Language Overflow

Damkerng T.

19:00

@snailboat When I worked in Germany, everyone but me always smoked in the room, and they always kept mumbling "Sh-t!".

IͶΔ

@DamkerngT. Whoa you worked in Germany?

Damkerng T.

Luckily, it was just a word, and never materialized. :-)

@IͶΔ Only a short period of time.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. I can't breathe if people around me are smoking. Asthma, y'know.

IͶΔ

@DamkerngT. Considering the amount of beer they drink, I don't think their feces are that viscous.

Damkerng T.

nods -- I think I can imagine that.

IͶΔ

19:02

I can't tolerate cigarette smoke. Mine is not a condition or anything, but I just can't.

Anonymous

You can't smoke most places in California.

Anonymous

(I waffled over whether or not to insert a preposition before most places.)

Anonymous

@IͶΔ Well, it's pretty gross.

IͶΔ

in The Periodic Table, 7 hours ago, by Martin - マーチン

@IͶΔ My new favourite emotion!

@snailboat Ja

Anonymous

My sister has asthma too, and she got hooked on cigarettes in junior high.

Anonymous

19:03

It's a pretty bad combination, but it's a difficult addiction to beat.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat I wonder which one you'd use if you were gonna use one between at and in.

Anonymous

I wondered too!

Anonymous

I gave up and just went with what I originally typed :-)

Damkerng T.

Hah!

IͶΔ

@DamkerngT. between

Damkerng T.

19:04

LOL

Anonymous

After all, my brain came up with it, and I'm a native speaker, so I guess it's something a native speaker would say. ;-)

Anonymous

Sometimes, though, I can't shake the feeling that I've put words together in a way that doesn't work very well.

Damkerng T.

Haha! I think you're right!

I meant the sentence before that smiley. :D

IͶΔ

Sometimes it just doesn't work out.

Like my swear quadruple sentence.

Anonymous

What sentence is that?

Anonymous

19:06

I think I may have missed it.

Damkerng T.

This one: so I guess it's something a native speaker would say

Anonymous

Oh! I meant the "swear quadruple" sentence.

IͶΔ

7 mins ago, by IͶΔ

I think the number of times I'm imitating a chav and swearing in the meanwhile quadruples the number of times I've sworn non-meta-linguistically.

Damkerng T.

Oh, I see! :D

BTW, I observed that even though they Sh-t! a lot, they never F-ck!.

Anonymous

In principle, I think that we should all feel free to discuss taboo vocabulary. Mention is not use.

Anonymous

19:08

But the taboos are too strong. There are certain words I won't even mention.

Damkerng T.

I think I liked everything except the smoke of the cigarettes in Germany.

IͶΔ

@snailboat Like fans

@DamkerngT. And sausages.

Anonymous

@Wyatt I agree with you, I am wanting food sounds unnatural to me. It's true, though, that there are certain kinds of situations that turn normally stative verbs into dynamic verbs, allowing the progressive. It's very difficult to come up with an adequate description, though, because not only is it changing over time, but each normally stative verb require individual description; some allow the progressive in fewer situations than others. That's why simplified answers like yours are useful for learners, who tend to overgeneralize when they learn that the progressive is sometimes possible. — snailboat yesterday

Anonymous

cries

Damkerng T.

Oh, and not that cheese and that kidney-thingy dish!

Anonymous

19:10

Why, 's' key, why!?

Damkerng T.

Looking for the 's' key...

Anonymous

I wish I could edit comments forever on ELL.

IͶΔ

No really, why?

@snailboat WHY?!

Damkerng T.

I can't spot the missing 's'.

Anonymous

requires

Damkerng T.

19:12

BTW, is Khan Wyatt?

Anonymous

No, I don't think so. I think AlanCarmack, man of many hats, is Wyatt.

Damkerng T.

A-ha!

IͶΔ

@snailboat No, Alan is Alan.

He commented on my answer.

Anonymous

Yabbut. He used to be Wyatt.

Anonymous

Argh! I can't open this bottle :-(

IͶΔ

19:14

@snailboat That reminds me

This answer is more easy to read, has many examples and more "learner-friendly", however The answer of @IͶΔ is more scientifically correct. As a learner I would prefer the easiest one, and for sure, the experts would prefer the other answer. — hbak 2 hours ago

Anonymous

My poor hand.

