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Joined 3 years ago
Cake day: June 19th, 2023
  • Nineteen people died on the ground.

    Technically 260 people died on the ground. Because that is where the plane crashed.

    However, nineteen people on the ground died.

    There is a critical difference in that word order. The former includes everyone who had reached the ground by the time they died, the latter only includes those who were on the ground to begin with, and not those who were on the plane.

    Or in other words, the first phrasing highlights destination, the second highlights source. Everyone died on the ground after the plane impacted it, but only 19 were already on the ground when the impact killed them.

    The placement of the word “died” is what makes all the difference.

    Isn’t English fun?

  • Meanwhile in Western society, 40% don’t believe in evolution, flat-earthism and “birds are drones” have moved from silly jokes into serious movements, and a significant minority of people think that COVID was a hoax and the vaccines were made to implant mind-control chips.

    No wonder China has surged ahead… even an authoritarian state can easily leapfrog a society crippled by anti-intellectualism, alternative facts, and cultivated ignorance.