Language Overflow

ColleenV

00:03

@DecapitatedSoul I already bugged him, he’s not down for it

Anonymous

00:37

@ColleenV Some lexicographers put fake words in their dictionaries for the same reason.

Anonymous

Esquivalience, for example.

ColleenV

02:24

@snailcar Yes! I learned (well, really was reminded) they are called “mountweazel”s when I talked to the guy who runs phrontistery.info about ‘frumicate’

No response from the Grandiloquent folks yet on where they found frumicate.

CowperKettle

02:56

Albert Einstein came up with a theory about space.
And it was about time too.

AIQ

05:00

@ColleenV I wanted to; I haven't had the time to work on the questions. I have turn in my master's essay draft in 2 days ... I will try to answer the questions before the deadline ... :/

@EddieKal Hello, EddieKal, how you been?

AIQ

05:19

to*

Eddie Kal

@AIQ Haven't been in this chat room in a while. I am okay. Thanks.

Wow glad to hear you are completing your master's

AIQ

I am trying to, thanks.

Eddie Kal

And good to know you are also thinking of running for moderator

AIQ

Are you not going to run for moderator?

Eddie Kal

I might. I actually enjoy going down the review lists. But I have not been able to in recent weeks.

Do you have to defend your thesis?

AIQ

05:25

I was hoping you would. I know you did a lot of those review tasks

I do, yes. I haven't turned in my final draft.

Eddie Kal

lol, thanks for noticing :)

I am terrible with deadlines

AIQ

EddieKal, are they lifting restrictions starting tomorrow where you live?

Eddie Kal

I am in California. I am glad the governor is not lifting the ban

Well, everybody knows the numbers have yet to peak. The protesters, well...

AIQ

They are opening Florida, I heard ...

Eddie Kal

How about Canada?

AIQ

05:31

Not lifting the lock-down anytime soon.

Eddie Kal

I wonder how things are in Canada. Do you live in a dorm or have your own living arrangements? A lot of students were forced out of campus right around when lockdowns were put in place in the US

Things look okay now, but a lot of them had to scramble to find housing

AIQ

I rent a place. I have roommates (housemates?). Umm nothing like that happened in BC and Ontario at least.

That isn't very nice. I am concerned about the decision to open things up this quickly

and the feud between the president and NYC governor

jesus

Eddie Kal

06:26

Trump is a big bully. I didn't know much about Cuomo but he is all the rage now.
Like you I am also very concerned. I believe we have yet to see the worst, but for some people all they care about is "the economy". Funny how people talk about "the economy" as if it is the panacea for all our problems

SmokeDetector

10:32

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Manually reported answer (94): What is the difference between a class teacher and a form teacher? by murtaza on ell.SE

AIQ

lol

> There's another "may well" definition on the M-W page; I'll edit it into my answer later today as the page started playing sound and I'm at a work computer right now. – starsplusplus

ColleenV

11:13

Don’t star political crap in this room. It’s unwelcoming.

Sandip Kumar Mandal

I want to know the difference between a relative clause and an adjective clause. Help me please.

Can the relative pronouns be regarded as Subordinating Conjunctions because they connect a Subordinate Clause with the principal clause?

AIQ

11:32

@ColleenV I apologize. I wasn't aware.

CowperKettle

11:43

ColleenV

12:19

@AIQ No worries. Sometimes we assume everyone else feels about things the same way we do when it's really not the case. If you want to talk about current events, that's fine, but starring things kind of makes it look like that's what everyone here thinks and might be off-putting to someone who doesn't think that way.

CowperKettle

Word of the day: pilonidal

userr2684291

13:28

I just realized questions asking about "improving the phrasing" are off-topic and considered proofreading requests.

I don't know how I feel about that. It's not really a clear-cut thing, in my view.

Looking at other close reasons, I'm not sure what the difference between "answerable by dictionary" and "lacking details" is.

I mean when it comes to how they're used. I would simply close all questions asking about word or idiom meaning as answerable by dictionary (i.e. unless proven otherwise).

