English Language Learners

Anonymous

01:53

I really liked this question:

Anonymous

3

Q: What "subzero temperature" mean? Is it below zero F or below zero C?

What "subzero temperature" mean? Is it below zero F or below zero C? Is it different from "freezing"?

meaning

Anonymous

I'd never thought about it before, despite using both Fahrenheit and Celsius fairly regularly.

Anonymous

(Personally, I use Celsius everywhere, but since I live in the US I come into contact with Fahrenheit anyway, for instance while talking to other people.)

Damkerng T.

Ah, that subzero question...

I got up from bed after, like 4 hours of sleeping. :)

I'm sorry. Did I interrupt you?

Anonymous

Who, me?

Anonymous

02:03

I also got up from bed after four hours of sleeping. Well, less.

Anonymous

That's okay, though, because I shouldn't have been sleeping anyway. I'm terrible at fixing my sleep cycle :-/

Cerberus

Same here!!

I did sleep for another hour a couple of hours after waking up.

Damkerng T.

Good morning, everyone!

Cerberus

It seems everyone on Stack Exchange sucks big time at sleeping.

Damkerng T.

^^

Cerberus

02:05

Sleep cycles are like magical unicorns. Impossible to get at, and possibly imaginary.

Anonymous

@Cerberus Oh! Then we should figure out what all Stack Exchange users have in common.

Anonymous

What could it be? Hmm . . .

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Good morning!

Cerberus

Could it be...sucking at sleeping?

Anonymous

In Japanese, there is an internet slang greeting kon.

Damkerng T.

02:06

kon?

@Cerberus I'm sure most of us more or less have it.

Anonymous

Because kon'nichiwa is used as "hello" during the day, and konbanwa at night, kon is relatively neutral with respect to time

Anonymous

So you can greet someone on the internet with kon without knowing what time zone they're in.

Damkerng T.

I see. I've heard konbanwa often enough.

Anonymous

(People don't generally say kon as a greeting in real life.)

Damkerng T.

How about Good day! in English?

Anonymous

02:07

Good day! Cheerio! Jolly good.

Cerberus

@DamkerngT. Yeah.

Or how about "hello!"?

Anonymous

I can't recall ever having heard someone say good day in person, though I've heard enough English that I probably have and just don't remember.

Damkerng T.

Of course! Hello!

Anonymous

Hello is nice and time-neutral.

Anonymous

Unlike Japanese kon'nichiwa

Anonymous

02:09

In English, I often say good morning irrespective of time.

Anonymous

Sometimes I feel like morning never ends. You can't have enough caffeine to make it go away.

Damkerng T.

Caffeine is probably one cause of erratic sleeping cycle.

Anonymous

Maybe all Stack Exchange users have caffeine in common.

Anonymous

Lately, I haven't had much caffeine. Which is probably a good thing, since I'm sensitive to it :-)

Anonymous

On the other hand, when I'm caffeinated I get a lot done.

Anonymous

02:10

Either that, or I get extremely talkative.

Anonymous

Which I'm not right now. I just . . . I'm . . . Um . . .

Anonymous

Hello!

Damkerng T.

Hello!

I've just got nice comments from J.R.

Sorry for switching out a bit.

Anonymous

Apology accepted, but remember that chat is always priority one.

Damkerng T.

Hah!

(Taking note about the proper priority list.)

Anonymous

02:13

Although I agree with your answer and upvoted it, I'd say that in Fahrenheit zero has psychological significance. It may just be in my head, but it really feels like it means something when the number crosses that threshold. — snailplane 8 mins ago

Anonymous

I bet I'm not the only who feels that way.

Anonymous

I want to read your J.R. comments.

Damkerng T.

In meta.

Requests for native speakers to answer questions

Somehow I can feel J.R.'s kindness.

Anonymous

> TL;DR The best thing for the community, in my opinion, is to leave such a sentence untouched, because that's what the OP wants, until the OP has got a good answer, then we remove it.

Cerberus

@snailplane I only drink tea...

Damkerng T.

02:16

That's my opinion.

Cerberus

And my sleep didn't improve when I quite tea for a week.

Anonymous

Personally, I'm petty. I hate to admit it, but I am. If I see an question that asks for answers from native speakers only, I feel disinclined to answer.

Damkerng T.

I think tea also has lots of caffeine.

Anonymous

I probably shouldn't let myself have that reaction, but there it is.

