Language Overflow

G Warner

00:02

I think I will give that one my own lengthy answer, since the comments are now becoming a discussion on their own..

Over explanation perhaps.

"If you can't dazzle 'em with simple truth, baffle with lengthy BS" (censored)

AIQ

I have immense respect for our moderators - I don't know how they are able to do it. I mean how they are able to ensure that what they say and write are never misconstrued.

CowperKettle

00:19

> I beg your pardon, Sir, but I'm a British cat and I need tea

It turns out that Yekaterinburg is on the same latitute with Edinburgh, only in Yekaterinburg the snow cover lasts for 5 months, and in Edinburgh the temperature rarely falls below 0°C

G Warner

00:54

@CowperKettle Cute. looks startled. Is the request for tea what that says?

CowperKettle

02:04

Yes, it's a bit anxious-looking

CowperKettle

03:47

2

Eddie Kal

@CowperKettle Would love to see the context

99

Q: Please, everyone ... details. Please!

I've seen a lot of questions crop up recently, where individuals are giving a very brief snippet of English, and asking questions like these: Is this correct? What does this mean? What is the difference between X & Y? Is there a better way to say this? Such questions are fine, of course (...

CowperKettle

04:24

The Princess Bride (film)

The Princess Bride is a 1987 American fantasy adventure comedy film directed and co-produced by Rob Reiner, starring Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, Wallace Shawn, André the Giant, and Christopher Guest. Adapted by William Goldman from his 1973 novel The Princess Bride, it tells the story of a farmhand named Westley, accompanied by companions befriended along the way, who must rescue his true love Princess Buttercup from the odious Prince Humperdinck. The film essentially preserves the novel's narrative style by presenting the story as a book being read by a grandfather...

ColleenV

11:09

@AIQ Get used to people getting upset when you try to explain that SE requires more effort. Most people don’t want to put the effort in to be part of the community, but it is worth persevering for that one person who will “get it”

Jasper

11:20

@snailcar Do snails need to wear masks there?

@AIQ Is AIQ the combination of AI and IQ?

@jlliagre Nice mask you have.

@ColleenV The Reinstate Monica thing you have in your avatar. Did you make it or someone else made it and lots of people are using it?

AIQ

@Jasper haha nope, it's just my initials

ColleenV

11:43

@Jasper J.R. made it

He's updated his avatar with something else now that everything has sort of settled

ColleenV

12:39

@snailcar I need some help explaining why "I would live in Tehran for a decade before moving to Canada." is not incorrect. I know it instinctively, but I can't explain exactly how it is used...

0

A: What's the difference between "lived", "have lived", "used to live", and "would live"?

1_ I lived in Tehran from 1950-1960. This means that you lived in Tehran for that specific period. It suggests that you didn't live there before 1950 or after 1960, but it doesn't exclude the possibility that you lived there again at a later point. 2_ I've lived in Tehran for a decade. ...

> Baker escaped ... by moving to Paris, where racist attitudes were less ingrained; she would live there for the rest of her long life. (Chicago Reader)

ColleenV

13:41

@ColleenV: Nah. That would be [Little did I know that] I would live in Tehran for a decade before I moved to Canada. You could parse the exact cited text as hopelessly outdated would = want to for a syntactically valid utterance. OR you could maybe get away with "present tense hypothetical" move rather than moved in some "irrealis" context like If I were to follow my father's advice, I would live in Tehran for a decade before I move to Canada. But personally I'd always use the "past" form there. — FumbleFingers Reinstate Monica 13 mins ago

My brain changed "move" to past tense, making me look dumb, much like my mobile's auto-correct likes to do :/

CowperKettle

14:38

@Jasper - nice avatar!

M.A.R.

@Jasper's back?

CowperKettle

15:23

nods

Jasper

16:11

@ColleenV That one means to me that you would try living in Tehran for a decade before considering whether you should relocate to Canada. It certainly is correct to me.

@M.A.R. Indeed.

ColleenV

@Jasper Using "would" in that way for "would like to" is a bit old fashioned or stiff I think

Jasper

@CowperKettle Thanks. I see you are still a copper kettle.

