Language Overflow

Eddie Kal

01:50

word of the day for me: lechon

AIQ

08:16

Someone closevoted my question as proofreading

6

Q: How do you pronounce 2'' x 9/2" x 8' (board)?

I called Home Depot to reserve some wood. This is my exact requirement: 2" x 9/2" x 8ft. I told them over the phone many times "I am calling to make sure if you have four 2 inch times 9 inch divided by 2 inch times 8 feet board." and yet they don't seem to understand, and they want me to ...

I honestly don't see how it's proofreading. I mean I was not that invested in it to begin with, it started off as an experiment, then it turned out to have some worth given the "fraction" aspect ... But to call it a "proofreading" question is kind of an insult

Anonymous

08:47

I don’t think it’s an insult, but I do think it’s a misuse of the close reason. It’s far from the first time that close reason has been misused…

Anonymous

While I agree that I would write 4.5", 4½", or 4 and a half inch, if I were reading the actual text 9/2", I would say "nine half inch," rather than converting it. — Jason Bassford May 29 at 18:59

Anonymous

Frankly, I’m not sure everyone would understand “nine half inch”.

Anonymous

I would recommend not saying that.

Anonymous

It’s a good question, and I’m glad you got some good answers :-)

AIQ

@snailplane Hi Snailplane, right, I just said that out of frustration, sorry, but yeah I meant to say that if it has to be closed then I guess "duplicate" is the only close reason that comes close ... Or may be something like "I am voting to close this question because AIQ is trolling the original question". I would be fine with any of those - just not "proofreading"

@snailplane I also did not find that very natural ... Honestly I never heard anyone say that. That is why I asked for clarification. And I still didn't get the explanation.

haha

ColleenV

12:40

If someone spoke "Do you have 2 inch by 9 half inch by 8 foot boards?" I would have to ask them to repeat it.

ColleenV

14:05

Sometimes I don't like being right ...

@Mari-LouA theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/03/…

Mari-Lou A

14:59

@ColleenV enjoy your moment.

ColleenV

15:15

I don't enjoy it. I want to be able to trust the Lancet and the WHO and others to do their due diligence and not publish crap.

I would rather not have to dig into every freaking study's methodology to see if what is being reported about it is true or misleading politicized junk.

At this point, I don't know of a single source that hasn't flushed their reputation down the toilet repeatedly publishing things as fact that have later turned out to be false. Mistakes that could have been avoided if they had even done the most basic of checks to make sure.

Mari-Lou A

@ColleenV I would agree, it is puzzling why this study was not immediately examined or confirmed by certified scientists. In the end, no one is to be trusted.

ColleenV

But here we are in a world where everything has to have a "side" and 6 companies control 90% of the media in the US. So I'm stuck not being able to believe anything.

I guess I'll just go back to ignoring the media and pay more attention to the bean plants I'm growing in containers on my back porch

And watching the hummingbirds which have finally returned

2

Our strawberries are looking pretty good too - we've picked a few already.

CowperKettle

15:37

Anonymous

15:51

Word of the day: condign

2

AIQ

18:54

Why can't I post things with the ">" here?

> This forum doesn't offer proof reading. However, version 2 is better, except that it's the door of, not at. – Kate Bunting 10 hours ago

> @KateBunting Apparently it does offer proofreading, because you just provided it? – ColleenV 7 hours ago

Savage ...

ColleenV

I've been dealing with a home insurance claim for the past @#$^#$ week. I'm in no mood to mince words.

Idiom of the year be in no mood for something

All of the walls in our basement now look like this:

M.A.R.

19:12

@ColleenV I see six symbols and I can't fit anything in

ColleenV

M.A.R.

hicking?

That's seven

@ColleenV Ow, sucks

ColleenV

@M.A.R. It's a tonal language that doesn't correspond directly to English spelling

The ^ represents an extra frustration sound

Our sump pump failed for one night during steady rain for 4 days

Getting it cleaned up went smooth - our insurance company is great, but fixing everything is going to be a PIA because the bank that holds our mortgage is involved.

