English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

RegDwigнt

7:03 PM

Nobody tell Jasper about semicolons or dashes.

Ice Boy

or gorillas

RegDwigнt

or rap

Anonymous

gorillas‽

Ice Boy

that's what reg called me

RegDwigнt

I would remember.

I should resume workiing on a LEGO gorilla.

Ice Boy

7:05 PM

2 days ago, by RegDwigнt

That's Donkey Kong with a basketball. You're a gorilla.

RegDwigнt

It took you that long? I found it a minute ago.

No at-mention anywhere.

Will Hunting

Oh @RegDwigнt today I bought "Complete French" and "Complete German" from the "Teach yourself series".

RegDwigнt

I always have all bases covered. Especially the third.

@WillHunting Skandalbürgermeisterreichstumsverwalter. There, I just added a new word to German that is not included in your Complete German book. You can throw it away now.

Anonymous

@IceBoy Oh, Donkey Kong! Suddenly I miss my Colecovision :-) I had one when I was little.

Will Hunting

@RegDwigнt Those books will bring me up to B2 level.

RegDwigнt

7:08 PM

Hm, and I even introduced a typo. But don't matter. Your book won't tell you what it is, so I'm safe.

Anonymous

I think that if I actually had a Colecovision in 2014 I wouldn't nostalgic about it at all, given how terrible the controls were on that thing

Will Hunting

Eine kleine Nachtmusik, lol

user116848

@snailboat What's Colecovision?

Anonymous

So I'm kind of glad I don't have one, but I'm nostalgic at the same time :-)

Anonymous

ColecoVision

The ColecoVision is Coleco Industries' second generation home video game console, which was released in August 1982. The ColecoVision offered near-arcade-quality graphics and gaming style along with the means to expand the system's basic hardware. Released with a catalog of 12 launch titles, with an additional 10 games announced for 1982, approximately 145 titles in total were published as ROM cartridges for the system between 1982 and 1984. River West Brands currently owns the ColecoVision brand name. In 2009, IGN named the ColecoVision their 12th best video game console out of their list of 25...

RegDwigнt

7:09 PM

@WillHunting those levels keep comfusing me. The number of times I have forgotten what they mean is equivalent to the number of times I have come across them.

Ice Boy

I was just there^^ :D

Anonymous

My mom's always been into video games. Since before I was born, even. So we had stuff like that.

RegDwigнt

@IceBoy Did you also get your copy of E.T. from the Mexican desert?

user116848

@snailboat Great! First time for me though!

Ice Boy

@RegDwigнt never did see that movie

Will Hunting

7:10 PM

Let me repeat again. Everyone, go watch the movie "If I Stay". Best movie I ever watched.

RegDwigнt

@IceBoy the game. Not the movie.

Ice Boy

@RegDwigнt same thing

Anonymous

We had E.T., too.

Anonymous

That game wasn't very good.

RegDwigнt

A film production team has found potentially thousands of copies of the infamous computer game "ET: The Extra-Terrestrial" in a landfill site in New Mexico. The game by Atari 2600 was released in 1982 but flopped, with some critics labelling it "the worst ever".

Will Hunting

7:11 PM

I am now very tempted to get CGEL, hmm.

Anonymous

@WillHunting I recommend going to a library instead

Ice Boy

me too

RegDwigнt

@IceBoy not remotely so. The game is widely acclaimed as the worst ever. The movie isn't quite there yet, Spielberg notwithstanding.

Cerberus

@JohanLarsson Ikea greets me in Swedish!

Of course I have them a fake name, but still.

RegDwigнt

That's Dutch.

Johan Larsson

7:12 PM

@Cerberus bug or feature?

RegDwigнt

"Welkom J.! Niet J.?" is niet Swedish.

Cerberus

@JohanLarsson I don't know. I think a feature?

@RegDwigнt Ignore the small print.

Will Hunting

-3

Q: +91-9950211818 GIRL VASHIKARAN SPECIALIST baba jigghgfh

ric, pandit) specialist just dail to call BABA ji9950211818 Make one call and get solve your problem with in 12 hours and 24hours that is 101% guaranteed to yo Intercast love marriaga Family problems

expressions

RegDwigнt

If you mean the hej, that's how they greet everyone everywhere ever.

