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01:09
@DamkerngT. It's puglish.
@JimReynolds The color? Puglish is an interesting choice of word.
Gotta take care of something for a while. BBL o/
 
2 hours later…
Anonymous
02:52
Certain bugs have stuck with the site the entire time I've been using Stack Exchange, 2012–2016. Like occasionally seeing the site with zero questions on it. They've never fixed that one.
03:23
@DamkerngT. Check my answer on the post. ell.stackexchange.com/questions/81356/…
04:02
You can edit your answer. "use"+it, doesn't make any...but it does (clean denotes incomplete action )IMHO.
 
2 hours later…
06:32
0
Q: Usage of the phrase "whether it is"

user30072Many people use the phrase "whether it is" to introduce examples. I am not sure if I use "whether it is" correctly in the following sentence: Unfortunately, human beings have limited ability to prevent an unhappy experience from happening in life, whether it is disease, injury, or the death o...

Is the text ungrammatical (and my answer wrong)?
Perish the thought!
I don't know why a lot of downvotes were cast in that question!
07:39
I think the sentence is correct.
 
4 hours later…
11:50
@JimReynolds Your answer isn't wrong. It isn't an answer.
12:03
1
Q: Meaning of "dome"

Alexander LeoOscar Wilde writes in his poem La Mer: The shattered storm has left its trace Upon this huge and heaving dome, For the thin threads of yellow foam Float on the waves like ravelled lace. What is heaving dome here? Is it a sky dome or a sea surface? Can you say heaving about sky?

:27569357
He asked me about the meaning of that stanza in my Lang-8 account, and I mused aloud that maybe one could go to ELL SE and ask here.
And he did. ^_^
@IͶΔ Q: Have I used this correctly? A: Yes, you have. How is that not an answer?
@JimReynolds Then what do you call a comment?
Thing is, we don't want answers of that quality on ELL.
12:37
@IͶΔ How is it of poor quality? A comment is given in a comment field. The answer responds to the question. I hope it's helpful to the OP. If someone wants to elaborate on 17 different questionably related tsngents, containing a lot of fluff and often incorrect information, and get 40 upvotes for the effort, I've learned to content myself with that.
12:51
> Why does Barium Oxide + Sulfuric Acid yield Ozone?
Anonymous
I'd rather we didn't redefine 'answer' to exclude short answers. If we decide short answers are bad, fine, that's something we can do. But they don't become something other than answers, and posting them as comments is inappropriate.
oops.
I wanted to ask if I should use do there.
Good evening, @snailboat!
Anonymous
Good morning!
Since "barium oxide + sulfuric acid" are two things, I guess it's do.
But since the meaning is "reaction", it might be does
Anonymous
@CopperKettle So you think + here is a coordinator like and.
Anonymous
12:53
But what if it's just a binary operator and not really an English function word?
@snailboat I didn't even thought about that, I only asked the question on Socratic, and then a thought came to me.
Anonymous
I don't know.
Anonymous
How are you pronouncing the plus sign?
Anonymous
Can you replace it with an actual word?
[plлs]
[plАs]
Anonymous
12:56
One plus one is two.
Then it's do. Fine!
Anonymous
Sorry I don't have a clear-cut answer for you.
No problem! Maybe the whole structure of the question is untypical for a native speaker of English.
Anonymous
I was thinking it depends on how you're conceptualizing it.
13:39
@DamkerngT. Many colleges and instructors feel it's necessary or important to develop writing skills in students.
@JimReynolds In psychology classes as well?
Some are outraged by this, others see it as an opportunity.
Any class that requires papers to be written.
I'm speaking of US schools.
@Idon'tknowwhoIam. What V.V. (and Rathony in comments under your answer) said
I think clean up and clean could be used perhaps interchangeably in several contexts.
13:53
1
A: Shelter {about | of} me?

Jim ReynoldsAbout, in this sense, means prep. 1. On all sides of; surrounding: I found an English garden all about me. American Heritage Dictionary So his new shelter is around him, protecting him. The shelter is also "of his" (belonging to him), as is made clear in text preceding this excerpt.

