most) might agree that German beer generally tastes better, that's a wholly subjective judgment. On a flight from Zurich to NYC a while back, I sat next to a friendly Swiss gentleman who insisted on ordering an American beer. In his heavily accented English that to me was indistinguishable from that of someone from Germany, he explained he loved everything about the US (apparently including its beer) and was quite weary of anything German because he regarded the freedom enjoyed by Switzerland today as entirely the result of American support during WWII and resistence to Germany.

My father was a connoisseur of beer having been to Germany after WWII and preferred German beer, but despite that he wasn't a beer snob and actually liked a few American beers.  His favorite was Sam Adams and Sam Adams Light, the latter of which supposedly won a German beer competition and not even in the light category (this per Sam Adams commercials so I don't know how true it is).

[Yeah No]

13 hours ago, Skooma said:

To each their own.  I prefer "I" to "me."  It just plain sounds better and I hate grammar rules anyway.  Let the river of language flow free and evolve and don't dam it up is my motto.  Otherwise we would still be back with thee and thou.

"Sounding better" is a matter of conditioning and regrettably with so many people using "I" when they should use "me" (and vice versa) that appears to be changing. ☹️

The only problem with it is that sentence construction is supposed to be consistent and there's a good reason for that.  It's not arbitrary.  If you rearrange a sentence you should be able to use the same pronoun no matter how you construct it.  That's how I learned it.  For example, if you were to say, "This is a problem for me and Sheldon", that's correct as is "This is a problem for Sheldon and me".  But if you were to say "This is a problem for Sheldon and I", that's not correct because if you rearrange the sentence it's not consistent.  It would never even sound right to most people I know whether educated in sentence construction or not to say "This is a problem for I and Sheldon".  No, never.  So the reverse isn't right either and they both have to be consistent.  If we don't have consistent grammar communication would eventually break down.  Just my opinion!

It's so simple it's amazing to me that many people today have such a problem with it.  A lot of younger people in particular get it wrong EVERY TIME.  Seriously?  Sorry to say I blame education and the internet for this.  Online, mistakes and myths get passed around so often as if they were fact that they actually become "fact" in the minds of people who don't check them out.  What gets me is back in the stone age where I came from we didn't have the internet to check these things out and yet we got it right more often.  Today the information is right there any time anyone wants to look it up if they are in doubt and care to do so.

So anyway, that's where I disagree with you and why.

[DanaK]

Anyone know who played the roommate? The actor looked familiar

[ams1001]

36 minutes ago, DanaK said:

Anyone know who played the roommate? The actor looked familiar

The actor's name is Motoki Maxted. I thought he looked familiar, too. Someone on reddit said he looks a bit like a younger Justin Long and I can see that. He also reminded me a bit of a youtuber that I watch. (In costume, at least. He looks different in his head shot on IMDB, though; it's the hair, I think.)

The character also has a name on the episode cast page - Evan. Maybe Sheldon will learn it next week...

Edited March 9 by ams1001

[Yeah No]

I decided not to edit my post, but as to language changing over time or we'd still have "thee" and "thou" - Perhaps yes, language should and does change to become more relevant to the people using it, but grammar itself has been relatively consistent over the centuries with relatively fewer changes.  And again, Sheldon would agree that there's a reason for that otherwise we'd all be like a bunch of wild and crazy "hippies" peeing whenever and wherever they wanted, LOL.  😉

Another reason for consistent rules of grammar is teaching the language to non-English speakers.  English is already a difficult language with lots of quirks and exceptions to rules.  We don't need to add even more to confuse anyone trying to learn the language, especially if they come from a language that has a relatively consistent and simpler set of grammatical rules.

[ams1001]

Question I just thought of and obviously shouldn't think too much about but I will (because where's the fun in not overthinking?), but...was that officially Sheldon's dorm room or was he basically just squatting there because it was empty? If it was officially assigned to him, how could they just give it to someone else without even notifying him? He was away for the summer but he was still a student there. (Still not sure if there were even two beds in there.)

Then again, even if it was... we didn't keep our dorm keys (one for the building and one for our room) over the summer when I was in college (which was around the time the show is set; I started in 1993). Room selection for the next year was at the end of the spring semester, and we moved out and returned the keys after finals, and then picked them up on move-in day in the fall, even if we were keeping the same room (aka "squatting," which I only did once, so I mostly wouldn't have same room key, anyway). Does his college run year-round? (I don't remember if my school had summer sessions when I was there but if they did and people had to live on campus, they would only have used one dorm rather than have people scattered around and possibly only a few people in an otherwise empty dorm. They have summer classes now but they're online.)

