English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

RegDwigнt

10:12 AM

-3

Q: I have said somewhere THAT IN MY NEXT REINCARNATION I WANT TO BE A NIGERIAN AGAIN

What is the grammatical name and its function

grammatical-number

Hm.

No idea what the grammatical name is, but I am quite certain it functions as a grammatical name.

A Beautiful Mind

10:37 AM

Why do I get delivery status notification that my email sending is delayed but I don't need to resend?

What does this mean? How can email sending be delayed?

Matt E. Эллен

I guess in case you were expecting a speedy response

@ABeautifulMind if it gets held up enroute

A Beautiful Mind

@MattE.Эллен But how does that happen? Isn't it instantaneous?

infinitesimal

There is still traffic

Matt E. Эллен

no. if the servers that are sending your mail are busy, it could get caught in a backlog

A Beautiful Mind

Wow, then the system is fucked.

I mean, it's just email, not an elephant.

Matt E. Эллен

10:39 AM

but if you had enough emails to fill an elephant...

A Beautiful Mind

I think I have broken out of my longest cycle of great anxiety. But now I need to figure out how to make progress.

infinitesimal

You have made progress by breaking out :-)

Now just remember how you did it.

Matt E. Эллен

@ABeautifulMind well done. that is really good.

A Beautiful Mind

@MattE.Эллен Sometimes, I think that what has happened has changed my brain irreversibly, to a state where I may never recover. Hmm.

Matt E. Эллен

@ABeautifulMind Seems unlikely.

infinitesimal

10:56 AM

I never knew Nash's son was a mathematician.

He's also a top ranked chess player.

I'm reluctantly starting to believe what they say about 60% of our intelligence being genetically determined.

RegDwigнt

50% of the time, that is 100% the case.

Matt E. Эллен

7

Q: Make more close vote statistics available

Closing questions is a pretty important part of site moderation, and one of the aspects that a new site needs to figure out to be successful. Getting useful statistics about closing is pretty much impossible because closed questions are automatically deleted in many cases. But those statistics c...

feature-request moderator-tools close-reasons

that would give us a clear thing to point to, if it were public, when people start to complain that we're mean

speaking of statistics

RegDwigнt

Isn't this data explorer thingawhatitscalled still a thing?

I know I've used it in the past to tell people off.

Matt E. Эллен

yes, but the data on data explorer doesn't take into account deleted questions

and closed questions get auto-deleted after 5? days

some number

RegDwigнt

Wha

Dat mus be new.

Matt E. Эллен

11:08 AM

some closed question get auto-deleted

RegDwigнt

Perhaps if them's downvoted with no answers or something.

Matt E. Эллен

I'm guessing <=0 vote and 0 answers

jinx!

RegDwigнt

Because I sure have to delete a ton of questions every month that are sitting at -7 or less.

Johan Larsson

I wrote a bloated mess

RegDwigнt

Congratulations.

Matt E. Эллен

11:10 AM

you should get it seen to by a doctor

RegDwigнt

Is it a christ mess or a candle mess?

Matt E. Эллен

Or a michael mess

Johan Larsson

a dark mess

Matt E. Эллен

you've created dark matter! you'll get a nobel prize

RegDwigнt

The dark mess must go down the river of nights dreaming.

Johan Larsson

11:11 AM

Styx

RegDwigнt

In the velvet dark mess of the blackest night burning bright there's a guiding star.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt Waxing poetic this morning, are we?

Matt E. Эллен

I think "picture show" is a funny idea, like we're about to watch a bunch of pictures, which I suppose is accurate, but still seems odd

infinitesimal

How about "tv show"?

Matt E. Эллен

that's a show on tv.

infinitesimal

11:20 AM

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Picture_Show

Robusto

@MattE.Эллен It's a rustic American synonym for movie.

terdon

Science fiction double feature.

Matt E. Эллен

aye

infinitesimal

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rocky_Horror_Picture_Show

Robusto

Jules: [talking about Mia, Marsellus Wallace's wife] I think her biggest deal was she starred in a pilot.
Vincent: Pilot? What's a pilot?
Jules: Well, you know the shows on TV?
Vincent: I don't watch TV.
Jules: Yeah, but, you are aware that there's an invention called television, and on this invention they show shows, right?
Vincent: Yeah.

Matt E. Эллен

11:26 AM

lol

infinitesimal

I think "moving-picture show" sounds better @matt

Matt E. Эллен

true, that is a better phrase for it :) probably where the term "movie" comes from.

would it have been natural to say "I'm making a moving-picture show"? Like one might say "I'm making a movie"?

infinitesimal

Perhaps "motion-picture" is closer to a "movie".

