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PaperclipPerfector  5mo ago (text post)   3246 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 9, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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But you did attend college. I was going to say welder but opted for engineer.

But you did attend college

Not actually true. Welder is, I suppose, close enough for- well quite literally not government work, thank you occupational licensing taxes, but online purposes I guess.

My powers have failed me.

TBF, I went to Catholic schools, which has been known to inculcate a college-educated esque writing style even absent further education.

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A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

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