English Language Learners

Nicolas Raoul

01:39

What does "still a bit fan" mean? Like in "I'm still a bit fan of your band!"

Jolenealaska

Is the quote "a bit of a fan"? Meaning, is the first "a" a part of the quote?

Otherwise, I'd need more context.

Nicolas Raoul

@Jolenealaska: I just wrote a question for this: ell.stackexchange.com/questions/19764/…

Jolenealaska

I had a huge crush on Shaun Cassidy as a kid. I had posters, he was in a TV show that I adored. I have to admit, I'm still a bit of a fan.

Nicolas Raoul

The whole context is actually a user of my software telling me how she likes/dislike? it. twitter.com/pivot_data/status/448128542849925120

OK, so I guess she used to like my app, but that much anymore?

@Jolenealaska: Thanks! :-)

Damkerng T.

Hello @NicolasRaoul, perhaps English is not her language, and this "a bit fan" could mean "a bit of a fan" as Jolenealaska suggested or she just tried to say "a little fan" as in "she is sort of fan of your band", I guess.

Jolenealaska

01:53

Yes, it's just shorthand or lazy typing. She's being complementary.

It also might be a typo for "big fan". Even more complimentary.

As a matter of fact, I think that's exactly what it is. Typo for "big fan" which would fit perfectly in what she says in the tweet.

Damkerng T.

A-ha! That's also possible. The two keys are not very far apart.

"a bit fan" sounds quote odd, even to me.

Jolenealaska

Right next to each other :) It reads better that way too.

Damkerng T.

See, I just did a similar typo (unintentionally, I swear)!

Jolenealaska

I noticed that :)

@NicolasRaoul Did you catch the above conversation? I think that's it.

Damkerng T.

02:19

> So now I just play songs on my guitar.

It sounds rather odd, but I think it's passable. The question is, "Is it really passable?"

Nicolas Raoul

It did not occur to me, but now that you mention it, that might be that indeed!

Hum, so what should I do with the question... Being a typo makes the question moot I guess? Or @Jolenealaska you might want to add the second hypothesis and I'll mark the answer as accepted.

Damkerng T.

@NicolasRaoul +1 I think Jolenealaska should do that.

Jolenealaska

How 'bout you edit the question with an addendum.

As in EDIT: The whole quote was: "blab bla..."

Then I will edit my answer the same way.

You can mention that it came up in comments, or not. Whichever feels right to you.

Damkerng T.

As a third person, I'd say it makes more sense to leave the question as it is, and add another alternative explanation (which is more likely, imo) to the answer.

A short sentence would do, I think.

Jolenealaska

Ok, I'll do that, but I need to quote the tweet (minus names, of course)

Nicolas Raoul

02:30

Edited :-)

Damkerng T.

Hmm... Seems like "play songs on guitar" is more common than "play songs with guitar".

I couldn't find that post that explains why the past perfect is not necessary when the sequence of the events is obvious.

Hello @Theta30! Long time no see!

Jolenealaska

Done

Theta30

Cool thing of the day: "fly" meaning " To move with great speed; rush or dart: The children flew down the hall."

@DamkerngT. thanks

How is Hemingway?

Damkerng T.

@Theta30 Book V

Theta30

:)

Damkerng T.

02:35

It's been paused for a week. A little busy lately.

But I sure will finish it.

Theta30

yes it was interesting

and remember some things from it

I see more people today in the room

7 people

Damkerng T.

Yay!

Theta30

(cool things of the day might be obvious for others nevertheless)

Damkerng T.

02:51

@Theta30 I used the word "fly" once here, for a sport.

Feb 27 at 20:39, by Damkerng T.

@skullpatrol sepak-takraw is really fun. You can fly during the game, lots of times.

@Theta30 Your fly also reminds me of "dash".

Utkarsh

Great Morning Everyone!

Damkerng T.

Good morning!

Theta30

morning or not, it depends on where you are

Jolenealaska

@Utkarsh Are you still looking for help with something?

Utkarsh

@Jolenealaska "still"?

Jolenealaska

02:56

WOW..7pm...How did that happen? It feels like mid-afternoon.

Utkarsh

Had I asked for help earlier also?