Johan Larsson

Comment!

infinitesimal

Then we can drop the word "show" :-)

But I think the confusion arises between a "picture-show" and a "show of pictures". Which is a natural enough interpretation.

A motion picture and a picture of motion are less easily confused, I think.

Matt E. Эллен

12:20 PM

I wonder if people with beards live longer or shorter on average

Johan Larsson

They have a higher quality of life for sure.

And quality is like size, it matters.

Matt E. Эллен

:D

Robusto

@MattE.Эллен And further, whether beard length is directly proportional to longevity.

Matt E. Эллен

oh! good point

Robusto

> You can now read 74.9% of all real Spanish text

@MattE.Эллен: How far are you in the course now?

RegDwigнt

12:33 PM

You can now unread 25.1% of all unreal Spanish text.

I just did and I can recommend it.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt You're just showing on.

Cerberus

12:45 PM

Morning.

@RegDwigнt So did you know the Lego thingy?

18 hours ago, by Cerberus

terdon

12:58 PM

@Cerberus Heh, I was seeing chromosomes until I recognized one and the rest came into focus.

Matt E. Эллен

@Robusto Same as last time. I've had a fun weekend :D not been online that much

terdon

And I'm not alone, the image is among the first results for "lego karyotype" on google images.

Matt E. Эллен

I recognise a half, but not the other half

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus not only did I know it, but so did you, because that exact image got posted in this room on three different occasions.

Cerberus

@terdon At first, I just thought, oh, some abstract arty thing.

@RegDwigнt I am not surprised. Although I don't read the logs.

RegDwigнt

1:04 PM

@Robusto the show ing go on.

@Cerberus it's sufficient if you read the branches.

Cerberus

I break them.

Chew on them.

Fetch them.

But read?

terdon

@MattE.Эллен Which ones do you miss?

Robusto

Yesterday`s Papers - The Rolling Stones (HQ)

►

Matt E. Эллен

@terdon 0,2 1,1 1,2 1,3

Robusto

The branches are tomorrow's papers, not yesterday's.

Matt E. Эллен

1:16 PM

oh! 1,1 is the smurfs

I've got 1,2, too

Robusto

LANGUAGE IN INDIA "Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow"

Well, you can always hope. But YMMV.

Matt E. Эллен

@terdon so, I don't get 0,2 and 1,3

Robusto

No hables a oidos del necio. "Words of wisdom, Lloyd, words of wisdom."

terdon

@MattE.Эллен 0,2 is the teenage mutant ninja turtles

Matt E. Эллен

@terdon no, 1,0 is the TNMT

terdon

1:20 PM

Which one is 1,3? If you're treating it as an array, each should only have two elements right?

Matt E. Эллен

column,row

0,1
1
2
3

terdon

Ah, OK. I don't remember what those two are called but I know the characters. Think dark curly hair.

@MattE.Эллен ^^

Can't find a proper version of them :)

Matt E. Эллен

yeah, that's 1,2

0,2 is the short thing, the single brick then the tall thing

terdon

@MattE.Эллен Asterix, Dogmatix and Obelix

Matt E. Эллен

oh!

terdon

1:25 PM

WHat's the name of 1,2 ?

Robusto

Bert and Ernie Melonhead.

Matt E. Эллен

bert and ernie

jinx!

Robusto

Partial jinx. You left off the Melonhead.

terdon

Ah, yes, bert and ernie, cheers!

Robusto

Matt E. Эллен

1:27 PM

yum!

I still don't recognise the bottom right

maybe it's a show I haven't seen

Robusto

@tchrist: See, here's one of the constructions I'm having trouble with: A ella no le gustó él. They say that should be "She didn't like him," and not "He didn't like her." I'm confused. Why is it a ella?

Mitch

@Robusto It's ella confusing

tchrist

Gustar means "to be pleasing to".

Mitch

It means to blow wind in English, spelled badly of course.

Robusto

@tchrist I know that.

It's equivalent to gefallen in German.

tchrist

1:35 PM

It’s the opposite direction from like. You switch subject and object if you think of it as like.

Mitch

Just like in German!

Robusto

But le . . . so that is feminine?

tchrist

To her was not pleasing he.

Mitch

All these other languages get it wrong.

tchrist

Le is dative, and generally unmarked for gender.

Robusto

1:36 PM

OK. I'll try to think of it in literal translation than, like you gave.

