Question Time

[Kirkatronics]

I often think of small questions i want answering that all of the internets in the world cant help me with.

 

So if you have any small questions not quite thread worthy, post them here.

Maybe another forumer will have the answer.

[rokhed00]

Why do farts smell worse when you do them in the bath?

[Jonnas]

Why do I feel I've seen this somewhere before?

[MoogleViper]

Why do I feel I've seen this somewhere before?

 

Because you have.

 

 

I feel I've made a valuable contribution to the thread.

[Ninty 182]

I've asked this before at some point but can't remember the answer

 

 

Do blind people blink?

[Supergrunch]

I've asked this before at some point but can't remember the answer

 

 

Do blind people blink?

Depends on why they're blind, but I see no reason for them not to if they have eyes.

[DomJcg]

Was i the only one to think of Question time on tv?

[MoogleViper]

I've asked this before at some point but can't remember the answer

 

 

Do blind people blink?

 

I don't know but they experience deja vu.

 

Do they dream like we do? Can they visualise things the way we can? Can they imagine things in their head the way we can? I mean people who were born blind.

[Supergrunch]

I don't know but they experience deja vu.

 

Do they dream like we do? Can they visualise things the way we can? Can they imagine things in their head the way we can? I mean people who were born blind.

Firstly, just as with deafness, the vast majority of people who are classified as blind are not totally unable to see, they just have some form of visual impairment, with "true" blindness being very rare. People who are indeed totally blind from birth have no concept of vision, and thus do not visualise things in their heads. They do of course have dreams, but no vision is involved.

[jayseven]

Most researchers believe that people who are blind from birth or who become blind in infancy do not see in their dreams. They do not retain visual imagery because it was never acquired in the first place.

 

However, those blinded in childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, or afterwards usually do see in their dreams. "They often retain visual imagery in their waking life and in their dreams," according to Drs Nancy Kerr of the Department of Psychology at Oglethorpe University and G. William Domhoff of the Department of Psychology at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_blind_people_see_in_their_dreams

 

Though! My dad's not got great eyesight, and he works at a hospital, and has told me about people blind form birth trying to explain aspects of their dreams that they could not understand that could be deemed 'sight'. It wouldn't be conventional sight like ours, but abstract visualisations. Think about how a bat's 'sight' would 'look' to us, how it's perceiving the same universe as us but interpreting the physical particles differently. Kinda like that.

[MoogleViper]

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_blind_people_see_in_their_dreams

 

Though! My dad's not got great eyesight, and he works at a hospital, and has told me about people blind form birth trying to explain aspects of their dreams that they could not understand that could be deemed 'sight'. It wouldn't be conventional sight like ours, but abstract visualisations. Think about how a bat's 'sight' would 'look' to us, how it's perceiving the same universe as us but interpreting the physical particles differently. Kinda like that.

 

Possibly like Daredevil when it's raining?

[The fish]

Was i the only one to think of Question time on tv?

 

Nope, I did too!

[MoogleViper]

I often feel like butting "an" before the sound "H" e.g. "I'm going to get an HDTV." I normally don't though because the "H" sound sounds like it starts with a vowel I sometimes think of using "an" instead of "a". Does anybody else do this? What is the correct way? Personally I think the correct way would be "a" as it isn't a vowel. but "an" sounds better.

[Supergrunch]

I often feel like butting "an" before the sound "H" e.g. "I'm going to get an HDTV." I normally don't though because the "H" sound sounds like it starts with a vowel I sometimes think of using "an" instead of "a". Does anybody else do this? What is the correct way? Personally I think the correct way would be "a" as it isn't a vowel. but "an" sounds better.

Yay, some linguistics! Basically, this depends on the rules you mentally follow, the most common of which is to use "an" before a vowel and "a" before everything else. The important thing here is that it's not spelling that matters, but pronunciation, which leads to some oddities, often with u and h:

 

hotel = /hoʊˈtɛl/ = a hotel (pronounced with a consonant first)

heir = /ɛər/ = an heir (pronounced with a vowel first)

utter = /ˈʌtər/ = an utter (pronounced with a vowel first)

universe = /ˈyunəˌvɜrs/ = a universe (pronounced with a consonant first)

 

These problems are a direct result of the behaviour of u and h in spelling - u can sometimes represent a y sound, and h can sometimes be silent.

 

Note the rules for usage of "a" and "an" vary depending on dialect - if you want to quote something as "correct", then I'd go with the above rules. In the past, people used to use "an" before all words beginning with an h - look at Capcom using antiquated grammar in Golden Sun - "You got an herb!". Also look at the first sentence of Northanger Abbey - "an heroine".

[Jonnas]

I often feel like butting "an" before the sound "H" e.g. "I'm going to get an HDTV." I normally don't though because the "H" sound sounds like it starts with a vowel I sometimes think of using "an" instead of "a". Does anybody else do this? What is the correct way? Personally I think the correct way would be "a" as it isn't a vowel. but "an" sounds better.

 

I read somewhere that you use the "an" before any noun that starts with a phonetic vowel.

 

Example: "How do you write an "X"?"

 

So, I guess you can use the "an" before the H, as well.

[MoogleViper]

So the case depends on the sound rather than the letter?

[Guest Stefkov]

Can white men jump?

[Maiky-NiSuTe]

how did my finger end up there my love?

[Ramar]

Why was this pointless topic created?

[Mundi]

One thing I´ve been wondering for some time, why do so many languages have a word for red that rhymes with dead?

[MoogleViper]

One thing I´ve been wondering for some time, why do so many languages have a word for red that rhymes with dead?

 

German does. French doesn't. And if Babelfish is to be believed then neither does Portugese and Spanish and Italian are only half rhymes. I'm sure one of our foreign and/or multi-lingual members can preove me wrong or right.

[Supergrunch]

So the case depends on the sound rather than the letter?

Yep, it usually only depends on the sound.

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

That's actually interesting, Mundi ...

 

English, Danish, German ...

 

About the vowel/consonant thing: It's the "phonetic first letter" of the next word that matters. The rule originated because it's someway unpleasant to end a word with a vowel and start the next word with a vowel. They do the same in Old Greek, except they just cut off the vowel at the end of the word.

 

EDIT: By the way, I proved my English teacher wrong on that particular subject once. Felt good. :p

[Supergrunch]

One thing I´ve been wondering for some time, why do so many languages have a word for red that rhymes with dead?

*goes through languages he knows*

 

English - yes

Japanese - no

French - no

Spanish - not really

 

Which languages do, other than English and (apparently) German?

 

Edit: Aha! English, Danish, and German are all Germanic languages.

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

*goes through languages he knows*

 

English - yes

Japanese - no

French - no

Spanish - not really

 

Which languages do, other than English and (apparently) German?

 

Danish, as I mentioned: "rød" and "død" (with those lovely, soft Danish D's :p)