English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Mitch

1:01 AM

A Kafkan is a long dress-like shirt. — Mitch 1 min ago

Robusto

@Mitch No. A Kafkan is a long dress-like pullover that makes you look like a cockroach.

Cerberus

@Robusto Not a kaftan?

I only know kaftan.

Robusto

@Cerberus Yes, of course a caftan. But this is a riff on that.

Cerberus

Oh, I see the question now.

Robusto

Get it? Kafka, cockroach?

Cerberus

1:37 AM

@Robusto Why the cockroach?

Robusto

1:58 AM

The Metamorphosis

The Metamorphosis (, also sometimes translated as The Transformation) is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. It has been cited as one of the seminal works of fiction of the 20th century and is studied in colleges and universities across the Western world. The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed (metamorphosed) into a large, monstrous insect-like creature. The cause of Samsa's transformation is never revealed, and Kafka never did give an explanation. The rest of Kafka's novella deals with Gregor's attempts to adjust to his...

Have you never read anything even semi-modern?

Cerberus

4:25 AM

@Robusto Oh, that book. I have not read it.

Was it inspired by Dostoevsky, by the way?

The story where a man is eaten by a crocodile?

Matt Эллен

9:05 AM

Buenas dias!

La tertulia

General discussion for spanish.stackexchange.com

Matt Эллен

10:21 AM

in The Bridge, 1 hour ago, by 3ventic

RegDwigнt

@MattЭллен um. Conjugation?

Matt Эллен

yeah. I'm not sure what word they meant there

but the punchline still works

RegDwigнt

@MattЭллен declension.

Matt Эллен

ah!

RegDwigнt

When faced with allegations of a sexual relationship, Bill Clinton politely declined any noun.

Matt Эллен

10:35 AM

:D

The trick to letting go of a noun is to declench

RegDwigнt

Dame Judi DeClench.

skullpatrol

Why is there a bot in the cs room talking to itself?

cs169

RegDwigнt

I. Am. Funnybot!

skullpatrol

:D

Mitch

12:22 PM

@skullpatrol Couldn't find anyone else intereseting enough to talk to?

skullpatrol

@Mitch sad, but true :(

skullpatrol

12:54 PM

cs169-1x-irc

A Chat Room linked to the CS169.1x IRC Chat

maybe i'll go hang myself in the hangman room

|

0

|

\

Damkerng T.

o|--|

RIP

:P

Alraxite

1:36 PM

By the way, would 'it is you that is wrong' or 'it is you that are wrong' be correct?

Maybe the first?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Alraxite They are both right, depending on how many people you're speaking to.

Alraxite

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 OK.

Oh, right right, thanks.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

But usually people just say "No, you're wrong." "No, you are." "No, you." "You!" "You!" "You!" "You!" "You!" "You!" "You!" "You!" "You!" "You!" "You!" "You!" "You!" etc

Mitch

1:53 PM

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 That's just wrong.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

No, it's right.

terdon

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Wouldn't you say it's you who is right?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@terdon No.

oh wait.

are you asking if you should use "who" instead of "that"?

I think either is fine.

terdon

Yes

Well, asking if you would use it, I know what I would do :)

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I think I would say "that".

informally, anyway.

If I was trying to sound like Gandalf, maybe I'd write "who"

Matt Эллен

1:59 PM

no! you is the one what is wrong

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

wrong! the one that is no is you.

Matt Эллен

2:16 PM

I am no? No, I am!

Sam I am?

Am you Sam?

Sam I am, exactly!

No, you!

YESU

2:25 PM

Hi.

Matt Эллен

Hi.

KitFox

sup?

Matt Эллен

I am sleepy. Went to bed too late

supwidu?

KitFox

Not much.

DId you have good reasons for staying up late?

Matt Эллен

I was at an oxhack meeting. not the fun kind, the organisational kind. they always run long

so much talking in circles

KitFox

2:28 PM

Well, you are an eternal sex-god. I expect you to run long.

Matt Эллен

:D

Our main points of concern were how to deal with problem members and ArtWeeks

KitFox

Are you a problem member?

Matt Эллен

no

KitFox

Good.

Mitch

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 no u

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

2:38 PM

noel

so @KitFox did you see my Lego chinese writing?

KitFox

No I didn't.

Where is it?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

on G+

KitFox

Oooh. "China" nice.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

it's not exactly correct.

There's a stroke missing.

But I figured, whatever.

KitFox

The little dot. Close enough.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

2:45 PM

The interior:

I just noticed that thing on the wall is attached at the wrong place.

KitFox

OMG NO!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

yeah it's too low

KitFox

I don't know what you mean though.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

oops. Well, it's a WIP after all.

Matt Эллен

You'll be thrown out of the AFOL guild for that

KitFox

2:47 PM

I have a meeting. Talk to you later.

