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Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
00:42
in ELL's Cabin, 5 hours ago, by CowperKettle
It says "at a right angle", as if there exist numerous 90 degree angles.
Another proof that language is not mathematics!
Araucaria
Araucaria
00:54
@CowperKettle Who's that one?
Anonymous
G. K. Chesterton
Gilbert Keith Chesterton, KC*SG (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936), better known as G. K. Chesterton, was an English writer, poet, philosopher, dramatist, journalist, orator, lay theologian, biographer, and literary and art critic. Chesterton is often referred to as the "prince of paradox." Time magazine has observed of his writing style: "Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories—first carefully turning them inside out." Chesterton is well known for his fictional priest-detective Father Brown, and for his reasoned apologetics. Even some of those who disagree...
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
04:17
The Chinese character for "ping pong" is quite interesting!
乒乓
They look almost like the table with a stroke indicating the direction!
I wonder about their etymology.
This game is probably not very old, so I wonder if they really are pictograms.
Hmm... I should've written characters rather than character. They're two characters but one word, I guess.
Uh-oh!
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
04:53
> 'Sleepless slugs' on rise, say experts
But sleepless slugs help us improve grammar!
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
They want to help!
A heavy rain is approaching my house!
 
1 hour later…
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
06:00
FWIW, googling for "slices a better" returns not many results, and all results seem to point to a specific episode of Friends (season 2, episode 2).
It's unclear what exactly Joey said, because the subtitles don't quite agree, but the part "slices a better cheddar" is there in all versions I found.
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
> When d-block elements form ions, the 4s electrons are lost first.
Why "THE 4s electrons"?
There's a whole bunch of them. And an atom does not lose all of them at once.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
As opposed to the rest of the electrons, perhaps.
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
So the here is purely for that "oppositional" purpose? I wonder where in H&P or in Quirk et al this is covered.
@DamkerngT. And we've a clear sky! And it's warm! Plus 12 degrees Celcius.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@CowperKettle Nice!
johnchae
johnchae
06:20
Hi @DamkerngT.
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
06:31
I wonder if there is a good printable page or a series of pages with examples of how to correctly connect letters in handwriting. I'm making synopsises on chemistry and stuff in my copy books, partly in English, and it stumps me sometimes.
I cannot easily connect one letter with the next.
Without taking the pen from the paper.
In Russian, we have special printed brochures called "propisi", for kids.
You can just go into a store, buy one and keep it to check whether you've connected the letters right, and delineated them right.
There are also "propisi" with dotted examples that you have got to write upon, to connect the dots.
With letters traced by tiny dots. You connect them and acquire the mechanical memory for fast handwriting.
It'd be great to have a PDF with such stuff for English handwriting.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@johnchae Hi!
@CowperKettle I think it shouldn't be too difficult to find a good one.
activityvillage.co.uk/handwriting-practice-cursive-2
This one is not bad.
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
06:56
Nice!
Found another great one, with connections between letters
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Oh, that one is from A to Z!
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
user image
Easter Urals Radioactive Trace
I never knew it was so serious. Wikipedia says the 1957 disaster ranked 3rd after Chernobyl and Fukusima
Was reading about atomic chemistry and somehow winded up at that page
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Ugh! It's so strong!
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
Wiki says 10 000 people were evacuated
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
nods
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
07:10
Turns out I have lived both sides of the trace, in Tyumen (right margin the photo) and Yekaterinburg (left upper corner) (0:
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Hah!
V.V.
V.V.
07:33
Morning, Damkerng, if you are here.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
08:11
@V.V. Evening!
V.V.
V.V.
08:29
Hope you are fine.
Let it be any part of the day.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
08:44
Thanks! You too!
user62015
user62015
09:02
@DamkerngT. Hi!
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Hi!
user62015
user62015
@How are you?
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Good, thanks! How are you?
user62015
user62015
09:36
@DamkerngT. There?
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
There? How do you mean?
 
1 hour later…
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
10:46
@user62015 Here
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
LOL
Okay, I wrote an email to GKP and RDH!
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
11:05
@DamkerngT. Gary Karl Panda and Randy Devil Horton?
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@PhMgBr Nooo!
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
@DamkerngT. You forgot the third 'o'.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Fixed!
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
Yay!
Nobelium dioxide is a kewl compound.
It must have existed.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Heh!
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
11:21
4
A: What are the terms for months with 30 days and for months with 31 days?

snailboatIf you want separate terms to refer to 30-day months and 31-day months, I doubt you'll do better than 30-day months and 31-day months. Even and odd sound nice, but they have an unfortunate flaw: people use them to refer to even- and odd-numbered months! That is, months 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 are ...

