Ripley's Believe It or Not by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for November 03, 2022

For film rights, you actually have to sell them for Some amount of money, rather than just giving them away, to avoid legal complications.

Stephen King famously “sells” a lot of his stories’ film rights to students for just a dollar, which has helped boost the careers of a lot of aspiring filmmakers, including Frank Darabont (who went on to make several very popular King adaptations).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_Baby

flammable, inflamable, nonfalamable…. i need chocolate!

Irregardless and regardless mean the same thing.

Slightly two months later, how are the citizens of Mexico City doing since that quake?

And eventually both of those words may apply to the whole Earth!

I’ve always used inflammable in the not flammable sense.

To comply with UK Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) regulations…I’ve always understood that flammable substances can be set on fire (with a source of ignition)… while inflammable substances can catch fire by themselves (without needing a source of ignition)… The ADR warning signs… on road vehicles is very specific… and yes I am ADR qualified…

Is this simply another vocabulary conflict between English and American?

My patient was bought for a dollar back when I was working for a company.

They both mean mti ni mkavu usivute sigara karibu in Swahili.

Take care, may failed mercenary Beanie “They Laugh At Me Now But Wait ‘Til I Get My Super Soaker Three Thousand Then We’ll See Who Laughs Last” Schwartzenegord be with you, and gesundheit.

Flammable and inflammable are an example of a CONTRONYM. A contronym, often referred to as auto-antonym, is a word that evokes contradictory or reverse meanings depending on the context. Specifically, a contronym is a word with a homonym (another word with the same spelling but different meaning) that is also an antonym (a word with the opposite meaning). Here are some examples.

1. Apology: A statement of contrition for an action, or a defense of one 2. Aught: All, or nothing 3. Bill: A payment, or an invoice for payment4. Bolt: To secure, or to flee 5. Bound: Heading to a destination, or restrained from movement6. Buckle: To connect, or to break or collapse 7. Cleave: To adhere, or to separate 8. Clip: To fasten, or detach 9. Consult: To offer advice, or to obtain it10. Continue: To keep doing an action, or to suspend an action.

Inflammable means flammable? What a country…

Mexico is going to have to move the Day of the Dead celebrations back 43 days.

RED SKELTON JOKE

Two seagulls,Gertrude and Heathcliff.

They’re flying over a crowded beach in the summertimeand one of them comments on the size of the crowd.

The other bird says—-“Yeah,takes all the sport out of it,doesn’t it?”

Terminator jokes mostly involve “Ex-terminator” or the punch line “I’ll be Bach”. Here’s one that doesn’t.

A man visits his doctor for an exam.

“Well, Mr.Brown.” Says the doctor. "I have just discovered that you have one “marble” made of wood and another made of steel."

“But that’s impossible.” Says Mr.Brown. “I’ve never had any operations and apart from that I have perfectly healthy children.”

“How old are your children?”

“Well, Pinocchio is 6 and Terminator is 7.”

If I was living in Mexico, I’d plan my “out of the country” vacation each year on Sept. 19.

Earthquake jokes are also pretty simple. This one’s a cut above the rest.

Two elderly men met in a town in Florida, and began to talk to each other. It turned out both of them were from Oregon, and had owned small factories, and had now retired and moved to Florida.

“I had a factory that produced high-end furniture,” said the first man. "Was successful for many years, made lots of money. But now the market is changing, cheap imported furniture is taking over.

My company ran at a loss for a couple of years, and I didn’t know what to do, and then one night there was a fire, and the whole darn factory burned down. I could have built a new factory with the insurance money, but you know, I figured I was old enough that it was time to retire. So I just took the insurance money, and here I am."

“Wow,” said the second man. “That’s so similar to my story. I had a factory that built speedboats. Lots of success for many years, made lots of money. But speedboat technology keeps changing faster and faster, and I wasn’t keeping up, and I started to lose money. Then one day there was an earthquake, and the factory building collapsed! Luckily I was insured, just like you, and I decided to retire, ‘take the money and run’, and now here I am.”

The first man gazed wide-eyed at the second man for several seconds.

Then, in a low voice, he asked, “How do you arrange an earthquake?”

Mexico might as well designate September 19 as National Earthquake Day. Just think of the commercial tie-ins: Seismic Shakes, Lava Cones…

Specially and Especially

I once asked the internet if Baby Oil was flammable – it replied “No, but it is combustible, so keep your oiled babies away from an open flame”

Yeah Cameron made a deal to be director, so he sold the rights—but not all the rights. He makes money from every version. I met him once, for a meeting relating to a book he was looking at, after Terminator 2. Afterward I ran into his secretary and she told me "Jim said, next meeting is John Shirley? Did I steal anything from him?” (He was sued a few times for borrowing ideas and story basics. Eg by Harlan Ellison—the story from Avatar seems to be borrowed from a Poul Anderson story) I don’t remember anything else about the meeting so it couldn’t have been much of a much.

Then there’s OPTIONING a book or script or story. They’re not actually buying the rights, only sort of leasing-to-buy them. An option can be for anything from 1 dollar on up. I’ve had a book optioned for $35,000 dollars; another for $5000. The option gives them the exclusive right to try to sell the thing to a studio or production company, or otherwise set it up as a movie, for a limited period, often two years. If they do set it up they have to give you substantially more money and, perhaps, percentage of gross, if you’re lucky. Option contracts vary…

Actually, the proper word is “inflammable”. It means “able to be inflamed” (can be burned). The word got transmogrified over the years, because many people thought it meant “not able to be burned”, so to make it more clear, people started using “flammable”. Too bad people can’t learn the proper meaning of a word and use it the way it was intended. (My grandfather, who was an English teacher, set me straight on this.)

I’m from Mexico City and was in Vancouver on September 19th. People there couldn’t believe it had happened for the third time. And, remember, there is no shortage of junkies in that city!