English Chess Forum

Hello,

How do we know, whether something is true or not?

PeterTurland wrote:Hello,

How do we know, wether something is true or not?

We don't even know whether "wether" is whether, weather or wether. It's true….or maybe knot!

Edit: for those who want to know wether is a castrated ram!

...which I think satisfactorily ends this thread

Unless someone can improve on that by deleting it

David Gilbert wrote:

PeterTurland wrote:Hello,

How do we know, wether something is true or not?

We don't even know whether "wether" is whether, weather or wether. It's true….or maybe knot!

Edit: for those who want to know wether is a castrated ram!

I'm also not sure whether 'Wether' is weather or wether but I know that Werther was a tortured man riddled with unrequited love. My advice to him (irrelevant because he killed himself ages ago, and anyway he's a ficticious character created by Goethe) is substitute the unrequited love for some good, wholesome, unconditional love. Works wonders. Did for me anyway.

Great observation by Keith on this abstruse topic.
I hope it pacifies the other posters so that Keith can concentrate on becoming a European Champion.
Not that there is any pressure. Anyway, he can handle pressure like a stroll in the park.

Edit: I mean chess pressure not so sure if anyone can handle this chess & philosophy stuff. Just look what it has done to Peter T!

What word connects two such ordinary names as the spoon and the bell?

Difficult, and I have to admit that I had not even thought about this one until I saw these posts.

Think of the word “wether”, and it soon becomes clear. As David Gilbert notes, a wether is a castrated ram, some very direct Anglo-Saxon phrasing.

The bellwether, still in use, is in effect the leader of the pack, presumably the sheep who keeps the bell on the neck. One suspects though that over time, the original version has been modified. A quick google-flick suggests the possibility, for instance, of a female bellwether.

But then of course there is the wether-spoon, apparently a good place for chessplayers, and others, to congregate for a reasonably priced beer after a match. One boggles though as to what the exact meaning of a wether-spoon is. One fancifle thought is that at the bar, it is deemed as far too squeamish for customers to pick up ram testicles with their hands, and chew up a few goodies. It would show far more delicacy and refinement to scoop up the goolies with a spoon, without the direct use of the hands, and then swallow them down.

Maybe, given some of Peter Turland's recent posts, this could have been at the back of his mind?

Colin C>What word connects two such ordinary names as the spoon and the bell?<

I read that first line of Colin's post and thought - pub!

Now I will read on and find out...

Keith Arkell wrote:

David Gilbert wrote:

PeterTurland wrote:Hello,

How do we know, wether something is true or not?

We don't even know whether "wether" is whether, weather or wether. It's true….or maybe knot!

Edit: for those who want to know wether is a castrated ram!

I'm also not sure whether 'Wether' is weather or wether but I know that Werther was a tortured man riddled with unrequited love. My advice to him (irrelevant because he killed himself ages ago, and anyway he's a ficticious character created by Goethe) is substitute the unrequited love for some good, wholesome, unconditional love. Works wonders. Did for me anyway.

The sort of love a grandfather has for his grandchildren as he offers them a butterscotch sweet. Werther's Original were named after the German town where they were manufactured. For those of you interested in other trivia - the grandfather in a number of the commercials was played by Arnold Peters who died last year. His "The Archers" character Jack Woolley died on 2nd January 2014.

Nick Burrows wrote:

If a flag falls with no arbiter around does it make a sound?

It does make an ontological sound, but however, it does not always make an honest sound.