English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Cerberus

3:00 PM

@Robusto But it is usually both?

Cryptic being a euphemism for vague, rather.

Robusto

@Cerberus Simplicity is a virtue almost everywhere.

Mitch

@MattЭллен I'm impressed by their coverage. I want real time footage so I can see who is looking in my window. also racoons.

Matt Эллен

@Mitch yeah, same with satellite view. I want to be able to see myself waving

Mitch

@Cerberus no, though in the same camp, 'cryptic' is not 'vague'

tchrist

@Mitch Matt suffers no coons.

Mitch

3:01 PM

@MattЭллен I can.

Robusto

@Cerberus Also, there is no such thing as synonyms, as we have learned from our pineapples. Two words that are spelled the same and mean the same thing would be the same word! What you not understand!!!

Mitch

just two years later.

Matt Эллен

:D

Cerberus

@Robusto Agreed.

Mitch

I -always- wave when I see a security camera. I'm guessing the people watching can get pretty bored, with no crimes and stuff.

JSBձոգչ

3:02 PM

@Mitch you could go commit some crimes instead!

they would probably find that very entertaining

Mitch

@Robusto even the same word is not a synonym with itself.

Also people are liars.

Cerberus

@Mitch You would not interpret "this question is rather cryptic" as a euphemism for vague or unclear or something?

RegDwight АΑA

@JSBձոգչ Why not make them pay, then? Hold up a sign, "will commit crime for $10".

Mitch

@JSBձոգչ I'll do it just for them

JSBձոգչ

sounds like a plan

Cerberus

3:03 PM

@Robusto Synonyms? Who said they were that?

JSBձոգչ

@Mitch is an altruist, though. he commits crimes for free.

RegDwight АΑA

That's criminally stupid.

Mitch

@Cerberus it's close but not a euphemism, in fact I would think 'cryptic' is a littel stronger than vague. almost like you're -trying- to hide something.

Cerberus

The NYT mobile website is somewhat better, but still disorganised compared to other newspapers.

Robusto

@Cerberus See? Even you agree they cannot be sonograms.

Cerberus

3:04 PM

@Mitch Yes. I wasn't trying to be exact.

Mitch

@JSBձոգչ not for free..the joy of making someone else's life more interesting. as an entertainer.

Cerberus

@Robusto You lost me several lines ago...

Mitch

depends on the crime.

car theft is totally out. cripes, the parking, who wants to deal with that.

ΜετάEd

The computer is your friend.

Robusto

@Mitch Yes, I can just see Raskalnikov getting all in a dither about a crime like that.

Matt Эллен

3:06 PM

Computor on the other hand, is a super villain

Mitch

@Cerberus I agree, but unfortunately the things I care to read are paywalled.

(that's not specifc to the mobile version, but jsut another tniy barrier)

Vitaly

@Cerberus He looks right through her?

Mitch

the other barrier is automatic transpositions of letters.

tchrist

@Mitch Yes, Dr House.

Vitaly

Oh, never mind. Didn't read the context.

Mitch

3:07 PM

@Robusto exactly. "whoa, dude, what's with the 'tude? I smashed her head in you."

@tchrist He said that? clever guy, copying me. from the future.

Cerberus

@Mitch I rarely read it: do they lock up certain articles?

@Vitaly Better. Perhaps that's what my subconscious was thinking of.

Meysam

►

Cerberus

@Vitaly No, it is not bad.

Robusto

@Cerberus You're just not trying. Keep up!

Gigili

Oh, this is kiamlaluno. I mixed him up with Kosmonut.

Mitch

3:10 PM

@Cerberus mostly the opinion articles (those are the ones I notice).

Cerberus

@Robusto Did you read the picture Kit posted?

@Gigili Hahaha.

@Mitch Ah, I see.

Robusto

@Cerberus Yes. The indefinite article is always in and out of jail.

@Cerberus Kit posts a lot of pictures.

Mitch

@Cerberus and the comics.

Cerberus

1 hour ago, by KitFox

I found something funny.

Robusto

@Cerberus Ah, yes. *The quick red fox jumps over the lazy brown dog." Famous line used for typists to have to reach the entire alphabet on the keyboard. I'm guessing you didn't know why that was really funny.

Cerberus

3:13 PM

@Mitch My newspaper has summaries of all articles on their mobile site. If the article is short, it will be an exact copy. If not, it will be a few paragraphs edited to become a readable whole.