Anonymous

I need one of them rubber bottle opening thingies.

IͶΔ

Not that I expect my half-chewed half-seasoned answer to be on top.

Anonymous

Mmm, half-seasoning.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Yeah! I've got one of this!

Anonymous

19:15

Ooh, that looks fancy.

Damkerng T.

Very useful! :D

Anonymous

Did you do a Google image search for rubber bottle opening thingy?

IͶΔ

Wow that looks . . . complicated

I prefer magic.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Oh, I searched for it in Thai. :)

Anonymous

I tried using brute force. Since, y'know, I've been lifting weights and stuff. I must be strong by now.

Anonymous

19:16

Except I'm not. I'm still really weak!

IͶΔ

@DamkerngT. What's "thingy" in Thai?

Anonymous

Stupid bottle.

IͶΔ

Break it

Damkerng T.

Erm... I tried ที่เปิดขวด แบบยาง

Anonymous

19:16

See, the same thingy came up when I searched for "rubber bottle opening thingy".

Damkerng T.

Yay!

IͶΔ

I was that angry about a soda bottle thingy the other day.

@snailboat Spot the five differences between the two pictures

Anonymous

@IͶΔ When I was in grade school, we learned about putting a metal jar lid under hot water to make it easier to open.

Anonymous

This bottle has a plastic lid, though.

Damkerng T.

I always used to use some rubber bands.

Anonymous

19:18

Do you suppose it works equally well with plastic?

IͶΔ

Plastic, hmm . . .

Damkerng T.

But in my prime, my bare hand would do just fine.

@snailboat It works with, I think, all materials!

Anonymous

My bare hand is now red and hurts. :-(

Damkerng T.

Aww

IͶΔ

@snailboat It won't

@DamkerngT. Dude, you're totally comparing us to yourself. </sin>

Damkerng T.

19:19

LOL

@snailboat But you got it opened, right?

Anonymous

I had two bottles!

Anonymous

I got the first one open.

Anonymous

I just got the second one open by pouring hot water over the lid for sixty seconds. It came open without much force after that.

Anonymous

So my experiment says: it does work!

Damkerng T.

Yay!

IͶΔ

19:23

Yippee (/¯◡ ‿ ◡)/¯ ~ ┻━┻

The term "plastic" is broad though. For some of them, heating wouldn't cause expansion.

Anonymous

Yeah, you were at a disadvantage because you didn't actually know what plastic it was.

Anonymous

It's polyethylene terephthalate.

Anonymous

At least, it says PETE on the bottom.

Damkerng T.

Hmm... is PETE the same as PE or PET?

IͶΔ

Is the bottle made of PET?

Oh.

@DamkerngT. PET

Damkerng T.

19:26

A-ha!

IͶΔ

I'm not sure, but I think PETE is Poly Ethylene Terephthalate Expanded

'cause that's usually how polymer nomenclature works.

Anonymous

In some other regions in English, and in some other languages, they're called PET bottles in common speech, but in the U.S. we don't generally call them that. Just "bottles" in common speech.

Anonymous

But they still say PET or PETE somewhere on them. :-)

IͶΔ

"Pet bottles"

I've been calling them that here.

Anonymous

That's a common term in Japanese.

Damkerng T.

19:29

Fancying 'bottled pets'...

Anonymous

If we were to specify the material here, we'd probably just say "plastic".

Anonymous

Even though that's less specific.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Kind of like pokemon :-)

IͶΔ

For a Loong time.

Damkerng T.

Hehe! Pokemon(sters) come with cards!

IͶΔ

19:30

Are oysters some kinda interjection beings?

Damkerng T.

Oh, yes, lohng (or leng) means dragon!

Anonymous

@IͶΔ I don't know what that means.

IͶΔ

@snailboat Hinting at @Dam's (ster)

Oy + ster

Damkerng T.

That's deep!

Anonymous

Oh.

Anonymous

19:31

I didn't notice the overlap between monster and oyster.

IͶΔ

Word-playing making ster mean ling in some way.

Damkerng T.

The thing is I wasn't sure if there is only one Pokemon or all monsters in that anime are all pokemon(s).

IͶΔ

The good thing about making deep remarks is that people don't understand them.

The bad thing about making deep remarks is that people don't understand them.

Anonymous

They're all Pocket Monsters, I think.

Damkerng T.

A-ha! I can remember now, that yellow guy is named Pikachu!

