Language Overflow

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CowperKettle

05:07

> "Many people see nutraceuticals as snake oil. There's still this idea that this is some sort of late-night TV thing, but a lot of the medications for the nutraceuticals come out of a long history of Chinese or Indian medicine. That's how a lot of drugs work. For example, aspirin comes from the bark of the willow tree," Salisbury said.

What is the meaning of "but a lot of the medications for the nutraceuticals"?

I don't understand

3 hours later…

Anonymous

07:51

@CowperKettle Unclear.

CowperKettle

08:09

Yes, the guy speaks like a funambulist

Cup Fever

that, or a snake oil salesman :-)

CowperKettle

(0:

CowperKettle

08:48

I feel fatigued again. The feel-good spell lasted several days.

The fatigue seems to come without any trigger.

I started feeling weak yesterday. And today I've translated two sentences in four hours.

I'm glad that I have been stashing money away and not spending it all. But sooner or later it will run out.

1 hour later…

SpringLearner

09:55

hello everybody

1 hour later…

SpringLearner

11:04

I am good
Thanks
how are you?
I need some help in framing a sentence and needed help
would you mind to help?
I have applied for leave on next week that is 12 and 13 july
and now I want to post pone the leave to next week 16,17 and 18
I have already informed my manager face to face
but I need to send him email as well
Dear Manager,
I want to post pone the leave from 12 july to 13 july to 16 july to 18 july.
regards,
XYZ
please guide me if this is correct or not

2 hours later…

userr2684291

13:01

@SpringLearner I think this part is a bit confusing. I don't know if this is appropriate but I'd say: "I would like to postpone my leave that is arranged to take place from 12 July to 13 July to the period starting on 16 July and ending on 18 July."

SpringLearner

I already replied as

Dear manager,I would like to take july 16th to july 18th off instead of 12th july to 13 july,regards xyz

userr2684291

Well if you've already replied...

SpringLearner

yes

CowperKettle

13:15

Looks nice

CowperKettle

13:34

5 hours later…

Anonymous

18:31

@CowperKettle It's funny, although it looks kind of like some English cursive I've seen too :-)

Anonymous

I know someone whose signature gradually evolved into a straight line.

Anonymous

18:48

@CowperKettle Speaking of which . . .

Anonymous

Q: interpreting English sentences written in cursive

I'm having a hard time interpreting comments my professor wrote for my paper in cursive. I hope you help me know what they are.

Anonymous

I can't make out all of these words, either.

Anonymous

> The paper shows a good understanding of the ??? discussed in the course and applies them to the idea of AI jurisdiction with plausible first suggestions. It ??? broadens the scope of literature that was discussed in ??? and integrates them into the scope in a seamless and technically flawless manner: A+

Anonymous

> There (These?) are probably much deeper ??? causes of the differences!

Anonymous

The interesting thing is, we use our linguistic knowledge of what words are most likely when we read things like this.

Anonymous

18:50

If you showed me a lot of the words I am able to read here, but you took them out of context so I could only see that word, I might not be able to read them at all.

Anonymous

I can't make out the middle comment:

Anonymous

> If they are more ???

userr2684291

@snailboat Haha. My dad's signature is something like ten lower-case Ls in a row, with something scrambled at the end.

Anonymous

This is the strangest explanation of allophones I've seen: ell.stackexchange.com/a/155316/230

Anonymous

The first sentence of the answer is great, though.

userr2684291

18:57

@snailboat topics ... further ... class

Anonymous

But I got a bit confused when I read "continuum", and a bit more confused when I read "Californians would be more guilty of flapping than someone from New York or Kansas".

Anonymous

@userr2684291 Dang, you're good.

Anonymous

Or I'm bad, possibly. :-)

Anonymous

That second "scope" I wrote is wrong, isn't it?

Anonymous

What is that word?

choster

18:59

good understanding of the topics discussed in the course … it further broadens the scope of literature that was discussed in class … There are prbably much deeper historical causes of the differences

Anonymous

Ooh, historical.

choster

Personally, I would have stopped at the A+

Anonymous

Integrates them into the what in a seamless and technically flawless manner?

choster

integrates them into the paper is what I see

Anonymous

I was wondering if it was paper, but it just looked so weird to me.

choster

19:02

Most people write in a mix of print and cursive that's about 80% print and 20% cursive; this prof seems to have switched the ratio around

Anonymous

> The paper shows a good understanding of the topics discussed in the course and applies them to the idea of AI jurisdiction with plausible first suggestions. It further broadens the scope of literature that was discussed in class and integrates them into the paper in a seamless and technically flawless manner: A+
> There are probably much deeper historical causes of the differences!

userr2684291

And the middle one is If they're more reliable and faster?, I think.

Anonymous

@InfimumMaximum I think we've managed to piece it together. See above.

Anonymous

Thanks, @choster and @userr2684291.

choster

As the saying goes, woot!

there is a story at my fraternity from a couple decades ago of a prospect who signed the guestbook in delicate cursive: Jim Totwo.

For days, he would be brought up in meetings. "Jim Totwo is a really good guy"; "I think Totwo would be a great addition to the chapter"; "All in favor of bidding Jim Totwo…"

The motion passes. The bid is printed up. The contact team dresses up in suits and meets him at his dorm, presenting the invitation card with a flourish.

"Hey guys, my name is James Totino"

userr2684291

19:11

I can't unsee it now.

userr2684291

19:29

@snailboat I'm not sure what they mean either. As someone who doesn't exactly remember what allophones are but recognizes the prefix, I didn't get any clarity from that explanation.

I think the idea is that of isotopes and average atomic mass, though.

1 hour later…

Anonymous

20:52

@userr2684291 As an example, the English phoneme /p/ has the allophones [pʰ] and [p]. In other words, aspirated and unaspirated versions.

Anonymous

Neither is closer or further from some ideal pronunciation. That's not what allophones are.

Anonymous

We pronounce /p/ as [pʰ] in pin and [p] in spin.

Anonymous

There is no ideal in between the two, and neither is a deviation in any sense from an actual p sound.

Anonymous

In terms of articulatory phonetics (how we make the sounds physically), the two are different sounds. But in terms of phonemics (how we process the sounds mentally), the two are the same sound. We think of them both as /p/.

Anonymous

Someone whose first language has a different set of phonemes might hear them as distinct sounds, though.

userr2684291

22:05

@snailboat But, y'see, there actually is this elusive P Sound: the arithmetic or mental average; hence the average atomic mass analogy. (:

I'm pretty sure you guys talk about different realizations of the /p/ phoneme; the very word bearing an obvious implication, hehe.

Isotopes of hydrogen in the same way realize this elusive average hydrogen you can find in the periodic table.