English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Oh, I posted a comment somewhere about people calling me "Mr Wallace" in their comments on questions and answers; and how I keep expecting to see my Dad.

But maybe that comment wasn't here; I don't remember now.

Mahnax

Oh, if so, I didn't see it.

I still feel disrespectful when I call adults by their first names though.

Call me old-fashioned.

David Wallace

5:48 AM

yesterday, by David Wallace

So why is this troll person calling me Mr Wallace? I keep looking round, expecting to see my father.

Mahnax

Ah, there it is.

David Wallace

@Mahnax No, I probably would have been the same at your age. But SE is kind of a leveller. For example, I wouldn't call Barrie England anything other than Barrie, even though he's about the same age as my father.

Mahnax

@DavidWallace I suppose.

David Wallace

I should never have admitted my age here, or shown my photo.

Mahnax

I refer to him as Barrie too, but if he ever comes to chat, he might end up being Mr. England.

David Wallace

5:50 AM

He was here yesterday.

Mahnax

Although part of that is due to the potential falseness of his last name.

@DavidWallace Oh, really?!

I've never seem him here.

David Wallace

I'm pretty sure it's actually his real name.

Mr Cerberus asked him a question, then he immediately left.

user19161

@Mahnax Then you must call Robusto Captain America.

Mahnax

Hm, interesting.

I think Robusto is his first name, but I'm not certain.

David Wallace

He claims it is.

Mahnax

5:52 AM

Well, there you have it.

David Wallace

I seem to remember him saying his last name too, but I don't remember what it was. It might have begun with U.

Mahnax

Oh, I think I know that, actually.

Maybe he wouldn't want it shared though, at least not from my fingers.

user19161

@Mahnax It's Robert.

Mahnax

Jan 10 at 23:12, by Robusto

@MattЭллен — Barrie England? Yeah, right. I don't believe that's his real name. I mean, why shouldn't the rest of us call ourselves names like Captain America and Anatole France and the like? Now, me, Robusto Hatsuyume is my real name.

Well, that seems to settle it.

user19161

@Mahnax That's a joke padawan!

Mahnax

5:54 AM

Oh, hello @JasperLoy!

user19161

@Mahnax Boo!

simchona

@DavidWallace I gave up on most people's age here. I just know Mah, Sonic and Daniel are younger than me

Mahnax

Hehe.

David Wallace

Mahnax - you beat me to it.

I was off looking for it, while you were posting it.

@simchona I like to have an approximate idea of the age of the people I'm talking to.

simchona

@DavidWallace Younger than Kit, Cerb and Jasper

David Wallace

5:57 AM

So that I don't do something like ask Mahnax "what were you doing when Kennedy was assassinated", or anything like that.

@simchona Who, you? Yeah, I guessed. I, however, believe I am older than all three of them.

user19161

@simchona Don't worry, I will keep it a secret for you.

David Wallace

Or, I can just assign random numbers until I find out otherwise.

Mahnax

Sure.

Well, there. I have finished reading Kit's story.

user19161

@mahnax Daniel seems to have come back to ELU.

Mahnax

@JasperLoy Ayup.

David Wallace

6:03 AM

It's fantastically written. But I don't feel empathy for any of the characters.

Mahnax

Me neither, actually.

user19161

@Mahnax Has your voice changed much recently?

David Wallace

I think maybe I'm not supposed to. I wonder if any of the women that I know would empathise with Macy.

Mahnax

@JasperLoy Uh… I'm not sure.

Why would you ask me that?

David Wallace

@JasperLoy I believe "Ayup" is in the same category as "aboot".

user19161

6:05 AM

@Mahnax OK. Well, I just thought it might at your age.

Mahnax

@JasperLoy Well, yes.

@DavidWallace tch

user19161

@DavidWallace I have no idea what you are saying.

waiwai933

@simchona Late answer, but I was on my phone, and didn't want to make a mistake merging accounts (deletion is always reversible... merging is not).

David Wallace

@JasperLoy I thought your question about Mahnax changing was to do with his use of a stereotypical Canadianism.

Why do moderators merge accounts?