Anonymous

19:33

I have a plastic figure of the snail pokemon :-)

Anonymous

Pikachuu is cute!

Damkerng T.

Yes! :D

@snailboat Oh, I can't remember the snail pokemon.

Anonymous

It's named Magcargo.

Damkerng T.

This guy, I think: vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/pokemon/images/7/79/138Omanyte.png/…

Anonymous

Aww, a chambered nautilus!

IͶΔ

19:35

@DamkerngT. This one? (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ

Damkerng T.

Ah, right!

Anonymous

I only know the names of a few pokemon, so I don't know what the chambered nautilus one is named.

Anonymous

This is the snail one.

Anonymous

It's fairly snail-like, but it doesn't have eyestalks, and its shell is symmetrical.

IͶΔ

19:39

Meh, I prefer realer snails.

Damkerng T.

Not sure which one is a better duplicate.

Argh! A fire snail!

IͶΔ

@DamkerngT. It looks like a snail–turkey hybrid on fire

Anonymous

I'm not really into Pokemon myself, but I have a couple Pokemon-obsessed friends. One sent me the Magcargo figure as a gift :-)

Anonymous

I have lots of snail thingies. I have a handcrafted wooden snail made in Venezuela.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat IIRC, all Pokemon can buff up a level or two. I wonder what this guy would look like. :-)

Anonymous

19:45

Oh! I might know the answer to that one.

Anonymous

There's also a slug form.

IͶΔ

Damkerng T.

@IͶΔ It keeps spinning!

Anonymous

I like slugs. Keeping pet slugs is a little bit harder, though.

Anonymous

See, slugs can fit through ridiculously small spaces.

IͶΔ

19:47

@DamkerngT. I didn't want to, but apparently I replied the AJAX loader instead

Anonymous

But they still need airflow.

Damkerng T.

I think I haven't seen slugs in my garden.

Anonymous

I know there are plenty of slugs around, but I've had a hard time finding them.

IͶΔ

Now this new apartment doesn't have a lot of them.

Our other home used to have lotsa slugs.

Snails, I'm not sure. It had some of them.

Anonymous

If I go just a bit west, I can find banana slugs! :-)

Anonymous

19:50

Damkerng T.

Hmm... do slugs and snails get along well in the wild?

Anonymous

Here's one of our famous west coast banana slugs :-)

Damkerng T.

@snailboat A curious slug!

IͶΔ

@snailboat I would mistake him/her for toothpaste

Damkerng T.

LOL

Anonymous

19:51

@DamkerngT. Snails and slugs are actually really diverse. Some snails eat slugs and vice versa.

Damkerng T.

Hah!

Anonymous

@IͶΔ Your mouth would go numb!

IͶΔ

Meh, I usually just ignore toothpaste when I see it on the ground.

Except when mom shouts "clean that mess up!"

Anonymous

Banana slug slime is an oral anesthetic of sorts. When animals try to eat them, their mouths go numb and they drop them!

IͶΔ

What happens when chemicals eat them?

Anonymous

19:53

I guess that would make you a cannibal. Chemicals eating chemicals.

Anonymous

Also, they're very large. They can be as big as a small banana!

Anonymous

Most of the slugs around here are small.

IͶΔ

I tend to think of what enzymes do as eating. The chemical sticks to the active site as if the enzyme eats it, then it spits them out while it has done some changes to them.

Like making them all drooly and stuff

Anonymous

@IͶΔ I know Meta.ELL isn't especially active right now, but I'm still enjoying watching the score go up on my first post ever on Meta.English.SE :-) And it just got edited to "featured"!

Anonymous

It's up to 48.

Anonymous

20:03

Well, first question post ever.

IͶΔ

Yay

Anonymous

It's fun posting on sites where it's easier to get more upvotes.

Anonymous

I think it can be frustrating posting on sites that are less active, where it's harder to get upvotes.

IͶΔ

My first meta.SO post also went off, but not this good.

@snailboat Yeah, the numbers surely affect minds

My internet is crappy today

Anonymous

In principle, I don't think the numbers matter, but they totally do make me feel like I've accomplished something.

Anonymous

20:05

They manipulate me very successfully.

IͶΔ

Well, we're the percentage that will get the upvotes.

Now the bigger the site, the more we'll enjoy.

I wonder if JL will call 10 upvotes measly.

