Language Overflow

Anonymous

6:01 PM

@DamkerngT. It's because most people use phrasal verb in very vague ways (often to mean "some kind of idiom that has a verb in it") that I prefer to use more precise terms

Man_From_India

Hi @DamkerngT. @snailboat how are u doing?

Anonymous

Hello!

Damkerng T.

@Man_From_India Hi!

I'm doing okay, but I'm sleepy. :D

Man_From_India

After a long time here :-)

Damkerng T.

Nice to see you again!

Man_From_India

6:02 PM

@DamkerngT. For the first time I am hearing it :D

Anonymous

@Man_From_India I was out yesterday and we drove past a theater with a billboard showing all the movies it was playing

Damkerng T.

@Man_From_India The "sleepy" part? Hehe!

Anonymous

One of them said "MAN FROM UNCLE"

Man_From_India

Yes it's very late there.

Anonymous

But out of the corner of my eye, I thought it said "MAN FROM INDIA"

Damkerng T.

6:02 PM

@snailboat Haha!

^(BTW, that's the new LOL. :-)

Man_From_India

@snailboat Will take some more years to become uncle :D still young

Anonymous

I became an aunt in my twenties.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Macmillan says come in is a phrasal verb.

@snailboat Ahh... I think that happened to me in my thirties.

Man_From_India

With "uncle", i always imagine the person is aged... My assumption

Damkerng T.

@Man_From_India nods -- It's the same over here.

Man_From_India

6:07 PM

:-) but it should not be like that... And @snailboat in my native language there is a saying that literally means a woman is aged as soon as she reaches her 20s... Lol

Damkerng T.

Oh, no!

Man_From_India

Hehe

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. My oldest sibling is fifteen years older than me.

Damkerng T.

Ahh...

Man_From_India

Ok... Some saints said "one is still a child as long as one's mind is child like" :-)

Damkerng T.

6:09 PM

@snailboat The mentioning of the word aunt makes me think of this verse:

> Go home and join your aunt. She's cooking fine food!

@Man_From_India Forever young!

Man_From_India

@DamkerngT. I always imagined you like Jacky Chan :-) now i think u r a foodie and fat :P

Damkerng T.

Haha!

Man_From_India

:-)

Damkerng T.

@Man_From_India It was a famous phrase in an English accents project I found on YouTube.

Anonymous

In Japanese, terms of kinship are often applied to people who aren't physically related

Damkerng T.

6:12 PM

The Worldwide Accent Project

►

Anonymous

When they are, they tend to have an associated age group

Anonymous

For example, you could call someone an 'older brother' in Japanese even if they're younger than you―as long as they're not related, then it's not really about being older than you, it's about their age in a non-relative sense

Man_From_India

@snailboat Here in my place I see people use it that way often. Suppose a kid needs to talk to an elderly person. He will address him as "uncle" or something similar.

Anonymous

Calling a woman obasan 'aunt' in Japanese, if she's not related to you, implies that she's over a certain age

Damkerng T.

@snailboat It's funny that my aunt calls her gardener "uncle" even though the gardener is much younger than her.

Anonymous

6:14 PM

@Man_From_India Yes, that sounds very similar

Anonymous

Although that sort of form of address is widespread in Japan, some people now avoid it because they want to avoid implying that someone is old :-)

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Hah!

Anonymous

Some people might not want to be called obasan!

Damkerng T.

Probably only for Japanese women. :P -- Argh! My brain!

Anonymous

I definitely think there's an asymmetry between ojisan 'uncle' and obasan 'aunt' as a form of address for non-relatives

Anonymous

6:16 PM

When you're talking to your actual relatives, it's different, because then you're expressing an actual relationship

Anonymous

There's a technical term in linguistics for this sort of use of kinship terms

Anonymous

I don't think it's "fictive kinship", but that may have been it . . .

Anonymous

I feel like there's a more appropriate term I can't recall.

Anonymous

It seems to happen in a number of languages, though, doesn't it? :-)

Man_From_India

But here speaking that way is considered to be of good nature. But now as I moved to other part of country, I can't see this practice here.

Damkerng T.

6:17 PM

It's probably widespread in most parts of Asia.

Anonymous

@Man_From_India Very interesting!

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. It does seem that way, doesn't it? I can't really think of any European languages that work this way.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat nods -- Hmm... I think in English, brothers and sisters perhaps work in a similar way.

Several Asian languages seem to be a little bit more flexible.