It seems to me like you're doing a favour to someone who has deliberately flouted the rules.

waiwai933

@DavidWallace Sometimes a user has two accounts (or more). In some cases, it's by accident (the user uses an unregistered account one day and then an OpenID the next, for example), in which case we do it to help them organize all their posts together.

user19161

6:10 AM

@waiwai933 Hi! Enjoy your summer vacation!

David Wallace

Oh, OK. I assumed that the case that you and simchona were discussing was one of a deliberately bad user, though - one who is undeserving of such help.

waiwai933

Otherwise, users who are using sockpuppets abusively (vote fraud, or ganging up on another user) or who are attempting to circumvent a suspension will have accounts merged to make it clear what is going on. It also helps us keep tabs on everything.

@DavidWallace Actually, in this case, this user is a bad one.

@JasperLoy Hello! Thanks.

Mahnax

Good evening, Waiwai.

David Wallace

Right, I needed to read the second half of your answer, before posting my intervening comment.

If it's helpful to you, I understand. It just seems like a lot of effort, AFAICS.

waiwai933

@Mahnax Good evening!

David Wallace

6:12 AM

Part of why I shall probably never volunteer to be a moderator.

waiwai933

Not that much effort actually; takes me all of four clicks to merge accounts.

Mahnax

@DavidWallace Well, one should not let Nortonn run around with six accounts.

waiwai933

Off by a factor of 10, unfortunately (59 accounts merged as far as we can tell right now)

David Wallace

@Mahnax Yeah, I guess I don't know enough of the background. I don't know why Nortonn was suspended in the first place, so I can't accurately measure the harm to the community in letting him/her keep multiple accounts.

user19161

@Mahnax I thought he is just an antivirus?

David Wallace

6:14 AM

It seems that the harm to the moderators in trying to keep tabs on him/her might exceed the benefit of doing so.

Mahnax

@waiwai933 Goodness.

user19161

@waiwai933 Geezis.

user19161

@DavidWallace Just open all the tabs in your browser.

David Wallace

It's just, it seems to me like it's a game for him/her. Like, he/she creates all of this chaos, and enjoys watching the moderators/admins clean up after him/her. Probably if nobody bothered, he/she would just stop.

Cerberus

Hello, I am on my new Nexus now typing to you nice people. I do miss my hardware keyboard!

Man, typing on a soft keyboard sucks.

Mahnax

6:21 AM

Oh, hi Cerby!

Cerberus

That line took me I don't know, minutes!

Hi!

David Wallace

Oh, Cerberus, I never knew you'd bought yourself a new device!

Cerberus

:5368605 No, I have resigned myself to the fact that I shall have to do without proper typing, in exchange for the nice, nice thingies I can do herewith.

Oh, that was in reply to your deleted line.

Yes, Gigi and I were going to buy Nexuses for ages.

Mahnax

Then she bought an iPhone.

Has she unlocked that thing yet?

Cerberus

@DavidWallace I have probably asked this hundreds of times, but what phone do you use?

@Mahnax Nope.

Mahnax

6:24 AM

@Cerberus Man, that sucks.

Cerberus

Yeah.

I's not sure what she has tried so far, though.

I recommended this Gevey card to her.

@Gigili: If you can't buy that card in your country, I'd be happy to ship it to you.

And it should be cheap too, in envelope.

Or you could jailbreak it.

David Wallace

6:45 AM

@Cerberus Hang on, I'll find a picture.

gsmarena.com/nokia_1100-512.php

Cerberus

@DavidWallace Ohh, it's lovely.

Very graceful.

Do you enjoy playing with electronic devices in general?

David Wallace

@Cerberus Umm, no?

I own this phone in order to make and receive phone calls.

Playing doesn't come into it.

Cerberus

@DavidWallace How about computers?

David Wallace

Do I enjoy playing with computers?

Computers are a tool.

They give me money.

Cerberus

So no?

You don't like getting it to do cool stuff, or installing interesting programs?

David Wallace

6:59 AM

Huh?

I spend 40 hours a week getting computers to do cool stuff.

