Leverage

This words irks most people I know. Indeed, everyone will know that the title means I'm going to talk about the *word "leverage", instead of thinking I might have leverage on something.

First we had 'lever', a verb and noun. And then 'leverage', refering the the act of levering. And then 'leverage', the verb. When you have leverage, you're magnifying the effect of something, when used literally, your strength becoming more strength (at a cost of distance) to move something.

But it occurs to me, I think the verbs are always used

* To lever something you want to move
* To leverage something you have

Isn't it so? I lever this door open. I leverage my minute-but-real trade advantage.

So the new verb *does* have a niche outside of finance. Of course, *most* of the time it's used when 'use' would be just as well, since there isn't a clear trade off, you just mean "use most effectively", but in theory, it should have a specific meaning not covered by any other word.

Ruining Simon's Poll

simont asked what we consider the normal order of suits. I had a nagging feeling that it had something to do with tarot, which Piers Anthony has exposed me to too much, and finally tracked down the source of the reading.

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_308.html

The Straight Dope is normally but not always reliable, stating clearly what's fact and what's opinion. I'm disturbed here because he doesn't give any sources, but fwiw, he says that the suits come from the french, where each was considered to represent a class:

Clubs - peasants
Diamonds - merchants
Hearts/Cups - clergy
Spades/Swords - nobility

The order isn't specified, but it seems plausible to me that that would be the right order.

Does anyone want to look it up and see (i) if this source is correct and (ii) if the order comes from there as well? I can't be bothered right now.

ETA: It's apparently different to the Tarot order: http://simont.livejournal.com/142192.html?thread=847728#t847728

PS. What tag should this come under?

This is your film on democratic review

I was reading the imdb reviews for recent films, and was amused at the consensusity.

Date Movie

* This movie is one of the most horrible experiences of my life.
* Its true. Everything you've read is true. This really, really, really is the worst parody ever.
* This movie was so bad that ... that I couldn't come up with the vocabulary to describe how I felt about it.
* IT IS NOT FUNNY.
* This movie is one of the most horrible experiences of my life.
* If I could vote it 0, believe me I would. Watching paint dry would be a more cultural experience.
* They actually re-created scenes from existing comedy movies & virtually did them note for note. Can somebody explain the word parody to the film makers???
* Random scenes pop up, trying to get a laugh by basically reenacting the scene, not exaggerating it or making fun of it.
* This has got to be one of the worst parody movies ever. No, wait - scratch that. This is one of the worst movies ever.
* I didn't think it would be that bad. I'd say that's the worst parody I've ever seen.
* This movie is not just bad, awful, disgusting (pick your favourite) but is nasty and cruel. Did I mention "not funny"?

Whoah. I wasn't going to quote so much, but feel the vitriol? Did someone bribe people to review it negatively? Literally literally every review on the first page says something like this. There about three sentences of mitigation in the entire thing, with such praise as might be worth watching if you've never seen a parody movie (most authors disagreed) and 2% of the movie had some moments that had some redeeming features.

I normally make a fetish out finding the good in works everyone else hates, but I might not bother.

Of course, I didn't see page two. Maybe a gang of friends slated it for a laugh. Well, they did a good job, there's true art in a completely merciless tearing apart.

Lucky Number Slevin and Inside Man

Here, every review for both said "I was expecting a standard crime caper, but the plot was intricate if initially confusing, the dialog snappy and funny without sapping the tension, the acting good, the action continuous and sometimes graphicly violent. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it turned out really well."

Also, they were both compared to The Sting, one of the most beautiful movies ever, and if you've ever heard me exclaim "Those aren't Paul Newman's hands shuffling!" you'd be less puzzled if you'd seen it.

I think at least one of these should be watched.