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12:01 AM
@BarrieEngland I go along with the hypercorrection argument myself. I have heard teachers incorrectly correct children saying "me and Barrie" (or whoever), when the accusative case was appropriate. When I corrected my nephew, who said "Barrie and I" in a sentence that should have been "Barrie and me", he said "oh, I thought Barrie and I was always correct" and I had to explain the difference. Although one anecdote does not a rigorous argument make, ...
... I feel that this kind of thing is far more common than it ought to be.
@MετάEd Doesn't feel like it to me. But then, I'm never certain when it comes to Nortonn detection.
 
12:27 AM
This is cool. The front page is completely empty.
 
Empty of . . . .?
 
Only of actives.
Is it just us?
I hope this survives the hawks, but it probably won't.
-2
A: "Expect to" vs. "Expect will"

TestSubject528491Ok now I'm thinking about the answers to the questions. For the first option, I would say I expect 239 sales to earn more than $470. For the second, I expect that 239 sales will earn more than $470. Seeing as we're using the subjunctive mood, the first answer is technically grammatica...

 
All tabs are empty for me.
 
That is odd. Only Active is empty for me.
 
12:32 AM
Active is now full for me.
Someone is messing with us.
 
@DavidWallace The hypercorrection argument has a certain appeal. While anecdotal, this incident is telling. Some years ago a young woman uttered a sentence to me beginning "Just between you and I ..." Being younger myself, I corrected her: "You mean 'Just between you and me ...'" She gave me a shocked look and said, "Oh, is that accepted now?"
@RegDwighт The tabula rasa. You may fill it with whatever you like.
 
I was hoping you meant that the front page had become clean of negative questions.
 
@Robusto I have just finished watching the first three episodes of Breaking Bad.
 
@RegDwighт Cool.
What did you think?
 
It's peculiar.
It's the longest exposition evah. I do wonder how far they will take it.
I mean, up until ten minutes ago it wasn't even clear who some of those people are. At all.
 
12:36 AM
@RegDwighт "Attribute not to malice matters more readily explained by stupidity or sloth." Heisenbug?
 
It all barely just only starts falling into place.
But still tons of questions open.
And strictly speaking it's not like anything has really happened yet.
 
Did you watch it dubbed or with subtitles?
 
Dubbed on regular live TV. I happened across it by accident.
Hit Record but stood tuned instead and watched all three episodes nonstop.
 
Hmm. Well, let me know what you think as you go on.
 
Will do. That'll be in one week.
 
12:39 AM
So you found it engrossing at least.
 
Yes. A few bits required some suspension of disbelief, but again i'm not sure how much of it will make sense at a later point.
 
One of the cool things about this show is that it feels like there is no detail so small that it doesn't get linked up later on in the series.
 
Also I was a bit relieved to learn the protagonist is not too bad ass. At least not at the very beginning.
 
There is a scene in episode 1 of season 1 that is parodied in the opening episode of season 5.
 
I mean I was outright scared of the bits you linked me on YouTube. But right now he still has some human traits. And is even a wuss in a way. At least it shines through here and there.
 
12:43 AM
@RegDwighт Well, it's not spoiling anything to tell you that his is both an ascent and a descent. It's about moral choices, and the creator brings you along in both areas in a very interesting progression.
 
Yeah I kind of figured. Or at least hoped.
At three episodes per week I'll probably get my hands on the original way faster than they will start airing Season 5.
 
Is your aural grasp of English good enough to watch something like that in the original?
 
I dunno. I get 95% of Dexter. I get 0% of The Wire. Well, wiith the notable exception of motherfucker. So make that 50%.
 
If you get 95% of Dexter and 0% of The Wire, you'd probably come in at around 47.83% of Breaking Bad.
 
I'm not sure how much of the technical vocabulary I know at all.
 
12:48 AM
@Zairja No, mellon is obviously Sindarin, not Quenya. Looking at the entire enscription, it is even more obvious: Ennyn Durin Aran Moria: pedo mellon a minno. Im Narvi hain echant: Celebrimbor o Eregion teithant thiw hin. The word for "doors", ennyn, is an i-mutation plural so characteristic of Sindarin.
 
