Language Overflow

CowperKettle

02:37

The day after tomorrow, spring will start in my hometown

Good morning

CowperKettle

02:53

Word of the Day: southpaw

southpaw

Noun: southpaw (plural southpaws)

(informal) One who is left-handed, especially in sports.
(baseball) A left-handed pitcher.
Since home plate is generally in the southwest corner to avoid glare in the batter's eyes, a southpaw's pitching hand is to the south.

> The next area is motor specialization, which brings us to the southpaw. "What you do with your hands is a miracle of biological evolution," he says. "We are the master of our hands, and by funneling this training to one hemisphere of our brains, we can become more proficient at that kind of dexterity." Natural selection likely provided an advantage that resulted in a proportion of the population -- about 10% -- favoring the opposite hand.

sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170419131801.htm

Brock

04:59

Good morning !

Anyone active here at the moment?

CowperKettle

08:03

> Due to a system error, the speficied рН level of 7.00 reset to 0.00

Can I use reset this way?

I want to indicate that the system all of a sudden and all by itself reset the pH to zero

CowperKettle

08:54

Word of the Day: pull date (UK)

Meaning: it's when you go on a date and forget to take a certain article along.

V.V.

09:35

"Reset" is transitive, you can reset something. Was reset, perhaps.

CowperKettle

09:54

But "was reset" is too passive. One could think that "someone pressed the button and reset it"

M.A.R.

10:33

@CowperKettle I like "was reset" too

CowperKettle

10:53

okay

Word of the Day: QPPV

Qualified Person Responsible For Pharmacovigilance

In the European Union, the Qualified Person Responsible For Pharmacovigilance (QPPV) is an individual, usually an employee of a pharmaceutical company, who is personally responsible for the safety of the human pharmaceutical products marketed by that company in the EU. This function was established in 2004 by article 23 of regulation (EC) No 726/2004. The article establishes that the holder of a marketing authorization for a drug for human use must have a QPPV. "The holder of an authorisation for a medicinal product for human use granted in accordance with the provisions of this Regulation shall...

O_O

M.A.R.

11:09

o.o

Damkerng T.

QPPV!

M.A.R.

11:29

It sounds like some storm trooper shooting in Star Wars.

Feeds

12:10

0

Q: Seeking for clarification: was my question closed for reasons that comply with the rules accepted by this site?

My question was put on hold, and then closed, as falling under the category, primarily oppinion based. The question was about the proper usage of articles in a statement, which is a topic welcomed here. An answer to it could not be just a matter of opinion, for the usage of the articles in the st...

support

Brock

@M.A.R. Hello

M.A.R.

Hi

Brock

@DamkerngT. Man, you there ?

@M.A.R. Consider a sentence (I saw this sentence in one of my books) "Do not make noise when you visit a patient in the hospital"

Here 'a patient' means one single patient ?

M.A.R.

Yes, but at the same time, it could mean any patient

Brock

Or does 'a patient' mean any patient irrespective of how many patients you visit ?

M.A.R.

12:16

Because it's saying "a patient" but doesn't specify who, you take it to mean they mean any patient you visit

@Brock That's the point. It's irrespective of how many patients you visit. The numbers don't really matter

Brock

Get it! Thanks

Consider another sentence - "I am going to get a medicine for you." Here 'a medicine' means any medicine irrespective of how many Medicines I'm referring to, it could be one and at the same time more than one also. Right ?

@M.A.R.

M.A.R.

@Brock No

It means some unknown medicine

But it's obvious it's not going to be a ton

Here, the numbers don't matter again, but the normal context makes them important

Imagine you're coughing

And I suddenly say that. And I won't say that. I will more correctly say "I'm going to get a pill for you"

(medicine is uncountable, IIRC)

That won't mean I might bring you five pills

It means I'm bringing you some unknown pill.

You didn't mention any pills before

Brock

So 'a pill' in this context means some unknown pill irrespective of how many pills. In other words it could be one pill or could be two pills also or any no of pills. Right ? Did i get it right this time ?

@M.A.R.

M.A.R.

