Language Overflow - 2016-08-19 (page 1 of 2)

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2:21 AM

Sawasdee khrap!

e1.ru/news/spool/news_id-450278.html

Yesterday's lightnings

2:48 AM

Haha@Cardinal, a nice joke!

@Færd Yes. Though it's rather simple, it took me a few moments to understand what it means. One reason, I think, is that there's nothing (somebody) would rather do than . . . .

Taipei ATM machine to me yesterday: Your card conk out. Call customer service center.

Good very ear-r-ly mor-r-ning...

A word FOR the day :work.

3:13 AM

Good morning, VV!

If we need to decrease the number of different filter models used throughout the factory, how do we describe this? In Russian, it's "unify" - "We need to unify the use of filters by producer/model".

Maybe it's "standardize" or "make consistent"?

I should ask on ELL. "Word for using the same equipment for consistency's sake"

> We need to consistently use the same types of filters by the same producers at our production site

4:13 AM

@JimReynolds Thank you, Jim

I do not think it fits though.

The general meaning is "We need a new chromatographer".

I don't know how it is reflected in English tables of this sort

4:57 AM

Well, where's the @Dam table? Is it a list of tasks? Bring online a/the thing?

Install? Purchase? Acquire? Procure?

He who says PEE-sychology is nothing but a fool.

Because the P is silent.

Like in swimming pool.

Hi @learner. Nice avatar

drive.google.com/file/d/0B_hivi_ChoizNUdyQ1phSkxVOWs/…

@V.V. :D

@CowperKettle Look up consolidate. Maybe Consolidate like widget models?

Consolidate filters by manufacturer and model.

1 hour later…

6:19 AM

Suppose that you want to talk to your friend about something important. You decide to visit him in person. After some greetings, what should you say?

1. I come here to talk about X.
2. I've come here to talk about X.
3. I am here to talk about X.

In my opinion, the best sentence is #2.

6:58 AM

My natural choice would be something alone I'm here to ..., I came to ..., I went over to ...

So, #3. I suppose I wouldn't be surprised to hear #1 or #2.

Hi @DamkerngT.

Hi!

I guess people in different dialects may favor different choices.

I have a difficulty with using past tense in that context

They are two different activities to me. I came here. Now I want to talk.

Ah-a you mean the first one has been finished

7:01 AM

Well, in my (natural) point of view. -- Note that this part of linguistic information encoded in my brain appears to be well kept separately from my first language. It could be easy for me because in my first language I don't think of tense.

That doesn't mean that other speakers will think the same. (I don't know how everyone thinks, anyway.)

1

Q: "ourselves" vs "us"

It's also a time to relax our mind and discover ourselves when we stroll around unplanned and without any specific purpose. Could somebody tell me why the writer used ourselves instead of us? I think ourselves is a reflexive pronoun that should reflect back on a subject. But I see no sub...

grammar ellipsis subject reflexive-pronouns direct-object

@DamkerngT. I see, It's cool

@Car It's time to relax your mind, brother.

Get something from @DEAD's pharmacy when he grows up

LOL

@JimReynolds Nice advice

:-)

"Better living through chemistry"

7:10 AM

I guess reflexive pronouns are tricky to learners from some other languages.

It's time for me to fill myself with tea

:D

Exactly!

I'm pretty sure it's not a problem to Thai or native speakers of most languages in South Asia, judging from translation works I've read.

Can't say the same for Japanese speakers. It's ambiguous in translation.

Reflexive pronoun is so terribly traditional. CGEL calls them the poor stepchildren of autoleximatics.

Look it up

autoleximatics!

7:14 AM

Somewhere between pp. 4654325 and 9876432567645.

LOL

Haha

I thought it was real for 43 cycles. :P

Ah. You encourage me!

Hehe!

7:15 AM

Machine creates monster

Monster-creating machine! -- proud

Dr Frankenstein was into bodybuilding

Oops! The sky just roared loudly!

O.O

Don't let your tabs get wet!

Mop, ready! Rags, ready!

Room brightness (no internal lights in use) went down from 80% to 40%.

7:19 AM

Has your system switched to infrared?

@DamkerngT. Do you have tab ? My dictionary says that tab is a little solid piece of an illegal drug

@Cardinal I got my tabs from my browsers. I hope it's legal!

@Cardinal Tea is enough for you, ok?