LOL -- Knuckle and valley months! It's a nice concept!
user image
 
1 hour later…
Anonymous
12:52
Good morning!
johnchae
johnchae
Hi ^^
Evening where I live :p
Will talk to you later about the topic we had a couple days ago, hopefully you will be available by then
:)
Anonymous
13:11
Well then, good evening! :-)
Anonymous
14:01
Your explanation does not account for interrogatory sentence structure really: I know=Do I know, I knew=Did I know. It follows the rule: Helping Verb in the Past or Present + Subject Pronoun + Main Verb. — Lambie 3 mins ago
Anonymous
headdesk
johnchae
johnchae
Perfect timing, just right as I sat down and was about to ask if you're still there @snailboat, I saw your comment
:p
Anonymous
I am here!
johnchae
johnchae
Okay
Before getting back to the old topic, I'd like to ask you if I used "by then" in my comment above "Will talk to you later about the topic we had a couple days ago, hopefully you will be available by then" correctly?
I ask because I think "at that time " would be a better choice in that case,
Anonymous
Hmm, I guess? Except I've been here since I said "Good morning!" :-)
Anonymous
14:07
@johnchae Sure, or just then.
johnchae
johnchae
Noted
Also, would "at that time" used there be better? I tend to use it when talking about the past though
?
Anonymous
@johnchae You can use it, but you could honestly just say "hopefully you'll be available :)"
Anonymous
There's no need to specify a point in time.
johnchae
johnchae
Got it, thank you!
OK, now let's get back to the main topic I wanted to ask you about
Apr 26 at 16:09, by snailboat
@johnchae Another is fine there. You need to use lend, though.
@snailboat I think you misunderstood me there
Anonymous
Oh, did I?
johnchae
johnchae
14:11
"Is this example correct: "You want to borrow me another 100 dollars"? "
By that I meant, "You want to borrow another 100$ from me?"
So I think "borrow" there was correct
Anonymous
Oh, I see. Well, borrow me doesn't work like that.
Anonymous
It's ungrammatical in Standard English.
johnchae
johnchae
Oh
Anonymous
There are speakers of non-standard dialects who use borrow to mean 'lend'.
Anonymous
word-detective.com/2012/08/borrow-lend
Anonymous
14:14
So if I heard "You want to borrow me another 100 dollars", I would understand borrow as meaning 'lend', but I would also recognize it as non-standard English.
Anonymous
That's why I understood it the way I did.
johnchae
johnchae
I'm reading the article...
Anonymous
If you want to say "borrow X from me", that's what you have to say. You can't rephrase it as "borrow me X".
johnchae
johnchae
14:29
I see now, still a bit confused though...
I always thought that I knew perfectly the usage of lend and borrow, but now, wow...
:(
Anonymous
Don't be sad about not knowing something. We all learn new things every day, and that's something to be happy about :-)
johnchae
johnchae
Yeah, I'm actually happy that you're pointing it out, otherwise, I would use it that way and probably won't notice that mistake
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
Good evening!
Anonymous
Good morning!
johnchae
johnchae
Hi @CowperKettle
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
14:43
@johnchae Probably "Do you want to borrow (lend) me another 100 dollars?"
@johnchae Good evening, @johnchae!
> It is no gift I tender,
A loan is all I can;
But do not scorn the lender;
Man gets no more from man.
Oh, mortal man may borrow
What mortal man can lend;
And 'twill not end to-morrow,
Though sure enough 'twill end.
> If death and time are stronger,
A love may yet be strong;
The world will last for longer,
But this will last for long.
johnchae
johnchae
Morning @CowperKettle :)
Ahhh, the more I think about it, the more confused I get
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
"Oh, mortal man may borrow what mortal man can lend; "
It's simple. (0:
johnchae
johnchae
Oh I see.
BBL
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
15:27
BTS
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
> Why is there 3 columns in Group VIII of the Periodic Table?
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
BNO
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
Shouldn't it be "why are there"?
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
@CowperKettle For some reason, I'm okay with "is there"
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
I too.
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
15:56
Hello @Awesome. I'm MAR. — PhMgBr 49 secs ago
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
16:37
-5
Q: Is an edit to change only "formatting" warranted on ELL?

RathonySince I joined this community, I've noticed many edits which seem to be trivial and not helpful enough to this community. The edit guidelines on ELL's help center clearly states that "tiny, trivial edits are discouraged". For example, the second edit of the linked question, Article usage before...

discussion editing
user image
 
2 hours later…
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
18:24
A telegram style answer:
-1
A: Grammar question : "I think it is right that women be involved in the policies"

lalynacar.The subjunctive (BASE FORM) is used in noun clauses AFTER ADJECTIVES, (like the ones in the list mentioned before + THAT...not omitted), AND VERBS, (both lists expressing ADVICE, NECESSITY OR URGENCY) ex.(suggest, insist,demand, recommend,propose,request,urge... + (THAT) - this may be omitted). ...

