I am drinking imported british ale in a bright yellow can

Yeah, they manage to get around that somehow. It definitely wasn't a secret that many of the athletes were dummies compared to the rest of the student bodies. I didn't know they were calling those sports scholarships by different names.. That's crazy.. Those kids are definitely having their educations funded in exchange for their talents, lolIvyLeague.

I guess, in a way, its an even bigger point for Harvard that they gave out all those grants and "need based" money to a bunch of dummies and are eating those costs now instead of riding the #1 spot to glory.

The Harvard Endowment is bigger than the GDP of more than half the countries in the world. They'll survive.

I'm assuming it didn't get that big by throwing away money on dummies with cancelled sports seasons, but I could be wrong

Maybe the lack of "athletic scholarships" and Harvard's huge endowment mean they deserve less credit for making the right decision. I dunno, you tell me

This spirit cooking bull**** is making me want to put my head through a door. How can we possibly live amongst people who are so ****ing stupid that they swallow this **** whole?

politics is thatway, hoss

no one should be expected to have to post in politics thread

For native speakers: Which of the following things would you say? Do you consider there to be any difference between them? Would your usage ever differ based on context?

1) I asked if... [it was okay to do whatever thing, she liked my shirt, etc].
2) I asked whether... [it was okay do whatever thing, she liked my shirt, etc].

Written or spoken?

Spoken go with if unless you're wearing a top hat

Written go with whether

edit: actually nvm

Prefer 2) especially if written, but I'd use 1) from time to time casually. And yes, I wear a top hat.

i say whether about 1% of the time, but i couldn't tell you why. it seems to be random.

"if" is a much easier and more comfortable word to say

I think in speech I use whether only if it's a comparison of two or more things, such as "I asked whether we should go to the baseball game or hockey game" and if if there is no comparison "I asked if we should go to the baseball game."

That might also be correct for written as well.

You don't need a whether, man, to know which way the wind blows.

did someone say my name

It blows for you?

What would Brian Boitano do?

Seems about right to me.

Right. When I was first asked the question, I said that I used the two forms interchangeably. But after I thought about it a little bit, I realized that there is probably a bit of a difference in how I use them, but it was very hard to pinpoint exactly what that difference might be. In your example, there is an implicit comparison because the other option is to not go to the game. I considered that I might be more likely to use the "if" formation in contexts where I'm expecting (or received in the past) an affirmative response, because in that context the alternative is of diminished relevance. And perhaps I'm more likely to say "whether" in contexts where I'm unsure about the response I will receive. In other words, the difference between "I asked if we should go to the game" and "I asked whether (or not) we should go to the game" might depend on whether I'm asking as a formality or if I'm genuinely unsure about the response I will get. I'm not sure if this is how I actually speak or if this is something I just made up which sounds nice. All that said, I think I usually say "if".

Apparently using "if" to mean "whether" is considered incorrect by some people because there are circumstances where it can create ambiguity. I hadn't been aware of that. Or given it any thought, for that matter.

This sort of thing is the origins of a bunch of fictitious grammar rules.

rules up with which I shall not put

I had a dream last night about the pub and kokiri.

Kokiri had a hobby/job where he would make flagpole ornaments. He made all different types. Balls, birds, even busts/heads.

He would post pictures of his work here in the pub.

It was such a weird random dream.

btw, ending a sentence in a preposition is fine in english. that rule comes from languages with cases where words decline if they are modified by a preposition.

ditto split infinitives.