The Reading Room

1:04 AM

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I was reading this paragraph from this mystery of Agatha Christie 'And then there were none' , this small paragraph is there which has no previous resemblance. Text: By Jove, he'd sailed pretty near the wind once or twice! But he'd always got away with it! There wasn't much he drew the line at r...

Shokhet

@BESW 3 stars :)

@BESW All right, will do. Looking forward to reading it.

Thanks again for the recommendation :)

@BESW I upvoted the future one, because that is the one I saw before coming here. I thought it was a good question, and probably the one I'll keep in mind the most while reading

What did you think was amusing about the others?

I think I understand why some Lit.SE users wouldn't like the constellation one; it's certainly in-scope, but feels like it might be more about an author (and, indeed, a very particular point in the life of the author) than the book

And I thought the plant question was a great (+1) question. It wasn't just "what does X represent," but "X is generally assumed to represent Y, but it's also associated with A. Is there a theme that can explain that?"

...a much stronger question than many of its family on this site at the moment

BESW

@Shokhet That's why I added (though I really shouldn't have to) that Gibbons' forward is written in character.

Shokhet

@BESW That's fair

BESW

It's kinda like reading William Goldman's intro to The Princess Bride.

Shokhet

...now I'm wondering if it would be in-scope if it wasn't?

@BESW Right

BESW

1:16 AM

@Shokhet Context-depending, I think.

(And seriously, "Anthony Pookworthy"?)

Shokhet

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

BESW

I'm half tempted to edit it to be the full "Anthony Pookworthy, ESQ., A.B.S., L.L.R."

...actually there's a good question in there.

Shokhet

1:38 AM

@BESW I saw that. Nice.

Although they don't necessarily have to be anything...

BESW

An answer which can plausibly support a negative claim is usually a VERY good answer.

Shokhet

@BESW Yep

That's why I said that to you in here, and not in the answer space :p

BESW

And since it's an imaginary member of the gentry in a Stella Gibbons novel, I'd take a LOT of persuading to give it up as simple gibberish.

Shokhet

My copy of Cold Comfort Farm is in transit. Hopefully I'll be able to pick it up tomorrow, read it over Shabbos

@BESW I wouldn't be able to say. I don't think I've read any of her other works.

Bookworm

1

Q: What are Pookworthy's credentials?

I figured Anthony Pookworthy, Esq., ABS., LLR., was an able seaman, but his last qualification remains a mystery to me. However during my research I learnt that Southerland's How to Be Well-Read claims he's instead an "absolute liar." And somebody on the Internet says Pookworthy is an Associated ...

cold-comfort-farm stella-gibbons

Shokhet

2:54 AM

...I answered this question, but realized afterward that it might have a better home on ELL.

Any thoughts, @mods? @all?

Hamlet

3:38 AM

@Shokhet meh

Hamlet

7:30 AM

Hey, welcome to the site! If you can, please include the chapter number for the passage you quoted. That can make it easier for people to answer your question. — Shokhet 5 hours ago

@Shokhet if you're going to leave comments, I would prefer if you said chapter or page number. If someone prefers to give page numbers, then let them give page numbers.

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A: Please include precise citations in your posts

I agree with the spirit of this post. However, I don't think there should be a precise definition of what a precise citation is. Some people may prefer to give chapter numbers, some people may prefer to give page numbers. They both accomplish the same purpose and there's no need to favor one over...

Mithrandir

11:04 AM

@Hamlet the problem with that is that different editions have different page numbers. Sooo...

@Shokhet that crossed my mind as well, but I decided to just leave it.

Gallifreyan

12:21 PM

@Shokhet I think it's on-topic here because it's in the context of a work of literature. And since it's on-topic here, no need to ship it elsewhere.

Gallifreyan

12:49 PM

Posted the Topic challenge announcement in Russian SO chat. Expect angry programmers here :P

BESW

I'm thinking about re-reading Homer Price while waiting for my graphic novels to arrive.

Hamlet

@Mithrandir if academia is OK with page numbers but no chapter titles, then it should be good enough for us. @BESW @MatrimCauthon @Mithrandir

BESW

Academia also expects to know the edition (publisher + year) so the page number has context.

Hamlet

@BESW but what I'm hearing in your answer/from others is that only chapter titles are good enough

BESW

There is no universal golden standard for this stuff; if there was, we wouldn't have a half-dozen prominently used citation styles.

My answer says to give everything you reasonably can, because there is no "enough" or "too much."

Hamlet

12:55 PM

@BESW I agree, hence I don't think it's a good idea to favor one over the other.

if someone wants to use one style, let them

BESW

A lot of it depends on what's being cited.

That's one reason each discipline has its own preferred citation style: each discipline tends to cite a particular subset of types of work.

Citation styles also prioritise different information; some are mostly just interested in who said a thing, while others are equally interested in when, or where.

DForck42

mornin

BESW

[wave]

Shokhet

1:10 PM

@Gallifreyan I didn't mean to suggest that it was off-topic. Questions like that, however, might generally receive better answers on ELL

BESW

Generally when a question would be equally topical on multiple Stacks we trust the querent to have chosen the Stack with the focus they're hoping answers to provide.

Shokhet

I know we're working on scope (as any good beta does), but I don't think we want ELL-style questions to become a staple question here. (This is secondary to my main point, which is that the question-asker will probably get a better answer elsewhere)

@BESW Right, but this was a new user. I don't know how much he/she really knows about the general Stack network

BESW

Maybe worth leaving a comment for a new user, but migration would be overkill.

Scope-wise, I think we'll inevitably get questions about how to parse passages--even if they don't always mean to be, because sometimes a confusion about a work is based on misreading it.

I wouldn't be too concerned about it unless/until it actually becomes a problem by being so common it overshadows other kinds of questions.

Shokhet

I'm not really worried about these questions overrunning the site at this time.

b_jonas

@Shokhet Sometimes those questions about what a sentence mean work best in chat.

Shokhet

1:18 PM

@b_jonas I don't think I've ever seen that, but that makes sense. The ability to have a quick back-and-forth with the question asker is a huge benefit

BESW

And often they need context from the rest of the novel which lit.se might have but ell.se might not.

Shokhet

@b_jonas It wouldn't work so well for the particular question under discussion, though, because that was a first post, and the user couldn't chat (without someone giving him special permission to come into a chat room)

b_jonas

@Shokhet I asked one some weeks ago, and it worked: chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/35883210#35883210

Shokhet

@BESW That's true. I was fairly certain that this wasn't the case with the And Then There Were None question, which was why I posted an answer without having read the book

@b_jonas Cool

Gallifreyan

@Mithrandir o_0

in Stack Overflow на русском, 32 secs ago, by Mithrandir

Поэтому, пожалуйста, если у вас есть какие-либо вопросы, пожалуйста, приходите и спросите их!

Mithrandir

1:22 PM

@Gallifreyan what, did Google mess up?

Shokhet

@Mithrandir Мифрандир, ты говоришь по-русски?

(Чтобы быть ясным, я этого не делаю. Это полностью Google Translate: p)

Gallifreyan

@Mithrandir No, it actually didn't. I was just surprised :)

Mithrandir

@Shokhet Nyet.

Nyet Ruski. Da Angliskii.

That's basically all I know :P

Shokhet

@Mithrandir Same. I know a handful of words, but that's it

Mithrandir

I should know more, since half the people here speak Russian, but I don't...

b_jonas

1:26 PM

@Mithrandir Half the people? Really?

Shokhet

I know that pharmacy is pronounced "antepa;" I looked that up so that if I learn the language in the future, I won't ruin the letter "к" because of all the Аптеки in the neighborhood

@b_jonas Yes, there are a lot of Russian speakers in Israel. (That concentration might depend on where you are in the country, though)

Gallifreyan

@Shokhet it's "apteka", allright

BESW

Word I re-learned today: parturient. about to give birth.

b_jonas

@Shokhet Oh, you mean in Israel, as opposed to chat room or Lit SE.

Shokhet

@b_jonas I assumed @Mithrandir meant in Israel. I could have misunderstood, though

There are a lot of Russian speakers in the chat room, though...

Gallifreyan

1:28 PM

Huh? Who?

Shokhet

Oh dear, I'm late. Gotta run!

Mithrandir

Yes, in my home town

b_jonas

@Gallifreyan Rand and you, I think.

Mithrandir

@Shokhet bye!

Gallifreyan

There's DVK that I know of, and Rand appears to be able to recognise profanity in Russian chat, but other than that...

b_jonas

1:31 PM

Oh... probably.

Hamlet

@Shokhet you can downvote it if you don't think it's a good question

Gallifreyan

1:49 PM

I went and asked a question about Hard to be a God on Russian Language SE

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Q: Is "Трудно быть богом?" a valid question in written (or official) Russian?

Prompted by our Har to Be a God book challenge on Literature SE, we've been trying to gather some attention by posting to relevant chat rooms. An interesting discussion sparked in the Russian Stack Overflows chat: a user mentioned that it is ambiguous whether the original title of the book (Тру...

литература

@Shokhet I think you tag wiki edit has a mistake

"This series which consists of 14 books and a prequel book."

TIL that Matrim Cauthon is a name from the Wheel of Time series. Up to now I thought it was a real name (cc @MatrimCauthon)

Mithrandir

@Gallifreyan I edited the edit.

@Gallifreyan should that be 'formal Russian' instead of official?

Gallifreyan

@Mithrandir indeed. I could not think of that word :)

Mithrandir

@Gallifreyan edit suggested ;)

Matrim Cauthon

2:17 PM

@Gallifreyan Who says it is not my real name?

Let the speculation begin!

Shokhet

2:38 PM

@Gallifreyan Thank you. I copied that portion from the wiki excerpt...

...and I still think it doesn't really belong there.

The excerpt is for usage guidelines; it should say "use with robert-jordan or brandon-sanderson as necessary;" it does not need to be a synopsis of the series

@Mithrandir ^^^

Mithrandir

3:07 PM

@Shokhet eerrmmm.... It should provide a little bit of information, along with the usage guidance. They should both be there.

Shokhet

@Mithrandir I don't think it needs quite all that much information. I think it should keep "started by Robert Jordan and finished by Brandon Sanderson.This series which consists of 14 books and a prequel book," but "This series mainly follows the story of Rand al'Thor, Matrim Cauthon and Perrin Aybara as the world prepares for the confrontation with the Dark One once again after a thousand years." does not need to be a part of the usage guidance

IMHO

Mithrandir

I think we'll agree to disagree :)

DForck42

3:41 PM

@Shokhet on movies, for usage guidelines I like to put: title, year, genre, main actor/s, and a VERY brief summary of what the movie is about

Gallifreyan

4:37 PM

For 4 days I've been trying to type the answer to that Ruby question

The more I think about, the more I realised that I don't have an idea

DForck42

@Gallifreyan Ruby question?

Gallifreyan

6

Q: What does Dream's ruby represent?

In Volume One of The Sandman (Preludes and Nocturnes), Dream is held captive for 70 years. After escaping and taking vengeance on his (only surviving) captor, he returns home, to the Dreamworld. Finding it in disarray, he realizes that he needs to recover his "tools," his totems of power, so that...

symbolism comics neil-gaiman the-sandman

DForck42

@Gallifreyan ahh ok

Gallifreyan

5:14 PM

@Randal'Thor I posted a message in Russian SO chat (with Mith Google-translating in :D) and posted a question on Russian Language.

DForck42

5:29 PM

@Gallifreyan oh? what for?

Gallifreyan

Mar 26 at 15:25, by Rand al'Thor

@Gallifreyan Once April begins, I was thinking maybe you (or some other Russian speaker) could go and tell people in Russian Language and Stack Overflow на русском chat about the topic challenge - maybe some of them will be interested in joining up to participate. Let's aim for multiculturalism in our user base as well as our question base!

DForck42

@Gallifreyan oh, neat!

I love it!

Gallifreyan

I don't think it helped a lot though

DForck42

@Gallifreyan probably not, but it's awesome anyway to try and be inclusive

my fiancée has expressed interest in reading the book once I'm done with it

she likes Russian literature

Gallifreyan

@Mithrandir's adorable Google-translated message got pinned - my announcement didn't :( Also the people who've answered my question apparently thought I was a learner, not a native speaker. 3 answers beginning with "you have to put a question mark for it to be a question" <- no sh*t?!

DForck42

5:52 PM

@Gallifreyan lol

Gallifreyan

6:18 PM

Aw, Sunstone is on Barnes and Noble's best graphic novels list ^_^

DVK-on-Ahch-To

9:09 PM

@Gallifreyan You may want to ask Mod permission, and announce the event (if permission is granted) by posting on Russian and SO.RU Meta sites as well

Bookworm

9:41 PM

0

Q: Was the sealed letter ordering Hamlet's death a Biblical reference?

Is the sealed letter that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern carry that orders Hamlet's execution a deliberate reference to the Biblical King David having Uriah the Hittite carry a letter to Joab ordering his death? In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the han...

william-shakespeare hamlet

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