Language Overflow

CowperKettle

05:08

Word of the day: envenoming

> Snakebite envenoming is a neglected tropical disease that particularly affects impoverished populations in the rural tropics. This Primer describes the efforts toward reducing the burden of snakebites, which require input from private, public and non-profit stakeholders worldwide.

CowperKettle

08:02

Poem of the day:

> Fall, fall, ye mighty temples to the ground:
Not in your sculptured rise
Is the real exercise
Of human nature's brightest power found.
'Tis in the lofty hope, the daily toil,
'Tis in the gifted line,
In each far thought divine,
That brings down Heaven to light our common soil.

'Tis in the great, the lovely, and the true;
'Tis in the generous thought,
Of all that man has wrought,
Of all that yet remains for man to do.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (14 August 1802 – 15 October 1838), English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L.E.L. == Early life == Letitia Elizabeth Landon was born on 14 August 1802 in Chelsea, London to John Landon and Catherine Jane, née Bishop. A precocious child, Landon learned to read as a toddler; an invalid neighbour would scatter letter tiles on the floor and reward young Letitia for reading, and, according to her father, "she used to bring home many rewards." At the age of five, Landon began attending Mrs Rowden's school at 22 Hans Place, which counted among its alumnae Mary...

Jasper

08:51

@CowperKettle Do you really have a word and a poem every day? =D

CowperKettle

09:05

No.'

I'm feeling unwell, so instead of translating or jogging or going for a hike with friends, I'm sitting and reading.

Feeds

09:30

0

Q: When to put "thing" after "the same"

Can I say: Use different words; they say the same to me. Should I put "thing" after "the same"? Please explain and give more/different instances. Sub-question: If I put "all" after "they," it'll mean the same (thing) but will give emphasis, right? Edit I'm sorry for my example. Actually ...

word-usage

CowperKettle

09:48

Archaic word of the day: weeds (garments, clothes)

> "Why write I still all one, ever the same,
And keep invention in a noted weed,
That every word doth almost tell my name,
Showing their birth, and where they did proceed?"

userr2684291

@Jasper Yep.

Didn't like the movie at all. Haha.

Jasper

10:04

@userr2684291 Oh dear, lol.

@userr2684291 Maybe you can watch Good Will Hunting tonight and tell me what you think, lol.

userr2684291

@Jasper The movie just didn't leave an impression on me.

Jasper

@userr2684291 It seems you changed your avatar again. I just did so too, lol.

userr2684291

I don't remember doing that, but yes, it looks that way, lol.

6/10 overall.

Jasper

I give both movies 9/10.

userr2684291

That's the second-worst movie I've ever watched. American Psycho takes the cake for me.

Haha.

Jasper

10:14

OMG. You resemble the friend I talk to in Hangouts so much.

userr2684291

How's that?

Jasper

They hate all the movies I like as well.

I don't understand, lol.

userr2684291

Both of the movies I just mentioned I only watched because everyone seems to've done so.

Jasper

I didn't watch American Psycho.

userr2684291

Don't.

Jasper

10:17

I did watch Wrong Turn 1,2,3,4,5,6 about deformed cannibals torturing and eating humans.

userr2684291

It has no plot and it's a comedy of a movie. There's no main idea; nothing to be gained from it.

Jasper

I don't watch parodies like Scary Movie, lol. They are just stupid.

userr2684291

I watched Scary Movie when I was 6 or 7, haha.

We all watched it at my friend's birthday party.

Jasper

I have not gone to a single birthday party ever.

userr2684291

But apart from that unrealistic sex scene, the ghost mask of the killer, and the person trying to hide under a rug (?), I don't remember anything from it. Also, I don't think I was able to read fast at that age, so I missed half the subtitles.

Jasper

10:25

I had 3 out of 45 edits rejected. That's alright, I think.

userr2684291

Hm.

Jasper

13 answers, so far none downvoted. There was a downvote but it was removed.

userr2684291

I don't know where I can see those statistics for my account.

Jasper

I just note whatever I see in my own profile, that's all.

Anyway, who cares about these stats, lol.

userr2684291

5/66 rejected.

Jasper

10:34

Do you have anything interesting to tell me today?

userr2684291

Hahah.

Jasper

LOL

Jasper

11:10

I am going to eat dinner and then take a nap.

userr2684291

11:29

Good night.

Feeds

14:06

4

Q: Punctuation in straight speech

By straight speech I mean when you're not quoting anyone. For instance, I was discussing how to form a sentence under certain conditions one of these days. At some point I asked: Is anything wrong with "I was shared a document"? Here I'm not quoting anyone. Can you put into words rule(s) go...

punctuation quotation-marks

V.V.

15:07

@CowperKettle, I like it. Sorry,couldn't answer earlier, having health problems.

CowperKettle

15:47

@V.V. I'm terribly sorry! Do get better!

Jasper

Hello @CowperKettle you always leave the room after posting something, lol.

CowperKettle

I'm having them too. My left eye is a little hazy. Inflammation probably affected the cornea.

I'm busy, that's why..

(0:

CowperKettle

16:01

> Their genes are localized on the same chromosome and have 50% similarity in nucleotide sequence.

I'm afraid this phrase is not used in English.

"and their nucleotide sequences are 50% identical"?

"and share 50% of their nucleotide sequence.. " (d'oh)

Hm. Probably the latter option is the best of the three

Jasper

@CowperKettle I think the sentence is OK. I understand it perfectly well.

@CowperKettle For example, I would say something like 'Ali and Baba have 50 per cent similarity in DNA', but maybe the sentence can be rewritten if it seems unclear to you.