In Thai, it's really flexible.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Oh, I guess you're right.

Anonymous

I don't like those forms of address, though.

Anonymous

6:23 PM

There are people who address people they don't know as ma'am and sir in English.

Damkerng T.

Oh, yes!

Anonymous

That seems very odd to me, but there are people who feel they're being disrespectful if they don't.

Man_From_India

Oh btw today (15th) is our independence day :-)

Anonymous

I don't usually address strangers. I usually say things like "Excuse me"

Damkerng T.

Happy Independence Day!

Anonymous

6:24 PM

@Man_From_India Happy Independence Day!

Anonymous

Jinx!

Damkerng T.

Hee

Man_From_India

Thanks :-)

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Now I talk. Should you punch me @snail?

Anonymous

What?

Damkerng T.

6:25 PM

Using kinship terms is probably the most awkward in Thai when a young man wants to address a young lady.

Especially when it's unclear who is older.

Anonymous

I only write example sentences with punching. I don't punch people in real life.

Man_From_India

Hi @inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M....(ufff ur name)

How is ur study going?

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Jinx (children's game)

Jinx is a children's game with varying rules and penalties that occurs when two people unintentionally or intentionally speak the same word or phrase simultaneously. == Rules == A jinx can be initiated when at least two people say any same word or phrase at the same time. The game ends when someone speaks the jinxee's name, or when the jinxee "breaks" the jinx by speaking while in a state of being jinxed. In the latter case, the jinxee loses the game, and often a penalty is exacted, typically a soft drink of some sort. == Penalties == Common penalties for losing or violating a jinx are a pinch...

Anonymous

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M I've never heard of the punching rule.

Damkerng T.

Oh, it's the name of a game too?

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

6:28 PM

@Man_From_India I'm not study studying a lot, it's just . . . studying.

Man_From_India

@snailboat i think u r still not married :-)

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@snailboat That got made up today.

@DamkerngT. That's how I got familiar with the word.

Anonymous

en.wikipedia.org/w/…

Damkerng T.

Ahh

Anonymous

In Illinois where I grew up, the rules of jinx are simple.

Damkerng T.

6:29 PM

@snailboat Haha!

Anonymous

Once you're jinxed, you can't talk until someone says your name.

Anonymous

There was never a penalty for breaking the rule.

Damkerng T.

Oh, no! -- Ahh

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

And says it thrice, in some revisions.

Anonymous

When I moved to California, I was shocked to learn that the rules of jinx differed.

Damkerng T.

6:30 PM

Oh, tell us about it!

Anonymous

'Round these parts, people say "Jinx! You owe me a coke!"

Damkerng T.

Oh!

Anonymous

There's no silence involved, just coke-owing.

Anonymous

I don't know what the rules are in other parts of the US.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@snailboat Jinx! You owe me a CGEL!

Anonymous

6:31 PM

Probably different. :-)

Damkerng T.

I guess that the average body weight of people 'round those parts is higher than where you're from. :D

Anonymous

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M Oh, and if you try a false jinx, then the target of your supposed jinx is rubber and you're glue, and whatever you say bounces off of them and sticks to you.

Damkerng T.

:D

Man_From_India

:F

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

IT'S NOT FALSE I SWEAR!

Man_From_India

6:32 PM

:D hehe

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Wait how do you find out which Jinx is made in USA and which is made in China?

@snailboat I'm not surprised, surprisingly unsurprisingly surprisingly.

Man_From_India

Short jinxs are made in China :P

Ok... Time to say goodbye now :-) see u soon.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Am I supposed to say ICU later?

Anonymous

Fare thee well, Man from India!

Damkerng T.

@Man_From_India See you soon!

Anonymous

6:37 PM

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M Better not. It might be taken as having a double meaning.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Hmm goes looking for a third meaning

Anonymous

Writing "cu later" would be okay, but most kids these days spell words out instead of using so-called "textspeak"

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

CU L8R FTW FRND

Anonymous

FTL and FTW confused me for a long time.

Anonymous

FTW, at least, seems to be unambiguously "for the win", which is a strange phrase, but I can accept it as something Kids These Days say.

Anonymous

6:40 PM

But FTL doesn't work as "for the lose" in my brain, or at least it didn't for a long time, 'cause that was taken by "faster than light"

Anonymous

Do people still say FTW and FTL, by the way?

Anonymous

Or was that a fad that passed?

Damkerng T.

Hard to say. Perhaps someone may research into that soon.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

FTW I dunno.

