English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room - 2015-06-29 (page 1 of 2)

« first day (1691 days earlier) ← previous day next day → last day (3229 days later) »

3:15 AM

What if the elephant in the room is an actual elephant? How did he get there?

6 hours later…

9:07 AM

So today is the International Italy Is Even More Hilarious Than Russia Day.

user image

9:38 AM

@terdon Thanks for the Populist badge :P

Thanks for the Populist badge, now enjoy your Nepotist badge.

touché :)

Touché is a German boy band famous from the mid to late 1990s, created and produced by Dieter Bohlen (a member of Modern Talking), who wrote most of the music and lyrics and choreographed for the project. The band split in 2001 after five years together and are best remembered for hits such as "This Goodbye Is Not Forever", "I'll Give You My Heart", and "I Can't Get No Sleep". Touché also heavily featured on the international hit single by The Bravo All Stars, "Let the Music Heal Your Soul". It has since been established that one of the members of the group was removed from the band during an Asian...

It must hurt to be removed during an Asian. I'd rather be removed during an Antarctian.

The great thing about ELU... one gets to learn something new every day. Even if it is about German boy bands :)

And yes, being removed during an Asian must be an awful experience :|

I am not sure "great" is the word you're looking for. Who wants to learn about this

user image

user image

The nineties were horrible. Ah, good times.

9:45 AM

That knowledge just might win one a particularly bad pub quiz...

Just back from holidays, makes me temporarily optimistic :)

I think for a particularly bad pub quiz you'd have to name all five names.

I only know Karim. See, I've already failed.

I'm doing my best learning them by heart right now

Also, this is the first time I hear about I Can't Get No Sleep.

I only know that line from Faithless, but the title was Insomnia.

Not that Dieter Bohlen never plagiarized before, or after.

I'm learning more than I bargained for :D

We'll only charge you 3000 shilling on the way out.

Peter Schilling - Major Tom - Maxi Single 1982

10:27 AM

@RegDwigнt It's pronounced douche, right?

@Robusto that's pronounced d'ouch, right?

Then no.

Time for pointless meetings! Arrivegoodnight.

2 hours later…

12:15 PM

@RegDwigнt: I kinda figured that "Good luck to you in all your endeavors" question was some guy getting the bum's rush from a chick, but that didn't become clear until his final comment.

@Robusto of course. We all knew that. Still, doesn't hurt to tell him "we are not them, go ahead and ask them".

We are not here to solve the mysteries of business or love relationships.

No. We're not an advice column.

We're only here to resolve the mysteries of language. Of which in "good luck" there's about as much as in "fuck off".

Still, I wonder if cues like that are hard to pick up only for pineapples, or if native speakers might still be just as clueless. Probably the latter.

In fact, almost certainly the latter.

As I commented in my third (!) comment, and I am paraphrasing, not picking up on these cues has nothing to do with being a pineapple and everything with being, um, not from this world.

He'd be having the same question if she wrote it to him in Russian or French.

12:20 PM

Ayup.

It has nothing to do with the language. At all.

Because he doesn't want to believe the truth.

Maybe if I ask the question on ELU there will be some hope for the relationship.

@RegDwigнt Non-verbal language, perhaps?

Hello @Robusto, @RegDwigнt!

hullo

Hi I need a word that means neither life savior nor a destroyer

12:22 PM

Hah! I can't believe that it's popular here too!

(I mean the "hullo".)

@DamkerngT. No, that's not what I'm saying. It's the exact opposite. It's very much verbal. It's all out there. It just happens to be out there in language X and not Y. But that doesn't mean that that has anything to do with any particular feature of language X and not Y.

room topic changed to English Language & Usage: Psycotherapy and relationship advice not included (no tags)

Good point. I agree.

Just because your math professor gives you a math problem in English, doesn't mean that it has anything to do with English. It is maths.

can there be any such term

12:23 PM

@strikers can you be any less precise?

sorry I didn't get it

Right now about two hundred thousand words fit the bill.

@Robusto There's no need for that. Maybe you'd forgotten me. But I agree that those shouldn't be included.

Human. Dude. Stuff. Cake. Automobile.

Survivor?

12:25 PM

Actually i'm showing information divided into 3 parts one is life saver, some are destroyers and remaining are neither of the both

room topic changed to English Language & Usage: Psycotherapy and relationship advice not included (no tags)

@DamkerngT. the info is about technologies

Then, um "neither"? "Other"? "Regular"? "Normal"? "Unspecific"? "Mediocre"? "Boring"?

