English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Old, brown book with nothing on the cover; only the words Sherlock Holmes on the side, and a complete series inside, with all the original pictures, photocopied directly out of the magazines where it was originally printed in 19 hundreds.

Mitch

very llight, but not stupid.

nice

Sonic The Hedgehog

3:07 AM

I nearly cried in joy.

Mitch

where'd you find it?

oh library

Sonic The Hedgehog

2 mins ago, by Sonic The Hedgehog

I hit a jackpot at my High School Library.

Mitch

so you don't get to 'keep' it.

Sonic The Hedgehog

Very Unfortunately, no.

Mitch

right. short term memory of a fish.

Sonic The Hedgehog

3:08 AM

I could give money...

David Wallace

@WillHunting Confession accepted.

Sonic The Hedgehog

but it would worth way more than my current allowance balance.

Mitch

unfortunately, high school librarians don't work that way.

Sonic The Hedgehog

Unfortunately.

Mitch

even when it's so obvious that nobody has ever checked out the book and no one after will either.

Sonic The Hedgehog

3:09 AM

tch. No taste for old literature.

I could tell that nobody touched it in what, like 40 years because it was in prime condition.

Mitch

did you see this:

mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/…

Sonic The Hedgehog

Oh, and I got 40 out of the oldest school paint mural in the wall with the words 77'.

Mitch

they let people take away any of the books afterwards

Sonic The Hedgehog

Effin hell. Who treats books like that?

clenches his fist in anger

Mitch

some of the photos showed that some of the books were really nice ones and in good shape.

cornbread ninja

3:11 AM

I like the main page difficulties box.

Mitch

@SonicTheHedgehog that's what I thought at first too, but it seems that they were placed carefully.

Sonic The Hedgehog

Well, it would not be so nice after being unceremoniously thrown in the ground.

Mitch

I don't think they could have had such a nice distribution without deliberately and carefully placing the books.

Sonic The Hedgehog

Look, placed carefully or not, they were placed on a SIDEWALK.

Mitch

good point.

Sonic The Hedgehog

3:13 AM

filled with germs and grimes and dirt of generations.

Mitch

but then like stray animals, you get to take them away afterwards and treat them nice.

Sonic The Hedgehog

Or are they all the same thing?

cornbread ninja

nicely

Sonic The Hedgehog

period.

Mitch

nicely treat them nice? ain't that how people in your neck of the woods talk too?

@SonicTheHedgehog probably the same. Caesar's dust is the usual example.

Sonic The Hedgehog

3:15 AM

Mitch

"We are currently experiencing technical difficulties, including new and active questions not showing up on the homepage.
These issues are being fixed; we thank you for your understanding. "

waiwai933

Bugs should be fixed now. Hopefully. :)

Mahnax

Awesome!

Gigili

@Mahnax Yes, I am.

Hello, by the way.

Mahnax

@Gigili Indeed!

Hello.

My dad did get me Fahrenheit 451, so I am happy now. I also prepared myself a nice cup of tea.

Sonic The Hedgehog

3:24 AM

It's 11:23 PM. You gonna read now?

Mahnax

Sure.

Gigili

That's 232 Celsius.

Sounds good.

Mahnax

I stay up until 2.00 or 3.00 most weekend nights.

Have any of you read Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman?

Sonic The Hedgehog

Good Omens... think I read about it in one of my elementary/middle textbooks...

Mahnax

Why would you be reading about it in a textbook?

It's fiction.

Sonic The Hedgehog

3:27 AM

It was English Literature Textbook.

Mahnax

Well, that makes more sense.

Sonic The Hedgehog

And I didn't read it, I read about it.

Mahnax

I've never had an English textbook though.

@SonicTheHedgehog Do you remember anything about it?

Sonic The Hedgehog

Really... My English Textbook was full of Fiction Novels often ending with moral. I loved it. continued to read it to this day.

@Mahnax Nope. But since Mom and I bought my past textbooks through Amazon, I'm sure I could dig it out somewhere.

Mahnax

@SonicTheHedgehog Doesn't your school lend textbooks to you?

Sonic The Hedgehog

3:29 AM

Uhh, no... why would they do that?

Mahnax

That's what they do here.

The school owns all of the textbooks and lends them to students for free.

But if you ruin one, or lose it, it's expensive.

Sonic The Hedgehog

After you graduate? I don't think so.

Mahnax

No, not after you graduate.

But you haven't graduated yet.

Sonic The Hedgehog

Did so. Started my Freshman year this month.