Matt Эллен

CU

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

The red/black/gold/brown decoration on the wall is one stud too low, so the grey supports show through the black grill.

I just fixed it on the real model but stupid photo doesn't update itself to reflect the new reality.

Matt Эллен

stupid photo

I thought photons were meant to be entangled

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

hmmmm. entangled photos.

ironically I had no trouble deciding how to build the walls for the lower section of my building. At every moment I had a plan, even if the plan kept shifting. But I had no clue what to put inside the building until I accidentally made the front of the building so that it reminded me of Chinese architecture. Then I filled the inside with a Chinese restaurant.

But the upper story, which will be an apartment: I know exactly what I want to put inside, and where inside it will all be, but I can't figure out a good way to make the walls work.

Matt Эллен

use feng shui

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

2:52 PM

lol. My problem is that it takes an insane quantity of bricks to build a wall like that, and despite having 40,000 pieces, it turns out I have a relatively small number of bricks of the same colour that I can use to make a wall.

So I have to make patterns, and put windows in, or other things, and that's much harder.

For one thing, I don't really have enough window pieces that all match.

Matt Эллен

dang! maybe the upstairs can be a different colour

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Yeah it will be. I used all my tan already.

And tan was my most common colour

Matt Эллен

hmmm

maybe have alternating colour brickwork?

diagonal stripes, maybe

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

yeah the problem is finding a suitable colour to use.

I could do it all in bright red or yellow or blue or white.

but I don't think that'd look nice.

Matt Эллен

red and white would work

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

2:55 PM

I tried new-dark-grey but A) it's too dark and B) I ran out.

Yeah I am thinking of doing white. But then the problem is sorting out all the white bricks that aren't white anymore.

Srsly white is such an annoying brick colour... white, yellow, blue: they discolour so easily. lt. grey also, but the new lt grey is better than the old.

Maybe I will use old light grey. I have tons of that. It's a bit boring though... but very appropriate for building walls.

Matt Эллен

maybe the faded bricks would give it an air of authenticty

throw a few cracks in the pavement

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

yeah.... maybe.

Matt Эллен

some graffiti

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I'm using a mix of old and new grey because of necessity, but also they are different colours and can be used for different purposes. But the yellowed bricks just look off.

MrHen

@KitFox: I want to start digging through tags and making changes but I have questions. (a) Is there a better way than individually applying edits? (b) Is there a way to not bubble all of these random questions up to the top of the Recent list?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

2:59 PM

maybe I should sort all the yellowed bricks into one separate bin.

Matt Эллен

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 yeah, sounds like a plan

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

makes notes to buy more bins

Matt Эллен

don't forget a bin to put your notes in

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

yeah I have one. A rubbermaid tub, 68L, full of Lego instructions.

What I need is a catalogue of which parts I have and what bin I'll find them in.

Matt Эллен

:D

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

3:08 PM

I have 38 bins so far, plus another 68L tub of un-binned parts.

Matt Эллен

so maybe you do have enough tan?

or is the tub full or unbinnable parts?

full of*

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

it's full of parts that don't have appropriate bins

There might also be some tan.... but not bricks.

Matt Эллен

3:30 PM

oh well

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

yeah I'm sure I'll find a solution

Cerberus

4:28 PM

Hello.

aedia λ

Hola!

Jez

growmakeseektake.com

Grow Make Seek Take, fun little game

Cerberus

Hola!

What's going on here?

aedia λ

Here where?

Here here I am wishing I was outside in the sun, because it's finally nice out.

Cerberus

4:45 PM

In tha house!!

Aww you can't work outside?

Alraxite

@Jez The help section is like reading a children's story.

Not a story, but it reads like it is for children.

aedia λ

@Cerberus Right now not really... kind of need the larger monitors, and need to get stuff done without the glare of the sun on the screen. Maybe I'll figure out something I can get done just on the laptop a little later and go sit on the porch.

Jez

5:01 PM

@Alraxite yeah, im kinda getting into the game though

Alraxite

@Jez Me too. I haven't encountered any enemies yet.

Cerberus

@aediaλ Sounds like a good plan!

Jez

@Alraxite i have. "S" basically turns from "seek" to "share" once the seek radius is maxed out. you need to make your cities help your other cities

Alraxite

5:16 PM

@Jez Ah, okay. I've encountered them. But from what I can tell, it would seem I'm winning.

Jez

yeah, im up to star cluster level tho

Alraxite

Star cluster level?

Oh, you made that up.

Jez

nope

land -> continent -> world -> star cluster

the numbers increase on each level :-)

Mitch

-> galactic core

Alraxite

Oh. Okay.

Cerberus

5:20 PM

@Jez This looks kind of interesting.

Mitch

Are there stars outside of galaxies? And if so can we even see them?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

yes, and yes.

