English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

See, if you had a TV set you could just take the letters T and V and turn them around and at one point you'd come rather close to building something resembling the word pun. Then you'd still not understand, but at least you'd have killed some time.

Robusto

►

You knew it was coming.

RegDwight АΑA

I didn't not unknow it was coming that slowly.

Cerberus

10:09 PM

Kill some time, check. Fail to understand, check.

RegDwight АΑA

TV, no check.

Robusto

@RegDwightАΑA Had to find the exact cue.

RegDwight АΑA

No effort left unwasted.

Robusto

No pun left undeedished.

Ah, me missus is home. Cyaz later.

RegDwight АΑA

And that's just two great government programs. Stay tuned for more.

CU

Cerberus

10:13 PM

Bye!

By the way, have you been to Trier?

RegDwight АΑA

Many times of course.

My wife even had an excursion once, with her German-learning group.

I think she can't see it anymore.

Cerberus

Haha.

Did you like it?

RegDwight АΑA

Basically whenever we head north by train, that's the first major stop.

Cerberus

I have heard good things about it, and it looks really cool.

RegDwight АΑA

I only know Porta Nigra.

@Cerberus yes, that thing.

It actually is black.

Someone fcked up the contrast.

Cerberus

10:17 PM

Really black, or just dark grey?

RegDwight АΑA

Nah, black. Like if there was a fire or something.

But yeah, they have a nice Altstadt, and some park with a manor or a castle or whatever but there's no point in living there really.

It's rather provincial.

Cerberus

I read it was bombed.

RegDwight АΑA

Everything was carpet bombed here.

Cerberus

But the Altstadt still looks nice?

RegDwight АΑA

From my wife's photos, yes.

I last explored it some 18 years ago, don't remember a thing.

But again, it's not huge or anything. There are entire cities that have survived the last 500 years unchanged.

So if you're into that kind of thing, there are other destinations to recommend.

user19161

10:22 PM

@RegDwightАΑA Wow, you married 18 years ago? Amazing!

RegDwight АΑA

I never said or did any such thing.

tchrist

@Robusto ☢ 🛂 🛃 💉 👎 💩 🚨 🚔 👿 👽 👾 😨 💢 💣 ⧖ 😱 💥 😷 💀 👻

RegDwight АΑA

Ah yes. Tchrist with his empty lines again.

user19161

@tchrist I can only see the first one.

tchrist

\x{2622} \x{1F6C2} \x{1F6C3} \x{1F489} \x{1F44E} \x{1F4A9} \x{1F6A8} \x{1F694} \x{1F47F} \x{1F47D} \x{1F47E} \x{1F628} \x{1F4A2} \x{1F4A3} \x{29D6} \x{1F631} \x{1F4A5} \x{1F637} \x{1F480} \x{1F47B}

\N{RADIOACTIVE SIGN} \N{PASSPORT CONTROL} \N{CUSTOMS} \N{SYRINGE} \N{THUMBS DOWN SIGN} \N{PILE OF POO} \N{POLICE CARS REVOLVING LIGHT} \N{ONCOMING POLICE CAR} \N{IMP} \N{EXTRATERRESTRIAL ALIEN} \N{ALIEN MONSTER} \N{FEARFUL FACE} \N{ANGER SYMBOL} \N{BOMB} \N{WHITE HOURGLASS} \N{FACE SCREAMING IN FEAR} \N{COLLISION SYMBOL} \N{FACE WITH MEDICAL MASK} \N{SKULL} \N{GHOST}

user19161

10:26 PM

@tchrist What should I install to see all of them?

Cerberus

@RegDwightАΑA Like which?

tchrist

@JasperLoy install_font(NAME => "Symbola", AUTHOR => "George Douros", URL => "http://users.teilar.gr/~g1951d/") || die;

RegDwight АΑA

I must say I always liked tchrists dedication to making this room even more incomprehensible, but I fear people are getting used to it. Perhaps posting that stuff backwards, or transliterating it in hanzi, will help.

Cerberus

@tchrist I have Symbola, and yet I can only see a few of those faces.

user19161

@RegDwightАΑA hanzi, not kanji?

