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Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
2:00 PM
Hmm... There is perhaps a better choice because she's pointing from the other side of the desk.
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
She gestures, too. Supporting "sign there"
O.O
Great mind and circuitry think alike.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Should I say jinx? :D
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
:D
 
Anonymous
Your link doesn't work anymore, I'm afraid. — snailboat Jul 1 '13 at 12:47
 
Anonymous
@snailboat Don't be afraid. It's going to be ok — Brian Bishop 5 mins ago
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
2:01 PM
@snailboat It works again!
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
Haha. I actually had typed out "Don't be .... " !!
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Oh, the OP fixed the link.
0
Q: Nothing could be further from the truth

Lucian SavaThis line is from The last ship movie where the president of the United States of America issues a video message to the remaining population, trying to put an end to the rumors that have spread out against the cure: Nothing could be further from the truth. I wonder if he could have said ins...

meaning meaning-in-context synonyms
Hmm... I'm sure I've answered the same question before! But where - is - it?
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
I suppose that phrase is the product of a passing era, @snailboat.
Maybe it's where it's not possible to be further from where you're looking?
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
sigh -- I'll leave it like that. I don't think I can find that old answer easily. The only thing I can remember is it was asked by Man_From_India.
Oh, found it!
1
A: Nothing could be less like

Damkerng T.Let's assume that all the things in this world are only these letters: A, B, C, ..., Z. Suppose that we want to write them as a list, sorted by likeness: the one that is more resembling to A will be placed closer to A. How could we write our list? (Given that "Nothing could be less like A than B...

 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
It reminds me of "not of the least consequence" which we've just seen recently
Ah
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
2:06 PM
It wasn't a popular question anyway.
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
The weird expression is "I could care less."
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
I've heard that many don't like (read "hate") it!
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
Well, there are better things to hate.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Also, the new question seems to be more about further and farther. -- And some confusion about comparatives.
@JimReynolds nods
 
Anonymous
2:26 PM
@JimReynolds What phrase?
 
Anonymous
@DamkerngT. I think that sort of peeving is memetic. It bothers people because it bothers other people who are vocal about it.
 
Anonymous
There are probably relatively few people who actually got irritated by I could care less without first hearing someone else complain about it.
 
Anonymous
Which is not to say that their irritation is anything but genuine.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@snailboat Strongly agree!
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
2:53 PM
@snailboat I'm afraid to mark care for a listener's feelings.
Not that rare, but not as common as it used to be, I guess.
 
Anonymous
Oh, you're serious? Really? It seems perfectly normal to me.
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
It's not abnormal, but it caused both me and the other guy to come up with the joking response.
Which tends to suggest that it caught our notice.
I'm afraid you're a bit weird, snailboat.
 
CopperKettle
CopperKettle
0
Q: Burning house as an active adjective

Chair EvaniaBurning house is an active adjective. But i cant figure out how is that -ing form in burning house make the word as an active adj. How can we differ burning house and burnt house..

adjective-phrase
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
That's the kettle calling the ... burning house burnt?
 
CopperKettle
CopperKettle
I've just never before come across this combination, "active adjective"
Top of the evening, @Snail!
 
Anonymous
2:59 PM
@CopperKettle What's it supposed to mean?
 
CopperKettle
CopperKettle
@snailboat Present participle, methinks!
 
Anonymous
@CopperKettle Well, that's a spectacularly bad choice of terms.
 
CopperKettle
CopperKettle
Ah, or rather "gerund".
or gerund-participle (thanks, Huddleston & Pullum)
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
Tell the OP to write a book because they have invented the concept active adjective?
 
Anonymous
3:14 PM
@CopperKettle I think it made more sense when you said present participle.
 
Anonymous
Some people don't like the names "present participle" and "past participle".
 
Anonymous
I know some people use the labels "active participle" and "passive participle".
 
Anonymous
So if we assume they're talking about the distinction between those two forms, e.g. eating and eaten, when used as a pre-head modifier in a noun phrase, then perhaps we can come up with "active adjective" and "passive adjective".
 
Anonymous
the eating snail (the snail is eating something, perhaps lettuce) versus the eaten snail (the snail was eaten by someone or something) :-(
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
It sounds like the name of an ultra-posh restaurant: The Eating Snail.
 
Anonymous
3:21 PM
Of course, in the burning house, the house is most likely not the agent.
 
Anonymous
It could be, but most houses don't set things on fire.
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
Isn't there the movie, Honey, the House Burnt the Kids!?
 