@JimReynolds I think It was enough

@JimReynolds Not yet. Brightness is now at about 30%

7:20 AM

You are funny-in-the-head enough as it is.

I think I'm going to use some artificial lights.

Funny also means strange, odd.

(Um, I mean, I'm going to use some lights to have some artificial light.)

< rubbing my head >

I thought you meant snack on artificial lights

7:21 AM

LOL

user image

I meant something like this.

Chomp... actually, it's quite delicious! :P

0

Q: Arrive at/in the garden

A: Had the flowers been watered when Sheila arrived at the garden? B: No, they were still being watered. Am I right that it should be in the garden as we say John is in the garden. Source: The ILI English Series, Intermediate 2 Workbook, Page 45

word-choice prepositions

I think "At the" is correct

I don't see any problem with that

nods -- In order to see why at is correct, you have to compute the probability of the co-occurrence of at or in and each word on the left, along with the probability of the co-occurrence of at or in and each word on the left. With appropriate assigned weights, and select the most probably choice between at and in according to the computed probabilities, you'll arrive at the correct answer. :P

@DamkerngT. hahaha

@JimReynolds Hee

So funny

7:31 AM

Wow, finally it rained! But only a couple minutes!

0

A: Arrive at/in the garden

Perhaps. Both are grammatically correct, but with slight change of meaning. Use of "at" suggests that the garden is viewed as a point location. Whereas using "in" would view the garden as a 2d region. If, for example I am speaking of a garden that is on the other side of town, I view the garde...

~~godlike~~

GodLike sounds like games

I used to be a gamer, CS 1.6

Interesting. But I remember that arriving in the airport and arriving in the party are in use, though the trend is relatively recent.

@DamkerngT. Long times ago, I read that "at" is used with very accurate "positions or a date"

7:35 AM

nods -- Like a point or a small dot.

Mentioning gaming makes me think of the upcoming Survivor.

Millennials vs. Gen X! globaltv.com/survivor

I am in the hethro airport
I am at the center of hethro.

@DamkerngT. :D

IIRC, they say there's one pro-gamer in this season, too!

Let's discuss something serious.

An 18yo or something.

@DamkerngT. Great

7:38 AM

@DEAD (in serious tone) Survivor is a serious game.

:P

Is "giving a false level of asker's fluency" enough reason to merit leaving the post alone?

You mean, like, the OP pretends to be less fluent than they are?

@DEAD If I were to face such questions, I would ask several questions in comment

Not: in comment rhymes with in chat

@DamkerngT. No, I'm talking about this:

10

Q: Is it really pointless to edit questions to use correct English on ELL?

I would have thought that, on a site aimed at language learners, it would be helpful to edit questions so they at least use correct English. The following edits have had rejections when they corrected quite obvious English mistakes in the question. Is this really discouraged? http://ell.stacke...

discussion editing

@Cardinal Well, that's irrelevant to the what's in question.

Not exactly

7:42 AM

@DEAD I see the advantages of both sides, personally.

I meant I would ask several questions so as to pinpoint what the OP want to know or are trying to know

@DamkerngT. One big problem with leaving the question alone and editing the answers is that we'd see confusingly contradictory behavior from editors.

Ideal situation: an awesome answerer passing by, spotting a question, choosing to correct everything and post an awesome answer.

Real situation: an answerer passing by, edit something, and move on to another question.

The problem is that the meta consensus seems to favor leaving the question alone, but that's impractical.

@DamkerngT. Hey, who you're calling answerer!

@DEAD I was just describing a possible but realistic situation! :D

7:46 AM

This is something that conflicts with the SE tradition. Some prolific SO editor coming by won't know it.

That's why I'm gonna argue for editing the question completely.

No matter how many votes that will take away from me.

If, let's say, many of us choose to perfect the OP's English but don't post an answer to their questions at the same time, I'd like to suggest adding a short phrase:

> See the first revision of this question to assess OP's fluency and/or level of English.

That was exactly what I was thinking about.

Great minds

in The Periodic Table, yesterday, by DEAD

@orthocresol . . . sound like parrots

One argument is that people can access the edit history to evaluate an OP's language.

@JimReynolds yes

@JimReynolds The counter-argument is that people are too lazy to do that

7:52 AM

It might be best to include st like EDITED FOR CLARITY

EDITED FOR CLARITY YOU ^%$#

I like that, in fact

I'm not sure if adding the suggested phrase is a great idea. I mean, it could be offensive. -- EDITED FOR CLARITY sounds like a better option!