Hej Mahnax.

Anonymous

Wow! I clicked the question, clicked flag, and saw it go -3 -4 -5 -6 in the space of a second!

Anonymous

7:14 PM

-8!

Anonymous

That was fun.

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt In Dutch, it is spelled hee or hé.

RegDwigнt

I was nine seconds too late.

Cerberus

@snailboat We're good, huh.

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus I am not greeting Mahnax in Dutch.

user116848

7:15 PM

@snailboat So, among the flag options which option did you choose?

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt Why not?

Racist.

user116848

@snailboat Not on topic? Or some other option?

Mahnax

@RegDwigнt Hej RegDwigнt.

Anonymous

@Arrowfar "spam"

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus well, I have to do something. Not greeting in Dutch is something, so it works for me.

Anonymous

7:17 PM

@RegDwigнt Not greeting in Dutch is something I do every day!

RegDwigнt

@Mahnax I have niet seen you in OVER 9000 ages.

@snailboat can we sit next to each other at lunch?

Anonymous

You have ten fingers? I have ten fingers!!

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt Is sitting on a chair doing nothing also something?

Mahnax

@RegDwigнt I have been around a little bit—mostly when you are asleep though, I presume.

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus something tells me I can't tell you that.

Ice Boy

7:18 PM

@Cerberus Why so defensive today pal?

Will Hunting

@IceBoy Are you going to post a question on Eng meta too? lol

Anonymous

Hoi!

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt Which something?

RegDwigнt

He's not defensive. He just forgot how to spell "bassist".

@Cerberus the something that's gotta give.

Cerberus

@IceBoy I am not defensive, I am offensive.

Offense is the best defence.

RegDwigнt

7:19 PM

Harhar.

Fence is the best fence.

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt Is this about the doing?

RegDwigнt

Offence hurts a lot. Especially if the fence is very high.

Ice Boy

@WillHunting do you want me to?

RegDwigнt

Onfence is safer, but usually ends in offence.

Will Hunting

@IceBoy We could add some drama, for once, lol.

RegDwigнt

7:20 PM

@Cerberus it is about a doing.

Cerberus

You dog.

Will Hunting

@IceBoy Let's see the reaction on Eng meta then.

RegDwigнt

You gorilla.

Ice Boy

@WillHunting let's see what happens to this one first

a test charge

Will Hunting

@IceBoy Do ping me when you post on ELU meta, then I will add my answer.

RegDwigнt

7:21 PM

I thought you retired.

Ice Boy

@WillHunting sure pal :-)

Will Hunting

@IceBoy It is now closed on Math meta, lol.

Mahnax

In other news, the libraries at my university are amazing. I knew they would be, because that's normal, but I could never imagine this. Books on everything. Finnish grammar, Basque culture, old Uralic languages that noöne speaks anymore. It's wild.

RegDwigнt

But now I must be off to watch two people race to build the Sand Crawler against each other.

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt Hippo.

RegDwigнt

7:22 PM

@Mahnax are we playing "name the odd one out"?

Cerberus

Have fun.

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus that's critical hippo to you.

Cerberus

@Mahnax Yay!

They probably also have novels.

Mahnax

@RegDwigнt We're playing "holy smokes there's so many books".

@Cerberus gasps Even novels?

RegDwigнt

@Mahnax but that's the definition of library.

Cerberus

7:23 PM

Even novels!

RegDwigнt

I would be hard pressed to name a library that does not have a book on Basque culture.

Cerberus

Most works of literature, they have them.

At least our library.

RegDwigнt

Anyway, I'm not even here.

Mahnax

@RegDwigнt OK, bad example. I'm just amazed at the amount of weird stuff in this library. I'm used to small-town libraries.

Anonymous

@Mahnax Yay!

Anonymous

7:24 PM

Finding a good library is such a neat experience.

Mahnax

Small-town libraries are not so good, BTW.

Anonymous

I remember the first time I went to a college library.

Anonymous

It was a completely different experience.

Will Hunting

@IceBoy So are you going to post?