@Brock No, it means one pill

But one unknown pill

It might be drug A, or drug B. Acetaminophen, or Ibuprofen

We understand it's one pill because you didn't mention pills in any way before

Brock

12:34

@M.A.R. But you said before giving this example that even here the numbers don't matter and now you say it's one pill ?

M.A.R.

@Brock The "patient" example?

Brock

No the medicine example. You said, " Here, the numbers don't matter again, but the normal context makes them important"

M.A.R.

@Brock Yes, so they become important again

Brock

So 'a pill' in your example means one single unknown pill. Right ?

@M.A.R.

M.A.R.

"a pill" in "Don't fly on a plane while taking a pill". is generic.

So it means 'any pill'

And the number doesn't matter

But when I'm saying ''I'm going to have a pill'', it means one pill, not two pills.

@Brock Yep.

Honestly, @Brock, you should continue studying and advancing in your course, until you reach an understanding in the language.

That's what @Damkerng meant by ''feeling'' the language.

Zooming in one single topic this much isn't going to help you much.

Brock

12:44

@M.A.R. In your sentence "Don't fly on a plane while taking a pill" Here you said 'a pill' means 'any pill'. So 'any pill' here means anyone single pill or any pill irrespective of how many pills it might be ?

Yeah, I'll keep that advice in mind

M.A.R.

@Brock The latter

Irrespective of the number

Brock

@M.A.R. Thanks a lot! One last question on this, hopefully. Suppose I'm looking for a girl to marry. My mom asks me 'Who you want to marry with?' I say "I want to marry 'a girl' from Canada". Now here 'a girl' means any girl irrespective of the number or 'a girl' means 'any one girl' ?

M.A.R.

@Brock You consider the context, and see that it's really unlikely for it to be five girls.

So it's one girl. But that's understood from the context.

Brock

Hmm

Basically i wanted to ask if a countable noun is in its singular form then under any context can that noun indicate more than one ?

@M.A.R.

M.A.R.

13:00

@Brock No.

There is a vast range of contexts to generalize anything

Damkerng T.

@Brock Consider this: I'm going to read all those books, one at a time.

Does this one mean "one" or "more than one"?

M.A.R.

Have you studied about generic noun phrases, @Brock? They've been linked repeatedly in comments to your questions I think.

@Dam \o

Damkerng T.

o/

I was wondering what ]o would be? :-)

M.A.R.

@DamkerngT. A horizontal person

Damkerng T.

LOL

M.A.R.

13:04

The site is filled with Sovereign's ~~useless~~ sub-optimal edits and comments. I wonder when this hype will be over.

Not pingable in chat, it seems :\

Brock

@M.A.R. You say than under any context a countable singular noun cannot indicate more than one, then why in the sentence "Do not make noise if you visit a patient" you said that 'a' patient' means one or two or it could be any number of patient ?

M.A.R.

@Brock I didn't say that

I said there are too many possible contexts to make a generalization

So my stance would be correctly phrased like "under any context, a countable singular noun may or may not indicate more than one thing"

Damkerng T.

If someone told you to bring him a book, he wouldn't reprimand you if you brought him two books. That doesn't mean that this a means "more than one", though. @Brock

M.A.R.

Which would get me back to my point: There's not much point in your studying this further without trying to really understand anything

You can't make algorithms for this

If turning language comprehension into a bunch of mathematical formulas and algorithms was possible, greater people than us would've done it a thousand times already @Brock.

Brock

@DamkerngT. - Okay if i say 'Get me a book' Here a book means one book or more than one book or anyone book or any book irrespective of how many you bring ?

Damkerng T.

13:10

@Brock What do you think? You haven't answered my question, right? ;-)

> Consider this: I'm going to read all those books, one at a time.
Does this one mean "one" or "more than one"?

1

Q: Screenshoting Or Screenshotting?

Which one is correct? Screenshot is probably a noun. I screenshotting grammatically correct? or it's just screenshoting?

grammar spelling confusable

Maybe I should go Damkernging!

Brock

@DamkerngT. I guess it means one book at a time

userr2684291

@Brock It means "any (single) book".

Damkerng T.

@Brock Hmm... how can one mean "one at a time"? If one means "one at a time", what do you think one at a time means?