Damkerng T.

@J.R. Hello!

Anonymous

02:17

Hello!

Damkerng T.

@J.R. I've have just read your comment, and I would like to thank you.

Cerberus

@snailplane I usually add a comment in that case.

J.R.

Well, thank you for making ELL a better place.

Anonymous

@Cerberus I've done that a few times.

Cerberus

Hello, apple!

Damkerng T.

02:18

@J.R. That's the least I can do. Your comments mean a lots to me.

Anonymous

Although I do think it's potentially legitimate to ask for a native speaker's opinion, I don't think such situations come up very often on ELL

Cerberus

Yeah.

Damkerng T.

Some questions are obvious by itself that native speakers know best.

Cerberus

The problem is that it is very difficult for a beginner to judge the level of English of...basically anyone. So how is he to know whether a given answer is any good?

skullpatrol

True^

Damkerng T.

02:20

I think so. It's hard for them to know.

J.R.

I don't find anything inherently wrong with "I would like a native speaker's opinion," but when that's meant to imply "I don't want a non-native speaker's opinion," I think that crosses a line.

Damkerng T.

I usually interpreted that lines in a good way.

Until I've got some feedbacks.

And then I'd know what exactly that line means.

J.R.

As for how will someone know if the answer is good, that's an easy one: Just wait a few hours. If the answer is valid and good, it will get upvoted. If it's not, it will either get downvotes or comments.

Anonymous

@J.R. We've also had users who specifically asked non-native speakers not to answer.

Anonymous

Still, that's no guarantee. We have upvoted wrong answers on ELL.

skullpatrol

02:22

They mean they want an expert's opinion

Anonymous

(And ELU, and . . .)

Cerberus

@J.R. Hmm did you mean to add a semicolon somewhere in between those pseudo-quotations?

J.R.

@snailplane Yes, that's what I'm talking about. I find that inappropriate. That's not how the Stack Exchange works.

Cerberus

@J.R. But what if it is upvoted by hordes of non-native speakers...?

J.R.

That's what comments are for.

Cerberus

02:24

> I agree.*

Damkerng T.

+1

Cerberus

*) This is supposed to emulate a comment.

Anonymous

Oh! Well done.

Cerberus

Heh.

J.R.

I haven't found too many incorrect, highly upvoted answers on ELL.

Anonymous

02:24

It'd be even nicer if it were more Pratchett-esque and had its own nested footnote.

Cerberus

@J.R. But those users have no idea. For them, it's circular reasoning.

@snailplane If you know how to do that...

Anonymous

I want superscript and subscript on chat.

J.R.

Be there or be^2

skullpatrol

Btw who shot J.R.

;-)

Damkerng T.

trying to recall the show's name

skullpatrol

02:28

Dallas

Damkerng T.

Ah, yes. That! Thanks.

Going out for breakfast. See you. Bye.

Cerberus

Ah, do you often go out for breakfast?

G'bye.

skullpatrol

Later

@jr it was Kristin

Anonymous

09:13

We also have little skirmishes over whether non-native speakers are allowed to have opinions on Japanese Language (formerly & Usage).

Anonymous

(Of course, the answer is yes, but...)

Anonymous

A user started leaving comments with their upvotes: "note -- this upvote is also coming from a non-native speaker."

Anonymous

Le sigh.

Damkerng T.

@snailplane I've heard (more like read) that Japaneses don't prefer foreigners to speak exactly the same way Japaneses speak.

But that was... maybe ten years ago.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Well, a lot of native speakers of Japanese would encourage learners to speak what is perceived as the standard language

Anonymous

09:22

I know someone who moved to Japan and married someone from Kansai, but their spouse refuses to speak Kansai-ben around them because they don't want them to learn to speak that way

Anonymous

I think also that many have an (unfortunate) perception that the language as they speak it as inferior to the standard language

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. I often say I've "heard" things that I've only read.

Damkerng T.

@snailplane Thank you for this tip.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. I think it's associated with the idea of "hearsay"--something I've only heard indirectly

Anonymous

When I say I've "heard" in this sense, it means I haven't experienced it directly.

Damkerng T.

09:29

Hello! (Good evening!)

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Are you greeting me or did someone else show up?

Anonymous

Hello!

Damkerng T.

@snailplane I greet thee!

1

A: Is there a word in English meaning "see something incorrectly"?