Anonymous

Japanese.SE is a smaller site than ELL, but it tends to be easier to get upvotes.

Anonymous

Still:

Anonymous

5

Q: 最後に「か」が置かれると疑問文になるかどうか

Japanese 今日、他の教員の書いたものを読んでいたら、以下のような本のタイトルが出てきました： Z: AがいかにBに影響を及ぼしCを形成してきたか元となった本は英語だったのですが、英語のタイトルは： Z: How A influences B and forms C. 英語の場合、「How」は疑問の意味以外に、手段を説明する「ように」の意味もあります。今回の場合の「How」は、その「ように」を意味する関係詞だと思います。例えば、 Spaghetti: How I fill my stomach. (スパゲティ：お腹いっぱいのなり方) 同じよ...

academic-japanese

Anonymous

You'd think these would be voted higher.

IͶΔ

20:07

Whenever I see a lot of Japanese I feel like my system's somehow broken

Anonymous

Haha!

IͶΔ

@snailboat Shrug sometimes some stuff doesn't get votes that really surprises you.

It was a rare-ish scene.

Today I saw one of Klaus's answers on chem that didn't get upvotes.

Klaus Warzecha, Germany

25.6k 3 40 86

organic-chemistry homework inorganic-chemistry everyday-chemistry reaction-mechanism photochemistry synthesis

Anonymous

On the question I just linked to, Japanese.SE got its first answer in a month from HiruneDiver, whose answers I always enjoy reading :-)

Anonymous

I'm the only upvoter so far!

Anonymous

Well, it's only been a couple hours . . .

Damkerng T.

20:10

Sometimes it's like we play dice.

IͶΔ

@snailboat That explains it . . .

Kinda

Anonymous

Still, I've gotten 20+ votes on Japanese.SE without Hot Network Questions.

IͶΔ

Well, I dunno how it is like in J.SE.

Some sites are high-rep-hugger.

Anonymous

I don't think I've ever done that on ELL, even though ELL gets a lot more eyeballs.

IͶΔ

Everything a high-rep posts get auto-upvotes.

Anonymous

20:12

@IͶΔ ELL is kind of like that.

IͶΔ

Currently ELL only auto-upboats Stoney, and also maybe FF.

Anonymous

It's a fairly natural cognitive bias.

IͶΔ

And J.R. of course.

And Maulik.

Anonymous

I'm getting close to having 10k rep given away in bounties! :-)

IͶΔ

You two don't post often enough to get the coddles. Neither do I

Damkerng T.

20:13

@snailboat Which wouldn't work on skeptics. :-)

IͶΔ

Funny enough, I think Skeptics has it a lot for MadSci.

Anonymous

I've actually earned over 30k rep on ELL, but I've been trying to keep my reputation number lower.

IͶΔ

I've joined my English teacher's channel on Telegram and it's been a nightmare.

Damkerng T.

@IͶΔ Being coddled or not is not as important as how the coddled person thinks of themselves.

@IͶΔ I've never used Telegram.

IͶΔ

@DamkerngT. I think I'm the coolest person that's sitting on this sofa I'm sitting on right now.

@DamkerngT. I rarely use it myself

Damkerng T.

20:16

I think you are!

Anonymous

How many people are on the sofa?

IͶΔ

@snailboat one

Anonymous

Does that include you?

IͶΔ

All-time league

@snailboat Lemme check

Anonymous

It's not, say, one person and a chemical?

IͶΔ

20:16

Apparently.

@snailboat No, just a chemical.

Anonymous

So now if we can establish that you have a temperature, we can figure out if you're the coolest.

IͶΔ

Flower-looking hexabenzocoronenes are indeed the best you can come up with on Earth.

@snailboat Dunno, I've been sitting on this for quite some time, it's rather warm

Damkerng T.

20:48

Wow, people are really fast when the question is easy (to them, not to the OP). I typed only my first paragraph and three answers showed up!

This is what I typed:

> Having one too many of something literally means that you have one of that something more than you're expected to have or should have. (And this is usually used without being specific about the right number or amount of that thing you should have. Note that one too many is also used idiomatically.‌)

Anonymous

21:45

@IͶΔ I like that your meta post has begone in the title.

Anonymous

(Hey, meta post is definite here, but IͶΔ has more than one meta post! How ever could we solve this riddle?)

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. What was the question?

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