English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

12:17 AM

@Jasper What? I just made that up. Are you some sort of time-thinker?

@MattE.Эллен that is a poor excuse

user174558

@Mitch It's mentioned in a youtube video.

Oh

maybe it's me then

user174558

Edwin Ashworth likes to downvote my answers commenting that I am answering questions too trivial for the site.

user174558

I can understand his actions, but I love to provide answers to trivial questions.

user174558

People are free to downvote or delete my posts as well.

12:20 AM

@Jasper when i first showed up at ELU it would bother me when people answered obviously closable questions. BUt if it's a good answer then so what.

user174558

@Mitch The trivial questions are sometimes not so trivial, and the nontrivial questions are sometimes not so nontrivial, to the point where I think ELL and ELU should be one and not two.

yeah, I know what you mean.

it seems sorta silly to have both

user174558

How many users of ELU are linguists, etymologists and serious enthusiasts? Almost none.

user174558

It's time to have a reality check.

12:43 AM

there were some at the beginning

what's an etymologist? That's not a thing.

maybe a lexicographer.

but undeniable that people are enthusiasts.

2:22 AM

@Jasper Hi! I am an enthusiast, though I might possibly err on the side of purism. It doesn't seem that there are many purists on EL&U.

Then again, I haven't contributed very much too EL&U.

2:45 AM

@tchrist Your profile seems to indicate that you are the "Owner of these rooms: EL&U chat room... " What does that mean?

tchrist

@KaiMaxfield Nothing much, actually. I mean, I have owner privileges for ELU chat, but because I'm also a moderator, I automatically get that. I stick around here a lot, which is why I was made a room owner long before I became a moderator.

Oh cool!

Q: The correct usage of commas when writing about your locaation

3:02 AM

As per site etiquette, can I seek opinions about my recently posted answers? Of course I think that my answers are OK, but I'd like some critiquing from colleagues to make sure my head is really screwed on straight.

Damkerng T.

4:55 AM

@RegDwigнt I was still in my bed could be part of the reason. :-)

user174558

7:33 AM

@KaiMaxfield Yes, just use common sense, don't try too hard to follow rules. Rules are made by fallible men and change over time. You won't be arrested for breaking them!

user174558

7:52 AM

@DamkerngT. Thai horror movies are the scariest.

Shafizadeh

9:26 AM

@Mitch tnx buddy

Cerberus

10:28 AM

@RegDwigнt OMG I noticed that too and was just as appalled.

Childish would be a euphemism!

It's a different culture fo shoa.

@RegDwigнt In that case, you probably mean "fuck you, ELL".

@RegDwigнt I suppose they really don't want any accidents inside the building.

@RegDwigнt Hey, they have an emergency ladder, they should stop whining.

@RegDwigнt This tells me enough about Russian culture.

@RegDwigнt Umm Fleisch macht Fleisch, and then the cat bites off your penis?

Damkerng T.

@Jasper Do you especially like any of them?

BTW, ghosts in movies are sort of like superheroes, don't you think? They can "blink" to anywhere instantly, they can walk through wall, they can move objects without touching them, and so on.

Hi, @Cerberus!

Cerberus

10:51 AM

Hi!

user174558

12:49 PM

0

This: I live in London, England but we can work blah blah blah or this: I live in London, England, but we can work blah blah blah

comma

user174558

3 silly comments here but no answer provided to a perfectly good question.

user174558

I no longer like the tone of this site.

user174558

I dislike non-experts parading as experts.

@Jasper Hi, Jasper. Why do you think the comments are silly?

How many questions do you think have been asked about placing a comma after a location or before a conjunction.

What makes you think the question is a perfectly good question? Just because you think so?

1:05 PM

@DamkerngT. but their primary superpower is the ability to scare you. That's all. They can hardly do anything else.

@Jasper totally agreed, but to be devils advocate, open/crowd sourcing is intended to break the obscurantist guild by allowing much lower barriers to entry.

I am extremely annoyed by wiktionary (annoyances with Wikipedia are well covered)

user174558

I never use Wiktionary, but I do read Wikipedia often, to get a first look at a subject.

People who don't have any depth of knowledge or understanding are producing content

Like the cultural revolution, making farmers into surgeons

@Mitch Not always true. Wikipedia and Wiktionary are getting better. Some entries on Wiktionary are even better than Oxford or Merriam-Webster.

@Jasper Wikipedia is ok as a first glance

@Rathony I'm making a generalization. Actually I'm having a hard time thinking of examples of yours though

You can look up a few words in both Oxford and Wiktionary at the same time and compare them.

1:13 PM

I can give MW the benefit of the doubt, because I imagine they simplify definitions for web presentation. Wiktionary is coming from the other direction, trying to augment, starting from the most parsimonious personal experience

@Jasper I don't think you are familiar with the rules and guidelines of this community, but your answer to the question is not enough. The OP might be asking if a comma is needed before "but".

@Jasper And don't forget we have English Language Learners Stack Exchange where those OPs belong.

@Mitch I can't tell which is better definitely, but I feel Wiktionary is getting better.

@Rathony sure the progress in wiktionary is much more transparent (anyone can do it themselves easily). But that's not a comparison of actual quality. I am just complaining personally that when I am referred to wiktionary, the definition is usually deficient (missing nuances, missing alternate definitions, outright misleading defs)

Transparent means I could imagine and check progress but that's it. Not that quality is in fact improving

@Mitch I sometimes feel that, too. But there are some definitions that Oxford or MW don't have as they are not updated that often.

For a dictionary, the process using non experts to create expert rules is not scalable

I believe there's got to be editors for Wiktionary, but I don't think they have the same expertise.

1:26 PM

@Rathony because of web technology, I'm not so sure that online versions of dictionaries are not updated continuously

@Rathony the Wikipedia model suggests that but no guarantee that they are as involved as even the stackexchange moderators. And that comparison makes me feel that wiktionary can't be as good as SE and we both understand the state of quality here (many individual examples of greatness but on the whole...not exactly grammar girl or William Safire even)

@Mitch Some ELU answers are as imperfect as Wiktionary or Wikipedia articles.

ELU has become a homework site, too.

Where can I place a comma? Is the comma necessary?

How can I thank someone for having me?