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04:00 - 18:0018:00 - 21:00

6:00 PM
oh.
I think I just didn't understand the sentence wholesale :D
 
Latin long s is a great way to make any writing seem as if it is being spoken with a lisp.
 
I maintain that these cross-pond differences which are differences neither of vocabulary nor of spelling nor of morphological inflection are things that are nearly never spelt^Hled out to learners, but which ruffle our own feathers greatly.
 
So, vis-à-vis Stross, the American printings of his works have been respelt for anything that’s categorically wrong here (so they leave doubled letters alone, for example), but because the action is taking place in England and they retain English grammar rules and idioms, it breaks the suspension of disbelief because you know there is no way in hell that MOD means Ministry of Defense. It really annoys me.
 
so they should have changed MoD to "The Pentagon"?
oh! I see, the s
 
6:09 PM
Yes.
It's one of my OCD issues that these things stick out like throbbing members caught in the doorjamb, or whatever you call it there. :)
 
just "sore thumb" :D
 
I would like to discover a resource that enumerates all these "little word" differences.
For I am yet to come upon such.
 
it would be interesting. especially to see it change over time
 
@Mitch That's my specialty. I mean, if I'm good for anything in this chat, it's that.
Or speciality, as the Brits would say.
 
@MattE.Эллен Would you write "in future" without "the"?
 
6:15 PM
@Cerberus maybe. I'd certainly say it
 
I knew it, he's been New Amsterdamned after all.
 
@tchrist So what did the translators do to this English writer's work? They changed "War Office", or what have you, into "MOD"? Why?
@MattE.Эллен OK noted.
 
@Cerberus They changed Ministry of Defence into Ministry of Defense
 
@tchrist In this case, Christe, confiteor.
@MattE.Эллен Ohh.
I see.
 
@tchrist I'm only growing some fluff, but it tends to respond to such differences.
 
6:17 PM
@Cerberus No no, their "war office" went the way of our "war department" some decades past.
 
I know that.
I thought it was supposed to take place in England in the past, but apparently not.
 
No, I think it's all same-timed.
 
We, too, had a Ministerie van Oorlog.
Now Ministerie van Defensie.
 
Outlander offices?
 
Oorlog. Now that's a word
 
6:19 PM
Oorlog = war.
A common word.
 
Were you engaged in a war after the WWs?
 
The Ministerie van Propaganda is now the Ministry of Truth.
OK that was a lie truth.
 
@Cerberus But its morphemes don't casually jump out at us.
 
@Færd Depends on your definition of "engaged"...
@tchrist Nor at me.
 
@Færd The UK has been to Korea, and Iraq in a bellicose manner, both after WWII
 
6:20 PM
No idea what it's comprised (you know who you are) composed of.
 
also the Falklands
 
We've been similar places.
Afghanistan.
 
There, too
 
Etc.
 
@Cerberus In a sense that would justify having a minister of war.
 
6:21 PM
Mali now.
@Færd Well, what would justify that?
 
I sent the ball to your court. Don't knock it back over here!
@MattE.Эллен Oh, of course.
And in Yemen, to some extent.
Not directly, though.
 
Noun: oorlog (plural oorloë)
  1. war
  2. oorlog m (plural oorlogen, diminutive oorlogje n)
  3. war
  4. oorlog
  5. war...
Dang it, that was supposed to be the etymology.
 
Wiktionary gets butchered when one-boxed.
 
@Færd It's just that I wouldn't know.
 
Never mind. I wanted to figure out why the name of the government office was changed.
 
6:27 PM
We've not been involved in wars near our own territories since the forties.
Probably just PCness.
 
@Cerberus no 'police actions' in former colonies?
Aceh? East Timor? Aruba?
haha Aruba.
@Cerberus Is oorlog cognate with anything? (in English)
 
We've had "The Troubles" since the 60s. Although it's a lot more peaceful nowadays
and that's not a war as such
 
@Mitch ear
Al Yamamah (Arabic: اليمامة The Dove‎‎) is the name of a series of a record arms sales by the United Kingdom to Saudi Arabia, which have been paid for by the delivery of up to 600,000 barrels (95,000 m3) of crude oil per day to the UK government. The prime contractor has been BAE Systems and its predecessor British Aerospace. The first sales occurred in September 1985 and the most recent contract for 72 Eurofighter Typhoon multirole fighters was signed in August 2006. Mike Turner, then CEO of BAE Systems, said in August 2005 that BAE and its predecessor had earned £43 billion in twenty years from...
Providing a war-waging state with such arms supplies ...
Yeah, it's not a war as such, but maybe it's not any less than that.
 