"one at a time at a time"?

Brock

One at a time means one book at a time

Isn't it ?

Damkerng T.

I asked what does one mean? Not what does one at a time mean? :-)

Brock

13:22

One means one book

userr2684291

Yes.

Damkerng T.

Does it mean "more than one (book)"?

Brock

No

Damkerng T.

Can it mean "more than one (book)"?

Brock

Yes i think so

Damkerng T.

13:23

Oh, why do you think so?

Brock

No sorry it wont

userr2684291

:}

M.A.R.

Oh, userr is here

Everyone hide.

Damkerng T.

So, can a in Bring me a book mean "more than one"?

Brock

No

Damkerng T.

13:26

Okay, good!

userr2684291

@M.A.R. :^)

@M.A.R. I'm eating some fresh Iranian dates.

Brock

@DamkerngT. I have no idea where you are getting at

Damkerng T.

So, any more problems?

M.A.R.

@userr2684291 Noice. Dates aren't native to my region though

They need a hotter climate

Damkerng T.

@Brock If you know that a can't mean "more than one", doesn't that invalidate all your previous questions?

userr2684291

13:28

@M.A.R. Once you go fresh, you can never go back to dry.

Brock

@DamkerngT. Why is it so ?

Damkerng T.

5 mins ago, by Damkerng T.

So, can a in Bring me a book mean "more than one"?

4 mins ago, by Brock

No

:D

M.A.R.

Back to square one

This is gonna take forever

Damkerng T.

It's a long hard road Brock's chosen. :-)

M.A.R.

@Brock can you tell us exactly what Wren 'n Martin says?

Damkerng T.

13:33

Not that there isn't any easier road. :-)

@M.A.R. It's a very old book, so they don't touch any topic intuitively anyway.

Brock

Wren n Martin doesn't touch upon so deeply

userr2684291

It's Brock's way or the highway. Oh, wait...

I never liked W&M so much.

Damkerng T.

The way they do it (in W&M) is probably fine, because at the introductory level, learners might not need it anyway.

M.A.R.

@Brock But your lack of a starting point is only confusing you

You don't know how much you want to learn, and there's only so much to learn

Damkerng T.

By the way, I don't think this generic thing is only specific to English.

@Brock Teach me a quick introduction course to your first language.

M.A.R.

13:36

You don't know if you want to learn how to deduce from context, or just discuss semantics

Damkerng T.

How do you say Bring me a book in your first language?

Suspecting something similar to 'ek' or 'eka' is going to show up...

M.A.R.

برای من یک کتاب بیاور.

Brock

@DamkerngT. - Consider a sentence "Taking a painkiller can cause liver toxicity". Here 'a painkiller' means one painkiller or any painkiller ?

Damkerng T.

@M.A.R. English transliteration, please! :-)

@Brock Let's forget English for a moment.

M.A.R.

The version with all the speech reduction would be برام یه کتاب بیار.

Damkerng T.

13:38

What is Bring me a book in your first language?

M.A.R.

2 mins ago, by Damkerng T.

How do you say Bring me a book in your first language?

Araucaria Man

1

A: Can 'home' be an adjective as well as an adverb or a noun?

Home is a preposition according to modern grammars such as Oxford Modern English Grammar (Aarts 2011) or The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (Huddleston & Pullum 2002). According to such grammars, although prepositions often—prototypically in fact—take noun phrase complements, this is ...

Damkerng T.

Upvoted! -- You got me at preposition! :P

userr2684291

TL;DR.

Brock

@DamkerngT. Book leke aao

Hindi language

Damkerng T.

13:39

@Brock leke is something like "one", right?

Araucaria Man

@DamkerngT. Oh, was that you? :)

Damkerng T.

@AraucariaMan Yes. :D

@Brock Hmm... interesting; you call book "book" in your first language!

Araucaria Man

@userr2684291 Summary: Home is a preposition, not an adverb. Which is why it can do prepositiony things ...

M.A.R.

@DamkerngT. Heavily influenced by English, I take it to be

Brock

@DamkerngT. Leke means bring

Damkerng T.

13:41

@M.A.R. nods -- That's reasonable.