Cerberus

10:27 PM

@RegDwightАΑA Hanzi?

tchrist

sux2bu

Cerberus

Is that Han Chinese?

user19161

@Cerberus Yes!

Cerberus

Ah OK.

RegDwight АΑA

@Cerberus oh crap. Now you're asking me things. Baden has a couple. We have a place or two round here, but they are tiny. (Though still, preserved in their entirety.)

@JasperLoy what did I say?

Apr 13 '11 at 13:19, by RegDwight

Lots of echo in here.

Cerberus

10:28 PM

@RegDwightАΑA We went to Wasserburg a few years ago, quite nice.

RegDwight АΑA

Not sure that one rings a bell with me.

Cerberus

In southern Bavaria.

South-eastern.

RegDwight АΑA

Oh, then it probably doesn't.

Cerberus

Still nothing?

user19161

@Cerberus That photo is so clear that it looks fake.

tchrist

10:30 PM

@Cerberus Probably you have the idioF’ngotic Microsoft UCS-2 ᴀᴋᴀ No-Astral-Plane Bug: read those code point numbers. Notice only two alone are in the Basic Multilingual Plane by virtue of their four–hex-digit numeric values.

@Cerberus YANETUT

RegDwight АΑA

@Cerberus I've seen the usual suspects. Munich, Nuremberg, Würzburg, Deggendorf, Erlangen, Neuschwanstein, Linderhof, Garmisch, stuff like that.

Cerberus

@JasperLoy There's Dutch food for you!

@tchrist nods Yes, yes, of course.

pretends to take notes

user19161

@Cerberus Thanks, but I prefer Germany. I would like to be reborn there my next life.

Cerberus

@RegDwightАΑA Cool. I've only been to Nuremberg and Erlangen.

RegDwight АΑA

Oh, and Straubing. That one deserves a mention I guess.

Cerberus

10:33 PM

@JasperLoy We could have been part of Germany. We used to be.

Before the War.

tchrist

contents himself for having his expectations met

Cerberus

The Eighty-Years War, of course.

user19161

@Cerberus Ah, my knowledge of European history is at zero Kelvins.

RegDwight АΑA

My thirdmost favorite war!

Speaking of which, does the War Nerd still post?

user19161

@RegDwightАΑA The favourite one must be the ELU war.

Cerberus

10:34 PM

@tchrist I prefer with.

RegDwight АΑA

With is just a misspelling of witch.

tchrist

@Cerberus That’s because you’re locked into for = para, for having forgotten that in English, sometimes for = por.

RegDwight АΑA

Forcupine.

tchrist

looks about for the forking pine

RegDwight АΑA

Pfft. Pine. Every true Scotsman uses Elm.

tchrist

10:37 PM

xmh

or non-x MH

I wonder about you sometimes, @REg.

I really do.

RegDwight АΑA

Only sometimes? What a letdown.

I should watch more TVs.

user19161

@tchrist He is the wonder of wonders, a glorious owl indeed.

tchrist

I think you have sneaky snarky cryptopast.

Because your feathers show sometimes.

RegDwight АΑA

Nah. I just remember stuff.

user19161

Don't even start to wonder about me, I am unfathomable.

tchrist

10:39 PM

That’s just it.

user19161

I am not of this world.

tchrist

99.999998% of the world populace could never remember it, for they never knew it in the first place.

But you did.

Hence: wonder.

RegDwight АΑA

That's how I got through school. I would come across H2SO4 in some book somewhere, as a child, and then I'd remember it, for decades. Waiting for the right moment.

KitFox

Sulfuric acid?

or sulfurous? I always get those confused.

tchrist

Like s = ½at²

RegDwight АΑA

10:42 PM

Then I'd have chemistry class, at last, and I wouldn't know the first thing about chemistry, but I would just proudly proclaim: H2SO4, and everyone would be so impressed, and the teacher too.

tchrist

H₂SO₄

RegDwight АΑA

It's the same with English, really. You come across an asinine Reddit post, you remember it. One day, in the year 2052, it might prove useful.

tchrist

How the hell do you remember Unix command-line mail programs?

RegDwight АΑA

@tchrist yeah I'm cutting corners here, telling a story. You can be my editor if you insist.

