Why do we say "circular" and "triangular" and "rectangular" but not "squarular"?

Dangerously Amused

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Thu Dec-11-08 07:05 PM
Original message

Why do we say "circular" and "triangular" and "rectangular" but not "squarular"?

Or "parallellogramular"?

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ThomCat

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Thu Dec-11-08 07:28 PM
Response to Original message

1. Um.. because we speak English

a language cobbled together from lint and hang nails.

And it's not even the Queen's English. It's the bastardized version of english that came to life and crawled up out of the tower of Babbel.

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Dangerously Amused

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Thu Dec-11-08 07:52 PM
Response to Reply #1

6. The guy at the bread shop today asked if I wanted "a round or rectangular loaf."

That's what got this whole thing started. I wondered why we don't say "roundular," but then I remembered that we have "circular" to cover for it. But "squarular"... now that should be a word, dammit! It's functional, it looks way cool in writing and just think of all the extra Scrabble points we have been missing out on all these years!

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DarkTirade

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Fri Dec-12-08 02:37 AM
Response to Reply #1

30. It's a bastardizes version of a bastardized version of a bastardized version

of a bastardized version of a bastardized version of a basterdized version of about seven different languages.

:P

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Dangerously Amused

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Sat Dec-13-08 10:26 AM
Response to Reply #30

58. Then what can the harm be in adding squarular, right?

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yurbud

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Thu Dec-11-08 07:29 PM
Response to Original message

2. if you say "parallellogramular" you'll choke on your own tongue then talk like Tom Brokaw the rest

of your life.

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Dangerously Amused

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Thu Dec-11-08 07:42 PM
Response to Reply #2

3. Ha ha. Plus,"paralellogramular" just sounds gross.

Like something that would make you take a trip to the dermatologist to have it (them?) removed.

"The advanced stage will take on a paralellogramular appearance."

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yurbud

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Fri Dec-12-08 02:14 AM
Response to Reply #3

29. or it could be how you describe an accident while parallel parking

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Shell Beau

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Thu Dec-11-08 07:43 PM
Response to Original message

4. Because that would take effort.

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Dangerously Amused

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Thu Dec-11-08 07:57 PM
Response to Reply #4

10. Always the voice of reason.

:hi:

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Oeditpus Rex

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Thu Dec-11-08 07:48 PM
Response to Original message

5. If 'paralellogramular' were a word

we'd just abbreviate it to "plgmlr" anyway.

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Dangerously Amused

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Thu Dec-11-08 07:55 PM
Response to Reply #5

9. "plgmlr"?

Wouldn't that just get confused with "plaguemiller"?

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Oeditpus Rex

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Thu Dec-11-08 08:01 PM
Response to Reply #9

11. Confusion, bah

Priority goes to people who can't be bothered to type all the letters, YKWIM?

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struggle4progress

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Thu Dec-11-08 07:54 PM
Response to Original message

7. Because the correct word is quadrangular

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Dangerously Amused

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Thu Dec-11-08 08:03 PM
Response to Reply #7

13. But, wait.

A square is a always quadrangle, but a quadrangle doesn't necessarily have to be a square. Right? :blush:

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Guava Jelly

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Thu Dec-11-08 07:54 PM
Response to Original message

8. I didn't know there was going to be a pop quiz..

:eyes:
Hell I'm still trying to figure out why there needs to be a "b" in the word dumb :shrug:
I mean it's not dumbuh.:dunce:

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Dangerously Amused

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Thu Dec-11-08 08:07 PM
Response to Reply #8

14. I know. Like, whose bright idea was THAT?

Probably the same guy who put the "'n" in "damn." You know? I mean, you think of all the paper and ink that has been wasted - totally WASTED - over the years, collectively amounting to probably entire FORESTS of trees, and for what? For what? SILENT LETTERS?!? WTF is that noise? Huh? Does anybody ever think about the trees???

:cry:

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Guava Jelly

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Thu Dec-11-08 08:25 PM
Response to Reply #14

21. Dam straight!

Those poor innocent trees :cry: It's genocide.:mad:
:hi: :D

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muriel_volestrangler

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Thu Dec-11-08 08:03 PM
Response to Original message

12. Because we don't say 'squarle' or 'parallelogramle' either (nt)

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Dangerously Amused

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Thu Dec-11-08 08:13 PM
Response to Reply #12

15. There were several squarles in my yard just yesterday.

Oh wait, I get it: you're saying it's the "le" causing all the problems.

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madinmaryland

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Thu Dec-11-08 08:14 PM
Response to Original message

16. Because that sounds really fucking squirrelly!

Squirrel?