Edited March 9 by ams1001

[bybrandy]

Honestly I think Brenda still works for that.  
 

You cant buy liquor at KMart in Texas which Jim Parsons would have known while he said the line so you know no memory is perfect.  
 

I do see how Sheldon might not have seen enough of Mary to recognize her. It totally is a retcon but I buy Sheldon making assumptions based on what he saw. 

[Browncoat]

Every time I see the episode title, my mind reads "wanker" instead of "winker."

[SoMuchTV]

10 hours ago, Yeah No said:

It's so simple it's amazing to me that many people today have such a problem with it.  A lot of younger people in particular get it wrong EVERY TIME.  Seriously?  Sorry to say I blame education and the internet for this.

I’m not even sure it’s just a “younger people” thing. I’ve ranted about this multiple times in more on-topic threads, but I hear it constantly from people who should “know better”. Reporters, authors, podcasters (like, serious ones). Between you and I, it’s very annoying 😉. 

[shapeshifter]

10 hours ago, DanaK said:

Anyone know who played the roommate? The actor looked familiar

10 hours ago, ams1001 said:

The actor's name is Motoki Maxted.

I thought he had great screen presence and delivery.
It's nice that he got a bit in a highly rated/watched show.
Although, looking at his IMDb page, he's had work.
Maybe he isn't extroverted enough off-camera or something to have gotten a role of more note?

 

[Chit Chat]

10 hours ago, ams1001 said:

Question I just thought of and obviously shouldn't think too much about but I will (because where's the fun in not overthinking?), but...was that officially Sheldon's dorm room or was he basically just squatting there because it was empty?

Wasn't it the school president who let Sheldon use the dorm room in the first place?  Maybe she was hoping that Sheldon would stay in Germany permanently, so she let someone else have the room! I don't know why Sheldon didn't go to her first to solve the problem.

11 hours ago, Yeah No said:

If you rearrange a sentence you should be able to use the same pronoun no matter how you construct it.  That's how I learned it. 

Thank you for that reminder!  That's an easy way to remember the rule.  Back in the late 70's, we had to take exit exams in order to graduate high school, and one of them was all about grammar.  For me, my brain doesn't seem to be able to remember all of the rules of grammar, which is frustrating because I want to get it right!  It's as if my brain simply refuses to retain that information (especially where to put semi-colons, colons, etc.)  My brain also refuses to understand those stupid train questions that involve calculating how much time it needs to go from point A to point Z, after making stops from point B to point Y, and looping around and coming back again!!  :)  

[Yeah No]

4 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

I’m not even sure it’s just a “younger people” thing. I’ve ranted about this multiple times in more on-topic threads, but I hear it constantly from people who should “know better”. Reporters, authors, podcasters (like, serious ones). Between you and I, it’s very annoying 😉. 

I'm old, so anyone under the age of about 55 qualifies as a "younger person" to me.  😉

2 hours ago, Chit Chat said:

Wasn't it the school president who let Sheldon use the dorm room in the first place?  Maybe she was hoping that Sheldon would stay in Germany permanently, so she let someone else have the room! I don't know why Sheldon didn't go to her first to solve the problem.

Yes, I think she only gave Sheldon use of the room to indulge him, and probably gave it away while he was away thinking he wasn't using it anyway and she needed it more for this new student.  Maybe there was a campus housing crunch and there was no other choice and this new student was another "special case" she she needed to accommodate.  And with Sheldon overseas it wasn't easy to contact him to tell him, so she figured she'd let him know when he got back.

