Some very small children didn’t know whether to cheer or cry…

IMHO “compassion” would be a better substitute.

… But first, let’s shoot fireballs at it!

I remember that, I thought it was poetic. I also remember the pearl clutching outrage.

Though a few visits ago at my local zoo two of the orangutans were beating the shit out of a seagull for fun, with naught outrage.

So there’s probably a double standard built-in.

Though today we get:

Find out what these big four names were convicted of!

I’ve only had Sal’s a couple of times and it’s always been oily trash… They’re not getting another chance.

… A sunny disposition?

It’s correct, as much as any English is correct, but not typically spoken naturally like that.

The press (newspapers) has an idiosyncratic grammar, probably born of maximising space in a newspaper column. Headlines are often grammatical nightmares, body copy less so.

One could think of it as a form of semantic compression.

Yeah, doing that alone is incredibly stupid. She’s probably luck not to have been shot.

TIL by implication that “in the wild” is different to “in a sanctuary”.

There’s been takahē on Tiri Tiri Mātangi island for years (since at least the 90’s) but that’s a predator free island sanctuary.

Super news!

I too am an etymology geek, I had to look up “aptronym” (I already knew there was a word for it, but couldn’t remember it) but already knew “patronym”. I can occasionally work out the approximate Latin roots of words and take a stab at what to search for.

Regarding names’ positions moving around… that’s just people. People name their children all sorts of stupid things that eventually become normal.

Yup, incredibly variable.

It also tends to trigger debates about whether pictures of said animals count. Which is a good discussion rather than siblings fighting about how ugly the other one is.

Actually no, I’ve not heard of them. I’m not American, can I get a TL;DR? From connect in guessing some kind of “think tank”?

Jackson is a patronymic last name: Jack’s son.

Smith is an aptronymic last name: a smith.

So yeah, bang on.

I set up a panel of people that I can fire when they don’t tell me that I should fire the people I already want to fire.

chef’s kiss

On road trips my parents used to get us kinder with:

When you see a horse you can’t talk until you see a dog.

I now use it on my child units.

We’ve tried rampant corruption and we’re out of ideas!

I’m surprised that someone who’s opinion of them self exceeds their ability would miss the self aggrandising spectacle of using the front door.

Like that orange idiot would take anyone’s advice ;-)

Doesn’t the Commander in Chief already have that authority?