Mahnax

I'm going to check out the special collections area sometime. It's only open 12-4 M-F, and you have to put in a request to even touch a book.

Also, the library has a temperature controlled vault, and I really want to know what's inside of that.

Will Hunting

7:26 PM

Old books that will turn to dust?

Mahnax

Who knows! Could be anything.

Ice Boy

@WillHunting Done

Cerberus

They are excessively careful with old books.

Which is I guess a good thing.

RegDwigнt

Dear Jasper, please do stop upvoting rubbish questions. Seriously.

That totally messes up with my watching LEGO videos.

In other news, Kit is back. Hooray!

4

Robusto

7:44 PM

I'm not saying you don't have a point, Prof. Lawler. But the site policies, not individual preference, are what determines whether questions stay open or not. — Robusto 20 secs ago

Lawler can be so snarky and ill-tempered sometimes. I hate it when he reminds me of me.

Anonymous

@WillHunting Sorry, looks like your question got closed

Ice Boy

@snailboat Not this one :-)

Will Hunting

7:59 PM

@IceBoy Answered, lol.

@RegDwigнt Back? But not in chat.

@RegDwigнt Sorry. I thought of your point in the comment, but I could not resist posting an answer. Anyway I have deleted it.

Will Hunting

8:19 PM

@Robusto But I don't think he was being snarky there.

Ice Boy

You're not snarky and ill-tempered.

Will Hunting

@IceBoy Do you have a favourite grammar book?

Ice Boy

@WillHunting Not really.

RegDwigнt

reminds @Rob of Rob

Will Hunting

@RegDwigнt I think it will take her a long time to return to this chat.

Anonymous

8:50 PM

I really wish I could edit comments forever on sites where I'm not a moderator.

RegDwigнt

0

A: How to use "The first thing I did was"?

The only thing wrong with the original sentence is that shutdown is a noun. You are looking for shut down, the verb. The rest of the sentence is fine. Your confusion stems from the fact that shut is both the bare infinitive and the simple-past form of to shut. With a verb in its place for which ...

Anonymous

The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language has a chapter on punctuation from a descriptive perspective co-authored by Geoffrey Nunberg, author of The Linguistics of Punctuation. It's about 40 pages long. There's also an interesting book on the history of punctuation, Pause and Effect: Punctuation in the West by M. B. Parkes, which you might find interesting. — snailboat 29 mins ago

Anonymous

"There's an interesting book which you might find interesting"? Really? headdesk

RegDwigнt

Somehow everyone on that page insists that it must be "what I did was to shut down" and not "what I did was shut down". Very strange.

Anonymous

On what page?

Anonymous

8:52 PM

The other answers to that question?

Anonymous

Erm.

Anonymous

That's weird.

RegDwigнt

Yeah it's not often that people manage to make me post an answer.

Anonymous

Damn them! Making you post an answer :-(

RegDwigнt

Well, I actually don't like posting answers these days, as it's very hard to get more than a couple upvotes and it's incredibly easy to get an automatic downvote from some ninja I haven't quite identified yet.

Jan 14 '13 at 14:49, by RegDwighт

I don't work for free.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

8:57 PM

Well, I upvoted you.

Anonymous

Me too!

RegDwigнt

I am humbled. Thank you.

BTW @Mr.Shiny today I got the Bricks magazine in the mail and am very much looking forward to perusing it.

But I do have that strange desire to go buy cotton gloves first.

It is almost as shiny as yourself.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@RegDwigнt Bricks magazine?

RegDwigнt

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 yeah the one they keep pimping on Brickset.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Ah. I only go to Brickets to get pics of sets.

RegDwigнt

8:59 PM

Like, twice a week they post about it. Even though there's only been one issue so far.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I did manage to get an Ecto-1 though. Still haven't opened it.

RegDwigнt

I kept complaining about the hype, but then I gave in.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 mine's already quite dusty.

A great build.

Aug 20 at 18:27, by RegDwigнt

So anyway. I was just going to quickly say that the Ecto-1 build is so ridiculously simple, it's outright insulting. I really enjoyed it a lot.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Is it called Bricks or Blocks

RegDwigнt

You really can't help but think, jeez, I could have come up with this. Tis so trivial.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 oh haha you're right.