Vitaly

Mar 14 at 22:58, by Vitaly

Cerberus

@Robusto eyes bulging

Robusto

@Vitaly What, you couldn't find a similar video with spiders?

tchrist

@Mitch Cryptic is an obscurantist term for something occulted from casual inspection. Like this sentence.

Cerberus

What is your IQ?

Read, man, read!

Mitch

3:15 PM

@Cerberus yeah mobile NYT on actual news works that way too and is sufficient, I just don't bother.

Cerberus

@Vitaly Yes, that one's nice too.

RegDwight АΑA

@tchrist no, I will not like that sentence.

tchrist

@Robusto The five boxing wizards jump quickly. Grumpy wizards make toxic brew for the evil Queen and Jack.

Robusto

@Cerberus I read, I have read, I had read, I did read, I do read, I will read, I will have read.

Cerberus

Then buy new eyes.

Gigili

3:16 PM

@RegDwightАΑA That was an order, like it or else I shoot.

Mitch

@tchrist my point exactly. 'vague' or 'unclear' are not as fault filed or accusatory.

tchrist

Which have somewhat different but closely related goals.

Robusto

@Cerberus New I's? Anyway, I never read comment chains under blogs.

Cerberus

You always think I'm stupid when there are very clear clues that I understand everything.

tchrist

@Mitch I am not wholly convinced of that. I’d have to troll the specimen books.

Mitch

3:17 PM

@Cerberus Oh yeah? Then understand this.

RegDwight АΑA

@Robusto well, in the words of Gandalf the Gray, "throw yourself in next time, and read us of your stupidity".

Robusto

@Cerberus No, I don't always think you're stupid. I just love the reaction you make when you think I think that. Wins!

Cerberus

Which leaves one to wonder about someone else's mental skills...

@Robusto I don't just think it, I believe it.

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA I am not a fish to be so easily hooked.

Cerberus

@Mitch Where do you read your news?

Mitch

3:18 PM

cryptic is '_you_ are being cryptic'.
'unclear'..it could be your fault or mine.

Cerberus

@Mitch pondering your sentence

RegDwight АΑA

@tchrist you are a ghoti?

Robusto

@Cerberus Well, you have to admit you didn't get my earlier joke. What am I to think?

Cerberus

Which one?

Robusto

14 mins ago, by Cerberus

@Robusto You lost me several lines ago...

Mitch

3:19 PM

@Robusto You were being cryptic.

obviously.

Robusto

@Mitch Cryptic to people who can't follow along, yeah.

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA I’m a piscivorous ichthyophage, except in jurisdictions where prohibited by law.

Mitch

@Cerberus most news heard from radio (NPR). reading, occasional (when it's laying around free) copies of NYT.

Cerberus

@Robusto You are to pay attention to clues. When I say something that clearly shows I got it, nay, ever refer to it directly, you are to notice the difference between that and "you lost me".

Robusto

@tchrist I smell something fishy here.

Mitch

3:20 PM

@Cerberus you lost me.

Robusto

@Cerberus You've got it wrong. Dogs don't tell humans what to do. Cats do.

tchrist

@Mitch Most free eggs are oblate spheroids, not round.

@Robusto You hound dog, you.

Mitch

@tchrist to get them round, you really have to pay.

Cerberus

@Mitch I actually prefer my paper's website, it is quite good for news. Quick to update too.

Robusto

I wonder if you should cook eggs in Ovaltine. Hmm ...

Mitch

3:22 PM

@Cerberus If ever I want more details to something I hear about, I won't go to anything other than NYT (just to get somewhat reasonably trustworthy facts).

@Robusto Stop wondering. You shouldn't.

Cerberus

Why do you only trust the NYT?

Mitch

Hold on...dry or mixed?

ΜετάEd

Dry, one olive, shaken.

Mitch

@Cerberus I'm not so deep or complex to understand all the intricacies of journalistic bias or toeing the government line, it's just that when I read other US sources, they just seem ... stupid?

Cerberus

@ΜετάEd Not stirred?

Mitch

3:24 PM

like not actually attempting to answer the questions inspired by the headline?

ΜετάEd

@Cerberus Right. I like to bruise the gin.

Cerberus

Hmm OK.

How about foreign newspapers?

Or websites?

Mitch

@Cerberus You're not taking this seriously. Eggs (or olives) do not go with Ovaltine (not mixed).

ΜετάEd

@Cerberus I like to bruise them also.