You asked for a word, and the word is misidentify. COCA shows the result of the word misidentified. You may say this (as I said in my comment) - I misidentified him as Jack. Oxford explains the word misidentify Misidentify (verb) with object: identify (something or someone) incorrec...

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Yay! I am the greetest.

Damkerng T.

You might want to help us verify the subtlety of misidentify.

Anonymous

09:31

Misidentify is a good choice, although it doesn't necessarily involve sight.

Damkerng T.

I found it a little formal, no?

Anonymous

I can identify a piece of music by listening to it, if I'm familiar with it.

Anonymous

Formal? Sure. I suppose so

Damkerng T.

What I can't tell is "how formal it is"?

Anonymous

Me either. Kinda neutral, kinda formal?

Anonymous

09:33

On a scale of 1-5, maybe 3.5? 4?

Anonymous

It wouldn't be totally out of place in informal conversation.

Damkerng T.

Perhaps I watched too many movies that only bodyguards said this.

Anonymous

But formality is more of a spectrum than something with rigid tiers.

Damkerng T.

@snailplane That is what I didn't think, until Maulik posted his answer. And I thought, "Oh it works too!"

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. "Can you identify this song?" "Kindasorta. 'Tsa little hard to hear... Is that an electric kazoo?"

Damkerng T.

09:35

Nope. Never heard it before.

Anonymous

(This is an invented semi-informal dialogue--

Damkerng T.

Was it from some anime or a Japanese drama?

Anonymous

One thing speakers vary greatly on is their ability to pin down subtleties like formality levels. And my command of English is not particularly great. ;-)

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Hey, them there dialogues was in quotes.

Anonymous

(This is an example of where a native speaker would urge a non-native speaker not to talk like them. Again. :-)

Anonymous

09:37

(See? It happens!)

Damkerng T.

I see.

Anonymous

Yay.

Damkerng T.

^^

Anonymous

My brain's in total Japanese mode. It keeps thinking of Japanese responses to everything.

Anonymous

Sometimes when I've been doing Japanese stuff for a while, I start having a harder time spelling in English.

Damkerng T.

09:38

You sound really like a Japanese speaking English in that line. :-)

Anonymous

That seems weird to me, because I've always been a preternaturally good speller.

Anonymous

But I start making homophone errors I'd usually never make, and so on.

Damkerng T.

preternaturally <-- new word! new word!

Anonymous

Oh, good! I might have been trying to introduce you to new words and constructions here or there, just for fun

Damkerng T.

(I meant for me.)

Anonymous

09:39

Although this is how I normally chat.

Damkerng T.

Yes, it's fun. I really like it.

Anonymous

Normally when I join ELL chat and talk to other people, I constrain myself to speak only Standard English.

Anonymous

(Unless I forget.)

Damkerng T.

I think you can talk casually in here.

Anonymous

Because, you know: 1. Standard English is generally easier to understand. 2. I don't want to encourage people to learn non-standard vocabulary, constructions, spellings . . .

Anonymous

09:40

(I think standardization effects apply equally to orthography as to spoken language. I think it's perfectly fairly to speak of Standard English spelling, for example.

Damkerng T.

People like me would want you to do the opposite of (2).

Anonymous

A lot of linguists consider spoken language to have primacy, and many consider things like orthography to be Not Language.

Anonymous

I'm not so sure that's true, though, personally.)

Anonymous

I've managed to parenthesize half of the chat window now. :-)

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Well, non-standard vocabulary is fun, but whatchagonnado?

Damkerng T.

09:42

I gonna use'em time to time.

Anonymous

Can't have learners learning non-standard non-standardisms and thinking they're not not standard.

Damkerng T.

confused :)

Anonymous

Haha, I'm sorry! ;-)

Damkerng T.

I just found the word pioneer in The Cabin in the Woods script. :)

Anonymous

Pioneer!

Anonymous

09:44

It's a relatively common word.

Damkerng T.

That's just creepy. It was pioneer days. People had to make their own interrogation rooms.

Anonymous

Lessee.

Anonymous

Say, d'ya know all these non-standard spellings?

Damkerng T.

Nope.

Anonymous

They reflect contractions in pronunciation.

Anonymous

09:44

Lessee is "let's see"

Damkerng T.

I had to guess them from sounds.

Anonymous

"D'ya" is "Do you"

Anonymous

Of course, people make up eye dialect to fit however they're talking.

