Language Overflow

Anonymous

00:06

@userr2684291 I'm old, I still use screen!

Anonymous

I'm not really old, but I feel that way when I play video games.

Anonymous

I know I'm playing against teenagers a lot of the time.

Anonymous

Kids have a funny point of view on age. They think 30 is ancient, and I'm 37 now :-)

Anonymous

@CowperKettle It's possible Ubuntu was too dumb for you.

Anonymous

I've found Ubuntu to be a particularly frustrating OS to use, and I've been using Linux for twenty-five years, so you'd hope I could find my way around without too much trouble by now.

Anonymous

00:15

There was a four-year stretch where PulseAudio broke in a different way every single update. That was the best part, probably.

2

userr2684291

@snailboat Me too, and I'm 23.

I feel kinda silly, too, especially when they talk about school and similar things which reveal their age.

userr2684291

01:30

@It'saboutEnglish If you're still curious about this, I've gotten around to asking some of my online friends (native speakers of English) about I have a/my birthday tomorrow, and they all (three of them in total) rejected it. They said I have my birthday tomorrow is understandable and perhaps grammatical, but it just doesn't sound that good, and that I have a birthday tomorrow might sound like you're talking about a party you're attending or something similar.

So yeah, don't say that. (And if someone else tells you it's okay to say that, you just tell them user24231532 in Language Overflow told you that some of his supposed online friends told him that it might not sound okay to them.) I consider this matter concluded now.

userr2684291

03:44

youtube.com/watch?v=AOu11Xr1bn8 What accent is this? I mean he sounds pretty darn American overall, but he sometimes sounds British, Scottish at moments, but still I'd say the accent is American. Is this some sort of exceptional thing like the Boston accent? I don't really like it.

Anonymous

05:12

@userr2684291 I'm sure he's put a fair amount of time into working on his accent.

Anonymous

I guess South African English, though.

CowperKettle

Not Alone 1 audiobook by Craig A Falconer

►

The author has a great talent for writing a captivating story

It's -15C today, wow!

At last. And it will be -5 tomorrow!

Anonymous

Brr!

Anonymous

It's been down almost to zero here this week.

Anonymous

That's cold, at least by California standards.

Anonymous

05:29

If I melodically call out "lalalalalala" then I am singing, but what I'm singing is not necessarily a song. — ConMan 2 hours ago

Anonymous

I actually think that's false. If someone sings la la la la la la, I might respond with "Nice song!"

Anonymous

You could debate the definition of song, but I think that's well within the range of how the word is normally used.

CowperKettle

05:53

Эдуард Хиль - Трололо (Mr. Trololo)

►

Jasper

06:33

@snailboat So you are the same age as me.

@snailboat Wow you started using Linux when you were 12, amazing.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

07:10

@snailboat Don't blame yourself. I feel ancient when I'm playing online games

@userr2684291 You do realize no one is disagreeing with anyone on that one

We're just hesitant to use a QC failed stamp

I have three birthdays in my pocket. I ate one of them.

CowperKettle

08:59

I feel young, because I never played online games

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

@CowperKettle Gee, sometimes you run into this 9 or 12 year old, and dang, they're so innocent

Their minds about to be infiltrated by the junk in 4chan and reddit and Facebook in a few years

And hmm, they're always either 9 or 12

Never 10 or 11.

CowperKettle

One man, a fitness coach, sat on a coach in a corridor of his fitness center, for 30 minutes. On the same coach sat a 9 yo girl. For this, he was sentenced to 8 years in jail.

In Yekaterinburg, in the fall last year.

themoscowtimes.com/news/…

Jasper

09:15

@CowperKettle Same as me!

@CowperKettle I think one needs to watch the video to judge.

CowperKettle

10:04

@Jasper Yes, there is a full surveilance video, and I watched it. The guy does nothing, just sits and fills out his coach copy-book.

The girl who accused him is a step-daughter of a man who own another fitness center, a competitor.

The girl's biological father said that her step-dad very likely taught her to lie in order to frame this coach.

