English Language Learners

Jez

19:00

do you know anyone else who is interested in furniture? i wouldn't be surprised if it were more female-centric, actually.

Damkerng T.

@Jez I will be frank. I've followed a few proposals on Area 51 but always ended up never engaging in any proposals. However, whenever you want the last man, ping me.

Jez

lol

@DamkerngT. i want the last man. in advance. please.

Damkerng T.

lol

Fair enough.

Okay, I follow, too!

Jez

cool, thanks.

Damkerng T.

No problem!

StoneyB

19:19

@Jez, you should be in sales.

Jez

hah

no i'm too good at my current job.... when i have a decent chair.

MARamezani

I'm back! (Oh no)

Jez

trouble is, my boss has gone for "form over function" in the latest office layout

the office is noisy, distracting, and uncomfortable

StoneyB

Well, there you are. If you go into sales you get out of the office.

MARamezani

Phew. That was a harsh answer.

Guys, can you tell me some things comments do?

Taking notes

Iplodman

19:22

Hallo again!

MARamezani

Hullo!

Iplodman

I wasn't at my computer for a longer time than I imagined c:

So how are we all?

MARamezani

I'm fine.

Not caffeinated anymore.

Iplodman

I'm not sure whether that's good or bad ;P

MARamezani

Me neither.

StoneyB

19:29

@MARamezani Comments don't do anything: they are media by which sapient beings do things.

MARamezani

0

Q: Commenting versus Answering

I am unsure about is why at some times people post a comment instead of an answer, though they do in a sense seem to answer the question in the comment. Are these people wrong in doing this or am I not seeing when it is more appropriate to comment than answer? For example, this. If I am mistak...

discussion

I'm trying to have an answer that makes people go WOW.

Iplodman

I think the OP might like to know about comments which answer the question appropriately, but are still just a comment.

MARamezani

@Iplodman And I told them that when the answerer is unsure, they want clarification, they wanna mention the policies etc. they comment rather than answering, somehow.

Iplodman

I mean when the comment should, by it's own rights, be an answer. Not any of the cases you mentioned, but a perfectly acceptable answer.

Damkerng T.

Apr 3 at 12:16, by Damkerng T.

I think it's rather clear that when I comment, besides wanting to help, I mean that either I'm lazy, or I don't really know the complete answer.

I wonder whether the first or the latter is more frequent. :P

Iplodman

19:41

Good quote ;P

MARamezani

@Iplodman That don't no happen in chemistery,StacjExchang

:}

Iplodman

Ah, right ;P

user116848

Hi Ip

MARamezani

Hmm, I starred one of @Dam's messages so that @snailboat's sink down lower....

Iplodman

@arrowfar Hola!

Damkerng T.

19:53

lol -- What happened to our starring!?

user116848

@Iplodman Yo Yo!

Iplodman

Hm?

@arrowfar Oi!

user116848

@Iplodman Oi!

user116848

lol

MARamezani

There goes again another 567 messages saying ~~hello~~ hullo in different langs

Iplodman

19:55

@MARamezani Bonjour!

System.out.println("Hello!");

MARamezani

@Iplodman Moni!

Iplodman

print("Hello!")

@MARamezani res.write("Hello!")

Damkerng T.

return "Selamat datang!";

MARamezani

@DamkerngT. "Salamat"?

Damkerng T.

Should it be spelled otherwise?

Oh, I see.

Let's do some acceptability test...

Do you think these sentences are acceptable?

> a) What he's done is spoilt the whole thing.

MARamezani

20:03

@DamkerngT. I'd use a gerund.

Damkerng T.

> b) What he did was spoilt the whole thing.

MARamezani

Still a gerund.

Damkerng T.

I just saw this:

Your last sentence is perfectly fine! It's not doubtful! :-) — Araucaria Feb 4 at 0:23

By "last sentence", Araucaria meant a).

MARamezani

What the?

Iplodman

Uh, no markup? Hmm.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++.>++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++.>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++..>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++.

There we go!

Damkerng T.

20:08

A lot of pluses!?

MARamezani

@Iplodman Just for me?

Iplodman

"Hello" in Brainfuck!

MARamezani

Pass out

Iplodman

;D

Damkerng T.

Oh, I see!

