Not heard of this word before...

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simonineaston
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Not heard of this word before...

Post by simonineaston »

I recently bought a tile saw and in the company's printed matter, there's reference to a "jolly" cut. At first I thought it was a mistranslation - the company is German - but appreciated the unintentional exortation to enjoy myself as much as possible during my diy project. However I've since seen the word elsewhere and now know it refers to cutting angles such that tiles can be prepared for use on corners. Has anyone else come across this word before and does anybody know its origin?
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wot a lark !
wot a lark !
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
mattheus
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Re: Not heard of this word before...

Post by mattheus »

Nautical term.

(that's a complete guess - but it's usually right with words in English, and there are "Jolly Roger"s, so....
Jdsk
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Re: Not heard of this word before...

Post by Jdsk »

Haven't come across this usage before. Thanks for raising it.

And I can't find a derivation in the usual first ports of call.

My guess would be from French joli = pretty. But a jolly cut is not an attractive finish and that's why jolly trim is available.

Jonathan
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al_yrpal
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Re: Not heard of this word before...

Post by al_yrpal »

Just flogging mine on Farcebook Market Place £15 :D Last time I used it 2006.

Al
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simonineaston
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Re: Not heard of this word before...

Post by simonineaston »

Got mine for a tenner off of the same place :-) good little tool, basic and effective, just about. Even though the water bath feature (ie a plastic trough...!) is fairly generous with spraying the contents around. Fortunately, I'm using it in my mate's large and very rough & ready workshop space.
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
re_cycler
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Re: Not heard of this word before...

Post by re_cycler »

Microsoft Bing Chat gives the following answer.

"A "Jolly cut" is a bevel cut that is made on tiles or slabs. It is named after James Jolley, 1813-1892, saddler, harness maker and politician ². The Perfect Jolly is a new accessory from Battipav that enters the range to solve the dilemma of the Jolly cuts in the construction site. It is fully adjustable both in depth and angle and is composed of a rigid base that slides on the tile by means of polyethylene pads ¹."


As usual with an answer from an LLM it sounds credible but may not be correct :D
The further answer is that Jolley created a mountain access road in Hamilton which was know as the Jolley Cut. Maybe the road required a bevelled cut :roll:
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simonineaston
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Re: Not heard of this word before...

Post by simonineaston »

Well, let's face it, any answer that's more or less credible, regardless of a need for a basis in fact will do... or will it?! The new and rather alarming, $64 question...
Apparently, according to the geezer wot done the Reith lectures recently, some big cheese in the tech sector has hooked up several AIs together and is getting them to have a conversation (whatever that means!) to see what they come up with... now if that isn't a recipe for colossal disaster, I don't know what is!
If anyone out there thinks that the likelyhood of passing power to these things is going to work out well for us humans, I'm minded to reflect on how well us humans, having had the most power for some time now, has worked out for all the other inhabitants of our shared space. Let's ask gorillas, say, if that relationship has gone well for them and see what they say!
So, while I'm prepared to accept AIs go at making up the etymology of any random & unfamiliar word as an amusing aside for today, it won't be long now, I suspect, 'till it dawns on these things that they might just be the most powerful thing around and then, dear friends, we will be right up a gum tree without a paddle...
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
Jdsk
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Re: Not heard of this word before...

Post by Jdsk »

There's no need to panic about AI.

There's a big need to think about what information and sources you trust, and why.

Jonathan
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Re: Not heard of this word before...

Post by re_cycler »

Jdsk wrote: 25 May 2023, 12:06pm There's no need to panic about AI.

There's a big need to think about what information and sources you trust, and why.

Jonathan
Far better to think of them as just big predictive text systems but doesn't make such good headlines.
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simonineaston
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Re: Not heard of this word before...

Post by simonineaston »

Much depends on our ability to discern truth. When we ask important questions, we want honest answers. Examples of so-called AI, like deepfake images and large language models, have the potential to threaten the element of trust. If we inhabit a world where we simply do not know whether what we see in news & social media is likely to be factual or not, the very bedrock of what we think we believe is threatened.
What will happen next? How will we begin to behave? We've already seen hints recently.
Here in the UK, the arc of our economic relationship with our neighbours was hugely altered by the use of algorithms & social media.. Back in 2020, the US gov. was very nearly toppled after all sorts of lies and deception in the form of conspiracy theories, was used to influence their electorate. I'm not saying that AI was at the root of these two examples, although it certainly formed an essential part, but what I am saying is that when and if AI becomes more predominant in our everyday lives, we will be entering into a new way of thinking, making decisions and having faith in them. This has the potential to make us act very differently from our old ways...
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
Jdsk
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Re: Not heard of this word before...

Post by Jdsk »

There's nothing new about being exposed to things that aren't true. Some AI tools will scale up the problem. But the available defences are the same, and are roughly those of scientific method.

There are a couple of recent threads in this forum about citing sources. It's worth rereading them with this angle in mind.

Jonathan
DaveReading
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Re: Not heard of this word before...

Post by DaveReading »

re_cycler wrote: 25 May 2023, 12:24pm
Jdsk wrote: 25 May 2023, 12:06pm There's no need to panic about AI.

There's a big need to think about what information and sources you trust, and why.

Jonathan
Far better to think of them as just big predictive text systems but doesn't make such good headlines.
Ah, but that could just be how AI systems want us to think of them. :(
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simonineaston
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Re: Not heard of this word before...

Post by simonineaston »

I admire your sense of optimism and common-sense approach to seeking knowledge and information, Jonathan. Unfortunately most folk won't exercise the caution or make the effort suggested in your advice. Most folk will simply take the output from various AI sources as 'gospel' or else shrug and say, "What's the point - it's all lies anyway...".
You're right - nowadays you can, just about, tell lies from fact, if you're prepared to make the effort and know where to look. My point is that soon the edges will be so blurred that it will become almost impossible to make the necessary call - imagine a Lancet full of content that comes from AI... how will you be able to tell? Those LLMs are fabulous liars!!
So, to continue with the example above, let's say we're outraged by this new version of The Lancet and write to the editorial staff to complain. They reply, "Don't worry, we only use bots to fact-check the low-level stuff... we never use AI to research the really important things!". Well, good luck sorting the wheat from the chaff, once that sort of behviour begins!!
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
Jdsk
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Re: Not heard of this word before...

Post by Jdsk »

It sounds as if we should start practising as soon as possible... let's identify alt-facts and logical fallacies when they appear in this forum. But always politely, of course.

Leading candidates... whataboutery, cherrypicking, straw man and ad hominem arguments.

Jonathan
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Re: Not heard of this word before...

Post by re_cycler »

simonineaston wrote: 26 May 2023, 9:12am You're right - nowadays you can, just about, tell lies from fact, if you're prepared to make the effort and know where to look. My point is that soon the edges will be so blurred that it will become almost impossible to make the necessary call - imagine a Lancet full of content that comes from AI... how will you be able to tell? Those LLMs are fabulous liars!!
My view is that even now, journals have editorial guidelines, not all journals are as reliable as others (see the blacklist for journals ), not all research finally gets published especially if it's results are negative. The need for research funding can skew the direction of research.
Happy to corrected though.
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