Damkerng T.

The first one surprised me was 'twas.

in Blynken, Wynken, and Nod.

Anonymous

Ah, that was once a standard contraction. Some might say it still is, but the problem is, it reflects a spoken form that's no longer commonly used

Anonymous

09:45

'Tis and 'twas are dated.

Damkerng T.

I see. I see.

Anonymous

But you'll find them in literature which isn't especially informal. I wouldn't call them "eye dialect", because that term has certain . . . connotations

Anonymous

Although the literal meaning is compatible.

Damkerng T.

Oh, and we now have twitter dialect.

Anonymous

There's a famous poem almost all native speakers of English know. (Well, know of. Can recognize the first few lines, at a minimum.)

Anonymous

09:46

poetryfoundation.org/poem/171924

Anonymous

I'm sure you can find a reading of it online to read along with.

Damkerng T.

Yes.

I've never read about this St. Nicholas before.

It's Santa!

Anonymous

It is!

Anonymous

Saint Nick.

Damkerng T.

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads

Anonymous

09:50

When I was a child, I had no idea what a sugar-plum was. Something purple, perhaps.

Damkerng T.

I'm not sure I understand that line correctly.

But it sounds like visions can dance in my head too.

Anonymous

The imaginary sugar-plums were doing the dancing.

Damkerng T.

Ah I see.

Oh, that's even stranger!

Anonymous

Maybe you could call it an example of hypallage.

Damkerng T.

dancing sugar-plums

Anonymous

09:51

But!

Anonymous

The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker ( / Shchelkunchik, Balet-feyeriya; ) is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (op. 71). The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. It was given its première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on Sunday, December 18, 1892, on a double-bill with Tchaikovsky's opera, Iolanta. Although the original production was not a success, the twenty-minute suite that Tchaikovsky extracted from the ballet was. However, the complete Nutcracker has enjoyed e...

Anonymous

Stupid Google.

Damkerng T.

(I'm listening to Britney's song. So they dance in a weird way.)

Anonymous

►

Damkerng T.

Ah, it's the ballet.

Anonymous

09:53

I have no idea how anyone can stand on their toes like that, let alone dance while doing so.

Damkerng T.

She dances so gracefully.

Anonymous

She does. It's beautiful.

Damkerng T.

I enjoy it. Thanks.

Stretching arms out like that can remind me of sugar-plum indeed.

(I'm not sure if I imagine sugar-plums correctly, but I guess they should look like coconut trees.)

Anonymous

Hypallage is interesting, by the way.

Anonymous

For instance, in a drunken brawl, it's not the brawl that is drunken, but the participants.

Damkerng T.

09:56

Oh, and sugar plum is not a tree, it's a candy!

Anonymous

Oh!

Anonymous

Well, the term sugar plum isn't commonly used in today's English.

Anonymous

As I said, when I learned the poem, I had no idea what a sugar plum was. :-)

Damkerng T.

@snailplane Ah, yes.

But Jacky Chan in Drunken Master was actually drunken.

Anonymous

Haha.

Anonymous

10:00

That's the point, though--usually the semantics fit fairly well with syntax

Anonymous

When drunken is in attributive position, it modifies the following head noun

Anonymous

A drunken X = an X that is drunk

Anonymous

But sometimes, although syntactically it appears to be modifying the following head noun, the semantics are unexpected--

Anonymous

The drunken brawl example is borrowed from Pullum, who says:

Anonymous

"When we say that some men engaged in a drunken brawl, we don't mean that the brawl was drunken (how could it be? who would pay for its drinks?), we mean that it involved drunken men."

Damkerng T.

10:03

Exactly

Anonymous

Of course, as a native speaker, I never realized there was anything interesting there until it was pointed out to me.

Anonymous

It makes me wonder if learners understand these constructions intuitively without instruction, or if giving them a label and explaining them is helpful

Damkerng T.

Somehow we don't say drunkening brawl, but we can say maddening crowd.

Anonymous

(Although the question of which label you want to give it is of only secondary importance)

Damkerng T.

@snailplane To me, it's intuitively.

Anonymous

10:05

Well, drunken isn't a transitive verb meaning "to cause to be drunk"

Anonymous

You don't drunken someone.

Anonymous

You do madden someone.

Damkerng T.

Hah!

I think in Thai, we can drunken someone.

Anonymous

In other words, the -en in madden is not the same ending you see in drunken.

