English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

1:14 AM

@WillHunting if you meet the Buddha on the road, ignore him. He's just going to ask for money anyway.

2:11 AM

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 For your reading pleasure: telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/10/23/… plus the delightful contrastrebellion.com

2:30 AM

@tchrist From simply reading the headline: that is the truth. My own website's font is pretty thin.

user227867

3:20 AM

Hi @cornbreadninja麵包忍者 long time no see. How are you and Tim? =P

:P

I came in because the OED word of the day is shiok. Made me think of you.

user227867

I think Oxford has indeed degenerated.

user227867

They have words like 'ang moh' at oxforddictionaries.com but not proper words like 'fustigate'.

user227867

I have never ever seen the Macquarie Dictionary. It seems to be the dictionary in Australia.

user227867

There is no preview available, and it can only be bought in Australia or online at Autralian websites. Very, very exclusive club.

user227867

3:26 AM

And it seems the Australians have all kinds of strange expressions!

user227867

I really cannot stand their accent. =P

What an evil thought!

user227867

There is a blog at blog.oxforddictionaries.com for your reading pleasure, just like there is one at ahdictionary.tumblr.com.

user227867

From the Oxford and American Heritage lexicographers respectively.

I feel I've offended you.

user227867

3:38 AM

Mahnax deleted his account, and Daniel doesn't come to chat anymore.

user227867

I wonder what they look like now. =)

Oh no!

Now we'll never have snack exchange. :(

2

5:20 AM

What's the opposite of college-educated?

Tonepoet

5:43 AM

I suppose that would be debt-free. =P

user227867

8:32 AM

College education is so expensive one would expect it to be quality education, which is not always the case.

user227867

9:41 AM

It is raining here in Antarctica.

user227867

Halloween is coming, yay! Time to watch Halloween 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 again, LOL.

user227867

10:14 AM

@Tonepoet One book just arrived from Book Depository and I just did the quality check. Still waiting for three books to arrive from Amazon. =P

user227867

@Tonepoet You mentioned you got the OED Additions Series Vol 1. Did you get Vol 2 and Vol 3 as well?

user227867

For my Christmas present, I hope I get a new laptop with Windows 10 and Office 2016 preinstalled. I have been using Linux and LibreOffice the past five years and really miss Microsoft. =P

user227867

There is thunder and lightning. I hope I am not short-circuited again, LOL.

TRiG

10:34 AM

Was there a tag on the site where the tag info contained the entirety of Gerard Nolst Trenité’s poem “The Chaos”? I thought there was, but I cannot now find it.

In fact, I thought it was spelling, but that’s now a synonym.

What? The person who wrote that wasn't even a native speaker? Damn!

TRiG

@terdon I believe he was Dutch.

Yes, I just looked up the name.

user227867

10:53 AM

I just gave 'nameless' as an answer.

11:23 AM

@TRiG english.stackexchange.com/tags/pronunciation-vs-spelling/info

Q: When should we use "can", "could", "will", "would"?

11:35 AM

Now why am I not surprised that you wrote that tag wiki?

Matt E. Эллен

11:57 AM

this question could do with a good answer:

10

Most people say I wish I could, I wish you would. Can we use I wish I can, I wish you will? I'd like to know what the main differences between the usage of can/will and could/would are when wishing. Is it related to the subjunctive? Because one says "I wish I were", not "I wish I am", so a...

there's 100 rep in it!

TRiG

@tchrist Thanks.

Anyboy ever read The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester?

In places it does the sort of thing my latest post does on the printed page, albeit far better and to much greater effect.

0

A: Grammar/Punctuation

it is really quite simple punctuation is an artifact of orthography andorthography is a form of technology grammar is a part of language which is the tongue spoken by each of us grammar comprises syntax and morphology morphology is how individual words ...

I promise not to make a habit of it, but here it fits well I adjudge.

user227867

@MattE.Эллен It's for you to grab.

RegDwigнt

12:42 PM

@tchrist never swallow jj cummings. Always spit.

Anyway. Just wanted to post a current picture of The Beatles:

@RegDwigнt ˌɪ̃znɪˈfʌniˌhɑwˈɛvɻɨˌbʌdɨzːˈpit͡ʃɨzˈpʰɝfɨkliˈfriəvˈpʰʌ̃ɴʃuˌeʃn̩ˈeɻɚz

Because peaches never make it to the colon.

Matt E. Эллен

1:02 PM

@WillHunting I put it up.

2:40 PM

@MattE.Эллен I wish that had been answered well already. And presumably a hundred times by every ESL teacher ever. But if it hadn't, someone should just go through 'I wish' vs 'I believe' (and other subjunctivy things) followed by all the modals to see the actual data.

3:29 PM

@Mitch meow

3:50 PM

@tchrist Pas moi, dit le chat

@tchrist goodreads.com/book/show/24800.House_of_Leaves

The most impressive and effective use of typography I've ever seen.

But how does your answer address orthography @tchrist? All I see is playful typography.

Cats originated the phrase, duh. — Mitch 40 secs ago

6:54 PM

@terdon It explains what grammar is, and isn't, by using no punctuation whatsoever yet remaining not only completely grammatical but clear and easily understand. Punctuation is about writing not grammar.

8:35 PM

What would be the best StackExchange site for asking a question about copyright infringement and related legalities regarding a textbook on Ancient Greek? To give more context — I would like to reproduce the readings from the textbook on my blog, but I'm not sure if doing so would be legal.