@tchrist by using my brain. I know, many people are not familiar with that concept.

user19161

@RegDwightАΑA You are now SlumOwl Millionaire!

RegDwight АΑA

10:44 PM

I did use pine for a couple years.

And if you know pine, you know elm.

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA All your codepoint belong to me.

RegDwight АΑA

Are.

user19161

Not "are belong to me"? :-)

RegDwight АΑA

Who's editing whose copy now?

tchrist

sed quis cust....

0

Q: Should I use "software defect" or "software bug"?

The "bug" word seems to be so popular that it overshadows "defect" (in search results, in tags somewhere, even Wikipedia article is called "Software bug") despite of looking jargonesque. Is the word "bug" official term for this or it should be used only in informal occasions?

user19161

10:47 PM

1

Q: What’s the word to describe that I ——— your artwork?

When I see a famous writer, I will say, “Hi, I read your book” (or “have read”?). When I see a movie star, I will say, “Hey, I watched your movie" (or “have watched”?). So, when I see a artist, what’s the word in: “Hi, I ——— your artwork”? (Maybe it’s a photo, or a painting or a sculpture.)

single-word-requests

tchrist

Defective verbs, ok.

Defective software, say what?

user19161

This question got 2 upvotes and 1 downvote. I think it is quite a good question actually.

RegDwight АΑA

@tchrist well what else do you suggest? Buggy?

user19161

@tchrist I thought you meant defective herbs at first.

RegDwight АΑA

Doesn't look like software to me.

user19161

10:48 PM

@RegDwightАΑA Looks pretty hard to me.

user19161

By the way @reg although the middle A looks shorter on Ubuntu they are the same in Debian.

RegDwight АΑA

It looks longer in my Ubuntu, as you will remember.

user19161

Yes, very weird. I guess we all have different fonts installed.

user19161

I did install the Microsoft core fonts.

RegDwight АΑA

Who fonts the fonts? Who installs the installers? Who questions the questions?

user19161

10:52 PM

By the way, that package is ttf-mscorefonts-installer.

user19161

It fetches the fonts from corefonts.sourceforge.net.

tchrist

@JasperLoy Ergotic erogenous herbs earn early erotic urges.

user19161

@tchrist I noticed you have a huge vocabulary. You may try to take the test at testyourvocab.com and share your results. I only know 18,000 words.

tchrist

That would be ridiculous.

RegDwight АΑA

@tchrist Erotic, you say?

Mar 26 at 17:17, by RegDwight Ѭſ道

►

user19161

10:54 PM

@RegDwightАΑA Clearly NSFW!

RegDwight АΑA

I'm not at work.

tchrist

@JasperLoy I don’t have time to go through uptigazillion words to find ones I don’t know. What do they do, through 50,000 at you and see what fall out in the wash? No time.

user19161

OK, though it will only take about 5 min.

RegDwight АΑA

@tchrist actually it's fun. See if you can beat Cerberus.

Jul 17 '11 at 16:49, by RegDwight

Hey pips, everyone please take this test. For science!

tchrist

That would hardly be fair. I’m a native speaker.

RegDwight АΑA

10:56 PM

My point exactly.

You don't know his score.

tchrist

What is this, some stochastic thing?

user19161

The most difficult words I know come from reading math texts, not Shakespeare.

RegDwight АΑA

It's a thing everybody has taken, so no chickening out.

tchrist

Yes, it’s stochastic.

And it’s rather biased in favor of people who know basic words like uxoricide.

RegDwight АΑA

Of course it is. What did you expect.

tchrist

11:03 PM

Not a nice word, that.

RegDwight АΑA

in War Metal Tyrant, Jul 17 '11 at 17:09, by Cerberus

The Greek and Latin words just aren't that hard for me, while I must shamefully admit to finding certain short, Germanic words very hard to define out of context, like nib.

tchrist

Well, what would you like?

RegDwight АΑA

Your score, that's what.

tchrist

testyourvocab.com/?r=2012713

RegDwight АΑA

Not bad. You beat @Robusto.

Let's see. Jasper had 14,400.

I had 30,500.

Matt had 30,600.

z7sg 32,900

tchrist

11:04 PM

Told you you weren’t a native speaker.