Is the title something of an emerging style?
Is it a good, clear style?
@snailboat?
I think it's clear enough for most everyone.
I use | myself sometimes, actually most of the time, but I think maybe / is more natural for most people, but I think these choices are not that different from each other.
(It looks like I was arguing with myself. :-)
14:09
:D
> The shattered storm has left its trace
Upon this huge and heaving dome,
For the thin threads of yellow foam
Float on the waves like ravelled lace.
I'm not sure why it looked yellow to him.
Then again, I haven't been in any sea storm myself.
@DamkerngT.How are you?
I'm good. Thanks!
@DamkerngT. I have a question.
May I ask you?
14:26
Sure.
(Note that a quick question is probably better in the main room (ELL's Cabin). A more in-depth discussion would be just fine here.)
Development is different in New York from in Los Angeles.
Is it correct sentence?
Why would you think it's incorrect (or did you think it's correct)?
It is incorrect. I think because we have to put than in comparison.
Hmm... so you think different is a comparison like more or less?
I am really confused here.
I mean to say, put than instead of from here.
14:31
@Idon'tknowwhoIam. Some people really use different ... than, though traditionally different ... from is probably considered more correct.
If I say, different from that
What about that here?
From that in Los Angeles or cut from than in Los Angeles , is correct?
@DamkerngT. Is it right?
I would say "Development is different in New York compared to Los Angeles."
Development is different in New York than in Los Angeles.
Development is different in New York from that in Los Angeles.
Development is different in New York than in Los Angeles.

These are my sentences, please tell me which one is the correct?
@s@Skullpetrol.
@DamkerngT.sir.
Now, these are questions.
The fist and third ones are identical :)
Can't we use "that"?
14:45
sure, sounds ok
I am confused yet.
1st, and 3rd are same.
Sorry,
@skillpatrol. You are confused yourself. Hehe
Hi! @skillpatrol o/
@DamkerngT.
Clear my concept.
14:48
@DamkerngT. o/ Hi pal
I'd phrase it Development in New York is different from that in Los Angeles.
You can use either different from or different than.
Though I think if you are writing something formal, it's probably safer to use different from.
Okay, but "that"is confusing me.
I don't think that that is absolutely necessary, but it makes the sentence flow better for me.
Hmm... wait, maybe it's really necessary.
Because the way I phrased it, the sentence compares two things, two nouns (or noun phrases).
15:08
in ELL's Cabin, 4 mins ago, by Damkerng T.
IMHO, if about is an adverb (in a sentence such as He was about to be seen), it'd modify the verb to be.
in ELL's Cabin, 3 mins ago, by Damkerng T.
I thought about it more this morning, I think it more resembles another pattern with now.
in ELL's Cabin, 3 mins ago, by Damkerng T.
He was now to be seen.
in ELL's Cabin, 2 mins ago, by Damkerng T.
> ...; he was now to expose himself in bitter and angry nakedness to the law.
(a series of thought after @Man_From_India's comment: Just thinking about the grammar of about to, it's better to treat it as a semi auxiliary.)
@DamkerngT. Thanks.
In fact, t@StoneyB sir called it semi auxiliary.
@Idon'tknowwhoIam. Read it carefully. He doesn't.
in ELL's Cabin, 3 mins ago, by StoneyB
@Man_From_India The semi-auxiliary (I'd call it a semi-modal, but we're talking about the same thing) here would not be bare about to but BE about to, like BE going to or BE fixing to or BE able to.
@DamkerngT. On my that post, someone shared an option.
That was meta I think where @StoneyB sir called it semi auxiliary.
@Idon'tknowwhoIam. I don't know where that meta (post?) is, but isn't it clear in his comment above that he wouldn't consider about a semi-auxiliary?
or about to
but be about to
Why does this band of people keep closing as duplicates questions that overlap on very broad topics?
0
Q: past perfect with before

user5577From Intermediate Language Practice by Michael Vince The police suspected that Brian had broken the window at his house because he wanted to make them think that a burglar had stolen his valuable stamp collection. They thought that Brian had done this because he needed the money. However, the...

Are they some kind of religious sect? Are they dangerous?
15:24
To be sure, I'd need to read the question that the new question is supposed to be a duplicate of.
@DamkerngT. Thanks for your help.
No problem. :D
@JimReynolds. Are you asking me?
@DamkerngT. Here's your required things.
Possible duplicate of [this question](http://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/21143/wondering-what-the-expression-i-am-about-to)
Are*
Nice!
Thanks!
I didn't know we already have an ELL question for it. Let's paste it here.
9
A: Wondering what the expression " I am about to"

StoneyBBe about [to VP] is a semi-modal expression, like be going [to VP] or be able [to VP]. It signifies that VP is expected to happen in the very near future, and that the discourse concerns that expectation. How near will depend on context. John was about to sit down to dinner when the phone ran...

