English Language Learners

Damkerng T.

4:00 AM

Maybe because the image of Sean Connery as the King Arthur in another remake was too strong in my mind.

user116848

Yeah, I will watch that one someday too.

Damkerng T.

Ah, that one's title is First Knight.

Ah, the other one I've watched was Excalibur.

user116848

Hey, look what I found:

user116848

meta.stackexchange.com/questions/83562/new-badges-proposal/…

user116848

8

A: New Badges Proposal

I can imagine all badge hunters to change their avatar image to something obnoxious or a half-nude woman just to increase profile-clicks. In short: I find it a bad idea.

Damkerng T.

4:08 AM

LOL

user116848

I was looking for the question that, is it acceptable to have a sexy avatar.

user116848

haha

Damkerng T.

Before I clicked on your avatar to see it in full size, I thought it was a statue.

user116848

I see. haha

user116848

I think it is okay though. It is not nude per say.

Damkerng T.

4:10 AM

Greek and Roman statues are mostly almost nude. :-)

user116848

Yeah :-)

Damkerng T.

When I was young, my art teacher taught us a little about these Greek and Roman arts. He said body in nude is beautiful, and round is beautiful and the perfect shape is sphere. :-)

Then, he would show us a lot of Venus statues!

user116848

haha

Damkerng T.

Including something like this:

user116848

LOL

user116848

4:15 AM

It looks like a very old statue though.

user116848

I mean BC era.

Damkerng T.

Indeed!

According to him, it was the symbol of prosperity.

user116848

Hmm...but I don't see the resemblance between prosperity and that statute.

user116848

Did he tell you why?

Damkerng T.

I think in those days, fertility means prosperity.

user116848

4:17 AM

Oh, in that sense. Okay.

Damkerng T.

He's become one of our national artists since a few years ago.

user116848

Great!

Damkerng T.

His specialty is drawing illustrations in children picture books.

user116848

I see. Yeah, that is an art too.

Damkerng T.

Oh, I didn't know that he runs a museum!

user116848

4:22 AM

Sounds cool!

Damkerng T.

> lonelyplanet.com/thailand/ayuthaya-province/ayuthaya/sights/…

Way to go, my teacher!

user116848

Is Google Maps better or lonlelyplanet?

Damkerng T.

I don't know. I searched for the name of the museum in English and got that link.

Oh, the map on the page is actually by Google.

user116848

Yeah, I know. I was just asking.

user116848

Yeah, Google is the big whale.

user116848

4:35 AM

I searched whale and found this great photo

user116848

Scary!

user116848

:D

user116848

Article is bigsurcalifornia.org/whalehumpback.html

Damkerng T.

Is that real?

user116848

4:36 AM

Yeah, it says so

user116848

It looked unreal to me lol

user116848

I think snail would know about this.

Damkerng T.

Oh, it was so bloating!

user116848

It looks like something from a science fiction movie

Damkerng T.

I guess that if she tapped it a little too hard, it would explode!

user116848

4:38 AM

Yuck! I'll puke.

user116848

I think snail doesn't like me. I sense a bit of hostility. I don't know why is that.

user116848

Do you think that? Or am I wrong?

user116848

Pfft. Whatever.

Damkerng T.

I'd like to re-read what you wrote, and try to read it as if it was written by someone else.

user116848

You mean it is not grammatical?

Damkerng T.

4:43 AM

One thing we could easily forget is that the reader can't hear how we sound like, or which tone we use, in chat.

user116848

Yeah, I always say that too.

user116848

Good point.

Damkerng T.

And when we insist on some point, too many times, we could come across as more and more aggressive.

user116848

nods

user116848

But still I always try to be nice. Even when debating a point here.

Damkerng T.

4:48 AM

To be honest, in the exchange earlier today, you didn't come across as very nice, when I read it in a neutral tone.

user116848

Yeah, I know. But I was kinda messing with snail when I said 'You can be the next Kris' etc.

Damkerng T.

Ah, that is not very nice, but you already know that.

user116848

I thought snail would take it as a funny thing.

user116848

:(

Damkerng T.

I guess that it could be funny if we could've heard you saying it.

user116848

4:52 AM

Yeah, I don't talk like that here often. I know.

Damkerng T.

I think she gave it a pass on that one, but iirc you said something else. Maybe you was just making a joke, but it was hard to read as one.

In face-to-face conversation, we can guess more, because we have more information, like your voice, your face, and so on.

user116848

haha. Yes.

Damkerng T.

In chat, we have nothing else but words.

user116848

But when I say this sort of stuff when I am face to face with people they don't like it either sometimes. It depends on the other person's mood too.