See. QED. I couldn't care less for this damn thing, and yet now I'm a proud owner of a one-year subscription.

I sense a trend. I already bought the Minifigures Year by Year book last month.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@RegDwigнt It's always trivial until you try to do it.

RegDwigнt

9:03 PM

Apparently now that I don't buy (that much) plastic, I'm switching to dead trees...

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 exactly!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I'm building a trivial castle and I think I'm going to run out of lt-grey 2x4s. And I have 1100 of them.

RegDwigнt

Aug 20 at 18:28, by RegDwigнt

It really makes you think all along, WTF, I could have come up with this. Yeah I could. But didn't. This guy did. And it probably took him months to make it so simple.

It must have taken an insane amount of iterations.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Yeah. Or else a insane knowledge of all the available parts. Although I guess when you build in an editor that, at least, is easier.

RegDwigнt

Certainly so. That is, until you build it in real brick and realize it doesn't even hold together.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

yeah, you also need to have memorized all the possible interconnections.

Anonymous

9:06 PM

I had lego when I was little.

Anonymous

I had castle lego.

Anonymous

My brother had a light and sound lego set.

Anonymous

I still remember it.

RegDwigнt

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 plates or bricks? I suppose you mean bricks.

Anonymous

Oh, very easy to find on Google!

Anonymous

9:06 PM

RegDwigнt

I think I have like... ten? Maybe?

I avoid them like a plague.

Anonymous

I stole parts of his space ship for my castle.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@RegDwigнt yeah bricks.

I used them to build a huge hillside, upon which the castle will sit. I've never built anything so large.

I was originally planning to build the castle OUT of those bricks, but they are insanely hard to disconnect, which makes it very annoying to iterate my design.

So I am using them for structural and landscape.

Anyway I must be off. ttyl

RegDwigнt

I have 79 in lbley, 72 in dbley, and 1098 in total.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 buy Duplo for that.

Oh, CU!

@snailboat worth $150 unopened.

Cerberus

Hello.

Anonymous

9:20 PM

Hello!

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus do you have kurios in Dutch?

Cerberus

So much Lego!

@RegDwigнt We have curiosa.

If that's what you mean, curios in English.

Curious objects.

Many shops will be listed as "antiek & curiosa".

Will Hunting

OMG, I just found out that Jane Straus died in 2011. She is the author of the famous "The blue book of grammar and punctuation".

Cerberus

My condolences.

user116848

Ditto.

user116848

9:24 PM

hi again Cerbs

user116848

How was your nap?

user116848

Or is it a weird thing to ask? lol

Cerberus

Haha that's not really weird.

It was good.

And it ended hours ago.

Anonymous

How dare you ask about napping?

Anonymous

Napping is private and sacred!

Cerberus

9:29 PM

Err, I mean, yes, that was highly inappropriate.

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus in German, kurios is more like seltsam. Weird, strange.

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt O, that is curieus, an adjective.

user116848

@snailboat I am very scared shudders

RegDwigнt

But I am really only interested in the O. Whether or not you slapped a U in front of it.

Cerberus

Like curious.

user116848

9:29 PM

:-)

Cerberus

But curieus cannot mean nieuwsgierig, unlike in English. How about kurios?

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus oh. That's like even worse. You did slap a U in front of the O and then removed the O, and then slapped an E in front of the U.

I guess I must be happy you only used one E for once.

Cerberus

Or...we took it from French!

Proper Frisian spelling is of course ceeueereeieeuees.

RegDwigнt

Dunno how recently you stole it. The original French word is curios.

Cerberus

French is curieux, right?

RegDwigнt

9:31 PM

(And I don't have to educate you on the absence of the U in Latin.)

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt Huh?

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus that's modern French. Aka modern-pig Latin.

Cerberus

Well.

We have the plural noun curiosa in Dutch, which is directly from Latin.

RegDwigнt

3

Q: Why is it spelled "curiosity" instead of "curiousity?"

