English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

2:00 PM

3

Q: Difference between female and male usage

What explains the difference of a de facto larger frequency of vowels of one writer compared to another? In the statistics data I examined, a vowel had higher probability in the text from the female Swedish authoer compared to a Russian male author. The statistics I cite compared the male and fem...

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 If the passage in question is a vagina, it's most likely female.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

I also recall a LL post.

Several, in fact.

Robusto

Also, if the dots over the i and j are little hearts, the author is most likely female.

user19161

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Actually now I think this question is pretty interesting.

Robusto

0

Q: How to address a letter to a Ph.D.?

I'd like to write a letter to someone that has a Ph.D. What is the most correct way of addressing that person? - Dear Mr. [Name] - Dear Mr. [Name], Ph.D., - ...something else...

letter-writing

OT

user19161

2:04 PM

@Robusto Dear Permanent Head Damage, ...

Robusto

Come on, people. Get up off your dead butts and close that salutation etiquette question.

Jez

sigh ... i have to update my CV

cant bring myself to do it right now

Matt Эллен

be sure to put Stack Exchange participation on there!

Jez

heh

"fired because company bosses were jackasses who couldn't be bothered to try and work things out"

Matt Эллен

maybe not put that you were fired at all?

Jez

2:07 PM

obviously

user19161

@Jez I like that line, but most bosses being asses would not.

user19161

Ultimately if one stays true to oneself, one would find the path he is meant to tread.

Jez

that was Job's attitude

user19161

It would be good if the questions get the same rep as the answers, a plus 10.

user19161

I have burned the ISO to disc. Now it's install time!

user19161

2:12 PM

@Jez Which Job?

user19161

Also, downvoting questions should cost the downvoter -1 just like with the answers, to be fair.

Matt Эллен

@JasperLoy this is how it used to be, but questions are not as useful as answers, and voting on questions should not be discouraged

user19161

@MattЭллен Without questions, there are no answers. Without answers, there are still questions. QED.

user19161

I read Jeff's blog post on that matter though.

Matt Эллен

3 hours ago, by RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Anyway, the Internet is full of questions, but not of answers.

user19161

2:18 PM

@MattЭллен I think it is full of answers too. Some answers are good, some are bad, just like the questions. YMMV.

Robusto

Matt Эллен

Apr 20 at 13:24, by Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Robusto

@MattЭллен Slow jinx.

Matt Эллен

You'll have to get the coke from Mr S n N

Robusto

Oh, and btw, I was otherwise engaged on 4/20. So I have an excuse.

Matt Эллен

2:26 PM

But that implies that your life doesn't revolve around EL&U chat. unprobabale

Robusto

@MattЭллен It doesn't revolve around ELU chat. It orbits ELU chat. There's a difference.

Matt Эллен

heh, I see! As you above, so us below

Robusto

@MattЭллен Well, let's agree to keep your inferiority sub rosa.

Anyway, I wasn't making a superior/inferior assertion, but a "goes around, comes around" one.

Matt Эллен

@Jez - no ill effects from your bolognese, I take it?

@Robusto ah! hence all the jinxae

Robusto

Well, Wondermark ain't perfect. See if you can spot the false etymology he asserts as true in his compendium of false etymologies: wondermark.com/surprising-etymologies

Matt Эллен

2:40 PM

So where had your orbit taken you on 20/4?

@Robusto bogeyman?

Robusto

@MattЭллен No.

Side note: qwantz.com/index.php?comic=2193

420 (cannabis culture)

420, 4:20, or 4/20 (pronounced four-twenty) is primarily a term used in North America and refers to the consumption of cannabis and, by extension, a way to identify oneself with cannabis subculture. Observances based on the number include the time (4:20 ) as well as the date (April 20). Origins The earliest use of the term began among a group of teenagers in San Rafael, California in 1971. Calling themselves the Waldos, because "their chosen hang-out spot was a wall outside the school," the group first used the term in connection to a fall 1971 plan to search for an abandoned cannabi...

Disclaimer: Of course I would never try anything like that myself.

Matt Эллен

oh! right, we don't get that day here. we have ascending magnitude in our date writing

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

420 is so 2011. 1080 is where it's at.

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 1080 makes me p.