> Before 1834: Department van Oorlog.
1843: Ministerie van Oorlog.
1928: Ministerie van Defensie (Ministerie van Oorlog merged with Ministerie van Marine).
1940ish: split again into Department van Oorlog and Departement van Marine. Departement was probably also called Ministerie at this time.
1959–now: merged again into Ministerie van Defensie.
 
@Færd not that anything is supposed to, but that makes very little sense
 
6:36 PM
@Mitch In Indonesia, sure, in the forties.
You might or might not call that a war.
@Mitch I...don't know!
 
> From Middle Dutch orloge, from Old Dutch *urlage. In this word, two Germanic words merged, both having the prefix ur- (modern Dutch oor and oer, with the former kept in compounds like oorzaak ‎(“cause, driver”) and oorsprong ‎(“origin”), and the latter borrowed from German).
 
@Færd It's horrible.
 
Now, oor:
> From Old Dutch ōra, from the voiced Verner alternant of Proto-Germanic *ausô, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ows-. Compare German Ohr, West Frisian ear, English ear, Danish øre.
@Cerberus Tell me about it.
 
And I would call Yemen a war.
But I wouldn't say Britain is at war.
 
Neither would/did I.
 
I know.
 
@Færd nice...where did you find that?
 
wikitionary
 
@Mitch Good! The Etymologiebank is the best aggregation of sources, and Philippa is the best source.
 
@Mitch I followed tchrist's link.
 
6:40 PM
@Færd separating that out as 'ear' doesn't sound right.
it's more likely a prefix
like German 'ur-'
 
> oe. orlege ‘strijd’
Strijd = battle, war
 
@Cerberus One of the poorest Arab countries, having been being heavily bombarded for almost two years now, by the richest one.
been been being been been being
 
@Færd Aided by Europe and America.
 
Yeah.
 
6:44 PM
The two richest and supposedly humanest blocks in the world.
Helping Al Qaeda in the process.
 
@Cerberus I see also 'struggle' or 'fate'
 
See where?
In Philippa?
I can explain the entry, if you like.
 
in your future. Mitch read your Tarot cards
 
In the dutch etymology
 
It's just complicated.
 
6:45 PM
strijd = struggle
 
Sure, it can be struggle.
 
@Cerberus And, as some claim, ISIS. I should read up on that.
 
@MattE.Эллен I read that as 'Mitch, read your cards'
 
Maybe even the same root as struggle.
 
@Mitch well, if you don't, how will you know your fate?!
 
6:46 PM
@Færd I've not heard much about ISIS in southern Arabia?
Or am I mistaken?
 
@Cerberus analogous (but not at all cognate) to 'kampf' in German for war, battle, struggle
 
Yes.
We also have kamp.
 
@MattE.Эллен It'll spoil the surprise
 
Which means battle or field, the latter probably related to English camp and Latin campus.
Maybe kamp "battle" is from battlefield.
 
wait...what was the possible cognate with 'struggle'? 'strijd'?
 
6:50 PM
Yes.
I haven't looked it up.
Perhaps it's just a semi-onomatopoeic consonant cluster.
 
@Cerberus Some say Saudi Arabia sends arms and aids to some of the many fronts in Syrian area, particularly ISIS. I've heard it a lot from domestic sources, but they can be biased, as they usually are.
 
I could look it up but that would mean clicking and typing on things
 
Plausible, still.
 
dammit. now I have to
 
> According to Skeat the root is that of Old Norse strúg-r , Middle Swedish strūgh-er , ill will, Swedish dialect strug
struggle ^ OED
 
6:52 PM
@Færd I think the government proper doesn't support ISIS, but various actors in SA do.
 
Bah, politics again
 
Also OED: >Others regard the word as cognate with Dutch struikelen , German straucheln (Middle High German strûcheln , frequentative of Old High German strûhhên , -ôn ), to stumble.
 
Why, hello there.
 
There could be many buffers so that their intentions are concealed.
 
I'm getting sick of anything politics
 
6:53 PM
@MattE.Эллен Ah, that would make sense.
 
@Cerberus \o
 
@M.A.R. Greenish?
 
@Færd I really don't think the Saudi family wants ISIS to win, because ISIS would attack them next.
 
Not before Iran.
 
But they're not particularly concerned about the situation either.
 
Perhaps. Let's say eventually, then.
 
And Iran is somehow already at war with ISIS in Iraq (and Syria).
 
True.
 
@M.A.R. Down with politics!
 
Al Qaeda hates the SA government in particular.
I know that much.
 
6:56 PM
So do ISIS. They think they hate anything that smells of the US.
 
A vote for politics is a vote for people
 
@Færd Coca Cola - the devil's drink
the diabetes drink
Darth Sipidus
@Færd Can't we all just get along?
 
Been years since I've drunk anything like that.
 
