Are the posted questions getting worse?

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Are the posted questions getting worse?

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Chad Crawford SSChampion Points: 11610 More actions · Answer 1

Yikes. I often tell people, "I only know one language, but I'm not fluent". Now I have even more reason to do so.

Chad

Sean Lange SSC Guru Points: 286590 More actions · Answer 2

Chad Crawford (6/25/2013)
Yikes. I often tell people, "I only know one language, but I'm not fluent". Now I have even more reason to do so.
Chad

No kidding. One light hearted English-centric joke and look what I started. :Whistling:

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Read the article at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/ for best practices on asking questions.

Need to split a string? Try Jeff Modens splitter http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Tally+Table/72993/.

Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 1 – Converting Rows to Columns - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/T-SQL/63681/
Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 2 - Dynamic Cross Tabs - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Crosstab/65048/
Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 1) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69953/
Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 2) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69954/

Gail Shaw SSC Guru Points: 1004504 More actions · Answer 3

Chad Crawford (6/25/2013)
Yikes. I often tell people, "I only know one language, but I'm not fluent". Now I have even more reason to do so.

My ability with Zulu and Sotho is limited to polite greetings and farewells. I can't speak either of them.

Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

We walk in the dark places no others will enter
We stand on the bridge and no one may pass

TomThomson SSC Guru Points: 104773 More actions · Answer 4

GilaMonster (6/25/2013)
No idea about Swahili, since it's not native to my neck of the world, but Zulu is correctly written as isiZulu when writing in the language, not Isizulu. It's similar for most proper nouns in that language. Xhosa's the same.
For example
Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika
(Xhosa)
Thina, bantu baseNingizimu Afrika
(Zulu)
Sotho on the other hand has the first letter capitalised, I've never seen otherwise.

Thanks Gail. That's useful to know. Obviously I've been relying on unreliable sources as far as Zulu and Xhosaare concerned. I guess material that generalises about Bantu languages is about as reliable as material that generalises about Romance or Germanic, ie not terribly reliable when it talks about an individual language of which the author has no first hand knowledge, so I feel something of an idiot having fallen into the trap of believing what I read depite knowing that some of it would be arbitrary generalisation. I guess I was fooled by not spotting any errors in it (if I had seen errors even 2% as dense as in Bill Bryson's "Mother Tongue", for example, I would have assumed it was totally untrustworthy; but that would have required me to know enough to notice the errors, which on Bantu languages I certainly don't). Apologies for posting incorrect stuff that I hadn't properly checked. But I don't think my errors there detract from the point that the English for isiZulu is Zulu, and similarly for isiXhosa.

Sotho and Tswana I have first hand experience of (don't speak or read or write them, but have been in enough contact with them in the past to know some of the rules of writing) and they definitely don't capitalise the root instead of the prefix. For Swahili I have forgotten pretty much all I once knew (that was never very much anyway, so no real loss, and it was about 45 years ago that I last had any contact with the language) so I relied on the swahili wikipedia article on the language which contains many phrases with the word Kiswahili in them, e.g. "kuna gazeti moja tu la Kiswahili;", which clearly have capitalisation the same as the Sotho/Tswana languages (or dialects - I don't want to get into the argument about whether the various Sothos and Tswana are separate languages unless "SA and Botswana each have an army" is a good enough line to end the argument :hehe:).

Tom

TomThomson SSC Guru Points: 104773 More actions · Answer 5

Chad Crawford (6/25/2013)
Yikes. I often tell people, "I only know one language, but I'm not fluent". Now I have even more reason to do so.
Chad

Me too, having seen Gail's message.

Tom

Fal Hall of Fame Points: 3143 More actions · Answer 6

GilaMonster (6/24/2013)
You shrunk a database? How could you???

I put mine in the oven.

And sometimes I accidentally do one when I put it through the wash on a cold cycle. 😎

Fal.

Sioban Krzywicki One Orange Chip Points: 27770 More actions · Answer 7

Fal (6/25/2013)
GilaMonster (6/24/2013)
You shrunk a database? How could you???
I put mine in the oven.
And sometimes I accidentally do one when I put it through the wash on a cold cycle. 😎
Fal.

So you have a shrinky-dinks database?

Or am I the only one that remembers shrinky-dinks?

--------------------------------------
When you encounter a problem, if the solution isn't readily evident go back to the start and check your assumptions.
--------------------------------------
It’s unpleasantly like being drunk.
What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams

Sean Lange SSC Guru Points: 286590 More actions · Answer 8

Stefan Krzywicki (6/26/2013)
Fal (6/25/2013)
GilaMonster (6/24/2013)
You shrunk a database? How could you???
I put mine in the oven.
And sometimes I accidentally do one when I put it through the wash on a cold cycle. 😎
Fal.
So you have a shrinky-dinks database?
Or am I the only one that remembers shrinky-dinks?

Not the only one. In fact, we got some for the kids at Christmas last year.

--edit--

Here is some on amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_6?url=search-alias%3Dtoys-and-games&field-keywords=shrinky%20dinks&sprefix=shrink%2Caps%2C223

_______________________________________________________________

Need help? Help us help you.

Read the article at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/ for best practices on asking questions.

Need to split a string? Try Jeff Modens splitter http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Tally+Table/72993/.

Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 1 – Converting Rows to Columns - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/T-SQL/63681/
Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 2 - Dynamic Cross Tabs - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Crosstab/65048/
Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 1) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69953/
Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 2) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69954/

Sioban Krzywicki One Orange Chip Points: 27770 More actions · Answer 9

Sean Lange (6/26/2013)
Stefan Krzywicki (6/26/2013)
Fal (6/25/2013)
GilaMonster (6/24/2013)
You shrunk a database? How could you???
I put mine in the oven.
And sometimes I accidentally do one when I put it through the wash on a cold cycle. 😎
Fal.
So you have a shrinky-dinks database?
Or am I the only one that remembers shrinky-dinks?
Not the only one. In fact, we got some for the kids at Christmas last year.
--edit--
Here is some on amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_6?url=search-alias%3Dtoys-and-games&field-keywords=shrinky%20dinks&sprefix=shrink%2Caps%2C223

Wow! I had no idea they were still around.

--------------------------------------
When you encounter a problem, if the solution isn't readily evident go back to the start and check your assumptions.
--------------------------------------
It’s unpleasantly like being drunk.
What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams

jasona.work SSC Guru Points: 50117 More actions · Answer 10

Stefan Krzywicki (6/26/2013)
Fal (6/25/2013)
GilaMonster (6/24/2013)
You shrunk a database? How could you???
I put mine in the oven.
And sometimes I accidentally do one when I put it through the wash on a cold cycle. 😎
Fal.
So you have a shrinky-dinks database?
Or am I the only one that remembers shrinky-dinks?

Nope, I always wanted Shrinky-Dinks, but the folks never got them for us kids for X-Mas or the like...

So now I work on re-living my childhood, mostly through purchasing expensive LEGO sets that I never would've gotten as a kid (seriously looking at getting the Super Star Destroyer kit in a couple weeks):cool:

Gail Shaw SSC Guru Points: 1004504 More actions · Answer 11

Apologies if any arrogance is showing through this morning.

Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

We walk in the dark places no others will enter
We stand on the bridge and no one may pass

ChrisM@Work SSC Guru Points: 186127 More actions · Answer 12

GilaMonster (6/27/2013)
Apologies if any arrogance is showing through this morning.

Can't see any arrogance showing through from here, commendable considering the unruliness of the kids in your classroom today.

^{“Write the query the simplest way. If through testing it becomes clear that the performance is inadequate, consider alternative query forms.” - Gail Shaw}

For fast, accurate and documented assistance in answering your questions, please read this article.
Understanding and using APPLY, (I) and (II) Paul White
Hidden RBAR: Triangular Joins / The "Numbers" or "Tally" Table: What it is and how it replaces a loop Jeff Moden

Stuart Davies SSCoach Points: 19505 More actions · Answer 13

HowardW (6/25/2013)
Stefan Krzywicki (6/25/2013)
Strange as it may seem in this day and age of cheap HD space, there are still places that refuse to provide enough space for their data forcing desperate people to use DBCC SHRINKFILE
Yes, our SAN admins still look at me like I'm mad when I ask for 100GB of extra storage on their £200k+ SAN. Attitudes to data seem to be stuck in the past and I think a lot of people are getting caught out by the recent explosion in data.
I use exponential curves to forecast disk usage on data warehouses now as there's no business appetite to (ever) archive data and new data sources pop up all the time. I'd rather have one argument about why we need to buy and reserve 30TB of database storage in the next 3 years than a hundred about the odd 100GB here and there.
Btw, was great to meet Grant and Steve last Friday. I must make an effort to attend more events! Unfortunately, there was problem at work and I had to bail before lunch, so missed out on seeing Gail (and a free beer!).

Agree with you on both points Howard - you'd think the SAN admins had to pay for the extra space themselves.

Great day last Friday - many thanks to all concerned.

-------------------------------Posting Data Etiquette - Jeff Moden [/url]Smart way to ask a question
There are naive questions, tedious questions, ill-phrased questions, questions put after inadequate self-criticism. But every question is a cry to understand (the world). There is no such thing as a dumb question. ― Carl Sagan
I would never join a club that would allow me as a member - Groucho Marx

rodjkidd SSCoach Points: 15915 More actions · Answer 14

Back in the office today after a week and half road trip - SQL Skills, SQL Saturday Dublin and 3 days of the UK SQL Relay...

450 emails and a two hour meeting, I'm finally caught up! And read the last 5 pages of the Thread (10 per page format - just for those reading 50 a page!) So I can do some work tomorrow! Yippee!

Rodders...

rodjkidd SSCoach Points: 15915 More actions · Answer 15

Jeff Moden (6/24/2013)
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (6/24/2013)
Just so the rest of you can feel jealous, I got a hug from Gail and a handshake from Rodney last week 🙂
I can't top that recently but I still have the piece of rebar that Rodney presented to me back in 2011.

Steve - you only got a handshake because of the desk you were sitting behind! 😀

Hope SQL in The City went well. I hear the last seassion with Gail, Grant and yourself was the highlight.

Jeff you sure it was me? I remember having to looking up what one was as it was slightly lost in translation. Actually you came up in conversation at the Southampton Relay event. One of the speakers mentioned Numbers table, and pointed a couple of folks to your article here on SSC!

Cheers,

Rodders...