English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Matt Эллен

12:00 PM

Nice new avatar, btw, @KitFox

KitFox

Thanks.

I need some coffee, brb.

Tell me how your Tuesday is going.

(I command you.)

Also, Writer's chat today?

Matt Эллен

It's OK. I'm trying to write a test to make sure that data gets saved in the correct place.

How is your Tuesday?

@KitFox Yeah, I'll be there for that.

I still haven't done anything on the collaborative story

user87637

Nice new avatar @KitFox

user87637

Same old avatar you have @MattЭллен

Matt Эллен

Yup. it's still the best :D

user87637

12:08 PM

Together, we are RGB!

KitFox

But I'm brown...

user87637

And also quick.

tchrist

Male-pattern color blindness.

user87637

ELU feels very different now. It seems to move much more slowly.

KitFox

Aww, I have to have a reason for destroying accounts now.

sad panda

user87637

12:11 PM

Whose account do you wanna kill?

Matt Эллен

@Jasper we're still 7th, by traffic

Robusto

Good morning.

tchrist

The commercial spammer’s.

user87637

Buongiorno principessa.

Matt Эллен

18th by questions per day

which is nice, since it indicates people are finding the answers they are looking for

Robusto

12:12 PM

How is ELL doing by comparison?

KitFox

Well, they have an additional mod, I think. So they must be getting lots of traffic.

Matt Эллен

ELL are 34th by questions per day

and 81st by traffic

user87637

Any of you heard should being used like would? For example, I should like to thank the publishers to mean I would like to thank the publishers

Robusto

@MattЭллен Cue Freddie Mercury.

KitFox

Yes, very British.

Robusto

12:16 PM

@KitFox *veddy

dreamsonfire

@Jasper Hello

KitFox

201

English Language Learners – ell.stackexchange.com

Beta Q&A site for speakers of other languages learning English.

Currently in public beta.

dreamsonfire

@KitFox need help

user87637

@dreamsonfire Hi. Have we spoken before?

user87637

I don't remember anything about you.

dreamsonfire

12:17 PM

@Jasper no

KitFox

Compared with EL&U at the end of its beta:

English Language & Usage – english.stackexchange.com

Launched Q&A site for linguists, etymologists, and (serious) English language enthusiasts

user87637

@dreamsonfire Then you should not make random pings to other users.

dreamsonfire

@Jasper then how i should start chatting ?

user87637

You can just ask the question in chat without pinging anyone, or ask on the main site.

Matt Эллен

@KitFox not much in it. they even have more visits per day than we did

user87637

12:19 PM

@dreamsonfire Ah, for example, you could have said hello to everyone in the room without using the @

dreamsonfire

@Jasper ok understood

thanks

@Jasper :(

user87637

@dreamsonfire Why? What's the question? This is getting weird again...

dreamsonfire

@Jasper i want to improve my english

Matt Эллен

@dreamsonfire you should check out English Language Learners

KitFox

@MattЭллен Yes, I think it is doing well. Once we have a firmer line between the two, I think it will launch.

Matt Эллен

12:23 PM

yeah. I saw a question at ell today and I wanted to flag it for migration here. then I felt bad, like I was poaching the best questions for here and sending the boring crud there

dreamsonfire

@MattЭллен what is use of this room ?

user87637

@dreamsonfire It is for discussing questions not suitable for the main site, and also for a bit of fun and laughter.

KitFox

We chat about stuff, sometimes English topics.

Matt Эллен

@dreamsonfire this room is for discussing English Language & Usage and peripheral subjects

user87637

@KitFox The politically correct answer is We chat about English topics, sometimes stuff.

dreamsonfire

12:25 PM

@Jasper for a bit of fun and laughter :P

KitFox

Like whether prescriptivists are generally superior to descriptivists or just most of the time.

Matt Эллен

like how it's OK to say "if I take one apple out of this bag of apples there will be less apples"

user87637

The description on my prescription is an encryption

KitFox

slaps @Matt Not in my room, you don't!

user87637

@MattЭллен fewer

Matt Эллен

12:26 PM

:D I have one apple less after lunch than I did this morning

user87637

I had an apple in my throat since puberty.

tchrist

@MattЭллен Moi, j’aime bien les apples.

KitFox

gives @Matt fewer apple crisp for dessert

Naughty child.

user87637

An apple a day keeps the dentist coming.

tchrist

No medical porn in this chat.

user87637

12:28 PM

How do you like them apples?

KitFox

Oh don't. do. that. Too late.

user87637

Quiz time, where did the above line come from? Which movie?

tchrist

-2

Q: How to put "saved my time" in sentence?