CopperKettle
CopperKettle
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
Sniff, sniff.
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
Scary :O
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
3:35 PM
@snailboat That's probably a bit like that eating salty dish. ;-)
@Man_From_India That's weird! It was like Jim was waiting to snatch MIF away.
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
I was feeling peckish.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Impeccable peckish you are!
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
Jim has been weak and that's why he became a MAN eater :-)
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@JimReynolds Was?
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
Still is
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
3:38 PM
@Man_From_India If he told me that he's from Manhattan, I'd believe him.
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
haha
 
Anonymous
@DamkerngT. Salty dishes are known for their insatiable appetites.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@snailboat That's scary!
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
@snailboat Insatiable appetite is synonymous with our Jim the eater :P
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
Crispy fingernails and toenails are wonderful appetizers.
Crunch, crunch.
 
Anonymous
3:40 PM
@JimReynolds Oh, you're onychophagous?
3
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
"... the practice of biting one's nails ...."
I'm more partial to others' nails.
I'm an equal opportunity consumer, by the way, females are yummy, too.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@snailboat I wonder how many times in my life I'm going to see that word.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@IͶΔ Once.
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
Because ...
Eats IͶΔ!
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@JimReynolds Good luck with that.
Catalyses @JimR into crisp
Or catalyzes, for that matter.
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
3:44 PM
Stay down in my stomach!
Quit typing. That tickles!
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
What tickles?
My typing?
Oh.
Maybe then I shouldn't type.
But if I don't type, how do I chat?
@JimR
A ping from the inside is going to be the next cheesy Hollywood film cliché.
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
:D
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Hey, yesterday was Groundhog Day. I missed it!
This clip is better: ibtimes.com/…
 
Anonymous
@DamkerngT. Me too.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
I wonder how old Phil is.
> How old is Phil anyway?
Phil is reputed by townspeople to be more than 100 years old, surviving beyond a marmot's normal life span thanks to the strong constitution of his wife, Phyllis, and a steady diet of Groundhog Punch.
Haha!
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
4:05 PM
This question needs some attention I guess.
2
Q: It is + adjective + wh clause

uoeirja It is funny how you say that. It is amazing what you did. It is terrible why it happened. Those sentences have same structure: It is + adjective + wh clause. My question is, is it always possible to use this sentence structure with ANY adjective? I sometimes find this sentence hard ...

adjectives clauses existentials
I don't think this sentence is wrong, but it sounds off to my ears -
> It is furry what you made your dog.
What do you think?
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@Man_From_India Weird, not wrong.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
I think it's too weird.
It is furry what you made your dog --> What you made your dog is furry. o_O
Needs too fancy a context.
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
It is delicious how I'd like to chew on your knees?
Dear close voter, could you please stop?! This is starting to get really annoying. On another note, this is a very interesting question. What adjectives can't fit in that construction? — IͶΔ Aug 30 '15 at 22:40
Woe to him or her who provokes the wrath of IͶΔ!!
 
V.V.
V.V.
I answered the question about participles.
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
What about this sentence?
> It's funny how you did that.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
4:20 PM
@Man_From_India This is highly idiomatic and common.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@Man_From_India I think it's sort of okay, but I don't think anyone would write it. -- Now I'm gonna wait for 2nd, 3rd, ... opinions. :D
 
Anonymous
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@snailboat OK, I scratch the "highly".
But I hear it a lot. As in, a lot.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
> It 's funny how you get impressions of people when you speak to them over the phone and ...
Only one real written example, I think.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
It's funny how you get impressions of people when you chat with them.
 
Anonymous
4:26 PM
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
I liken @Dam to my chemistry teacher.
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
And there are a lots of written hits for it's unclear how ...
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@IͶΔ I take it that's a good thing. :-)
> ... that I still like pretty well (it 's funny how books recede from you, like people you once shared long and not particularly ...
That one is from academic writing!
Let's see if there is any change in the trend...
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@DamkerngT. Well, here's how I describe him: Sympathetic, knowledgeable, not giving opinions when he doesn't know something, cool, wise, friendly, and lovely in general.
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
So my question in It's funny how..., does how acts like a subordinator?
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
4:31 PM
@IͶΔ That's very nice!
An interesting n-gram chart: goo.gl/9EbUAA
@Man_From_India Hmm... is that a subordinator in "It's true that blah-blah-blah."
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
I can't quite liken @Snail or Stoney to anyone I know here. I mean, I haven't seen any teachers so knowledgeable and friendly at the same time. Though TCh looks like our LitCrit professor.
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
@DamkerngT. I think so.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
nods -- Whatever it is, I think they share the same structure.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@Cop's like a good friend I have. Curious, know-how, and just a fun guy to hang with.
@Man_From_India Must be.
 
