NEWS FLASH

[rustyangel]

Contrary to popular belief, Barack Obama is, in fact, not black.

Edit: grahamrod apparently made the same post in several other communities, including here in liberal.

Also, ragnarok20 is stirring up some hot, juicy meta action in this very post over the phrase "paternal father."

Comments

[almightyhat]

... I...

I think I realized exactly how stupid this stupid was at the words "His paternal father."

I haven't even finished reading it, and that phrase just... The little gears in my brain ground to a halt as I said to myself "His paternal father? What? ... What? Dubya Hat whut? What else would he be?"

[rustyangel]

Hahaha, I noticed "paternal father" as well. What the fuck does that mean?

[almightyhat]

The only thing I could think of was a real weird way of trying to say biological father.

But I'm still reading and now I think they're on the crack.

[ashyness]

Yeah, I couldn't be bothered reading past that.

[osita2000]

+70000

[almightyhat]

A unique experience, isn't it? Happily jogging along down the level path of what seems to be relatively familiar stupid, and then OH MY GOD WHO PUT THIS STAIRWAY HERE HELP I HAVE TRIPPED AND AM FALLING OW MY BRAIN MEATS!

It was then that I realized this was no mere racist but an actual tinhat.

[mrs_wills]

Ha! That's pretty much exactly what my brain did too. Then I was distracted reading the rest of the stupid by "Wait, what? Paternal father who?"

[g0ldenr0ad]

Yeahhhh...

[ragnarok20]

The word paternal, in context, is being used to denote bloodline, rather than necessarily the act of fatherhood, in which case 'paternal father' would be quite redundant. However, that is not the case.

[almightyhat]

But the term for that is 'biological father.' When it's determining bloodline, 'paternal' tends to be reserved for things like 'paternal grandfather' or 'paternal uncle,' contextually shorthand for 'on the father's side.' 'Paternal father,' therefore, makes no sense, as it would mean roughly 'his father on the father's side.'

Which is why my brain went CRUNCH CRASH THUD WHAT? when I read it.

[ragnarok20]

It still makes sense to me as we use the word 'paternity' which shares the same root in order to denote the biological aspects of fatherhood (i.e. a paternity test) which has absolutely nothing to do with the social aspects of fatherhood.

[almightyhat]

Ye-es, but it's a paternity test, not a paternal fatherhood test-- a test for fatherhood, not a test about fatherly fatherhood. Adding 'paternal' means, usually, 'of the father' or 'in a fatherly fashion.' At best, to the layperson, 'paternal father' parses as 'fatherly father,' which a biological father would not necessarily be. It's the same sort of redundancy that 'she was a petite little woman' or 'his balls were cojones of solid brass' would be.

That it made so many people go "bzuh?" coupled with the fact that the rant-article-crazyreport makes no mention anywhere of Barama being adopted beyond "his paternal father is Kenyan" and identifying two noticably different men as his father.

[ragnarok20]

Yes, but in context it's in relation to the biological aspects of his father as opposed to the social aspects, or rather the father who raised him.

How would you suggest he reword it to make that distinction clear?

[misscrystal]

Let me ask, do come up with these arguments because you're afraid your future grandkids won't believe you were on the internets?

I mean, are these arguments of yours a tl;dr version of tagging a wall with, 'I wuz here'?

Because, for the life of me, I can't figure out why someone in their right mind would argue the linguistic merits of a phrase like "paternal father".

[ragnarok20]

We don't need a reason for why we do things. We merely need a reason for why we don't.

[mazzie]

HAHA