Two interesting English Thinking ::

artifact

Here are two sentences we've came across during our Language and Information lectures.
I would say they are really fun sentences and without LOGIC thinking people can easily fall into its trap.
(But hey... I've told you people that you need some LOGIC thinking... but try to read the Questions and answer it straight away without too much LOGIC thinking, just use your common senses =))

Anyway anyway... try to answer the following 2 questions ;)

1. Would you prefer crocodile attacks you or your furious mother?
2. No head injury is fatal. I hit my head, am I going to die?

I have made a little change in the sentences to make it... ummm... less tricky.
(Okok... I admit that I actually forgot the original sentence because its a month ago...)
But see what your answer will be. ;)

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For Question 1, for those with clear mind and says,"me!", congratulation you are over the traps now. But most people would answer "furious mother". Do you get the point? ;)

And for Question 2, if your answer is "No", sorry but you are now a DEAD man/woman/girl/boy/creature/what-so-ever... ;P And why is that?

Do you people see the traps hidden? The first one is possibly less tricky then the second one :D

There are more funny English-related topics in my course and I shall share it once I remember them.
(I just completely forgot there is a English forum... hehe... *smirk*)

artifact

I have one more interesting (or maybe not so... ) English sentence to share with you people.

It is quite often that we say something like this.

Bread is better than nothing.

When we are starving, we probably won't mind even though it is just a plain wheat bread, right? And to express our "appreciation" (?) we would say something like that.

And here comes the funny part...

For some people who thinks steak is the best food in the world, they might say...

Nothing is better than steak!

So... what does these two sentence say in the end?

Bread > Nothing > Steak?

Ok... some of you might agree but I can't! *laugh* This is obvious that the word nothing here plays different roles in the sentence, and in different sentence it has different meanings. ;)

Katliang

原文由artifact 於 06-12-4 06:36 AM 發表
Here are two sentences we've came across during our Language and Information lectures.
I would say they are really fun sentences and withoutLOGIC thinking people can easily fall into its trap.
(But hey... I've told you people that you need some LOGIC thinking... but try to read the Questions and answer it straight away without too much LOGIC thinking, just use your common senses =))

Anyway anyway... try to answer the following 2 questions ;)

1. Would you prefer crocodile attacks you or your furious mother?
2. No head injury is fatal. I hit my head, am I going to die?

I have made a little change in the sentences to make it... ummm... less tricky.
(Okok... I admit that I actually forgot the original sentence because its a month ago...)
But see what your answer will be. ;)

Ok several things here:
1. saying LOGIC thinking is a bit awkward, you can repharse it and say thinky logically.  
2.I would say they are really fun sentences and withoutLOGIC thinking people can easily fall into its trap
The sentence is grammatically inncorrect.  You used sentences (more than one) then you use its (singular) so in this case it should be "their trap"
3.(But hey... I've told you people that you need some LOGIC thinking... but try to read the Questions and answer it straight away without too much LOGIC thinking, just use your common senses =))
Ok again there are grammer mistakes here, you used questions and then you said answer "it" where it's suppose to be "them".  And again i would rephrase ans state "answer them straight away without thinking too logically...."
4. Ok now your questions are wierd... personally I think your questions are this:
1) Which would you prefer to attack you, a crocodile or your furious mother?
2) If no head injury is fatal, then if I hit my head would I die?
even though im not 100% sure

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as for your second form:
all I can say is "you seriously have more time to come up with strange ideas than spending your time on something more valuable"

artifact

原文由Katliang 於 06-12-11 12:26 PM 發表

Ok several things here:
1. saying LOGIC thinking is a bit awkward, you can repharse it and say thinky logically.  
2.I would say they are really fun sentences and withoutLOGIC thinking people can ea ...

For those grammar mistakes you pointed out, I am sorry for my carelessness =)
And as for those examples I've shown, no, they aren't what you suggested. The "crocodile one" might be wrong, but it is 100% not like what you've suggested. If it is like what you've suggested, then there is hardly any trap at all.