@Brock Oh! So aao is "one"! Right?

M.A.R.

@Brock "book bring one"?

0.0

userr2684291

@AraucariaMan Yeah, I was just kidding.

Brock

@DamkerngT. Aao means to come

Damkerng T.

Okay, so... one is implied, I guess?

Brock

Ek means one

M.A.R.

13:43

@userr2684291 Alternatively, you could've used this

userr2684291

@AraucariaMan I remember snailplane saying that home is a preposition phrase.

M.A.R.

Damkerng T.

How do you say, Bring me two books, then? @Brock

userr2684291

@M.A.R. Or I could just downvote...

Brock

@DamkerngT. Do book leke aao

Do means two

Damkerng T.

13:44

Do means "two", right?

Brock

Right

Damkerng T.

Let's recap. [Book leke aao] means "Bring me a book"; [Do book leke aao] means "Bring me two books".

What if I want to say Bring me one book?

Brock

Ek book leke aao

Damkerng T.

A-ha!

Okay, let's say you told someone Ek book leke aao and they brought you two books, would you be okay with it?

Brock

Why not

Damkerng T.

13:46

Oh! Okay!

It's the same in English then. :-)

If I told someone, Bring me one book, and he brought me two books, it'd be okay.

If I told someone, Bring me a book, and he brought me two books, it'd be okay, too.

If I told someone, Bring me two books, and he brought me two books, it'd be okay.

userr2684291

@AraucariaMan chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/36345199#36345199

Damkerng T.

If I told someone, Bring me two books, and he brought me one book, I might be unhappy.

Brock

@DamkerngT. Yes quite understandable

Damkerng T.

So, I guess you should understand that both a and one mean "one" (i.e., [ek]).

Brock

Yes

So there's no difference between 'Bring me one book' and 'bring me a book'

Damkerng T.

13:50

You already have a good syntax category to cover a in your language.

Brock

Right ?

Damkerng T.

@Brock Wait?

Are [Book leke aao] and [Ek book leke aao] the same in your language?

Brock

I guess not

Damkerng T.

Well, then I guess Bring me a book and Bring me one book aren't quite the same in English either.

Brock

Ohh is it ?

Damkerng T.

13:52

They aren't.

Before you're going to ask about the difference, tell me the difference between [Book leke aao] and [Ek book leke aao] first.

Brock

Ek book leke aao means Bring me one book. One book

Book leke aao means just book leke aao

userr2684291

Haha.

Damkerng T.

Hmm... saying Book leke aao means just book leke aao doesn't help much, don't you think? :-)

Brock

I guess I'm unable to tell you the difference

Damkerng T.

I suppose we can't tell you the difference between a book and one book either, then. :P

Brock

13:56

Haha

Damkerng T.

Like you, we all just know them, but can't tell the difference. :-)

Brock

I request you to tell me

I'm having a lot of hard time

userr2684291

@Brock Request denied.

Damkerng T.

@Brock Can you use [Book leke aao] and [Ek book leke aao] correctly in your first language?

<grin>

Brock

I guess so

But book leke aao sounds ambiguous

Damkerng T.

13:58

@Brock You can use them just fine, and yet you can't tell us the difference?

userr2684291

In my first language there are no articles, but you could always put one before a singular noun. A singular noun already contains the meaning of one, so when you actually put one before a singular noun, you're emphasizing you want just one book, not two.

Damkerng T.

If you can use them without having to think about the difference in your first language, why would you want to bother with the difference in English? :-) @Brock

userr2684291

@Brock I think it's less weird in English to say "Bring me a book." than it is in your first language.

Brock

I want to excel in English language

So to speak

Damkerng T.

@Brock Aww... this makes me think you're rather bad at your own language. :P

Brock

14:03

Maybe

Damkerng T.

Aww... me patting Brock...

Brock

@DamkerngT. When in say 'Book leke aao' i guess here i used 'book' which is in singular form so it should mean one book

Damkerng T.

Hmm... but you used [Do book leke aao], didn't you?

Brock

Bring me a book in my language is book leke aao

Bring me two books in my first language is Do books leke aao

Damkerng T.

Huh?