Cerberus

And do you enjoy it?

David Wallace

Why would I want to continue to do so when I get home?

Cerberus

Because it is fun?

David Wallace

Few things are enough fun to justify spending more than 1/4 of one's life doing them.

Cerberus

All right.

David Wallace

7:05 AM

Sorry, forget it, I looked at the big version.

I don't let my son draw on fruit.

Cerberus

Wait, what?

You are deletish today!

David Wallace

Oh, no, I just asked @Gigili a dumb question; then found the answer to it myself.

Cerberus

Ah.

I see!

David Wallace

I'm trying to remember when the last time I asked an intelligent question was.

Cerberus

I'm sure it wasn't too long ago!

David Wallace

7:15 AM

So, what can you do, now that you're CGN, that you couldn't do before?

Cerberus

I can browse any website.

I can do lots of things quicker.

I can automatically synchronize photos between my phone, online backup, and my computer.

And there are 1001 other applications that I couldn't use before.

Many of which I have yet to discover.

David Wallace

I can browse any website.

I can do lots of things quicker.

Cerberus

Can you do it on the train?

That's the idea.

David Wallace

I can automatically synchronise photos between my computer and online backup. If my phone had photos, I'm sure I'd find a way of doing it.

And I'm sure there are at least 1001 applications I've never used.

Cerberus

@DavidWallace I couldn't do it on my previous phone.

David Wallace

7:19 AM

I can plan my day so that I don't NEED to browse web sites on the train.

Cerberus

Now I have Dropbox, yay!

@DavidWallace I can now not plan, how do you like that?

David Wallace

And when I'm on the train, the only thing I want to do quicker is get home. Or get to work, depending on which way I'm going.

Cerberus

I also don't want to be bored on the train. Or look up the best route. Or type an e-mail.

David Wallace

@Cerberus Not planning is overrated.

Cerberus

I am very good at it.

At not planning.

David Wallace

7:20 AM

@Cerberus I often work on my book when I'm on the train.

Cerberus

Sure.

I normally don't take a bag with me.

David Wallace

Yeah, I have a big clunky laptop bag that's big enough for my lunch as well as my laptop.

but too heavy.

Cerberus

Right.

So having a full-fledged information and entertainment centre with me at all times is just great.

Even at home it has some uses.

For automatically scanning and translating pages, or something.

With the right application, anything is possible.

The infinite is attainable.

The only limit is yourself.

David Wallace

The infinite is unattainable, by definition.

Cerberus

You haven't been listening to Zombo.com very well.

David Wallace

7:29 AM

You're absolutely right.

I guess I'm just a child of the 20th century.

Deep down, I am the worst sort of technophobe.

Cerberus

Really?

I just have moods.

Some things seem useless to me.

Other things seem very cool.

David Wallace

I think I'm getting old.

I get grumpy that most of the Java questions on SO are about Android. How messed up is that?

Cerberus

No, it is understandable.

I have been in similar phases.

It is very annoying when certain things become "hip" to the detriment of other, good things.

But it will pass.

David Wallace

Bye, @Gigili

Mahnax

sighs

David Wallace

7:34 AM

Hey, look at this question.

Mahnax

There are 35 new messages on my phone.

David Wallace

-5

Q: small java swing designer

I'm making a application that let users to design Java-Swing user interfaces, like user can drag and drop components on to the frame and back-end, set their location, size and other properties, code is generated automatically... like NetBeans GUI Builder (and other IDEs with this features). It's ...

Mahnax

And they're all from my friend's little sister.

@DavidWallace Oh, nice!

I should have answered that one.

David Wallace

@Mahnax Haha, she has a crush on you!

Mahnax

@DavidWallace We've never even met.

David Wallace

7:39 AM

@Mahnax Do you think it's possible to have a crush on someone you've never met?

Mahnax

@DavidWallace Well, maybe.

However, is it possible to have a crush on me?

David Wallace

Umm, never having met you might help with that!

;-)

Mahnax

Haha, sure!

David Wallace

So why did your friend's sister send you 35 messages?

Mahnax

That's a good question.

