you should meet my therapist

[SnootCB]

This is partly amusing and partly worrying:



So, besides the potential for LOLs, what would happen if I clicked "yes"?  I didn't, but is this so-called normal game behaviour, or am I looking at losing the neighborhood already?

[Emma]

Yeah, my sim has been offered Toddler New Years' number. It's normal, if a little screwed up

[Liz]

Yikes. Yeah, normal but screwed up is right.

Haven't played any AL, but are my suspicions right that they got the Q/A dialog backwards? The question is, "Do you mind?" Answering "Yes" should mean they don't hand over your number. Did they actually get this right, or does "Yes" tell them to make the hook-up?

[Lord Darcy]

I'm repeatedly offered Pollination Technician's number. If it is a bonus for Sims with good reputation, DO NOT WANT.
Sims in Default family should not be offered as new contacts. Not sure if it's an EAxian bork or a tight pants issue though.

[leaths]

It happened to me, and with General Buzz too. Maybe the townies know something we only suspected.

Edit for Liz's question: I figured that it was poor wording and hit "no." The Therapist didn't show so I hope that was the right way to go.

[Zazazu]

I've had Tour Guide offered. I figure since you're not supposed to summon them, you shouldn't accept.

[Gwill]

My sim has been a good girl this year:


Another sim had a wedding guest try to set her up on a blind date during her wedding.

[Magicmoon]

I figured that it was poor wording and hit "no." The Therapist didn't show so I hope that was the right way to go.

Is someone supposed to show up with this dialog? I've had the other dialog where a date drops out of the sky if you say yes, but I thought this dialog was to put your number into the hands of a Sim who will start bugging calling you.

I said yes to the question (a normal Sim was offered at the time). No one showed up and no one called either. So I'm not sure which way to answer this question either. My thinking at the time was that Maxis would make the "yes" answer complete the transaction while a "no" answer would do nothing.

[SnootCB]

According to the Prima Guide (so take this with a grain of salt):

Three hours after the introduction (or three hours after your sim returns home from the Community lot), a new unknown townie sim calls to introduce him- or herself.  Initial relationship will be higher than usual.

I'm pretty sure "yes" in this case means, "yes, please introduce me to this new sim" rather than "yes, I do mind, so go away" which would be more grammatically correct.  Sometimes I wish English had a negative yes/positive no word like some other languages, but even if we did EA would probably screw that up too.

Edit:
Actually, I thought about it a bit more, and it is technically correct in most cases to answer both positive and negative versions of a yes/no question in the same way.  So "does Pescado like Emma?" and "doesn't Pescado like Emma?" would have the same yes/no answer.  I don't know if this is the case with a "do you mind if ___ ?" type question, though.  Anyone of you more grammar-oriented people know which is the better answer in this case?  I hope this isn't too off-topic.

[witch]

Well, the actual question is; "do you mind...?"

Yes you mind, don't do it; or no, you don't mind, please go ahead.

I suspect EAxis have done it the other way round though.

[SaraMK]

In real life it annoys me when people answer "Do you mind?" type questions with "Sure."

[jolrei]

Yes, they probably "could care less". 

[Liz]

Actually, I thought about it a bit more, and it is technically correct in most cases to answer both positive and negative versions of a yes/no question in the same way.  So "does Pescado like Emma?" and "doesn't Pescado like Emma?" would have the same yes/no answer.  I don't know if this is the case with a "do you mind if ___ ?" type question, though.  Anyone of you more grammar-oriented people know which is the better answer in this case?  I hope this isn't too off-topic.

Too off-topic? Dude, there's always room for Jell-o grammar!

Despite common (mis-)usage, "Does A like B?" is not linguistically the same question as "Doesn't A like B?". The second question is asking, "Is it not true that A likes B?" So you would answer that, yes, it is not true, or that, no, it's true. This seems bass-ackwards, but it's answering the question as it was asked.

Assuming A likes B:
Does A like B? Yes, he does.
Doesn't A like B? No, he does.

Doesn't 'shoe' rhyme with 'paper'? Yes, it does not rhyme. Doesn't a hat go on the head? No, it does go on the head.

These grammatical constructs are largely ignored, however, so most people will take "Doesn't it?" to mean, "It does, right?" and answer the question affirmatively. Similarly, people will frequently answer "Do you mind?" incorrectly. While its intent is the same as asking, "Is it okay with you?", the question itself is not the same. For this reason, when someone asks me, "Isn't he going?" I'll probably answer, "He's going," instead of just saying Yes or No so that everybody's clear. I opt for clarity over succinctness.

Regarding the dialog above, as witch indicated, the question being asked isn't whether it's okay; it's asking whether you mind. These questions should receive different answers.
Is it okay? Yes.
Do you mind? No.

If answering 'Yes' means they give out your number, the game has it wrong. 'Yes' means you do mind; you would prefer they NOT hand over your number. So as you mentioned, it's a 'Yes' that means 'No'. This is one of the reasons I'm coming to appreciate the linguistic simplicity of Cantonese. Yes/No questions are asked as multiple choice. Answer by circling the correct one. "You want/not want go?" "Not want."

Yes, they probably "could care less". 

GAAAAAAAAAHHH! *runs, screaming, into the night*

[rufio]

Doesn't ....? is a special question form which expects a positive answer.  In case you were wondering, English is not the only language that uses a negative morpheme to mark that.  Real negative questions have a different word order:  Does A not like B?  Does shoe not rhyme with paper?  Or, there's always the method of saying a negative sentence with question intonation, as when expecting confirmation or clarification: A doesn't like B?

[NothingToSee]

Yes, they probably "could care less". 

