Language Overflow

CowperKettle

01:52

@M.A.R. That reminds me of the Russian state-controlled TV. They showed instructions for Ukrainians on how to use proxies and anonymizers in order to get past the Ukrainian firewall and into the Russian social network. A week later the Duma passed a law that prohibited the use of proxies and anonymisers and VPNs in Russia.

Is there such a word as chronization or chronification in English?

I need it. Multitran says "chronization" exists but I'm in doubt

Word of the day: acanthosis

> One important feature of IL-17 affecting the severity of psoriasis is its ability to induce the production of TNF-alpha, IL-1 and IL-6, the constant presence of which in high concentration not only chronifies the inflammation but also stimulates acanthosis and dermis damage.

CowperKettle

04:33

a beautiful rap poem about John Keats

Now I know two rap poems

One about Shakespeare, another about John Keats

Segev

07:48

I want to write something to someone in order not forget it later, is it right to say: "So I will not forget..."?

CowperKettle

08:37

> And every humor hath his adjunct pleasure wherein it finds a joy above the rest.

Where's your grammar, Shakespeare?

Anonymous

10:44

Good morning :-)

M.A.R.

@snailplane hi

ElectricRouge

11:04

Hi, is it okay to address client in email with the full name?

user62015

Hi

Is there anyone?

Hi @M.A.R.

ElectricRouge

Help anyone?

user62015

Hi @ElectricRouge

ElectricRouge

Hi

user62015

I have a question.

Direct and Indirect speech, could you help me?

ElectricRouge

11:09

Okay. I will try.

user62015

He said to the interviewer, " Could you please repeat the question?"

A. He requested the interviewer if he could please repeat the question.
B. He requested the interviewer to please repeat the question.
C. He requested the interviewer to repeat the question.
D. He requested the interviewer if he could repeat the question.

ElectricRouge

I am a learner too. English is not my first language. I think its D.

Or C

M.A.R.

@ElectricRouge what kind of email is this?

ElectricRouge

its to a client

@M.A.R. responding to a client

M.A.R.

Well, I'd just use Mr./Ms.

user62015

11:13

@M.A.R. Hi

Could you help me please? @M.A.R. Some people say D and some say C. I think D

M.A.R.

@user62015 definitely not B

user62015

Okay.

ColleenV

@user62015 "He requested that the interviewer please repeat the question"

M.A.R.

C and D, hmm

C is definitely right. I feel if we nitpick, D turns out to be a bit jumbled

user62015

What will you choose? @M.A.R. @ColleenV

ElectricRouge

11:16

I think the word 'please' is not required there.

user62015

So you go with C?

Okay.

ColleenV

I think B If I had to choose one of the options

user62015

Okay, but please after to

M.A.R.

@ColleenV haha we don't get to write a proper sentence in these exams. Just split hair

user62015

Does not make sense

M.A.R.

11:16

Usually unnecessary hair

ColleenV

@M.A.R. I know, it stinks :(

@user62015 I'm trying to find some examples

user62015

So @M.A.R. you suggest C, right? Final answer

Okay.

M.A.R.

"asked . . . if he could" is definitely right.

But "requested"?

ColleenV

You could drop the please, but it's not incorrect to leave it in there

ElectricRouge

Now I think its D

Because he is asking a question there

ColleenV

11:18

It's definitely not any of the "if" choices

user62015

Okay.

ColleenV

"He requested the interviewer if" is not correct

user62015

Okay.

ColleenV

I request an answer. I request you to answer the question.

M.A.R.

@ColleenV the second one is a split infinitive. Don't you think Indian examiners would explode if they see it?

user62015

11:19

I want to go with C after @M.A.R. But I need your final answer friends to make myself sure.

M.A.R.

Probably the person that invented the exam used anti-explosion ointment. Definitely a thing.

ColleenV

@M.A.R. Oh probably. You would know better than I in this case.

I'm relying on "oh that sounds OK" and that definitely isn't the best strategy on exams

M.A.R.

@ColleenV yep. The skills of someone who blabbers stuff like he knows them but he doesn't are always helpful

C is the safest option. I might even utter it if a friend took an oral exam and did so well he wanted to talk to me about it

user62015

@M.A.R. Thanks. You help me a lot. Thanks.

@ColleenV @ElectricRouge Thank you friends.

ColleenV

@user62015 You're welcome!

CowperKettle

11:27

@snailplane Good morning!

Good late afternoon all

ColleenV

@CowperKettle Howdy!

M.A.R.

Oh wait, an interview. That's even worse

Anonymous

We do use please sometimes in indirect speech like that, but your textbook might not want you to.

Anonymous

Just be aware that if someone says "I asked her to please wash the dishes", it's not necessarily unnatural English.

Anonymous

I feel like it might be a little less likely with request as the verb, though.

M.A.R.

11:37

@userr2684291 hah, I've heard this before

userr2684291

@M.A.R. I've heard it recently. (:

M.A.R.

