Recent comments in /f/todayilearned

HappyLittleRadishes t1_japljj7 wrote

Reply to comment by SCWarriors44 in TIL "to pull oneself up by one's bootstraps" is an example of an impossible task. The idiom dates at least to 1834, from the Workingman's Advocate: "It is conjectured that Mr. Murphee will now be enabled to hand himself over the Cumberland river or a barn yard fence by the straps of his boots. by meat-juice

> pick yourself up

My. Guy.

It's like you missed the entire point of this thread.

This is why people think conservatives are dim.

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GrowFreeFood t1_japhy0c wrote

Reply to comment by SCWarriors44 in TIL "to pull oneself up by one's bootstraps" is an example of an impossible task. The idiom dates at least to 1834, from the Workingman's Advocate: "It is conjectured that Mr. Murphee will now be enabled to hand himself over the Cumberland river or a barn yard fence by the straps of his boots. by meat-juice

Except there are people who unfairly hoard all the resources just for the joy of watching other fight for scraps. Its literally sadistic

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byllz t1_jape02i wrote

Reply to comment by AtebYngNghymraeg in TIL "to pull oneself up by one's bootstraps" is an example of an impossible task. The idiom dates at least to 1834, from the Workingman's Advocate: "It is conjectured that Mr. Murphee will now be enabled to hand himself over the Cumberland river or a barn yard fence by the straps of his boots. by meat-juice

And it makes sense. The operating system is a program. For it to run, like any program, it needs to be read from disk, placed into memory, and then executed. "What is the problem?" You may ask. "Computers run programs all the time." The problem is that the procedure to read the disk, load a program into memory, and execute it is part of the operating system. If the operating system isn't running yet, how is it going to get the operating system running? It seems as impossible as pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.

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sagevallant t1_japbw5o wrote

Reply to comment by WaterChi in TIL "to pull oneself up by one's bootstraps" is an example of an impossible task. The idiom dates at least to 1834, from the Workingman's Advocate: "It is conjectured that Mr. Murphee will now be enabled to hand himself over the Cumberland river or a barn yard fence by the straps of his boots. by meat-juice

Nah, pretty sure most of the people who say it have no idea what it actually means.

4

Singaya t1_japap9t wrote

Reply to comment by bolanrox in TIL the "Nokia Tune" was originally composed in 1902 by Spanish guitarist and composer Francisco Tárrega, part of a piece called "Gran Vals" and was the first identifiable mobile phone ring tone by mantolwen

No reason to get all conspiracy-theory here, in those days the Nokia ringtone was everywhere. Dude probably did that a million times before, this time it was during a performance. So what.

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kingsumo_1 t1_jap2zl3 wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in TIL "to pull oneself up by one's bootstraps" is an example of an impossible task. The idiom dates at least to 1834, from the Workingman's Advocate: "It is conjectured that Mr. Murphee will now be enabled to hand himself over the Cumberland river or a barn yard fence by the straps of his boots. by meat-juice

That's the dark humor in it. Republican's love to use it as an excuse to not help people in need. But at the end of the day it is an impossible task, and one they almost certainly were never in a situation that would require it. Or, for those that were poor growing up, relied on the same social safety nets that they want to gut.

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meat-juice OP t1_jaowz9o wrote

Reply to comment by SCWarriors44 in TIL "to pull oneself up by one's bootstraps" is an example of an impossible task. The idiom dates at least to 1834, from the Workingman's Advocate: "It is conjectured that Mr. Murphee will now be enabled to hand himself over the Cumberland river or a barn yard fence by the straps of his boots. by meat-juice

So getting sick and going bankrupt is your own fault? Being laid off because your management made poor decisions is your own fault? It's the fault of those who experience generational racial barriers? Inflation is your own fault? Greedy landlords are your own fault? I could keep typing for a while...

We all benefit from society's structure... the idea of a self-made person is a myth.

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Brock_Way t1_jaov45d wrote

Reply to TIL "to pull oneself up by one's bootstraps" is an example of an impossible task. The idiom dates at least to 1834, from the Workingman's Advocate: "It is conjectured that Mr. Murphee will now be enabled to hand himself over the Cumberland river or a barn yard fence by the straps of his boots. by meat-juice

Even earlier than that the expression was used to indicate effort necessary to get something done. It was equivalent to today's expression "put your work boots on."

The meaning of the phrase has been changed by those who want the things done for them so they wouldn't have to put their work boots on, and who used the excuse that the task was impossible from the start to absolve them from not even bothering to try.

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SCWarriors44 t1_jaoutdo wrote

Reply to comment by WaterChi in TIL "to pull oneself up by one's bootstraps" is an example of an impossible task. The idiom dates at least to 1834, from the Workingman's Advocate: "It is conjectured that Mr. Murphee will now be enabled to hand himself over the Cumberland river or a barn yard fence by the straps of his boots. by meat-juice

How is it cruel when it’s your responsibility to take care of yourself, provide for yourself, and excel your own career, as well as not rely on others to help you? If you are in a shitty situation it is nobody’s fault but your own so why expect or rely on others to get you out of it? Pick yourself up and do better. It’s not cruel. It’s powerful, self motivating, and shows self responsibility and courage. It’s honest.

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