English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

skullpatrol

8:01 PM

20 mins ago, by Jasper Loy

Is it too early to send a New Year greeting now?

@Robusto you didn't count this^ one pal

Jasper Loy

This hat looks lovely.

Robusto

@JasperLoy I'm going to need a lot of help.

skullpatrol

from your friends?

Jasper Loy

I will need a lot of divine help for my current life.

Mike Miller

He only needs a little bit from his friends.

Robusto

8:05 PM

It took me under ten months to reach 50K, and over three years to get the next 45K.

I guess you could say I lost interest.

skullpatrol

with a little help from my friends

Jasper Loy

It took me only a few minutes to lose 20k.

skullpatrol

we'll keep you interested my friend

George Pompidou

is it appropriate to change the title of a question if it is an incorrect title

to one which reflects the actual question

Jasper Loy

I am not sure if I will still be alive next year at this time.

@GeorgePompidou Yes, you should change it, provided you are sure.

skullpatrol

8:09 PM

@JasperLoy what kind of attitude is that?

Jasper Loy

@skullpatrol Well, although it's good to be positive, sometimes, I want to express negativity too.

George Pompidou

2

Q: What do you call the question which is similar to tag question, but in a separate sentence?

What is the name of the question which is bold in the following? I want to shift the discipline from physics to biology. Why? Because, .. The function of it is similar to tag question; you raise it not because you don't know something, but because you think that people will ask right after ...

someone approve my edits?

the old title is completely misleading

skullpatrol

@JasperLoy yes, balance is important but BIPOLARITY is harmful to you

George Pompidou

then we can remove the comments on my answer, because that is what Kris is attempting to say.

@skullpatrol it's also harmful to friends

I have an bipolar roommate and half the time I want to just fling him straight out the window.

Jasper Loy

@GeorgePompidou Approved.

George Pompidou

8:13 PM

fanks

skullpatrol

@JasperLoy are you reading what I am typing here?

Jasper Loy

@skullpatrol Yes, also no need to use BOLD or CAPS.

George Pompidou

unless the person with whom you are speaking is foreign

then you need to speak extra loud and in all bold caps.

skullpatrol

@JasperLoy i need to use both to emphasize an important point my friend

@JasperLoy bipolarity can kill you

Stack Exchange

Limerick Machine: The internet was filled with cats Nothing is strange about that Except these were real Felines yo…

posted on December 18, 2014 by sgdi

The internet was filled with cats Nothing is strange about that Except these were real Felines you could feel All furry and smelly and fat

George Pompidou

8:16 PM

@skullpatrol yeah, and curiosity.

and a friend throwing you out a window.

depending on what's directly below your window

a spiky fire pit would do the job.

what are we talking about?

wanders off to try to get a pirate hat

skullpatrol

@JasperLoy it has killed somebody very close to me

Jasper Loy

@skullpatrol Sorry to hear that. Sometimes, life is more scary than death.

George Pompidou

@JasperLoy like in the trenches in world war 1.

skullpatrol

@JasperLoy it is a fear we all live with

Jasper Loy

This life as it has unfolded for me is one which I would rather not live.

skullpatrol

8:20 PM

pain is a big part of life my friend

being bipolar makes the pain worse

until you would rather die

George Pompidou

this is becoming dark, pseudoinsightful life remarks chat.

Jasper Loy

Do you have any painful experiences you would like to share as well?

Mitch

@skullpatrol I'm not.

George Pompidou

nah, I'm generally a happy, well-off guy.

well, one time I got a C in a fun class. my mom yelled at me and took $50 off my allowance.

that was pretty much rock bottom.

Jasper Loy

Good for you. I am sad and poor, the complete opposite.

George Pompidou

8:23 PM

huh.

Mitch

"I'm poor bu' I'm 'appy"

Jasper Loy

There are two good things in my life. My mum and my math books.

George Pompidou

I grew up in a place called Lincoln Park where everyone is fancy and rich.