I do understand "both sides"

@JimReynolds I think Edit itself does have the same connotation

Notice: @DEAD EDITED FOR IDIOCY

7:53 AM

Edits @JimR

Removes unnecessary fluff

Nothing remains

But how the OP writes can be very important, deserving of extra effort to preserve and indicate

Eeek! I has been disappearded!

LOL

Well, nail polishing isn't exactly called nail polishing if you do half your finger and leave the rest.

:D

NOTE: COMPLETELY MANGLED AND CHANGED TO MY OWN FEEBLE INTERPRETATION!

7:57 AM

@JimReynolds Oh, no

An unedited horrendous-looking question above polished, excellent answers sticks like a sore thumb.

@JimReynolds Is this what I get for turning you into a ghost?

I did you a favor.

I always remind myself: You know that Wikipedia is always correct, because anyone can edit it.

O.O

@JimReynolds I just edtdie a page. :P

GH us all

LOL

7:59 AM

Web crawler!

By the way, my experience proves that the quality of answers is not heavily dependent on the questions intself, but on the person's character

@Cardinal Well, many people know things, but not many can express what they know well.

@JimReynolds A possible crawling of the day: scan all Wikipedia pages and replace arrive([sd])? in with arrive([sd])? at

Look at how hard it is for @JimR to express his love of me

Thank you, @Car. I know I'm the best, not just as an answerer, but as a person

gives @DEAD a hug

8:01 AM

explodes

Lol

@DEAD forensic activity initiated

Even the dead can be sickened!

BBL freakbast

@DEAD I am confused. do you have problem with questions that are edited or answers that are edited

8:02 AM

He is a problem.

@DEAD Wouldn't it be nchubr by now?

Anonymous

@JimReynolds Do I sense satire?

Anonymous

You know, we have a class of pronouns that have reflexive uses, like herself.

Anonymous

But they also have non-reflexive uses.

If one has only hammers, everything is a snail

8:04 AM

I think questions having serious problem even must not be edited before asking questions in comment

Anonymous

The so-called emphatic uses: She did it herself.

Anonymous

Sometimes people call these emphatic pronouns.

@Cardinal Asking for clarification before editing is a good idea!

Anonymous

CGEL goes with "emphatic uses of reflexive pronouns", though, using a consistent name for the set of forms and distinguishing the uses they have from one another.

@snailplane Hello, @snailplane!

8:05 AM

I've seen that term, snailplane

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Hello, @DamkerngT.!

LOL

Apt label, it seems

Anonymous

There is a small animal on my roof which, judging by the sound it's making, is trying to murder my roof.

Anonymous

And again, judging by that sound, small might be the wrong adjective.

8:06 AM

@snailplane Oh, we may have the same kind of roof!

Anonymous

I was thinking squirrel, but now I'm thinking R.O.U.S.

Apt. label: #307.

Anonymous

@JimReynolds What an apt label!

Apartment ?

Anonymous

Did you see how I cleverly used Jim's own joke against him?

8:07 AM

I'm not sure if it's squirrels or rats. (They both are around.)

Anonymous

It looks like I came up with it myself.

Anonymous

By which I mean, look! I came up with that joke myself.

Larcenist!

Anonymous

Hey, it's all poetic larcense.

@snailplane It must be you yourselves who came up with that joke!

8:08 AM

o.o

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Ah, I've only got one self, as it happens.

How often do we use yourself?

Anonymous

Unless you're referring to me with singular they. Then I've got plenty: Whoever made that joke made it themselves!

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. All the time. It's not dialectal like themself.

I see! I thought it worked like themselves!

Anonymous

8:09 AM

Themself exists too, but not for all speakers.

Anonymous

I don't have themself in my idiolect.

Anonymous

I wonder if anyone here does.

Ah, my SATA to USB reader is just broken!

I guess it's gone with the rain!

I'm inclined to think I might have uttered such things as If someone thinks (or does) x, they should ask themself if y.

Some nice music (to cheer myself up): youtube.com/watch?v=s7U5eM-8Lxc

8:16 AM

I'm inclined, not ink-lined. Then I'd be a stamp pad.

A stamp pad is an ink-lined plane, not an inclined plane.

@JimReynolds That could be an inkling.

An inclined plane is a slope up, not a lazy dog.

