English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

8:00 PM

@KitFox People who cannot grep are remarkably limited. The rest of us just search for words that match the /it$/ pattern from a big long dictionary list, like /usr/share/dict/words . . . or ~tchrist/etc/oed.utf8. :-)

RegDwight АΑA

It's funny you would mention people not being able to grep in the context of us talking about people not being able to so much as google.

tchrist

I once begged jwz to add a regex option to the search tool in Netscape. Lord did he laugh at me!

RegDwight АΑA

Let me travel back in time and I will laugh at you, too.

In fact, forget about the time travel.

tchrist

He said it would be a support nightmare because you would have 100,000,000 phone calls or bug reports by people not understanding why their regexes weren't working, or whatnot. He wouldn't even allow shell fileglob notation.

RegDwight АΑA

More to the point, the 100,000,000 support calls would be coming from a vocal minority of 0.000001% of users.

While things that affect 100% of users, like "let's implement CSS using JavaScript" would be sitting idle.

cornbread ninja

8:13 PM

@tchrist ha!

tchrist

Huh? Abuse of HTML? WTH? Is this for real?

english.stackexchange.com/posts/78293/revisions

It's not like we get to use spoiler tags on ELU.

How can I find out who approved that edit? :)

RegDwight АΑA

Click on suggested.

tchrist

OFMH.

Wish people would just ask me.

I know that isn't easy.

I thought we were supposed to do that to get small text. Have I misunderstood?

RegDwight АΑA

So. Um. That quote. It kind of is long, you know...

tchrist

Right.

Should be replaced by a summary.

But not because it is long.

RegDwight АΑA

8:25 PM

Yeah lest some bozo pulls out his DMCA notice.

tchrist

Rather, because of the fair-use issues.

RegDwight АΑA

Also, RIP Harry Harrison.

We should probably export this to linguistics; it's easy enough to list characteristic features of English, but figuring out which ones are "unique" is daunting, and requires comparing standard linguistic sources like WALS for a lot of languages. — John Lawler 1 hour ago

This tips the scales for me @Kit. Migrating.

Robusto

@RegDwightАΑA Not the best SF writer ever; not the worst.

RegDwight АΑA

You know, I'm trying to remember if I have actually read anything of his, and if yes, in what language.

Robusto

Cummyoot. laytuhr.

KitFox

8:34 PM

@RegDwightАΑA Sounds good.

Kit. Kit-o. Kit-o-rama. китайский. Making some coffee.

And holy hell! Where did my trash can go?

ΜετάEd

@KitFox It went the way of the dodo.

RegDwight АΑA

It went to sleep?

KitFox

The dodo is on my deck?

ΜετάEd

@KitFox Let's hope so. There's a Nobel prize in it.

KitFox

decides to keep pants on for right now

ΜετάEd

8:46 PM

It's wearing pants?

KitFox

So @Reg, about the story. Was there anything that stood out to you, besides the "hey you" part?

@ΜετάEd Hmm. No. But that gives me an idea...

ΜετάEd

@KitFox Save me from giving you ideas!

KitFox

Well, it was a good idea.

Matt Эллен

9:02 PM

good night!

RegDwight АΑA

@KitFox Hm. Not really. I'm not sure my first reaction to a creepy girl materializing out of thin air would be "you look hungry". I'm also not quite sure how someone can look hungry in the first place, for that matter. (More precisely, I've only ever seen people looking hungry when they were looking at food.). So if he insists on feeding her, I'd cut right to the question, do you want something to eat.

There's quite some eating going on anyway, which is probably okay if they are Russian, though in that case peanut butter is an anatopism. (In fact I would be hard pressed to name any country I've been to where peanut butter was an issue at all, so for me it kind of screams "this story was made with pride in the USA".)

KitFox

@RegDwightАΑA Yeah. I am having a hard time conveying his mental state there. He's in sort of a dream state, so while it is odd that she's there, he doesn't think to question it.

@RegDwightАΑA Oh I forgot about the peanut butter. I had that same conversation with rumtscho, she said the same thing. "It's rather exotic." or somesuch.

Which is funny to me, since it is so very commonplace here.

But neither one of us could think of what bachelor Russian men might have on hand.

RegDwight АΑA

And yeah, if the reader subscribes to the idea of the story being sickly sweet, or whatever that word was Vitaly used, then they're in for a surprise at the end.

KitFox

So jam and bread was what we defaulted to.

ΜετάEd

Ah. Ti.

Doh.

KitFox

9:14 PM

Yes.

RegDwight АΑA

@KitFox kolbasa. Cheese. Two kinds of bread.

KitFox

I mean, really it's bad enough that he drinks milk through the whole thing. How dorky is that?

@RegDwightАΑA What two kinds of bread?

RegDwight АΑA

It's okay for him to drink milk if the girl drinks all his vodka.

@KitFox white and black.

They are called just that.

KitFox

I was concerned that having him drink vodka would seem...overly stereotypical.

Is kolbasa the same or similar to kielbasa? Like a sausage?