Jolenealaska

Didn't you ask for help a while back (a few hours) but no one was here?

Yep, 257 SE time

@Utkarsh this message.

Utkarsh

which one?

Damkerng T.

@Utkarsh The one with the timestamp "yst 17:57" above. Just scroll back, it should be the same on your screen.

Utkarsh

Oh! That? That Problem is solved now :P

I was asking if my sentences are correct before posting to my website

@DamkerngT. have you ever read the novel, journey to the centre of the earth?

Theta30

03:06

or seen the movie :P ?

Damkerng T.

@Utkarsh As a novel, nope. But I've read its picture book version, and watched its movie adaptation.

Oh, I'm missing those picture books. :D

Utkarsh

@DamkerngT. Hmmm, What do you mean by "as a novel"? I read it in a 150 paged book with 2-3 pages of images. Did i read it as a novel ?

Damkerng T.

I think of a typical Jules Verne translation as a novel.

I don't know how many translations there are.

Utkarsh

and what about the canterville ghost?

Damkerng T.

That one I'm sure I haven't! :D

Utkarsh

03:11

First, I thought that the story is real but after reading about it on wiki, :(

Damkerng T.

Hmm... what day is it?

@Utkarsh Isn't today your Birthday? :-)

Happy Birthday! @Utkarsh

@Utkarsh This one is real: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Mystery_House

Utkarsh

@DamkerngT. Yup! Its my Birthday today! Thanks :D

Damkerng T.

I'm now curious about "get in" vs "get on" a submarine or a submerged boat or any similar vehicle. — Damkerng T. 46 secs ago

@Utkarsh Yay!

Jolenealaska

You get onboard.

Utkarsh

I wish I could have invited you in my party but you are in Thailand :P

Jolenealaska

03:25

Happy Birthday! @Utkarsh

Utkarsh

@Jolenealaska Thanks :)

Damkerng T.

@Utkarsh Hehe

@Jolenealaska Something like this could make it even trickier:

Or this...

Jolenealaska

Getting onboard would be more tricky, maybe. But that's still what I'd call it.

Damkerng T.

nods Thanks.

Jolenealaska

That's coming from a US Army veteran. :) I know lots of Squids (slang for Navy personel)

Damkerng T.

03:31

A-ha! Squids and Seals are different, I think.

Jolenealaska

Yes! All Seals are Squids, but not many Squids are Seals. Seals are the most elite of the elite.

Damkerng T.

Ahh... like those Top Guns, the best of the best.

I'd be in the Air Force, if we're at war.

Jolenealaska

Yes. It was a Seal team that killed Bin Laden.

Damkerng T.

Too bad that I wouldn't have a chance to fly a plane myself. My position is about communications.

Hmm.. I think this is the last year for me to serve the Air Force as a reserve. I will be discharged late this year.

Jolenealaska

So was my "real" job. The army kind of unofficially put me elsewhere after my first tour (Korea), but my official Army training was a communications job. I'm sure it's very different now. It's hard for me to believe, but that was over 20 years ago.

Damkerng T.

03:37

@Jolenealaska That's very, very big news everywhere.

Jolenealaska

It was sooo overdue. It was a huge weight being lifted.

Damkerng T.

I also have just watched Zero Thirty Hour recently. Perhaps it's rather close to what happened.

The Seal team is amazing, and so is the Intel.

Jolenealaska

I haven't seen Zero Dark Thirty, I probably won't.

Damkerng T.

Oh, I messed up the name. Sorry.

Jolenealaska

I get a little too wrapped in those kinds of stories. I remember 911 too vividly.

Damkerng T.

03:44

Oh, that was quite a shock.

Jolenealaska

I cried for days. I still get very emotional thinking about it.

Damkerng T.

I remember that I was about to leave my place for the badminton court, and it was on the news. A big shock.

I couldn't believe what I saw. I remember that.

Jolenealaska

The whole world changed that day. Since then everything is pre-911 or post-911

Damkerng T.

nods

I think several security measures here have also been revised after the event.

Jolenealaska

Oh, I'm sure of it.

Damkerng T.

03:48

I'm sure it must have much more emotional impact there.