@Færd Exactly.
> The government has also created a television series titled Security of the Kingdom designed to combat ISIL propaganda while promoting the Saudi perspective on security issues, aiming to foster patriotism. Television figure Mohsin Shaikh Al Hassan stated that he wanted to be "initially concentrating on children in kindergarten" in order to "teach them to love their own country".[4]
 
@Mitch HAha! Nice joke!
 
6:58 PM
The response of Saudi Arabia to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has taken many forms. For example, Saudi government agencies have worked with the United States since late 2014 to train and equip Syrian fighters hoping to engage with Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants. The Saudi people have suffered attacks at the hands of ISIL agents, such as the August 2015 mosque bombing in the Asir area that killed fifteen people and injured nine. Like past militant incidients in the country, the bombing was met with shock and condemnation. The challenges of dealing with ISIL ...
 
When the aliens from those newly found planets expose themselves here on Earth, we'll all come together to eradicate them. Once that is done, we can go back to killing each other
 
ISIS has also planned attacks in SA.
 
@Færd no sugary soft drinks at all? Coffee? Tea? That Turkish apple thing that's really just sugar with greenish food coloring?
 
At least one bomb attack succeeded.
 
just so it's clear: I'm not from one of the newly discovered planets. I didn't know about them until NASA announced their discovery
 
7:00 PM
I'm glad you have assured us.
 
@Cerberus children are our future
 
I'm sure it wasn't necessary at all.
 
patriotism is just what we used to eat as children
 
@Mitch Indeed.
@Mitch We thought we were eating children, but it was in fact patriotism?
 
we used to have immigrants for dinner
with a dry chianti and fava beans
 
7:01 PM
!!
 
@Cerberus of course. I'm sure I'm above suspicious
 
Too much pleonasm!
 
@Cerberus haha jinx
 
@Cerberus In the chaos around here, few governments calculate the step after the one they are taking right now.
 
@Cerberus I'll get a towel
 
7:02 PM
@MattE.Эллен Who? You? Of course.
 
@Færd thinks three steps ahead
 
@Færd Well, it depends.
 
curls up in ball
 
But SA has already been attacked by ISIS.
 
@Mitch Watch it. You may stumble.
 
7:03 PM
@MattE.Эллен That's just what an invader from one of those newly discovered planets would say!
 
@Mitch I meant overly sweet, carbonated ones.
 
@MattE.Эллен noted
 
@Cerberus I've finally realised SA is Saudi Arabia, not South Africa. I was very confused
 
all negations ignored in search terms
SA = Saudi Arabia, ZA is South Africa
mmm thinking of pizza
@Færd what do you drink as a luxury then? bubble tea? chai?
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 No, no. I assure you, this planet is where I ... was born.
I have the papers to prove it.
 
7:05 PM
talk about calories. bubble tea tops even the most calorie laden McD's sugar coated, whipped cream infused barely coffee flavored 'drink'
 
The forger assured me no one would think them fake
I mean a forger
 
@Mitch If I ever have a luxury drink, then maybe chai or doogh or something.
 
@MattE.Эллен It's true, I don't think the forger is fake
 
I drink mostly water.
 
@MattE.Эллен aha! only suspicious people are prepared enough at this point to give to the authorities. That's already one point against
 
7:07 PM
@MattE.Эллен Oh, haha.
Abbreviations suck.
 
South Arizona
South America
 
Sick Aeronaut.
 
@Færd I heard that everybody drinks chai constantly. exaggerated yes, but closer to truth. Is that right?
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 close enough.
 
Southern Asia
 
7:08 PM
Somewhere Alse
 
Simply Absurd.
 
@Mitch Many people have several chais every day.
 
Super Angstrom
 
Sauerkraut Aftertaste
 
You know what I hate extra super?
 
7:09 PM
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 mmm
 
How some scientists make up super contrived, silly abbreviations.
 
@Cerberus No. What is it that you hate extra super?
 
Like TRAPPIST for a telescope that doesn't even contain the letters.
 
@Cerberus Oh. SCSA's? They're not so bad
 
Trappist is a Belgian kind of beer.
@Mitch STFU
 
7:10 PM
and monk, no?
 
I thought it was a reference to the Sound of Music
 
@MattE.Эллен I think so!
 
@Mitch I'm always double-pinging you! (Come on!)
 
@Færd No problem.
 
Swindon Town Football clUb
 
7:10 PM
Like that!
 
Grouse grouse grouse quail.
 
@Mitch Okay. You got me back. Not sorry anymore.
 
@Cerberus not very scientific
 
Now we post answers saying essentially 'Yes, and here is the research you should have done'? — Edwin Ashworth 2 hours ago
 
It's...it's...it's un-English.
 