That would be a slow pup.

:)

Puzzle of the day: Is the pianist male or female?

:D

user image

Interesting!

Anonymous

@JimReynolds It's true. I'm not a lazy dog.

Well the difference is explained by their different meanings as prepositions of location.

Anonymous

8:27 AM

@DamkerngT. Do you need cheering up?

Oh, no! This song could make anyone cry! youtube.com/watch?v=cGmIzpLzcfU (It's a song about "mother".)

@snailplane Not that much, but my SATA reader is broken! :-)

We use at more often to mean this place, generally, as opposed to some other place.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. This song is hard to be sad to, really: youtube.com/watch?v=E8gmARGvPlI

We use in more often to mean inside some bounded or contained area.

@snailplane Thanks! (I wish I knew how to ski!)

8:30 AM

If I'm in my yard I might tell someone I'm at my house. I'm not technically in (within the walls of) my house.

@snailplane I'm more familiar with this version (it's an album from 25 years ago!) youtube.com/…

At is more general. If I'm "in" my house. I might tell someone on the phone that I'm at my house, meaning there instead of at work or at school or at a movie theater.

Pianist answer: Yes?

Probably male or female.

O.O

@JimReynolds It's a bit surprised to me to see arrived in the garden used that often. It makes me think of something like teleportation (suddenly appeared in the garden).

@JimReynolds o_O

@snailplane Great song. I guess it's famous even in North Korea

Perhaps because it's relatively likely that when one goes to a garden, one would go into it to perform some task, or relax in a chair, meet someone, etc.

Where conceptually, it's meaningful to think of being within some boundary defining the garden.

Working in the garden.

Anonymous

8:35 AM

@DamkerngT. I like this cover: youtube.com/watch?v=_Xc9LKlCQIc

Oh, I like her!

Work at the garden might be avoided to describe location because to work at a project has a different meaning.

@DamkerngT. Sung by Thais?

@CowperKettle Yes! 100% Thais.

@DamkerngT. They sing very natural

Anonymous

8:37 AM

@DamkerngT. Some of the best English pronunciation I've heard by a Korean singer.

Do Russians sing unnaturally?

I guess maybe it was these three ladies who gave me an idea that singing and speaking aren't the same thing.

They sing with an accent, Jim

Anonymous

They really aren't the same thing. They use different parts of the brain.

Gorky Park - Moscow Calling

8:38 AM

Musical theater presents an interesting situation, where it's generally important that audiences can understand the lyrics clearly.

Anonymous

There are stroke survivors who have aphasia and can sing but not speak.

@snailplane Hah!

That's really interesting!

@snailplane Koreans?

Anonymous

@CowperKettle Um, I was not thinking specifically of Koreans when I wrote that.

Anonymous

I think it's true of humans in general.

8:39 AM

> I KNEW her for a little ghost
That in my garden walked;
The wall is high—higher than most
And the green gate was locked.
And yet I did not think of that
Till after she was gone—
I knew her by the broad white hat,
All ruffled, she had on.
By the dear ruffles round her feet,
By her small hands that hung
In their lace mitts, austere and sweet,
Her gown's white folds among.

Anonymous

@CowperKettle I quoted Cowper in Japanese.SE chat.

@CowperKettle Cool band! (But I'm not sure what they're calling me to. :P)

> I watched to see if she would stay,
What she would do—and oh!
She looked as if she liked the way
I let my garden grow!
She bent above my favourite mint
With conscious garden grace,
She smiled and smiled—there was no hint
Of sadness in her face.
She held her gown on either side
To let her slippers show,
And up the walk she went with pride,
The way great ladies go.

> And where the wall is built in new
And is of ivy bare
She paused—then opened and passed through
A gate that once was there.

@DamkerngT. Me neither!

It's a song popular in my childhood days

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Me too!

Gorky Park is a huge amusement park in Moscow.

Anonymous

8:41 AM

This is my favorite BoA track: youtube.com/watch?v=uN9JyYjJAlk

Anonymous

When I first heard this track, I thought she was a native speaker of both Japanese and English.

I'll admit that the first time I checked out her song, it was because of her beautiful face, but I came to really like her later when I learned more about her. I really love seeing people with enormous passion in what they're doing.

БГ — Radio London (1990) альбом HD

@snailplane I wasn't sure where she was born either, when I listened to her song the first time! (Can't remember which song now, though.)