Basically the court had zero evidence on the coach, and still they sentenced him.

Justice in Russia is abominable

Last spring, there was a scandal in which a very young boy was accused of driving his bicycle heavily drunk.

A car hit him, and a very wealthy man was behind the wheel, so the evidence was forged.

It took many months for the boy's family to proof the boy's innocence.

The biological analyst who did the analysis was paid to add alcohol to the boy's serum sample, and he added so much that according to the results the boy would have been in a coma with such heavy alcohol levels.

Still the court decided in favor of the rich man, and the family only managed to prove the boy's innocence after they went to the press and raised a helluva noise all over the country.

В Екатеринбурге тренера обвинили в педофилии за то, что посидел на одном диване с девочкой

►

Here's the video. The man did nothing.

CowperKettle

11:19

> From 5 Dec to 12 Dec, the cell counter was out of order.
From 5 Dec to 12 Dec, the cell counter was ouf of repair.

Which is better if I want to say that it was impossible to use the counter on these days?

CowperKettle

11:39

My sister flew in from Moscow today, and attached this thing by the doorway.

Mezuzah

A mezuzah (Hebrew: מְזוּזָה‬ "doorpost"; plural: מְזוּזוֹת‬ mezuzot) comprises a piece of parchment called a klaf contained in a decorative case and inscribed with specific Hebrew verses from the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21). These verses consist of the Jewish prayer Shema Yisrael, beginning with the phrase: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord (is) our God, the Lord is One". In mainstream Rabbinic Judaism, a mezuzah is affixed to the doorpost of Jewish homes to fulfill the mitzvah (Biblical commandment) to "write the words of God on the gates and doorposts of your house" (Deuteronomy 6:9). Some...

She brought a certificate stating that I'm a Jew based on mtDNA analysis

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

Wat

CowperKettle

11:55

Our grandma was Jewish

My sister found our relatives in Israel, and we took saliva samples

And mtDNA showed that we are Jews.

And sister has been studying in a Jewish centre in Moscow for the last 4 months.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

Or that you're related to your grandma?

CowperKettle

And visited Israel.

Based on some Jewish custom, your Jewicity is assessed by your maternal line.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

I mean, this is new to me, unless you're kidding

Oh

CowperKettle

So theoretically I'm a Jew, although I'm 25% Ukrainian and 25% Russian and 25% Tatar.

Haha

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

That's actually kinda accurate. I doubt I would have been a Muslim if my parents weren't.

CowperKettle

11:57

To be more precise, 25% Nağaybäk (word of the day)

Nağaybäk

Nağaybäks (Nağaybäk pronounced in Tatar language [nʌɣɑɪbæk]; Tatar plural: Nağaybäklär; plural in Russian: Нагайбаки) are an indigenous Turkic people in Russia recognized as a separate people under Russian legislation. The majority of the Nağaybäks live in the Nagaybaksky and Chebarkulsky Districts of the Chelyabinsk Oblast. They speak a sub-dialect of the Tatar language's Middle dialect. Russian and Tatar historians usually treat the Nağaybäks as an integral part of Volga Tatars; a minority considers Nağaybäks a separate ethnicity in their own right. In the 1989 Russian census, 11,200 peop...

> The origins of the Nağaybäks are unclear. One theory places the Nağaybäks as an offshoot of the Nogais. Other accounts claim that they are Volga Tatars baptized after the fall of Kazan Khanate.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

Hmm, it reminds me of something but I dunno what

CowperKettle

My grandma was so afraid of persecution that she wrote herself as Russian after she managed to escape from the German occupation zone.

So there are no documents for me to have any chance of actually settling in Israel.

The Israeli Govt. does not accept mtDNA analysis

Although the Moscow rabbinate does.

But my sister hopes somehow to get a permit.

Anonymous

@CowperKettle I have Russian Jewish blood. My ancestors fled Russia in the 1880s, if I recall correctly.

CowperKettle

She has been to Israel a couple of times and likes it very much there. I have a lot of great photos of Israel by her.