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA ‘What's that?’ cried Gandalf. He was relieved when Pippin confessed what he had done; but he was angry, and Pippin could see his eye glinting. ‘Fool of a Took!’ he growled. ‘This is a serious journey, not a hobbit walking-party. Throw yourself in next time, and then you will be no further nuisance. Now be quiet!’ Nothing more was heard for several minutes; but then there came out of the depths faint knocks: tom-tap, tap-tom.

Cerberus

3:25 PM

@ΜετάEd Bruise...*pondering*

tchrist

Tom taps impatiently.

Cerberus

@Mitch My apologies. We do not have this foreign broth.

Mitch

Ovaltine is like liquid Nutella. If you say bad or wrong things about either, you're only hurting yourselves.

Cerberus

Ah, I see.

Matt Эллен

ovaltine and nutella aren't very nice. they should be banned forthwith

Cerberus

3:27 PM

!

What have you done??

RegDwight АΑA

@tchrist yes, and your point is?

Cerberus

Now the gods of Nutelland will come to get you!

Mitch

@Cerberus That's a peeve of mine...it's is -very- difficult to find paper copies of foreign newspapers in the US. any train station in Europe, you can find a couple US papers (in addition to the full range of European ones)

Matt Эллен

I have set the pigeons amongst the cat

tchrist

@MattЭллен Ovaltine + Nutella ⋙ Vegemite + Marmite

Mitch

3:27 PM

of course the web doesn't have those limitation.

@MattЭллен that cat is screwed.

Cerberus

@Mitch Really? That is weird? Then what do foreigners read in train stations? Here every village "tabac" will have foreign newspapers.

Matt Эллен

@tchrist sounds horrible

Mitch

@tchrist study record: nausea inducer

Cerberus

(Using the French word because it is hard to explain otherwise.)

JSBձոգչ

@Cerberus we don't have foreigners here. only hearty red-blooded Americans

also, foreign newspapers are for snobs

Cerberus

3:29 PM

But anyway, you can read foreign newspapers' websites.

JSBձոգչ

also, tabac is just newsstand, right?

Cerberus

Sort of.

More like a shop that sells various things that passers-by would require.

Robusto

@MattЭллен You say that in the full knowledge that you live in a nation of Weetabix eaters? For shame!

Cerberus

It is normally not a stand, as far as I know.

Mitch

@MattЭллен You've brought this on yourself. If you happen to have bread today and notice there's not even butter for it, well, you taunted the wrong spirits.

Matt Эллен

3:30 PM

@Robusto don't remind me. I still don't understand how half the people here like marmite.

Cerberus

Here small book shops would sell most of those things.

Mitch

Oh, and BTW best regards.

Cerberus

Magazines, cigarettes, stamps, newspapers, pens, paperclips, I don't know—I rarely enter such shops.

Matt Эллен

@Mitch apparently they went back in time to Thursday and made my bread mouldy

Vitaly

@Cerberus tabac?

Is that related to tobacco?

Robusto

3:32 PM

@Vitaly I think they're just friends.

Mitch

@Cerberus exactly. your regular tabac visitor will still only get Das Bild (or die Bild (help me out here @RegDwightАΑA)) but at leat they have the opportunity to read Corriera della Sierra (or whatever it is (help me out here @tchrist))

RegDwight АΑA

Die Bild, naturally.

Mitch

@MattЭллен have you ever taken a bite out of moldy bread? It's not bad until you notice it.

Gigili

@Cerberus Zeitungskiosk?

Vitaly

@Robusto I have a picture of a Soviet tobacco-selling kiosk in mind. Those would have ТАБАК written in huge letters on them. They would sell newspapers, matchboxes, and stuff like that, too.

Mitch

3:33 PM

@Vitaly it's a tobacco shop.

Matt Эллен

@Mitch I don't know.

RegDwight АΑA

@Gigili No, Tabakladen.

Cerberus

@Vitaly Yes. It is related to selling tobacco, although the main function of such shops is usually not considered to be that, but rather the stuff mentioned above. They will still sell lots of cigarettes, of course, but it's not like a fancy shop where they sell various kinds of good cigars or pipes or anything.

@Gigili It is normally no kiosk.

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus indeed, what else are footmen for?

Mitch

@Cerberus a back to the non-"marmite vs peanut butter" subject, namely news.

Vitaly

3:35 PM

Mitch

yes everything is on the web, but I only know what I like from the paper ones.

RegDwight АΑA

@Vitaly It's a small walk-in shop where you can get smokes, printed media, a bottle of water perhaps, or even a sandwich, play lottery, buy concert tickets, pick up a parcel that couldn't be delivered because you were not at home.