If I want to say that I have to scan my computer for virus filtering but some information tell me that there is no virus issue in my system and saved my time because I don't need to do virus filtering then is this the correct sentence to say It save my time of virus filtering? or is there any ...

I don’t even begin to know what to say.

KitFox

@Jasper Let's see. Which of Jasper's favorite movies does that come from?

Matt Эллен

►

Jay and Silent Bob

Eugene

12:29 PM

hi

tchrist

It’s from the 1959 film, Rio Bravo.

KitFox

@tchrist Why is that open?

user87637

►

tchrist

@KitFox Because I’m the only meanie.

Matt Эллен

hi @Eugene

dreamsonfire

12:32 PM

@Jasper where you are from?

tchrist

@KitFox ELU definitely has a more appalling “you’ve got to be fucking kidding me” factor than SO has.

user87637

@dreamsonfire I am in the Wheel of Samsara, lol.

Eugene

Guys, quick Q. What do you think, would it be accurate to say such sentence "It is assumed, that you already have XXX installed."

tchrist

Is that like the Sword of Shanara?

Mitch

Not 'on the wheel of Samsara'?

Eugene

12:32 PM

XXX - some abstract name

tchrist

@Eugene No. No comma.

This is not German, that we are speaking.

Eugene

@tchrist "It is assumed that you already have XXX installed."?

Mitch

@Eugene No because XXX is never installed. You have to install it yourself. Also, no comma.

Matt Эллен

@Mitch I'll by a vole

2

user87637

@Eugene Correct.

tchrist

12:34 PM

I’ll see your vole and raise you a shrew.

Mitch

@MattЭллен The maze of life.

Robusto

Feb 29 '12 at 13:45, by Robusto

@RegDwightѬſ道 Curiously, the right-thinking people are also the wrong-thinking people. So how do you like them apples?

Eugene

@Jasper okay, but what about the sentence itself?

Robusto

12

A: How do you like them apples?

It is used as an expression of gloating when someone turns the tables on someone else. There is a good example in the movie Good Will Hunting, where Matt Damon's character (Will Hunting) gets a girl's phone number in a Harvard bar where he, coming from working-class South Boston, is, despite his ...

tchrist

@KitFox And after 8 hours, no less. Call it half a kilominute.

user87637

12:35 PM

@Eugene Correct means there is nothing wrong with the sentence once you remove the comma. QED.

Eugene

@Jasper Awesome. Thank you @all.

dreamsonfire

@Jasper ??

KitFox

@dreams Why are you pinging Jasper so much?

user87637

This is getting weird again, lol.

user87637

Are you Sudhir @dreams ?

user87637

12:37 PM

I don't mind the pings, it's just a little weird.

tchrist

This particularly rapid unintelligible patter isn’t generally heard and if iTIS it doesn’t matter.

user87637

I love pings, you can ping me as much as you want.

KitFox

@dreams Here, read this: chat.stackexchange.com/faq

tchrist

From hell’s heart, I ping at thee.

Matt Эллен

iTIS -> an inflamation of the Apple

KitFox

12:38 PM

I gots the itis.

tchrist

’Tisn’t!

Mitch

@Jasper challenge accepted

user87637

@Mitch I have no idea why people hate pings.

KitFox

It's pings without content that are annoying.

Mitch

@AlgebraAnalysisManifolds even if it's not for you, you'll get a ping.

tchrist

12:41 PM

21st Century English: How could 2,500,000,000 Asian be wrong?

Mitch

@Jasper they sound nice.

user87637

Ah, I am not easily annoyed, but once I am pissed off, I remember the incident for life, lol.

Mitch

@AlgebraAnalysisManifolds: what's wild is that when I respond to one of your messages, the nam eis Jasper, but just calling you out it is Algebra...

@Jasper Uh oh

KitFox

The stars have been piddly lately. We need an embiggened starred post. Quick, somebody say something funny and-or meaningful!

user87637

@Mitch Wait, have you refreshed your browser?

Mitch

12:43 PM

@AlgebraAnalysisManifolds like that?

That was for Kit.

user87637

OIC!

Robusto

> Something funny and-or meaningful!

KitFox

@Mitch Shift-Ctrl r.

Matt Эллен

I was once asked to say somethng quick
That displayed some humour or wit
I tried writing a rhyme
But I ran out of time

2

user87637

A tan is good cos it is not a sin.

KitFox

12:44 PM

@MattЭллен Hahaha

@Jasper That's already been up on the wall.

user87637

The banana in the papaya in the iguana in the zenana is in Panama.