Meh.

ColleenV

@userr2684291 There's a big gray area and a lot of overlap among all those reasons.

Most questions that can be closed as off-topic as "improving phrasing" "answerable by a dictionary" or "proofreading" can be made on-topic by the author explaining why they are asking.

Lots of "improving the phrasing" questions are actually requests for the English equivalents of how they might say it in their native language.

Lots of "answerable by a dictionary" questions just need the author to explain why the dictionary definitions were confusing

userr2684291

13:48

It's too difficult. I give up.

ell.stackexchange.com/review/close/103959 This for instance is an example of one such question. They've indicated the intended meaning and their attempt. What else can they do? They know it doesn't sound right...

On a related note, I read that as halfway laced-up shoe, which I think should work (or maybe a shoe laced-up halfway).

Even if I press Leave Open, I'm sure they'll close this one.

Skip.

ell.stackexchange.com/review/close/103996 Am I supposed to cater to everyone's plz-fix-my-accent request? Like, what the heck. This is a speech equivalent of proofreading. A lot of people might find this interesting, though... so should I take that into account? Not sure. Skip. Etc.

ColleenV

14:09

@userr2684291 You should still vote what you think is right. Sometimes things get edited after they enter the queue.

You can also choose "edit" if you think the problem is formatting or something

@userr2684291 The problem with the halfly laced up shoe is that they made a word-request look like a proofreading request

If you edited the title to reflect that, it might be better received

@AIQ FYI you can nominated yourself without completing the questionnaire right away. You just need a short statement about why you want to be a moderator

Nominate here: ell.stackexchange.com/election?cb=1 using the link at the bottom

There are examples from previous elections, like this one ell.stackexchange.com/election/3 if that helps.

@userr2684291 I had an issue the accent one as well, but the community loved it, so... Sometimes it's hard for me to judge what is most helpful to people because I'm a native speaker.

I do think it would be helpful to be able to upload short audio clips instead of sending people to another site...

24

Q: Embed an audio player

Questions about the pronunciation of a word as heard are probably common for a site for people learning a language. I can imagine questions similar to the following ones: I listened to this [link to an audio file, or a video] but I don't understand what word is being said at the beginning, and ...

feature-request

38

Q: Embedded audio player on language sites

Allowing audio files with pronunciaton asks the ability to embed audio of pronunciations. While the question was specifically asked for the Russian site, I'm sure such functionality would be useful on all the language sites. Can an embedded audio player be added to Audio.SE and Music.SE? was ask...

feature-request languages audio

ColleenV

15:30

I learned some new old slang...

> Yes, hot rods existed in 1938 and earlier, but they weren't called "hot rods," a term that first appeared after WW2. They were called "gow jobs," "hop ups," "soup jobs" etc. Even before WW1 guys would strip down Model Ts as "speedsters"

heidrickaghistorycenter.wordpress.com/2014/03/25/…

Eddie Kal

15:58

@SandipKumarMandal Adjective clause is a lesser used term. I don't see any essential difference between adjective clause and relative clause.

@SandipKumarMandal I believe these are two different types of clause

@userr2684291 Holy flying cow! How did this question get a ton of attention and so much enthusiasm from answers? What's happened when I am not here...

Eddie Kal

16:20

@ColleenV It's my conviction that I'd stopped before what I spouted crossed over into the scary territory of "political crap." I'd call it "personal frustration." Then again, for half a century, we've known "the personal is political". That said, I agree with your general spirit.

ColleenV

@EddieKal I don't have a problem with what you said, just pinning it on the starred posts.

I mean how would you feel if there was some MAGA post there?

Well, imagine you've never been in here before and there was a political post that you disagreed with a the top of the list.

It's just not what this room is for even though we don't all have to pretend like we don't have opinions on things.