Matt Эллен

@Robusto then it's that rattle and clink is slang for drink

Robusto

2:47 PM

@MattЭллен Nope.

Matt Эллен

well, it's not

Robusto

I'll give you a hint. @Cerberus would spot it in a minute.

@MattЭллен Wevs, you may be right, but that's not the one I'm thinking of.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Lol @sultan.

Robusto

etymonline.com/…

Even I knew that one.

Matt Эллен

Oh!

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

2:49 PM

Oh I didn't even get that far. He lost me at sultan.

> from Arabic sultan "ruler, king, queen, power, dominion," from Aramaic shultana "power," from shelet "have power

Put your consult in a pipe and smoke it.

Robusto

Well, he did bill them as false etymologies.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

As if the world needed more of that crap.

What is this, 1700?

Matt Эллен

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 over at wondermark, probably

the only true on is fart, unless the bogeyman one is true

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Etymology used to be a pointless excercise in nonsense at various King's courts, but I thought we're long past that point.

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Actually, sultan comes after the one I mentioned. But maybe you were reading from the bottom up.

0

Q: What's a more powerful phrase with the same basic meaning as "no adjustment"?

I'm writing an experience report describing a failed technology integration project. There is a section in the report that describes a failure to change the design/strategy of the project in reaction to big changes in the external environment. The current title of the section is "no adjustment"...

phrase-requests

Needs the WTF button.

Matt Эллен

2:55 PM

NO ADJUSTMENT

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@Robusto you are wrong.

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Is it too late to get it sugar-coated? Anyway, turns out I was thinking of bogeyman. Sorry to get all up in your grill with that one.

ladenedge

Yay, it's @RegDwightB8. As literature.se is dying, we've been looking for new homes for some of our questions. These questions got tentative OKs yesterday in chat, but they said you should be the final judge.

11

Q: Notes Placement

Why is it standard for a book's notes to be placed at the very end of the book—book endnotes—while only a small minority of books place each chapter's notes at the end of each respective chapter—chapter endnotes? Least common of all is the placement of notes at the bottom of each relevant page—f...

publishing

8

Q: What does Homer mean when he says, "her words had wings"?

In both The Iliad and The Odyssey, Homer uses the phrase "words had wings" all over the place. Here's one quote of many: Then the shadow of the swift-footed son of Aeacus knew who I was, and with a cry of grief, he spoke to me -- his words had wings: "Resourceful Odysseus, Laertes' son and Z...

classics homer

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@Robusto oh frigg. I already prepared a righteous screenshot!

Well, it shall not get wasted in my dev/null.

There. I am so happy now.

Robusto

You certainly wrestled that one to the ground. You should be proud.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

2:57 PM

@ladenedge gah, dying? Really?

Such a broad field.

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Let's not be sexist.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

We actually sent a couple people your way.

ladenedge

Sad but true. :(

Matt Эллен

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 SE blog today says they are shutting the doors of Lit and some other stacks

Robusto

Jul 19 '11 at 19:37, by Robusto

@Shog9 — It'll never fly. Nobody has bite-sized, unequivocal answers for literature questions. Literature is all about discussions, which SE abhors.

You heard it here first.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

2:58 PM

Oh right. I stopped reading blogs after we got one of our own.

ladenedge

@Robusto: that was certainly one problem.

Mitch

1

A: Which is larger a "chasm" or a "gulf?"

A chasm is more menacing since it is more difficult to cross than a gulf. For a chasm that's 300 m wide with equal height on both sides, you need at least a hot air balloon to cross. Whereas a gulf that's 300m wide can be crossed by swimming.

Robusto

Has anyone asked "C'mon, who really wrote Shakespeare? 'Fess up!" yet?

Mitch

Where did the hot air balloon come from?

Robusto

@Mitch Neither is as large as Chasbono.

Mitch

3:00 PM

Is that what the movie 'Up' was about, a chasm (or gulf)?

ladenedge

12

Q: Who wrote Shakespeare's plays?

One of the premises of a new film, "Anonymous", due to come out in a couple of weeks, is that Shakespeare's plays were authored by Edward de Vere, instead of by Shakespeare. The producers have also created educational materials arguing that Shakespeare was a fraud. The notion that de Vere was th...

history william-shakespeare plays british-literature

Robusto

@Mitch Reg has been here since the beginning. What are you talking about?