Mitch

@Jasper well, a run of my hands through its hair and a change of clothes. Does that count?

user87637

Tony rode a bony pony while on his Sony.

KitFox

Well, that's not working.

Mitch

@AlgebraAnalysisManifolds: Kit, Don't troll me with your tech suggestions.

KitFox

12:45 PM

I guess we'll have to resort to penises.

Mitch

@AlgebraAnalysisManifolds: especially while driving.

KitFox

You can ping twice in a message.

user87637

Ah, you guys missed this stupid one.

KitFox

@Jasper See, @Mitch?

Mitch

@KitFox @AlgebraAnalysisManifolds: @AlgebraAnalysisManifolds Like this?

user87637

12:47 PM

A mispelling is a misspelling and a misspelling is a missspelling because the spelling is missed.

KitFox

@Mitch Yes.

But I'm going to have to boot you if you keep it up.

Mitch

How about like this @AlgebraAnalysisManifolds, @AlgebraAnalysisManifolds, @AlgebraAnalysisManifolds?

user87637

@Mitch Haha, either you're nuts or you're on nuts!

Mitch

@AlgebraAnalysisManifolds: Actually...

user87637

So guys, my 4 witty lines above should be starred again.

Matt Эллен

12:48 PM

how often has asking for stars worked for you, @Jasper?

Mitch

Um... sometimes there's just so much wittiness that it's hard to choose.

user87637

@MattЭллен Never, I am glad I got one courtesy of Matt Damon who is so hot.

Matt Эллен

:D

Mitch

Dude!

user87637

@Mitch I like your Suffering is the cause of all desire dude.

KitFox

12:49 PM

Matt Damon is on my list of five.

dreamsonfire

@KitFox if @Jasper not having any problem then why you take tension :P

Mitch

I didn't say that.

user87637

Let's talk about hot actors and actresses again, not the adult ones.

KitFox

@dreamsonfire I want to make sure you understand the rules and how to interact here, so you don't get in trouble.

user87637

My list of hot actors is: Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Taylor Lautner, Michael Copon, Taylor Kitsch, Channing Tatum, Ashton Kutcher.

user87637

12:53 PM

My list of hot actresses is: Jenna Dewan, Laura Ramsey, Tara Reid, Eva Mendes, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Katherine Heigl.

Matt Эллен

if @Mitch and @MrShinyandNew aren't careful sdfhgurtiiao will stop being a word due to lack of usage

user87637

Whoa, the hot list seems to have killed everyone.

dreamsonfire

@KitFox which trouble ?

user87637

@dreamsonfire Just in case you know, since you are new!

user87637

Because not everyone is as nice as I am!

user87637

12:58 PM

Sorry, that was a bit thick skinned of me!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

sdfhgurtiiao that

Matt Эллен

that's cool

user87637

I missed the sdfhgurtiiao thing. What does it mean?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Jasper It's what I ate for lunch yesterday.

Matt Эллен

I don't know. I specifically said sdfhgurtiiao is not a word

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

1:05 PM

More Cthulhu lego pics: tested.com/art/lego/…

Matt Эллен

17 hours ago, by Matt Эллен

sdfhgurtiiao isn't a word. I'm not even using it as one there.

user87637

@MattЭллен Chao guo tiao is a kind of Chinese food here.

Matt Эллен

strawberry yoghurt is a kind of food here

user87637

I find KDE very unintuitive to configure, and LXDE is too light, so I use XFCE now as an alternative to GNOME.

dreamsonfire

@Jasper Nice person thanks :)

KitFox

1:26 PM

@Matt What's punter again?

Matt Эллен

like customer

KitFox

kthx

Matt Эллен

no probs :) for more definitions

KitFox

I thought the speaker might have been intending to imply that.

Talking about visitors at Disneyworld.

RegDwighт

@tchrist you speak commas? (@_@)

Matt Эллен

1:32 PM

@KitFox sounds likely

was the speaker British?

KitFox

Judging by the accent, yes.

RegDwighт

I dunno which Disneyworld you're talking about, but the one in Paris has no visitors.

KitFox

That's Eurodisney, not Disneyworld.

There's only one.

RegDwighт

You can call it what you want, honey, it doesn't change shit.

KitFox

@Matt, you have a twitter account, right?

Matt Эллен

1:34 PM

@MellenTheNerd

KitFox

Can you do me a favor?

RegDwighт

Americans is so obsessed with labels. Gee. Disneyworld is so unlike Eurodisney! Freedom fries are so unlike French fries! Gimme a break, willya.

Matt Эллен

@KitFox Probably

KitFox

@RegDwighт Nah, it's just the names. That's like saying it's fine to call New York Washington, D.C.

