Suavely

Ĉu vi parolas Esperanton? Mi volus korespondi kun esperantistoj ĉirkaŭ la mondo. Aĝo kaj nivelo ne gravas, sed mi preferus samaĝulinojn. (Mi havas 16 jarojn.) Memoru, ke mi estas komencanto. Estas malfacile, trovi saminteresajn esperantistojn, kiuj volas korespondi retpoŝte. Do anstataŭ serĉi ilin, ili serĉos min... mi esperas. Mia retadreso estas . Dankon!

I apologize for the "Esperanto moment" right there -- a lot of you reading the RSS feed have probably skipped over this post for that reason -- but it's just a plea for pen pals with which I can practice my abilities. It can be so hard to find someone with the same interests as you. I'm glad to have found Eric, who is eerily similar to me. But why don't the hot chicks go for Esperanto?

Mi: (suavely) It's a facilitator of cross-cultural communication, baby.

Samaĝulino: (biting lip voluptuously) Oh, say "facilitator" again.

Mi: (whispering suavely) Fa-ci-li-ta-tor.

Samaĝulino: (trying desperately to hold back) Say it... in Esperanto.

Mi: Well, let's see here... "facilitate"... "to make easy"... "facila," easy... "ig," to cause... "ilo," tool... so that would be... "faciligilo."

Samaĝulino: (breathing heavily) I love the way you tie words together.

Mi: (suavely) Don't forget to make the "c" sound halfway between "t" and "s."

Samaĝulino: Ĝi... ĝi...

Mi: (suavely) Ĝi -- t.e., Esperanto -- estas faciligilo de interkultura komunikado.

Well, I suppose your imagination can take it from there. In fact, you'd probably be glad I didn't finish that little dialogue. This is no place for firakontoj.

The fallacy of many questions occurs when you ask something that presupposes something that has not been agreed upon by the people involved. In other words, it means you're asking someone about something that isn't true. If they give a straight answer -- "yes" or "no" -- that means they must agree that the presupposition is correct. A common example is "Have you stopped beating your wife?" Whether you say "yes" or "no," you admit to having beaten your wife in the past (and, I suppose, to having a wife). So how would you answer a nonsensical question like that? According to hackers (good or bad), the correct answer is "mu."