Language Overflow

Eddie Kal

00:13

@AIQ Same here. But here goes the cliche: You can't make an omelette without break a few eggs

AIQ

hahaha

Eddie Kal

I am with you on that. I hate to be downvoted. But there are things I just can't wrap my head around on this site

AIQ

sorry something came to mind, you are right I worry too much.

Eddie Kal

You aim for maximum transparency, and with transparency comes honesty which is crucial and something I really appreciate

AIQ

@CowperKettle I am jealous. I want to be where you are.

Thanks Eddie Kal.

God December's almost over, and no snow yet

This time of the year makes me miss FRIENDS. lol

So my friend says "Today, the world is much better and safer than it ever was. You don't see war, violence, famine, epidemics, etc. So be appreciative of how well you are doing."

That's actually quite true.

Why do we say "There has been an accident downtown" or "I am going to a party downtown" - without "in" before downtown?

I remember editing an "in" in there in someone's answer and that edit was rejected. I never understood why. Today, I heard someone say "I am going to a party downtown".

Isn't downtown one place? It needs a prep right?

Like this would be fine "I am going to a party down/up [with a space here] town"

I mean that's what I think but why is that wrong

Eddie Kal

01:04

@AIQ I don't know what world that friend of yours lives in, but I'd certainly what a piece of it. Sorry don't mean to be snarky. Just find that hard to agree with.

Trump, Johnson, and everything else paradigmatic of this sick world

don't get me started

userr2684291

Yeah, I suppose it depends on where you are. If you're in Canada you probably won't see that much violence that you would in Iraq or Syria.

Eddie Kal

01:19

@userr2684291 precisely. As we speak the war in Donbass has been raging for I think five years

AIQ

I am mixed about this - on one hand, I can agree that the world is better in terms of medicine, epidemics, information sharing, education, and poverty reduction. On the other hand, certain countries have been destroyed by war recently, and it's still going on. There is a lot of tension between economies over natural resources. Young people are increasingly afflicted with depression and other psychological problems.

I think by war they meant at the level of WWI and WWII

userr2684291

01:42

@AIQ It's like home in I'm going home.

Er, maybe not. Lol.

Not home, but... there. I'm going to a party there.

Kinda tired. Ahh... Good night.

New Meta Question

04:44

0

Q: So, when is the next moderator election planned?

Firstly, I am sorry for J.R and CollenV who decided to resign as a moderator. Now, I would like to ask when the next election is planned? I am rather for new moderators who would agree with the new policy of the company. I had known the Monica issue just a few days ago, and people in Meta SE a...

discussion

CroCo

05:51

Hi there,
Can we use antediluvian synonymous with anachronistic ?

CowperKettle

yes

AIQ

06:14

Sooooo I said, "I am sagacious when it comes to women", and my friends cant't stop laughing at me. I am pretty sure I used the word correctly. I know you don't hear it often, and to be honest I have never used the word in speech before.

How else do you used it?

CowperKettle

06:56

Word of the day: jejune

> Sonja (Diane Keaton): "That is incredibly jejune". Boris (Woody Allen): That's jejune? You have the temerity to say that I'm talking to you out of jejunosity? I am one of the most june people in all of the Russias!"

AIQ

naiveeeeee

CowperKettle

Love and Death - Jejune

►

CowperKettle

10:57

Word of the day: desmology

Trade Nivesh Investment Adviso

11:17

hello guys

Hemraj Prajapat

Hello..!

Anonymous

11:32

Hello! Welcome to ELL chat! :-)

Trade Nivesh Investment Adviso

ye

ColleenV parted ways

@AIQ I think there are a few questions already asked and answered about that... I found this one, but I think there’s one with a more comprehensive answer:

2

Q: I work (in) downtown

Which one is correct to say? I work in downtown. I work downtown.

prepositions

AIQ

11:48

Thanks very much ColleenV

ColleenV parted ways

Although maybe I’m thinking about questions about including “the” instead of “in”...