Andrew Leach

There's law.stackexchange.com.

Oh, that's a good bet.

Andrew Leach

Do take care to give all relevant details, including your jurisdiction (country).

And whether the book is in print, and where it is (was) published.

And how much of the book is to be reproduced.

And the purpose of the reproduction.

Also, whether you're reproducing just the textual content, or using screenshots/scans. Typography has its own copyright separate from the text.

@AndrewLeach Those are some really helpful pointers. Thanks!

Andrew Leach

8:53 PM

@ktm5124 I think that's quite a good question :-) Have an upvote.

Jacob Sartorius - Hit or Miss (Official Music Video)

9:11 PM

@AndrewLeach Thanks again.

user227867

10:06 PM

I just slept for 9 hours. It has not happened for a very long time.

user227867

@MattE.Эллен You should live it up, because life is hit or miss:

user227867

►

Q: What is plagiarism? How do I avoid it? How do I address it when I see it?

Proposed FAQ post on plagiarism:

0

The purpose of this question is to clarify how plagiarism is defined for the English Language & Usage Stack Exchange, and how the community can respond appropriately to plagiarism when it is discovered. This is being posted for discussion, but my hope is that after getting feedback, correcting e...

discussion policy plagiarism

@WillHunting Sleep is the best. There's only one TV channel and the plots are so strange, but you have no idea what's going to happen next.

@MetaEd that didn't just pop out of thin air, did it? Were there recent events that motivated it?

@Mitch And all the elements are strangely familiar. It's like seeing a re-run that you don't really remember seeing the first time, but you did.

@Mitch It mostly popped out of thin air. There was a borderline answer that led me to start asking questions.

10:14 PM

Even with explicitly repeated dreams ("I had that dream again") while watching it you're still not sure what'll happen

@MetaEd It was quite long and involved

user227867

Jacob just posted a video 10 minutes ago and already there are 20,000 views.

It's titled 'Plagiarism' but is more about writing good articles.

@Mitch Yes, because plagiarism is not just about quoting properly.

@Mitch Sneaky, right?

also there is a tension between things being well referenced (a common downvote reason for answers) and plagiarism. That should be addressed.

Plagiarism is easy... if you copy/paraphrase, cite your source.

A counterexample would be a paste-only answer with proper attribution. That is plagiarism even though the source is cited.

user227867

10:18 PM

It's OK to write one line definitions from dictionaries though, I think, because all dictinaries plagiarise from each other.

@MetaEd haha...but you should address the 'citing' part. you're burying the lede

@Mitch That stuff goes into the water table.

@MetaEd wait... I know that's not a particularly good answer (we want motivation and explanation and such), but you cnsider that plagiarism? It may not be fair use (legally) if too much is cp'd, but you consider that plagiarism?

user227867

If you compare dictionaries, you will be shocked to see how similar some of them are in their definitions. There must be a massive amount of copying

@MetaEd eww ... starts drinking bottled water

realizes bottled water is from somebody else's water table

stops drinking bottled water

10:20 PM

@Mitch It's not me.

But I do agree to it.

user227867

It is safe to drink tap water in homes and shopping malls here in Antarctica.

@WillHunting Sure ... but that's snow melt.

@WillHunting I'm not so sure about that. I'm sure some definitions look awfully alike, but that's because there are only so many possiblities with constrained # of words in a definition.

user227867

The only bad thing might be that the water is chlrinated, and some research is against the idea of chlorination

@WillHunting Chlorination is a radical idea.

3

10:22 PM

@MetaEd Then the (I find annoying) insistence on having well-referenced answers (which many commenters annoying promulgate in their comments on first answerers) is at odds with avoiding plagiarism.

@WillHunting you have millenia of non-coal tainted water frozen there to get water from

user227867

@MetaEd Recently, the UN has a new secretary-general. You must be the real leader instead, and they are only sockpuppets.

> This does not mean that you cannot use sources to support your work. In fact, Stack Exchange encourages you to provide support, and using sources is a good way to do that. You should always give credit to the other people whose ideas you are using. This is called attribution. When you use sources, only use what is needed to support your work.

@Mitch

@MetaEd Fluoridation is a halogen idea.

Flagellation is a motivator.

user227867

Plagiarism is just a bad idea.

10:25 PM

@MetaEd but that is at odds with anti-plagiarism

how do reconcile them?

@Mitch How?

that needs to be in the article.

@MetaEd You want sources (original or paraphrased) but that's plagiarism

(you asked for a discussion)

A: Are there any words in the English Language that have three of the same letters together?

It's a great discussion and I appreciate it.

Sources are probably not plagiarism until they amount to all or most of the value in the post. There's no bright line. On one side is a work that is basically your idea with whatever outside support is appropriate to show it's right. On the other side is a work that is basically somebody else's idea that you're earning reputation for. There's a gray area, to be sure.

But it boils down to whether it's you, or somebody else, that should really get the credit for what you posted.

To pick on somebody at random: who should get the credit for this answer?

3

From Oxford Dictionaries: The answer is not really, because the usual rules of English spelling outlaw triple letters. We put hyphens in words that contain three of the same letters in a row, so as to break the letters up, e.g. bee-eater, bell-like, cross-section, cross-subsidize, joss-...

@Mitch

The real question in my mind is how bad my article is at articulating what plagiarism is. I am open to the idea that I'm wrong headed, but of course I don't think so. (My opinions may change but never the fact that I am right.)

@MetaEd You say everything, but the 'cite your sources' is hidden among all the other (good) stuff