CowperKettle

Word of the day: Irritable Bower Syndrome

@Jasper Because copper kills coronaviruses

Why Copper is Good at Killing Viruses

I even thought of bying some copper foil and wrapping it around door handles in our communal entrance lobbies and doors etc, etc (I don't know what we call the common entrance to the block of flats)

But I'm not skilled enough at that.

userr2684291

17:20

I find it amusing how some people keep writing numbered lists of items using everything but a single period after the number. I've seen 1] 2]..., and 1- 2-..., but there's also 1_ 2_... apparently.

M.A.R.

17:32

1}

1☺

@AIQ Hmph well, you're obviously part of the inner circle, what with your secret handshakes and code responses and all. People need to rise against the tyranny

@CowperKettle Bower?

CowperKettle

@Jasper I wanted to say that I like the blue avatar.

@M.A.R. Oops

Eddie Kal

17:55

@M.A.R. That's the spirit!

ColleenV

18:13

@M.A.R. I think it's a Japanese thing... or something in the British royal court...

@userr2684291 I have a feeling there is a UI problem lurking there somehow

Maybe people try the dot, but something about the editor makes them think it's a bad idea

Jasper

@CowperKettle Yes, I made it using Paint in Windows. In fact, this is one of the colours offered in Paint conveniently.

ColleenV

18:27

@Jasper It makes me think of the song Mr. Blue Sky (youtube.com/watch?v=wuJIqmha2Hk)

New Meta Question

18:50

0

Q: Is there a good duplicate target for "What's the difference between the infinitive and the present participle?"

I keep seeing questions like this every day: What's the difference between jump and jumping? Why would I say I like to jump up and down instead of I like jumping up and down? Every time I see these questions, I really want to mark them as a duplicate of another question that also has a good...

discussion questions possible-duplicates

AIQ

19:40

@ColleenV This is gone

@Jasper But why blue?

ColleenV

@AIQ You can get the gist of it form the comments under the question:

-1

Q: What's the difference between "lived", "have lived", "used to live", and "would live"?

What's the differences between the below sentences and which of them is correct or more correct? It seems that all of them have the same meaning. If it's true, then which of them is more common in daily routine conversation? I lived in Tehran (Iran's Capital) from 1950-1960. (Past Simple). ...

tense past-tense present-perfect past-continuous

The author made a typo I overlooked

AIQ

Yup I already read that, what I meant was Astralbee's answer is deleted

ColleenV

@AIQ Yeah, which is unfortunate. It would have been better if it had been edited, it wasn't that far off

AIQ

FF should turn their comments into an answer

dare I say

ColleenV

19:55

@AIQ If you win the election, you will be saying that a lot

AIQ

lol

ColleenV

We've chatted about it. He is aware of the problems it causes and has reasons why he doesn't like to write that stuff as answers

Every so often you might have to nag him about it so he writes more answers ;)

Jasper

20:16

@AIQ Very simple. It is my favourite colour.

AIQ

oh

jlliagre

22:46

@Jasper Thanks. In France, wearing a mask in public is forbidden by law since 2010 outside a few exceptions like Carnival or medical reasons but is going to be mandatory in some places like public transportation starting from next Monday... The exception becomes the rule.

Eddie Kal

23:03

@jlliagre I am surprised they haven't repealed that stupid law

M.A.R.

23:30

Wearing a mask in public is forbidden? What the heck!

They do realize masks are for protection of public health?

CowperKettle

23:52

@Jasper Blue is the favorite color of my friend Olli. I gave her a gift recently, a blue face mask ))

Word of the day: The struggle is real.

M.A.R.

That is a very long word

Look at the back and forth here

34

A: "Yes, you can. But you may not."

This is what was meant: Yes, you are capable of sitting there. But you are not permitted to do so. It's using the following senses of the words (from Merriam-Webster). Can: 1 a : be physically or mentally able to // He can lift 200 pounds. May: 1 b : have permission to // y...

I propose that commenting should be a privilege that comes at 3000 rep.

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