Kielbasa

Kiełbasa, kołbasa, kobasa, kovbasa, kobasi, and kubasa are common North American anglicizations for a type of Eastern European sausage. Synonyms include Polish sausage, Ukrainian sausage, etc. In English, these words refer to a particular genre of sausage, common to all Eastern European countries but with substantial regional variations. In the Slavic languages, these are the generic words for all types of sausage, local or foreign. Etymology and usage The terms entered English simultaneously from different sources, which accounts for the different spellings. Usage varies between cultur...

Oh. Wiki.

RegDwight АΑA

It's only recently that all kinds of weird breads started to emerge, but it's in vain. It's in the genes, give me a white bread and a black bread, and you can go screw yourself with your baguette or what have you.

KitFox

9:17 PM

So would you only eat kielbasa with one type of bread or either?

RegDwight АΑA

Whatever suits your fancy. Some people prefer white bread, others black.

KitFox

Hmm.

RegDwight АΑA

With white bread you'd typically have some butter, too.

KitFox

OK. That I can change easily enough.

RegDwight АΑA

Black bread you'd often eat just like that, with a pinch of salt.

KitFox

9:18 PM

That sounds pretty good actually.

RegDwight АΑA

Or a pinch of salt and a, um what you call that, a blade? of leek.

KitFox

Slice, probably.

Did you really have the impression that it was going to be a sweet story?

RegDwight АΑA

After the first chapter it could go either way.

The black bread in question.

Typically you'd cut those pieces in half.

Then a pinch of salt, a slice of cheese or leek.

KitFox

I love black bread.

So tasty.

Especially with pastrami.

Shit I'm hungry.

RegDwight АΑA

ΜετάEd

9:23 PM

The lion and the unicorn
Were fighting for the crown
The lion beat the unicorn
All around the town.
Some gave them white bread,
And some gave them brown;
Some gave them plum cake
and drummed them out of town.

RegDwight АΑA

The white bread in question.

It actually doesn't taste so well to me anymore. Give or take childhood memories.

I've been spoiled by the country with the mostest breads.

My wife, too. Very capricious about bread now.

Вел за корону смертный бой со Львом Единорог
Гонял Единорога Лев вдоль городских дорог,
Кто подавал им черный хлеб, а кто давал пирог,
А после их под барабан прогнали за порог.

KitFox

So about the milk drinking. Does that stick out to you?

RegDwight АΑA

My wife just saw the pictures in this chat and exclaimed, "What nostalgic bread!"

KitFox

Haha.

Rustic.

Quaint.

RegDwight АΑA

Yeah.

But she actually used that word, nostalgic.

KitFox

9:28 PM

I was commenting on that.

RegDwight АΑA

It was funny in Russian, too.

Anyway. Milk. No idea.

I never liked milk in Russia.

Kefir, perhaps.

KitFox

Around here, the tourists describe our regular habitat as "nostalgic, rustic, and quaint."

RegDwight АΑA

Hated ryazhenka.

KitFox

Well, maybe I will take everything about drinking out.

They can have water if they are thirsty.

RegDwight АΑA

I was just going to say, wevs, let him drink milk.

Those people are strange in other ways.

KitFox

9:31 PM

OK. This is very helpful, thank you.

Is there anything else?

RegDwight АΑA

Not sure. I think I was wondering about what kind of notebook he uses.

KitFox

Aside from the sort of vague quality, are the relationship interactions fairly normal-seeming?

@RegDwightАΑA I was wondering that myself.

RegDwight АΑA

I'm trying to find a picture, google is failing me.

KitFox

Maybe I should call it a journal instead.

Damn. I have to go fulfill my motherly duties.

I will come back later. I'd like to talk more if you are up for it and awake for it.

RegDwight АΑA

I have something in mind. I have some myself. Very sovietesque. Haven't seen anything like that anywhere else.

KitFox

9:34 PM

Oh, that's unexpected.

Not just a notebook, but a Russian-y kind of notebook.

RegDwight АΑA

@KitFox Sure, though I'll probably be off soon.

KitFox

Well, if you are, I will track you down later. I really appreciate the input.

RegDwight АΑA

96 sheets.

Lined or checked.

I have checked.

I actually used one for my attempt at a diary, when I was still attempting at a diary.

ΜετάEd

9:55 PM

OMG. Schoolhouse Rock is on Pandora.

Conjunction Junction, What's Your Function

Luke

11:03 PM

@tchrist I'm 23 points from Mortarboard. Any upvoters?

Less than an hour left today...

@RegDwightАΑA Care to send me a few upvotes? So close, yet so far...

tchrist

11:41 PM

@Luke Serial upvotes get reversed just like serial downvoters do, you know.

Mahnax

@Luke You've got 18 minutes left.

tchrist

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 No, the rest of us do that for you.

@Luke Like losing one's virginity, the hype about it is a lot wilder than the event itself. It gets old fast

KitFox

@RegDwightАΑA That's exactly what I had in mind, except I decided the cover should have more texture, so I mentioned embossed knots. And I have a quad ruled one as well, although in my mind's eye, Vasily's has unruled pages.

tchrist

Me, I've got close votes to blow: any suggestions? :)

Robusto

Wow, I'm becoming badge central. I logged on and there were all sorts of notifications. And the Olympics has (have?) been over for days!

Mahnax

11:48 PM

-3