Anonymous

Hello

ladenedge

Although in fairness, that was first migrated from skeptics. :)

Mitch

@Robusto Well, if we're going that way, I would have used a crossbow and zipline.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

3:01 PM

@ladenedge doesn't look good. Both would be off-topic here, methinks.

The best I can offer is that you just migrate anyway, in the hopes that perhaps we don't close it after all, or close but not delete. But psssst.

Robusto

@ladenedge Yes. The real reason people don't attribute Shakespeare's writing to Edward de Vere is because The Oxford Edition of Oxford would be redundant.

ladenedge

darn. That Homer one has such a great answer.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Well yeah.

Robusto

What Homer one?

Mitch

Would it be so terribly bad if we answered literature style questions here?

ladenedge

3:03 PM

8

Q: What does Homer mean when he says, "her words had wings"?

In both The Iliad and The Odyssey, Homer uses the phrase "words had wings" all over the place. Here's one quote of many: Then the shadow of the swift-footed son of Aeacus knew who I was, and with a cry of grief, he spoke to me -- his words had wings: "Resourceful Odysseus, Laertes' son and Z...

classics homer

It's definitely a language/usage question. Just more in the Greek language category than English, heh.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

I mean, we get lots of "what does X mean here" anyway...

Robusto

@Mitch Yeah, it would. Those should be sent to Writers.SE maybe, which is also moribund. Besides, if it weren't for ELU Lite questions, we wouldn't have no questions at all around here.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@Mitch well you see where allowing literature style questions gets you.

Not to kick a man on the ground.

ladenedge

hehe

Robusto

If you kick a man while he's down, you're likely to get a foot full of feathers.

5

Matt Эллен

3:05 PM

+1 because it made me go whu? Dahhhhh!

ladenedge

I'll try Writers.se for the Notes Placement question. Still thinking no on Homer, @RegDwightB8?

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Oh, this chat now has jokes with words. Nice.

Robusto

"The Greek phrase is “ἔπεα πτερόεντα”, and “winged words” is a literal translation. The idiomatic meaning of this expression is not known, and it has spurned considerable debate amongst translators and scholars."

Cleanup on aisle spurned.

ladenedge

Well, it doesn't like debate okay?

Robusto

I'd do it myself, but I'm not a member of that site.

Mitch

3:06 PM

well, for all those lit and writer style questions that we migrated away, some of them were just dumb and some were not dumb just (currently) off topic. The bad ones can still be closed as dumb/WTF/NARQ.

Robusto

Yeah, who said questions about literature had to be literate?

@MattЭллен You are wise beyond your years.

Matt Эллен

Thanks!

Robusto

@ladenedge And I don't particularly care for amongst, but I was pretending to be an adult at the time so I let it pass.

ladenedge

Your restraint is admirable!

Robusto

Now, here's a question that should be discussed on Literature.SE: mgilleland.com/rknox/boswell.htm

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

3:09 PM

Well I gotta commute.

Robusto

Did Boswell really write Boswell?

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

I trust you to sort it all out.

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Remember what happened last time you commuted.

Matt Эллен

have a good cummote, @Reg

ladenedge

Alright then, you asked for it, muhahaha..

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

3:10 PM

My advice remains, when in doubt, migrate. We can still kill with fire + extreme prejudice later.

ladenedge

Thanks for the help!

Matt Эллен

First I'm up voted by someone who thinks I'm wrong, then I'm down voted by someone who thinks I'm right. What's SE coming to?!

The phrase, IMHO, does not quite show enough contempt for the offer, but +1 for the promptest and closest answer. — Joshua Drake 19 hours ago

I would say the opposite. I feel quite offended when this is said to me and isn't something I'd say unless I wanted to hurt the other person (as opposed to merely making my displeasure known). -1for not emphasizing this. — emragins 9 mins ago

Robusto

You can't please everyone. I'm offended that you didn't reference my awesomeness in your answer, but at least I didn't downvote you. I merely went away and sulked.

I think @RegDwightB8 is doing his "fake commute" thing. The Owl is still on the prowl.

Matt Эллен

@Robusto ah, still pretending to be an adult. I'm much obliged.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…