Each message consists of one word, most of the words being unrelated.

It was more like 60, I just had 35 unread at that point.

David Wallace

7:42 AM

Aha, I bet they didn't arrive in the order in which she sent them.

Mahnax

They were arriving so quickly that I doubt they mean anything.

Cerberus

@Mahnax Awww she has a crush on you!

David Wallace

It's unanimous then!

Cerberus

@DavidWallace Yes, it is...

David Wallace

@Mahnax Seriously though, I bet it was just one long message, that she decided to send one word at a time, not knowing that the words would arrive in the wrong order.

Cerberus

7:44 AM

But be careful.

Mahnax

Here, a sample: milking, church, enough, UNIX, Inn, Sum, MATTTTT!!!!!!!!!!

Each word is a separate message.

David Wallace

Hmm, probably not enough verbs in that collection to make a proper message.

But at least you know it wasn't a wrong number.

Mahnax

Yeah.

Plus, what do milking and UNIX have in common?

►

Why Taco Bell is awesome ^

David Wallace

blog.milkingthegnu.org/2008/05/…

Mahnax

Yes, I can Google milking UNIX too…

David Wallace

7:48 AM

Ah, but did you?

Mahnax

Yep.

David Wallace

I might be the author of that blog.

Mahnax

> a small Californian hamlet

Nope, not you.

David Wallace

Yeah, doesn't the author's photo look like me?

Mahnax

cocks head

Not… really?

David Wallace

7:51 AM

No, not him - the one with the stripey tie.

And the horns.

Mahnax

Oh, that one.

Nah.

David Wallace

Yeah, I wouldn't wear sneakers with a suit.

Mahnax

Yeah, you're too classy for that.

Cerberus, are you still awake?

Cerberus

Hello.

I woke up 6 hours ago, I am very awake!

Mahnax

Oh my.

Cerberus

7:54 AM

Playing with mah thing.

Mahnax

tsks

I just want another laptop.

whines

David Wallace

@Cerberus Keep it clean please; this is a G-rated chat-room!

Cerberus

Only G?

@Mahnax But why!

I thought it worked well?

Mahnax

It does!

But I want to have one running Windows too, for games and things.

Or maybe a Linux-based OS.

I could switch OSes all the time.

Cerberus

Mahnax

7:58 AM

Cerberus

@Mahnax You could make it dual boot?

Mahnax

There's the unedited version.

@Cerberus Sure.

I was considering doing that on my Mac for a bit.

I might still give it a try at some point.

Cerberus

@Mahnax Oh haha, better.

Huh, wait.

David Wallace

@Cerberus Why are you using an American date format on your task bar?

Cerberus

@Mahnax It's just not dependent on the hardware: you could install Windows on that Mac.

Mahnax

8:00 AM

@Cerberus I know I can.

Cerberus

@DavidWallace I...don't know.

Mahnax

But that's expensive!

Cerberus

Then download it.

Mahnax

It could be infected!

Cerberus

Or find an old XP CD.

Mahnax

8:00 AM

Oh, that would do.

Cerberus

@Mahnax Test it in a VM first.

Mahnax

Can you mail me yours?

Cerberus

I think there are more efficient ways!

Mahnax

Maybe.

Cerberus

I could have installed XP from some CDs my parents have lying around, but it is too much fuss.

Mahnax

8:02 AM

At any rate, it's too late [read: early] for me to be considering any of this anyways.

Cerberus

Oh, is it 2 am already?

1?

Mahnax

2:00.

Cerberus

Ah OK.

You'll make it work, eventually.

Mahnax

Yeah. I work tomorrow, but not until 16:30, so I can stay up late.

@Cerberus Hopefully.

Cerberus

I'm sure.

Mahnax

8:13 AM

OK, I'm tired. Good night.

David Wallace

Bye Matthew.

Cerberus

Night!

Matt Эллен

this is a dupe:

0

Q: "He took (a) video of the accident"

Consider the following sentences: He took video of the accident. He took a video of the accident. He took audio of the accident. He took an audio of the accident. The first two seem to be grammatically correct. What about the last two?

grammar idioms articles

9

Q: If I can say "videos", can I also say "audios"?