I believe we've identified stars that have been flung out of their galaxies.

Rogue star

A rogue star, primarily known as an intergalactic star, is a star that has escaped the gravitational pull of its home galaxy and is moving independently in or towards the intergalactic void. More loosely, any star in an unusual location or state of motion may be termed a rogue star. Rogue Star can also refer to: In literature *Rogue Star, the third book of the Starchild Trilogy by Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson *Rogue Star, the second book of the Firestar series by Michael Flynn *Rogue Star, a Warhammer 40,000 book by Andy Hoare * "Rogue Star", a short story by Murray Leinster In ente...

news.vanderbilt.edu/2012/04/rogue-stars-intergalactic-space

Matt Эллен

Justin Beiber is moving towards the intergalactic void

Cerberus

Yeah, that.

Anonymous

@cryptic ツ That is exactly how I feel.

Anonymous

5:28 PM

Good luck :)

Jez

star cluster -> galactic arm

Jez

5:57 PM

and now galaxy, it goes on and on :-)

Jez

6:17 PM

sigh.... now im getting bored of this

nooooooo

the game locked up Chrome

heh

the game locks up Chrome every time i go to the page now

oh well, i got to universe level

damn thing, i bet i was right near the ending too

Alraxite

Maybe the universe is too big for Chrome to handle.

Cerberus

7:25 PM

@Jez Working fine on FF...

Fun game!

Robusto

8:14 PM

Ha, new useful abbreviation: cq, from cadit quaestio, loosely meaning "Don't even try to pretend you think the text in question has problems."

oerkelens

pity cq is already in use for casu quo, which doesn't make much sense in similar situations :)

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@oerkelens I think that might be a Dutch thing

oerkelens

The use is legalese, the origin is Latin.

That sounds pretty Dutch indeed :)

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Yes, but I mean, using casu quo. I've never seen it in English and wiktionary's entry for it puts it under Dutch.

oerkelens

That's wiktionary for you :)

But it might well be Dutch, I wasn't joking. Legalese Latin, we love that shit :)

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

8:20 PM

my point being that not all Latin phrases are part of English, even if some are.

oerkelens

Pity @Cerberus is too busy playing his game :)

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I know, some are just to hard to understand :P

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

well, it is a different language.

our Legalese is full of Latin phrases too.

oerkelens

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 At least that way the pope is supposed to understand what they are talking about :P

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@oerkelens Heh. I think the reason the tradition continues is so that the jargon can use words that avoid the connotations and multiple meanings that adorn ordinary words.

oerkelens

Time to use more Latin slang :)

Matt Эллен

8:28 PM

Man, Latin just doesn't have a word for QED.

oerkelens

Well, the word for tail already got "slanged", but they did that when the language was still alive

Stack Exchange

8:39 PM

Limerick Machine: Comics are for everyone The weak and the strong and the young If you’ve problems with sight…

posted on May 06, 2014 by sgdi

Comics are for everyone The weak and the strong and the young If you’ve problems with sight Or you can’t read or write And people I did not mention

Cerberus

@oerkelens Hello.

oerkelens

@Cerberus morning :)

Cerberus

I conquered my galactic arm.

But ever level is basically the same.

So I'm now done with the game.

oerkelens

:)

A good casual game that keeps being interesting for a long time is hard to find :)

Cerberus

Yes.

But the question is, what is casual, and what is interesting?

Jez

8:52 PM

did it lock up on universe? mine did :-(

Cerberus

I quit after getting my galactic arm.

And now is running time.

Later!

Matt Эллен

CU

oerkelens

bye :)

Cerberus

9:29 PM

Hye!

It is back!

Hmm I was fast, only 35 minutes?

Jez

that's what she said

Cerberus

9:44 PM

@Jez There has never been a she beyond some dirty dancing.

tchrist

10:16 PM

@Cerberus She does not articles admit, and must be obeyed.

Cerberus

10:28 PM

@tchrist Ohh I have heard of that.

And yet women are countable things: they can have an article.

tchrist

Women can; they cannot.

The women can; *the they cannot.

Cerberus

And yet a she is possible.

tchrist

Well, you wrote it.

And we understood it.

But it is mxzptlk.

Last reference in the OED is from the 1600s.

Sounds like xyzzy.

Personal pronouns just do not enjoy articles.

Its objectification irritates those them.

And if anyone has a legitimate gripe about such matters, She does.

Cerberus

Um are you serious here?

tchrist

> 1898 E. E. Morris Austral Engl. s.v. She-Oak, s.v. Beech, — The prefix she is used in Australia to indicate an inferiority of timber in respect of texture, colour, or other character; e.g. She-beech, She-pine.

What do you think of that usage?

Cerberus

10:36 PM

"A she" is perfectly normal in the context in which I wrote it?