I could feel it here.

One thing for sure, I couldn't bring a bottle of water with me on board nowadays.

Jolenealaska

A lot of it was sheer indignation. How dare you?! American Soil, American Citizens! That was beyond shocking for us.

We kind of had a sense of invulnerability that was shockingly stripped

Damkerng T.

nods -- It was also the first time I'd heard the word "harbor", in Bush's speech.

Jolenealaska

Do you mind if I ask how old you are?

Damkerng T.

Back then I didn't really catch what he said in real time, I had to read the transcript and the translation.

44.

Jolenealaska

Ah, you are about my age (46). For some reason I imagined you college age.

Cerberus

03:55

Hello!

Damkerng T.

Hello, Cerberus.

Jolenealaska

Hey Cerby!

Cerberus

@Jolenealaska I wonder, you do have bombings, right? Like in Oklahoma?

That was also bad?

Not as many dead, of course. But still bad.

Jolenealaska

That about killed me. I was absolutely shocked and stunned.

Damkerng T.

Trying to recall the Oklahoma incident.

Cerberus

03:56

OK.

Someone loaded a truck with explosives and set them off next to a large building.

Jolenealaska

Another one that stunned me terribly was the Columbine shooting.

Cerberus

(Of course I would be shocked as well. But I'm not sure I get this sense of invulnerability?)

Damkerng T.

Oh, I really did see it in some documentary, maybe on Discovery Channel.

Jolenealaska

I think that invulnerability thing comes with being American. As a people, we do have a sense of being the superpower.

Cerberus

Heh.

Jolenealaska

03:59

It's weird, but I think it is kind of built in.

Cerberus

Is the difference between Oklahoma and the Twin Towers perhaps that the latter was an enemy from the outside?

Apart from the scale.

Jolenealaska

Yes. Aside from the sheer scope

We have no history of being invaded.

Cerberus

Heh we chose different synonyms.

Pearl Harbour? The war against the English?

Jolenealaska

Different.

Cerberus

Of course I would be terribly shocked as well if someone carried out a large attack against a city here.

Jolenealaska

04:01

Times of war, and we kicked them out quite soundly.

911 was a sucker punch.

Cerberus

A plane accidentally flew into a large building here 20 years ago, and it's still seen as an important event.

Damkerng T.

Oh! Was it an accident?

Jolenealaska

Wow.

Cerberus

But not that many people died. Tens, I think.

Yes, an accident.

It was at night, an apartment building.

No deliberation, no total collapse, no second attack.

Jolenealaska

Really! It looks worse than that. During "work hours" I suppose? It looks like an apartment building.

Cerberus

04:04

It was at night, early morning.

Jolenealaska

Night? Really? Wow, the small death toll is surprising.

Damkerng T.

The rooms at the end of hallway are riskier, or so it seems.

Cerberus

No, wait, it was 18.35. I misremembered.

But anyway, I imagine accidents such as this happen more often around the world.

43 people died.

Damkerng T.

Here, we have buildings collapsed by themselves sometimes. No plane needed.

Cerberus

Heh.

Yeah that sucks.

Damkerng T.

04:09

Yup. Usually it's about corruption.

Cerberus

And there are fires like the factory in Bangladesh...

Right.

Damkerng T.

I think I've seen the same thing in other countries around here too.

Jolenealaska

This city is thinking a lot these days about the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake. 50th Anniversary and all that.

Cerberus

Yeah.

Oh, was it a bad earthquake?

Jolenealaska

2nd strongest in recorded history.

it was considered the strongest for a while, but they changed some of the math.

1964 Alaska earthquake

The 1964 Alaskan earthquake, also known as the Great Alaskan Earthquake, the Portage Earthquake and the Good Friday Earthquake, was a megathrust earthquake that began at 5:36 P.M. AST on Good Friday, March 27, 1964. Across south-central Alaska, ground fissures, collapsing structures, and tsunamis resulting from the earthquake caused about 139 deaths. Lasting nearly three minutes, it was the most powerful recorded earthquake in U.S. and North American history, and the second most powerful ever measured by seismograph. It had a moment magnitude of 9.2, making it the second largest earthqua...

