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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   1692 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 18, 2026

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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Does anyone have their own equivalent of a personal "antimeme", a concept you familiarize yourself with (potentially with difficulty) and then inevitably forget unless you make an intentional effort to look it up?

In no particular order:

  • I often have to look up whether I need an x86 or x64 executable when I need to download a program
  • ECGs. Fucking ECGs. I get good at understanding them when I absolutely have to (before exams), but guess what, by the time the next one rolls around, it's all out of my head.
  • Fourier transforms (how they actually work, and not the conceptual strokes)
  • And many more, all of which stubbornly refuse to come to mind, because of course they do.

Embarrassing is embarrassing for me to spell.

This effects? affects? effects? IMPACTS my willingness to use the word in writing.

If X changes Y, then X has affected Y.

The change that X wrought on Y can be described as the effect that X had on Y.

Additionally, if X pretends to be Y, we can say that X affects Y (normally used in the noun form "affectation").

But although "affect" is usually used as a verb and "effect" as a noun, both can be used as verbs and nouns.

If X sets out to change Y, then it can be said that X effects change in Y.

And the emotional state of X is also known as X's emotional affect. One of the diagnostic criteria for psychopathy is a "blunted" or "flat" affect.

Yeah I can sit and puzzle it out, but when I'm writing quickly I stall thinking about it and then just use a different word entirely to keep momentum going.

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