@DamkerngT. I don't believe we've ever met, so I doubt I've forgotten you.

Why is that even a category if its defining trait is the absence of a defining trait?

12:27 PM

@Robusto We sure have met, the winterbash before the last. :-)

@RegDwigнt prattle . . . elephants . . . cardboard . . . metempsychosis . . .

I remember your haiku.

All solid suggestions.

@DamkerngT. You expect me to remember stuff from winterbashes past? I don't even recall the last winterbash.

(Well, not word-by-word. Just remember that you wrote some haiku.)

12:27 PM

Jun 16 at 14:19, by RegDwigнt

when rain turns to snow
it escapes me how many
moras a haiku

@Robusto I did not! That's why it's perfectly fine.

@Robusto I think it had winter. And bashes.

No no no no . . . that was splinter and lashes.

Lashez-faire.

Good word. And good policy.

12:31 PM

Tom Clancy's Winter Sell.

Hello friends :D

Oh, hi @skillpatrol! Long time, right?

Hello Tom Clancy's Skill Patrol.

Yep, I had some technical problems but I'm baaack @DamkerngT. :-)

Nice to see you again. :D

12:37 PM

You too pal.

Thanks!

Super Mario is Unreal⁴:

Mario Is Unreal

I saw you split up the ell room?

room topic changed to English Language & Usage: Psychotherapy and relationship advice not included (no tags)

Heh, typo.

@Robusto I thought you meant a Python compiler. :D

12:40 PM

I almost never mean a Python compiler.

Now's there a cabin @DamkerngT.

@skillpatrol Yes, there is one.

Except when the Python compiler is choking on your dog.

Are you watching the women's World Cup @DamkerngT.?

@skillpatrol Sorry! Lately I've watched almost nothing!

@skillpatrol Which team are you rooting for?

12:42 PM

Busy busy?

Do they have an all-male team? I'd root for that one.

@skillpatrol A little--not busy busy, though.

@RegDwigнt lol

I like England

@skillpatrol A-ha! Next match is the day after tomorrow, against Japan.

Women Soccer is for women what League of Legends is for men: a gargantuous waste of time for the ten people interested, and for everyone else not even a side note on the back cover of a history book they didn't even bother throwing away because they never bought it in the first place.

12:48 PM

*gargantuan

You're just sore because Russia didn't make it in :P

Exact meaning of word "Free" ?

I am not waisting my thyme on correcting that.

@Pandya No charge

@RegDwigнt And men's football is a titanic waste of time for the 5 billion people interested, for everyone else not even a side note.

12:49 PM

@Pandya Look up the word "dictionary" and you'll find it.

@skillpatrol I didn't even know that. I didn't even know Russia wanted to get in. Are you sure they wanted to get in? I am pretty sure they didn't want to get in.

@Cerberus exactly. See how different the two sports are?

Cerberus has just proven once and for all that women football is not football. Thank you, Cerberus.

No.

They both suck equally imo.

I'm all for equality.

In related news, can we talk about something interesting for a change?

Equal sucking.

I've now talked more about soccer in the last three minutes than in my entire life combined, past or remaining.

12:52 PM

Something interesting: TIL the word "grocer" comes from the word "gross" meaning a dozen dozen. Apparently grocers used a base-12 numbering system. Which is probably a good idea. It would make certain pesky fractions a lot less pesky.

Here, @Cerberus, I forgot to ping you on this one:

4 hours ago, by RegDwigнt

user image

Anonymous

@RegDwigнt Really, is there "women football" / "women soccer" with no 's?

@RegDwigнt I thought those might be divided into even/odd gates. Still weird, though.

@snailboat Really, do I care even that much about it to care about that?

Anonymous

Right edge affixes are important!

12:53 PM

No they arnt

@Robusto nobody knows, that's the thing. For all we know, it's actually perfectly correct, and you can get to 3-9 on both sides. But even so it is comfusing as hell.

Anonymous

@Robusto That's just an inflectional affix. Or, well, an inflectional affx.

Wrong edge affixes are important.

@snailboat I am indifferent to linguistics terminology.

You cant know whats right if you dont know whats wrong.

Anonymous

12:54 PM

The terminology isn't terribly important, anyway

I can be different to linguistics terminology, for $3000.

Anonymous

Though 's is particularly interesting, whatever you call it.