Damkerng T.

04:13

Oh! I've never thought that earthquakes could happen way up there.

Jolenealaska

If en earthquake of that magnitude hit, say...LA, the death toll would be beyond comprehension.

Damkerng T.

We're living on thin Earth crust indeed.

Jolenealaska

This is the earthquake capital of the world! We get them all the time. We hardly notice little ones. :)

Cerberus

9.2!?

Jolenealaska

big

Cerberus

04:15

That is like...Japan.

Damkerng T.

9+ is sure big.

Jolenealaska

I've been right on top of a 7.9

Damkerng T.

Wow!

Cerberus

I hear you can get extreme tsunamis if you have a severe quake near a fjord/firth?

Jolenealaska

that was trippy

Cerberus

04:16

As in, hundreds of metres high.

Damkerng T.

That sounds plausible.

Cerberus

1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami

The 1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami occurred on July 9, 1958, when a large, 8.3 magnitude earthquake on the Fairweather Fault triggered a landslide that caused 30 million cubic metres of rock and ice to fall into the narrow inlet of Lituya Bay, Alaska. The sudden displacement of water resulted in a wave runup of 516 metres (1,720 feet) in height. This is the highest recorded megatsunami and the largest known in modern times. The event forced a re-evaluation of large wave events, and recognition of impact and landslide events as a previously unknown cause of very large waves. Lituya Bay L...

Jolenealaska

Oh yeah. the 64 eartquake whiped out a villiage with a tsunami. As it was there, then gone.

Cerberus

Oh, the earthquake causes the tsunami by "means" of a landslide.

@Jolenealaska That's pretty terrible.

Is it true that normal brick houses can mostly withstand a normal tsunami?

Jolenealaska

Yep. That's why the 50th anniversary is a pretty big deal here.

Cerberus

04:19

I saw people in the Thai tsunami hurry up the stairs of an hotel, and they were safe there.

On the higher floors.

Jolenealaska

I don't know. I've seen pictures of brick buildings just torn apart. Hold on, you might like a picture from the 7.9 I experienced...

Cerberus

Hmm.

Damkerng T.

Oh, the hotel in that footage is the same one I stayed in one of my trip.

Before the tsunami.

So I could imagine how severe it was clearly.

Jolenealaska

This isn't the good one that I was looking for, but it works...

Damkerng T.

Actually, that year I'd already planned to have a trip there and stay at that hotel (resort) again. Somehow something made me change my mind.

If I didn't change my mind, I must have been one of the victims.

Jolenealaska

04:24

7.9...bigger than any quake in north America for a very long time. Our only casualty was a little old lady twisted her ankle getting out of her house.

Damkerng T.

@Jolenealaska The road was gone!

Jolenealaska

I can't find the picture, but there was one highway that got split so that it looks like a broken pencil. But the two pieces are meters apart. It's a great shot.

Cerberus

@DamkerngT. Oh wow!

@Jolenealaska Impressive.

Jolenealaska

It was sooo weird to watch the road and cars go up and down over and over again in a giant wave. It seemed to go on forever.

I was in a cafe at the time. No one got scared, it was just kind of neat and exciting.

Cerberus

Hmm.

There wasn't any chance that the café might collapse?

Jolenealaska

04:35

Nobody left the building. There was no sense of that kind of fear. As it turns out, there was very little private property damage from that quake. A few and bridges bought it, but as fat as I know, no buildings.

Cerberus

Ah OK, good.

It's bed time for me.

I expect no quakes.

G'bye!

Jolenealaska

And the entire Denali mountain range (that's the big one, Mount Mckinley) moved over quite a bit.

Gnight Cerby

Cerberus

Scary!

Bai.

Damkerng T.

05:24

@Jolenealaska I found this one: "Don't even think about it." "Never do." youtube.com/…

Maybe it's too easy.

Jolenealaska

Real cute though! It's a possibility :)

Sandeep Dhamija

what do we call a liquid or solid that numbs one's senses? Could anyone rephrase this badly structured sentence - "He may have made him unconscious by making him inhale something that causes numbness."

Damkerng T.

anesthetic, I think.

Transcript for