Now I've heard it recently, and before. Take that!

userr2684291

I agree with snailplane, stacking please onto request is just over the top. I can see how someone might go for it if they really wanted (the utterance they're reporting) to sound polite, but to me it sounds just as wrong/uneducated as the double would ("I'd really appreciate it if you'd..."), but that's pretty common.

M.A.R.

I would really appreciate it if you would chop wood

Let's make a campfire inside our pharmacy

Pharmacyfire

ElectricRouge

11:52

I would really appreciate it if you chop wood

That sounds right too

userr2684291

@ElectricRouge *chopped

M.A.R.

We have this air conditioning that can't possibly not aggressively cool the place. Feels like winter

CowperKettle

> Microsoft on Monday announced that its conversational speech-recognition system hit an error rate of 5.1 percent, matching the error rate of professional human transcribers.

Microsoft last year thought its 5.9 percent error rate had achieved human parity, but IBM researchers argued that milestone would require a system achieving a rate of 5.1 percent, slightly lower than its lowest word error rate of 5.5 percent.

We are having a temperature of + 30 °C

It rarely gets this high here

userr2684291

@M.A.R. I can picture you with an ušanka on, quivering, going blue.

CowperKettle

Will hold for another two days, then go back to normal

M.A.R.

11:56

@userr2684291 ice clinging on to my nose

@CowperKettle normal? Zero kelvin?

CowperKettle

(0:

No, about 15 - 20 °C

I'd go bicycling to a lake, but my bicycle will be out of repair shop only tomorrow

M.A.R.

My bicycle is in the repair shop, like, half of the year

The other half it's leaning against the wall in our parking lot

0

A: Retrieve values from a path with several unknown childs with Firebase and Swift

I apologize that I have no answer to the question, but you decided this question?

What do they take "decide" to mean?

userr2684291

They probably meant to ask whether they've found the answer to the question.

Decide ~ determine, something like that.

M.A.R.

Yeah makes sense

userr2684291

The moderator should convert it to a comment and put it on the question.

M.A.R.

12:07

If they end up on the post before the VLQ queue pulls the final trigger

Unlikely.

userr2684291

@M.A.R. It's quite satisfying to report an answer for spam or some such.

M.A.R.

12:27

@userr2684291 "you wanted to spam me?! Here, I can destroy your spam!!!one"

Same reason deleting stuff is satisfying

ElectricRouge

12:39

Attached zip file has the updated excel file with item names.

Is this sentence correct?

M.A.R.

@ElectricRouge I'm not really familiar with official email syntax, but they commonly say "attached to the email is a . . . "

M.A.R.

12:57

And if I were to phrase it, disregarding the context, I'd've said "The attached zip file . . . "

ElectricRouge

@M.A.R. Thanks. What about 'updated excel file with provider names.' part?

does that sound right

?

M.A.R.

Yep

ElectricRouge

@M.A.R. Thank you :)

M.A.R.

Don't mention it

user62015

@M.A.R. Hi! Do you have a few seconds? I have a question and this question does not make any sense to me.

M.A.R.

13:03

Don't expect me to be able to answer it though

user62015

May I ask?

M.A.R.

Sure

Hah, that was an easy question

user62015

Thanks.

"Good Morning, Father!" Baby Kochamma would call out when she saw him.

A. When Baby Kochamma saw him, she would wish the Father a good morning.
B. Baby Kochamma would call Father when she saw him in the morning.
C. Baby Kochamma would call out to Father in the morning when she saw him.
D. Baby Kochamma would tell him it was morning when she saw him.

userr2684291

@user62015 Have you obtained the Ask Card® at the Help Desk?

user62015

Answer says A

M.A.R.

13:09

Wow, those sentences sure look similar o.o

userr2684291

Our premium Ask Card Plus® lets you ask up to 5 questions a day!

M.A.R.

@user62015 all the other options than A look weird

user62015

This question itself seems weird

I agree @M.A.R.

M.A.R.

The tenses don't seem to match in the others

user62015

I agree.

M.A.R.

13:11

Unless she sawed the father every morning O.O

Hmm, probably not even then

user62015

I agree.

userr2684291

@M.A.R. What do you mean? The tenses look okay to me.

They're the same in all four options.

M.A.R.

Well, D is horse crap

So is C

userr2684291

I feel like I'm unknowingly participating in one of those Asch experiments.

M.A.R.

@userr2684291 don't ask me what I mean when I don't know what I mean!

user62015

13:17

I think A is fine.

M.A.R.

@user62015 could it be they're nitpicking about the lack of an article before "father" in B?

That'd be wrong

And here comes @Colleen to the rescue!

user62015

Using the article "the" before father does not make sense, right?

ColleenV

@M.A.R. Wha... nitpicking? THAT'S MY JAM!! :)

M.A.R.

@user62015 But "her father" does

user62015

Yes.