@RegDwighт It's the drug and Mexican-influenced slang I'd think you'd have the hardest time with.
 
Likely.
I was happy I understood at all whom they meant by Crystal.
 
You know, I thought you meant something quite different when you said Dexter was calling.
Or that you had to make time for Dexter, or some such.
 
I don't make time for Dexter. My wife does. By leaving the town for a day or five.
 
I'd thought Dexter was your son.
 
12:53 AM
Yeah as if I'd call my son Dexter. Or anyone, really.
 
It does seem a tad righteous.
 
That's half the point.
In the series.
IRL, it's a dog name.
 
You mean, like Fido is a dog's name?
 
Fido, Frodo, Saruman, you name it.
 
It seems unfortunate that people come with names already. Critters we can give names to suit them. We should be able to do that with people, too.
 
12:56 AM
Funny, I had dog's name there at first, then changed it to dog name.
 
Either would work.
 
I know, but I'm wondering what made me invest time in doing that.
 
Someone convince me that we don't need a new close reason - "poster is Nortonn S". It seems to me that the gun/hose question is NOT not constructive.
 
Perhaps because "it's a dog's" sounds like a beatbox.
 
Does Pavlov count as a dog name?
 
12:58 AM
That's totally backwards.
 
How so?
 
Like Frankenstein, that's how.
Pavlov was the scientist. Not the dog.
 
Yes, but there are people who call their cats Schroedinger. How is naming a dog Pavlov any different?
 
I'm not saying it's different. I'm saying it's backwards.
 
So that one can be ambiguous when talking about "my Pavlov's dog instincts".
 
1:02 AM
They should name themselves Schroedinger. Now that would be cool.
 
Maybe there are cats that name their owners Schroedinger.
 
Maybe yes, maybe no, maybe both.
 
Hello @David. I have no questions about NZ tonight. But I like to ear from you.
 
Oh, good morning Carlo. Nice to see you.
 
1
A: What's the meaning of boilerplate in programming?

SleepyMurphBoilerplate has a negative connotation and refers to repetitive code that does't really contribute to the logic of the program, but is required by the language or the framework. It indicates tedium and a violation of the "Don't Repeat Yourself" programming ethos. For example, in Java, it's commo...

 
1:05 AM
All cats name their owner the same thing: Supper.
 
Oh my. The curse of Java has reached this site.
 
Yes, just saw that. Retched.
 
It's bad enough that it's code. Worse still, it's not code; it's Java.
 
I don't see anything wrong with that question.
Moreover, I have a suspicion that one or both of you are trolling me.
 
exudes hate and loathing
Now, why would we troll our favorite fruit?
 
1:07 AM
@DavidWallace we'd never waste time on trolling you. We just troll the world as a whole. Easier that way.
Speaking of trolling, @Rob trolled Cer real hard last night, it seems.
 
Ah, you found the link. Good.
 
Oct 17 at 20:07, by tchrist
David, please be nice and stop trolling me.
 
An unfortunate conundrum. I hope they can still dine together or at least send each other flowers on Mother's Day.
 
@tchrist He should be able to tell when I'm fucking with him by now.
 
My mother used to write "trolls" on her shopping list. Chocolate fish if you can tell me what she meant.
 
1:09 AM
What kind of fish? Starfish? Then I'll pass.
 
If anyone thinks calling David our favorite fruit is trolling David, they aren't thinking things through.
 
The chocolate fish is a confectionery from New Zealand. These candies are fish-shaped, are 6 to 8 inches in length, and are made of pink or white marshmallow covered in a thin layer of milk chocolate. Several companies make the fish but the most well recognised is Cadbury, which makes foiled and unfoiled variants of the fish with a pink marshmallow centre. Smaller, or "fun-sized" variants of the chocolate fish are colloquially referred to as Sprats, the same name given to shoreline shoals of small fish. For a short period, in the late 1990s - early 2000, there was a Tip Top brand chocola...
 
