English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…

Not for the faint of heart or those easily triggered by English (or other languages) in the raw. That doesn't mean we want to talk about YouTube comments or hemorrhoids or other such topics.

4m ago – HippoSawrUs

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Starred posts

RegDwight

Jun 11, 2011 13:18

Mar 12 at 1:50, by RegDwight

Yes, I have 4273568 tabs open at the moment.

Robusto

Jun 11, 2011 12:56

No, I laughingly made it myself.

Alenanno

Jun 11, 2011 12:29

Q: Difference between where and were?

For me it's often hard to decide what to use: where or were. Is there any simple rule what to use? In the company I worked before, we were(?) able to play chess in the break.

Robusto

Jun 9, 2011 16:05

@Jez — So we should vote for a Tea Party candidate on that basis? That's like saying "Hey, I wear glasses, so I might as well just poke myself in the eye with a sharp stick."

Kosmonaut

Jun 9, 2011 15:38

But if you take a picture of your foot, you don't say "that's a picture of me"

Kosmonaut

Jun 9, 2011 15:13

People need to call people "yellow-bellied potatomouthed _________" more often.

Kit

Jun 9, 2011 14:39

@Vitaly Sounds delicious. Like when I say "the data is" instead of "the data are" and I have to go home immediately and self-flagellate.

RegDwight

Jun 9, 2011 14:11

@aedia When you came pulling to Robusto's backyard, did you notice a sign out in front of his house that said "beautiful rainbow storage"?

RegDwight

Jun 9, 2011 14:04

Never mind Pullum, we've got linguist unicorns.

Kit

Jun 9, 2011 12:00

Huh. Gotta break out my thwacking stick and thwack this whole room, I think.

Kit

Jun 8, 2011 20:56

I love Kosmonaut's answers. "Unvoiced uvular fricative." sigh I'll have to write that one down in the dirty talk notebook for my husband.

Kit

Jun 8, 2011 18:19

@aedia No, more like "English is confusing as hell, so have some extra practice."

z7sg

Jun 8, 2011 17:50

Unicorns, mythical three-headed dogs... this place is starting to lose its credibility.

Robusto

Jun 8, 2011 14:08

@Kit — Mr. Tea would never claim that. Not if he ever wanted to have sex again, I mean.

Vitaly

Jun 7, 2011 14:21

Jez

Jun 7, 2011 14:21

There needs to be a 'hide this disgusting post' option.

Robusto

Jun 6, 2011 19:45

@JSBangs — The question also presumes, by the way, that all nouns must have antonyms. What is the opposite of planet? What is the opposite of giraffe? What is the opposite of Turk?

Vitaly

Jun 6, 2011 03:05

Alain Pannetier

Jun 5, 2011 00:02

GoogleLanguageTools sei dank I can still [kinda] follow you two.

Robusto

Jun 3, 2011 13:26

I think we need an abusage too, btw.

Kit

Jun 2, 2011 18:50

@Vitaly Look, I tried to post an interesting question. It just went all kerwonky. Hit the top of the multicollider.

Kit

Jun 2, 2011 18:41

@Robusto Soon I will have that privilege. It makes my fingers tingle.

Jez

Jun 2, 2011 14:36

JSBangs

Jun 2, 2011 12:30

@Kit, see, this is why i don't make assumptions about gender even when the clues seem to be pretty obvious

RegDwight

Jun 1, 2011 11:50

@Vitaly Actually, how come we have language-evolution but no [tag:intelligent-language-design]?

Vitaly

May 31, 2011 17:53

The majority of people are religious. Your point? ;)

Vitaly

May 31, 2011 16:29

@JSBangs Oh come on, all linguists are wrong beyond repair. Humans speak different languages because they tried to build the Tower of Babel. Everyone knows that.

Vitaly

May 30, 2011 20:35

Vitaly

May 30, 2011 13:33

@Robusto Where? Please cite link to that comment, because dictionary does not give any links.

Alain Pannetier

May 28, 2011 00:35

The application you chose was quite mundane. It could have been much worse...

RegDwight

May 27, 2011 20:02

Turing tests are hard.

RegDwight

May 27, 2011 19:55

I'm not participating in this chat. @Martha has killed it. :P

RegDwight

May 27, 2011 11:54

I am write-only.

Kit

May 27, 2011 11:48

@RegDwight You weren't supposed to post pictures of me here.

RegDwight

May 26, 2011 13:59

Furious, merciless, extreme.

Robusto

May 26, 2011 13:33

Robusto

May 26, 2011 13:29

Being on SO and not using C# is like watching the people come and go in an exclusive nightclub while you're standing on the other side of the velvet rope.

RegDwight

May 26, 2011 12:17

See, people only star my jokes when they get re-told by Vitaly.

Vitaly

May 26, 2011 12:13

Mar 22 at 19:15, by RegDwight

Joke

A joke is a question, short story, or depiction of a situation made with the intent of being humorous. To achieve this end, jokes may employ irony, sarcasm, word play and other devices. Jokes may have a punchline that will end the sentence to make it humorous. A practical joke or prank differs from a spoken one in that the major component of the humour is physical rather than verbal (for example placing salt in the sugar bowl). Purpose Jokes are typically for the entertainment of friends and onlookers. The desired response is generally laughter; when this does not happen the joke is...

RegDwight

May 26, 2011 11:50

@Kosmonaut: prescriptivist alert over at German L&U, halp needed.

Kit

May 26, 2011 11:33

@MrHen Yay! Go me! (I'm all about winning)

Billare

May 26, 2011 05:43

People trying for single words when double words perfectly suffice and are clearer

Vitaly

May 25, 2011 13:33

@Robusto Lojban? :)

Vitaly

May 25, 2011 12:40

Everyone is in the 7th grade on the Internet. Relax.

RegDwight

May 24, 2011 13:33

Also ich tunke die Feder in die Tinte und schreibe damit auf dem Monitor.

Robusto

May 24, 2011 13:30

Meh, fur bikini is just a euphemism for "hasn't had a good waxing lately."

Robusto

May 23, 2011 16:27

<= cool guy

Vitaly

May 21, 2011 11:54

So in the UK you could eat a faggot and smoke a fag.

RegDwight

May 20, 2011 17:21

Kit. Which is almost the same as KITT. Who is constantly looking for a good man to handle it.

RegDwight

May 19, 2011 16:00

Especially kiamlaluno looks suspicious.