22 mins ago, by Brock

@DamkerngT. Do book leke aao

It was a typo, then?

Brock

14:08

Okay let me tell all those in my first language again

Bring me a book in my language is book leke aao
Bring me two books in my first language is Do books leke aao

Bring me one book is ek book leke aao

@DamkerngT.

Damkerng T.

nods -- See, your first language has good categories to match your thoughts in L1 (first language) to your thoughts in L2 (second language, i.e., English).

I think you can go a long way, with a relatively small risk, handling English's a this way.

Brock

@DamkerngT. So what's the difference between bring me a book and bring me one book

Damkerng T.

About the same as the difference between [book leke aao] and [ek book leke aao].

It might not be exactly the same, but it should be practically the same for you, for now.

Brock

In my first language in the sentence 'book leke aao' here book is in its singular form so by virtue of its singular form it means 'one'

And bring me one book also means the same

Araucaria Man

@userr2684291 Yes, she's pretty hot , is the snailplane ...

Brock

14:15

So there is no difference between the two. Right ?

Damkerng T.

@Brock Practically, yes.

Araucaria Man

@userr2684291 Yes, that's a good explanation ...

Damkerng T.

We may rewrite [book leke aao] as [∅ book leke aao], where ∅ is a "null" word, to show that you have "something" in the same place as [do] or [ek]. ∅ is not a real word, because your language doesn't need it. English a is basically the same. It doesn't add anything much to the noun either, though it's useful to make countable nouns more obvious.

At this point, I think you can treat a and one similarly to ∅ and [ek].

Brock

@DamkerngT. But 'book leke aao' does that tell it refers to one book. Right?

Damkerng T.

Just keep in mind that this is more about the practicality (so that you can understand them, and form basic intuitions about them). It's not technically precise. (And I can't be sure anyway, because I can't speak your first language.)

@Brock You told me it does, so if what you told me is correct, it should refer to one book.

Voted to close because what is charming or polite in that context will be simply a matter of opinion. Questions that can elicit only subjective opinions are regarded as off-topic on this site. — Tᴚoɯɐuo 20 mins ago

Oh! TRomano got flipped!

Brock

14:29

"Do not make noise if you visit a patient in the hospital" and "Do not make noise if you visit one patient in the hospital" . If that's the case both these sentence should means the same. Isn't it?

@DamkerngT.

Damkerng T.

Hmm... I wonder if there's any legal "party-drug"!

@Brock About the same as ∅ and [ek].

If you think ∅ and [ek] mean the same, then the two sentences mean the same. If you don't think so, then they don't.

(Basically, I let you define the same for you, depending on your perspective.)

Araucaria Man

@DamkerngT. Well, we could regard one as a stressed, emphatic form of a.

Damkerng T.

(E.g., some may say 1+1 and 2 are the same. Some may disagree.)

@AraucariaMan Sure. I guess it's the same with [ek] in Brock's L1 too.

Araucaria Man

@DamkerngT. Could well be ...

Brock

14:45

@DamkerngT. MAR gave me an example "I am going to get you a pill". Did you see that example of MAR ?

Damkerng T.

I think I saw it, but I didn't read it closely.

Brock

Here in this example 'a pill' means one pill. Right?

@DamkerngT.

Damkerng T.

Yes, the basic meaning is "one pill".

V.V.

15:06

"I hear you have moved to a new apartment, Steve. " Is "hear" correct? @DamkerngT.? Hi all!

Damkerng T.

Yes. That is elided.

Privet!

V.V.

We say "heard" usually, that's why I doubted it.

In translation it will be "heard".

Damkerng T.

I think, in this specific pattern, all of hear, heard, and 've heard would be fine.

Hear, say, think are somewhat special, I think.

V.V.

Dam, but if I use "heard", I should change the tense, right?

Damkerng T.

Not necessary.

V.V.

15:14

To past simple.

Damkerng T.

The idea of "sequence of tense" turns out to be not as solid as people think, IMO.

I say, it's easier and more correct, too, to think of the tenses in the main clause and in subordinate clauses separately.

I heard you're a teacher now -- It would be strange to say "I heard you were a teacher then". :P

yubraj

Hi

V.V.