I'm not linking to chocolate starfish.
 
Sardines in chocolate sauce: milk or dark?
Anchovies work better. Bones, you know.
 
Actually, why the heck not.
 
1:12 AM
Anybody know if tonight's QI is any good?
 
Very Russian.
 
British.
 
More than a little disturbing.
 
Twycross, Leicestershire, to be precise.
Now a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Gaming Studios.
 
1:15 AM
Oh, bother, I'm surprised Reg hasn't answered my trolls question already by Reg Dwighting me.
 
There are questions here?
 
Thought it was one of those offcolor Mussorksky cuts.
 
Conker's Bad Fur Day is one of the finest games ever created.
 
Or Carlo, for that matter, since he was here at the time.
 
Also, @Rob is the Mussorgsky of this chat.
It's come up and been confirmed at least twice.
 
1:17 AM
Why is Cthulhu missing his aitch?
 
Narwhals causing a commotion.
 
That's what we call false Modesty.
 
@RegDwighт I am the most modest, yes.
 
jinx
 
See, thrice now.
 
1:18 AM
Nah, no jinx. Jinxes say the same thing, not the opposite.
Go buy your own Coke.
 
I have a cold.
 
I hope you didn't get it from me.
 
So do I.
It means you contaminated my quorn nuggets.
 
Had to Cuil "quorn".
 
You prefer mycoproteinaceous nuggets?
 
1:22 AM
I honestly don't know. Cuil sadly only returns space porn. Well, not sadly, but it's not really helpful in other endeavors.
Unless, of course, quorn is space porn.
Then it's exceptionally helpful.
 
Supplemented with tab porn.
Hi, @Mitch.
 
Looks suppy.
 
I don't know which part of this is quorn, but it sure looks contaminated.
Unless this, too, is just space porn. Then I apologize to our extraterrestrial future flaggers.
 
The quorn is the meatish modules.
 
1:27 AM
I thought quorn was queer porn.
 
Most porn is pretty queer, but seldom both.
 
0
Q: Acronyms and Mnemonics to remember SAT Grammar

GriffinI'm taking the SAT very soon, and being a slow test-taker means I need some quick ways to identify grammar errors and possible amends. Here's the most common rules on the SAT: Important SAT Grammar Rules: Rule 1: Subject-Verb Agreement Rule 2: Noun-Pronoun Agreement Rule 3: Pronoun Subjects &...

 
Damned trogs.
 
Poor sod. He thinks looking for mnemonics for acronyms for would-be rules has something to do with learning a language.
 
No, he thinks it has something to do with acing an exam.
Learning is something else, nearly wholly unrelated to his goal of giving them the answers they want.
 
1:37 AM
Never seen Quorn around these parts. And I would notice.
 
I thought it was indeed sold is those parts, that it started there.
 
Though I must say I'm more into soy or wheat, not fungi.
 
Oh, it says UK not Alpyville.
That it is myco- something comes as a surprise to some, and a revulsion to others. It doesn't bother me.
I have a veggy friend who despises the fungus kingdom.
He became enamoured with Quorn, till I spilled the beans.
 
People who eat honey or cheese should not be put off by shrooms.
But that's logic, of course.
 
I didn't know that honey was fungally fermented.
 
1:40 AM
Like MrShiny trying to feed us humans.
 
Except the mead I had last night.
 
@tchrist no I mean it's like bee spit. If you're being generous.
 
I swear they used champagne yeast.
I've heard hardcore vegans call cheese coagulated cow cum.
 
Yeah that's a popular one.
Actually it's mostly carnivores who call it that for the sake of the argument.
 
It's a poor argument that confuses cow bits with bull bits.
 
1:43 AM
Well it's not like the decapitating-broccoli-is-murder-too argument is much better.
 
We don't eat many flowers.
Broccoli/cawliflower; artichokes; hm, what else?
I don't know that asparagus counts.
Rose hips don't.
 
God I hate asparagus.
 
Because of what it does to your pee?
Or because of the horrible things Europeans do to it?
 
