E-Prime Phrases of Speech Challenge

In honor of starfish, NEW RULE for the Phrases of Speech Challenge:

Ye may also answer any previously met challenge with your own responses, especially if you have already answered a challenge firstly (so as to not hog ye thread).

Let the games resume!

New challenge:

Civilization is bad

Civilization is bad.

uh oh. . .

[b]I hate civilization.

Civilization sucks eggs.

Civilization can go jump in a lake.

One cannot ever sustain civilization.

Civilization pisses me off.

Civilization destroys everything in its path.

Who needs civilization?

Jason Godesky’s theses #12, 13, & 21-25[/b]

now try this:

Tag, you’re it!

Tag, you’re it!

translates to…

[b]Gotcha!

I bequeath to you the properties of It-ness.

Ha-ha, now we shall see how you fare as It.

Not fast enough, Tom … or should I call you … “It”?[/b]

… or just, Tag!

New challenge:

He’s a real Nowhere Man.

BlueHeron’s challenge: He’s a real Nowhere Man.

Some possibilities:

[b]He doesn’t seem to go anywhere or do anything.

He reminds me of that Beatles song. . .

I think of him as a Nowhere Man.

I pronounce him lazy, listless, blind, & without efficacy.

He makes his Nowhere Plans for Nobody.[/b]

So I stopped checking for posts on this forum, & when I came back, this thread had positively caught fire! How exciting. This morning, I updated th dictionary to include all your translations (& threw in a few of my own). A reminder: if you’d like to edit it directly, you can: just use th password ‘eprime’.

http://eprimedictionary.pbwiki.com/

This collaborative ‘sandbox’ method seems to work fantastically, tho, so let’s keep it up!

(An quick update for those interested: I have not yet managed to go 24 hours speaking or thinking entirely in E-Prime, altho not for lack of trying. I no longer consider that kind of purity th goal. I have definitely changed how I speak & think. Almost every time I use ‘to be’ I do so knowingly, choosing it as th most efficient way to express myself, while admitting to myself that it represents a bit of a ‘shortcut’. Sometimes, it comes out w/o my having thought it thru, but I immediately recognize that & either let it go or correct it, depending on whether I think it makes an important difference in th conversation. I plan to go further w/ this, & I feel like I’ve made a good start.)

Enough about that. I shall continue th thread w/o further interruption:

New challenge: an actual question somebody asked me about two dogs I walked together th other day. Bonus points if you give an E-Prime answer (that doesn’t imply a B-English question): Are they sisters or brothers?

Do you know the status of their siblinghood?
Should I call them sisters? Should I call them brothrers? I want to address them correctly.
I see sisters, I see brothers, no, I see ??? Fill in the blank for me.
Wow, I can’t figure out how that batch relates to each other in terms of kinship…
Dem mutts, which set o’ organs they got fer breedin, and can you confirm whether or not they spawned from the same litter?

–

NEW CHALLENGE: When my work is finished, I’m coming back for you.

Richards challenge: When my work is finished, I’m coming back for you.

When I finish work, I should come back for you.
With work done, I always come back for you.
I finish work. I come back. :wink:
I intend coming back for you, once I do the work.

Mai challenge: You’re all ganging up on me! And a good response, please!

New Value for this game, Phrases of Speech Challenge: We all have powers, such, & whatever to answer challenges with more than just five possibilities.

Chase’s present challenge:

You’re all ganging up on me!

Possibilities:

[ul][li]You all gangup on me!
You all gangup me!
You gangup on me!
You gangup me!
You gang me!
You gang gangup at me!
Everybody at this place gangsup on me!
You at this place gangup on me!
Gangingup on me you all!
You all have joined together to get me!
You all have united to get me![/li]
[li][/li][/ul]


New challenge:

REWILD is wild.