Ever since snailboat twitted me about morae eels I have not cared about such things.

Anonymous

I apologize for um, twitting

I dont think youre really sorry.

12:57 PM

On Twitter?

I am sorry as all fuck. Because I have to go to yet another meeting.

I am crying over seven rivers as we speak.

Later pal

@RegDwigнt So...both escalators are blocked?

Is that so shocking?

Or do you mean the numbers?

Uneven left, even right?

@Robusto There appears to be a stingray epidemic on Facebook, though.

More people are turning.

Anonymous

@skillpatrol I've never talked to Robusto on Twitter

@skillpatrol No, example I am free, you are free to do..., be free etc.

Anonymous

12:59 PM

I only really understood about half of Robusto's sentence :-)

I see :-)

@Robusto @skillpatrol dictionary.reference.com/browse/free?s=t : liberty

[ SmokeDetector ] Bad keyword in body: Can you “do” an action? by ygnim on english.stackexchange.com

@Pandya Free means "able to do"

@snailboat Hmm? Which half did you miss?

1:01 PM

oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/free

Like "freedom"

@skillpatrol exactly.

Do it. Do that. Do me. Do something. Do nothing. No problems at all with these. And don't fear for English grammar. It's survived worse. — Robusto 40 secs ago

user image

What don't you understand about freedom @Pandya?

Not enslaved.

1:03 PM

user image

Btw, While visiting en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratis_versus_libre , I want to know what word "free" should use (priority to liber or gratis)? @skillpatrol

@Pandya There is no inherent priority. It depends on context.

The sense "liber" is probably more common, but it all depends on the situation in which the word free is used.

Freedom, however, always means liberty.

For free always means gratis.

As to context:

a free thing = gratis

a free person = liber

Of course there are exceptions.

@Cerberus Except in freedom fries.

Well, at least it doesn't mean the fries are free in that context!

Except as in free not to buy French products.

Nice exception :D

1:10 PM

That is not an exception...

3 mins ago, by Cerberus

Freedom, however, always means liberty.

Not to my rules anyway.

What is the essence of freedom?

Being unrestricted from something.

Is Libre an English word?

Liberty.

My stupid phone just translated my "if only to rule it out" into "if only thorium itchy." ...

1:13 PM

thorium

?

Hey, ask Google. I didn't write that.

@Robusto Your autoincorrect is kinda cute.

I currently hate computers and will not be mollified.

I see :-)

Toleration is always a good idea.

1:15 PM

Good point^

@DamkerngT. Oh yeah? Well . . . Hitler!

Umm... did he practice it?

No, we did.

I think we all do.

If toleration is always a good thing, as you suggest, then we should be obliged to tolerate intolerance.

1:17 PM

Oh yeah? Well . . . Ghandi!

@skillpatrol Good example.

Hah! Ahimsa is an English word. I didn't know that.

@DamkerngT. No it isn't either. It may be accessible in English, but it is a foreign word.

nods -- I think I get your point.

If it's in the dictionary it is English enough for me :-)

Noted.

1:26 PM

Liberian oil

Get it? Essence = oil, Liberian = free (or is it book)

Anonymous

@Pandya Libre isn't something people say very much in English.

Intolerance should be banned

Nachos libre are a great snack

@snailboat can you suggest me an English word that can be used instead of libre (that means libre)?

I just asked google and it said thorium rules

19 mins ago, by skill patrol

Liberty.

1:32 PM

Liberty shmiberty

Or give me death

Anonymous

@Pandya Not really. The whole reason Stallman uses libre and gratis is because he wanted to make a distinction that isn't usually made explicitly when people use the English word free.

@skillpatrol but it is noun not adjective.

That is just a commonly used example

Synonyms are your friends :-)

@snailboat ok

1:35 PM

A friend of a friend is not a synonym of friend

:D

Give me liver and onions. That's as good as death

Anonymous

@Pandya Luckily, you don't have to restrict yourself to single-word replacements with the same part of speech as free. You can express yourself however you like.

Anonymous

You can use phrases, even.

Work from the general to the specific

You get more context that way :-)

1 hour later…

2:55 PM

Haha, the latest Spanish word I learned is la ciénaga. So there is a major thoroughfare in Los Angeles that means "the swamp."

3:27 PM

Fingers crossed. I think my PC is fixed. Did a deep scan of the boot drive repairing sectors, etc., and so far it's been running for 30 minutes just fine. Before that it would fail as soon as I launched a program or waited two minutes, whichever came first.