@PhMgBr Nice!
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
@CowperKettle Classy eye roll huh
@CowperKettle No it's not. It's missing random meaningless emoticons.
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
Lydia the Tattooed Lady
►
@PhMgBr There were no emoticons in telegrams. (0:
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
@CowperKettle Mhm, I thought you meant the modern telegram.
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
The telegram messenger? I never tried it.
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
Well, meh.
It's like saying "I never texted someone on phone."
Big deal
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
18:27
I posted my first homework question!
1
Q: Strange formula in the solution to a chemical problem

CopperKettleThe problem in my textbook goes like this: Burning $0.68\ \mathrm{g}$ of an unknown substance, we obtained $1.28\ \mathrm{g}$ of sulfur oxide (IV) and $0.36\ \mathrm{g}$ of water. Find the chemical formula of the burned substance, providing that it was a complete combustion. It's quite easy...

homework stoichiometry
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
@CowperKettle The mathjax used is perfect.
user image
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
@PhMgBr That's not me. My computer goes into heart attack mode when I try to edit formulas. It's too old and slow.
(0:
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
Wait, it's Jan's edit. (/¯◡ ‿ ◡)/¯ ~ ┻━┻
@CowperKettle Mine isn't old and it goes into heart-attack mode as well.
@NVZ Of course, edits are the most helpful moderation tool for all sides of the argument, i.e. querents, answerers, and the moderation group. The problem is when trivial edits are done en masse, and this leads to a confusing front page. Even then the course of action isn't a rollback; this isn't a drama show. If the trivial edits are hindering something useful that's being done on the site, then it's flagging and explaining to a mod why a user should stop. Again, the edits themselves aren't the problem, the number is. — PhMgBr 34 secs ago
Just shot my comment, might as well go for an answer.
 
2 hours later…
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
20:08
I got a reply from GKP!
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
@DamkerngT. You should prolly freak out now.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Yeah!
freaking out, dancing around!
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
OK SIT DOWN
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Hehe!
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
YOU'RE MAKING A MESS
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
20:14
@CowperKettle It looks very confusing!
@CowperKettle Your homework question looks so neat!
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
@DamkerngT. There are a bunch of cool editors on Chem. Usually when a question experiences an edit from them, it'll never be the same.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
That's very neat!
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
Perhaps it's because Chem people and undergraduate students to PhD dudes, so they do care a lot about site policies and stuff.
We have a solid review system, pretty consistent tags and a lot of edits.
Even though meta is quiet lately we still pull stuff off well.
Guess the nature of the audience does have an important rule on site quality.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Indeed. I think each SE stack has its own personality.
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
Well, for instance, the editors: Mart is a PhD in Japan's Ikabari or whatever university, Jan is a PhD student working in a lab and getting the worst yields for her products, I am null, Loong is a mysterious creature with superior power and care over IUPAC nomenclature, Brian and Penta are MIT people in Stanford etc. universities in the USA, and so on.
So except me everyone's usually pretty serious about being all cool official mode.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
20:23
Pretty much a good company!
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
Also I just re-re-re-re-re-re-re-realized how great life is with diversity.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
We wouldn't have gone this far without it.
Which is a bit worrisome because the world seems to be converging, probably into the same global culture.
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
@DamkerngT. Nope.
I don't think this'll ever happen.
There are things people start to agree on, but there're also things people start to disagree on.
Change is it's own catalyst.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
It's hard to predict the future, anyhow.
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
It's not like a reactant that's being consumed.
@DamkerngT. Sure, who knows we'll be here tomorrow.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
20:29
Keep reacting, all the reactants!
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
We might be in ELL's Cabin.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Haha!
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
20:47
0
A: Is an edit to change only "formatting" warranted on ELL?

PhMgBrWhat. The. Heck. I see the other answers have already covered a lot of stuff here, so I won't contribute to the skirmish. I just had a few things to point out, and it just won't fit in a comment. Drama is bad. It doesn't matter whether you're batman and the other guy is The Joker, it doesn't m...

@Dam proofread please. :)
I'm about to go to sleep.
I might've written some funny and peculiar sentences.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
batman -> Batman
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
\o/
Anonymous
tl;dr; → tl;dr:
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
I think "the Joker" is probably more common than "The Joker", but it's probably more about style.
Oh, good morning! @snailboat!
Anonymous
Good morning :-)
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
20:49
I hope you didn't headdesk too hard!
Anonymous
Oh, I survived.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Yay!
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
Morning™
Anonymous
@PhMgBr Don't you mean Mroing™?
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
1:22 a.m.™
PhMgBr
PhMgBr
21:16
I sleeps. Officially this time
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Sleep tight!
Hi, @Nathan, @Catija!
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
21:39
> The plant was near dead when I got it.
> merriam-webster.com/dictionary/near
> (via: ell.stackexchange.com/questions/88705/…)
Somehow I find the sentence a bit unexplainable.
Is this near an adverb or a preposition?
(In any case, using almost or nearly will probably sound better for me.)
 
2 hours later…
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
23:51
Strange. I thought Boys & Girls (will.i.am) wasn't a new song!
Anonymous
@DamkerngT. Seems adverby, doesn't it? :-)
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@snailboat Yes!
Anonymous
It's something called a "flat adverb". Maybe you're already familiar with that term?
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
nods -- The most obvious one is probably sure.

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