Damkerng T.

6:56 PM

"Fighting crime with chemistry." --Honey Lemon

That's quite a change from original. (I think)

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

With delicious fruit?

Damkerng T.

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M Oh, wait. We've got a very cool word for that!

Anonymous

I haven't seen that movie yet.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

I deny any relationship with this childish show.

Damkerng T.

Her specialty is "chemical-metal-embredlement". (Whatever that is!)

Anonymous

6:58 PM

@DamkerngT. Her waist is actually thinner than her head.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Yes!

Anonymous

She could fit her hand around her waist.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@DamkerngT. I think that means making-bad-guys-freak-out-by-the-cuteness-of-cute-fruit.

Damkerng T.

I think Disney stretched her quite a bit!

Anonymous

Disney does like having tiny waists on girls.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

7:00 PM

She looks like a toy.

Damkerng T.

It looks like it's based on a Japanese comic (manga).

That's Honey Lemon in the middle (on the right page).

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

In the end, there's only chemistry.

Damkerng T.

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M And physics, and robotics, etc. :D

Fantasier

Oh, I misunderstood. :-|

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@DamkerngT. Those are just applied chemistry.

Damkerng T.

7:06 PM

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M Haha!

Fantasier

Isn't physics more basic?

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

No, it's acidic.

Fantasier

That joke's getting old.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

It isn't for chemists.

Fantasier

Who is it for then?

(Note: I intentionally misinterpreted the sentence)

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

7:09 PM

If there's semi-serious talk though, I must say one of my pet peeves is these petty thoughts about science.

I love what my teacher said the other day.

Fantasier

What did they say?

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

> Chemistry isn't different from physics, physics isn't from math, math isn't from astronomy etc. They're all science. The only reason there's a distinction between them is the undeniable futility of human being in being "good" in all of them.

Fantasier

Right.

How about throwing all the branches together and collectively call them "knowledge"?

I mean, really, there's a reason the distinction appeared in the first place.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

They're not "knowledge". They're "science". There's a difference.

Fantasier

(By "all the branches", I meant every subject, including humanities, science etc.)

Hmm, I dunno. Maybe there's a better word for that.

Damkerng T.

7:14 PM

@Fantasier University?

Fantasier

@DamkerngT. Meibi:

Damkerng T.

Latin: universitas ~ "a whole"

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@Fantasier It didn't appear in the first place.

It appeared as humanity began to accumulate knowledge.

That's the reason most of the pioneer scientists were philosophers and alchemists and physicists and astronomers.

Fantasier

Hmm, by "in the first place", I meant "when it first appeared"

not "before everything else"

Dunno if you really didn't get it or just try to argue.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

When it first appeared is the beginning of existence, whenever it is.

C'mon, I haven't had a pseudo-philosophical discussion in a while! Bring it!

Fantasier

7:21 PM

"It" refers to "the distinction (between branches of science)".

Damkerng T.

@Fantasier He's said several times that he usually doesn't mean what he says. :-)

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@Fantasier Then you must define appear.

Fantasier

Dunno what "the beginning of existence" has anything to do with this.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Huh.

The it reference clears it up.

But we're talking in circles, since now I'm gonna say the humans' inability was why it appeared in the first place.

Anonymous

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M Right. Science is just a label for a method to obtain knowledge.

Anonymous

7:23 PM

Science is something people do.

Anonymous

Though not everyone agrees on exactly what methods constitute 'science'.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Knowledge is finite also.

What we discover tomorrow isn't knowledge today.

Anonymous

Karl Popper's philosophy of science has been very influential, though.

Fantasier

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M Of course it's not knowledge today. It's knowledge tomorrow. :-P

Anonymous

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M Right, knowledge is just what we believe is likely to be true about the world.

Anonymous

7:26 PM

We use particular methods to try to make our conjectures about reality more likely to be correct, and we call these methods 'science'.

Fantasier

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M Of course. I did not say that you can't call them all "science", or that they aren't science. I'm pointing out that the distinction was not useless; making them "different" makes things easier to study.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@Fantasier Yes, but that doesn't mean they're separate.

Thus, saying physics rules you chemists! is nonsense.

Damkerng T.

That doesn't mean that everything is chemistry either, imho.

Anonymous

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M "Separate" versus "not different" is a false dichotomy. Of course they're different. Of course they're not entirely separate.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@DamkerngT. Everything is rules.

Damkerng T.

7:28 PM

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M I'd argue that it isn't.

