English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

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MετάEd

8:02 PM

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 No, no, not Qatar. You're thinking of that disease you can get along with a cold.

Robusto

@MετάEd No, not catarrh. You're thinking of that Christian dualist movement of the late Middle Ages in southern Europe.

MετάEd

No, no, not Catharism. You must be thinking of that other disease that affects your vision.

Robusto

No, no, not cataracts. You're thinking of waterfalls.

Cerberus

Aren't they the same word?

Or with a k?

Robusto

@Cerberus Yes. That's the joke.

@Cerberus No K.

Cerberus

8:08 PM

You've been switching between words that are very similar but not quite the same, but the last pair is exactly the same, right?

OK.

Robusto

Yes. As I say, it's an inversion of the game, or something like that.

Cerberus

Besides, I think cataracts are not as unnavigable as waterfalls, right?

pick

prod

subvert

annoy

Robusto

►

Another great Dylan cover.

Cerberus

Oops the sounds of my activities weren't supposed to come through the wall.

Robusto

Which parts of you are supposed to come through the wall?

JSBձոգչ

8:13 PM

@Robusto proposed: most Dylan covers are better than the original Dylan versions

Robusto

@JSBձոգչ Hmm . . . not sure I'd agree. But he did provide the tunes to fuel hundreds of great covers.

KitFox

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 It was a great interview.

I gotta go. I'll check in later.

Robusto

Grats.

►

Another one.

And, of course, there's this:

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And don't forget The White Stripes:

►

And how about a little Cat Power:

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Even some punk rock:

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And finally, coming partially if not completely full circle:

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@JSBձոգչ I refute it thus:

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Bradd Szonye

8:45 PM

Howdy, all!

skullpatrol

Bradd Szonye

9:02 PM

I used all of my votes today (including question votes). I feel handcuffed!

Johan Larsson

9:29 PM

you still have bullets on SO I think

Cerberus

@Robusto This text/video wall is so long it made me think you were Tchrist!

@BraddSzonye You you...democrat!

MετάEd

9:47 PM

Do we really think this is a democratic site?

Cerberus

To the extent that everyone can vote on some things, yes.

Although of course some are more equal than others.

We're pigs!

in The Frying Pan, 6 mins ago, by Cerberus

I was born in the horrid wastes of 1983 Europe.

Would you say in or on there?

Johan Larsson

@MετάEd yes I think so.

KitFox

10:04 PM

@Cerberus in if you're talking about the timeframe, on if you mean literally on a horrid wasteland.

Cerberus

It's complicated.

KitFox

Bradd Szonye

Man, I am having a rough day on ELU. Apologies to the mods if I was oversensitive with my flags.

About half of my recent answers have been downvoted almost immediately.

In one case, it probably deserved it, but I suspect that somebody's been spite-voting me.

tchrist

@BraddSzonye Made an unfriend?

Bradd Szonye

I think so. Maybe two or three.

tchrist

10:09 PM

Sounds like me on a bad day.

Bradd Szonye

Heh, yeah. I imagine you get some of that too.

tchrist

I can usually manage several times that, and on a really good day, that many in dozens.

Bradd Szonye

I felt particularly beat up by that epidemic question.

I gave an “XY Problem” answer and the critics piled in.

tchrist

@Cerberus Were you born on a slagheap of rotting garbage?

Bradd Szonye

And then the OP accepted a clone of my answer.

Cerberus

10:11 PM

@tchrist Perhaps?

tchrist

@BraddSzonye Well, XXX critics hate hearing about “man” problems.

Bradd Szonye

I don't usually let criticism bother me here, but sometimes folks just get under your skin.

tchrist

I wouldn’t be such a nitpicker if there weren’t so many nitwits in the world.

Bradd Szonye

This one kinda puzzled me too:

-1

A: Word for something that easily breaks with competitive barriers?

In the computer industry, this kind of breakthrough is called a killer app, a term which is sometimes used metaphorically in other fields. More generally, this kind of invention is called disruptive technology or innovation.

I noticed (like MrHen) that there was a good answer buried in the comments, so I fleshed it out a bit with some of my own material.