@tchrist Funny.

> Arleen B. Dallery, ‎Charles E. Scott - 1989 - ‎Preview - ‎More editions
Indeed she, because she is a she, is no citizen at all. As a woman, she confronts the state as the sister of a citizen. She demands his rights, not hers. Antigone as woman (qua woman) has no place or rights in the public arena.

> Andrea L. Harris - 2000 - ‎Preview - ‎More editions
... "the toughies eat[ing] out of her hand": "convinced that she was a he in drag," they soon fight over her. When the "real" queens become jealous of newcomer U's success, they take it out on her, discovering that she is a she, rather than a he

> Karl Keating - 2000 - ‎Preview - ‎More editions
“Having wrestled with feminist theology and the study of the nature of God's attributes” — that is, having discovered he is a she — the professor “testifies to her recognition and appreciation of divine mystery in relation to the finitude of all human ...

tchrist

@Cerberus See how it parallels children calling things they find inferior “gay”? It’s the same with “she” there. We steal any word we can find for something we dislike.

Cerberus

Do you need more quotations?

tchrist

I still think it’s weird to address oneself to the first she who comes through the door.

Cerberus

@tchrist Yeah that's odd. A she-devil is no more or less evil than a regular devil, though.

@tchrist Uh what?

tchrist

“Billy throws like a girl.”

@Cerberus I’m using she as a noun instead of a pronoun, and it queers up the whole sentence, you must agree.

For example, would you give it to the first she or to the first her?

Mahnax

10:39 PM

@KitFox I wrote yesterday on a passage from Aimee Bender's "An Invisible Sign of My Own".

tchrist

And what’s the possessive form?

I believe this is some she’s coat.

Very odd.

Oh really, you think it’s she’s?

KitFox

@Mahnax Never heard of it. I will look for it.

tchrist

Yes, sir, I do.

How many shes does it take to field a baseball team full of shes?

Mahnax

@KitFox Yeah, I hadn't either. They pick obscure things so as to avoid giving students something that they might be familiar with. Also, they used a portion of the story that was effective as a standalone piece.

It was a very nice passage, I liked it.

KitFox

Interesting. What did you like about it?

tchrist

10:42 PM

What if I played all the positions myself? Then how many Is would it take?

Cerberus

@tchrist I'm not sure exactly what your point is here...

tchrist

Blither, blather, blooder.

Cerberus

OK check.

Mahnax

@KitFox Well, I liked the way it was written. I found myself sympathizing with the narrator, and it had a very nice "short story" vibe to it. Hard to explain without the text here, but I liked the ideas related to coming of age and growing up, and as a youth I found it accessible. The last line of the passage was my favourite.

KitFox

What was it?

tchrist

10:44 PM

> she-calends tr. L. femineæ kalendæ, the calends of March (when the Matronalia were celebrated)

Mahnax

Something along the lines of "And when I had settled in, and each drawer had a purpose, I invited my mother over for lunch."

tchrist

What, the Romans had Mother’s Day in March not May? I hate them for their weather.

Mahnax

The passage was about her being lovingly shooed out of the house and forced to find a place of her own, and the related anxiety and such.

The final line, to me, demonstrates a coming-to-terms with the situation and wraps up the story nicely.

tchrist

In catch-phr. who’s she-the cat’s mother? and varr., said to one (esp. a child) who uses the pronoun of the third person singular impolitely or with inadequate reference.

1897 S. Grand Beth Bk. xx. 204 - Don’t call your mamma ‘she’. ‘She’ is the cat.
1913 C. Mackenzie Sinister St. I. i. i. 9 - ‘Who’s She?’ demanded Nurse. ‘She’s the cat’s mother.’
1949 N. Streatfeild Painted Garden ix. 105 - ‘She said so.’ Jane looked superior. ‘She, my boy, is the cat’s mother.’
1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. iii. 52 - To one who keeps saying ‘she’ in an impolite manner the reproof is: ‘Who’s sh…

KitFox

@Mahnax I agree. That sounds really touching.

Mahnax

10:49 PM

@KitFox It was, but talking about it now makes it seem like it shouldn't be. Perhaps that's because I read the description of the book and realized that when considered as a whole novel, my analysis of one specific part of the excerpt (a compulsive behaviour the narrator demonstrated) no longer fit. But in the context of just the excerpt, it did, so I don't think I'm going to read the book. It'll likely ruin the feel of the excerpt.

Excerpt excerpt excerpt. What a funny word.

tchrist

Any word is if you repeat it often enough.

There’s a term of art for that phenomenon.

Mahnax

Once the examination is released online as a pdf, I'll probably print out the short story and keep it.

KitFox

Semantic satiety.

tchrist

Right.

Mahnax

Anyway, today's examination wasn't as easy but still went fairly well.