No and no.
It just tastes like shit. And looks like shit. And walks like shit.
Sorry if that offends you.
Not that artichokes are much better.
But better they are.
 
Why would it offend me/
?
I am not weird like that.
 
1:49 AM
I dunno, perhaps you love asparagus. Or are one.
I'm just covering some bases here and there. Not too often.
 
I don't see why it would offend me if I loved asparagus and you didn't.
Once I was hiking with a friend and we came across fresh asparagus.
 
@RegDwighт How do you know what shit tastes like.
 
He said EWWW!
Because he said he hated asparagus.
I plucked off its head and had him take a nibble.
 
@Robusto @Cerberus and @Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 taught me, in most explicit detail, what shit tastes like. They knew everything about it. It's in the transcript, too, in case you want to learn.
 
Asparagus is fine. Especially with Hollandaise sauce.
 
1:51 AM
@Robusto why ruin the sauce?
 
Anyway, it's almost RealTime time. Laters.
 
He liked it enough to eat the whole thing. He was astonished. He said that tasted nothing like anything he had every been given that they called asparagus, and asked whether it was a different plant.
 
It's like those people who take perfectly fine grape juice and then let it spoil.
 
And he really hates asparagus.
It was because of how his mom used to cook the shit out of it.
 
Jul 26 '11 at 13:00, by RegDwight
Asparagus always reminds me of that one girl Lewis Carroll once interviewed. She hated asparagus, and when he asked her why, she answered "well, if I liked it, I would have to eat it, and I can't stand it!"
 
1:52 AM
Mar 19 '11 at 15:09, by Robusto
@Fx — I will relate to you a true story. Some years ago I was shooting a TV spot in Sarlat-la-Caneda. The production company couldn't find a caterer that would go out that far into the sticks, so they found some guy who said he knew how to cook. He made a dish with chicken livers. I hate chicken livers, but I was hungry so I ate them. And I went back for seconds. And would have gone back for thirds but they were gone.
Similar story.
Anyways, thanks, you guys have been great. I'll be here all week. Try the veal.
 
Most any vegetable loses its sugars the longer it is between picking and eating, and the longer it gets cooked.
 
I was just going to say I need to check out tea and cookies now.
All talk and no eat makes Jake a hungry boy.
 
Plucking the head of a young asparagus spear and immediately eating it was a whole different experience for him.
But he still wouldn't order asparagus.
In corn-country, you know when the best time to pick your corn for supper is?
When the water is boiling.
 
I don't like sweet corn. Neither does my wife.
It's hard to find corn we like here.
 
And you don't boil the corn in it. You just drop it in for 2-3 minutes or whatever, taking it off the heat.
I found that was very true in Germany.
They have terrible corn.
I don't know why.
It tasted like field corn, not sweet corn.
Why would you eat that? That is for pigs.
 
1:55 AM
Funny you would say that since our problem is the exact opposite.
In that case I don't want to even try your American corn.
If it's sweeter still, help us God.
And pigs are smart people.
 
But Germans are the people who put sweetcorn on pizza and call it American pizza, thus proving their ignorance of all of the above.
 
Never seen that TBH.
 
Really?
 
Not that people won't put anything and everything on pizza. It's a disease.
 
It became almost a running joke amongst the American students in Germany.
Kinda like how they will make a sandwich out of anything, eh?
 
1:58 AM
Well you see, that's another problem. If you're an American student in Germany, you're not going to be exposed to German culture. You are going to be exposed to German culture for American students.
Same with any other pair of nationalities.
 
Because we know better, that's why.
Do you eat peanut butter?
 
I have seen enough American pizzas that had nothing whatsoever to do with pizza, so the question is at least justified.
 
California can do weird things.
with Pizza.
 
Aug 15 at 21:11, by RegDwight АΑA
There's quite some eating going on anyway, which is probably okay if they are Russian, though in that case peanut butter is an anatopism. (In fact I would be hard pressed to name any country I've been to where peanut butter was an issue at all, so for me it kind of screams "this story was made with pride in the USA".)
There is no such thing as peanut butter. Your government makes you think there is.
 