I don't remember what it's called, ah, immediate repoting, then, if the situation is true...

Damkerng T.

I know you did it. You stole the money! -- It wouldn't mean the same if we use "I know you do it. You steal the money" instead.

@V.V. Indirect speech, perhaps?

Hi! @yubraj

yubraj

@DamkerngT. @V.V. How are you? Long time no see!

Damkerng T.

15:18

I'm good! How are you?

yubraj

I'm quite well.

V.V.

Fine,thanks. And you?

yubraj

Up to know

Me too fine.

How to ask if electricity is gone or come?

V.V.

Have they turned on electricity?

That's entirely my version.

Or is it gone forever?

Joking.

Damkerng T.

You mean the power, I suppose.

Valor Naram

15:31

Can anyone explain me, what we do in this chatroom?

Damkerng T.

@ValorNaram It's the main chat room for ELL.SE. We can talk about virtually anything, besides ELL questions, English stuff, and oh, don't forget pets and kids, and poems!

BTW...

!greet/Valor

Hmm...

Valor Naram

thanks

Damkerng T.

Never mind that. Welcome to the room! @ValorNaram

Valor Naram

Or not

What do you think: Can I write english well?

Damkerng T.

Oh, right! I have to use !!, not just !

!!greet/ValorNaram

Ellbot

15:35

Welcome to ELL's chat room @ValorNaram! Happy chatting!

Damkerng T.

@ValorNaram We would need a longer text from you, I think. (^_^)

M.A.R.

@DamkerngT. And chemistry ಠ_ಠ

Valor Naram

Hmmmmm

Let me think...

Damkerng T.

Anyone can write Hello very fluently, for example! :-)

M.A.R.

Welcome to our chat @Valor!

To talk about English, press 1.

To talk in English, press any button to continue

Damkerng T.

15:37

@M.A.R. Oh, sure! Sorry!

Valor Naram

Hello, I'm Valor Naram (not my real name). Valor Naram is my developer name in the WWW. I have a github account and etc. I love the nature and I have a picsart account, where I share my wonderful pics with the world.

@M.A.R. Thank you for welcoming me

M.A.R.

LOL, answer of the day

45

A: Is Documentation a failed experiment?

I haven't been closely involved with the Documentation project. I've been watching it from afar with some interest, and I pitched in here on meta for a few weeks after the public beta rolled out, but outside of a few really frustrating discussions about reputation I haven't really been a part of ...

Valor Naram

Ahhh, good pont: Reputation, why I need at least 50 reputations to comment on a answer or questions, it really frustrating if you need more clarification in order to understand the question or to say something about the answer in the comments, adding resources for research and more?

M.A.R.

@ValorNaram Because Mr. spammer could make up an account and spam everywhere in the comments and it would be practically untraceable

Earning 50 reputation is easy if you post a couple of mediocre questions

ELL's culture is particularly new-user friendly compared to other SE sites

Valor Naram

or answers, like I have done. I have given more answers then questions I guess

M.A.R.

15:50

Then just wait it out

Eventually you'll earn enough rep to do a lot of things

Valor Naram

@M.A.R. You're right, but for the 'well' people its really frustrating

@M.A.R. I have enough reputations to add comments and to use Meta wiki

M.A.R.

@ValorNaram Well people?

Valor Naram

friendly people

M.A.R.

@ValorNaram You'd soon gain more :)

Just stick around a bit

Reputation is more participation than knowledge

Valor Naram

@M.A.R. Yeah, its pretty easy to earn reputations if you help other or if you can help

So thats a bit my problem, I cannot help a lot of people solving their problems

M.A.R.

15:56

Why?

Valor Naram

Not understanding what the question means or the answers, my english isn't so very well to answer complex questions and sometimes I'm to slow and another one answered it right - a bit frustrating, you have an answer, but you cannot post it, because someone done it already

M.A.R.

54

Q: How does a new user begin using Stack Overflow/Stack Exchange?