Mahnax

That's not graduation!

simchona

3:31 AM

@SonicTheHedgehog Middle school graduation doesn't count.

Mahnax

Graduation is when you finish grade 12 or HS.

Sonic The Hedgehog

I got my Diploma. What.

simchona

@SonicTheHedgehog Can you get a real job with that?

I don't think so.

Sonic The Hedgehog

Its nice to have one though. Don't you agree?

simchona

Not really.

Mahnax

3:32 AM

It's a mockery of real diplomas.

simchona

Diminishes the value of actually graduating.

Mahnax

Middle school graduation stuff is a waste of time.

Sonic The Hedgehog

...Whats wrong with you guys today?

Mahnax

I had to write up and present a "valedictorian" speech for mine.

Sonic The Hedgehog

Take it as a joke or something, I don't know.

Mahnax

3:32 AM

I stood up in front of 1500 people and read a cruddy little speech.

It was yucky.

Sonic The Hedgehog

Thats what my friend did.

simchona

@SonicTheHedgehog joke? You're the one saying how special it is.

Sonic The Hedgehog

And she was proud that she was Valedictorian and had previlege to do it.

Mahnax

In my opinion, it's not a privilege. It's a pain in the rear.

Sonic The Hedgehog

@sim I'm guessing your Middle School memory is one you don't want to reminiscent about, hmm?

Well, I wouldn't have minded being the one writing speech and telling it.

At start she had 7 pages to read.

simchona

3:35 AM

@SonicTheHedgehog I didn't go to a separate middle school.

I went to a college prep school that encompassed K-12.

Sonic The Hedgehog

Then us telling her to condense it, she arrived to 2.

@sim College Prep?

waiwai933

@simchona They have college prep schools that start at kindergarten?

simchona

@SonicTheHedgehog What about it.

@waiwai933 Yup. I can give you the name in the lounge if you want to look it up

waiwai933

Mine starts at 7th.

@simchona Not that obsessed; just seems unusual. All the ones I know of in this area start around 6/7.

Sonic The Hedgehog

@sim Did you want to go to College Prep? Oh and I also never heard of it, hence the question.

simchona

3:37 AM

@SonicTheHedgehog It's not literally called "College Prep", so don't capitalize both parts.

@waiwai933 It doesn't literally bill itself that way, but as a private school that's pretty much what it was. The actual prepwork didn't start until middle school, though.

Sonic The Hedgehog

Wow. I can't even think of myself going to college prep.

I mean, I would downright refuse.

waiwai933

@SonicTheHedgehog Any particular reason?

Sonic The Hedgehog

They ask too much according to what I am reading.

I'm not saying either is good or bad...

simchona

So you don't want to work for things?

Sonic The Hedgehog

Just that I am not that type of person.

@sim college prep is not necessary for "things", unless I'm mistaken.

Mitch

3:43 AM

@Mahnax sounds very familiar

Mahnax

@Mitch Do you think you've read it, or just heard of it?

If you haven't, I strongly recommend it.

It's hilarious. But I guess if you're a Christian fundamentalist you might not see it that way.

Mitch

@Mahnax the luxury of having the honor is to denigrate it.

the salutatorian (2nd place) is surely quite jealous.

Mahnax

Nah, the "salutatorian" was actually rather glad that he didn't have to do it.

I am using quotes because middle school graduation is not real graduation.

Mitch

@waiwai933 don't think of it that way. It is a K through 12 school, graduating it from 12th the intention is to get everyone into college. It doesn't mean (not literally at least) that they are preparing you from kindergarten for college entrance.

Sonic The Hedgehog

Both Valedictorian and Salutatorian were girls.

Which was stereotypicaly ironic.

Mahnax

3:47 AM

They were both male at my school.

simchona

My school didn't do rankings.

Speeches were chosen via audition.

Sonic The Hedgehog

I now realize that I am surrounded by geniuses.

Mitch

@Mahnax heard of it (or it's on some shelf in my house that somebody else got)

the book that is, not the shelf.

they may have gotten the shelf too.

Sonic The Hedgehog

So I naturally asked myself at this moment this question: "What am I doing here?"

Mitch

but probably not.

the shelf that is.

Sonic The Hedgehog

3:49 AM

And my conscious responded: "To chat."

Mitch

@SonicTheHedgehog "My god what have I done"

simchona

@SonicTheHedgehog That's not grammatical.

Sonic The Hedgehog

Why?