I have been spelling the word "curiosity" with a u, "curiousity," my whole life, and only today was Chrome's spellcheck bold enough to highlight my lifelong error. I have two questions: The root word is curious. How or why has the quality of being curious come to be spelled without its u? Or is...

etymology orthography

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt Modern frog-Latin.

RegDwigнt

9:32 PM

Anyway. That's why I'm asking at all.

Cerberus

Jesus.

RegDwigнt

I commented on that question a couple days ago and now remembered it now that you're here.

Cerberus

And that is the only word in which it struck him that the vowels are different between noun and adjective?

RegDwigнt

The French words were curios and curiosete, respectively.

@Cerberus hehe. My point.

Cerberus

I am glad to know that I remind you of silly questions.

@RegDwigнt I didn't know that. But I believe it.

RegDwigнt

9:33 PM

@Cerberus Sometimes it's questions. Sometimes it's just silly.

Cerberus

Thank you.

RegDwigнt

You are welcome.-

Cerberus

Sometimes it's dog poo?

Murderous monsters remind me of you.

RegDwigнt

I haven't been tallying. Perhaps.

Cerberus

Did you eat your tally stick again?

RegDwigнt

9:36 PM

I did eat a shorty stick.

But I must be off. I still haven't watched that video I kept talking about!

Cerberus

Is it fun?

RegDwigнt

And it's been three hours since I last said I was leaving to do it.

@Cerberus it is very very fun. To me.

I imagine it's not everyone's idea of entertainment to watch people build 4000-piece LEGO sets, in real time, for hours upon hours.

user116848

@RegDwigнt You watch people building lego sets?

RegDwigнt

Yes.

There are entire YouTube channels dedicated to nothing else.

But I don't watch those. Those are usually sped up.

user116848

Sounds like fun, I guess.

user116848

9:41 PM

But you are right, not very common.

RegDwigнt

►

If you have 30 hours to spare, have a look.

user116848

haha Yes I will :-)

RegDwigнt

It actually is fun, these guys talk a lot while building, about all kinds of stuff.

Plus every other video there's a challenge. Like, they have to build with only one hand, or with their hands tied, or in complete darkness. Stuff like that.

user116848

I see. So it is also good for your lego business?

RegDwigнt

But that's the previous installment I watched. Right now I'm watching them build the Sand Crawler. There are no challenges this time, and they are both building the same model.

@Arrowfar not quite sure what you mean by that, but yes it's good for me all-around.

Cerberus

9:44 PM

Wow, 1:10.

RegDwigнt

This is the set they are building now.

Cerberus

You should increase the play speed.

user116848

@RegDwigнt I mean you also deal in legos iirc?

RegDwigнt

I've an hour in, they're just finished with the floor.

@Arrowfar oh. Not really no.

I buy a lot, but I never sell.

I do have a couple sets that I got real cheap with the intention of perhaps selling them later.

But it's a pain in the ass.

user116848

@RegDwigнt Ah, I see. So that's like a hobby :D

RegDwigнt

9:45 PM

And the eBay commissions keep climbing.

So if you sell something for 100, they take like 20. Or more.

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt What is that.

RegDwigнt

So I actually instead started giving things away to friends.

Cerberus

Can it unfold?

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus Star Wars. Don't ask.

Cerberus

Ow.

RegDwigнt

9:46 PM

I don't understand it myself.

Cerberus

It's...ugly.

RegDwigнt

It's just a big brown box.

Cerberus

Fascinating.

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus yes. But it is incredibly close to the ugly of the original.

Cerberus

Oh, great.

RegDwigнt

9:47 PM

Cerberus

Okay, that is indeed ugly.

RegDwigнt

Han Solo gets trapped in it. Or Luke? Or R2-D2?

No idea. Someone gets trapped.

Cerberus

Haven't seen it.

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus I do admit it's sort of cool though. Very old school. From the old movies from the 70s.

It's actually quite functional in its design and much closer to what stuff might look on some deserted planet, rather than this shiny CGI they do these days.

Cerberus

Why not build the Trojan Horse? The Altar of Pergamon?

CGI?

RegDwigнt

9:49 PM

Oh come on. Don't troll me.

Computer-Generated Imagery.