And then got downvoted for the bit that I added. Kinda bizarrely at that.

Either that or I got downvoted for posting a “duplicate” answer – I'm not sure what's up with that, but Tom has done that a few times.

KitFox

I'm getting my boys ready for bed. I saw a huge flag queue, then it was gone, so I didn't get in on any of that.

I'm sorry you're having a rough one today.

Bradd Szonye

10:18 PM

No worries. :)

KitFox

How are you feeling, @tchrist?

tchrist

Ok, I guess.

Bradd Szonye

I had three flags that were kinda borderline, all declined. One should probably be a meta post rather than a flag, now that I think of it.

tchrist

Preparing to be done with work for the week.

KitFox

I'll come back in a bit. You can fill me in then.

Bradd Szonye

10:20 PM

Although I don't really know how to write it up for meta without sounding like I'm just griping about a user who's annoying me.

A: Does 'rhythm' have one or two syllables?

It may appear from spelling that rhythm has only one syllable, because it has only one vowel. However, the M is a syllabic consonant which forms a syllable of its own. Sonorant consonants like L, M, N, and R can act as the nucleus of a syllable just as a vowel can (although English dictionaries o...

A: Is there a word for the act of clearing one's throat?

Historically, hawk (also hock) meant to clear the throat in the general sense. Now it refers to gathering phlegm for spitting, by a progressive closing of the tongue against the back of the throat, accompanied by an outrush of air, a rising pitch, and vocalisation. Retch also meant to clear the ...

Both of these answers both share some common elements with another answer written at about the same time, but significantly expanded – something you see a lot on ELU.

Cerberus

Hmm we have two Dutch universities in the top three of fastest sun-powered cars. Yay!

Bradd Szonye

And dude downvoted both of them, complaining that they are “repeat” answers.

Cerberus

They raced across Australia against 35 other teams.

Bradd Szonye

He seems to believe that we should be editing the similar answer rather than posting a different one. So it seems like a potential policy question for Meta. But I dunno whether it's actually enough of a thing to post there.

And like I said, I'm not sure how to write it so that it doesn't just sound bitchy.

Cerberus

Yeah perhaps you should just ignore him.

Ignorance is bliss.

Cerberus

10:52 PM

KitFox

@BraddSzonye It would be a duplicate actually.

Cerberus

> Each point on the map indicates one English Wikipedia article that has been geotagged. Not all articles are geotagged, but almost all articles about events and places tend to be.

Why is the zero-meridian visible?

Does Wikipedia have a series of articles about points on the meridian?

And what's that weird line in Canada? Train stations?

Bradd Szonye

Q: Etiquette for simultaneous duplicate answers

To clarify, this is not a question about summarizing or plagiarizing, or on answers that repeat comments. Three of us responded to Word for "parents with children who have moved out"? ; I think Mitch's comment and coleopterist's and my answers were posted all within about 30 seconds, and I don't ...

@KitFox A duplicate of this?

I was actually mentioning that one in the draft I'm working on.

Cerberus

> This graphic visualises the locations of academic journals listed in Thompson Reuters’ Web of Knowledge: the most important and influential collection of academic content.

This is not very meaningful.

Circular reasoning. And the Netherlands are probably only big because of Reed-Elsevier.

Bradd Szonye

@KitFox I strongly agree with this bit from TimLymington's answer: there really is no need to delete an answer you feel is good merely because somebody else posted the same information a minute earlier; leave it to compete for votes on its merits

Cerberus

11:00 PM

All graphs to be found here: geography.oii.ox.ac.uk/#

Bradd Szonye

Unfortunately, I think the accusations of “repeat” posts are attracting downvotes and burying good answers, so that they aren't actually competing for votes on merit.

Cerberus

Bradd Szonye

Hmm, maybe my question would be better posted as an answer to the earlier question.

KitFox

@BraddSzonye Yes, I think that's the one I was thinking of.

@BraddSzonye I agree with you. I think we should let Tom know about that Meta post, and also encourage him to flag instead of comment on duplicate answers.

Bradd Szonye

11:35 PM

@KitFox Done: english.stackexchange.com/a/130324/42788