Damkerng T.

Aside from the exchange, I have a tip, if you want to hear: "I'm sorry" and "Okay, I'm sorry" and "I'm sorry, okay" don't really sound quite the same thing.

@Arrowfar That's true!

user116848

4:58 AM

@DamkerngT. Um...you think 'okay' version looks like we are just saying it just for the sake of saying?

Damkerng T.

Yes, and the last one could even sound rude, like the speaker didn't want to say sorry at all.

user116848

yeah, I see.

Damkerng T.

So, when things get worse. The plain old "I'm sorry" works best.

user116848

Yes :-)

user116848

'I am sorry' is equals to 'I apologize', right?

Damkerng T.

5:02 AM

Yes.

Though there are many ways to utter the phrase (which could convey different subtle meanings), it's the safest when we chat.

Some day I might really write this imaginary book: 159 Ways to Say Yes and No. :-)

user116848

Write it then! What's stopping you? :-)

Damkerng T.

Because I still can't figure out all of the 159 ways. :-)

user116848

haha

user116848

Then you can do with a less number.

Damkerng T.

Hehe!

Oct 26 at 0:45, by Damkerng T.

If only they had read my imaginary book, 159 Ways to Say Yes and No, they wouldn't've asked the question. :-)

I mentioned it, jokingly, last week.

user116848

5:07 AM

I see:-) I must have missed that.

Damkerng T.

Basically, it's about subtext in context. And I think most of us miss it from time to time, especially us the learners.

user116848

I like Stoney B's comment. It is hilarious.

Damkerng T.

Hehe! -- "Are we good?" "Yes. Here, eat my bazookas!"

user116848

LMAO

user116848

Oh, I thought 'bazookas' as in getting pissed off instead of saying "No'

Damkerng T.

5:10 AM

I just deliberated to interpret it otherwise. :-)

user116848

:-)

user116848

So, that's why it is 157

user116848

Well, we'll not say anything about 158 and 159 :-)

Damkerng T.

It's hard to suggest anything beyond bazookas. I guess he had some ideas. :-)

user116848

Probably :D

user116848

5:13 AM

Oh, I forgot to put smileys in my discussion above with snail.

user116848

Smileys often act as a 'hedge' in a conversation

user116848

Yep!

Damkerng T.

It works, usually, but not always. I can't remember the whole conversation. It might work, I guess.

user116848

Maybe that's why it looked somewhat mean spirited.

user116848

Yeah, forget it. It's all done and gone.

user116848

5:15 AM

I gotta go to. See ya Damk.

user116848

It was very nice talking to you.

user116848

As always! :D

Damkerng T.

See you soon! Have a nice day!

user116848

And @snailboat you likewise :-)

user116848

Oops I pinged!

user116848

5:16 AM

Bye! :D

Jerson Zuleta

5:59 AM

@DamkerngT. My apologies is my favourite!

Ugh, I hate not being able to comment just yet.

1

A: Can "earlier this year" be used in present perfect?

When you specify the period during which an event occurred, you cannot also use the present perfect tense: *Earlier this year, the ABC, Inc. has conducted a survey. *Yesterday, the ABC, Inc. has conducted a survey. *Last week, the ABC, Inc. has conducted a survey. Instead, if you are si...

They mention the use of past perfect for that specific example, yet they proceed to write down simple past examples.

Oh wait, I got lucky! My edit was at least six characters long, perhaps it'll get accepted then.

Got accepted!

Damkerng T.

6:33 AM

@JersonZuleta Congratulations!

Jerson Zuleta

6:53 AM

Thank you!

Freddy

10:53 AM

hello

Damkerng T.

Hello!

Ice Boy

12:12 PM

Hello :-)

Damkerng T.

3:52 PM

I don't know if anyone noticed or will notice a fallacy I put on our site today.

I wish someone would. If that happened, we might have a little discussion, and we could end it with: language has no reason.

Ice Boy

A critique of pure reason?

:D

Damkerng T.

Hello!

Ice Boy

Hi pal!

Damkerng T.

Oh, I got +10 on ELU. Must be a really old answer. :-)

Ice Boy

Hooray :-)

CopperKettle

4:02 PM

Hi, Freddy, Damkern!

Damkerng T.

Hi!

CopperKettle

Hi, Ice Boy!

Ice Boy

Hi Copper Kettle!

Anonymous

4:35 PM

@DamkerngT. I'm afraid I didn't notice

StoneyB

Gracious, it's crowded here! Must be the weekend.

Ice Boy

Yep

any given Sunday

Damkerng T.