Mitch

@cornbreadninja would know the rest.

simchona

"What am I doing here? To chat." doesn't even make sense

Sonic The Hedgehog

3:49 AM

@Sim See? I wouldn't know which was grammatical or not for my life.

Mitch

'chatting' does

simchona

"Why am I here? To chat" would make sense

@SonicTheHedgehog I think you're trying to use "for the life of me"

Mitch

but I understood 'to chat' (it wasn't a NNS-ism)

simchona

It's idiomatic

Sonic The Hedgehog

I refuse to edit.

Mitch

3:51 AM

@SonicTheHedgehog why is that?

Sonic The Hedgehog

@Mitch Idk, all the people are saying that Girls are smarter or something...

Mitch

@Mahnax no, but you could also say that any other graduation is not real either. High School? you can't get a real job with that. College? lots more people involved, so valedictorian there is a bigger deal.

@SonicTheHedgehog they are scoring better nowadays. the culture for them is not to blow all their time with compter games.

Sonic The Hedgehog

I feel nostalgia when I find computer games that I played 8 years ago.

Mitch

You have heard that males are becoming 'unneeded'

'redundant'?

Sonic The Hedgehog

@Mitch Wrong. We are needed to reproduce.

Mitch

3:54 AM

science is about to take care of that.

simchona

@SonicTheHedgehog Trust me. We'll find a way.

Mitch

ha ha! you said 'we'.

and you meant it in the nicest way possible.

Sonic The Hedgehog

Alright, lets take a bet. I don't know what to bet on, but I bet that Science won't find a way in trillion years(and more).

I am sure of it.

simchona

I'm so glad you trust in science.

We can clone things; why shouldn't there be a way for humans to reproduce without both sexes?

Will it be exactly the same? Probably not.

Sonic The Hedgehog

Keep your argument; you can gloat when you guys find a way. Until than...

simchona

3:57 AM

But that doesn't mean reproduction won't be possible. And that was never one of your conditions.

@SonicTheHedgehog Then.

Sonic The Hedgehog

I refuse to edit.

Mahnax

@SonicTheHedgehog Why?

simchona

And I refuse to stop correcting you.

Mitch

@SonicTheHedgehog 'you guys' !!

Sonic The Hedgehog

It starting to become tiresome. And anyhow, why are we discussing like this?

Nile

3:58 AM

It's*

Sonic The Hedgehog

We should be talking about English Literature, or something like that.

simchona

@SonicTheHedgehog You accidentally a word.

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…

Not for the faint of heart or those easily triggered by Englis...

5

Sonic The Hedgehog

Never really knew what that meant...

simchona

The topic isn't "English Lit".

Mitch

how about that Fahrenheit 451. The ending? amazing how they all...

Mahnax

3:58 AM

SHHHH

Nile

once upon a midnight dreary

Sonic The Hedgehog

Don't spoil it.

simchona

I believe that Fahrenheit 451 was symbolic of the existential lack of literacy...

Mitch

and then the explosions and the scene on the bridge where...

the dog dies.

Sonic The Hedgehog

...???

simchona

3:59 AM

But it also showed the author's melancholia at the heartbreaking truths which encompass all life.

Sonic The Hedgehog

Well, ain't it deep.

Nile

while I pondered weak and weary

simchona

Nevermore.

Mitch

how are a raven and a writing desk the same?

Sonic The Hedgehog

@Nile Took you that long to type 6 words?

simchona

4:00 AM

@SonicTheHedgehog Be nice.

Nile

It did not. Haha

Mitch

Poe.

Nile

But I have memorized all 18 stanzas :p

Mitch

Wrote.

Sonic The Hedgehog

Ah, I see.

Mitch

4:00 AM

On.

Sonic The Hedgehog

On what?

Mitch

Both.

simchona

@Mitch I always wondered what the answer was. The Hatter never said.

Mitch

SUpposedly Lewis Caroll really meant it to be absurdly without an answer..

but then people came up with such an answer which actually fits. Which I thought was meta-absurd.

Nile

twas brillig and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe

Mitch

4:02 AM

Or at least that's what I got from wikipedia or some google search.

simchona

Ah, the Jabberwock.

Mitch

...y.

Nile

memorized that one too, I don't think I can still recite that though without taking a look for a few minutes.

Mitch

hunting of the snark is kinda boring in comparison.

Mahnax

Phantasmagoria was great though.

simchona

4:03 AM

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

@Mitch Within the poem, there's no y.

@sim Sounds tasty.