Iplodman

20:09

That took me a fair amount of time ;P

MARamezani

@Iplodman Wait, while I was jobless you were doing that? You're jobless too.

Damkerng T.

It once was an esoteric language.

Iplodman

@MARamezani I am jobless! ;P

MARamezani

I'm sleepy again. Bye!

Damkerng T.

@MARamezani Must be because of those pluses!

Bye!

Iplodman

20:11

Cheerio!

MARamezani

@DamkerngT. I bet! Yawning

Damkerng T.

@Iplodman Oh, the first real Cheerio!

(for me in chat)

Iplodman

@DamkerngT. ;)

Damn, I'm struggling to write anything. My mind can't come up with words :(

Damkerng T.

Ah, writer's block!

Iplodman

^ :(

Damkerng T.

20:16

I've heard there are several ways to overcome the block.

Ah, this is interesting...

> Symptom: You have chosen or been assigned a topic which bores you....

> owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/567/01

Sounds like a likely reason!

Iplodman

Hm, none of those.

It's for that novel I've started c:

Damkerng T.

Ahh

@Iplodman Easy, just add a robot to the novel. Unblocked! -- just kidding :-)

Iplodman

Ha ha ;)

> As the metal chunk continued it's decimation of the city, I wondered (although not calmly)-- "why the heck is it here?".

Damkerng T.

:D

Iplodman

;P

> ... let your content dictate your chapter length, not the other way around. (source)

Damkerng T.

20:21

Oh, Writer's Digest!

I knew only Reader's Digest.

Iplodman

Something else I'd/I'm struggling with c:

Same here ;p

user116848

21:07

There was a power breakdown here (where I live) a while ago.

user116848

Good thing everything is back to normal.

Iplodman

Damn ;P

user116848

Daammmnnn! :D

user116848

I gotta take off.

user116848

I have things to do, places to be, mountains to climb, seas to swim in, skies to dive from. Cheerio!

Iplodman

21:18

Tara!

user116848

Bye :-)

Damkerng T.

21:44

ELL status: 15,009 questions

Damkerng T.

22:35

3

A: Is it possible for a non-native version of a language to be classed as a dialect?

I think the standard definition of dialect makes this fairly clear: mutually intelligible varieties that differ in systematic ways. So 'Indian English' (if there is a single such entity and it is spoken as a complete linguistic code) is a dialect of English. I don't see why it has to be a L1 to b...

> I don't see why it has to be a L1 to be a dialect of English.

A-ha!

Should I need to improve my English any further?

Surely, I must be so perfect in my own dialect of English!

(Wait, isn't that just an idiolect!?!)

> It's English Jim, but not as we know it!

Or even:

> It's English Jim, but not as anyone knows it!

Iplodman

@DamkerngT. Oje quet fooliah grump-tart?

It's my dialect! ;)

Damkerng T.

Hehe!

Iplodman

I'm ashamed of Waterstones for not accepting National Book Tokens online :(

Damkerng T.

I'm not familiar with National Book Tokens. I guess it's common over here.

Oh, both Waterstones and National Book are book retailers!

Iplodman

Yup!

Waterstones is a great store.

Damkerng T.

22:42

nods

Iplodman

They also stock Penguin Clothback Classics, which is great.

Damkerng T.

I'm more familiar with Borders, and of course Amazon.

Iplodman

The Book People have incredibly good prices. Best-selling trilogies for under £4!

Damkerng T.

Neat!

Iplodman

Link, if you're interested.

Damkerng T.

22:45

Can I buy it overseas?

Iplodman

You might be able to, ask their customer service! c:

> £16.99 ... Save £146.68

What?!

Damkerng T.

I've got a Nook e-reader, but can't buy anything from Barnes & Noble!

Iplodman

@DamkerngT. D:

Damkerng T.

@Iplodman What a great price!

Iplodman

I'm a Kindle guy, but I prefer real paper at the moment c:

@DamkerngT. It is pretty incredible! ;P

They go around to schools here and sell books to them for really cheap.

Damkerng T.

22:47

Ahh

I kinda like the design of their homepage!

Iplodman

Yep, it's pretty great ;P

Gotta' run, I'll cya whenever!

Damkerng T.

See you!

Iplodman

:)

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