As a new user, I find it impossible to contribute to the community or to even begin contributing. I know why the reputation system is in place and I respect it, but at the same time it is too hard on new users. It started with me wanting to upvote a question... "Vote Up requires 15 reputatio...

discussion stackoverflow reputation new-users

Fawad

@ValorNaram you can post it if you are few seconds late(for small answers) and few minutes late (for long answer)

Valor Naram

Ah, good to know

M.A.R.

@ValorNaram Nah, that's just a guideline, not a rule

If you repeat an answer, it's frowned upon

But alternative approaches etc. are welcome

Valor Naram

16:03

ok

M.A.R.

Which aren't hard to come by on SO, I think

Fawad

16:20

Can I ask a question on humor here? I don't know if I didn't understand because iam not native English speaker or iam young lol

Catija

Here meaning in the chat room or on the site?

Fawad

Hi @V.V.

@Catija in chatroom

Catija

I don't think there are any restrictions on what you can ask in here.

Fawad

OK. I didn't understand what that comment mean by stupid video etc..

Catija

I think they think the video is stupid? It's not a joke. YouTube and other video sharing sites are full of people who say not nice things about the videos.

Fawad

16:25

@Catija I think that comment is not humiliating video maker. It got pinned by creator

Catija

It's a comment written by someone clearly not a native English speaker... so if there's some "humor" there, it's beyond me.

Fawad

@Catijamyoi know what is a potato joke? Why potatoes are considered as jokes?

Catija

No. Potatoes don't tend to be particularly funny in my opinion.

userr2684291

@AraucariaMan chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/36792069#36792069 Does this draw your interest?

@ValorNaram The adjective you're looking for is good.

Araucaria Man

17:02

@userr2684291 It does but I'm being kicked out of the college now. I'll have a peak tomorrow!

Or a peek even :)

CowperKettle

17:21

> At seven, when I go to bed,
I find such pictures in my head:
Castles with dragons prowling round,
Gardens where magic fruits are found;
Fair ladies prisoned in a tower,
Or lost in an enchanted bower;
While gallant horsemen ride by streams
That border all this land of dreams
I find, so clearly in my head
At seven, when I go to bed.

To bed at 7 pm? Poor child

> At seven, when I wake again,
The magic land I seek in vain;
A chair stands where the castle frowned,
The carpet hides the garden ground,
No fairies trip across the floor,
Boots, and not horsemen, flank the door,
And where the blue streams rippling ran
Is now a bath and water-can;
I seek the magic land in vain
At seven, when I wake again.

A beautiful poem but I can't find it in his complete collection:

poetryloverspage.com/poets/stevenson/stevenson_ind.html

CowperKettle

17:37

It takes a true master to write a children's verse

M.A.R.

18:35

@Catija Hmm, it might be possible the creator of that video is implying "Look, it's these idiots that think my video is stupid. They can't even get their grammar right"

CowperKettle

> Hail! Childish slaves of social rules
You had yourselves a hand in making!
How I could shake your faith, ye fools,
If but I thought it worth the shaking.
I see, and pity you; and then
Go, casting off the idle pity,
In search of better, braver men,
My own way freely through the city.

M.A.R.

CC @Fawad

CowperKettle

> I take my old coat from the shelf -
I am a man of little breeding.
And only dress to please myself -
I own, a very strange proceeding.

I don't understand this last line

Word of the Day: wynd

Wynd

A wynd (/waɪnd/) is typically a narrow lane between houses. The name is frequently encountered in towns and villages in Scotland and Northern England. The word derives from Old Norse venda ("to turn"), implying a turning off a main street, without implying that it is curved. In fact, most wynds are straight. In many places wynds link streets at different heights and thus are mostly thought of as being ways up or down hills. There are many wynds in North Yorkshire and County Durham, such as "Bull Wynd" in Darlington and Lombards Wynd in Richmond, North Yorkshire. The Old Town of Edinburgh had many...

> Ye dainty-spoken, stiff, severe
Seed of the migrated Philistian,
One whispered question in your ear -
Pray, what was Christ, if you be Christian?
If Christ were only here just now,
Among the city's wynds and gables
Teaching the life he taught us, how
Would he be welcome to your tables?

CowperKettle

18:56

"I own, a very strange proceeding" == "I admit, this behaviour is very strange"

Phew

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