And why F is capital here?

M.A.R.

13:22

So well, " the father" isn't wrong

@user62015 best guess: No special reason

user62015

Yes.

ColleenV

@user62015 A is incorrect because of the article. B is incorrect (would call to Father). C. Looks good. D is not idiomatic, but I wouldn't say it's grammatically incorrect.

M.A.R.

But a more educated person would probably use a capital letter to indicate a directive thing

That she's calling him

user62015

So you think C is the answer?

ColleenV

If I was writing the test, it would be.

M.A.R.

13:23

But I don't expect that to see in such an exam, because I don't expect to see that in our exams

user62015

I agree.

M.A.R.

Baby Kochamma couldn't have used better sentences.

ColleenV

Re-reading D, it's nonsensical in this context. Baby isn't telling Father it's morning, they are wishing him a good morning.

user62015

I agree does not make sense.

ColleenV

You could use "the father" in a different context. For example, "Every morning Mrs. Crowley would wave to the father of the family next door."

userr2684291

13:31

Hm.

@ColleenV Are you sure the article is really that off there? Sure, I'd be more inclined to use a possessive pronoun there, like her or his, but what if I'm just identifying that father? What if it's not her actual father, but a priest?

Doesn't Father seem kind of personal for me to use it, even when reporting someone's actions?

CowperKettle

13:59

Word of the Day: pannus

I wonder why there is no Chinese website similar to AliExpress but selling books.

Having cheap books would be so great.

I'd buy a ton of English books.

The prices are outlandish..

ColleenV

14:20

@userr2684291 With the capitalization, "the Father" seems really wrong to me. I wouldn't refer to a priest as "the Father" - I might say "Father Mike" or "the priest"

@userr2684291 "Baby Jane waved at Father" would probably be used if the narrator was another member of Baby's family, or if the author of the story was using Father and Mother as names. I'll see if I can find an example

Sometimes authors do that when the character doesn't need to have any more personality than their role, or when the perspective of the narrator doesn't really see them as other than "Mom" or "Dad".

@CowperKettle What would you consider cheap? I know there are some places that sell used books and have deals like 99 cent books, but I'm not sure about shipping.

alibris.com/search/books/subject/Fiction&qpricehi=0.99

CowperKettle

@ColleenV Yes, I found those places! Unfortunatly, shipping to Russia from the US is about $6 per book, which equals 360 rubles.. basically I could buy books here in English at a similar price (0:

The Chinese guys at AliExpress ship for a dollar.

ColleenV

@CowperKettle That's what I thought - paper books are expensive to ship

I rely on e-books mostly these days

There are a lot of good inexpensive e-books from authors trying to make a name for themselves

CowperKettle

I rely on them too.

But I sometimes buy books to give away as gifts

I gifted a Hemingway to a friend recently

And Prigov's "Only My Japan" to another friend

etc, etc

> In 1986, the K.G.B arrested Prigov, who performed a street action by handing poetic texts to passers-by, and sent him to a psychiatric institution before he was freed after protests by poets such as Bella Akhmadulina.

Wow, never knew that

Sent to the loony bin for poetry.

ColleenV

14:35

@CowperKettle A lot of people have been institutionalized for simply thinking differently than others believe they should. It's horrifying :(

We have a couple of these in our neighborhood: littlefreelibrary.org

Little boxes where you can swap a book you have for one someone else left

There are online book swap groups, but the postage cost is still a problem.

CowperKettle

14:52

This is a Zeba 89882 desalting column

Is bottom closure a good phrase to name the thingie at the bottom?

@ColleenV We also have a book exchange movement (0:

There are even specialized boxes in the city

ColleenV

@CowperKettle It is called the "bottom plug" on page 3 in tools.thermofisher.com/content/sfs/brochures/…

ColleenV

15:14

@CowperKettle There's a reddit group for book swaps : reddit.com/r/bookexchange You have some risk that the people might not send the book but they try to mark trusted senders with an icon.

ColleenV

15:27

Hey everyone, I have -stolen- ahem, copied sequence-of-tenses from EL&U so if you see questions where it would be appropriate, please add it. We get a lot of questions about tense agreement among clauses and grouping them with a tag makes the "Related" questions in the sidebar more useful.

CowperKettle

16:51

@ColleenV I thought so! But I came across bottom closure in another instruction by the same company. ^_^

tools.thermofisher.com/content/sfs/manuals/…

The word closure seems like a translator's false friend here

I'll use "bottom plug"

@ColleenV Nice!

CowperKettle

17:22

Word of the Day: centrate (фугат)

> The poor quality of the centrate is a major problem with centrifuges.

CowperKettle

17:48

Which is better:

> The samples were placed at -20°C for storage.
The samples were placed into storage at -20 °C.

ColleenV

19:45

@CowperKettle The samples were stored at -20°C.

(or "were then stored at -20°C" if you're talking about a step in a process)

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