@CowperKettle Yeah, maybe saying they share 50 per cent of their nucleotide sequence is clear to both you and me, lol.

CowperKettle

16:16

Thank you, Jasper!

I googled for "have 50% similarity" and found zero results, that made me wonder

Jasper

Really? I am surprised.

CowperKettle

We have 100% similarity in this regard. I was surprised too.

Jasper

I guess as a non-native speaker you depend on google a lot.

CowperKettle

Yes. (0:

Jasper

16:45

@CowperKettle I really thought you would use ) and )) and ))), because I know these are Russian emoticons, lol.

V.V.

@CowperKettle I found this example What does a 42 percent similarity index mean?percentage similarity is your topic.

2

Jasper

@V.V. Maybe he didn't find any results because he used the number 50 instead of the magic 42, lol.

Jasper

19:19

@userr2684291 Are you around now?

userr2684291

@Jasper No.

Jasper

@userr2684291 Do you want to play chess with me now?

userr2684291

@Jasper Sure.

Jasper

@userr2684291 Let me try to provide the link this time...

userr2684291

Thanks.

Jasper

19:28

@userr2684291 lichess.org/q9xP7Kqh I hope it works.

userr2684291

Just a second.

Jasper

Oh I see, it's not moving. I think it starts only if you visit it as well.

userr2684291

Yes, I'm trying to find something, just a second.

Jasper

Shall we use the moves we used last night?

userr2684291

@snailplane It says here that "native-language translations have been shown to be more effective than target-language translations; see Laufer and Shmueli 1997 (Laufer, Batia and Karen Shmueli. 1997. ‘Memorizing new words: does teaching have anything to do with it?’ RELC Journal 28:89–108.)" – has this been disproven and do you know anything about it (not necessarily their work but the method)?

Tanner Swett

20:08

Hey everyone. I'm a native English speaker, but there's something I'm not 100% sure about that I'd like to get other native speakers' thoughts on.

userr2684291

Hello.

Tanner Swett

There's a "mistake" I see non-native speakers making from time to time, and that's that they use the phrase "I guess" literally.

Jasper

For example?

Tanner Swett

In my mind, "I guess" doesn't really mean "I guess"; it really means something more like "I conclude". If you really mean "guess", you have to say "I'm guessing" instead of "I guess".

So, an example is a question title I saw posted on ELL: "Are these sentences correct? I guess they are."

To me, the phrase "I guess" suggests that the writer has come to a more or less final conclusion and is no longer attempting to gather more information.

The writer should have written "I'm guessing they are" instead.

Jasper

@TannerSwett That just means they are not very sure of something.

Tanner Swett

20:15

@Jasper You're a native speaker, I'm guessing?

Jasper

@TannerSwett Yes, I think so. I just checked the dictionary and 'I guess ...' means you are not completely sure of something. But I think sometimes we use it even when we are quite sure, just to add some words in front.

userr2684291

@TannerSwett I'm not a native speaker of English, but to me I guess doesn't sound right there. It'd be more appropriate if the context were "... and judging by these other sentences, I guess they are", exactly as you said.

Tanner Swett

Yeah, to me, if someone says "I guess", that means that they're no longer asking a question.

If I'm interested in more information, I never say "I guess"; I say "I'm guessing".

Jasper

'I guess' to me suggests some kind of doubt, that's all.

userr2684291

I think you're right on the money regarding that.

Jasper

20:19

I have no money, lol.

userr2684291

@Jasper Do you wanna continue that boring-ass game? Haha. Ugh. I kinda tried to avoid the trade of queens by letting you take the pawn. The board looks barren now.

Jasper

@TannerSwett To me, there isn't really any significant difference between I guess and I am guessing.

@userr2684291 Yes, I do.

userr2684291

Alright.

Jasper

@userr2684291 It's not boring. It's called the end game, lol.

Tanner Swett

I'll go ahead and post a question and see what happens.

Jasper

20:21

@TannerSwett Hey if you want you can post it as a question on the main site.

userr2684291

We traded everything, basically.

Tanner Swett

Yeah, I'm gonna post it on English instead of ELL.

Jasper

@userr2684291 I am waiting for your turn...

Tanner Swett

Thanks to you both!

Jasper

@TannerSwett Well, I don't really know where you will get a better answer for that. But ELL is a very good site actually. I prefer it to ELU now, lol.

Jasper

20:58

@userr2684291 I think you have been taking significantly more time than me, lol. Waiting for your move, lol.

Tanner Swett

Whelp, here's the question I posted. english.stackexchange.com/questions/410193/…

Jasper

@TannerSwett By the way, I am playing a game of chess with @userr2684291 if you click on the link above you can watch us play...

Hmm, it seems userr has disappeared, lol.

userr2684291

Sorry.

I uh... I was watching something.

You win.

Jasper

So you resign? OK then, lol.

I will close the tab then.

userr2684291

Yep. Prolly would've done it sooner, I just don't like plays around a couple of pawns.

Jasper

21:07

You can't not like it

It's called the end game.

It's an important part of the game.

userr2684291

It's not called end game, it's called trading everything and then playing around a couple of pawns. Boring.

Jasper

Whatever, lol.

userr2684291

And I mean forcing those trades "for no reason". Just ugly.

Anyway, I'm kinda stressed out because I've realized I have only until the next year to brush up on my reliquiae reliquiarum of German.

Whatever, I'm gonna finish my movie and then go to bed. Such a lousy excuse for a day.

Jasper

22:13

It appears that the user rjpond is an expert in the English language...

Jasper

22:47

I am trying to think of some interesting questions to ask on ELL...

Jasper

23:05

It is raining heavily here in Antarctica.

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