CopperKettle
CopperKettle
@IͶΔ You have a great friend then!
(0:
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
4:36 PM
And I think the following sentences are plain wrong -
> It is amazing what you did.
> It is terrible why it happened.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@CopperKettle Very true that!
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
I have a friend who's always respectful and funny. And I have a friend that's disrespectful and occasionally not funny. @JimR's like a mixture of those two. And hey, that's a compliment and I'm prolly gonna regret it.
 
CopperKettle
CopperKettle
@IͶΔ In real life, a teacher has a dozen or two folks to tame... in real-time, quite a feat.
 
Anonymous
@Man_From_India The former sounds fine to me.
 
CopperKettle
CopperKettle
For some reason I never was angry at teachers. I imagined I'd fail to cope with such a task. (0:
But there are some freakish teachers, yes.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
4:40 PM
Honestly, I've thought highly of anyone that I called a 'teacher'.
 
CopperKettle
CopperKettle
My friend, a chemistry and biology teacher, says it's a lonely trade.
There's no colleagues around when you're working, and the pupils change too often.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
Teaching stuff to pupils is harder than teaching PhD material.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@snailboat It's almost like funny how, amazing what, terrible why are in an increasingly marginal order.
@IͶΔ Oh, yes!
 
Anonymous
@DamkerngT. The first two seem fine to me.
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
@DamkerngT. When I wrote an answer there I thought they all are wrong.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
4:44 PM
nods -- They (the first two) are okay to me, too, in speech. I guess they'd be okay, too, in writing for me, though I think many people may rephrase them in writing.
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
Now I have no reason to suspect funny how as incorrect.
But I have problem explaining amazing what or terrible why.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
How can fit in more easily, imo, because it describes "how" (i.e., the adverb part in the clause).
OTOH, I have to read "It's amazing what you did." as "It's amazing, what you did."
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@DamkerngT. Why do you have to?
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Somehow what doesn't seem to relate the two clauses neatly in my head.
Unlike how.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@DamkerngT. Can you connect these two well? "I see what you did there"
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
4:48 PM
Same problem for me as well. I have no problem understanding it, but it seems odd. Both what and whY.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Internally, I think the 'amazing what' sentence works sort of like this kind of sentence: "You know Jim, right, the one who came from Mars?"
(in my head, I mean)
@IͶΔ I see what you did there is fine for me.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
O.O, as Jim would say.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
I don't have a good way to explain the structure of my "Jim" sentence, but it's a good example of what I mean by "loosely connected".
 
Anonymous
@DamkerngT. I think it's actually extraposition.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
A-ha! Thanks for the grammatical term!
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
4:52 PM
@snailboat I knew you'd say that
@snailboat I knew you'd say that
 
Anonymous
Besides extraposition, we can make some similar-looking sentences with right dislocation.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
Bah, chat is extrapositioning my messages.
 
Anonymous
> It's amazing, what you did.　←　right dislocation
2
 
Anonymous
> It's amazing what you did.　←　extraposition
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
Wow, photo.SE's design is very . . . different
 
Anonymous
4:55 PM
If we start with the basic sentence What you did is amazing, then we pull the subordinate clause what you did out of subject position and move it to the end of the sentence, we end up with ＿＿ is amazing what you did. This is called extraposition. But English requires a grammatical subject and we no longer have one, so we have to fill the blank with the dummy subject it, which gives us It's amazing what you did.
 
Anonymous
Extraposition starts by pulling a subordinate clause out of subject position and moving it to the end of the sentence.
 
Anonymous
Right dislocation, similarly, pulls a constituent out of the sentence. Like extraposition, it may be pulled out of subject position, but it can also be taken from another position, as in the following example. And rather than inserting dummy it, dislocation leaves behind a coreferential pronoun:
 
Anonymous
> I really like your dad.　→　I really like him, your dad.
 
Anonymous
Left dislocation is similar:
 
Anonymous
> I like pizza.　→　Me, I like pizza.
 
Anonymous
4:58 PM
With dislocation, the subject is referential. With extraposition, the subject is not; it's dummy it.
2
 
Anonymous
In speech, where both constructions are most likely to occur, we can distinguish the two in terms of prosody.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@Snail, what payment method should we choose? PayPal?
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
(^_^)
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@DamkerngT. That suddenly looks very cute.
@snailboat How?
 