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Dangerously Amused

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Thu Dec-11-08 08:22 PM
Response to Reply #16

20. Good point. But I am going to start using the word anyway.

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Liberal_in_LA

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Thu Dec-11-08 08:15 PM
Response to Original message

17. sounds like something Bush would say

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Dangerously Amused

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Thu Dec-11-08 08:18 PM
Response to Reply #17

19. Ha ha! I could totally be the preznit!

:dunce:

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Redstone

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Thu Dec-11-08 08:18 PM
Response to Original message

18. Because "square" fills that particular bill. Just one of those vagaries of English.

Edited on Thu Dec-11-08 08:19 PM by Redstone

But, as someone else asked, why aren't "cubicles" in offices called "squareables" instead, given that they are not, in fact, cubes because they don't have a roof?

Hope all is well for you these days.

Redstone

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Dangerously Amused

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Thu Dec-11-08 08:32 PM
Response to Reply #18

22. Wow, that's a good point. "Squaricles."

That's it. I am going to use either "squarular" or "squaricle" every single day until they are brought into common usage and validated by inclusion in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. I will be remembered forever as the world's foremost advocate of linguistic equality for squares.

Hey. I am hanging in there. How are you and the fam?

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Redstone

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Thu Dec-11-08 08:38 PM
Response to Reply #22

23. I hope you succede with "squaricle," because it's perfect. And thank you for asking;

family is good. I'm not, unfortunately. Managing to keep just one step ahead of the doctor wanting to put me in the hospital because of the blood-clotted leg.

I don't make any money if I don't work, and I can't work if I'm in the hospital.

So I guess it's going as well as I can expect. Good to hear that all is at least reasonably well for you.

Redstone

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Dangerously Amused

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Thu Dec-11-08 09:03 PM
Response to Reply #23

24. Oooooh, blood clots are nothing to mess with!

x(

But I know you are aware of all that so I won't preach. I'm sorry you have to deal with it, though. Hopefully they can control it with meds, that's what they're doing with my mom. Oooh honey, I'll keep you in my meditations. :hugs:

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Redstone

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Thu Dec-11-08 09:08 PM
Response to Reply #24

25. Meditations would be wonderful, and well-appreciated. But I do continue, stupidly, to

not take the threat seriously. That's why Mrs R insists on going to the doctor with me. (She made me go to this doctor for a physical in July, for my first physical since 1995.)

But today, she made me tell the doctor the WHOLE truth.

Thanks for the good wishes, DA, as usual.

Redstone

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Dangerously Amused

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Fri Dec-12-08 08:11 PM
Response to Reply #25

33. Mrs R rocks!

You've got a good woman there, Redstone. But you knew that.

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Crabby Appleton

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Thu Dec-11-08 09:35 PM
Response to Reply #22

26. I call them "sheep pens"

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Dangerously Amused

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Fri Dec-12-08 08:13 PM
Response to Reply #26

34. Those sheep are gorgeous. Why do they keep them penned like that, though?

And I love the office space, very funny and very well done. Wow, that took a lot of work.

Thanks!

:hi:

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Dr. Strange

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Thu Dec-11-08 10:43 PM
Response to Original message

27. Squares are rectangles by default, so just use "rectangular."

As for a shape possessing the property of looking like a parallelogram, in algebraic topology the term used is "parallelogrammatical."

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Dangerously Amused

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Fri Dec-12-08 08:14 PM
Response to Reply #27

35. "Parallelogrammatical"? No way!

I think you just made that up to mess with me.

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Dr. Strange

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Fri Dec-12-08 11:41 PM
Response to Reply #35

55. I think you're right.

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Dangerously Amused

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Sat Dec-13-08 10:25 AM
Response to Reply #55

57. You had me going for a while there.

I'm very gullible.

:cry:

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Ptah

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Thu Dec-11-08 11:02 PM
Response to Original message

28. You seem to take it lightly.

:cry:

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Dangerously Amused

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Fri Dec-12-08 08:18 PM
Response to Reply #28

36. Lightly?

No, no. Not at all. I am vera series about squarological rights. In fact I am often referred to by those who've met me as the "Queen of Squares."

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Ptah

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Sat Dec-13-08 11:30 AM
Response to Reply #36

60. Blatant squarism. For your information, young lady, squares and circles get along fine.

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ashling

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Fri Dec-12-08 04:16 AM
Response to Original message

31. Trapazoidular, Diamondular or

Edited on Fri Dec-12-08 04:19 AM by ashling

Cubular Zirconium

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Dangerously Amused

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Fri Dec-12-08 08:19 PM
Response to Reply #31

38. Aha! All excellent wordage!

I am happy to see that SOMEBODY around here speaks my language.

:hi:

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ashling

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Sat Dec-13-08 01:08 AM
Response to Reply #38

56. When my kids would ask those questions I would answer

"Because if they called in "squareular," you would as "why don't they call it square." Sometimes being annoying is one of the perks of being a Dad LOL

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Enrique

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Fri Dec-12-08 05:30 AM
Response to Original message

32. do it

go ahead and say squararular and you'll see why the rest of us don't.

