The term "theft" and "steal" feels really odd to me when referring to ice or glaciers, or anything that is inanimate (?).
For example this sentence: "Usually, when glaciers come into contact they merge and continue flowing together. They have also been recorded stealing ice from one another" just left me more confused than before. What does it mean for glaciers to "steal ice" from one another? I understand "merge" but not "steal" in this context.
JCattheATM · 4h ago
Why is it giving you trouble, though? The idea is that the glacier is taking ice that 'doesn't belong' to it, putting the other glacier at some sort of disadvantage.
Anthropomorphization isn't exactly an uncommon writing tool.
DonHopkins · 14s ago
[delayed]
pryelluw · 4h ago
The fact that you don’t understand why he doesn’t understand makes me understand that in this whole conversation you’re the person with the greater misunderstanding.
JCattheATM · 4h ago
So witty!
Or, actually he understands just fine but chose to say he doesn't understand as a way to protest something he disagrees with. There's a chance you understood that and just wanted to try and be snarky though, isn't there? Such a valuable contribution!
johnisgood · 4h ago
I actually did not understand what it means for a glacier to steal something: take [what exactly] and [why]?
I do not disagree with something I have no idea about.
JCattheATM · 3h ago
How can you truly not understand from context? I mean, you guess merge, which indicates you do understand the point being made, but just strongly disagree with the language for some reason.
If you truly didn't understand, you wouldn't have been able to suggest your preferred language use of 'merge' instead.
johnisgood · 1h ago
Wait, I did not suggest anything, I quoted that sentence from the article which mentioned "merge". I just understood what "merge" meant, but not "steal".
JCattheATM · 1h ago
That's honestly just hard for me to believe. Is English a second language for you?
johnisgood · 1h ago
Yes, it is.
JCattheATM · 58m ago
I guess that explains it, thank you for responding, and sorry about the off-topic nonsense from the other user.
To maybe try and explain, as I said earlier anthropomorphization is a pretty common writing tool, which means to treat a non-person being or object as though it were a person in limited contexts. In this case the glacier is being anthropomorphized to help describe its behavior, otherwise, sure, the use of steal wouldn't really make sense.
Does that help you understand it at all?
pryelluw · 3h ago
Of all the hills in this little pale blue dot, the decision to pick this one as the location to commit seppuku over someone else’s interpretation of an analogy not only seems wasteful, it begets the question: why?
But this is the Internet. A modern marvel built for the purpose of inflating one’s ego at the cost of others. Me included, of course.
Now, do me. Please.
JCattheATM · 2h ago
> Of all the hills in this little pale blue dot, the decision to pick this one as the location to commit seppuku over someone else’s interpretation of an analogy
That's not at all what's happening. I just made an observation because I truly doubted how someone couldn't understand, especially when their text indicated they did.
What's weird is when people like you involve themselves for no reason at all though.
> Now, do me. Please.
How about you do us both a favor and just never reply to me again? You don't have that in you though, you're one of those need to have the last word types, so have it, so at least I can then be done with you :)
pryelluw · 1h ago
Ok. Only because I don’t want to ruin Dang’s Memorial Day weekend. Lord knows he doesn’t need yet another man-baby emailing him with complaints about some idiot on the internet making fun of him.
JCattheATM · 1h ago
You'd be the one here being dealt with since you're brazenly breaking the guidelines due to your not-exactly-veiled insults, themselves a result of you inserting yourself into a mild disagreement just so you could fight in the first place. Some people, eh?
Fantastic bait though. Well done :)
MegaButts · 2h ago
> What's weird is when people like you involve themselves for no reason at all though.
They made it so much better with a witty reply. I was just thinking this is one of my favorite HN threads I've seen in a long time. And now you've ended it with the HN trope of "I have no sense of humor but I still need to point out why I'm better than you."
Different strokes for different folks.
pryelluw · 1h ago
Thank you, that’s very kind.
JCattheATM · 2h ago
> Different strokes for different folks.
Indeed. Personally I thought the unwelcome interjection was asinine and combative with less than pure motivations, but glad you were able to enjoy it.
detourdog · 5h ago
I just think the author needs a better vocabulary.
bbarnett · 4h ago
I think it's just an extension of clickbait.
Theft! Stealing! More emotionally laden terms.
lupire · 4h ago
Don't anthropomorphize glaciers. They hate that.
dfxm12 · 4h ago
Another way to put it, as the article does, is transfer of ice to one glacier from another.
hangonhn · 4h ago
Yeah. I think that would have been much more appropriate but a lot less exciting.
Before I read the article I was thinking maybe some researchers were stealing ice from each other and was really excited to understand why.
madaxe_again · 4h ago
There’s plenty of this kinda stuff in the parlance - for instance, bees “rob” each other. Are they criminals? No, but the behaviour can be described as theft.
That is much closer to the concept of ordinary human theft.
This is clickbait.
bell-cot · 4h ago
IIR, "capture" is the geological term used when one river or stream starts taking water from another. (Generally due to erosion shifting their courses.)
No idea if there is a correct geological term for what's happening here - but "theft", "steal", and "piracy" get the clicks, so...
OutOfHere · 4h ago
This is another case of the theft of the word theft for something that wasn't a theft.
metalman · 4h ago
the title could just be an example of how a person ends up thinking after bieng on station in antartica......glaciation starts to become personal
For example this sentence: "Usually, when glaciers come into contact they merge and continue flowing together. They have also been recorded stealing ice from one another" just left me more confused than before. What does it mean for glaciers to "steal ice" from one another? I understand "merge" but not "steal" in this context.
Anthropomorphization isn't exactly an uncommon writing tool.
Or, actually he understands just fine but chose to say he doesn't understand as a way to protest something he disagrees with. There's a chance you understood that and just wanted to try and be snarky though, isn't there? Such a valuable contribution!
I do not disagree with something I have no idea about.
If you truly didn't understand, you wouldn't have been able to suggest your preferred language use of 'merge' instead.
To maybe try and explain, as I said earlier anthropomorphization is a pretty common writing tool, which means to treat a non-person being or object as though it were a person in limited contexts. In this case the glacier is being anthropomorphized to help describe its behavior, otherwise, sure, the use of steal wouldn't really make sense.
Does that help you understand it at all?
But this is the Internet. A modern marvel built for the purpose of inflating one’s ego at the cost of others. Me included, of course.
Now, do me. Please.
That's not at all what's happening. I just made an observation because I truly doubted how someone couldn't understand, especially when their text indicated they did.
What's weird is when people like you involve themselves for no reason at all though.
> Now, do me. Please.
How about you do us both a favor and just never reply to me again? You don't have that in you though, you're one of those need to have the last word types, so have it, so at least I can then be done with you :)
Fantastic bait though. Well done :)
They made it so much better with a witty reply. I was just thinking this is one of my favorite HN threads I've seen in a long time. And now you've ended it with the HN trope of "I have no sense of humor but I still need to point out why I'm better than you."
Different strokes for different folks.
Indeed. Personally I thought the unwelcome interjection was asinine and combative with less than pure motivations, but glad you were able to enjoy it.
Theft! Stealing! More emotionally laden terms.
Before I read the article I was thinking maybe some researchers were stealing ice from each other and was really excited to understand why.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbing
This is clickbait.
No idea if there is a correct geological term for what's happening here - but "theft", "steal", and "piracy" get the clicks, so...