Mitch

Who is the one doing the not liking. Me. I don't like that at all.

tchrist

"A mí no me gustas tú" is You are not pleasing to me.

The real subject, if written, tends to be at the end.

Robusto

So "Nos gustó ese hotel" is we liked that hotel.

Matt E. Эллен

who is the one doing the not liking? You! You are the one doing the not liking! I cannot beileve you would do the not liking

tchrist

@Robusto Right.

Mitch

1:38 PM

AFK ... sneezing fit. The sneezing fit doesn't like me. nor the hotel

Robusto

@Mitch Apparently the sneezing fit likes you at least a little.

tchrist

No me apetecen los calamares.

RegDwigнt

@Robusto I'm sorry, but yesterday's papers are not available in Germany.

Robusto

I hate the preposition por. It's too squishy, and too false-friendy.

RegDwigнt

Yeah it sounds like pig.

tchrist

1:40 PM

¿Porqué?

RegDwigнt

Por sempre.

tchrist

Y nunca.

RegDwigнt

Y nuestros mamanos tambiénos.

tchrist

Cuidado por el oriental.

@Robusto Por looks to the past; para to the future.

Robusto

Do we have a past imperfect tense in English?

RegDwigнt

1:42 PM

I can never tell apart cuidado, ciudad, cuarto, cuatro, and cuadro.

So many different words that are the same word. It's almost like English.

tchrist

@Robusto I was washing my shirt when María called me.

I would always take a walk before dawn.

RegDwigнt

O Maria, wie schön war es früher!

tchrist

But in English, the model, it breaks down with to be.

RegDwigнt

Just yesterday I was contemplating how you can't say "I've been living here for 20 years" or "I've been working at X for 10" in nigh any language.

Instead, you'd say "I live here for 20 years" and "I work at X for 10".

Robusto

@RegDwigнt In German you'd say "I live here since 20 years."

Matt E. Эллен

1:45 PM

see, so everyone else is weird except English speakers

tchrist

And it’s harder than that in Spanish.

RegDwigнt

@Robusto yes, that's what I'm saying. Same in Russian.

Robusto

Sorry, edit.

RegDwigнt

Yeah since for same difference.

tchrist

Hace veinte años que trabajo aquí. Llevo veinte años en Alemania.

RegDwigнt

1:46 PM

The tense is the point.

@MattE.Эллен English is so stupid, it doesn't even have a word for stupid and has to go with the French one.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt What about dumb? That's a cognate with German dumm.

Matt E. Эллен

@RegDwigнt So spake the Hippo. And what language do hippos speak?

tchrist

Trabajo en Alemania desde hace veinte años.

RegDwigнt

@Robusto Yeah, no idea what you're talking about, do you have an English word for "cognate"?

Robusto

@tchrist: And why is simple past obtuvo not obtuvó?

tchrist

1:48 PM

@Robusto Strong verb.

RegDwigнt

@MattE.Эллен moo moo moo.

tchrist

The switch to an I/U vowel in the stem suffices to signal the preterite.

Robusto

Strong verbs I also hate. Or like. Depending.

Matt E. Эллен

@RegDwigнt Sounds English to me!

RegDwigнt

The present subjunctive of obtuvo is obtuse.

tchrist

1:50 PM

You are going to break him worse than the Argentines.

Oafish.

RegDwigнt

Yeah. Imagine calling your people "Moneys".

Seriously, who even does that.

Robusto

No, they are called silverys.

tchrist

Los monos lo hacen.

Matt E. Эллен

I don't remember that line...

Robusto

No tengo los monos.

RegDwigнt

1:51 PM

@Robusto not if you ask the French, and as we only just determined, English always asks the French.

tchrist

@Robusto ¿Dónde nos los escondiste?

RegDwigнt

I mean, seriously. Even money is French again.

tchrist

11 hours ago, by tchrist

All cheating is from French.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt Well, the French are peculiar people. They call "the bill" or "the check" l'addicion or something like that.

RegDwigнt

Probably with a tea.

Robusto

1:53 PM

I know it to hear not to spell.

RegDwigнt

Your Brazilian is showing.

tchrist

La cuenta ≠ el cheque

RegDwigнt

No me doy cuenta.

tchrist

¿Si te hubieses dado cuenta, la pagarías?

RegDwigнt

Alas, speaking of cuenting work, I have to do some cuenting work.

tchrist

1:56 PM

coño

RegDwigнt

Nono, I do have to write invoices.

tchrist

Menos mal.

RegDwigнt

Which I, as the French put it, detest.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt Detest is the opposite of test.

tchrist

Der.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…