Anonymous

You can madden someone, you can deepen something, you can harden something, you can moisten something, you can widen something

Anonymous

10:07

And so, maddening, deepening, hardening, moistening, widening are all words.

Damkerng T.

Ah, this point is subtle. (taking note).

Anonymous

Drunken on the other hand is a participial adjective derived from a now obsolete irregular past participle of drink.

Anonymous

(The current past participle is now drunk rather than drunken.)

Damkerng T.

@snailplane Huh? That's new to me.

Ah, drink drank drunk

Anonymous

The verb forms mentioned above are present tense verbs derived using the derivational affix -en, which transforms adjectives into causative verbs (meaning "to become 〜". So hard (adj) + -en = harden "to become hard; to cause to become hard"

Anonymous

10:11

And since harden is a verb, it can take the -ing inflectional affix: hardening

Damkerng T.

Now I'm curious about drunken.

Anonymous

(They're only causative when used transitively. I forgot this, so my description was not quite right.)

Anonymous

Yes, drink drank drunk.

Anonymous

Formerly drunken rather than drunk.

Anonymous

The participial adjective drunken was derived when that was the current form.

Anonymous

10:13

There's a lot of overlap between participles used like adjectives and derived adjectives. Sometimes you can't tell the difference. Often we can.

Damkerng T.

What would you say to describe someone trying to make someone else being drunken (so she will fall unconscious)?

Anonymous

In this case, we can tell the difference for two reasons:
1. The past participle of the verb changed form, but the adjective remained.
2. It's clearly lexicalized as an adjective, because we can see it's taken on a somewhat different meaning.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. I'd use get. Trying to get him drunk.

skullpatrol

Not^

Damkerng T.

I see.

Anonymous

10:14

Hello, skullpatrol!

skullpatrol

Hi

Damkerng T.

Hi!

skullpatrol

Hello

Anonymous

In particular, drink has both the general meaning "to ingest liquid" and the specific meaning "to ingest liquid containing alcohol"

Anonymous

But drunken can never mean "has had a lot of water". It always means "has had a lot of alcohol"

Damkerng T.

10:16

nod

Anonymous

(This is complicated by the fact that the same thing is true of the derived drunk :-)

Anonymous

I think I wrote an answer about this once, but I'm too lazy to look.

skullpatrol

I think "drunk" is a state.

Damkerng T.

6

A: Correct form of verb in the sentence?

Insertion of never doesn't change the choice of form in this case: I drank. I never drank. The same is true for other forms of drink. Compare: I drink coffee. I never drink coffee. I have drunk coffee. I have never drunk coffee. Drink is a bit of an odd word, historically....

Anonymous

Sure. I agree. There's more than one word spelled drunk though.

Damkerng T.

10:19

@snailplane Huh?

skullpatrol

Drank is verb?

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. One is an adjective expressing a state, as skullpatrol helpfully points out. That state is having imbibed lots of alcohol.

Anonymous

One is a noun. A drunk is a person who drinks a lot, as in "the town drunk".

Damkerng T.

I see.

Anonymous

One is a verb form: "I've drunk a lot of water"

Anonymous

10:20

They have different meanings.

Anonymous

The verb form can be used with consumption of non-alcoholic liquids.

Anonymous

The adjective cannot. The noun cannot.

Damkerng T.

I've never realized that.

skullpatrol

"Drank a lot" sounds better to me :-)

Anonymous

"The town drunk" is not someone who always drinks a lot of water. The word requires that what they drink a lot of is alcohol.

Anonymous

10:21

@skullpatrol Well, I was constructing a sentence that deliberately used the past participle.

Anonymous

You probably feel there's no reason to use a perfect construction there because there's no context that demands it.

Anonymous

And that's true--there's no context. But if you imagined a context where it made sense to use a perfect construction, the above is the standard way to do so.

Anonymous

It can be difficult to properly judge examples out of context.

skullpatrol

Hmm ... Thanks, that makes sense.

Anonymous

But I agree with you. I'd be more inclined to say "I drank a lot of water" most of the time.

Damkerng T.

10:24

I think someone had said context is the king (or the key) here before.

(Reading what I've just typed, it sounds a little odd.)

skullpatrol

KING or key, it is THE most important

Damkerng T.

I see.

Anonymous

Hmm.

Anonymous

Context is king. The king? Maybe not.