THE CHALLENGE MET:

// Rewild, wild - same thing.
//
// When comparing wild and rewild we decipher zero difference.
//
// Rewild didn’t become wild, the two have never had and will never have a point of seperation.
//
// When I think wild I also think rewild and my thoughts do not change, except for those two pesky pieces of the alphabet.
//
// If wild and rewild sat in a boat, the boat would have one occupant.
//

THE CHALLENGE PRESENTED:

If you’re a deceiver you should know, Imma on the way, and Imma tell it like it is, yo.

THE CHALLENGE PRESENTED:

If you’re a deceiver you should know, Imma on the way, and Imma tell it like it is, yo.

Response:

[b]If you choose to lie, know the consequences – specifically mine.

I pity the fool that lies to me!

Lie to me, and you stand to regret it.

Cheaters never prosper.

Don’t you act like no jive-turkey, or you gonna get got in the end!

Don’t sell me any snake-oil. Jerk.[/b]

Challenge:

Are you walking home from work tonight?

Unconnected to that last one, here’s an attempt at ‘to be or not to be’

::
To remain this entity, contained within this form, or to relinquish it permenantly.
::

Also, a public service announcement reminding you of your mortality.
Enjoy this while it lasts.

Looks fun, too bad no one’s been on for a while… anyway, here goes

Starving Wolf’s challenge:

Are you walking home from work tonight?

Possibilities:

[b]After work, you walk home?

When you finish working, do you plan on walking home?

Walking home from work tonight? [/b] I like questions in this kind of form… dunno if the ‘are you’ is implied but it sounds like it fits the boot

[b]After slaving hours, you return home by foot?

When BigMan loosens leash, you will choose to walk on feet, not sitting-roll-in-metal, to FamilyMeets? [/b] Oo, this I like :smiley:

oops, forgot my own challenge…

You’re Insane!

try to keep this one short :o

answer: I don’t understand you.

[quote=“L. Ross, post:33, topic:673”]oops, forgot my own challenge…

You’re Insane!

try to keep this one short :o[/quote]

You do things outside of the norms of my culture.
Your brain works differently than mine.
What the fuck?
You confuse me.
I can’t comprehend your actions/thoughts.

and to renew this challenge:

Let it be.

Let it be.

Delightfully ambiguous, Clickety Clack. Now to share my interpretations.

Leave it alone.
Stop beating a dead horse.
Put it down
Walk away.
Quit messing with it.
Let it go.
Forget about it.

I’ll use a related phrase for my challenge:

It’s good enough.

Hopefully my alternatives bring this fun thread back to life…

Depending on whether ‘it’ refers to my own or someone else’s work:

Working on this does not make me happy any longer.
This should meet your needs.
My sense of perfection pushes me on but that does not serve my health so I stop now.

You may stop ‘itting’ now.
You have succeeded but with only a small margin.

I look forward to your feedback on my first attempts.
Interestingly, while finding alternatives, some other words asked to be changed for other reasons: e.g “drives me on” turned into “pushes me on”.

Next challenge:
What do you want to be when you grow up?

  1. What do you want to do when you grow up?
  2. How do you want to live when you feel grown up?
  3. What do you plan to do for work when you reach adulthood?
  4. How will you make your livelihood as an adult?
  5. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Next Challenge:
What are you wearing?

You call those pants?
Those pants make me laugh.
Nice pants!
I want those pants.
Wait a minute. The T-shirt on your body looks a lot like the T-shirt that hung in my closet an hour ago. Give it back!

Who pantsed you?

Arabella, what have you got on?

Would you like a re-pantsing?

What wearest thou? What dost thou wear?

Honestly the “gerund” in this case is just a helper verb, and doesn’t get really caught up in the “is” of identity and predication errors. Having said that of course it’s hard to juggle some cases of “is” and not others. Perhaps this question is disguising intent anyway - is the question really:

“Why did you choose those clothes?” or
“Where did you get that cool t-shirt from?” or
“What kind of clothing do call that?” or…?