And they don't give a flying @#%^^^^ what we think about their customer service

M.A.R.

Ambiguity of the day

18

Q: Are one-third of all Americans killed by strangers killed by police?

According to granta, One-third of all Americans killed by strangers are killed by police. Is this true?

united-states

Anonymous

19:39

@M.A.R. Yeah, that's a nice example of attachment ambiguity.

Eddie Kal

20:53

@ColleenV Potting mix + mulch?

ColleenV

@EddieKal Just a good quality garden vegetable mix

that has some fertilizer to give things a bit of a boost

Eddie Kal

Ever use store bought compost?

ColleenV

I'm going to probably fertilize everything this weekend and give them some neem oil

@EddieKal Yes, I buy compost because I don't want to maintain my own heap

We're getting ready to put in some bigger raised beds for next year

I've only been out in the country for a couple of years, so baby steps :)

right now we're growing mostly stuff for tea

I want to definitely do some lentils, lettuce and potatoes next year

I may convince my husband we need a compost pile the year after next

But we live in an area with a lot of dairy farms so compost isn't all that expensive

Eddie Kal

@ColleenV I have only used neem oil that I bought on Amazon as a pesticide. It is the only thing that works for me on aphids.

ColleenV

@EddieKal Neem oil is great because it's not toxic

Eddie Kal

21:03

@ColleenV Wow that's pretty impressive

ColleenV

We use it for bugs and it supposedly helps with some fungus

We had a lot of rain, which left some powdery mildew on some of our plants

It seems to have solved itself, but neem can't hurt

@EddieKal We are getting a dehydrator

So mint, lemon grass, lavender, chamomile that sort of stuff

We have some big pots of parsley, basil, oregano, chives too

Eddie Kal

@ColleenV I have to do all my growing and green thumb stuff indoors, so herbs are a huge challenge. Even with artificial lighting, things don't grow right 80% of the time

ColleenV

Herbs are tough - they need full sun

there are some part shade plants like parsley and oregano that might work

Eddie Kal

@ColleenV Do you grow lemon grass from seeds? That is something I've always wanted to grow and needed for cooking

ColleenV

We practice "darwinian gardening" - we try lots of things, and the fittest survive

@EddieKal We bought plants

They've gotten a bit bigger since I took that picture

Eddie Kal

21:11

@ColleenV Interesting! Didn't know lemongrass seedlings were available for sale

Looking great. I have never seen lemongrass in the wild

ColleenV

I have been watching an interesting channel on YouTube - Epic Gardening. It has a lot of videos about container gardening in an urban setting

I don't know if it would be much help with indoor gardening

Eddie Kal

Subscribed. Thanks

ColleenV

@EddieKal We saw them at Lowes and grabbed them. What's weird is that no-one around here had any rosemary

When we were in Texas it was everywhere

I want to try some ginger too

The lentils and ginger will grow from stuff you buy at the grocery store

We even got lemon trees to grow from lemon seeds we got from store lemons once. The leaves smelled great, but we never got any fruit

epicgardening.com/ginger-plant

@EddieKal I bet there are a lot of things you might be able to grow if you find some fresh in the grocery store and used some rooting hormone (epicgardening.com/best-rooting-hormones)

I have gotten lettuce ends to sprout new roots (although I think it's easiest to grow lettuce from seeds)

You might be able to plant some fresh stalks of lemon grass and make more.

Basil and mint grow really well from cuttings too

AIQ

22:51

What I want to grow is chilli ... Chilli is everywhere in my country ... we have plenty

and cheap

here in Canada, jesus ... its sooo expensive

and the quality is not so good ... they will buy is once a month and the stock just stays there and gets all soggy and bad because no one buys chilli

so expensive

AIQ

23:37

@EddieKal I have noticed at least two users who consistently keep asking the same kind of low quality questions - what is the difference between 1, 2, and 3; which one is more natural; which one is this, that - I can't downvote all their questions, the system will penalize me ... but I think they need to hear a word or sth

I don't think flagging will work because the mod team will see that specific question. But if they look into the user's profile they will see all these very similar kind of questions

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