Fantasier

@DamkerngT. Exactly. It doesn't make any of "chemistry", "physics", "astronomy", "social science", etc synonymous.

Anonymous

Arguing for either position is silly.

Damkerng T.

Though it isn't worth arguing.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@DamkerngT. It is, there are just rules we know nothing about.

@DamkerngT. It is. I love this.

@Fantasier They're not synonymous, and they're not subsets of anything. It's not lines, but an spectrum.

Fantasier

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M Ha. How do we know whether there were rules we know nothing about, or that there were nor rules for those things at all?

Damkerng T.

7:29 PM

23 mins ago, by inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@DamkerngT. Those are just applied chemistry.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@Fantasier "There were no rules for those things" is a rule.

@DamkerngT. That was before semi-serious philosophical discussion.

Damkerng T.

53 secs ago, by inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@Fantasier They're not synonymous, and they're not subsets of anything. It's not lines, but an spectrum.

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M Did the discussion change your position?

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

50 secs ago, by inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@DamkerngT. That was before semi-serious philosophical discussion.

The first one was a joke. The second one, not so much.

Fantasier

You sound like a politician :-P

Damkerng T.

I haven't seen anything serious since Honey Lemon, BTW. :-)

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M I think both are.

Fantasier

7:32 PM

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M Interesting. So are you saying "there's no rules" is a rule?

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@Fantasier There's a reason they win, even when people aren't sheep or shepherds.

@Fantasier Yes.

Damkerng T.

But we shouldn't treat anything here seriously because....

11 mins ago, by Damkerng T.

@Fantasier He's said several times that he usually doesn't mean what he says. :-)

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@DamkerngT. Depends on what serious means.

The first one was -5% serious, the second one is 5% serious, and there's an equilibrium oscillating around 0% seriousness, so no worries.

NOW,

did I mean that or didn't I mean?

Fantasier

Depends on what that refers to.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Because if I meant then I didn't mean what I said but I just said I don't mean what I say but then that means I meant what I said but then I didn't mean what I said because . . .

Anonymous

7:34 PM

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M We don't need to spend any time figuring out the answer.

Damkerng T.

It doesn't look like a question either. :D

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

HA! I'm totally square root of -1 now.

Damkerng T.

> Ethan Hunt can do a superhero thing, but he isn't a superhero.

Hmm... that sounds almost paradoxical.

Anonymous

Oh, another good topic for chasing one's tail philosophically.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Does "superhero thing" refer to the wild uproar gorillas do to show they're strong?

Damkerng T.

7:39 PM

I'm not sure what the director was talking about. (Was he the director?)

But I'm pretty sure it's what Tom Cruise does in the new Mission Impossible.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

The gorilla yelling thingy?

Damkerng T.

Huh? Gorilla yelling?

Fantasier

^ That?

The only more-than-ordinary thing he did in the film, I guess.

Damkerng T.

I haven't seen the movie, so I'm not really sure.

Fantasier

I watched it two weeks ago.

Damkerng T.

7:42 PM

What is he doing in that scene?

Fantasier

Err, doing some mission, waiting for his teammate to hack into the plane's system and open the door.

The door being the one he was holding.

Damkerng T.

Oh, he can open the door with his bare hands?

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Ahh, @Dam they call it "chest pounding".

@DamkerngT. With his bear hands.

Fantasier

@DamkerngT. I'm not sure, but I think in the story the tech guy made the door open automatically.

Damkerng T.

Must be an interesting scene!

Fantasier

7:44 PM

Yea... sort of.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

BTW @Dam today we were trying to find the gems in SO crappy posts.

Damkerng T.

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M Hah!

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@DamkerngT. It showed me a bit about how much crap is in SO.

stackoverflow.com/search?q=wiht

Damkerng T.

Oh, no!

Poor with!

Fantasier

Cool.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

7:47 PM

in Tavern on the Meta on Meta Stack Exchange Chat, 4 hours ago, by inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

http://stackoverflow.com/search?q=problme, http://stackoverflow.com/search?q=probleme, http://stackoverflow.com/search?q=problema, http://stackoverflow.com/search?q=problm, http://stackoverflow.com/search?q=problam, http://stackoverflow.com/search?q=problame, http://stackoverflow.com/search?q=prolbem

Fantasier

stackoverflow.com/search?q=javscript

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@Fantasier Hah! Check the problem series above.

in Tavern on the Meta on Meta Stack Exchange Chat, 5 hours ago, by tchrist

The SO community obviously expects and accepts posts meeting the standards of bathroom graffiti scribbled in crayon by people with only three weeks’ experience in English. You’ll never change that: the inertia is too great to overcome.