(A whole album by BG, sung with a distinctive Russian accent)

I liked " Can’t stop repeating your name" (17:35) when I used to listen to this album

His Russian songs though are much, much better

Anonymous

8:47 AM

@DamkerngT. Well, she was born in Korea, but I think she started learning Japanese young, and I think it came fairly naturally to her. It's a very close language to Korean, so Korean learners of Japanese tend to learn very quickly and reach high levels of proficiency.

@CowperKettle Whoa! That's the whole album!

Anonymous

English is much more difficult for Korean speakers.

@DamkerngT. Yes, Boris Grebenshikov knows English quite well, an admirer of Bob Dylan and other folk singers

@snailplane nods

@CowperKettle I didn't think he's Russian, even!

Anonymous

You can tell she isn't a native speaker of English when you listen to her all-English tracks, but most of her pronunciation is spot on.

8:48 AM

He remade some of Bob Dylan's songs into Russian, but he changed like 70% of the content, so "remade" is a loose description of what he did. Reinvented rather.

Anonymous

I'm really impressed by it.

nods

user image

@snailplane It's a bit unexpected to see that she seems to be a shy person in real life. (I don't really know her, BTW.) (^_^)

His concert together with other Moscow Buddhists

8:51 AM

@CowperKettle Hehe!

(0:

2 hours later…

10:38 AM

in ELL's Cabin, 4 mins ago, by Pandya

How -ism works? like Hindu-ism....

1 hour later…

11:39 AM

Hi @Pandya

@Pandya Well, it makes nouns out of stuff.

What else do you want to know about it?

Oh. Dam answered him in the Cabin room

I belong to @Dead ism

Worship of @DEAD

KNEEL BEFORE ME

No. We have certain peculiar ways of worshipping

slaps DEAD with a rotten fish

YASSS I ALREADY FEEL MORE POWERFUL

11:43 AM

That shows great devotion

@Cardinal I have a problem with not editing questions that need those edits.

Anonymous

@DEAD And it has associated semantics!

Anonymous

Making Hindu-ism different from Hindu-ness or Hindu-ite.

@snailplane Well yeah.

How much does Pandya need to know, though?

Anonymous

I have no clue :-)

11:56 AM

No clue's good for a start

instagram.com/p/BJSiYMXBuTT

Supposedly seen on a Berlin subway train: "This text has no purpose other than to terrify those afraid of the Arabic language"

12:12 PM

Apparently, Instragram is another website (or just an app? I wonder if it's qualified as a webiste) that doesn't care much about web users. But I doubt if there's any single good reason that they should care us. I can't see any text.

To give you an idea, this is what I see:

Is imagur better?

user image

@JimReynolds Apparently so!

I guess it's because I don't know how to use it.

@DamkerngT. "Log in to report the CSS bug"

@JimReynolds Nah! Instragram is not the only site. Everyone cares only mobile users now.

12:15 PM

Try picking up your PC

One thing I don't quite get much about our modern days. We don't have to pay anything to use the roads, but we have to pay a lot to use the internet.

IKR

(At least, not directly, when we use our roads.)

And we don't use roads, while we use internet a lot.

:D

12:20 PM

It's all mixed up and upside down.

Everything is at its rightful place.

12:31 PM

That's DEADism!

1:14 PM

@Cardinal Nice pun. I don't think anyone else got it! ;)

1:52 PM

Oh. @Arau turned red. :o

BTW @Arau you running for the mod election?

@Araucaria We got it, but we're too cool to laugh.

user image

@DEAD No, I have a life! :0)

Heh

@DEAD I C

How's your campaign?

My champagne is cold as . . . oh wait.

DO PEOPLE HAVE CAMPAIGNS?

AM I SUPPOSED TO HAVE A CAMPAIGN?

Why didn't anyone tell me that? Growls at @Dam

I thought you'd already started one ...

1:56 PM

Meh, I'm not even that much thinking about winning.

Hey @Tro y ;)

@DEAD You can't have a life and be a mod. You're too young to be a mod. Not because you wouldn't be good. Just cuz you should have better things to do!

@Araucaria Well, people have pets, and I have a site.

@DEAD Yes, but when you have a problem with a pet, you take it to a vet. In this scenario, you'd be the vet. So you wouldn't be having fun with your animals ...

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Transcript for

Aug '1619

Language Overflow

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