Huh?
 
2:01 AM
Here it's obviously Nutella.
 
Take roasted salted peanuts, put it through a mill, and eat it.
 
Exactly. Only the US government makes its people eat that.
 
But you can't make a delicious sandwich adding lettuce, tomato, and mayo to Nutella as you can with peanut butter.
 
Is that a challenge? Watch me.
 
waits
 
2:03 AM
eats
 
Where do you buy crunchyNutella?
 
You see, actual mayo goes with everything.
 
Here, it is only creamy never crunchy.
 
For all your crunching needs, that's what Ovomaltine is there for.
 
Sometimes they spell mayo funny, like aïoli.
 
2:04 AM
Which your government won't let you even spell correctly.
 
Ovaltine?
 
@tchrist I knew I should have gone with my gut. I studied Sindarin/Quenya "seriously" a decade ago, so I'm rusty.
 
Jun 1 at 13:45, by RegDwight ΒВBẞ8
So you have a product called Ovomaltine, because it contains malt, then you make a stupid typo and have to rename it into Ovaltine for some markets (but not others), and then you actually get a chance to fix it by bringing out a version with malt and no cocoa, and what do you call that one? Malt Ovaltine. Facedesk.
 
American sushi places like to use mayo in their rolls. Or God help you, "cream" cheese. I believe the Japanese are scandalized by the idea.
 
Now where was I. Oh yes: lators.
 
2:06 AM
@Zairja Quena is quite rare in Lord of the Rings, actually. Look for the Finnishy bits.
Bye Reg.
Happy morrow.
Namarië.
Et Eärello Endorenna utúlien
Sinome maruvan ar Hildinyar tenn’ Ambar-metta
All the prepositions are case-endings instead.
Dang it, @Reg left and I forgot to ask him where the hell the Logout Everywhere button is here.
I am stuck on the wrong computer and it will not let me out.
 
2:37 AM
Wow, finally back in, and with Opera no less.
 
Yo.
@tchrist Have you read my explanation of the "bird" line?
Because I was really not saying what you though I was saying.
Something else entirely.
0
Q: About how Dutchmen and Americans pronounce the r in "bird"

CerberusYesterday in chat, an unfortunate event occurred. We were discussing how difficult it is to distinguish two morphemes in a foreign language that do not function as such in your own language. Then at some point two people were displeased at something I said; but I believe they had interpreted my l...

@JosephWeissman Sorry, I was Away...and now you are away.
 
2:55 AM
Evening.
 
@RegDwighт unless it's for religious reasons. I know of one religion in which it is permitted to eat honey and cheese but not mushrooms.
@Cerberus So, if you want to ask why a question was closed, you go to meta, right? What happens when your question on meta is closed? Do we need a metameta?
5
 
Hi.
@DavidWallace Haha.
Closing questions on Meta is even more meaningless than on the main site, so why even inquire?
It's just a label.
But I would really like @Tchrist and @Robusto to read my Meta question.
Because they have accused me of something silly based on a misunderstanding.
And now they are both offended at something I never said.
And they seem unwilling to even read my explanation.
 
3:10 AM
I found at least one of tchrist's comments in that conversation pretty offensive too. I considered applying a flag, then decided it would be a waste of time.
If you and I ever meet, feel free to discuss birds with me, and to omit the R. I will understand you.
FWIW, I say /bɜd/.
 
@DavidWallace Haha, great!
No need to flag.
That doesn't help.
So is it /bɜd/ or /bɜːd/?
 
@Cerberus Pay attention - I just told you how I pronounce it. /bɜːd/ would sound very odd to me.
 
Oh, OK.
The thing is, the distinction between long and short vowels is a but elusive, to me.
 
3:26 AM
OK, do you get the difference between "bed" (noun) which has a long vowel, and "bed" (verb) which has a short vowel?
 
Huh.
I would transcribe both with a short vowel.
 
Really?
 
One of the problems is that the word may be pronounced differently depending on the sentence.
 