RegDwight АΑA

Jasper and Matt are.

tchrist

I’d say that that’s more their fault than yours.

RegDwight АΑA

F'x is a native speaker of French and he had 33k-something.

Cerberus had 34,400.

tchrist

I would add appropriate emotica, but you are too codepoint-challenged to bother.

RegDwight АΑA

Yeah. Bother sounds like too much bother.

tchrist

11:07 PM

You couldn’t even read my awesome pictographical story I told. So disappointing.

RegDwight АΑA

Rob had 42,300, but I have taught him a couple more since.

@tchrist pictograms are supposed to be looked at, not read.

tchrist

I use read in an extended sense.

RegDwight АΑA

I knew you would say that.

Cerberus

@tchrist Ehhh...

RegDwight АΑA

Don't get too predictable. Keep the room description in mind.

Cerberus

11:08 PM

My Spanish is worse than rudimentary.

tchrist

You could have sussed out the plot if only $Bill hadn’t ripped you off so royally.

@Cerberus Sometimes English for looks forwards; sometimes it looks backwards.

Cerberus

As I was saying, I believe the usually construction is to content oneself with x.

RegDwight АΑA

I paid like a couple hundred for this machine. That's not royally. Even though the Queen of England has to make do with not much more, last I heard.

Cerberus

@tchrist How do you mean looks?

@RegDwightАΑA *the German Queen of England

RegDwight АΑA

*Die German Queen of England.

Cerberus

11:11 PM

Yes.

RegDwight АΑA

I think I'll be heading in the general direction of das Bett.

Keep tchrist entertained with all the vocabularae he doesn't know.

tchrist

♬ Were diu werlt alle min ♬
♬ von deme mere unze an den Rin ♬
♬ des wolt ih mih darben, ♬
♬ daz diu chunegin von Engellant ♬
♬ lege an minen armen. ♬

RegDwight АΑA

Oh look, he's a Minnesänger now.

tchrist

bows

Cerberus

@RegDwightАΑA Good night!

It's minstreel in Dutch.

RegDwight АΑA

11:15 PM

Well well, Minnie. Come sing some more as I lay me down to sleep.

@Cerberus менестрель.

tchrist

moment

Cerberus

@RegDwightАΑA Both are from French, I presume?

Actually, no.

It sounds more Germanic.

Min = love.

Minne is a Dutch boy's name.

tchrist

A Madre do que livrou
dos leões Daniel,
essa do fogo guardou
un meno d'Irrael.

Santa Maria pod' enfermos guarir
quando xe quiser, e mortos resorgir.

Na que Deus seu Sant' Esperit' enviou,
e que forma d'ome en ela fillou,
non é maravilla se del gaannou
vertude per que podess' esto comprir.
Santa Maria pod' enfermos guarir...

Cerberus

You're a fast typer.

tchrist

typer < typest

RegDwight АΑA

11:17 PM

Actually it's менестрель, and wiki sez it's different from миннезингер, which I see for the first time in my life.

@tchrist beautiful. Now I have to return the favor I'm afraid.

tchrist

Glad you enjoyed the troubadour’s trove.

RegDwight АΑA

►

Ouvert et haut !

tchrist

Oh shucks, he left before Barnacle Bill.

0

Q: please help with with this sentence

the first artifacts were just wooden poles which have long gone, but these were raised by men in times so ancient I can't understand the underlined parts I really need the help. PLEASE HELP ME

meaning usage

Can you sing, @KitFox? It’s troubadour night at the opera.

We’ve had a carmen, and a cantiga.

KitFox

I can sing a bit.

tchrist

They’re droppin like flies.

I have this lame attitude problem.

It puts me off when people end their lame posting with PLEASE HELP ME in all-screaming-caps.

I think I should step away from the keyboard.

Because it isn’t good to be offput.

TTFN. nemetically yours

Cerberus

11:27 PM

TTFN?

I'm planning two trips.

So I will leave you for a day or ten.

I know, it's going to be difficult.

Mitch

@RegDwightАΑA ok...I don't want to make waves but it looks like I did anyway. If it looks like to you that we're actually agreeing, then great.

Cerberus

I may be back for a few hours on Sunday.