RegDwighт

@KitFox I know enough Americans who can't tell Washington from Washington D.C. on a map.

Matt Эллен

1:36 PM

kinda ruins the meter of the song

Washington D.C, New York, it's a wonderful town

KitFox

@MattЭллен I asked you in a different place.

Matt Эллен

@KitFox OK. an SE place?

RegDwighт

I don't think I have a single Twitter follower.

Matt Эллен

You don't tell anyone about your twitter account

KitFox

@MattЭллен Nope. Behind the fridge in the grey sack.

Matt Эллен

1:38 PM

Oh! ok

RegDwighт

@MattЭллен they told me build it and they will come.

And anyway, I couldn't tell you about my Twitter account because I don't even know what it's called.

Matt Эллен

lol

RegDwighт

Well it's true.

Mitch

@MattЭллен You should stop treating sdfhgurtiiao as a subject and start using it yourself. If sdfhgurtiiao is only ever referred to as a neologism ,like petrichor, it will always be made fun of by other more legitimate new words, like ... like... well I'm sure there's a word for it.

RegDwighт

I suppose it's either of my two well-known handles, though.

God people, you still at it? Sdfhgurtiiao the f up already.

MετάEd

1:41 PM

Shrdlu.

RegDwighт

You could have invented glonk to bleons new words in the time you kept using this one.

Matt Эллен

@RegDwighт it's funny because it's true

RegDwighт

@MετάEd no Albanian in this chat.

Mitch

@Jasper There are different kinds of sdfhgurtiiao, sometimes it is a noodle dish, other times it goes good with whipped cream. But that is just a coincidence. Also it can be used as an expletive (it's not a euphemism at all), and other times it is just a term for facesmashing against a keyboard. Not the act of doin it, but the result of said facesmashing.

RegDwighт

Come on @Mitch. You know it, I know it, everybody knows it: you can't actually tell sdfhgurtiiao from a hole in the ground.

Which is because sdfhgurtiiao means "a hole in the ground".

Mitch

1:45 PM

@RegDwighт What? They're totally different. It's all in the oil you deep fry them with, and also the cut. Also, American Fries have much more variety. I think you underestimate how truly better the Americans are at everything.

RegDwighт

Americans are only ever good at being Americans. (Without realizing that they are actually being Soviets.)

But I must commute.

Lators.

Mitch

@KitFox I've been there. The Central Park Mall. Times Dupont Circle Square.

Matt Эллен

soviet nationalist bolsheviks

Mitch

@MattЭллен I'm leaving ... today. I'll make a brand new start of it in old ...

Yeah... that doesn't work.

@RegDwighт See? That's how good they are!

@MattЭллен Big big bolsheviks.

Matt Эллен

The Big Lebolsheviks

3

Mitch

1:51 PM

@RegDwighт Yes, it's a misleading word. I though literally it meant 'toad in the hole' (which could have either noodles or go well with whipped cream, but not both at the same time.

user87637

I just got my association bonus today, yay!!!

user87637

Ah, I just noticed that Reg is also a blue lover.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Reg is promoting his Cuusoo project.

It is a coincidence that you returned while the shark is his avatar.

user87637

2:11 PM

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I thought it was a whale at first, lol.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

That's because you don't know fishes from whales. The tail fin is a dead giveaway.

user87637

Ah, talking about fishes, I prefer raw salmon to raw tuna.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

2:26 PM

I prefer to eat neither, and especially not raw.

Robusto

2:44 PM

When planets attack.

Matt Эллен

So, Jupiter's working for the Chinese now?

I guess it's that big red dot

Em1

@RegDwighт Perhaps you can help me finding a good translation. How can I translate the word angeblich, if I actually know that the fact is true but I don't understand why it's true. Ex. If my compiler fails with an error and I don't understand the cause, I could say: "Angeblich ist da ein Fehler." But I know there's an error (compiler never fails?!) so actually I should have say "Anscheinend ist da ein Fehler".

Words like allegedly or supposedly actually suggest that there's some kind of certainty.

Matt Эллен

It shows its true colours

woo! I've made a test and made my code pass it. that means there are no bugs.

Mitch

3:06 PM

@MattЭллен Ha ha. No.

@Em1 What? No those two words suggest, or rather emphasize the the lack of certainty.

Robusto

@MattЭллен Nature always sides with the hidden flaw. Which means your code will only fail in production, at the worst possible time, at the most cost to all involved.