@snailboat Ah! Many Jews fled in those times, because of the Pogroms.

@snailboat Do you know where exactly your Jewish ancestors lived?

And what was their surname?

My grand-grandma's surname was Rubinskaya

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

Hmm, now I'm wondering about my origins

CowperKettle

12:02

And my grandma lived in Brahin.

Brahin, Belarus

Brahin (Belarusian: Брагін) or Brohin (Russian: Брагин, Yiddish: בּראָהי‬ן‬‬‎) is a town in Belarus and an administrative center of Brahin Rajon. It stands on the banks of Braginka river, 28 km from the nearest railway (Chojniki station), and has a population of 3,700. == History == The settlement is first mentioned in the Hypatian Codex in 1147 as the important town of the Kyiv princedom. A significant part of Brahin's population traditionally was of Jewish descent. By the end of 19th century, 2,254 of 4,311 inhabitants were Jewish. Many Jews in the area were killed by the German forces during...

They say that the Brahinka river is very picturescue.

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ On my Russian side, I have an extensively researched family tree going back to 1706

My sister found a woman who lives in Rezh and who researches our family history. She has the same surname as my Rezh granddad.

And this woman sent me my family tree.

It turns out my Rezh ancestors were blacksmiths from 1706 to 1900.

Anonymous

@CowperKettle I actually don't know, but my sister does. She's interested in genealogy.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

@CowperKettle Now this reminds me of another thing but I don't know what

Oh, so what I should be doing is find a genealogist relative

That's why I don't know my greatgreatgreatlittlegrandparents' hometown

BTW, does one "little" negate one "great"?

CowperKettle

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ Yes )))

That woman sent me newspaper clippings about my relatives, from 1960s. It was interesting to read them.

Anonymous

12:25

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ Yes! The best way to do something is to find someone who's already done it for you.

Captain Bohemian

12:43

Hunger trouble. only soda nearby. Need to hunt again.

I don't think families have particular use if they don't share common interest.

you can say your father has 12 siblings and grandfather has 18 siblings, so it sound like you have a big family, but who among them can really be helpful to you?

none.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

@CaptainBohemian I tend to think of family to be more than screwdrivers and duct tape

They don't need to be useful to me to exist

Grandparents' siblings probably can't help me anyway with the issues I face. They can be nice 'jukeboxes of experience' though

Captain Bohemian

they even don't bother to meet each other for eons, so even when meeting accidently on street, nobody can recognize each other.

I even have never seen most of my father's siblings, not to mention to granfather's. I even have never seen grandfathers.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

12:58

Siblings? I doubt brother and sisters wouldn't recognize each other even if they haven't met for 150 years

@CaptainBohemian Whoa you haven't seen your grandfather?

Captain Bohemian

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ no, they have never been alive after my coming to being.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

Oh K, that explains a lot

Captain Bohemian

have never had an impression of what a grandfather should be like.

My sisters also have alienated with me.

have not seen any cousins or aunts or uncles for eons.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

Is it because of the away-from-hometown-concrete-jungle thing you're doing?

Captain Bohemian

they are like just things for childhood.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

13:08

Studying abroad or something similar

Captain Bohemian

not so

since I entered high school, which was still in my home city, I have never seen them.

I have not really gone far away from home city for long. And actually none of those reatives really live in the home city. It's just nobody bothers to meet each other.

I don't know where most of my relatives are; they have never appeared to me. I think if one has never met a relative in childhood, she wouldn't want to meet them as an adult.

CowperKettle

13:30

@CaptainBohemian All three my grandfathers also died before seeing me.

My grandma's second husband was a very healthy man, but got appendicitis, and was wrongly diagnosed by medical students who were doing the rounds, visiting ill people in their flats.

And he was too stubborn to go and get a second opinion.

And his appendicitis got ruptured, and he died.

The pathologist who did the autopsy said that besides the appendicitis he was a remarkably healthy man.

"Could have lived another 30 years"

He had a glass eye due to a piece of shrapnel he caught while crossing Lake Balaton in April 1945.

