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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   2752 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 19, 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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Mid 20s here, expect I'm probably on the younger end of the user base in this forum. I do drink, but only very occasionally (somewhere on the order of once every few months) since I am pint sized, am a massive lightweight and get knocked on my ass from barely any alcohol. Basically, whenever any social event in a professional setting calls for it, I'll drink so long as everyone else is doing so. Very uncommonly, I will do so for pleasure or if I want to loosen up a little bit.

I have never gotten blackout drunk and do not ever plan to. It becomes physically difficult to force myself to drink after a certain level of drunkenness.

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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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