Cerberus

@Mitch I don't think so: the three good Dutch newspapers are normally available across France. I will walk past a few tabacs in my street in a minute to check, but I am sure they have the good newspapers too.

Mitch

I used to liek the economist..but...

1- too expensive!

Cerberus

@Vitaly Right, but that's not like a French tabac.

@Mitch Right, they would certainly have the economist.

@MattЭллен Exactly. Stepping out of one's carriage is such a bother.

Matt Эллен

3:37 PM

what you describe, Cerberus, seems to me like a British News Agents

Mitch

2- people who actually know about things have said that 'the economist' is wrong/misguided/biased/etc.

Cerberus

@MattЭллен Oh?

I've only been to England once. I don't remember.

@Mitch All newspapers are inferior to really specialised sources.

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus yes, they sell all these things (although tobacco is on the out)

Cerberus

OK.

Matt Эллен

and they probably don't have many foreign papers, if any, depending on the area

Cerberus

3:38 PM

Noted.

tchrist

@Mitch am on $job call. Need to review coupla screens to get context.

Cerberus

Matt Эллен

Mitch

@Cerberus I am being overly cynical, but even though all those internatinoal papers are available there (for what ever nation), it's not like Europeans are all some wordly intellectuals and Americans blithering idiots. The popular papers in Europe are stil the Daily Mail and Bild (no article) because of page 3 girl the sports, and the latest front page scandal

Cerberus

@MattЭллен Nice.

Matt Эллен

3:40 PM

Cerberus

@Mitch Of course. I was just replying to your suggestion that you would only read the NYT.

Mitch

in the US, because we're puritans (which is really not the case, don't start me), we only get sports and USAToday (pardon me I have to spit), which is not news, just stupid headlines, stretched to slightly more than two sentences.

Cerberus

And English papers are notorious.

Matt Эллен

@Mitch eh. the Daily Mail has no page 3 girls any more. That's The Sun's domain

tchrist

@Mitch The Economist is wrong/misguided/biased about what thing, exactly? Can't find the ref chain.

ΜετάEd

3:41 PM

Throwee (also spelled throwie) in urban slang means a type of graffiti art, simple in form but more complex than a tag. Many of the Google results may have to do with this usage. Take the same search to Google Image Search for examples. — ΜετάEd 42 secs ago

Matt Эллен

but the daily mail is a terrible paper IMO

Cerberus

The Financial Times and the Economist are perhaps the most respectable English newspapers these days?

Mitch

@MattЭллен _stops subscription _

Cerberus

How about the Guardian?

Matt Эллен

@Mitch lol

Cerberus

3:42 PM

I have read some bad articles and some good.

Matt Эллен

The Guardian is the leading liberal paper

Cerberus

Is it OK?

Matt Эллен

in the UK

Mitch

@tchrist no refs. just what I hear. like scientific american...if you actually know something about the subject, the articles sound totally misleading. I have no substantive basis for any of this .

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus I guess. I don't read it a lot. I'm a New Scientist type.

Cerberus

3:43 PM

Ah OK.

tchrist

I have an Economist paper subscription. I have NPR on the radio whenever I drive, and often at home. I have no television.

Matt Эллен

although that can be very dry at times

tchrist

@Mitch That I can comment on definitively.

Matt Эллен

Their interview with Peter Higgs was good

tchrist

But after my $job call.

Mitch

3:44 PM

@Cerberus yeah, I'll look at that (in paper or online). Some of their opinions seem so... like an aunt scolding you for wearing the wrong colored tie to dinner.

Cerberus

I believe there are several good German newspapers (Die Zeit, the Frankfurter Algemeine, der Spiegel). Le Monde and Le Figaro I am not sure, they are probably not too bad.

@Mitch Heh. A grievous error.

ΜετάEd

@Cerberus Or grievious, even.

Cerberus

@Mitch I think that is the case with every newspaper whenever you really know a lot about the subject. But then you are a bit biased: it is usually that some details are off, while the general conclusion still stands.

Mitch

I like Die Zeit (the paper one). I can't read it hardly (all those big words), but I feel important having it in my hands. Also, the map quiz!

tchrist

The NYT is generally of high quality, although parts can be remarkably insular.

Cerberus

3:45 PM

@tchrist Yay for cord cutting! I know many, many young people who no longer watch television, including myself.

@ΜετάEd Quoi?

tchrist

@Cerberus I haven’t watched television for 36 years now.

Cerberus

@Mitch Oh, they have a map quiz??