CowperKettle

Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody (Donald Trump Cover)

►

AIQ

12:11

This one sadly does not have answers from reliable users. The one that has answers from Jason and Tᴚoɯɐuo is about "the downtown" :\

userr2684291

12:50

@AIQ In this case all of the answers are correct (I'm not sure about user LawrenceC's answer – particularly the first part – but they probably know what they're talking about). It's a common expression, really.

Also, I don't know if downtown is an adverb. I think it's a preposition, which is why it reminded me of the word home last night. But I might well be mistaken. @snailcar Is downtown a preposition or adverb in I went to a party downtown?

I think the difference between the two is whether they're functioning as an adjunct or complement, but I'd say you could omit home in I went home, so I don't know how that thing works.

@AIQ No one uses these so-called 50-cent words informally. It comes off as affected.

ColleenV parted ways

14:31

@userr2684291 Or as if you're making a joke

For example, "I am unable to quit as I am currently too legit." is a little unny because it's an overly formal version of "Too legit to quit."

M.A.R.

@NewMetaQuestion I'm convinced this guy is trolling, so I'll just yell at a wall or something

@CroCo Whoa whoa, I just know that eggs and bacon aren't the same

CowperKettle

15:00

Your new avatar really ties the chatroom together.

ColleenV parted ways

15:11

@M.A.R. I think it's strange they believe that the sites don't need moderators, but then they post stuff like this...

-4

Q: Why don't mods delete this comment?

I flagged this comment in Japanese because the comment is written in Japanese, but no moderators deleted so far. Isn't this against the answers to this question? Or is it because the writer is a mod of Japanese SE? Thanks.

discussion flagging

Pretty sure they just are looking for attention or trying to pick a fight

Eddie Kal

@ColleenVpartedways It actually might be somewhat cultural, if they are really Japanese as they claim to be

I wonder what comment Kentaro was referring to and who wrote it. @ColleenVpartedways Would you mind showing it to me?

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle Yay! I have no idea what that means

@EddieKal Meh

Trust me, I did give the cultural benefit of the doubt. I also assumed language barrier. And God knows how many other things.

userr2684291

@M.A.R. Really?

M.A.R.

Even from afar, I can see that they're being a nuisance. I mean, just look at the evidence: A contentious post indecisive of whether or not badmouth SE (or Monica), and their username is . . . well, how does that add up, other than them being intentionally provocative. But this is all I'd say on it, I don't like talking behind people's profile pics

userr2684291

That avatar is somewhat reminiscent of the Dude, who once had a rug... — or, I think he got it back, I'm not sure.

M.A.R.

15:17

@userr2684291 Realistically

@userr2684291 well, I abide

userr2684291

That rug really tied the room together.

Haha.

M.A.R.

@userr2684291 So for someone who doesn't watch movies, how did you come by it?

@userr2684291 Oh, like that

userr2684291

I only watched it because it was on all these Top Movies lists. I only remember that quote because it was repeated, like, 10 times in the movie.

Eddie Kal

@M.A.R. Yeah I wondered about that too. Kentaro said in a comment that they changed their name in support of Monica, then learned about the event and wanted to distance themselves from it but couldn't change it back

M.A.R.

I've been around so many unappreciative folks that it's just so bizarre to me that someone makes a reference to him that's not me

Eddie Kal

15:22

Could it be true? Is there really a restriction on changing your username/handle

M.A.R.

@EddieKal You can do it once a month

userr2684291

I think there is.

M.A.R.

It's obviously to prevent going crazy with usernames

Eddie Kal

I see. That explains the username

M.A.R.

But, I mean, it's not just the one thing. The other day they were upset about TOEFL, then about mods not caring about them being upset about TOEFL, then it was some native English speaker, I forgot, then it was about some post, then some comment, and on and on.

@userr2684291 Anyway, I'm strictly of the opinion that he did not get the rug back, and that's OK

Eddie Kal

15:26

I actually made an obscure joke in Japanese under Kentaro's question about Monica. It was gone the next morning. Guess they must've flagged it. Kentaro does seem really, um..., hot headed

M.A.R.

It's a ship of Theseus thing

userr2684291

@M.A.R. That is a shame.

M.A.R.