2 hours ago, Chit Chat said:

Thank you for that reminder!  That's an easy way to remember the rule.  Back in the late 70's, we had to take exit exams in order to graduate high school, and one of them was all about grammar.  For me, my brain doesn't seem to be able to remember all of the rules of grammar, which is frustrating because I want to get it right!  It's as if my brain simply refuses to retain that information (especially where to put semi-colons, colons, etc.)  My brain also refuses to understand those stupid train questions that involve calculating how much time it needs to go from point A to point Z, after making stops from point B to point Y, and looping around and coming back again!!  :)  

I was talking with a good friend about this today and I realized that I learned more about grammar from reading than from remembering rules.  Reading books (as long as they're good books and not click bait junk on the internet) conditions a person to recognize intuitively when something looks wrong.  Writing real sentences also helps.  A lot of people today not only don't read anything but what other people are writing in texts and on social media, and they don't write full sentences either.  I honestly can't imagine how some of them got through school, but that's another issue altogether.  I suspect that whatever they learned in school is being unlearned by reading and hearing other people's mistakes on social media and in person.  It's probably also more important to them to imitate what the "cool people" are doing than to be right about anything.  😏

[Driad]

24 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

I learned more about grammar from reading than from remembering rules.

That is probably how most of us learned the proper order of adjectives.

[shapeshifter]

11 hours ago, Driad said:

That is probably how most of us learned the proper order of adjectives.

Kidding, right? ❤️

1. I think most of us learn grammar (both correct and incorrect) from hearing our parents or other early childhood caregivers speak.
2. Then we pick up stuff from our friends and favorite teachers and TV or other media.
3. A few then study to perfect their diction.
   Sheldon is likely one of the few.

And that is how we got here, on this topic.

In episode 6:22 “A Tornado, a 10-Hour Flight and a Darn Fine Ring,” on the plane to Germany:

• [MARY (PRAYING)]
  And please look after Sheldon and I as we travel to Germany.
   
• [SHELDON (CORRECTING HIS MOTHER’S GRAMMAR)]
  "Sheldon and me". 

Adult Sheldon’s voice-over of in the current episode of:

• "it really brought what's-his-name and I closer together" 

—could have been triggered by having just had a chat on the phone with his Mom. Or maybe he was tired or otherwise incapacitated and slipped into the rural Texas grammar usage. 
When Mom used to talk to her brother on the phone once a week, she would slip into a New Jersey accent for at least 15 minutes afterwards.

 

Edited March 10 by shapeshifter

[Yeah No]

46 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I think most of us learn grammar (both correct and incorrect) from hearing our parents or other early childhood caregivers speak.

I agree in part, but how many young adult kids in their 30's of parents in my age bracket heard their elders speak correctly but don't themselves?  In my experience, a lot of them.  That friend I spoke with about this yesterday says that about his kids.  He's a lawyer that writes court decisions so he's quite the wordsmith. I still think they're unlearning what they learned at home with what they're hearing from their greater peer group online and in person.   Note that his one child that went to college uses better grammar than his other two kids so in her case education might have helped.

[Johannah]

It seems people use "I" in the predicate when with "and".  I was taught to take out the other person to hear how it sounds.

"Mary went to the store with Sheldon and I" becomes "Mary went to the store with I". And that sounds very wrong. They both make me cringe, but I think the second helps it stand out better and helps know it's wrong...unless that actually sounds right to someone.

[Chit Chat]

24 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

I agree in part, but how many young adult kids in their 30's of parents in my age bracket heard their elders speak correctly but don't themselves?

In my experience, although my parents spoke correctly, it helped to have teachers who emphasized the differences in words such as 'their' & 'there,' and 'may I or can I,' and 'you're' & 'your,' and the list goes on!   Being in school in the 60's & 70's meant that English classes focused on those things.  Either some kids aren't paying attention anymore or it's not taught to the level that we had it.  We didn't use acronyms for everything either.  It's a different world! ;) 

Jim Parsons & Iain had their work cut out for them playing Sheldon and having to make sure they delivered their lines perfectly.  Sheldon is quite the stickler about his grammar!  I'm impressed with how Iain has been able to deliver the lines he has over the past few years, especially when it comes to physics.  

 

 

[Sarah 103]

5 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

When Mom used to talk to her brother on the phone once a week, she would slip into a New Jersey accent for at least 15 minutes afterwards.

I went to school with someone whose mother was from Boston. He knew she was tired when she started using regional Boston slang. He knew she was exhausted when she stopped hiding her Boston accent. 

 

[ProudMary]

On 3/8/2024 at 10:25 PM, shura said:

Ha, I was just thinking that soon enough we will only have two pronouns, they and they’s (the second one is possessive).  Then we will see a sentence “George and Mary were talking, and they told them they’s car needs gas” and pronouns will become obsolete.

We wouldn't need "they's," as "their" already exists. It would work perfectly in the sentence you provided.