Now THAT is one of my pet peeves. I cringe every time I read that particular phrase.
Sometimes I point out why it is wrong, but I tend to get called a Grammar Nazi for my trouble. 

[Jelenedra]

Newly developed peeve of mine:

People that say "That's funny" instead of laughing.

I was trapped in a car with one of these people for a straight 24 hours. I welcomed the sweet release of this person falling asleep.

[funkilla]

Actually, I thought about it a bit more, and it is technically correct in most cases to answer both positive and negative versions of a yes/no question in the same way.  So "does Pescado like Emma?" and "doesn't Pescado like Emma?" would have the same yes/no answer.  I don't know if this is the case with a "do you mind if ___ ?" type question, though.  Anyone of you more grammar-oriented people know which is the better answer in this case?  I hope this isn't too off-topic.

Too off-topic? Dude, there's always room for Jell-o grammar!

Despite common (mis-)usage, "Does A like B?" is not linguistically the same question as "Doesn't A like B?". The second question is asking, "Is it not true that A likes B?" So you would answer that, yes, it is not true, or that, no, it's true. This seems bass-ackwards, but it's answering the question as it was asked.

Assuming A likes B:
Does A like B? Yes, he does.
Doesn't A like B? No, he does.

Doesn't 'shoe' rhyme with 'paper'? Yes, it does not rhyme. Doesn't a hat go on the head? No, it does go on the head.

These grammatical constructs are largely ignored, however, so most people will take "Doesn't it?" to mean, "It does, right?" and answer the question affirmatively. Similarly, people will frequently answer "Do you mind?" incorrectly. While its intent is the same as asking, "Is it okay with you?", the question itself is not the same. For this reason, when someone asks me, "Isn't he going?" I'll probably answer, "He's going," instead of just saying Yes or No so that everybody's clear. I opt for clarity over succinctness.

Regarding the dialog above, as witch indicated, the question being asked isn't whether it's okay; it's asking whether you mind. These questions should receive different answers.
Is it okay? Yes.
Do you mind? No.

If answering 'Yes' means they give out your number, the game has it wrong. 'Yes' means you do mind; you would prefer they NOT hand over your number. So as you mentioned, it's a 'Yes' that means 'No'. This is one of the reasons I'm coming to appreciate the linguistic simplicity of Cantonese. Yes/No questions are asked as multiple choice. Answer by circling the correct one. "You want/not want go?" "Not want."

Yes, they probably "could care less". 

GAAAAAAAAAHHH! *runs, screaming, into the night*

It's grammar like this that makes my head spin because English isn't my first language. But I like to think I speak and understand it fairly well.

I had the Therapist one a lot. Didn't have Santa Klaus or Toddler New Year. I usually accept though. And I get these two girls in the pink dresses with the big red/pink pendent necklaces always trying to hook me up with their friends, and the blind date literally falls out of the sky.
What was weird though is that I had a Social Bunny come to my Sim while they were asleep. He juggled, and the Sim's social meter went up, even though he was asleep.

[J. M. Pescado]

I was trapped in a car with one of these people for a straight 24 hours. I welcomed the sweet release of this person falling asleep.

What exactly were you doing to be stuck in the car with this person? Were you stuck buried in the snow or something?

[Jelenedra]

Road trip to Colorado for one of Mr. Vulture's shows. 

I drove most of the way back home just so this person would SLEEP and not talk to me.

[PirateFaafy]

According to the Prima Guide (so take this with a grain of salt):

Three hours after the introduction (or three hours after your sim returns home from the Community lot), a new unknown townie sim calls to introduce him- or herself.  Initial relationship will be higher than usual.

I'm pretty sure "yes" in this case means, "yes, please introduce me to this new sim" rather than "yes, I do mind, so go away" which would be more grammatically correct.  Sometimes I wish English had a negative yes/positive no word like some other languages, but even if we did EA would probably screw that up too.

Edit:
Actually, I thought about it a bit more, and it is technically correct in most cases to answer both positive and negative versions of a yes/no question in the same way.  So "does Pescado like Emma?" and "doesn't Pescado like Emma?" would have the same yes/no answer.  I don't know if this is the case with a "do you mind if ___ ?" type question, though.  Anyone of you more grammar-oriented people know which is the better answer in this case?  I hope this isn't too off-topic.

Actually, I recall believing that EAxis had been dumb and simply worded it improperly, so I answered it with the opposite of my intent with regards to grammar. I believe I ended up being wrong - as in, EAxis actually got it right, which was unexpected. Especially given the relative 12ness of the userbase.

[J. M. Pescado]

I drove most of the way back home just so this person would SLEEP and not talk to me.

It sounds like you haven't quite mastered the art of killing conversation.

[lurklurklurk]

I've had the Human Statue come up as one of the people you can chat with on the internet on my sim's computer. If my sim actually chatted with him, would it blow up my game? Is there any way of preventing object-like people from doing these kinds of things?

[Gastfyr]

I've had issues in the past where the "can my friend come over too?" turned out to be a carpool driver.  So, yeah, "there are no actions available".  Unfortunately, he liked to sit down and play chess with someone already playing and also have a drink at the bar with others who were already having drinks, so my playable met him and built enough STR to start rolling wants to be friends with this non-intreactive sim.  Couldn't call him on the phone or anything, so it was a wasted want slot until he finally gave up on that unfulfillable want.

[SnootCB]

Same here, Gastfyr, except that it wasn't a friend bringing along another friend, it was a playbable brining one home from work.  She just sat down to play chess and would not leave until I deleted the chess table out from under her.  That was back when I first installed FT, though, and I think maybe a patch or hack fix stopped that nonsense.