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Dangerously Amused

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Fri Dec-12-08 08:28 PM
Response to Reply #32

40. But "squarular" is FUN to say. Just try it.

Besides, I blaze my own trail through this world. I am not constrained by convention; my precocious expression can never be limited by pseudo-intellectual constructs like "clarity," and grammatical "rules." I am a trend-setter. A OOAK word-crafter. Presidential material, if you will.

I am coyote.

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RetroLounge

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Fri Dec-12-08 08:18 PM
Response to Original message

37. Rhombusticular?

The mind boggles...

:hi:

RL

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Dangerously Amused

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Fri Dec-12-08 08:35 PM
Response to Reply #37

41. Uhm...

I think that's a cancer that Latin men get in their nether region when they dance too much.

:hi:

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RetroLounge

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Fri Dec-12-08 10:00 PM
Response to Reply #41

52. I *knew* it sounded familiar...

:9

:hi:

RL

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Dangerously Amused

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Fri Dec-12-08 10:06 PM
Response to Reply #52

53. Hey, you're a poet-ish type.

I have an idea. I think we should make one of those little rhyme-y things about it, and if we repeat it often enough, we may win over the populace. I'm thinking something along the lines of:

I before E,
except after C,
And no matter where you are,
You can always say squarular.

Will it work?

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RetroLounge

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Fri Dec-12-08 10:12 PM
Response to Reply #53

54. Not even in Ogden Nash's World

:rofl:

RL

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Tom Kitten

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Fri Dec-12-08 08:21 PM
Response to Original message

39. Because square can be an adjective unto itself?

As in "I love all you square thinking people"

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Dangerously Amused

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Fri Dec-12-08 08:37 PM
Response to Reply #39

42. Could be.

But what single word would you use when you wanted to describe the shape of something that was rather like - but not quite - a square. Squarish? Squaricle? Squarular? I think it should be squarular, to stay consistent with those other shape words.

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Tom Kitten

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Fri Dec-12-08 08:58 PM
Response to Reply #42

45. Rhomboid or Trapezoid

Remember we're mixing up Greek and Latin roots here, plus 2 and 3 dimensional geometric forms.

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Dangerously Amused

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Fri Dec-12-08 09:11 PM
Response to Reply #45

46. I'm trying to follow you,

...but the part of my brain where words and math intersect keeps overheating.

:cry:

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Tom Kitten

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Fri Dec-12-08 09:27 PM
Response to Reply #46

47. A rhombus is a quadrilateral shape

where all four sides are equal in length...like a diamond! A square is a rhombus where all angles are at 90 degrees.

A trapezoid is a quadrilateral where two sides are parallel but the two are not. If you have a trapezoid, then add another identical Trpezoid inversely, then you have a parallelogram! It's all in the angle and the lengths of the sides when you're dealing with four sided figures...

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RandomThoughts

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Fri Dec-12-08 08:38 PM
Response to Original message

43. Because it is a way to stump a smart person.

Question on IQ test, or SAT test, or MENSA test.

Circular is to eliptical.
as
________ is to rectangular

:rofl:

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Dangerously Amused

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Fri Dec-12-08 08:42 PM
Response to Reply #43

44. Hmmm. In that case I would have to go with "squarical,"

...since they are obviously looking to keep the opposing suffixes consistent.

:7

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ElboRuum

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Fri Dec-12-08 09:38 PM
Response to Original message

48. Speak for yourselves.

I say pentacular, parallelipiperal, and cubicular very often and in inappropriate situations.

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Dangerously Amused

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Fri Dec-12-08 09:49 PM
Response to Reply #48

49. I love you!

:loveya:

(It was the "inappropriate situations" part that clinched it for me.)

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Zuiderelle

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Fri Dec-12-08 09:51 PM
Response to Original message

50. We would if it was "squarle" and not "square"... it's the "le" that does it.

Edited on Fri Dec-12-08 09:53 PM by PelosiFan

So then the question really is, why is it not squarle? :smoke:

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Dangerously Amused

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Fri Dec-12-08 09:58 PM
Response to Reply #50

51. It's the "le," is it? Figures.

Leave it to the French to make things difficult.

:eyes:

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ElboRuum

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Sat Dec-13-08 03:42 PM
Response to Reply #50

61. I dunno. Guessing tongue sprain?

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billyskank

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Sat Dec-13-08 11:11 AM
Response to Original message

59. A square is rectangular.

Since a square is just a particular type of rectangle, whose side lengths and angles are all equal.

:D

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Dangerously Amused

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Sat Dec-13-08 10:45 PM
Response to Reply #59

62. But if "square" is a more precise subset of "rectangle,"

...then there should be a more precise word to indicate that more precise shape, no?

Dammit, I am a linguistic VISIONARY! I can't believe all the people who are trying to kill my dream. :cry:

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