15:39
(Y)
@StoneyB. Sir.
Share this answer on my post.
I am going to accept it.
@DamkerngT. Here StonyB and other teachers are available.
I love asking questions here.
@CopperKettle Does.
You're resembling a reaction and I can't make up my mind thinking of those as two.
@Jim I don't care about terminology and stuff. It's just that that's not the answer quality I'd like to see on ELL.
"How is this not an answer?" and that stuff always goes as an argument for writing such answers.
But think of it like this: Imagine 1984 started off as "This is year 1984. The end". Pretty lame for a book, no?
BTW I haven't downvoted your answer @Jim. Either no or not yet.
@StoneyB I think he's hinting at the curriculum studies of Lit. And everything is boring about curriculum.
16:07
0
The "English" in "English horn" is not really the normal adjective "English".
@JimReynolds one
it's calqued from a French misunderstanding of the Middle High German word for "angelic horn"
two
three
16:19
five
seven
nine
16:21
eleven
forty two
the meaning of life
forty-three
Avogadro's constant
16:42
Hmm... why is the game hangman called "hangman", not "hanging man", or "hanged man"?
'cause it rhymes?
I have 5 tabs of LO? O_O
@IͶΔ I don't know, but someone made a game (an app) called "hangpig", and it took me a couple moments to get it.
@IͶΔ o_O
Hullo from tab 4.
Hullo, tab 4!
I thought, "'hangpig' sounds wrong! What's this game about?", but then I recall that we've got a game called "hangman".
"hangpig" is a bit too mouthful to pronounce for me.
The repulsive forces between "n" and "g" makes me either not pronounce "g" or pronounce it separately.
Or I dunno . . .
16:47
Hmm... but isn't "ng" a single sound?
I'm not sure. The "g" is "pig" makes it a bit weird for me.
It sounds a bit weird indeed. I think maybe because I hadn't heard of the game before.
@DamkerngT. a single velar nasal, that is
Hey check this out
1
A: Cross Validated does not show up in the Data Explorer

IͶΔIts name is "Statistical Analysis".

Shortest answer of mine? I think so.
@IͶΔ That's weird! Why does a site have two different names?!
16:53
Its name is stats.SE, so I think they want some consistency with the site's URL in SEDE.
In the site itself, not so much.
17:15
Ah, I forgot Cantonese tones within a day! (I tried to learn them this morning.)
Canwhatese?
But they sounded quite nice, the way I can remember.
@IͶΔ Cantonese! As in Hong Kong. :-)
@IͶΔ Wow...
I think I can safely assume that I can't rely on any definitions from Urban dictionary.
Well . . . we are usually just joking in "The Periodic Table", if that's part of what caused you to do this. I think I can safely tell you that none of the regular members and avid answerers of this site are here right now because of a couple of imaginary digital internet numbers going up. Rep and badges are incentives, and rewards are not ends, but means. — IͶΔ 5 mins ago
17:17
@IͶΔ or pictures on Instagram, for that matter.
@DamkerngT. I never Instagram.
I can't say that.
At least we can ignore @Cop's pictures from now on. :P
"fake it for the LO"
Hmm... interesting... my emphatic version of can't is shifted toward BrE.
@IͶΔ Hah!
Oh well, I just gave myself a reason next time he pops in.
. . . so I won't have to answer chem questions.
17:20
LOL
@IͶΔ The one more stuff is particularly fun around the Hats season.
Yeah. I'm pretty much a zombie any other times on the site.
17:54
Good evening, @IͶΔ!
Barium peroxide is the inorganic compound with the formula BaO2. This white solid (gray when impure) is one of the most common inorganic peroxides, and it was the first peroxide compound discovered. Being an oxidizer and giving a vivid green colour upon ignition (as do all barium compounds), it finds some use in fireworks; historically, it was also used as a precursor for hydrogen peroxide. == StructureEdit == Barium peroxide is a peroxide, containing O2− 2 subunits. The solid is isomorphous to calcium carbide, CaC2. == Preparation and useEdit == Barium peroxide arises by the reversible reaction...
Runs away
I wonder what its structure is. (0:
@CopperKettle O2 2-.
Peroxide is two oxygens bonded to each other with a charge of -2.
@IͶΔ The two oxygens work like a single unit, right? Like an ion [o-o](2-)
So it's kinda like salt.
@CopperKettle Yes, and the term you're looking for is "polyatomic ion".
17:56
Ba is (+2), the two O's are (-2)
In this case, polyatomic anion.
@CopperKettle Yah
Much like SO4 2-, N3 - etc.
Yes, I'm just unused to two oxygens forming such an ion, instead of [SO4] say
@CopperKettle Oxygen is weird.
For some reason it is drawn like a triangle on one chem website, with two links from the Ba to the O's
Well, you can draw it the way you like.
17:58
Okay, thanks for the explanation
Ionic bonds are usually not shown like that.
But the conventions are arguable.
nods
BaO2 + H2SO4 can give you some ozone, it turns out
Since you know, who said a barium atom looks like "Ba"? All of these are just means of communication.
Well, the bonds do exist.
They do.
I mean, there's no "but this is closer to reality" about these so draw them as you please.
18:01
nods
Good evening, @DamkerngT., @V.V.!
You might even draw them like a unicorn, though I recommend you do that for P4O10.
@Dam serious language discussion going on.
Good evening!
Hi, everybody
\o all
18:03
P4O10? Hmm... a cousin of C3PO?
Cousin?
Remote relative, I'd say.
No, the joke is that P4O10 is often mis-written as P2O5 (0:
:D
A-ha!
Mwa-haha-ha!!!
Chemical jokes are so funny.
18:04
Any person feels inclined to go "Mwahhaha" within ten minutes of studying chemistry.
Especially if he is studying the laughing gas
And has poor lab skills
Wow, lots of cousins there. :D
@CopperKettle or is adventurous!
 