Jasper Loy

Good for you. I live in a country which I would rather not mention explicitly in this chat. A place where people can get punished for doing lots of harmless things.

George Pompidou

but, here's something I can share Jasper. my parents grew up in the 70s-80s in communist Romania. it was a totalitarian regime with an insane dictator who thought the country could be self-sufficient when it wasn't. he also hoarded riches for himself. the people did not have food, and my parents were struggling to survive, sometimes not having food, sometimes managing to get a loaf of bread or a potato in a day.

my father's father was the leader of an underground movement against the government. he shared messages about what's happening behind the iron curtain with Radio Free Europe, and was eventually caught and beaten to death in prison.

subsequently, both of my parents were followed and traced by the Securitate (secret police) for the rest of their time in Romania, until they could escape.

Jasper Loy

8:27 PM

Wow, what an exciting story!

George Pompidou

they had one of the most miserable upbringings I can imagine. BUT, when they came to america, they both went to graduate school. my dad became a VP at Citibank and my mom does high frequency trading for a hedgefund.

they were able to give me the life they never had, and everything I could ever ask for/dream of.

because that was their wish, following their shitty experience.

I might not know misery and poverty, but I grew up learning about it, and having an insight into the opposite of the privilege and fortune I had.

Jasper Loy

I am glad you have found happiness in your life.

George Pompidou

their solution to emerging from a bad situation: working hard as heck. not worrying about petty things, not being entitled, focusing on a goal and just achieving it, without feeling bad for yourself or blaming anything on anyone else.

Jasper Loy

Good points.

George Pompidou

if you want my real advice, and believe me, I say this as nicely and warmly as possible, without any intention of offending you— stop feeling bad for yourself. stop telling people how miserable you are and how awful your life is.

Mitch

8:30 PM

JL lives in Antarctica. The nice part of course.

Jasper Loy

@GeorgePompidou Thank you.

George Pompidou

just pinpoint an issue, and go and solve it. it's your issue, and even if you were dealt a shitty hand at birth like my parents were, it's still your issue.

you are responsible for going to solve it, nobody else. and you can do it. because if my parents emerged from Romania pre-1990, then you can emerge from wherever you are now.

they didn't blame anyone. not even Ceaușescu, Marx, whomever. they just realized, "whoa, shit, we're in a bad situation. but we want to do better for ourselves and our child, so we're going to do it."

stiff upper lip, as they say.

not to mention they never complained to anyone. especially my mother, she's obsessed with privacy and secrecy. that's a side-effect of being followed around by the secret police when you're going through middle and high school.

} // end preaching

Jasper Loy

It's good to hear your story.

skullpatrol

@JasperLoy what about my story?

Jasper Loy

@skullpatrol Well, you delete most of your stories. But it's also good to hear them.

skullpatrol

8:39 PM

@JasperLoy the one I just told you about being bipolar.

Jasper Loy

@skullpatrol Well, that one was not much of a story.

Robusto

@JasperLoy Neither is anyone else, if it makes you feel any better. "Tomorrow is promised to no one."

skullpatrol

22 mins ago, by skullpatrol

@JasperLoy it is a fear we all live with

@JasperLoy I only gave you the end result of what being bipolar will do to you. The End

Jasper Loy

@skullpatrol It seems that you copied my use of 'end of story', lol.

skullpatrol

@JasperLoy better?

Jasper Loy

8:47 PM

@skullpatrol OK. That was copied from 'Snow White', lol.

skullpatrol

26 mins ago, by skullpatrol

being bipolar makes the pain worse

28 mins ago, by skullpatrol

until you would rather die

then you die

:'(

and your mum will cry

Jasper Loy

@skullpatrol Well, she might die before I do, but I hope not.

skullpatrol

yes

but that is normal

George Pompidou

I have no pity for that. self-harm, self-pity, self-pretty much anything negative. that's all selfish stuff. there's no time for that. my parents could've done all of that and they would've gotten nowhere. instead they just sucked it up, awakened to the real world, which has bad things in it, and got themselves straightened up.