Eddie Kal

@ColleenV Like I've said, I agree with your general spirit. Funny you should mention MAGA posts in general purpose discussion venues. I am an occasional gamer/moderate sci-fi nerd, and have some presence in gaming forums. MAGA stuff is everywhere in those circles. I just wish your suggestion was echoed more widely.

so that it doesn't always have to be non-MAGAers who have to be on their toes

ColleenV

16:38

The world has more people in it than MAGA and not MAGA ;) Don’t get me started on how we Americans think everyone is interested in our politics...

Regardless, we should be careful discussing politics, sex, religion etc.

it is easy to make people feel unwelcome without meaning to

Eddie Kal

Seconded

CowperKettle

17:26

Thirded

Word of the night: to be up oneself ("I don't like her; she is really up herself.")

2

AIQ

18:43

@EddieKal I felt, at the start, that the accent post was a bit unnecessary. OP didn't seem to have any major problems with her accent. And I thought what OP said about people not understanding her speech was exaggerated. Sure, if you are in a Starbucks cafe with all the loud aunties then chances are your barista over the counter might not hear your order the first time - and that is okay.

But then when I say the answers - I realized that those answers would be super helpful to someone who really, really needs help with their accent.

@EddieKal Oh, what kind of games, if I may ask?

Eddie Kal

19:01

@AIQ Avid Civilization player. Always on the lookout for people to play Civ with. :) I also play RPGs, espeically JRPGs. I never touch shooters.

M.A.R.

19:19

@EddieKal well, the recent consumer culture loves to have people indulged in their own feelings. It's always been like that, that 'normal' people prefer a full stomach over a clear conscience at any time, but the difference now is there's a "I feel it so it must be right" wave, so people feel entitled to be arseholes.

What happened to Biden? I thought he was the default rage

Although TBH what the democrats need is republicans' conviction, and "at least he's not Trump" sounds flimsy in that aspect

Eddie Kal

20:29

@M.A.R. Lol precisely. A society built on consuming and spending will not stop. Spending down? Get people back to work and make them spend.

ColleenV

20:40

Out of curiosity - y'all are students right?

Because there are people here that are suffering a lot because they can't work, and it has nothing to do with them being steeped in consumer culture

there are a lot of retired people who depend on their invested retirement money that are suffering because the markets are so volatile.

there are recovered addicts that can't get the support they depend on from their meetings

There are costs to being locked down that are just as significant as the costs of not being locked down

The woman who cuts my hair has a small child and hasn't been able to work for over a month. Luckily her husband can still bring in money, but it's hard on them. The woman who owns her salon may not have the money to reopen when the lockdown is over.

AIQ

20:56

@ColleenV Sure, all that is true. However, I disagree with "costs to being locked down that are just as significant as the costs of not being locked down". No financial struggle or loss of business is comparable to loss of life.

In the US and Canada, and other developed parts of the world, people under lock-down have access to some emergency financial assistance (Unemployment Insurance, Emergency Relief, Deferred Payments on Mortgages, Savings, etc.) Where I am from, there are no such financial help. So the "economic" lives of people in third world countries are relatively more dire.

And even then, I would say that I prefer the lock-down for a little longer if it means that lives are saved, than opening up to reduce financial struggles and costing millions of lives

Decapitated Soul

'No financial struggle or loss of business is comparable to loss of life.' -> I agree entirely.

M.A.R.

21:33

@ColleenV I'm a student, work never here stopped anyway, and I would only support a decision based on evidence, and educated guesses from educated people if there's lack of evidence. But what we get instead is politicized campaign stats marathon of a bad and stupid person who's not educated enough to know injecting bleach will kill you

And you misread my message as well, or maybe I misread Ed's. I wasn't commenting on the recent public health vs. economy trade-off, but generally people like Trump being elected

So, @Colleen, about the lockdown, I lack the data and the expertise to interpret and forecast. My half-educated guess is it's too early for the US to open up, maybe not so early elsewhere

@M.A.R. *here never

The swords cuts both ways TBH. People here were promised Rouhani will bring back economic stability, and they only "felt" he was right, because he was from the opposite party and didn't seem to have Ahmedi's extreme nationalistic tantrums

ColleenV

The underlying fault with the argument that “no amount of economic struggle is worth a loss of life” is thinking that 1, we can’t let some people go back to work safely 2, that we don’t make that trade off every day we get out of bed.