Anonymous
@IͶΔ There's usually an intonational boundary between the two with right dislocation.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
5:05 PM
Right
 
Anonymous
Also, with right dislocation, the dislocated element has to be old information.
 
Anonymous
That's not true of an extraposed element.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@snailboat I wonder if this is really useful in distinction.
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
Not all structure can have extraposition. CGEL says in 1069
 
Anonymous
Here's another example from CGEL:
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
5:07 PM
Kim!
 
Anonymous
> #It's really interesting, a book I'm reading.
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
> What she suggest is unreasonable. (RIGHT)
> It's unreasonable what she suggests (WRONG)
 
Anonymous
Imagine someone begins a conversation by saying this.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@Man_From_India suggests
@snailboat Eh, but I can do that easily.
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
In page 1072 it says
> It is unclear what she wrote.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
5:10 PM
OK so wait a minute, why would the latter sentence be wrong?
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
So it is clear that a fused relative construction can't occur in extraposition, but an open interrogative can. That's what I got reading that portion.
 
Anonymous
@IͶΔ CGEL is drawing a distinction between a fused relative (what she suggests from page 1069, which they say is a phrase rather than a clause) and an interrogative content clause (what she wrote in the example from page 1072).
 
Anonymous
So then I suppose the question is:
 
Anonymous
> It is amazing what you did.
 
Anonymous
What sort of constituent is what you did?
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
5:12 PM
A good constituent.
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
@snailboat Yes it's
 
Anonymous
@Man_From_India Yes it's what?
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
@snailboat A clause of course.
I mean an open interrogative
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
I am very O_O right now. Gimme some water @Dam.
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
@DamkerngT. must be scanning those pages from CGEL :-) you bought it, right?
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
5:16 PM
@DAM
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@IͶΔ Huh? Why do you need some water?
@Man_From_India Yes! It's a very thick book.
(Sorry, I had a phone call.)
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@DamkerngT. To splash it on my face.
@DamkerngT. :o from MIB?
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@IͶΔ Oh, you're feeling sleepy, right? :D
@IͶΔ LOL -- No, it was something else. :D
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@DamkerngT. Right now, I wanna understand what a phrase, a clause, a phrause and a clase are.
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
@DamkerngT. no problem. but it's thick indeed
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
5:18 PM
Hullo @Ferrybig! Welcome to LO!
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@IͶΔ o_O
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
@snailboat summarized that portion of topics very well :-)
And why a fused relative construction do not take part in extraposition is because it's a phrase. Except where, when clause it's an NP. so it will act like a noun. A noun can't occur in extraposition.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@Man_From_India So how do I distinguish a fused relative construction when I see one?
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Hmm... I can't see a clear line between what she suggests and what she wrote.
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
@IͶΔ It sometimes make me puzzle. They explained it, I mean CGEL. But I still have some problem.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
5:26 PM
Yay! Seems like an ELL question topic thingy?
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
@snailboat might help here.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@Snail any time now you fly in with your cape.
> English allows what is called a free, fused or nominal relative construction.[16] This kind of relative construction consists of a relative clause that instead of attaching to an external antecedent—and modifying it as an external noun phrase—is "fused" with it; and thus a nominal function is "fused" into the resultant 'construction'.
o_o
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
@snailboat just curious to know. I forgot what exactly I read in Longman's Comprehensive Grammar of English Language. But I think I read that a phrase can be pre posed or post posed. Extraposition is similar thing. So why a phrase can't take part in extra position construction?
 
Jim Reynolds
Jim Reynolds
You guyses are all crazy.
Good night!
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Reading CGEL 12:6.2#1070 (chapter 12, section 6.2, page 1070), I think the difference is in semantics.
@JimReynolds Goodnight! Don't let your cat bite!
 
Anonymous
5:30 PM
@DamkerngT. Can you look at page 1072?
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
@DamkerngT. Or MFI bite? ;)
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@snailboat I looked at page 1072 first and I didn't get it!
 
Anonymous
Look at examples ii a and b. You'll see that what she wrote can be either one, so you can't distinguish (in this case) based on shape alone.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
nods -- The first few sentences under 12:6.2 make me think that it's more about semantics.
 
Anonymous
In some cases you can distinguish based on shape.
 
Anonymous
5:32 PM
But there are also ambiguous cases.
 
