English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

12:15 AM

@Cerberus English is full of these, particularly in legal language. "Part and parcel". "Goods and chattels". "Will and testament". It dates back to the time when things had to be understandable and synonymous in both French and English.

Cerberus

12:29 AM

@DavidWallace Yes, well, I'm not sure it all leads back to that: I'd rather say it is typical of international legalese to do so.

You can see it in Latin documents as well.

And in Dutch documents.

And "part" is French as well.

cornbread ninja

@DavidWallace fantastic!

Cerberus

In this document we have just translated, you see "ultima voluntas seu testamentum" all the time.

cornbread ninja

what's this about ultimate testicles, then?

Cerberus

Hi!

This was about David's "will and testament".

Your link doesn't work for me...

cornbread ninja

I see that!

cornbread ninja

12:46 AM

It's funny to me, damnit.

Cerberus

Now I see it, haha.

tchrist

0

A: Why is "dingbat" used to refer to characters like "☺"?

The term dingbat refers to a idiot such as the bat that flew into a bell. When the bat hit the bell it made a ding sound, therefore, ding bat.

You can’t flag it as "not an answer". It is a stupid, wrong, and pathetic answer, but it is still an answer.

I guess you could flag it with "please make it go away".

But they would be within their rights to decline to do so.

cornbread ninja

1:24 AM

You'd flags++ if you marked that as 'not an answer'.

I'm testing this theory for you on the house.

Carlo_R.

1:43 AM

Hello @cornbread - "We're outnumbered" are you so nice to tell me what the meaning is? Thank you.

waiwai933

Actually, it isn't an answer to the question—he/she never addresses what the relationship the word "dingbat" has to those specific characters.

Which is annoying, because I was going to decline the flag just to spite you. :P

tchrist

Hah.

Whoa! Where did everybody go?

cornbread ninja

2:10 AM

@waiwai933 ._.

@Carlo_R. Be more numerous than: "women outnumbered men by three to one".

As I sometimes say somewhat jokingly, your children shouldn't outnumber you (meaning the parents). So... more than two kids would outnumber the parents.

tchrist

@waiwai933 You know, quite a few things get closed as GR without there actually being a citable simple link to a public Internet source for that particular answer. I think people use it for more than that.

-5

Q: "Thank you" at end of a letter or email

Which is correct at the end of a letter or email? "Thank you!" "thank you!"

That was closed as GR. I cannot believe there is a link that explains it.

Carlo_R.

2:26 AM

@cornbread thank you

tchrist

@simchona I think this answer my question:

1

A: Delete votes on 0-scored answers should count as a down-vote

I think this has been implemented, but I'm not sure if it's working as intended. When trolling the low quality posts queue on Arqade, I'm able to click a "delete" (not "recommend deletion") button on 0-scored answers. However, it doesn't register a downvote, and since the post is still at 0, the...

cornbread ninja

3:00 AM

@Carlo_R. you're welcome

nighty nights

Mahnax

Good evening, folks.

Shyam K

4:09 AM

If someone says "Goodnight"(cos its night for them) to you, how do you reply? It is still morning for you, so saying "Goodnight" won't be appropriate, right? Or is it appropriate to say "Goodnight" as you are wishing them a good night's rest/sleep?

Cerberus

@ShyamK You normally use whichever phrase fits the time of the addressee, because it is he that you are wishing a good day/night to. So in this case, the other person is mistaken in saying "goodnight" to you. You would normally wish him a good night back, because that's what it is for him.

However, all of this is completely trivial: it doesn't matter at all what you wish the other person.

Noöne should or would be annoyed if you wished him something that was not correct for his time zone.

If you want to be super correct, always use whatever time if appropriate for the other person; it doesn't matter what he said to you.

In practice, say whatever you want, because nobody thinks it matters.

Mahnax

1 hour ago, by Mahnax

Good evening, folks.

Chatkillah x2.

Cerberus

4:41 AM

@Mahnax Yo!

Mahnax