Damkerng T.

Haha!

Fantasier

Some seem reasonable though. Like problema, which is Spanish.

Hmm... I suppose it's okay as long as the questions are correctly understood. It's a programming Q&A site, not a language site.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

It's OK has driven SO to what it is today.

Moderation must be polite and nice, but firm.

Damkerng T.

7:51 PM

I think some users routinely keep editing those typos out.

But it's a lot of work.

Fantasier

I don't see any particular reason why fixing typos would improve the site's quality as a programming site?

Damkerng T.

The site could look more credible?

Fantasier

It might probably look more credible, but that's about it?

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@Fantasier Bah, those are quibbles, but fixing them would make the site look more professional, and most of the typos are because the lazy bugs didn't even take some time to look back and see if there are any typos.

Thus, most questions with wart-like typos are crap.

Anonymous

Well, you don't necessarily want to make the site look more credible.

Anonymous

7:54 PM

If something is generally low quality, sometimes it's better to leave the signs that it's low quality there.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@snailboat Hmm?

Anonymous

Even if those signs are just vague warning signs that don't directly indicate anything wrong with the information.

Anonymous

It's not like all of the information on Stack Overflow, or any Stack Exchange site, is good.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Yes, but the site's already credible by lots of statistics.

No Q/A or forum would contain good info 100% pure, because the answerers aren't bots.

Anonymous

I certainly don't trust random answers on Stack Overflow.

Damkerng T.

7:56 PM

I think snailboat means, we don't have to make low quality questions/answers look better.

Anonymous

That doesn't mean there isn't a lot of good information there, of course.

Anonymous

What Damkerng said.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@DamkerngT. Well, there's the analogy that disappointing HW dumpers will be the solution, while the rep-farmers are frowning, and then there's people that argue that SO is harsh, and there are people who say the site isn't shiny anymore and crap has taken over . . . It's a real hocus pocus.

Damkerng T.

I'm not sure about SO, but I guess users can flag or delete low-quality posts over there too. Maybe it depends on how high the community wants to raise the bar.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@DamkerngT. The people passionate about the quality mostly have given up hope.

The new meta police is usually inexperienced and can't get anything done.

(New meta police = someone who just got to 3k and wants to help site's quality evaluate)

in Tavern on the Meta on Meta Stack Exchange Chat, 5 hours ago, by bjb568

What's your end goal here? Improve so's quality? laughs

BTW @Dam "I have a doubt" returns 2k results in SO.

Damkerng T.

8:03 PM

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M That's quite reasonable.

@snailboat Was there any point in the history of JSE that it seemed like there weren't enough knowledgeable users around?

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@DamkerngT. I wonder what made you say that.

Damkerng T.

To put it bluntly, I think ELL is exactly in that kind of situation.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Sure. People come and go. And Japanese.SE has always had less participation than ELL.SE.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@DamkerngT. It's because I'm not participating on the main site. ಠ_ಠ ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ :P a bunch o' other emoticons

@snailboat It's waiting for when I study Japanese?

Damkerng T.

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M :D

Anonymous

8:13 PM

Japanese.SE is definitely not an ideal site right now. But I've been trying to help make it better :-)

Damkerng T.

IMHO, I think the main reason we have the voting problem is because we don't have enough people reading the answers. Not that I blame anyone or anything. I mean we can barely manage to answers all the questions with all the users we have.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

When it catches up to chem - ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ - it'd become ideal.

Anonymous

I'm actually not reading ELL at all right at the moment.

Anonymous

I'm just chatting . . .

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@snailboat Me four.

Damkerng T.

8:15 PM

I think I read fewer than 10 questions a day now.

Anonymous

So for the time being I'm not going to read answers or vote on them.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@DamkerngT. The problem is also with (some of) our askers.

Damkerng T.

Ah, I didn't mean to force you to read or vote anything.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Some people are only here to ask a question they ask on five forums.

Damkerng T.

I just wanted to know how we could improve our situation.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

8:16 PM

They don't comment, don't vote, don't edit etc.

Anonymous

I don't know.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@DamkerngT. I know.

Anonymous

We do have a number of low quality, high volume askers that we don't do anything about.

Damkerng T.

nods

Anonymous

I usually worry more overall about answer quality, but question quality does matter to some extent.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

8:17 PM

Bullseye @snail!

