English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

cornbread ninja

7:00 PM

fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/…

Mahnax

Neat.

ΜετάEd

@Mahnax SP alt+0150 SP :-p

Mahnax

@ΜετάEd SP…?

Matt Эллен

@Mahnax alt+032

Mahnax

Nuh-uh.

Nope.

CMoS says no space.

Em-dash, not en-dash.

ΜετάEd

7:04 PM

@cornbreadninja pretty

Mahnax

44

A: When should I use an em-dash, an en-dash, and a hyphen?

An em-dash — is typically used to act as a comma or parenthesis to separate out phrases—or even just a word—in a sentence for various reasons (i.e. an appositive). Examples where an em-dash should be used: School is based on the three R’s—reading, writing, and ’rithe...

ΜετάEd

@Mahnax Lessee ... where's that English.SEMoS ... gotta be around here somewhere ...

KitFox

OMELG.

Mahnax

@KitFox Quoi?

ΜετάEd

CMoS is behind the times.

KitFox

7:07 PM

I have one tiny little bit of friction in a meeting and we move to defcon 1.

ΜετάEd

Anybody who's anybody uses the en-dash.

Mahnax

I refuse.

ΜετάEd

It's the in-dash, baby.

JSBձոգչ

em-dash forever. the en-dash is for terrorists

Mahnax

Thank you, Mr. Linguist. We have an official ruling.

Robusto

7:08 PM

I typically put spaces — just a little bit of whitespace — around em dashes in HTML, so that I don't get huge, ugly word clusters that break horribly at the end of the line.

JSBձոգչ

@Robusto this, too, is wisdom

Matt Эллен

@KitFox what going on?

ΜετάEd

@Robusto That's even worse. The em-dash is huge. The font already provides a bit of space, like a hair space width; let the font take care of it.

Mahnax

The em-dash is beautiful. —︵—

4

KitFox

A two-hour meeting with a 15 minute spat at the end turns into 1-30 minute conversation with the big boss, 1-hour conversation with my boss, and now 1-hour long conversation with the big boss's wife who is sort of my half-big boss.

Robusto

7:10 PM

@ΜετάEd It's not about the font. It's about linebreaks.

KitFox

She's asking me about this "issue" that they "sense" between me and the project lead.

Robusto

@ΜετάEd The en dash is for people who can't afford the fully luxury-equipped em dash.

ΜετάEd

@Robusto And that makes no sense: the software should be smart enough to break at an em-dash. Get better software.

Matt Эллен

em-dash—is no space sufficient?
hmmm — probably not

Cerberus

—

–

Robusto

7:11 PM

@ΜετάEd Should be. In my experience, it isn't.

ΜετάEd

@MattЭллен Space around the en-dash, however, is a good idea. A space, or a thinspace.

JSBձոգչ

@ΜετάEd the software in this case is the web browser, possibly enabled by the OS.

ΜετάEd

@Robusto You shouldn't write code to borken software.

Cerberus

I like no space.

Matt Эллен

@KitFox they've only just noticed?

Robusto

7:12 PM

@Cerberus You are, like, nowhere then.

ΜετάEd

@JSBձոգչ Sure. But get the browser fixed. Don't write text that will eventually do the wrong thing when they fix it.

Robusto

@ΜετάEd Right. I'll get Microsoft to fix their browser. Hold on, I'll be right back. This should only be a few decades.

cornbread ninja

@Mahnax how you make frowny part

Cerberus

@Robusto I see the concept of liking something is beyond you.

If you like boobies...

KitFox

@MattЭллен It's not an "issue." There's no "problem." No forms need to be filled out!

Robusto

7:14 PM

@Cerberus But only just beyond me. Tantalizingly out of reach.

Mahnax

@cornbreadninja It's in my character viewer thingy.

cornbread ninja

@Mahnax hmph.

Mahnax

︵
PRESENTATION FORM FOR VERTICAL LEFT PARENTHESIS
Unicode: U+FE35, UTF-8: EF B8 B5

ΜετάEd

@Robusto Abandon Microsoft.

KitFox

So in response to my complaint about the project lead wasting my time, I have had approximately three additional hours wasted trying to explain what I meant by that.

Robusto

7:15 PM

@ΜετάEd Other browsers do it too. I just used that as the reductio ad absurdum example.

Cerberus

@Robusto The unluckiest man in the world.

@KitFox They are trying to beat you down, wear you out.

cornbread ninja

brb unending, unfulfilling busywork

Matt Эллен

@KitFox ah

ΜετάEd

@Robusto absurdum indeed.

KitFox

@Cerberus No, they are trying to help me solve a nonexistent problem.

Robusto

7:16 PM

@Cerberus You sound like someone who hasn't realized yet that life is a dream within a dream, a shadow of a shape.

Matt Эллен

@KitFox except that you don't like him and find it hard to work with him

KitFox

@MattЭллен Eh. They can't change him.

Matt Эллен

@KitFox I see

- – — – -

Cerberus

@KitFox By aggravating it?

KitFox

There is no remedy for the situation. And in terms of dealing with him, I'm fine once I have time to shake it off.

Cerberus

7:17 PM

@Robusto Less than that.

@KitFox But they know now that he is a difficult person to work with, don't they?

ΜετάEd

Why don't we just go back to ASCII. Hyphen: - En dash: -- Em dash: ---

KitFox

@Cerberus She told me a few times that she had heard it from other people too. She was really digging for me to unleash on her about how awful he was.

I didn't break though.

Cerberus

Well done.

Unless that would have got him fired?

KitFox

Not hardly. She's friends with him.

user19161

@Mahnax X-rays are discussed on pages 44--46 of the manual---read everything carefully. There there, the hyphen, the en-dash and the em-dash all in one.

Cerberus

7:19 PM

Oh.

Then you did well.

Surely it helps to know that other people have complained too, and that the bosses understand the situation?

ΜετάEd

@KitFox That's a perfect opening for "you're friends with him, how do you handle it when he XXX, YYY, and ZZZ"

@MattЭллен that's just much too wide.

@JasperLoy This.

user19161

@ΜετάEd LaTeX works like that too.

ΜετάEd

@JasperLoy Ayup.

And just plain TeX.

KitFox

@Cerberus It kind of reminds me of when I reported one of my high school teachers for inappropriate behavior and there was all this hubbub, and interviewing and such and then they gently told me that I hadn't been sexually molested or harassed or anything, and I was all like "no shit, but I just thought you might like to know about his creepy behavior. Duh."

user19161

So the election results will be out immediately in half an hour?

Matt Эллен

7:25 PM

35 minutes

user19161

I am so excited now!

Matt Эллен

or they will be calculated then

I'm not sure how long that will take

there might need to be a recount, if Evan isn't elected

user19161