Oh. hm...

"Jabberwocky" is a nonsense verse poem written by Lewis Carroll in his 1871 novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, a sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The book tells of Alice's adventures within the back-to-front world of a looking glass. In a scene in which she is in conversation with the chess pieces White King and White Queen, Alice finds a book written in a seemingly unintelligible language. Realising that she is travelling through an inverted world, she recognises that the verse on the pages are written in mirror-writing. She holds a mirror to one ...

The full poem is in there.

Mitch

That particular stanza I find unsatisfying because most of the content words are actual English

Nile

I still love Poe.

the skies they were ashen and sober / the leaves the were crisped and sere

the leaves they were withering and sere

(only memorized a few stanzas out of that)

Mahnax

4:08 AM

That happens to be my book.

Mitch

Poetry (or music lyrics when heard) never makes sense to me. All I hear is the sound and not the meaning.

Nile

@Mahnax what's with that keyboard

Mahnax

@Nile How do you mean?

Nile

the keyboard on that computer doesnt align with the edge of it

Mitch

It's a Mac keyboard. That's what's wrong with it!!

Nile

4:09 AM

Oh, the book is overlaying

Mahnax

The book is covering the edge of the keyboard.

Nile

I'm an idiot head-desk

Mahnax

@Mitch It's much better than any other keyboard that I've used.

The keys don't clack obnoxiously like the ones at school.

Nile

to be honest, I'm using the same computer and I've never reallyliked any laptop keyboard

Sonic The Hedgehog

I have a friend in my computer class.

He uses Mac everything.

His usual daily stuff to do is to check Apple website.

Mahnax

4:10 AM

How does one use Mac everything?

Mitch

So now that we've discussed literature, how about those useless males? Scientists found a way to fertilize a human egg with out a sperm. In vitro. Which can then be implanted. What use are men then?

Nile

I've got a mac and then a windows for programming... i'd like to switch to linux but I can't, too scared.

Sonic The Hedgehog

AND He uses Blackberry.

face palms

Mahnax

I dislike Blackberry.

Sonic The Hedgehog

And he defends Apple.

We are friends though.

Nile

4:11 AM

what an idiot

Mahnax

I like Mac computers.

I like iPods.

Sonic The Hedgehog

@Nile That's what I thought till I got to know him.

Nile

apple is the Tiger and your friend is the Lamb... poor lamb (~william blake)

Mahnax

I know someone who tries to defend Apple all the time.

He is an idiot. I say that in the kindest way possible.

Mitch

Poor Windows. All defenseless. All the power so they're easy to complain a bout.

Apple was the underdog forever. For since they first started up until about...5 years ago and the iPhone.

Mahnax

4:15 AM

Sometimes I wish the iPhone had never happened.

I wonder where Apple would be without it.

Nile

the new ipod though. I've never thought an ipod touch actually looked good. I've got the 4th one and I've thought it looked the best but all of them looked like crap IMHO... the new one looks MUCH better

Mahnax

I like the way the iPod Classic looks.

I have one of those, and an iPod Touch.

Sonic The Hedgehog

IPod Shuffle and IPod Nano is just IPod Classic split apart.

Mahnax

That is entirely incorrect.

Sonic The Hedgehog

Yeah, about that touch one...

Nile

4:16 AM

funny story. I bought my ipod 4g off amazon. I bought a 32 gb because I didn't need 64 gb so i didnt even bother checking the price. Ordered it. Next day out of curiosity I checked the price. $1 more than the 32 gig

Mahnax

Well done…?

Sonic The Hedgehog

Shuffle, that's it. Yeah.

Confused Shuffle with Touch...

Nile

amazon should have an alert "Are you sure? The one that has twice the storage is only $1 more."

Sonic The Hedgehog

Refund and buy the 64.

prime

6:35 AM

Can i ask?

How are you all?

Anybody there?

user19161

@prime What do you want to ask?

prime

I have deleted cookies from firefox, now how can i get back that account, english.stackexchange.com/users/25985/guru

and it's reputation

user19161

@prime Create a registered account and then ask a moderator to merge the two accounts for you either here in chat or on ELU meta. See that is the problem with unregistered accounts. They got lost very easily. In life, often what is lost cannot be found again.

prime

This is my registered account = prime

user19161

@prime There is no ELU mod here in chat. Post on meta ELU a merge request now.

prime

6:42 AM

Where is meta?

user19161

@prime If you go to the main site you can navigate there from the top.

prime