I want it!

Matt Эллен

toodles!

ΜετάEd

@Cerberus Quoit?

Cerberus

@tchrist Good. I haven't for ten years or so.

Mitch

3:47 PM

I can't tell the difference betwen Le Monde and Figaro (Figaro is supposed to be to the right and Le Monde center). But I find their topics somehow...boring? Like their headlines just don't draw me in?

Cerberus

I rarely read them.

Vitaly

@tchrist I felt compelled to watch television on 9/11.

Cerberus

@Vitaly I watched that on someone else's television.

Mitch

@Cerberus sorry to tempt you with that...they certainly used to, but I haven't been able to find it lately. I don't know if they even have word quizzes though.

Cerberus

@Mitch Wor?

Mitch

3:48 PM

@Vitaly yes, exactly.

Cerberus

Word?

Mitch

yes

tchrist

@Vitaly Yes, I hooked up an aerial antenna for that occasion, when I was awoken by a call from Europe about it. This is no longer an option because they have changed to digital broadcasting, and my receiver is strictly analogue.

Cerberus

OK.

ΜετάEd

Merdre.

Cerberus

3:49 PM

@tchrist You can watch it on foreign live channels next attack.

You may need a VPN for some.

Gigili

9/11 is my birthday. Write it down before you forget.

Mitch

@tchrist they tend to put the most insular things in their 'Nation' section. But yes, the international news section feels somewhat...selective..like the NBC covereage of the Olympics (notoriously only when Americans are involved)

Cerberus

@Gigili Really?

Gigili

@Cerberus Yes, unfortunately.

Cerberus

using a userstyle to filter out any sports news from my newspaper's website

@Gigili Hilarious.

I am surprised you got through customs!

Robusto

3:51 PM

-1

Q: usage of affirmative

what is the correct usage of word affirmative? What does it mean if someone says 'that is affirmative' when listening to a person explaining about a modification in a project.

word-usage

Gen ref.

Cerberus

techdirt.com/articles/20120803/04291719926/…

> The latest stat is that, since the beginning of this year[,] 400,000 [American] households have cut the cord and dropped pay[-]TV services.

Gigili

@Cerberus kniff die Augen zusammen, klappte den Mund zu und kriegte einen roten Kopf

Robusto

@Cerberus I know a lot of people who do that. People bridle at paying for shit they don't watch.

Cerberus

@Gigili Aww...

@Robusto Exactly. And that's only one of the problems with regular television.

Gigili

I'm offk.

Mitch

3:55 PM

@MattЭллен Scientific American is the opposite of dry, it's moved towards 'Discovery channel'-like enthusiasm and subject choice (things that are attempting to say 'science is so cool' but it come across as your mom saying 'awesome'.

JSBձոգչ

@Mitch yeah. i used to love SciAm back in the day, but looking at it recently it's just been so... fluffy

it used to have some real meat

Mitch

yeah..fluffy is a good term for it..I don't feel like I get anything from it.

JSBձոգչ

or possibly my impression of what counts as meaty science coverage has changed. i was a middle-schooler last time i read it regularly

Robusto

@Cerberus They want you to pay hundreds a month for a lot of crap that's just not even watchable. I mean, like, 0.1% is worth the time. But then you often can't get that 0.1% by other legal means.

ΜετάEd

@JSBձոգչ Old SciAm tasted better too. Like old Ovaltine.

Cerberus

3:57 PM

> Apple's Argument: Samsung Could Have Made Its Phone Large, Thick, Bumpy, Sharp-Edged & Hexagonal

Hilarious.

Mitch

@JSBձոգչ right, could be age/experience. like 'Seventeen' magazine..only read by under-seventeens.

I've heard.

Robusto

@Mitch Yeah, I can remember when it actually had articles about, say, wasp behavior and stuff like that.

JSBձոգչ

@Robusto it's called bundling. 0.1% is watchable, but everyone watches a different 0.1%

Cerberus

@Mitch Note that the Discovery Channel has been known to actively lie about scientific facts to make some silly hypothesis seem serious at all.

JSBձոգչ

still, it's better than the history channel

Cerberus

3:58 PM

@Robusto Hundreds, even?

JSBձոգչ

@Cerberus discovery also produces mythbusters, though, which means all is forgiven

Vitaly

@Cerberus I heard they even peddle some religious BS now (“archaeology” supporting Biblical stories—“teaching the controversy”—etc), or has that always been the case?

ΜετάEd

@Vitaly Who doesn't.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…