Em1

@Mitch Hahaha, I was distracted and just wanted to post it quickly. Yes, those words suggest a lack of certainty. In my context, however, I'm certain but don't understand. I wonder if there's an equivalent to the German word (though admittedly the use of the German word is actually already not fully appropriate)

aedia λ

@MattЭллен surreptitiously adds a couple spiders to be helpful

Mitch

@Em1 well that's confusing! Isn't Angebllich sort of like 'At first glance'?

Em1

@Mitch No. Actually not.

Jez

3:12 PM

do we usually describe a sentence as being in the passive voice, or a verb in the sentence?

Mitch

Best advice is to use dict.leo, They have lots of suggestions (exactly what is needed for translation) and also a forum where you can ask nuance questions and people are happy to help.

Em1

In this case none of the dictionaries is helpful. Dict.cc, dict.leo, pons.eu all translate the literal meaning of angeblich which is not what I'm looking for.

Or maybe one of the thirteen suggestions from dict.leo may be appropriate in my context but I cannot tell which one may suggest what I'm looking for. That's why I pointed my question to @RegDwighт as he knows German and English very good and will certainly grasp the idea of my German sentence.

Matt Эллен

@Robusto excellent. We can charge more for servicing.

@aediaλ thanks!

Em1

Anyways. I gotta go. Thanks @Mitch.

Mitch

@Em1 OK. For nuance that is not summed up in a single word, you need to give a whole bunch of words and examples to get the nuance.

Matt Эллен

3:28 PM

@Mitch oh ye of little faith. I've never written buggy code in my life. it's just that the users kept finding features they... forgot they asked for.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@MattЭллен Or not finding features they forgot they wanted.

Matt Эллен

I'ma commute

MετάEd

4:09 PM

Aug 7 at 23:02, by MετάEd

Nov 6 '12 at 22:49, by MετάEd

May 23 at 14:41, by MetaEd

"There once was a man from Purdue / Whose lim'ricks would end at line two".

Robusto

Though at lim'ricks he can't get ahead
Let's all cheer for our own MetaEd
    It's a fine thing to do
    To stop poems at Line Two
And declare that you've just shit the bed

user87637

4:35 PM

Talking about shitting the bed, I once shit in my pants.

KitFox

4:50 PM

Just once?

user87637

Hmm, only once that I recall, when I was 14.

Mahnax

Um, hi.

user87637

@Mahnax Boo!

Mahnax

startled

MετάEd

5:16 PM

He who writes on chatroom walls
Rolls his shit in little balls.
He who reads these words of wit
Eats those little balls of shit.

David Wallace

6:38 PM

@Jasper I'm so glad that you came back, to raise the tone of this place!

David Wallace

6:48 PM

@RegDwighт You don't know what SHRDLU is?

I once emailed Hofstadter to ask if SHRDLU was real. I was really surprised that he emailed me back.

Matt Эллен

SHRDLU emailed you back?

MετάEd

7:29 PM

@DavidWallace I've corresponded with Peter Suber (inventor of Nomic, a game that Hofstadter describes). I think these guys are genuinely grateful that somebody "gets it".

tchrist

8:03 PM

@RegDwighт Wah!!! :(

Stack Exchange

8:20 PM

Limerick Machine: I once had to be a bit witty For someone enchanting and pretty I dreamt purple prose About a red...

posted on August 13, 2013 by sgdi

I once had to be a bit witty For someone enchanting and pretty I dreamt purple prose About a red rose In the end though the words were quite shitty

RegDwighт

8:46 PM

@Em1 well, um, apparently? I'm still not quite sure if I understand you correctly.

@MattЭллен this is truly ingenious and I bet half the people aren't even noticing. The = le, and big = bolsh. It's like a three-language cross rhyme.

Em1

9:23 PM

@RegDwighт Yeah. Apparently is the counterpart to anscheinend. What is not what I'm looking for. Hatte gehofft, dass du aus meinem dt. Satz erkennst, was ich suche ^^

RegDwighт

@Em1 der hat mich nur verwirrt. Es hat mich alles verwirrt. Ich bin verwirrt. Sehr.

It looks like you are trying to mistranslate a misused word. That's only asking for trouble.

Better just go ahead and use the proper way right away, in whichever language.

I'll be back tomorrow with a clearer mind.

Toddles.

Robusto

9:54 PM

Fuck y'all motherfuckers.

MετάEd

10:05 PM

@Robusto Shouldn't that be "all y'all"?

Word salad?

0

A: What would you call a person who doesn't like questions being asked of them?

Based on analysis of Gardner's multiple intelligences, the faculties of the mind and the characteristics suggestive of the learning disabled: adding inattentiveness or inadvertance, bodily or mindfully impaired and/or lost, visually or aurally illiterate, unfocused, corrupt, unreasonable to be a ...