3 hours later…
20:52
@StoneyB Moved from a poterntial comment -->[ I should probably add that I'm not familiar with this sense of the term archiphoneme - which isn't to say anything at all really. I'm more used to the term being used when it's impossible to distinguish which of two phonemes a particular item is - so for example some people say that the /t/? /d/? in stop is an archiphoneme because the lack of aspiration means its kind of intermediate between a /d/ and a /t/.]
@StoneyB Cuz of your invitation, I think /s,z/ are normally considered alveolar as opposed to dental, in SSBE at least.
@Araucaria nods -- I think I shift the position of /s/ in English a little from the normal position I use in Thai. This would be extremely non-obvious to most people, though, I think.
(My Thai /s/ is definitely dental.)
21:16
:27576101, @DamkerngT. Yah, I was afraid I was getting some of this half-right. Since my upper front teeth were replaced with a bridge I've become very unreliable on consonants in this area; and I'm pretty sure I've encountered "archiphoneme" for situations where a single otherwise distinctive feature is neutralized, but I may have misremembered. I'd love you two to go in and fix it -- that's why I CW'd the answer.
I'd think I'd trust @Araucaria more on this.
I wonder if I was really correct, technically, when I say that my Thai /s/ is dental. My upper teeth are definitely involved, but not quite the way we pronounce /θ/ in English. The tip of my tongue would move farther to the front for the Thai /s/, but not as far as English /θ/.
21:36
:27576612, @Araucaria: What really determines the difference in sound quality between these various esses and eshes and eths? What is the "determinative" physical feature imposed by the point of articulation determines: the shape of the resonant cavity, or the shape of channel between tongue and wall through which the air passes?
:27576612, @Araucaria: What really determines the difference in sound quality between these various esses and eshes and eths? What is the "determinative" physical feature imposed by the point of articulation : the shape of the resonant cavity, or the shape of channel between tongue and wall through which the air passes?
21:51
@StoneyB I guess :27576612 was for me. (I wonder what happened to the chat!)
I believe people are still studying what really happens in those fricative and affricate sounds. IMHO, the basic theory about the manner and place of articulation is good, but it appears to be only part (though probably the most important part) of the whole picture.
I meant acoustically in "what really happens".
IMHO, the vocal tract as a tube resonator works pretty well (though it's still not 100%, more like 90 something close to the reality) for vowel-like sounds (which would cover vowels, semi-vowels, nasal sounds, non-sibilant sounds, and probably the stops before and after the stop phase).
@DamkerngT. I've been experimenting and find I can produce a recognizable /s/ with my tongue apex anywhere from my frenum to the front part of my hard palate, and a recognizable /ʃ/ with my tongue apex anywhere, but /θ/ only from interdental to alveolar.
22:10
nods -- I think most speakers are quite flexible in listening. (How else could we understand non-native speakers?!) I think you would hear my /ɕ/ sound as a passable /ʃ/, too. (Though it could sound a little different. :-)
A-ha! I always wonder what system Google Translate uses for Thai transcription.
Now I know...
> The ISO published an international standard for the transliteration of Thai into Roman script in September 2003 (ISO 11940). By adding diacritics to the Latin letters, it makes the transcription reversible, making it a true transliteration. Notably, this system is used by Google Translate, although it seems not to appear in many other contexts, such as textbooks and other instructional media.