M.A.R.

So it was never about morality here either

@ColleenV 1 yeah, 2 not so much, but I get what you're saying

Dangers were invisible earlier and exaggerated at the moment.

ColleenV

The US could save tens of thousands of lives by forbidding people to drive

we don’t do it because it’s simply not feasible economically

M.A.R.

3) economic struggle has a chance to lead to loss of life

ColleenV

that too.

Anyhow, I don’t want to get into a discussion about it, because I can’t fight the flood of bad data and reasoning the press and politicians have been pushing

M.A.R.

21:44

So it's a trade-off. It was always a trade-off. The public sensation at the moment is being scared of the virus. That doesn't make reopening one day sooner or later any less damaging.

And since two wrongs don't make a right, political parties pulling at strings won't lead to an averaged, sensible timeline

ColleenV

Well everyone acts like “reopening” is the entire state or country all at once

that would be stupid

my area has 5 cases of covid and no hospitalizations

M.A.R.

So, here's a funny thing. Our government has not touched gasoline prices.

I wonder which one is going to buy a new private island or something

ColleenV

we also act like once we start reopening we can’t change course based on data

anyhow, I just preordered the Elder Scrolls Online expansion, I’m going to go ride my fancy new virtual horse around for a while ;)

M.A.R.

Emotions are instant and erratic. If they do reopen, people will be mad even if they lock things down again

ColleenV

Not if people are dying

Right now, people see the police harassing mothers on playgrounds and they’re getting angry

We could have riots if something doesn’t give

M.A.R.

21:51

shrug We're from worlds so very different

And I should sleep. G'night

AIQ

@ColleenV Evidence (or more like incidences) suggests that even nurses and doctors (who I assume take the most precaution and have the best protective gears) have been infected by the virus. Sure, opening up a small town, we can send back 100 people to work safely, but what happens when the infection spreads again? Are we ready to take that chance?

And, I don't think the everyday trade off reasoning is valid here - I can walk outside and have a branch fall on my head and die - but what are the chances? The virus has crippled the world. A recession today won't kill loved ones - the virus will.

M.A.R.

@AIQ have the best protective gears [citation-needed]

AIQ

@M.A.R. I said "assume" - and who else would have better gears than doctors, nurses, biologists, chemists, physicists, and bomb squad?

M.A.R.

@AIQ The first requirement of wearing protective gear is there must be protective gear to wear

AIQ

I meant that in relation to front line workers

Among essential workers, it is nurses and doctors who have those things - not an essential delivery man

Or a security guard ...

ColleenV

22:34

@AIQ How many of those doctors died? The goal is not to keep people from being infected. It’s to prevent hospitalizations from overwhelming our capacity. We have tons of capacity. We have viable treatment and DARPA has a blood test for COVID that works within a day of exposure.

We’ve almost all been exposed. The vast majority of us had symptoms so mild we didn’t notice them

We need to protect the vulnerable, not try to prevent every person from getting infected forever

@AIQ You have a unrealistic assessment of the risk of dying from COVID

AIQ

23:00

@ColleenV I don't disagree with the fact that we can't keep this lock-down forever - I never said that - I think it is too early to lift it. The thing is nobody likes this lock-down. Then why are some people (who are in relatively safer areas) so impatient to get outside while knowing that their neighbours in NY (and other highly vulnerable areas) will have to stay indoors for a little longer?

Just because the US has all these treatments don't mean all developing countries do. People will fly and poor countries won't be able to handle the rate of hospitalization. If US opens its borders, and somehow infected people get back to these less developed countries, it will be catastrophic. NY is in a dire situation. My gf is in Queens, which is one of the hardest hit neighbourhoods in NY.

I mean, you won't hear the "financial crisis" and "bad for business" argument from Canada/Italy/France anywhere near as much as from the US. I don't know. May be you are right.

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