3 hours later…

6:30 PM

Yay!

good

That was scary. I even bought 16GB of RAM to eliminate that as the problem. Now I have 32 GB!

@Robusto Congrats!

I had a similar problem earlier this year, but my computer has only 4 GB.

Heh.

I'm just glad I got that solved. The extra RAM is a bonus.

Though I can't imagine how I will use 32GB RAM.

I still have two extra 2 GB sticks lying around.

@Robusto Is it a Mac, a Linux, or a Windows?

6:43 PM

This one is Windows. I had to use my Mac for a few days while it was down.

The Mac is 7 years old and dog slow by comparison. The PC is my gaming/everything machine now.

Got it. My 4 GB PC is running Windows, too.

Win XP?

I have an iMac, but somehow I think its screen is too bright.

@Robusto Yes. A very old one!

@DamkerngT. That's the gamma. You can adjust that. Mac gamma is lots brighter than Windows.

@Robusto I've tried the dimmest, but it still looked a little too bright for me.

6:46 PM

Can you change the white point?

@Robusto Hmm... I don't know how to change the white point on a Mac.

> Mac OS X has a very good display configuration utility that allows you to set the white point or gamma for a warmer, yellow-y white on your screen. The effect is a screen that is easier on the eyes (although graphics specialists might have special requirements).

Noted. Thanks!

blogs.scientificamerican.com/symbiartic/…

Oh, that will be useful for me, I'm sure. Thank you very much.

6:50 PM

np

1 hour later…

8:03 PM

[ SmokeDetector ] Repeating characters in answer: Changing a person's name into an adjective by user127162 on english.stackexchange.com

8:36 PM

Which is the better idiom? tell him his business or teach him his business?

As in, I don't mean to {tell you/teach you} your business.

Though I'm not fond of this idiom in any case - alternative suggestions appreciated.

9:01 PM

@FaheemMitha Depending on your meaning, perhaps I don't want to carry coals to Newcastle or I don't want to teach your grandma (or hamster) to suck eggs.

1 hour later…

10:23 PM

so, single word:

If I have a textbox with validation, what is a good name for the happy path?

{ApprovedTemplate, SuccessTemplate, ...}

@JohanLarsson Happy path?

maybe

How about ValidatedPath? (Or ValidatedWhatever.)

ValidResponse. Yes, that's it.

Valid is good

ty sir

how do you do required fields?

fieldname [ ]*

What do you mean how do I do them?

10:31 PM

when you create a form

Well, I did fuck a woman named Fields once . . .

to show the user that the field is required

maybe star is the most widespread standard

How I do them depends on what's required. Usually a red or orange asterisk is sufficient.

red is standard but feels a bit wrong

good thing the star is small if using red

TIL that nine in Western languages gives evidence that we once used an octal number system, because it means "new" in all the languages: nueve/nuevo, neun/neu, neuf/neuf, and nio/ny for Norse. (See Johann Larsson for the correct spellings.)

10:34 PM

ny

And new?

ny means new

What means nine?

nio is the number

similar ish

maybe the Norwegians spell it nie

they do ni

checked with gt

Too late to edit.

10:36 PM

which one?

The TIL one.

typo?

no. I was editing as you were typing. Now it's too late.

you can bin it and post a new one

Nah, let the record stand.

I've been reading this book:

amazon.com/Heres-Looking-Euclid-Counting-Awe-Inspiring/dp/…

And it's pretty interesting.

He pretty much pooh-poohs the decimal metric system, averring that a 12-based number system would be infinitely more useful and much easier to use. Something I've said before myself.

10:40 PM

I agree, 12 is nice

if you have watermark text, do you remove it when focused or when typing first char?

94

A: Removing placeholder text on focus

Interestingly the w3 Spec for placeholder allows for either behavior: User agents should present this hint to the user, after having stripped line breaks from it, when the element's value is the empty string and/or the control is not focused (e.g. by displaying it inside a blank unfocused con...

looks like they want to wait

« first day (1691 days earlier) ← previous day next day → last day (3229 days later) »

Transcript for

Jun '1529

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…

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

phrase-requests pronunciation single-word-requests synonyms

join this room
about this room

00:00

06:00

12:00

18:00

all times are UTC

site design / logo © 2024 Stack Exchange Inc; legal

mobile