site banner
PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   2094 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 31, 2025

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.

1
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

The strongest argument I have ever encountered for alcoholism is not “you will get drunk” but “your life will suddenly become narratively compelling.”

Doing it for the story, not the glory.

She was also a programmer. She told me her favorite language was Pascal. I told her mine was Python. She seemed satisfied.

I enjoy the automatic understanding among men that not even choice of programming language is safe from potential hypergamy, so one has to assess the female reaction afterward to see if the ick was induced. Python's a basic but safe choice, given its ubiquity across domains and industries nowadays.

I wonder what answer would run the highest probability of ick-induction in a manic pixie programming girl. Excel? SAS? SQL? An actual but boomer-coded programming language like COBOL?

The answer of Excel might be so-bad-it's-good, if you deliver it with grinning giga-Chad energy while being attractive and not unattractive. She might pattern match you to being a high-earning finance bro who doesn't care for nerdy things like programming.

meeting two single moms, one sensible and the other not

When single moms start looking "sensible," it was time to call it a night two hours ago.

What about MATLAB?

An excellent analysis and prototyping environment and absolutely horrible general purpose programming language.

I wonder what answer would run the highest probability of ick-induction in a manic pixie programming girl. Excel? SAS? SQL? An actual but boomer-coded programming language like COBOL?

What would be the likely reaction to Common Lisp?

(It has to be CL, none of that Scheme or Clojure shit.)

I hope someone pulls out a ruler and measures the length of your beard.

I wonder what answer would run the highest probability of ick-induction in a manic pixie programming girl. Excel? SAS? SQL? An actual but boomer-coded programming language like COBOL?

Javascript, perhaps. You expose yourself as either a frontend webdev who codes lame things such as buttons, or someone who uses a frontend webdev language for other tasks. Ew.

someone who uses a frontend webdev language for other tasks

Absolutely haram. Inshallah may their keyboards wither into dust.

I was trying to tell her that, at some point, I'd known some Visual Basic, but that was so fucking long ago and I was so inebriated that I couldn't remember the name. That's up there, with icky programming languages. Might as well claim I know Scratch.

She might pattern match you to being a high-earning finance bro who doesn't care for nerdy things like programming.

I'd already told her I was in the notoriously lucrative profession of psychiatry, so a bit late for that. I'll have to see if Count is hiring.

When single moms start looking "sensible," it was time to call it a night two hours ago.

You're not... wrong. In my defense, I had never met the ladies before, and they didn't come join us with kids in tow. Them being single mothers was an aspect I only gleaned much later. And if I do write the story up, you will see why the word "sensible" is appropriate, as a relative modifier if nothing else.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

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."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats