Language Overflow

Anonymous

00:22

My first hat! :-)

Anonymous

00:41

Whoops, it's gone now.

Anonymous

8

A: First Responder hat of the 2016 winter bash

To be fair, the hat description post a message in chat within ±12 hours of the UTC New Year’s begin that gets starred does not mention which New Years… … and so it was accidentally awarded for New Years 2016 :( Fixed now, and the hats removed (while we tend to let users keep hats that wer...

David

01:20

@ColleenV care to come over to the WB chat room and talk about how you got the 180 hat? I for one am very curious.

Damkerng T.

05:42

> earn 150 rep on three non-SO sites in 15 days

I wonder what it means between 150 rep in total or 150 rep each site. :-)

Probably the latter.

Damkerng T.

06:14

A random thought: tenses of a language are perhaps like gears. Some cars have a few gears, some have two, some have eight, some bikes have even twelve, and yet some have none.

CowperKettle

06:25

Days will start getting longer in 3 days' time

And in 3 months' time, snow will start melting

nice

sets one in a mythopoeic mood

Damkerng T.

It's the power of three! (^_^)

!!wiki/romantic friendship

Ellbot

Romantic friendship

A romantic friendship or passionate friendship is a very close but typically non-sexual relationship between friends, often involving a degree of physical closeness beyond that which is common in the contemporary Western societies. It may include for example holding hands, cuddling, hugging, kissing, giving massages, and sharing a bed, or co-sleeping, without sexual intercourse. In historical scholarship, the term may be used to describe a very close relationship between people of the same sex during a period of history when homosexuality did not exist as a social category. In this regard, the...

Damkerng T.

Before checking it out, I would've guessed that the term would be about a sexual relationship.

!!wiki/homosociality

Ellbot

Homosociality

In sociology, homosociality means same-sex relationships that are not of a romantic or sexual nature, such as friendship, mentorship, or others. The opposite of homosocial is heterosocial, preferring non-sexual relations with the opposite sex. In group relations involving more than two individuals, the relation can be either homosocial (involving same-sex social relations), bisocial involving social relation with both sexes or heterosocial involving only opposite sex. Homosocial was popularized by Eve Sedgwick in her discussion of male homosocial desire. Jean Lipman-Blumen had earlier (1976) defined...

Damkerng T.

Good morning, everyone!

CowperKettle

06:33

Sawasdee khrap, @DamkerngT.!

Damkerng T.

Zdorovo and sawasdee khrap!

Mick

Good morning. Half past six but still dark here.

Hanaa

Hi every one !

Damkerng T.

It's actually in the afternoon over here, but I used UGT (Universal Greeting Time). :-)

Hi, there!

Mick

Time for tea and cakes then. I'm going to have some hot, buttered scones with apricot jam.

Damkerng T.

06:45

Scones and jam, that sounds nice! I don't have any cakes, but I can make some tea!

Hanaa

Bon appetit @Mick!

You say scones and not bread?

Mick

Thanks. We could have a tea party, but that would be a little difficult. We'll just have to pretend. Swallow when I swallow...
Now!

CowperKettle

I remember the word "scones" from that funny Lumberjack song by Monty Python

Mick

!!wiki/scone

Ellbot

Scone

A scone is a single-serving quick bread, usually made of wheat, barley or oatmeal with baking powder as a leavening agent and baked on sheet pans. A scone is often lightly sweetened and occasionally glazed with egg wash. The scone is a basic component of the cream tea or Devonshire tea. It differs from teacakes and other sweet buns that are made with yeast. == Lexicology == The pronunciation of the word within the English-speaking world varies. According to one academic study, two-thirds of the British population pronounce it /ˈskɒn/ (rhymes with gone) with the preference rising to 99% in the...

CowperKettle

07:00

!!wiki/pirozhki

Ellbot

Pirozhki

Pirozhki (Russian: пирожки, plural form of pirozhok, literally a "small pie"), also transliterated as piroshki (singular piroshok) or pyrizhky (Ukrainian: пиріжки), is a generic word for individual-sized baked or fried buns stuffed with a variety of fillings. The stress in pirozhki is properly placed on the last syllable: [pʲirɐʂˈkʲi]. Pirozhok ( пирожок , singular) is the diminutive form of the Russian pirog (пирог), which refers to a full-sized pie. (Unless the full-sized pie is called by the diminutive name for purely stylistic reasons.) Pirozhki are not to be confused with Polish pierogi, which...

CowperKettle

!!wiki/vatrushka

Ellbot

Vatrushka

Vatrushka (Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian: ватрушка) is an Eastern European pastry (pirog) formed as a ring of dough with quark in the middle, sometimes with the addition of raisins or bits of fruit. The most common size is about five inches in diameter, but larger versions also exist. Vatrushkas are typically baked using a sweet yeast bread dough. Savoury varieties are made using unsweetened dough, with onion added to the filling. The etymology of the word is uncertain. A widespread hypothesis derives the name from the word vatra meaning "fire" in some Slavic languages. Alternative hypotheses...

CowperKettle

!!wiki/sushki

Ellbot

Sushki

Sushki (sg. sushka) (Russian: су́шки; IPA: [ˈsuʂkʲɪ], plural; Russian: су́шка; IPA: [ˈsuʂkʌ], singular) are traditional Russian small, crunchy, mildly sweet bread rings eaten for dessert, usually with tea. Similar breads are bagels, bubliki, baranki and taralli. Pre-packaged sushki can be found in markets that sell Russian foods. They are sometimes topped with poppy seeds. Typical ingredients are flour, eggs, water, and salt, which are combined into a firm dough. This is then cut and rolled into thin strips of about half a centimetre thickness which are formed into rings, briefly cooked in boiling...

Hanaa

07:02

Thanks @Ellbot!

A single-serving bread means that there is couple_serving one :D

Or family-serving bread

CowperKettle

(0:

Mick

@Hanaa Scones are more like cakes than bread (and delicious).

Hanaa

We make scones here for guests or in special days of the year :)

I think the phrase special days is not natural to mean for example birthdays, wedding parties.

Damkerng T.

07:19

On special days, on special occasions, should be fine.

Looks like I got a gold badge too soon! Like one day too soon! -- It could've gotten me a cool hat!

0

Q: a sense or senses

I have been facing a difficulty understanding the usage between singular or plural forms in situations like this: I give them a book. I give them books. If my understanding is right, the first sentence means I give a group of people just ONE book, while the second means I give a group of peopl...

singular-vs-plural

Little things like this one make English mastery very, very hard.

But that doesn't mean that a non-native speaker has to have mastered it before being able to communicate in English effectively.

CowperKettle

Nothing more true than not to trust one's senses,

And yet what are your other evidences?

(Byron)

@Ellbot I see no chatosociality in Wikipedia.

Damkerng T.

07:35

@CowperKettle Thanks! I was scratching my head trying to figure out the source!

CowperKettle

(0:

Damkerng T.

@CowperKettle (^_^)

Damkerng T.

08:33

0

Q: Terms for manner in which the liquid is consumed from a bottle

There is liquid(water/milk/flavoured soda/fruit juice) in a bottle and I want to drink it. I can consume it in such a manner that my mouth touches the mouth of the bottle, as "I drank the juice by putting the bottle to my mouth." OR Without touching the mouth of the bottle, is it dribbling? as...

word-usage

Let's see if English really has a verb for it. I don't know any verb for it in any languages.

mike

good afternoon all

Damkerng T.

I think I just drink it straight from the bottle.

Good afternoon!

mike

:)

Damkerng T.

The Winter Bash is here, by the way!

mike

the what?

Damkerng T.

08:35

A moment ...

winterbash2016.stackexchange.com

mike

haha - reading it now

Damkerng T.

:D

Pour is good for the second act. I still have no word for the first act.

Perhaps from is still the best word.

mike

I was in the midst of answering that same question as it happens

saying pretty much the same thing

Mick

Have you ever drunk from a porron?

mike

I'm pretty sure we don't have a very to describe drinking a liquid to that level of specificity

sip, or gulp

Mick

08:40

!!wiki/porron

Ellbot

Porron

A porron (Catalan: porró in the singular, porrons in the plural) is a traditional glass wine pitcher, which holds 3/4 litre, typical of many regions of Spain like Castile, Catalonia and Aragon. It resembles a cross between a wine bottle and a watering can. The top of the bottle is narrow and can be sealed off with a cork. Stemming upwards from the bottom of the pitcher is a spout that gradually tapers off to a small opening. It is shaped such that the wine stored inside it will have minimal contact with the air, while being ready to be used at all times. Until the mid-twentieth century it was very...

mike

otherwise you're just drinking :)

Damkerng T.

nods

mike

I'm trying to imagine drinking from that after a few glasses of wine

wine. EVERYWHERE>

Damkerng T.

@Mick To be honest, this is the first time I've ever seen a porron!

mike

08:46

it looks like a big net pot

netty pot*

Mick

@DamkerngT. Every true Brit feels compelled to try drinking from one when they take a holiday in Spain for the first time. It's a rite of passage, and the drunker you are, the more fun it is.

Damkerng T.

@Mick Hehe! Talking about Spain, I just learned only recently that Mallorca has no l-sound in its name!

Mick

09:05

@DamkerngT. Ah, yes! It can be spelled (and pronounced by Brits) as either Mallorca or Majorca, but Ma-yorker is the correct pronunciation. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Lovely place, especially if you can get away from all those awful Brits.

Damkerng T.

@Mick I'm being envious now. :-)

Mick

It was 50 years ago. God knows what it's like now.

Damkerng T.

Still looks like a nice place to go to, I think, judging from the photos. :-)

Mick

09:22

Unless you have a boat (or like crowded beaches), it's best to go inland. I hired a car and did exactly that with a mate. It was a tiny Fiat and we got flagged down by an elderly couple who simply climbed in the back without asking permission. A quiet skinny man and his noisy wife. They seemed to be going to market, since they were laden with vegetables and live chickens.

The woman gesticulated to us and talked very excitedly until we had gone as far as they wanted to go. We stopped in the middle of nowhere, and they climbed out, thanked us very much, and allowed us to go on our way.

Damkerng T.

Sounds like you had a little adventure. (^_^)

Did you speak Spanish to them or did they speak English to both of you?

Aww... time flies! It's only 16:32 over here, but it looks almost like the sun is setting!

Mick

When we returned the car to the hire company, late in the evening, we dropped the keys through the letterbox as instructed. Unfortunately, the engine wouldn't stop, and we just had to walk away, leaving it burbling and popping to itself.

We had no Spanish, apart from gracias and por favor, and they spoke no English. I can't remember if she offered us a chicken for our trouble, or whether that was just part of my fevered nightmares. I'll have to ask my mate and see if he remembers. He probably won't thank me for it.

Damkerng T.

09:45

@Mick I see. It must've been a good exercise to use hands and facial expressions to communicate, then. :-) But fevered nightmares? Was that just figurative, or did you really had a fever during the trip?!

Oops! 'did you really have'!

Mick

I was driving and she was doing the gesticulating. My mate was probably just enjoying my discomfort.

Damkerng T.

Hehe! Oh, right, you said gesticulating before.

Mick

Fevered = agitated.

Damkerng T.

I see! Thanks!

Mick

09:58

Coo! I have a hat. Abominable, though. :(

Damkerng T.

Congrats! A hat is a hat is a hat! :-)

Damkerng T.

11:34

0

Q: I've started or I started

Which one is correct to describe that I started something and it's still continuing since then. I've started doing the project Or I started doing the project I don't know the first one sounds like I've started it several times, or I am still starting it, since the present perfect is to ...

past-tense present-perfect

> Please stick with the both phrases, I understand that there are better ways to phrase the sentence, but regardless.

Sometimes our learners are too fond of their phrases!

V.V.

11:45

Hi.

I have a hat.

Igor Skochinsky

"...if I had had a hat on my head, I will not answer for it, that my hair might not have lifted it off."

Hanaa

13:44

Word of the day: heuristic

@DamkerngT.! I read about heuristic strategies for solving problems. They are procedures that give only partial solutions to an ill-defined problem.

Damkerng T.

@Hanaa I suppose you could say that.

I don't think the problem has to be ill-defined though, for the solution to be said heuristic.

BTW, less-than-optimal is probably more correct than partial.

I suppose in a way, all chess moves, except for ones near the end of game, are heuristic.

Hanaa

@DamkerngT. Yes! In fact, all kinds of puzzles are not well defined, so that their sollutions are less than optimal.

Damkerng T.

But what drew your attention to heuristic in the first place?

Hanaa

14:02

@DamkerngT. I was reading about problem solving to promote students' thinking.

Damkerng T.

Ahh

Hanaa

I remembred teachers who give clear information about a certain problem and ask us to find procedures and solutions to it. Like when they ask us to find how a to form an electricity circle. :)

We managed to relate the elements in the right way to switch on a lamp.

This was a good memory for me that represents the well-structured problems.

Damkerng T.

This kind of problem needs analytical thinking.

But Basic Circuit Theory was one of the classes I didn't enjoy much.

Not the teacher's faults, though. :-)

Hanaa

@Mick I'm not sure of the exact phrase for electricity circle.

Damkerng T.

Electrical circuit, perhaps.

Hanaa

14:13

@DamkerngT. Maybe you enjoy algorithm and the like. :D

Damkerng T.

I enjoyed micro-controller programming labs, though. :D

I'm sure if I were a young student today, I'd enjoy building battlebots. :-)

Hanaa

@DamkerngT. :D amazing!

Damkerng T.

^_^

Damkerng T.

14:54

It's The End Of The Year As We Know It

►

Arrowfar

15:28

Good morning/afternoon/evening.

@Mick That's a nice story.

@IgorSkochinsky Is that grammatical?

CowperKettle

15:56

an airplane broke down in 3 parts during landing on snowy terrain

All 35 people aboard remained alive

Quite impressive

The plane's engine broke down 30 km before the target airport

Arrowfar

Hello Copper! how are you?

CowperKettle

more or less

Arrowfar

@CowperKettle Oh no. That sucks.

CowperKettle

Ilyushin Il-18

The Ilyushin Il-18 (NATO reporting name: Coot) is a large turboprop airliner that first flew in 1957 and became one of the best known and durable Soviet aircraft of its era. The Il-18 was one of the world's principal airliners for several decades and was widely exported. Due to the aircraft's airframe durability, many examples achieved over 45,000 flight hours and the type remains operational in both military and (to a lesser extent) civilian capacities. The Il-18's successor was the long range Il-62 jet airliner. == Design and development == Two Soviet aircraft shared the designation Ilyushin...

Arrowfar

I can't read russian but the pics are wow. Looks pretty dangerous.

Igor Skochinsky

16:02

@Arrowfar: it's from Robinson Crusoe :)

Arrowfar

@IgorSkochinsky Ah I see :)

Arrowfar

16:15

@DamkerngT. Hi. Do you use VLC player? My VLC player gets a hat every december. Here:

it's universal I think.

@snailplane Thanks for explaining.

@snailplane I missed the secret turtle.

Damkerng T.

@Arrowfar Yes! It's a cute hidden (or not-so-hidden) feature!

Arrowfar

yeah :)

Damkerng T.

@CowperKettle Oh, no!

Anonymous

@IgorSkochinsky So at the very least, it was grammatical 300 years ago.

Arrowfar

@snailplane Yes I was confused with the "I will not answer for it" part. That's future.

But on reading it again it kind of made sense.

Anonymous

16:29

> I stepped back, and was indeed struck with such a surprise that it put me into a cold sweat, and if I had had a hat on my head, I will not answer for it that my hair might not have lifted it off.

Damkerng T.

@snailplane Note that this is a good case of comma. He seemed to publish Robinson Crusoe several times. In first editions, there was no comma between for it and that my hair. In later editions, a comma was added. (cc @IgorSkochinsky, @Arrowfar)

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Hmm, interesting. Comma use has varied widely over the last few hundred years.

Damkerng T.

nods

Arrowfar

@snailplane What does "I will not answer for it that my hair might not have lifted it off" mean by the way?

I mean in simpler words.

Anonymous

Good question! You could post it on ELL :-)

Arrowfar

16:32

Um me?

Anonymous

> I stepp'd back, and was indeed struck with such a Surprize, that it put me into a cold Sweat; and if I had had a Hat on my Head, I will not answer for it, that my Hair might not have lifted it off.

CowperKettle

Good evening, Snails

Damkerng T.

He was scared. I suppose people a couple hundred years ago got their hair rising, too, when they were afraid of something.

I wonder why it was might not have rather than might have.

Hmm... weird. The phrase is hair-raising, rather than hair-rising.

Hmm... The external experience raises the hair, so it's hair-raising?

CowperKettle

It's cute how he capitalized some Words to emphasize them

@Arrowfar I will not say to you, dear Reader, that upon seeing that my hair did not lift up (from fear).

Arrowfar

@snailplane oh I have stopped asking questions on the main sites here because I used to ask them in the past and people would just close them. Chat is okay though.

These days I just come here for chat and use main sites like Quora, etc.

Damkerng T.

16:38

And EL&U, perhaps?

Arrowfar

Yeah I go through the questions on ELU sometimes :)

Anonymous

This chat is only here to help the ELL main site.

2

Arrowfar

Yes ELU closes questions too. I am talking about the past, three years ago when I was new to the SE and was asking many English questions on the main sites.

Yes you are right, but in chat people are free to help others and make conversations.

That's a plus I believe.

Damkerng T.

Talking about the main site, I('ve) started doing the project doesn't sound very good to my ear, though it may not be outright ungrammatical.

Igor Skochinsky

use main sites like Quora <- does that mean you use "main sites" like you use Quora or that Quora is a "main site"?

@Arrowfar

Arrowfar

16:46

@IgorSkochinsky Um, I mean I ask questions there occasionally.

Igor Skochinsky

like you do on Quora?

Arrowfar

By what I wrote I only have good intentions but let's face it, if you paste a question on Quora or Wordreference you don't get judgemental comments like here and people don't gang up on the OP by closing their questions etc. Well quite a few users have this issue, I am not alone heh.

Damkerng T.

Hmm... I don't use WR that often but several times I've seen people pointing the OP to read old threads(?) first.

Igor Skochinsky

survival of the fittest applies to questions too :)

Arrowfar

yeah - true.

Mick

16:51

@Arrowfar It's just the site rules. I don't see any problem with it when the questioner hasn't even bothered to look in a dictionary. I wouldn't mind homework questions if the OPs could be up-front about it and say "OK, this is homework."

Arrowfar

@Mick Yes, you are right I agree with looking up definitions first and doing the necessary research but my previous account is deleted so I can't give you examples now.

But if you Google an English query like a grammar query a lot of times and by that I literally mean a lot of times I get good queries and answers to that queries on Wordreference and quora etc. than here, why? because these sites don't allow everything.

I never get the standards here, I am saying this in good faith by the way. And it is not like the answerers on the other sites are dumb or the questioners are dumb, they ask, people simply answer, and that's that. Everyone goes home happy.

Damkerng T.

I can understand your frustration, but I don't feel the same way.

Arrowfar

But I am content now, since I know what to use for what, and when. Many posts are pretty good here and I love to go through the sites here.

Mick

@Arrowfar It's because the site owners want the site to be a reference work, full of canonical questions with canonical answers. As if. I mean, one in a hundred, perhaps. Maybe.

Arrowfar

I see.

Hanaa

17:08

If you google something , I think stack exchange appears as one of the choices.

Arrowfar

Hello Hanaa.

Hanaa

Hi Arrowfar !

CowperKettle

17:33

The Russian Ambassador in Turkey has been shot to death

Arrowfar

Oh!

engfan

HELLO EVERYONE!!

Arrowfar

HELLO!

Nagendra

Hai! Can you please tell me if the sentence "She is more beautiful than all of the three sisters" is right or not?

engfan

Can I use the phrase" First among equal " to say someone is slightly better than others who are on the same level. For example: John is First among equal in the customer care team ?

Anonymous

17:41

@Hanaa Google personalizes its results. If you use WR, you're likely to get WR results. If you use SE, you're likely to get SE results.

Anonymous

@Nagendra It's grammatical. I can't tell if it's appropriate in context because you haven't given any context.

Anonymous

You might want to use any instead of all. I can't tell for sure.

Anonymous

@engfan The phrase is "first among equals", plural.

Anonymous

And you wouldn't capitalize first in your sentence.

Anonymous

It comes from this:

Anonymous

17:43

Primus inter pares

Primus inter pares (Ancient Greek: Πρῶτος μεταξὺ ἴσων, prōtos metaxỳ ísōn) is a Latin phrase meaning first among equals. It is typically used as an honorary title for those who are formally equal to other members of their group but are accorded unofficial respect, traditionally owing to their seniority in office. Historically, the princeps senatus of the Roman Senate was such a figure and initially only bore the distinction that he was allowed to speak first during debate. Also, Constantine the Great was given the role of primus inter pares. However, the term is also often used ironically or self...

Arrowfar

@snailplane But snail even before discovering SE Google worked that way (like I mentioned above) many a times with me. But yes, ELU comes often. :)

Anonymous

@Arrowfar I'm sure WR results come up sometimes.

Anonymous

They don't come up very often for me, but I do see them once in a while.

Arrowfar

nods

Anonymous

Google didn't always personalize its results to this extent (or at all), either.

Anonymous

17:45

Some years back, it actually made sense to talk about what comes up first in Google results.

Arrowfar

I didn't know. I knew Google personalizes ads for people though because I am always seeing ads related to what I like on Youtube etc. Google is getting smart. :)

Nagendra

@snailplane Thanks! No context is there. I wanted to know if the sentence, as is, correct grammatically or not since my friend is arguing with me that it's incorrect grammatically. I can't understand why?

Anonymous

I agree that on ELL, questions get closed needlessly once in a while. I try to help reopen questions in that case, or keep them open if I can manage that before they're closed.

Anonymous

Some people are particularly sensitive to criticism. If you are, and you are afraid of a comment or your question being closed, then SE may not be the right site for you. I hope you get the answers you want on WR and Quora.

Anonymous

But just remember that this chat room is here to help out ELL, not to replace it.

Anonymous

17:47

@Nagendra It is not incorrect grammatically. What reason did your friend give?

Arrowfar

@snailplane Yes, true. I appreciate your efforts snail. Thanks for moderating and thanks for becoming ELL mod. :)

engfan

@snailplane: hmm, so can't use it general sense?

to show that someone is slightly better than others?

Anonymous

@engfan I'm afraid I don't understand your question.

Anonymous

The idea behind "first among equals" is that several people in a group are officially considered "equals". That is, they might have the same rank, none of them is considered a "boss" or a "subordinate". But nonetheless, one of them is considered more important, or considered to deserve more respect.

Anonymous

The "equals" are the people in the group who have the same rank. But the "first" is the one in that group who is superior in some sense.

Nagendra

17:52

@snailplane She didn't give any reason for that particularly but she said another sentence "she is more beautiful than any of the three sisters" is right but this is not. I said both the sentences are fine. And I've shown some results for the phrase from google books but she didn't believe it. She asked for an authentic source.

Anonymous

There are always multiple "equals", so it must be plural. It wouldn't make sense to use this phrase when there is only one person in a group.

Hanaa

That's sad @CowperKettle!

Anonymous

@Nagendra Any makes it clear that you're comparing against the three sisters individually. All could have the same meaning, but all could also mean that you're comparing against all three sisters together, as we can see in the following example:

Anonymous

> She is more beautiful than all of the three sisters combined.

engfan

@snailplane: I am sorry, I mean to ask whether I can use the phrase to show some one is slightly better than other (for example : among the intelligent people ray is slightly more intelligent) .

Nagendra

17:55

@snailplane Thank you very much!

Anonymous

@engfan Maybe, I'm not sure.

Anonymous

I wouldn't use it that way.

Anonymous

But then, I don't use that phrase very often myself.

Anonymous

I think it would be used more often in the sense I was trying to explain.

Anonymous

For example, in politics or in a church or in an office.

engfan

17:58

@snailplane: could you please tell me what phase should I use to express the same?

Nagendra

@snailplane Last question. So, the sentence is correct grammatically if no context is provided like if we are comparing them individually or together. Am i right? Please clarify it.

CowperKettle

@Hanaa Yes.

Hanaa

18:15

Sorry for that!

CowperKettle

Yes. Another unnecessary death. So it goes.

I'm too tired to attend to questions on ELL and so clutter the chat with language-unrelated stuff.

(0:

Arrowfar

(0:

I like that smiley but I am always making a mistake in making it heh.

First I made something like this (;) by mistake.

Damkerng T.

20:02

> Everyone was [or were] blowing their noses.

> ell.stackexchange.com/a/112836/3281

Hmm...

Damkerng T.

20:15

5

Q: When does "never" mean "not" and when does it mean "not ～ so far, but"?

I know "never" has two usage of "not" and "not ～ so far, but". For example : A dictionary say "I have never been happier" has meaning of "not ～ so far, but" but "It has never been better" means "not". When does "never" mean "not" and when does it mean "not ～ so far, but"?

word-usage

Another curious corner of English, if we think of it like a robot.

I've never known [something] -- not knowing includes now.

I've never been happier -- not being happy excludes now.

Hexacoordinate-C

20:31

Hello I have a question about english
Does "How do you take/process constructive feedback?" ask me how I do feedback or if somone one do one speaking to me how I will improve and take care about it ?

Catija

22:44

@DamkerngT. But one is an absolute "known" and one is a scale "happier". This sentence means "I've never been as happy as I am right now.

Anonymous

23:04

@DamkerngT. It's still true, though. You aren't happier now than you are now.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. But in this case, you do know now, and you didn't before, so the perfect construction is infelicitous.

Arrowfar

23:23

@Hexacoordinate-C I believe it means after hearing a constructive criticism or feedback do you get defensive (or offended) or do you trust what they are saying, not get defensive, and take it in a healthy way.

I couldn't quite understand what you wrote after " how I do feedback or if somone" though.

In other words, it is asking do you take constructive criticisms in a balanced, healthy, non-self-kicking manner or do you discount it and wither under it.

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