Stupid parents at the zoo

[guppiecat]

If you see three children in a train/wagon, the correct description is "Ooh, triplets, how cute". One should probably not say "OMG, look at the set of three twins!"

Just sayin'

Comments

Three twins

[markiv1111.livejournal.com]

But -- but -- they *are* a set of three twins. The first and second infants are a pair of twins; the first and third infants are a pair of twins; the second and third infants are a pair of twins. How clear-cut can one be?????? (Yes, I'm kidding. But this is a possible interpretation of the facts -- isn't it?)

Nate

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

Yeah. When I think of a "set of three twins", I think three sets of twins, or sextuplets.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Maybe one mumbled the last word, and the utterance was, "OMG, look at the set of three Twins fans!" If they had on the requisite baseball caps and wore Homer Diapers, it could be inferred.

[ororo.livejournal.com]

Okay if I link to this from dot_pedantic?

[guppiecat]

I've made it public. Go ahead.

Re: Three twins

[guppiecat]

*sigh*

I must concede that you are correct. I think it's more natural to parse "three sets of twins" to be six people (or three people, if you consider the later-born twin to just be a copy of the first), but your way is correct too.

Good job. :)

[guppiecat]

Except this is Iowa, they had no baseball caps, and people tend to react poorly to strangers checking our their children's diapers.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

I've heard about you Iowans...

Re: Three twins

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

you win :)

Stupid parents....

[7ivy7.livejournal.com]

"One" probably should not and would not.

Note: Neither our president nor stupid parents would use "one" as the subject of a sentence.

Re: Stupid parents....

[guppiecat]

Oh dear, did I mix up "you" and "one"? I generally try to be consistent and not bounce between the two.

I suppose, that's what I get for learning grammar from British children's books and Spanish class.

By the way, it's nice to hear from you. Both you and T. seemed to have vanished from LJ and I was getting a tad worried (not really, I suspected you were busy with packing and she was busy with summer, but still, it's nice to know you're reading).

Re: Stupid parents....

[7ivy7.livejournal.com]

Reading and enjoying. I love your animal pictures, but posting "Awww, lovely" every time would seem redundant. By the way, thanks for capturing the wild Tesla. That deserves an awww lovely!

Re: Stupid parents....

[guppiecat]

but posting "Awww, lovely" every time would seem redundant.

I fully understand that, and (logically) understand that folks are reading and just not saying anything. (The counters on flickr certainly support that.) However, as redundant as it may seem, LJ is my primary social outlet when I'm here in Des Moines, so it's certainly appreciated even if it seems odd for "one" to do.

I'm glad you appreciated the Tesla photos. I think a couple of them turned out fairly nicely, especially since I don't have much practice taking photos of people. (Though, we *were* at a zoo, so I suppose it still counts as zoo photography, no?)