Jasper Loy

@skullpatrol But of course, if everything went well for both of us, she will die before I do.

skullpatrol

8:53 PM

@JasperLoy when a child dies before the parent it is tragic

Jasper Loy

@skullpatrol Did you have a child before?

skullpatrol

I have said enough.
I can not walk this path for you.

Jasper Loy

Xavier Hernández Balcázar

1.5k 2 20 55

single-word-requests word-choice meaning verbs meaning-in-context word-usage idioms

Am I right to say that this is Carlo?

tchrist

No, you are wrong.

Jasper Loy

Do you know what happened to that Carlo, the one that simchona dislikes? Hmm, let me try to find him...

Ah, it seems he has deleted his account. I wonder what his new account is...

@tchrist I just rejected a very weird edit from Xavier.

skullpatrol

9:09 PM

22 hours ago, by skullpatrol

Ok @JasperLoy I can only show you the path I can't walk it for you. See you later pal :-)

George Pompidou

one need not quote oneself. ~George

9 secs ago, by George Pompidou

one need not quote oneself. ~George

Jasper Loy

@GeorgePompidou I don't even understand his reply.

@GeorgePompidou You can actually nest these things you know.

skullpatrol

Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder, also known as bipolar affective disorder (and originally called manic-depressive illness), is a mental disorder characterized by periods of elevated mood and periods of depression. The elevated mood is significant and is known as mania or hypomania depending on the severity or whether there is psychosis. During mania an individual feels or acts abnormally happy, energetic, or irritable. They often make poorly thought out decisions with little regard to the consequences. The need for sleep is usually reduced. During periods of depression there may be crying, poor eye contact with...

tchrist

9:34 PM

@JasperLoy He’s a troll.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Hey there, hi there, ho there.

George Pompidou

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 that sort of terminology is offensive to prostitutes such as myself.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@GeorgePompidou I think you mean gigolo.

George Pompidou

I'm going to flag you so hard. you'll wish you were dead.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

I suddenly already do.

Jasper Loy

9:37 PM

Hi @cornbreadninja麵包忍者, when are you and Tim getting married? LOL.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

sigh

skullpatrol

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 hi pal, nice hat :-)

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@Robusto far less offensive.

@skullpatrol thanks :)

Jasper Loy

I think my hat is the nicest.

It's blue after all.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

I'd like one.

George Pompidou

9:40 PM

I want a pirate hat :'<

Jasper Loy

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 You don't come to this chat very often these days.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@JasperLoy More so lately.

Jasper Loy

Well, I am glad that Kit seems to have returned to this chat after a long time.

skullpatrol

Me too

32 mins ago, by Jasper Loy

@GeorgePompidou I don't even understand his reply.

@JasperLoy What did you not understand?

Jasper Loy

@skullpatrol I asked whether you had a child before, and you said you can only show me the path, lol.

Also, there's no need to quote things so often as you do. Using the arrows to reply, one already knows which line is being referred to.

Oh, the ninja is gone again.

skullpatrol

9:51 PM

@JasperLoy No, you asked me "Did you have a child before?" and I replied "I have said enough." Then I said "I can not walk this path for you." Which means I have shared my experience with bipolarity with you and it is up to you if you want to take my advice.

Jasper Loy

@skullpatrol OK.

skullpatrol

Try to understand bipolarity can be deadly.

Jasper Loy

I am going to sleep, good night.

skullpatrol

sleep well my friend

George Pompidou

talking so much about bipolarity can be deadly too.

you could slip on a banana and fall onto a cancer.

or worse… gingivitis

skullpatrol

9:59 PM

You decide Jasper.

George Pompidou

Only you can prevent forest fires.

You decide if you want the forest to burn down, Jasper. It's on you.