@userr2684291 No it's a rug

@EddieKal Well let's talk about kittens I guess.

Eddie Kal

@M.A.R. How dare you! I am offended

I am a dog person

M.A.R.

I was going to reflect on how evil they are

But OK, I understand it's a sensitive subject. Let's switch to politics instead

Haha OMG LOL

Covfefe finally boiled over

userr2684291

15:30

xd

@M.A.R. Yeah. But I do not know -- it is not okay as it seemed to have tied the room together.

I have changed my keyboard layout so I will write like this until I find all the characters I need. Stupid... thing.

M.A.R.

I mean, it's too late, and it's just a stage in the all-familiar food fight between elephants and ponies, but I'm still enjoying it

There's also the recent (?) fad in pretending things are making history or whatever

@userr2684291 Like what

It's not funny unless autocarrot helps you with some typos or what

I just watched The Irishman

userr2684291

I do not know yet where the apostrophe is located.

Eddie Kal

@M.A.R. On Netflix?

M.A.R.

And in the bowling scene I just there was this MCU thing where Lebowski is sitting on the other side and giving a winkie wink

@EddieKal No on TV

Those things are considered alien technology here

Eddie Kal

Lol. Netflix keeps suggesting this film to me. I've wanted to watch it

userr2684291

15:36

Yeah, lol. Everyone I talk to online keeps assuming I have Netflix.

M.A.R.

You should see how they talk about "THE INTERNET", our government

@EddieKal Pretty good movie, that goes without saying

userr2684291

I do not know whether it is available here at all.

Eddie Kal

Didn't Robert De Niro and Pesci star in another mafia film? I thought The Irishman was a sequel to that

Wise guys I think is what that film was called

M.A.R.

But you do need to have some acquaintance and love for Scorsese's style to sit through the whole three hours and half

@EddieKal Goodfellas

Eddie Kal

Yes!

M.A.R.

15:37

@EddieKal Eh, same diff

@userr2684291 You need to make it available 👀

userr2684291

> As of the 6th of January 2016 Netflix has been available in Croatia.

Oh, whoops.

M.A.R.

Well, I'll say this: In the age that cinema seems to be inclined to force messages down our throat, watching artsy pieces from old-timers like Scorsese and Coppola is pretty refreshing. They show you what happened, why happened, how the people involved reacted, and how did the whole ordeal affected them. It's up to you interpret them, and to judge them, if you were ever to reduce the whole thing to a simple battle of good and evil

I predict it'll get as bad as the early 90s in a few years. Movies from back then loved forcing the love for environment down your throat

@userr2684291 Such golden words. A pirate captain of the old found the treasure he sought for so long, and he said "Oh, whoops."

A TV host of particularly odd reputation ran for president of the United States, heard the news of his victory, and went "Oh, whoops."

userr2684291

@M.A.R. Did you mean for that to rhyme in that sort of fashion?

M.A.R.

No I had no idea what I was doing

@M.A.R. I should get a nap. My English is deteriorating

userr2684291

Hehe.

ColleenV parted ways

16:42

@EddieKal It was just someone who knew them from Japanese.se trying to be helpful.

@EddieKal I may have deleted it - please don't post comments in anything other than English. They can't be appropriately moderated by the community or the moderators.

Eddie Kal

@ColleenVpartedways I see. I asked because I thought maybe my recent comment--intended to be funny to Japanese speakers--might've also upset them. If that was indeed the case, I think I will stay clear of this

K

ColleenV parted ways

@EddieKal I didn't see any rude flags on it, I just delete non-English content as a routine

because I don't know if it's rude or not

I really wish users had some feedback on whether their comments were getting flagged

other than a moderator having to contact them once it got too often

More often than not someone takes something intended to be light-hearted or helpful the wrong way :/

I think it would be good for people to know when they phrased something in a way someone thought it was rude, without necessarily feeling like they're being punished for it

M.A.R.

17:16

@ColleenVpartedways An automated system would be pretty good, but, I think, that a mod only reminds offenders when they've erred too often is a good thing

Too many anger management sessions and be-nice reminders would achieve the opposite of what they intend. Hostility and . . . not-be-niceness

ColleenV parted ways

@M.A.R. I was thinking more general statistics - sort of like how your profile shows how many people you've impacted

M.A.R.