7:11 PM
Grouse or quail, grouse or quail?
 
@Færd a have a few seconds still left on the clock
 
@Mitch But VS.
 
If you'll grouse, I'll quail. Deal?
 
@tchrist For once I can't disagree with Edwin.
Believe me, I tried.
 
A while ago I came here and we were talking about prepositions and the topic changed to IS. This chat is awesome.
 
7:13 PM
@tchrist It's sorta a dumb question for those in the know, but if you don't know, I have a hard time figuring out how to research it (other than getting lucky with Google)
 
grouse is Australian slang for brilliant, IIRC
 
@Cerberus Why stop at trying. It's pretty easy just to do.
 
@Mitch He literally asked "is it simian?".
Now surely he could have looked that word up in a dictionary?
 
@Noah It can turn on a dime. Speaking of dimes...
 
ah, good, ODO agrees with me
 
7:14 PM
@Cerberus Oh. Yeah. That's idiotic.
 
@Mitch :)
 
@Cerberus I have a confession to make. I didn't realize he had asked whether it was simian when I answered. I had already stopped reading.
 
@Mitch Yeah, so that was actually what the closing-reason "general reference" was meant for before it was perverted.
 
*mutated
 
@tchrist Haha. So did I, the first time. Only in my second reading did I see it.
Now I can't retract my "vote to reopen" vote.
 
7:16 PM
@Cerberus I could help you out there. :L)
 
Sure, remove it if you wish.
 
@tchrist It took me three tries to find it and I was looking for it.
 
@Cerberus what's funny is that this is not unusual, to spend lots of time typing in a special place hoping to get helped by a seeming person in the other end, when fewer keystrokes/mouse clocks/reading would get it by googling
@tchrist corrigated
 
@Cerberus Done.
 
@tchrist I haven't been reading at ll. Typing with my eyes closed for about 2 hours.
Yes, I'm sure it is obvious
 
7:19 PM
@Mitch Which is why you and I have asked very few questions!
But sometimes asking is more fun.
You might get an interesting discussion.
 
@Cerberus but other people are in general wrong.
 
Something you didn't know to look for.
 
Or misguided.
 
@Mitch Always.
 
Or just going in the wrong direction.
Or just missing the point entirely
Just agree with me already!
 
7:21 PM
@Mitch I'm left-everythinged; the right is always wrong.
 
You're wrong; you missed a full stop.
 
Oh those fullstops! I miss them so.
 
a semi-colon splice
 
Um, that was not a political statement. I'm left-handed, -eyed, and -footed.
 
Send them a letter.
 
7:22 PM
@MattE.Эллен keep going...I already have a melody.
la la la. la la la laaaa.
 
@tchrist And you're on the left of the map.
 
Catchy!
 
But it's sad and it's sweet.
 
why only use a semicolon when you can go : full colon!
 
Yay!
With a space!
 
7:23 PM
@MattE.Эллен Drink lots of liquids
 
Give a colon space
 
Oh dangit. I thought it was a leap year and expecting to use that extra full day.
If I time it right, I can use the leap seconds from the last handful of few years.
un momentito por favor
 
you'll need 86400 leap seconds for a full leap day
how many leap seconds are there each year?
 
Too many.
 
At most one.
so...
you gotta save them up wisely
 
7:30 PM
Google's not even handing them out anymore.
They break them down into pieces and smear them into the other seconds of the day.
 
That proves it.
Google is evil.
 
@Cerberus Which search engine do you use?
Just cooorious.
 
@Noah Google, because...probably because my userscripts and userstyles only work there.
Perhaps I should convert them to work on Duckduckgo.
But I think Google also has some functions that other engines lack?
Like searching within a specific period? Verbatim? Etc.
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 so like making all the other seconds just a tiny bit longer... 1/86400 longer to be exact?
 
@Mitch I'm not sure how much, but yes
 
7:47 PM
right, the 'leap second' may not be exactly a second
especially if it's chunky style
making it hard to spread evenly
 
this second... it's been going on for 24 hours!
47 mins ago, by Mitch
patriotism is just what we used to eat as children
Feb 10 at 19:43, by Jasper Loy
In Brexit Britain, children eat you!
 
@Cerberus I use Google too.
 
@Cerberus I used to use Yahoo search in the past.
 
I used to use Lycos, Infoseek, and Webcrawler in the past.
 
8:14 PM
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 wow
@MattE.Эллен it's patriotic
 
@Noah Hmm I don't think I've ever used Yahoo.
I used Altavista when the Internet was young.
 
@terdon How would you pronounce, in technical English, the angelfish genus Centropyge? I presume Acropora and Montipora are esdrújulas?
 
04:00 - 18:0018:00 - 21:00

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