CowperKettle

14:03

Japanese word of the day: nemuri (sleep) - now also the name of a gene that induces sleep smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/…

Jasper

14:20

@CowperKettle This is terrible. Someone needs to tell Putin about the case.

userr2684291

14:38

???

Obama's more likely to intervene.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

Look guys. "Putin" doesn't mean "boot" in Persian for no reason. I keep saying it!

Jasper

15:00

@userr2684291 Strange that you don't say Trump.

@CowperKettle My friend visited Belarus last year. I learnt that they speak Russian there, but some speak Belarusian instead.

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ What sense of boot are you talking about here?

Here come the two moderators on ELL, LOL.

userr2684291

@Jasper If you read any American newspaper headline you'll know why.

Huh, you actually pronounce it byeh-lah-roos-ian.

That's closer to the original.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

15:32

@Jasper پوتین = boot, and that's about it

It's pronounced the same way, just difference language

Like, "pool" پول = money

CowperKettle

16:01

@Jasper In Ukraine and in Belarus you can get by without using their native language.

The percentage of Russian-speakers is very high

I joined a Strava community Украина Бежить (Ukraine Running) and I'd say that about 70% there do posts in Russian.

CowperKettle

16:16

strava.com/clubs/UkraineRunning

CowperKettle

16:28

I posted a bunch of my translations from Ukrainian, and a dozen or so of them "friended" me.

Haha

Jasper

@CowperKettle At first I thought the strava club is a strip club. =)

CowperKettle

Are there strip clubs?

I forgot how many Ukrainian stuff I've translated. I keep adding it.

CowperKettle

18:39

Word of the night: rebirthing (horror-inducing link)

Jasper

@CowperKettle I don't know about rebirthing, but to me the concept of rebirth is real in Buddhism.

CowperKettle

@Jasper Are you a Buddhist? Now I understand why you constantly kill your account and then revive it.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

19:00

Hehe

Mary Star

21:43

Hello!!
I want to help a friend to refresh her English. Is there an online book or a PDF that I can use for that?

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

@MaryStar Hello there

What purpose would you want the book to serve?

All I can remember off the top of my head are grammar resources

65

Q: Resources for learning English

This is a specifically created Community Wiki which gathers resources for learning English and it has been approved by the Community itself. It should be clear that the resources are not written by one user or only by the mods, but by whoever wants to contribute. Just write in the appropriate a...

Mary Star

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ I want to find a book to get the basic knowledge of English.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

@MaryStar So this is someone who's just about to start learning English? A1-level, alphabet stuff?

Mary Star

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ She hasn't used her English knowledge for many years so she has forgotten the language.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

22:24

@MaryStar I run into a lot of people like that here, and the best advice usually is to go over the study material she initially used to get a grasp of English. If that's not possible, there are multitudes of textbook to start with, and I wouldn't be picky unless I was preparing for an international English exam

userr2684291

@MaryStar You're looking for a book in English, so their English isn't too beginner-like, I assume?

userr2684291

22:49

I don't really know any "refresher" books on English in general, but there's a self-study book on elementary grammar called Essential Grammar in Use by R. Murphy, and if you want another for vocabulary, Oxford Word Skills Basic (R. Gairns, S. Redman) might come in handy. They both seem like very good books.

Mary Star

Ah ok! I will take a look at these books!! Thank you very much!!! :-) @userr2684291

userr2684291

Sure thing.

userr2684291

23:07

Word of the day: trigger-happy

2

The OED on -happy:

> Used freely during and since the 1939–45 war as the second element in many combinations: a. In a dazed, nervous, or light-headed state as a result of excessive strain, e.g. by exposure to bombs (bomb-happy), anti-aircraft fire (flak-happy), the desert (sand-happy), etc. b. Acting in an irresponsible, obsessive, or precipitate manner, e.g. gadget-happy (= obsessed with the acquisition of gadgets), trigger-happy (= liable to shoot at anything at any time). Cf. also slap-happy.

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