Can you give me an example of two sentences containing "bed" with different pronunciations?
 
> Are those beds?
 
3:29 AM
/be:dz/
 
> No, not the beds in the master bedroom, but the ones in the guest room.
 
And I lied before, about bird. I say /bɜ:d/
 
Hahaha.
At least I'm not the only one.
 
Umm, I say /be:dz/ in your second sentence too.
 
Isn't it a bit shorter, if there is no emphasis?
 
3:31 AM
Umm, not in this case. That might be true in general though, but it's far from perceptible.
 
But surely the length will not always be the same, if you simply measure the time?
 
Sure, but that applies to formant frequencies too. Any given vowel in any given idiolect is actually a neighbourhood in a space whose dimensions include length as well as both formant frequencies.
I watch the gardener as he beds the roses into the freshly-dug soil. /bedz/ (short).
 
sceptical look
 
So measuring stuff about vowels is a statistical thing, right? There's kind of a mean vowel, and some variation around it.
If you plot formant frequencies and lengths, you need to get some kind of peanut-shaped plot before you can genuinely assert that there are two different vowels.
 
To me, verb and noun really don't have significantly different lengths.
 
3:37 AM
So you are asserting a difference between "beds" in your first sentence and "beds" in your second sentence; but no difference between "beds" in my sentence about the gardener and either of your "beds"es?
 
I was just trying to cast doubt on your difference.
By taking some examples that were the same part of speech but sounded quite different.
 
Oh, it's not a general phenomenon. I'm really only talking about this one word.
 
But I don't even get or see it here...
 
Do I need to make a recording?
I really struggle to come up with minimal pairs that differ only in vowel length. The only other one I can think of off-hand is led/lead (the metal) and laird.
 
Laird...
OED says /lɛəd/.
 
3:46 AM
Then OED has its own idiolect, which differs from mine.
Let me check the NZOD. Give me a minute.
 
Right, there's different accents too.
 
Hmm, that's interesting. NZOD says /leəd/. But I've never heard anyone say it that way.
It also doesn't indicate that this is a long vowel, which it undoubtedly is.
I'm just going to have to write my own dictionary, so that other people can pronounce words the way I do, without having to ask me first how they should be pronounced.
 
Sounds like an excellent plan.
I will gladly pick your accent.
 
Ooh, hared and head.
I wonder if I can think of a minimal pair for vowel length, on any other vowel.
stead and stared
 
Head sounds like /hɛd/?
And hared sounds like /hɛəd/? Or /hɛːəd/?
 
3:53 AM
I don't think I distinguish /e/ from /ɛ/ at all. Maybe that's why I have minimal pairs for length on the vowel that I have, that's either /e/ or /ɛ/.
 
Hm I see.
 
No, head = /hɛd/ and hared = /hɛ:d/
We are doing minimal pairs for vowel length here, not diphthongs and triphthongs.
 
Hmm I think I would insert a schwa.
Can't help it.
 
Or maybe head = /hed/ and hared = /he:d/. Either way, for me they differ only in length. And I have quite enough schwas in my speech already. In fact, I think I have two different schwas.
Or three.
 
How can you have different Schwas?
 
3:57 AM
If you asked me how to say "civil", I would write /səvəl/, but I don't think the two vowels are identical.
The second vowel is marginally more open than the first.
 
/sɜvəl/?
 
No.
That's a type of wild cat.
 
Are you're reading the ɜ coɹectly, which is not ɛ?
 
The serval (), Leptailurus serval or Caracal serval, known in Afrikaans as Tierboskat, "tiger-forest-cat", is a medium-sized African wild cat. DNA studies have shown that the serval is closely related to the African golden cat and the caracal. Description The serval is a medium-sized cat, measuring in head-body length, with a relatively short, tail, and a shoulder height of about . Weight ranges from about in females, and from in males. It is a strong yet slender animal, with long legs and a fairly short tail. Due to its leg length, it is relatively one of the tallest cats. The he...
 
Hmm.
Do you have that cat?
Never seen it before.
 

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