@snailboat It's here: ell.stackexchange.com/a/38311/3281

It looks right, but it's not, but to say it's not right, it could result in a weird conclusion, which is dictionaries are wrong. :-)

StoneyB

4:50 PM

@DamkerngT. What's your fallacy, DT? ... once upon a time I would have known, but there are now so many questions I can't keep up.

Damkerng T.

Saying "N is Y, if not Z" in English and in math are not quite the same. But I deliberately made it the same. :-)

Anonymous

I try to avoid "if not"

Anonymous

It can be clear in context, but it can also be hopelessly ambiguous

StoneyB

But you might express it thus:

user116848

Hi all!

StoneyB

4:57 PM

N is at least as great as Y and may be as great as Z.

user116848

@snailboat Konichiwa!

Anonymous

@Arrowfar Kon'nichiwa!

user116848

@snailboat :-)

Damkerng T.

@StoneyB Indeed! But I would miss the chance to use "if not".

StoneyB

If N is not so great as Z (or any lesser quantity > Y), it is = Y.

user116848

4:59 PM

@snailboat Oh, with two 'n's'

Anonymous

Uh-huh. You don't have to write the ' here

Anonymous

But it makes it clear that it's a separate n

user116848

I see

StoneyB

Then you just delete the superfluous matter

N=Y if N ≠ Z

N is Y if not Z

Anonymous

When you pronounce konnichiwa, you say it with a long n sound: ja.forvo.com/word/%E3%81%93%E3%82%93%E3%81%AB%E3%81%A1%E3%81%AF/…

Damkerng T.

5:02 PM

@StoneyB This is very tempting. Can I borrow your paraphrase and use it in my answer?

StoneyB

Absolutely. You know more math than I and will probably make it more elegant.

(Besides, I no longer answer Upvote/LeP's QQ; they lead to too much tedious commentary.)

Damkerng T.

@StoneyB Hehe. I wouldn't claim so. In any case, I think your paraphrase is very elegant.

StoneyB

Everybody on SE knows more math than I do.

Damkerng T.

I answered the question because I want to make a point that usage in language is not always logical. And when it is, it's usually because we make it so.

Oh, how can I write a dagger in HTML?

StoneyB

&dagger;

Damkerng T.

5:08 PM

Thank you!

StoneyB

A double dagger is &Dagger;

Anonymous

Oh, that's good to know!

Anonymous

I always searched Google for dagger typography, which brought me to Wikipedia

Anonymous

I copy and paste a lot of symbols from Wikipedia :-)

StoneyB

I have a file named ELL ABC.docx where I keep all the non-ascii pieces I use frequently — I keep it open when I'm here so i can cut and paste more quickly.

Damkerng T.

5:13 PM

Neat!

StoneyB

@snailboat Geminates are hard to explain to people whose languages don't have them. Back during the Iraq Adventure I used to say that the ds in Saddam are pronounced like goddamn.

user116848

5:44 PM

►

user116848

I searched youtube for the pronunciation and found this ^

user116848

Stupid song.

user116848

It's like they have a song with every word.

user116848

I search google sometimes for some phrases and find songs.

user116848

My internet suddenly got very slow!

user116848

6:06 PM

►

Anonymous

You should search for the correct spelling

user116848

But on google it says one 'n' can be used too.

Anonymous

That would be incorrect

user116848

Ah, okay.

Anonymous

It's from kon "this" + nichi "day" + wa (topic marker)

user116848

6:12 PM

nods

user116848

I used it as a 'Hello' not 'Good day/afternoon' though

Anonymous

That's just etymology

Anonymous

Although it is still a time-specific greeting

user116848

But it can be used as a Hello, right?

Anonymous

Yes, it's a greeting

user116848

6:14 PM

nods

Anonymous

Not 100% identical to "hello", but the same type of word

user116848

yeah

Jerson Zuleta

Hello!

Damkerng T.

@Arrowfar Another sequel!

@JersonZuleta Hello!

Jerson Zuleta

Can you help me out?

Damkerng T.

6:30 PM

If I can

Jerson Zuleta

Security & secure both come from the latin securus (security evolved into securitis before becoming the word as we know it, though); and I know they're interchangeable in certain scenarios, but on what depends the fact they're not in other cases?

I'm still not sure if that's a good question to make, since I don't really see how it can be answered.

But I thought it was worth a try.

Anonymous

When are they interchangeable? Isn't one a noun and the other an adjective?

Damkerng T.

+1

Jerson Zuleta

"Everything is designed to maximize safety on the construction site."

"This rope will give you the security to climb without fear."

The OED shows both can be used as nouns.

Anonymous

Give an example where both security and secure can be used