Mitch

Ta Ta For Now.

Cerberus

You leaving?

KitFox

-1

Q: Meaning of "long gone"

The first artifacts were just wooden poles which have long gone, but these were raised by men in times so ancient I can't understand what "long gone" means here.

meaning meaning-in-context usage

I'm not sure if "long gone" is weird enough that this isn't general reference.

user19161

11:36 PM

Hmm, when in doubt, give OP the benefit.

user19161

I just closevoted but I guess it is hard to understand the meaning for a pineapple.

KitFox

I couldn't find it in my dictionary of choice, and it is idiomatic.

Mitch

@Cerberus oops forgot to quote TTFN = "Ta Ta For Now" your question of tchrist.

KitFox

I used to use ttfn all the time.

grumbles

user19161

I only learnt about ttfn in this chat.

user19161

11:45 PM

In fact this chat is my very first chat.

cornbread ninja

man, peer pressure.

KitFox

Hiya, @corn

cornbread ninja

I suppose I was thinking of hardware things when I thought of defects.

user19161

In fact, SE chat is my only chat!

cornbread ninja

@KitFox hi ya! friendly karate chop that can't reach you from here

user19161

11:47 PM

@cornbreadninja I think of birth defects, like cleft lips.

cornbread ninja

@JasperLoy clefts can be fixed.

Children of Thalidomide on the other hand...

KitFox

punches @cornbread's arm yeah, baby

user19161

There are many things that are hard to fix once broken...

cornbread ninja

@KitFox oweeeee

KitFox

Oh oh sorry!

cornbread ninja

11:48 PM

I started it.

KitFox

kisses @cornbread's arm

cornbread ninja

I should take it like a ninja--OOOH

-__-

Robusto

@RegDwightАΑA Wha? What did I have?

Shog9

New mod report, day #1: @Kit leads @Sim by two flags. Sim readies the oil slick...

Cerberus

@Mitch Ah, yes.

KitFox

11:50 PM

What? How is that possible?

She averaged like ten flags a day before she was a mod, didn't she?

user19161

@KitFox Because you believed. QED.

Shog9

(we're gonna ignore things like "posts closed", since sim had a crushing lead before the election began)

Cerberus

@KitFox Perhaps she hasn't been to chat much yet.

Shog9

@KitFox Y'all are on the other side of that now. Generating flags != consuming them... ;-)

user19161

@Cerberus It's only day one!

KitFox

11:51 PM

@Shog9 Well, and deleted, since she had 20K privileges and I didn't.

Cerberus

Is it?

KitFox

And anyway, I've been sick today.

Shog9

@KitFox She's also burying you in down-votes, but who's counting.

KitFox

@cornbreadninja Um. Sorry?

Robusto

@Shog9 Hey, if it's going to be a competition, when do we get to the swimsuit part?

KitFox

11:52 PM

@Robusto I'm up for it if you are.

cornbread ninja

@KitFox just enjoying the arm kiss!

Shog9

@Robusto You really want to see Reg in a speedo?

Robusto

@KitFox Rock on, Sistah.

KitFox

@Shog9 Yes. Yes I do.

Robusto

@Shog9 If it would embarrass him, of course.

KitFox

11:53 PM

Um @Shog? What happened to your avatar?

Shog9

@KitFox Switched to my Seasoned Advice pic for a bit

KitFox

Your turn @Rob.

user19161

@KitFox Now I will have certain kinds of dreams later...

KitFox

(I went all red since I turned blue.)

user19161

@Robusto How about the lingerie part?

Robusto

11:58 PM

OK, in our Mutant Army (EL&U.X-Men), we have four official mutants with super powers: @Reg, aka Twister, who twists your words until you die; @tchrist, aka The Character, who can kill you with codepoints; @Cerberus, aka Hellhound (we haven't figured out if misspellings and syntactical omissions are a super power yet, but we're working on it); and Robusto, aka Nuance, who draws finer and finer distinctions until you're just sick to death of it.

5

user19161

@Robusto I guess the rest of us belong to the other army then.

KitFox

Geezis. Did you even notice my skin pic?

Robusto

You're submitting that as your super power?

tchrist

@Robusto s/syntactic\Kal//

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…