Language Overflow

Fard

20:31

@tchrist This is more of a pipe than, say, a cigar, isn't it? So This is not a pipe is not 'absolutely true' either. It is a pipe and it is not a pipe, in two different senses.

IͶΔ

@Fard Wha?

Fard

It's not absolutely true that it's not a pipe.

IͶΔ

Physicists. You never understand them.

Fard

If you accept that it's not a pipe, then what do you have of a real pipe in your mind?

A picture of a real pipe, that is not representing the real pipe.

IͶΔ

@Fard Something I hold in my hand that's named a pipe.

I . . . just don't want to think right now.

It takes too much ATP.

Fard

20:35

:))

It's too late at night for thinking.

Sorry about last night.

I got disconnected.

What you said about Arabic is mostly true in the topic of Tamyiz (تمییز).

Or Tamiz as we call it.

Remember?

Anonymous

@IͶΔ scientificamerican.com/article/thinking-hard-calories

IͶΔ

@Fard Yeah, so?

Fard

I need more candy when I'm studying! @snailboat

IͶΔ

It's not just about Tamiiz, that's just how the grammar analysis in Arabic -- or at least the one they teach us -- is.

@snailboat Good noon

Anonymous

@IͶΔ My hamsters are not examples of the mouse category :-)

IͶΔ

20:40

It seems like you expect me to scroll when I'm even chatting with eyes half-closed.

Anonymous

Fard

You said the classifier becomes the head of the clause. This is not always true.

IͶΔ

4 mins ago, by IͶΔ

I . . . just don't want to think right now.

Anonymous

Fard

Why do you stay awake then?

IͶΔ

20:40

@Fard Like when is it not true?

@snailboat Is (s)he just eating a metal bar?

Anonymous

These are the two hamster girls. They're sisters! As you can see, neither one is a mouse :-)

Fard

My book -> کتابی

Anonymous

That is a water bottle.

Fard

@snailboat Cute!

Anonymous

I don't have any mice right now, but I'll show you a picture of one from the internet for comparison.

IͶΔ

20:42

@Fard Hmm, it doesn't hold for modifiers and that stuff.

Anonymous

IͶΔ

I was just saying the fact that it does work for Tamiiz and a bunch of other stuff is surprising.

My point still stands tall.

Anonymous

This is one of the mice that sometimes get into people's houses where I grew up.

Anonymous

Cute, huh? :-)

Fard

How does a mouse differ from a hamster?

Yeah :)

Anonymous

20:43

Oh, in a number of ways. First, mice have long tails, and hamsters have very short, stubby tails.

Fard

@IͶΔ OK! But let's not call it weird.

IͶΔ

There we go

Anonymous

You can see their general shape differs, too, body the shape of their body and their head and ears in particular.

Anonymous

Hamsters have large pouches in their cheeks, so they can gather up and carry a very large amount of food with them. Mice do not have pouches.

Anonymous

Their behavior is different socially as well, hamsters tending to be more solitary.

Anonymous

20:45

Their coloring is also very different.

IͶΔ

@Fard It's not weird. It's WEIRD.

There's a subtle difference.

Anonymous

In the wild, there's a lot of selection pressure to maintain one of a few similar sets of coloring, but in captivity hamster genetics are very different.

IͶΔ

Hamsters are a race of mice that are secretly deliberately making themselves overkillly cute so they give humans a heart attack. ಠ_ಠ

Anonymous

Hamsters are bred for different color patterns, and so there's a huge variety of hamster colors in captivity.

Fard

Why aren't hamsters in peoples houses? Eating their rice and whatever? Maybe they're more moral! @snailboat

Anonymous

20:46

Hamsters are not a race of mice.

Fard

@IͶΔ How so?

Anonymous

Just as mice are not a race of hamster.

IͶΔ

@Fard It's complicated.

Not a race, a match.

Anonymous

In English, mouse is not a general term for Cricetidae.