It's ISO 11940!
What a funny system!
But if the reversibility of the transcription is the goal, this is probably it!
22:28
Does the Thai government or some Thai Academy promote a specific romanization, or is it left to everybody to follow whatever system they like?
... and now I see that your link answers that. Never mind!
I'm not sure if it's part of the government, but there is Royal Society of Thailand.
I'm very bad at reading unfamiliar alphabets. Typical UScentrism.
I think its Thai name sounds more like Royal Academy Institute.
What makes ISO 11940 very funny to me is that it's likely to produce something unreadable to English speakers most of the time.
Well, for ignorant furriners like me you probably need to put "Thai" in there somewhere.
For example, could you guess how to pronounce this city's name: echīyngıh̄m̀?
22:33
No -- but if you gave me the rules I could. If you can figure out Irish you can figure out anything!
In the system devised by the Royal Society, it's romanized as "Chiang Mai". I daresay that that's much friendlier. :-)
@StoneyB I added figuring out Irish to my bucket list! :D
I hope it will be many years before you're called upon to subject yourself to that.
But now that I'm old I wish I'd learned Irish, Welsh and Norse, which seem to be the old languages that the most interesting (to me) literature was written in.
Anonymous
A romanization system designed to reflect another writing system rather than represent the language itself is called a transliteration.
Anonymous
22:47
Also, yay Irish!
Anonymous
My family is Irish.
This is the second clip I found when I searched for Irish accent on YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=f43X6u5hPww
Love the accent!
(Especially the mother. Reminds me of my grandma, a lot, in a good way. :-)
You can say anything in an Irish accent, no matter how offensive, because everybody listens to the music instead of the words.
Anonymous
I can't type IPA easily from my phone, but I'll share a trick:
Anonymous
Articulate a sound like your sh sound, and then draw in breath rapidly. You'll feel cold air where the constriction is narrowest.
Anonymous
22:51
It'll help you figure out where it's articulated.
That's a good trick!
user116848
Adios
Arra, there's a hot tempered lad.
@snailboat I think I should delete those messages. Agree?
22:55
Sorry that it happened in this room.
Anonymous
I'm just trying to talk about language. I have no idea what's going on.
He's unstable.
Let's talk about language, or other stuff.
Indeed.
Irish! Irish drama!
22:58
BTW, good evening(?), @skullpetrol
Huh? I remember that it was skillpetrol yesterday!
My name is unstable ;-)
@StoneyB What would you recommend, if I want to read one?
@skullpetrol LOL
The Playboy of the Western World.
Juno and the Paycock.
And the complete works of Bernard Shaw.
Thanks!
That will keep you busy for the next four or five years.
23:03
Hehe! I will pick only the first one, then. :D
This user has been automatically suspended for posting inappropriate content and cannot chat for 53 minutes
Seems appropriate.
but you must listen to it, too, for it's the music that will ravish and transport you. There's a recording with Siobhán McKenna on YouTube
@StoneyB Ouch! "This video is not available."
But I can see this one: youtube.com/watch?v=2OgH1BkicQA
But that's got no dialogue ... what about this one? youtube.com/watch?v=22T_7BM_VKA
This one works! Thanks!
23:12
Thanks, but I can't get past the accent :P
</joke>
Ah, but you can follow it on the page. It's long out of copyright, so you ought to be able to find the text on the net.
Good idea.
Reading I can do :)

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