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PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   4115 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for February 13, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Eat the whole damn thing, core and all!

This is the way. Never understood people that need to do complex manipulation with an apple before eating it. Just dig in! You can spit out the seeds if you're inclined too, and the stem is useful for holding it, but otherwise it all goes in.

Of all my time on the motte and its predecessors it is this thread that most makes me feel like i'm living in a different world from some of you.

Come to the dark side, we have cookies optimize All The Things, even the eating of the fruit!

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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."

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


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