~Nikolai Gogol

Malachi

10:29 PM

@AndrewLeach should I Cross Post to ELL? english.stackexchange.com/q/215683/48140

or should I flag for migration?

Andrew Leach

You shouldn't cross-post.

It seems quite basic:

more than one thing should use are.

However, if you are considering both together as one then is may be appropriate --

but that gets into system design.

Hmm.

Malachi

should I leave it and see if the community thinks it should be closed? or should I just delete?

Andrew Leach

Perhaps surprisingly, there doesn't appear to be a duplicate, so it doesn't look like it's been asked before on ELU.

That may be because it seems quite basic: more than one object must be are.

I have a feeling that there could be more to it than that, but I'm not sure what.

I think I would suggest recasting the question:

- remove all reference to coding;

- remove reference to your objects (email address and the thing I can't remember);

- substitute common-or-garden objects which could be considered separately or as part of a collection (eg., fruit)

For example, "the apple and orange is ripe"

Now: that sounds distinctly wrong.

2

So, as far as English is concerned, it does seem that it must be plural.

Whether that's the same as a function name is not necessarily an English question.

That's probably not much help :-(

I can migrate it if you like, but leaving coding references runs the risk of being sidetracked.

Malachi

whoa sorry, let me catch up quick

I could make it number instead of bar number

Mitch

@JasperLoy He had very interesting questions. He just had a weird attitude.

Andrew Leach

10:44 PM

@Malachi Or even number and address as they could be one thing or two.

Malachi

@AndrewLeach there is something with the endings of words that changes things too if I am not mistaken...

Andrew Leach

I suspect the number will depend upon ambiguity and whether what you are considering should be dealt with as a single unit, or two things in tandem.

Er... well, plurals get -s normally. And verbs don't.

Malachi

@AndrewLeach yeah I am thinking of something else. I was never good at English

let's migrate it and see what happens. if the mods there don't mind.

Andrew Leach

If you want it migrated, fine. But I think I'd suggest leaving it here at least for now.

But remove the reference to coding, and make it number and address because that could be one entity or two.

Malachi

@AndrewLeach okay, we can leave it here for a couple of days and see what happens

so remove the link as well?

Andrew Leach

10:50 PM

Yes. Remove the link, although you could say you are discussing documentation if you like (that's not entirely wrong).

Make the question about English, not computing.

If it suffers badly, delete it, rework it and ask it on ELL.

Malachi

Done

thank you for your time

almost time to head home for the day

Andrew Leach

Or to bed (in the UK)!

@Malachi You might want to reconsider your answer because it doesn't match the question (and may actually prejudge or even prejudice it).

Malachi

@AndrewLeach I just deleted it I was getting downvotes without any comments anyway. I must have been wrong.

Andrew Leach

I think it was confusing. A downvote simply means "not useful", so it may not have been entirely wrong.

Let's see what happens.

2

Malachi

@AndrewLeach sounds good. thanks again

Andrew Leach

10:57 PM

:-)

Jasper Loy

I could not sleep, so I am back.

Jez

welcome back

Jasper Loy

It is now raining heavily.

Jez

no new interesting new stuff on youtube today

Jasper Loy

I almost never visit youtube. It's full of stupid local gossip.

George Pompidou

11:09 PM

hooray!

I get to go to Graham Elliot Bistro tomorrow

drools out of giant hippo mouth

tchrist

@Andrew, somewhere there’s a master-and-commander one.

3

A: Singular verb for two subjects?

Yes, it is just fine. Compare: “My lord and husband is come home.” “Peanut butter and jelly is the best sandwich of all.” “Simon and Garfunkel sounds really mellow right now.” “Tide and time waits for no man.” “Our President and CEO is Joe Schmoe.” “Running and jumping is all I want to do...

George Pompidou

in addition to that, I've put on a new hat!

Andrew Leach

@tchrist OK. So it does depend on whether the double-thing is separate or not.

George Pompidou

my tire went flat—because I'm too fat!

tchrist

@AndrewLeach Well, I think so. If both must be right or wrong, not one of each, then I would use a singular.