Fard

@IͶΔ I don't buy that. You cannot be speaking of anything difficult in your state right now! @IͶΔ

IͶΔ

20:48

@Fard Yes, that's why I'm not explaining it.

@snailboat OK OK! Raises hands

Fard

@snailboat The multiply like bacteria, don't they!

Anonymous

Different languages make different distinctions in common speech. In one language, hamsters and mice might not be distinguished unless there's a reason to do so, but in another (such as English), they are distinguished.

Fard

@IͶΔ Why don't you go sleep? Sympathizes

Anonymous

@Fard Mice have fairly large litters :-)

Anonymous

And they can breed often.

Fard

20:51

What do you do with their children then?

Throw'em out?

IͶΔ

@Snail keeps hamsters, not mice.

Fard

Huh ...

Anonymous

I'm somewhat taken aback by the suggestion of "throwing out" baby animals :-(

IͶΔ

Logical conclusion: Iranians can't distinguish between hamsters and Snails, I mean mice and hamsters.

@snailboat He didn't mean mean it I think.

We don't do them here either. That's just cruel, even for me.

Anonymous

When you keep pet mice, you should be responsible and only breed them if you can care for or find homes for their children. The same as with breeding any animal.

Fard

20:54

Of course I didn't mean it.

tchrist

Hamsters are mousey.

IͶΔ

We don't keep pets. Iranians generally don't keep lotsa them.

Fard

But what if the poor thing wants to breed more often?

How does it inform you about its need?

Anonymous

You can't always let pets breed, even if they want to.

Fard

Why not?

Anonymous

20:57

Let's talk about snails.

Anonymous

A pair of snails can breed and lay 100 eggs each per month.

Anonymous

So, over 2000 eggs within a year, in theory.

Anonymous

Let's say all of those hatch and a month later they start to breed.

tchrist

They don't keep pets because they would eat them.

Anonymous

And all of their eggs hatch and all of those snails start to breed. How long until there are more snails than atoms in the universe?

IͶΔ

20:59

@snailboat 2 minutes

ago.

Fard

If they're in the nature, they can't do so fast.

IͶΔ

@tchrist No, that's Korea. East Asia generally.

Fard

If they're under our control, then we have to decide for them.

Anonymous

Right, because they don't have the resources to survive. Cornu aspersum populations tend to be found in proportion to the amount of calcium in the soil.

Fard

@tchrist Nobody eats his/her pet. Even in Korea or wherever.

IͶΔ

21:02

G'night all, I couldn't survive.

tchrist

Good afternoon.

Anonymous

It can be cruel to add more animals to a population that's already at its limit. Let's say you breed several hundred snails and set them all free in the same place. They have to share the same resources that the snails who already lived there would have had.

Fard

Good night pal. @IͶΔ

I agree with that @snailboat . My point was something else.

It's not that important though ...

Let's talk about how cute your pets are.

Anonymous

tchrist

Oh no, please don't turn on the grill!

Fard

21:08

I was going to say that, but I was afraid someone would accuse me of wanting to eat the poor thing. @tchrist

@snailboat Very cute!

Anonymous

Sorry my pictures tend to be blurry :-)

Fard

What's it doing exactly? And Do you let them go freely in the house?!

Anonymous

@Fard Well, they tend to live in their cages, but you can make safe spaces for them to run around and explore in.

Anonymous

In that picture she's looking up at my hand :-)

Fard

21:11

Do they know you? Like, tell you apart from other people?

Anonymous

Yes, hamsters have a very good sense of smell.

Anonymous

They can barely see, though.

Anonymous

So they can't recognize you by sight.

Fard

How many of them do you have?

Fard

21:26

OK @snailboat , Good afternoon to you and all your lovely pets. :) I'm off to sleep.

Anonymous

23:39

I've been seeing a lot of usage like this lately online:

Anonymous

> Where even am I right now?

Anonymous

Even is interesting here.

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