Anonymous

Of course, I have no problem discussing examples out of context.

Anonymous

10:28

The trouble is, when there is none, we tend to supply our own assumed context.

skullpatrol

In a practical situation

Anonymous

(The other trouble is, sometimes there are too many possibilities and we need context to narrow them down.)

Damkerng T.

How could we think of examples without context? That sounds almost impossible.

skullpatrol

They say the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. You can think of it as a set of potential contexts. Supplying one just narrows the set, eliminating possibilities.

Anonymous

10:31

"I do." ← This could mean a lot of things because do can stand in for a million million different predicates

Anonymous

But! That doesn't mean we can't say anything useful about it.

Anonymous

Is it grammatical? Yes! :-)

skullpatrol

Eating is the practical application of providing context

Anonymous

Is it natural English? Yes, it has the potential to be in certain contexts.

Damkerng T.

@skullpatrol Never thought that way :-)

Anonymous

10:33

"I walkn't." ← Here we can tell it's ungrammatical and never natural English without any context.

Anonymous

We don't need to narrow the set of potential contexts down by supplying context to answer questions about grammaticality or naturalness in that example.

Damkerng T.

I wonder how to type that arrow?

Anonymous

I use Japanese input to type it. I type yajirusi

Damkerng T.

Something I don't have. :)

Anonymous

Actually, I added a couple custom conversions to my input method dictionary, so I can type <- and -> to get ← and → :-)

Anonymous

10:34

But yajirusi lets me select from the full set of Unicode arrows.

Anonymous

(From ya "arrow" + sirusi "sign, symbol")

skullpatrol

The shortest sentence in English is "Go." Look at that out of context :/

Damkerng T.

Oh, Go reminds me of Japanese's Fighting!

Does Fighting! make sense in English?

(as a way to cheer up)

Anonymous

Hmm? As a sentence?

Anonymous

No.

Damkerng T.

10:36

Yes, when they want to cheer someone up, they just yell out Fighting! Fighting!

Anonymous

Again, I can tell useful things about "go". I can tell what it most likely means (it probably has directive force), that it's grammatical, that it's an imperative, that it's natural English

Damkerng T.

I've seen it first from Japanese.

Then, Korean. Then everywhere now.

Anonymous

I can't tell you everything about that utterance without further context, of course.

Anonymous

But it's certainly possible to answer certain questions about language without context.

Anonymous

Context is sometimes irrelevant.

Anonymous

10:38

Sorry, Kingy.

skullpatrol

I am referring to "meaning"

Anonymous

You can still tell something useful about it.

Damkerng T.

►

Anonymous

The set of probable meanings is small, with one being most likely.

Damkerng T.

I just search YouTube, and found this clip talking about Korean Fighting!

Anonymous

10:39

You can't assign a single meaning to it without context, of course.

Anonymous

But it's not like it's likely to mean "Luke, I am your father!"

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. I'm unfamiliar with fighting in Japanese

Damkerng T.

Hah!

skullpatrol

That is why we have dictionaries with numbered meanings.

Damkerng T.

I thought Japanese was the first to use it that way!

(Fighting! ~ Do your best!)

Anonymous

10:42

Maybe so! But I don't recognize the term

Anonymous

I hear Fight, Oh! fairly often

Damkerng T.

Ah, yes. Fai-to!

Then Korean says Fighting!

skullpatrol

My battery is running too low ... I will talk to you guys latter :-)

Damkerng T.

And it spreads throughout this region, because K-POP is so popular!

Anonymous

Yeah, or just fight /faito/

Damkerng T.

10:44

@skullpatrol See you!

skullpatrol

Later

Damkerng T.

I think I got to go too. Talk to you guys again. BBL.

skullpatrol

Thanks @snailplane for the grammatical point of view :-)

Anonymous

Talk to you later!

Steve Melnikoff

11:48

@MaulikV: continuing the conversation from ell.stackexchange.com/a/15500/120 : you said "We shall have to recheck. When you listen to an artist, you may directly say, "I'm listening MJ." Native speaker's comment would be useful. Listening to music is fine but Listening to Michael Jackson is doubtful."

Firstly, I am a native speaker (I'm from London). I wonder if this is a regional issue? In British English, the "to" is compulsory; saying "I'm listening MJ" is simply wrong.

Maulik V

Hello Steve

mea culpa! It does require 'to'. I admitted this in comment there.

Thanks for saving me!

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