Anonymous
@Man_From_India Different linguists use the terms extrapose and postpose differently.
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
@snailboat means?
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@snailboat So the fused ones look like spheres?
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Apparently, I seem to tend to construe what she wrote as a noun-phrase, no matter how it's used.
 
Anonymous
@Man_From_India Compare who versus whoever.
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
5:33 PM
@snailboat got it.
6.2 page 1070 and 1071 explains the distinctions
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
A-ha! To read "What she wrong is completely unclear" as an interrogative, we need to read it as "The answer to the question 'What did she write?' is completely unclear."
Which is an unlikely reading for me, out of context.
Thanks for echoing, Room!
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
Even that portion didn't make much sense to me either.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@DamkerngT. Room room room room
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
I find it had to make a distinction.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
So, should I ask on ELU, or on ELL?
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
5:39 PM
@snailboat you might like to write an answer there.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@Man_From_India The two meanings in the explanation of "What she wrong is completely unclear" help me a lot.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
I'm afraid we might not get the answer we want on ELL, unless @Arau or @Snail feel answer-y.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@IͶΔ What's a phrase, and what's a clause, you mean?
 
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
@IͶΔ few pages from CGEL can help. if u read those pages u will have the same confusion as I have :D
Oh I have to go. Good night!
see u later.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@DamkerngT. "How to distinguish between a fused relative construction and an open interrogative?"
 
Anonymous
5:41 PM
I'm sorry, I'm multitasking right now.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Oh, hmm... doesn't the explanation in the book work?
(In the bottom half of the last paragraph on page 1070.)
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@DamkerngT. At least 2 people have read it and you see how useful it seems to be.
OK, lemme read it too.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
> But [iii] can be interpreted in either way ...
In other words, "It is unclear what she wrote" is possible because it can be paraphrased as "The answer to the question "What did she write" is unclear."
Let's test it with the 'what suggests' example.
> [6] a) What she suggests is unreasonable.
> b) *It is unreasonable what she suggests.
This means that, if I understand the fused relative and interrogative correctly, we can't paraphrase [6] b. as "The answer to 'what did she suggest' is unreasonable".
A-ha! Right!
One question remains... Is this difference (between the fused relative and interrogative) universal for all native speakers?
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
OK, so I got some ideas, but I can't explain them to someone else, and that means I haven't learned it yet.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@IͶΔ nods -- That's how learning is!
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
5:52 PM
Is this the part where @Snail comes in with a helpful PDF that solves our life problems?
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@IͶΔ 66% chance!
21
Q: Does producing blue meth make Walter a chemistry genius?

eYeIn Breaking Bad, a high school teacher, Walter White produced 99.9% purity blue crystal methamphetamine. Now is that something only a true genius is capable of doing or is any talented/average high school chemistry teacher capable of doing so?

plot-explanation character breaking-bad
I think you'd love to read that question! @IͶΔ
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@DamkerngT. I have.
@DamkerngT. Rule #1 of movies: Everyone in them is exceptional even when they're not exceptional.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
I disagree on both points. (1) Walter was a chemistry genius not because he followed the recipe for meth, but because he made the recipe. Only the genius can do that. (2) With NK, they may not have any Nobel Prize winners, but they have a lot of people trying basically every combination out there. Its the same with their hacking - they don't have the greatest comp sci minds in the world come up with their hacks, they just put an absurdly large amount resources into it relative to what they have. — David Grinberg yesterday
An interesting argument.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@DamkerngT. Reminds me of that comment in "Question title that doesn't describe the problem" that was something like I disagree. Further arguments on why I disagree, and then saying "BUT you're basically right"
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
6:28 PM
@Snail if you don't mind, I'm again going to write up a post on ELL about what went on chat today.
More than 99% of ELL doesn't meet chat and so they don't benefit from the nice stuff that's going on here.
 
Anonymous
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
Yeah I remember that Language Log thingy
Oh wait.
It's not what I thought it was.
 
Anonymous
It's interesting how the quote morphed into the version in your image.
 
