I do that with my wife a lot. Unfortunately she will just keep on asking the same question again and again until I blow up at her.

Guess we are in the same boat

 

My mom used to say then I was a kid. Then others tease you just ignore them. Kind of never worked. And she should have known better than saying something stupid like that

 

Sticks and stones may break my bones,
but names will really scar me.

 

"mutually exclusive" - I've debated this with the most intelligent person I know in real life (my cousin's husband, PHD in Philosophy), and a few others, and nobody has been able to sway me yet. Yes, I know it's a universally accepted term, even used in scholarly documents and such, but I say it's an oxymoron and has no place in proper English. It's equivalent to "shared unshared" or "together apart." If not for the universally understood meaning, it would really mean absolutely nothing, just a waste of letters.

Oh, and someone in my office just say "irregardless" (cringe)

 

I find,"mutually exclusive" entirely understandable, but I've never heard anyone say that. Probably why it doesn't irritate me.
But some things are mutually exclusive. "I want to build a remote control and a receiver with a security decoder and a logic section, but only use a few parts". "I'm a complete beginner. How do you make a GPS with a PIC?" That is so mutually exclusive that I break out laughing when I think of it.

An oxymoron might be, "Army Intelligence" or "Good Windows OS". A redundant phrase might be, "especially unique" or, "criminal lawyer".

Sorry, just couldn't resist playing with you.

 

"mutually exclusive" - I've debated this with the most intelligent person I know in real life (my cousin's husband, PHD in Philosophy), and a few others, and nobody has been able to sway me yet. Yes, I know it's a universally accepted term, even used in scholarly documents and such, but I say it's an oxymoron and has no place in proper English. It's equivalent to "shared unshared" or "together apart." If not for the universally understood meaning, it would really mean absolutely nothing, just a waste of letters.

I don't see how you could come to that conclusion - one being true means the other must be false, or the inclusion in one grouping excludes it from being grouped into another.

E.g. Male and female are mutually exclusive, meaning the inclusion in one group means it is excluded from the other, and vice versa. The mutual part is that they mean they are exclusive like this for each other.

Perhaps we'll need a thread on this so as to keep this one in track.

Oh, and someone in my office just say "irregardless" (cringe)

That's one that immediately makes a person's credibility drop...

I cringe when I hear vice versa pronounced "vice-a-versa"..,

 

I used to have a wife that was sloppy with words and couldn't spell half of them. Key words being, "used to".

Now, one of my screening tactics is the game of Scrabble. If you can beat me at Scrabble, you are a pretty sharp person.

 

I don't see how you could come to that conclusion - one being true means the other must be false, or the inclusion in one grouping excludes it from being grouped into another.

E.g. Male and female are mutually exclusive, meaning the inclusion in one group means it is excluded from the other, and vice versa. The mutual part is that they mean they are exclusive like this for each other.

Yes, I know what it means; or, at least I know what people mean when they say it, but I still disagree that it's not an oxymoron. Your use of the words inclusion and exclusion is perfect; that's what the term should be: exclusion by inclusion. That's what people mean when they say it, so they should just say that. The key word is by; otherwise it would be "exclusion inclusion" which is just as bad as "mutually exclusive."

 

The mutual portion conveys the idea that the same relationship is true for the other set- that being included in a set means it cannot exist in the other set and that the reverse is true.

If you have two sets - male and black hair, these are both exclusive sets - they exclude things from the universal set - however, these can also both be true. You can have a male with black hair, as they deal with different characteristics.

To say something is mutually exclusive, means that there are some sets that have the same relationship to each other, which is to rule out its membership in the other set(s).

This is, essentially, exclusion by inclusion, both convey the same meaning.

 

I'm perfectly happy with the phrase "mutually exclusive". I wouldn't want having to type
\(
S(a)\cap S(b) = \{ 0\}
\)
every time I meant to say that.

 

Oh, and someone in my office just say "irregardless" (cringe)

Perhaps they meant that the police at the fourth largest of the Great Lakes were gone, thus leaving _________________ .

 

Perhaps they meant that the police at the fourth largest of the Great Lakes were gone, thus leaving _________________ .

Oh I get it now

Erie guard less.


Can you give a negative thanks? Maybe outright banning is in order here.

 

I'm perfectly happy with the phrase "mutually exclusive". I wouldn't want having to type
\(
S(a)\cap S(b) = \{ 0\}
\)
every time I meant to say that.

Please explain for the math challenged. \cap is an intersection is about all I understand.

 

Buy now and save. How can you possibly spend money and still save?

 

Please explain for the math challenged. \cap is an intersection is about all I understand.

It is saying the intersection of set a and set b is the empty set => no intersection...

 

Oh I get it now

Erie guard less.


Can you give a negative thanks? Maybe outright banning is in order here.

Yeah, it is pretty lame, but at least it's original. I thunked it up myself.

 

Yeah, it is pretty lame, but at least it's original. I thunked it up myself.

That was among my problems in my first 6 months at AAC. Nobody knew whether I was joking or part idiot.

Couldn't get a laugh with my hair on fire and a rim shot to draw attention to it.

 

Buy now and save. How can you possibly spend money and still save?

Ask my wife! She lives by it.

 

That was among my problems in my first 6 months at AAC. Nobody knew whether I was joking or part idiot.

Couldn't get a laugh with my hair on fire and a rim shot to draw attention to it.

Well, Nro 12, strictly speaking, an idiot could joke with various degrees of success...!