Mhm

ColleenV parted ways

There's plenty of positive feedback for comments, but there's no way to know without someone confronting you whether people are having negative reactions

I suspect that one of the emojii things is going to take on an unintended meaning...

39

Q: What do the plans for incorporating "new ways to say thanks" look like?

A recent Tweet from @StackOverflow on Twitter said: Announcing our new reactions feature, available today on Stack Overflow for Teams for Basic and Business tiers, and coming to Enterprise in 2020. New ways of saying 'thanks' will be coming to the Stack Exchange network next year, too. ...

discussion support reactions-feature

M.A.R.

@ColleenVpartedways Which one?

0

Q: Need help with this text. I have a feeling that it sounds bad for a native speaker

All subsequent text will be depicted on the black background to create an image of outer space. This was done so in order to emphasize the monolithism of all mankind and to divert your attention from the world of states and borders because such kind of world sucks.

sentence-construction

Pretty wordy

Unless you're pretty comfortable with the words you're using, always go for confusing your readers with grammar.

@ColleenVpartedways You mean the 505 emoji that looks like an SOS

CowperKettle

19:40

Went to a lecture on the correct use of a suppository. Maybe not the best lecture I've ever attended, but it's up there.

Eddie Kal

@CowperKettle I have no idea what that is

Just looked it up. Seems WebMD has a detailed page. So you must've had fun!

ColleenV parted ways

19:55

@CowperKettle There’s a joke about a guy that went back to his doctor after being prescribed suppositories that didn’t cure his ailment. He says “Doc these pills aren’t working and they’re really hard to use.” The doctor says “Pills? You’ve been swallowing them?” and he says “Yeah, what do you think I’ve been doing with them, shoving them up my bum?”

CowperKettle

20:08

theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/13/tony-abbott-gaffe-world-stage

CowperKettle

20:20

> A US judge has handed down a sentence of at least 15 years to a man who stole an LGBT pride flag from a church and burned it outside a strip club.

What. The.

bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50861259

15 years?!

AIQ

20:36

woah, so much to catch up on

@userr2684291 Yes, I am not sure about that too. Hence, I asked. I don't want to just go with the flow without really understanding why. We say "I live in Hillside Avenue" then why is "I live in downtown" wrong. I need to do more research.

@userr2684291 What do you mean by 50-cent words?

CowperKettle

Over a single person's lifetime of 80 years, some 3 000 000 tons of cosmic dust settles on Earth.

So our planet was much, much lighter in the times of Caesar

AIQ

I don't mind occasional downvotes as much. But I know there is this person, who visits the site after a few days of inactivity, and when they do, they downvote a number of my answers. I have seen this happen 3 times before.

But the problem is I have a lot of respect for this person. They have answered my questions a number of times. They are god-like when it comes to English, but I have a feeling they downvote my answers because they have much better answers in their mind - but they won't write one. And neither will they leave a comment.

CowperKettle

20:55

Christopher J. Date

Chris Date (born 1941) is an independent author, lecturer, researcher, and consultant, specializing in relational database theory. == Biography == Chris Date attended High Wycombe Royal Grammar School (U.K.) from 1951 to 1958 and received his BA in Mathematics from Cambridge University (U.K.) in 1962. He entered the computer business as a mathematical programmer at Leo Computers Ltd. (London), where he quickly moved into education and training. In 1966, he earned his master's degree at Cambridge, and, in 1967, he joined IBM Hursley (UK) as a computer programming instructor. Between 1969 and 1974...

Wow, he's still alive. I have his book

M.A.R.

21:08

@CowperKettle Gives a whole different meaning to "out of Date"

@CowperKettle The whole world is going to shit. The only thing we can do is stand aside and laugh at it all.

I know that sounds a bit far from my upbeat attitude, but eh, I wanna be dark every once in a while.

AIQ

@M.A.R. I see you acknowledge the shadow!

M.A.R.

It is merely a distinctive lack of photons!

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