Which would you prefer to attack you, a crocodile or your furious mother?

From what you suggested here, I can see you've already fell into the trap (or maybe not, you are always welcome to argue :D) Look at my question carefully, it is not asking the same question as your suggested form. My question was actually something like...

Would you prefer crocodile attacks...
1. you?
2. or your mother?

There are lots of ways to argue what this question is actually asking for, and that is why I said it is funny. ;)

As for the head injury, look at the sentenceS again. The first sentence is a statement, telling that "No head injury is fatal." And the second one is another statement with a question at the end. It is the same thing as your "If - then" sentence, instead I put them into two sentences.

There are different ways of writing English and to express your thinking.

Oh, one more thing is, these aren't my sentences. As I mentioned, they are from my Logic and Information course. And maybe just to convince you a little bit more, I am studying in England, University of Birmingham. Not to show that my English is excellent (I always know my English is crap *blah* Especially when you are living in England, you can simply feel it... *sigh*), but to tell you that I am not making these all up just for showing off :D

Also, please do respect people. The second form are from Logic as well. You might think its worthless to think about such sentences, but unfortunelately, there are even books discussing such sentences, just like, the course I am doing =)

No offense :D

warrust

just one question.....
about the first riddle you put up......
why do you want the crocodile to attack you anyway.....?

P.S.i don't think the second one is dependent on the English language (ie. it can be translated and still requires some logical thinking)

artifact

原文由warrust 於 06-12-12 12:36 PM 發表
just one question.....
about the first riddle you put up......
why do you want the crocodile to attack you anyway.....?

P.S.i don't think the second one is dependent on the English language (ie. it c ...

You are right, the second one isn't really dependent on English, since we can say the same thing in Chinese.
And as for the first one, ermmm... take it this way... you are captured and being tortured... and then you found out the torturer is your mom and ermmm...
(OkOkOk! Forget this mess *blah* *sob* *slap*)

Katliang

awwww poor artifact, we're not picking on you~
the english that you study in England is a bit different from north america.  
I was wondering how come you can speak such wonderful english, when clearly
that is way above taiwan standards.  Well good luck on your studies

artifact

原文由Katliang 於 06-12-14 01:40 AM 發表
awwww poor artifact, we're not picking on you~
the english that you study in England is a bit different from north america.  
I was wondering how come you can speak such wonderful english, when clear ...

You can keep it in your style, laughing and mocking and I don't care =)

I don't think Warrust was picking on me, he had a question about my first riddle, so I gave my answer, though even me myself found the answer stupid. *smirk* He said the second one doesn't depend on English, well yep, I totally agreed and so I didn't argue much.

As for your replies, I thank you for pointing out all my mistakes (though I haven't corrected them, yet too lazy *blah*) Like I said, you can argue you fell into the trap, or not. It is not my WONDERFUL English or Britain's BRILLIANT English, it is just the nature of English. And I wonder why is it way above Taiwan standards.

I don't mind people pointing out my mistakes, like what you've done to my grammar mistakes *smile* But I don't really appreicate your manner. Take a look at your replies I see little respect but mockings all over the place.

Anyway, thank you for your words, I hope I can do well on my studies, especially on my English. And for you, merry christmas and happy mocking. :D

Katliang

Hehehe, *giggle*~ Over the years that I've been back to Taiwan, I've realized that the english that we type, or speak, is far beyond their level of understanding.  It's like me reading a long essay of mandrain right now; it makes me a little bit dizzy.  Although they do know each individual meaning of the word, however, they do not know when and where to use them at certain times.   That's what I meant by  standards.

-剎那-

原文由artifact 於 06-12-5 02:36 AM 發表
1. Would you prefer crocodile attacks you or your furious mother?
2. No head injury is fatal. I hit my head, am I going to die?

1, NO! Even she is furious
2, Maybe = =

It's not about logic, it's about wording. Those sentence aren't finished.

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btw...people don't use perfect english as "much" just like we don't talk in perfect chineseall the time.
Don't be picky :醉