Maybe.

Andrew Leach

11:16 PM

This is why that question should be on ELU and not ELL. The Maybe is the thing.

Jasper Loy

@GeorgePompidou What's your BMI?

Andrew Leach

@tchrist But I don't the answer. I hope someone does and can write about it.

George Pompidou

Baltimore Maryland Incest?

I don't have any

tchrist

"Name and address" is a bit of a one-thing thing, but "name and zip code" would be two.

"Name and address" being the thing on the envelope.

This is almost harder than trying to explain “family is/are” to people.

Name is part of address. But name and street address would be two things.

Andrew Leach

Or maybe something(s) like"house number and street name".

George Pompidou

11:20 PM

so this thing claims to calculate if my weight is "normal" based on just my height?

I don't buy it

I'm so unhealthy and out of shape, and I'm sure there are people the same height as me and heavier who are much more healthy and fit

I say this is all molar-key

Andrew Leach

Muscle is denser than fat.

Properly-interpreted BMI takes that into account.

George Pompidou

so… are you arguing against my point that this system ist eine große scheiße?

Jasper Loy

I have put on a new picture. Enjoy!

George Pompidou

it says I'm healthy

I am no such thing!

I am disgusting

Andrew Leach

@GeorgePompidou No, even without it, there is some validity.

George Pompidou

11:23 PM

I think more factors need to be considered.

like, my father has problems with cholesterol and blood pressure.

Jasper Loy

Yes, some say the BMI is BS.

George Pompidou

and I bet I do too

Andrew Leach

However, 180lbs (around 13st, I think) for 6'00" would be fine with a normal ratio of muscle and fat.

George Pompidou

I'm flabby and have a beer belly

when I sit down I have more rolls of ham than the deli section.

Andrew Leach

If you have far more fat than you should, then the overweight boundary comes down, so 24.9 may be on the wrong side of it.

I used to be your shape (6'00" and 13st). I'm now 11st (155lbs).

George Pompidou

11:25 PM

that seems a bit skinny.

Andrew Leach

There you go. Not enough muscle. But BMI needs to take that into account.

George Pompidou

I've never been too concerned about my weight though. I don't think that's something I'll ever have a problem with, rather just the fact that I'm out of breath after any flight of stairs

even if it's a flight of beer

Jasper Loy

@GeorgePompidou It seems you need to do some running then.

George Pompidou

running? but there's no police around

is confused

Andrew Leach

Or maybe not. I've been walking two miles a day for a year, between the station and the office and back in the evening.

Jasper Loy

11:28 PM

There is also the secret police in my country, but it goes by another name.

George Pompidou

@AndrewLeach that's reasonable actually. where I'm moving in Germany, I plan on walking the 1.5km between my house and the campus where I'll be studying.

should be a decent thing for my health.

Jasper Loy

Germany is where I hope to be born in my next life.

George Pompidou

because here in rural America, unfortunately one must drive most of the time.

I'm not used to this suburban/rural life at my college campus here.

I'm used to having sidewalks and paths to go everywhere. here it's only roads and parking lots.

Andrew Leach

@GeorgePompidou There you go. I lost that 2st without thinking about it. Although you do need to be a little careful about what you eat (1800 calories to start with for me, which means I was hungry quite a bit).

George Pompidou

that's true as well. but I hope that's geographically motivated too. back home in Chicago I ate healthier than here because healthy food is more easily available. I think it'll be similar where I'm moving.

Jasper Loy

11:31 PM

What did you study in college @GeorgePompidou?

George Pompidou

I am presently in college. studying computer science with concentration in AI and NLP as well as German for a minor.

going to Germany to fulfill my concentration at a school there.

Jasper Loy

Hmm, OK.

George Pompidou

also hoping to score a job there. I'd much rather move there after graduating.

Jasper Loy

I thought about going to Germany this life too, but I think language will be a problem.