Well, as I said before, we're not forming a whole.

Hush there's a stalker  . . . :P

Anonymous

Gallery rooms are public.

Anonymous

Anyone can join and read the conversation.

Anonymous

That's totally fine.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

I know. I hate to add smileys, and it didn't work this time.

Anonymous

They left.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

8:20 PM

BTW @snail @Dam lighten up the mood a little bit: Tell me what your favorite unit of measurement is.

Anonymous

Butt (unit)

A butt is a unit of volume used for dry measure in the UK. == Definition == 108 Imperial gallons. == Conversion == 1 butt ≡ 108 Imperial gallons 1 butt ≡ 0.490977936 m3 == See Also == Faggot (unit) == References... ==

Damkerng T.

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M I know one: WTFPM.

Anonymous

Although rundlet is probably a better word.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Ah, I thought it was used jokingly!

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Nope, s'real!

Anonymous

8:22 PM

Of the fictional units, my favorite is probably the quatloo.

Damkerng T.

Ohh, Star Trek!

Anonymous

It's just a great sounding word.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat I'm not sure about its pronunciation. "Quaet-lu"?

Anonymous

/ˈkwɑtˌlu/

Damkerng T.

Thanks!

Wait, @inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M hasn't said anything about his favorites.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

8:28 PM

HE'S WATCHING.

No seriously, I was reading something.

Damkerng T.

Jiffy

> A jiffy is a unit of time used in computer operating systems, being the interval of time between system timer interrupts. This interval varies from system to system, but is typically between 1 and 10 milliseconds.

Anonymous

Butt isn't really my favorite unit. I'm just childish and think it's hilarious. :-)

Anonymous

I might go for rundlet, though, if you asked me seriously.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

> Coolness: MegaFonzie
A MegaFonzie is a fictional unit of measurement of an object's coolness invented by Professor Farnsworth in the Futurama episode, "Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV." A 'Fonzie' is about the amount of coolness inherent in the Happy Days character Fonzie.

Damkerng T.

Ahh... Fonzie.

Anonymous

8:31 PM

Becquerel is also a good word.

Anonymous

Or jansky.

Damkerng T.

Ahh... jansky sounds very familiar.

Anonymous

Are currencies allowed?

Anonymous

Because there are lots of good currency words.

Anonymous

Emalangeni are good, for example.

Anonymous

8:34 PM

Maybe not as good as quatloo.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. There are lots of units named after people. Like rydbergs.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Does Unicoin count? :P

Anonymous

When used as units, we type them in lower case.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Oh, that sounds cute!

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Could be harmful for your wrist. :-)

Anonymous

8:36 PM

@DamkerngT. Wha?

Damkerng T.

@snailboat On an April's Fool, I had to click and click and click to get enough Unicoins to buy something on SE. :D

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

/me zzz.

Damkerng T.

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M me z32.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Oh! I forgot about those.

Damkerng T.

So I think it's possible that Unicoins could give us a wrist ache. (Perhaps wrist pain would be more idiomatic.)

Anonymous

8:39 PM

I looked up Unicoins and I found these: unicoins.org

Damkerng T.

Hah! That looks almost like the Unicoins we used to have!

It's funny that both coins (here and there) have a couple of twinkling stars. :-)

Ahh... Unicef. When was the last time that I bought Unicef books and postcards?

A couple years already, I think.

Anonymous

I never really did that.

Anonymous

I used to go around collecting money for Unicef, though.

Damkerng T.

Oh, that's even better!

Anonymous

Maybe I should write UNICEF in all caps.

Damkerng T.

8:43 PM

I will follow your example. :D

0

Q: red is a color creating anger

(a) Red is a color creating anger. (b) Red is a color which creates anger The first sentence above is supposed to be grammatically incorrect. Could you clarify what is wrong with it?

grammar

> I'd guess that this pair of sentences is a grammar-book exercise, whose immediate point is that we don't ordinarily use participle clauses to define permanent properties. Unhappily, many people who write grammar books have tin ears.

Like the last sentence. :-)

Anonymous

The first sentence is grammatical but I think few people are likely to ever say it.

Damkerng T.

nods

I said to myself "Huh?" too when I read "The first sentence above is supposed to be grammatically incorrect".

But StoneyB's answer is clear enough.

I think I'd better go to bed too.

Anonymous

Rest well!

Damkerng T.

Thanks! -- (probably will still be around for about 10-20 minutes, though :-)