Audio and video seem to me very similar words by usage. I often hear the plural form for video, but is there a plural form for audio? Can I say audios? I've never heard it being used.

grammatical-number word-usage

good morning!

David Wallace

Good evening!

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus yes, but you have to invest to get it: Exodus Wars: Fractured Empire

HI @David

Cerberus

8:27 AM

@MattЭллен Ohh...

Matt Эллен

if only you were a patient Hound

@Cerberus are you enjoying your new phone?

afk

Cerberus

@MattЭллен Very!

Patience is hard.

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus indeed! lets go shopping :D

Cerberus

8:47 AM

Haha.

I did.

Can't buy new phones every day, you know.

David Wallace

I can!

Matt Эллен

challenge not accepted

David Wallace

Another fantastic question from SO - stackoverflow.com/questions/11490494/…

Matt Эллен

lol

Cerberus

9:07 AM

Even I can tell that that is a bad question.

David Wallace

It's been one of those days on SO.

Cerberus

Some days SO is so-so.

David Wallace

SO true!

Even ELU is dead today. I might have to post an answer to the heterosexual question.

Gigili

Hullo.

Happy fantastic question day.

Cerberus

@DavidWallace You have the answer?

David Wallace

9:13 AM

Hey, G, I've missed you today.

Cerberus

Hullo.

Hey, GN, I haven't missed you today!

Hey, Iphone, stop messing with Gigi and unlock already!

David Wallace

@Cerberus I know the answer. But there's no point in duplicating what's already been said.

Cerberus

All right.

David Wallace

One day, I shall discover a hitherto unknown, deeply exciting SE site.

Cerberus

Next you will deal with the White Question and the Atheist Question?

David Wallace

9:15 AM

I AM the white question and the atheist question.

Matt Эллен

how zen

@Cerberus perhaps there is a final solution to both

Cerberus

@DavidWallace How about superiordeveloping.stackexchange.com?

@MattЭллен And, eine Endlösung!

Matt Эллен

indeed

David Wallace

@Cerberus I WEEL KEEL YOU!

Cerberus

Sorry.

David Wallace

9:18 AM

So if that exists, why do they clutter up SO?

Cerberus

I knew you would click.

No idea, migrate all those questions!

David Wallace

Not a mod. Maybe I should stand in the next election.

Is there a "vote to migrate" option if I get enough rep?

Matt Эллен

yeah, but not to that site

David Wallace

Riba ribi grize rep.

Matt Эллен

David Wallace

9:22 AM

How much do I need?

Cerberus

@MattЭллен Ohh you're big on SO.

David Wallace

See you all later.

Cerberus

Bya!

Matt Эллен

cya @DavidWallace

@Cerberus oh yeah, I'm a real playa

@DavidWallace 3000 reps I think

@DavidWallace stackoverflow.com/privileges/close-questions

Gigili

11:22 AM

@JasperLoy I should not. That one is one of the reasons I wasn't elected and I'm not going to forget it.

@KitFox Great, I'll find it there now. Thank you. air kiss

Robusto

12:34 PM

Momo momo momo momo. There, you have been empeached. (桃)

Journeyman Geek

...

Matt Эллен

1:21 PM

mmmm

my beard smells like caramel

I don't know why

Robusto

1:32 PM

@MattЭллен Is your desk littered with caramel wrappers? That could be a clue.

Matt Эллен

1:44 PM

omnomnomnomnom drool you mean these things come in wrappers?

I thought they were just papery on the outside

Robusto

That's the mistake a lot of people make.

Gigili

2:17 PM

What's this supposed to mean?

english.stackexchange.com/posts/74539/revisions

un-<sup> refs? Huh?

Matt Эллен

<sup> is the HTML tag that makes text superscripted

the refs were superscripted

Gigili

I know! But is that needed?

Matt Эллен

no, not in my opinion

Gigili

2:38 PM

As usual, great answer. No grammar book explains this things. +100 — Carlo_R. 1 hour ago

Hehehe...he.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…