CopperKettle
CopperKettle
@CopperKettle Does an activity count as a concrete noun? You can see it happening, unlike something that we can probably all agree is abstract like loyalty. Maybe I'm just ancient, but yes, meals are still sometimes activities to me. There's a difference between eating breakfast as I typically do each morning and having breakfast with family and friends on the weekend where I might not eat much at all, but I still say "I went to breakfast". Is it a difference between an abstract and concrete noun though? I don't think so. Is tennis abstract in "Let's play tennis"? — ColleenV 5 mins ago
I've no idea, frankly. Does it?
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
6:44 PM
@snailboat All your dangling participles are belong to us
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@IͶΔ Whoosh! (in 8-bit audio quality)
3
Q: Most accurate translation of Euclid's Elements

A BajajWhich is the most accurate translation of the Elements by Euclid? I have found manybtranslations but there seem to be some differences in each version. I would like to know which is the closest to the original.

geometry reference-request
Math, meet English. English, meet Math.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@DamkerngT. Math.SE is the happiest wasteland of the world.
 
CopperKettle
CopperKettle
Math.SE is great. I got answers there in 5 minutes tops.
Of course, my questions were basic, but still.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@CopperKettle Great by asker's perspective.
 
Anonymous
I think breakfast is generally an abstract non-count noun, but can occasionally be used as a concrete count noun: buzzfeed.com/shannonrosenberg/…
 
Anonymous
6:49 PM
@CopperKettle Do you mean Is it abstract in "Let's play tennis"?
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Is fest abstract? What about feast?
 
CopperKettle
CopperKettle
@snailboat Thank you! I mean I don't know whether an activity can be concrete. O_o
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
^Nice!
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
I feel imagy right now.
 
Anonymous
6:51 PM
@DamkerngT. Fest? Like a party, a festival?
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Yes
"Saddle up, let's get this moveable feast under way!" (The Lost World) -- youtube.com/watch?v=0rls8oqQx44
 
Anonymous
I don't know anyone who talks about fests in English. I do know someone who throws a yearly event titled Fest.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@snailboat Hah!
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
 
Anonymous
But more commonly -fest is used to form words like Oktoberfest, Jazzfest, and so on.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
6:53 PM
@snailboat Oh, I see!
 
Anonymous
@IͶΔ One of my friends is very intelligent, but he can't do spelling. His brain doesn't work that way.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@snailboat He seems to be a mathematician. Or an optical physicist.
 
Anonymous
Engineer.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
Even if he's not, he is inside.
 
Anonymous
He's come up with some widely used algorithms.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
6:54 PM
@snailboat Hah!
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@snailboat That's very cool!
 
Anonymous
Most people can learn to spell without major difficulty, but not everyone can. It's not like learning to speak.
 
Anonymous
@DamkerngT. He works in graphics. :-)
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@snailboat I have a friend that knows writing as a barrier that stops effective thinking.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Try saying poor grammar fast several times, and you'll probably get "programmer". :P
2
A: meaning of a complex sentence

apsillersThe sentence is a question. Consider what it asks, one piece at a time: ...will you have been separated from the U.S. Armed Forces, National Guard or Reserves with... This asks if you have ever left the U.S. Armed Forces, National Guard or Reserves under certain conditions (in the with phra...

It's chunk processing! Chunk processing everywhere!
There's nothing truly complex. Just some longer and more deeply nested chunks.
But that's how we define 'complex', isn't it?!
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
7:01 PM
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
LOL -- I like this one!
 
Anonymous
That is a pretty complicated sentence, though.
 
Anonymous
At the time of your entry to UA, will you have
  [
    been separated from the U.S. Armed Forces, National Guard or Reserves with
      [
        a dishonorable
      or
        bad conduct discharge
      ]
  or
    been
      [
        dismissed by sentence of a general court-martial
      or
        sentenced to confinement adjudged
          [
            by a court-martial
          or
            in a
              [
                federal
              or
                state
              ]
2
 
Anonymous
Something like that? If we break down the coordination.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
 
Anonymous
7:06 PM
I'm not sure about federal or state penitentiary or correctional institution.
 
Anonymous
Is it federal or state modifying penitentiary, and then federal or state penitentiary is coordinated with correctional institution?
 
Anonymous
Or is federal or state modifying penitentiary or correctional institution?
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@snailboat a nice bracketing!
(Oh, my autocorrect turned an abstract activity in my sentence into a concrete one!)
I think we need to extend the 2-minute edit period to 3 or maybe 5 in the new mobile interface.
 
Anonymous
That'd be nice.
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
@DamkerngT. Honestly, for people like you that do not misuse the feature, they should extend the period to 300 years.
 
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
7:19 PM
Hehe!
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
> The structure shackles. – James Gordon
 
IͶΔ
IͶΔ
7:50 PM
So.
@Snail @Dam would this be a good rule of thumb?
> It's great what X did.
 
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