[ironlung]

My labmate loves to listen to sappy music. Pisses me off but its better than just silence. By silence I mean the monotonous noises of centrifuges, sonicators and waterbaths. Anyway today the song 'good is good' by Sheryl Crow was on. I was reminded of the song because of pscates katie couric thread. That reminded me that pscates loves sheryl crow, another 'hot' middle-aged woman. So in the song she sings

"And everytime you hear the rolling thunder
You turn around before the lightening strikes"
http://www.lyricstop.com/g/goodisgood-sherylcrow.html

I was laughing when I first heard it. Then thought maybe I was wrong. She could NOT have gotten that wrong. So obviously I checked the lyrics and yes I had heard it right.. sheryl crow lacks basic education. If you can't find whats wrong with that verse, PM me and I will point it out for you.

[billybobsky]

Um, perhaps it was intentional?

[Mac+]

Maybe the song is about a dim-witted lover?

[Brave Ulysses]

While it is wrong technically.... In experience I usually notice thunder first as you can hear it from the distance but not always see the lightning until it gets closer.

So it makes sense to me.

And come on, you are gonna criticize an actual singerwriter who has talent for a single lyric when the rest of radio is filled with absolute shit?

[Luca]

Originally Posted by Brave Ulysses While it is wrong technically.... In experience I usually notice thunder first as you can hear it from the distance but not always see the lightning until it gets closer.

Yeah, and when was the last time anyone experienced a situation in which there was just ONE lightning strike? Besides, she says "rolling thunder," not "crack of thunder." That implies that the thunder is more or less continuous. And like you said, Brave Ulysses, people generally notice thunder before lightning.

[ironlung]

Perhaps Brave Ulysses but its one of the first thing everyone learns about nature... its as obvious as 2+2=4 is. I usually don't hold bad songwriters/singers in high regard... its when a good one makes such a mistake that it matters... wouldn't you agree?

[torifile]

I also think it's intentional. I don't know the context of the song, but it's obviously just a metaphor for acting impulsively. Lighten up.

[Mac+]

wait a tick ... did you hear that?

[Mac+]

[Luca]

Well hey, at least she didn't misspell "lightning."

In fact, ironlung, I found six apostrophe errors in your two posts, eight capitalization errors, at least one run-on sentence, and more comma errors than I can count.

[ironlung]

Originally Posted by Luca Well hey, at least she didn't misspell "lightning."

Actually thanks for pointing that out. I missed that. I copied the lyrics from another site. Edited my post to reflect that.

[Luca]

Heh, given the other grammatical errors in your posts, I assumed that you had just retyped the lyrics yourself. I should have remembered that most lyrics sites are run by people who are much worse than average with that sort of thing.

[ironlung]

So your point is I have no right to criticize sheryl crow for her science because I am not good at a language which is not my mother tongue? I guess to me the comparison would only be fair if she was not singing incorrectly about such a widely known fact. Granted english is widely spoken and written, but correct english is not.

So basically I can not argue a point, in class for instance, if I was not being grammatically correct? The use of language, spellings, grammar etc are arbitrary, while facts are just facts.

In anycase, I guess I was wrong. Most likely it was intentional.

[Luca]

Hey, sorry man, I didn't know you weren't a native English speaker. You do have Illinois listed as your location. Besides, these are just minor errors that a lot of people make. Your grammar isn't perfect, but it's still above average.

I was just joking. You were criticizing a trivial aspect of Sheryl Crow's lyrics, so I criticized a trivial aspect of your post. Don't lose it, I wasn't trying to offend you.

[ironlung]

I am studying in Illinois. I'll be here for quite a while so hopefully I can improve over the years.

I was not offended at all. I have always been analytical by nature, so I like to try to understand the reasoning behind things. Thats why I was curious to your reasoning.. and I guess to an extent curious to why Sheryl Crow used those lyrics.

[Wrao]

Art and Science never did get along all that well.

[AWR]

Originally Posted by Mac+

Damn!! I hope that didn't hit somebody on a bike or something! (Nice pic)

[psmith2.0]

Sheryl gets a pass. She can say whatever she wants.

She also needs some Paul lovin', but that's a whole other thread. I don't want to mess the science angle up here.

I can't ride a bike really fast or far, but since when has that been a major requirement?

[murbot]

At least she didn't say it was rolling thunder when all you need is sleep and isn't that fucking ironic.

[Gargoyle]

Originally Posted by ironlung Perhaps Brave Ulysses but its one of the first thing everyone learns about nature... its as obvious as 2+2=4 is.

What's obvious? That lightning comes before thunder?

[Brad]

Originally Posted by Gargoyle What's obvious? That lightning comes before thunder?

Yes, that.

This is no better than that silly Garth Brooks "Thunder Rolls"* song from the 90s. They should both be excommunicated!

* Yes, I'm loosely familiar with this song. I grew up in NC and this stuff is bloody inescapable here.

[Gargoyle]

Muha ha ha, you walked right into my trap!

Technically, lightning and thunder occur at the same time!

[eventhorizon]

Originally Posted by murbot At least she didn't say it was rolling thunder when all you need is sleep and isn't that fucking ironic.

Yeah but the irony was that it was a song entitled Ironic that contained no irony.

[eventhorizon]

Originally Posted by Gargoyle Muha ha ha, you walked right into my trap! Technically, lightning and thunder occur at the same time!

Ha ha ha ha ha technically they don't. The thunder comes from the heating of the surrounding air during the lightning strike leading to expansion. I suppose if you are loose with your definition of "same time" then maybe you have a point. Though it does take time for the air to expand and thus the time stamps of the start of lightning strike and the resulting thunder would be very slightly apart.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by Gargoyle Muha ha ha, you walked right into my trap! Technically, lightning and thunder occur at the same time!

Only if you are being struck by the lightning might they seem to be the same, in which case you probably wouldn't be singing.

If you as an observer are any measurable distance away, the events are separated. It's all relative, technically, because sound travels slower than light through our atmosphere. And there's that little bit about the origin of the sound, as eventhorizon just explained.

[zippy]

Why do we even give "thunder" it's own name? It's just the sound of lightning right, so why don't we just say "I heard the lightning"?

[SKMDC]

I love it when geeks talk about pop music!

[Moogs]

This is why engineers shouldn't write songs. Don't you have some thermodynamics equations to do before today's lecture, ironman?

[SKMDC]

It's got a good beat and I really dig dancing to it, but her theories are all wrong!

[Schnauzer]

its a song