English Language Learners

Anonymous

00:00

(Note the huge number of thumbs down, possibly because of the racist slur)

user116848

47 Ronin (2013 film)

47 Ronin is a 2013 Japanese-American fantasy action film depicting a fictional account of the forty-seven Ronin, a real-life group of Ronin (masterless samurai) in 18th-century Japan who avenged the death of their lord (stories, plays and other dramatic performances of the 47 Ronin story are commonly referred to as Chūshingura in Japan). Produced by Universal Studios, the film was directed by Carl Rinsch and stars Keanu Reeves and Hiroyuki Sanada. Filming started in Budapest in Origo Studios in March 2011; it moved to Shepperton Studios in London and was concluded in Japan. Although it grossed...

user116848

Yeah, a fantasy film.

Damkerng T.

I'd like to watch that movie too, even though I'm not sure if it was well made.

Ronin live in shame, as far as I can tell.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. By the way, it's a long o: ろうにん Rōnin

Damkerng T.

I remember that in Japan, a few decades ago, once you work for a company, you live with that company all your life.

@snailboat nods

user116848

00:02

Seppuku is literally translated as"suicide by disembowelment"

Damkerng T.

Exactly!

user116848

I found it in Wikipedia

Damkerng T.

And they would have two swords, I guess, one long and one short. I'm sure that snailboat knows the details better than I do.

user116848

Does it seem weird talking about that in chat here LOL??

user116848

I think it is just a word!

user116848

00:03

:-)

Anonymous

Talking about words is fine

Damkerng T.

Harakiri might be an English word.

user116848

Yay!

Anonymous

@Arrowfar Seppuku is literally translated as "cut stomach"

Damkerng T.

Oh, it spells with a k in English.

user116848

00:04

@DamkerngT. Oh no! How can she know the details? shudders

user116848

:)

Damkerng T.

@Arrowfar Because it's Japanese origin!

user116848

I see. Yeah.

Anonymous

I don't watch samurai movies or anything

Anonymous

But I'm familiar with the general idea

Damkerng T.

00:06

It's hard to learn a language without learning the culture altogether.

user116848

I agree.

user116848

I just saw the starboard message about "Talk like a Pirate day"

Anonymous

Arr!

Damkerng T.

Aye!

user116848

I don't know how to talk like one.

user116848

00:10

Talking like a pirate looks dirty!

user116848

Just kidding :D

Damkerng T.

I remember that is a simple Pirate translator on the web. Can't remember where.

Oh, there are a lot of such translators!

user116848

Yeah nvm Damk!

user116848

That will worsen my English!

Damkerng T.

I think pirates like subjunctive. :-)

user116848

00:14

haha

user116848

They are manipulative!

Damkerng T.

> Ahoy, how be ye guys?

:D

Anonymous

Yep!

Anonymous

Not to be confused with AAVE habitual be

user116848

So, in relationships etc. why people sometimes talk like:" I dated a Canadian/Texan"? Why not "I dated a (girl/guy) from Canada/Texas etc"

user116848

00:22

Oh, no! Edit time is over. nvm.

Anonymous

@Arrowfar I dunno.

user116848

I hate 10 secs edit time.

Damkerng T.

I think snailboat can give you a more precise answer. But why do you think it's strange to say "I dated a Canadian"?

user116848

Or 20 secs. Whatever that is.

Anonymous

120 seconds.

Anonymous

00:24

@DamkerngT. I can't. I have no idea why! :-)

user116848

@DamkerngT. Well, if a person is saying "I dated a Canadian" they might as well share the sex of that person. That seems pertinent to the conversation I guess. :D

Anonymous

I've never dated a Canadian.

Damkerng T.

Hmm... That's never occurred to me! I think the other's gender is implied according to the speaker's sexual preference or preferences.

user116848

Oh, I am not talking about anyone. Just saying.

user116848

nvm.

Anonymous

00:26

"I've never dated a Canadian." ← How would I go about inserting the sex of the referent into this sentence? :-)

Anonymous

"I've never dated a guy from Canada."

Anonymous

Seems weird.

Anonymous

I guess it's fine.

Damkerng T.

Maybe, "I've never dated Canadian guys."

Anonymous

Of course, in the negative, it's non-referential, which would be the catch :-)

user116848

00:27

Yeah, it is fine :-)

user116848

Sorry, for that 'weird' question!

Anonymous

It's okay, you can question stuff I say

Anonymous

I don't always know why I talk the way I do :-)

Anonymous

I don't really plan out what I'm typing in here

user116848

Yeah, me too

user116848

00:29

I don't plan either.

user116848

But I plan before answering a question on the main site :D

user116848

Everyone does!

Anonymous

Not me. I just make everything up.

user116848

haha

user116848

Sarcasm!

user116848

00:30

:-)

user116848

I knew I was talking like a silly person lol.

user116848

When I talk like that in front of friends they make a lot of fun of me.

Damkerng T.

Some of my answers sound like a rant.

Usually when the question is about "What should I do to ...?"

Well, it sounds like a perfect question for being opinionated.

Anonymous

We just closed a question on Japanese.SE for being Primarily Opinion Based.

Anonymous

Sometimes I think opinion-based questions should be allowed on the natural language sites

Anonymous

00:34

Blog - Stack Exchange: Good Subjective, Bad Subjective

Robert Cartaino on September 29, 2010

Stack Exchange is about questions with objective, factual answers. We’ve been crystal clear about this for as long as I can remember, even back to the earliest, pre-beta days of Stack Overflow. It’s right there in the standard Stack Exchange FAQ:

What kind of questions should I not ask here?

Avoid asking questions that are subjective, argumentative, or require extended discussion. This is not a discussion board, this is a place for questions that can be answered!

Thus, questions that are not answerable — discussions, debates, opinions — should be closed as subjective. It seems simple enough: Fact good; opinion and discussion bad. But why? …

Damkerng T.

@snailboat nods -- I do think that some of such questions deserve good answers, but not all of them deserve so.

user116848

Guys, can a mod see which person 'stars' any message on the starboard??

Anonymous

@Arrowfar Mwa ha ha ha

user116848

@snailboat Yeah? Noooooo

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Ewww! That sounds scaarrry!

Anonymous

00:39

@Arrowfar No, I can't tell who starred anything. I was just being silly.

Anonymous

I can, however, cancel stars.

user116848

Phew!

user116848

Because I have sometimes.....starred some mean comments. LOL.

user116848

Just for fun! :D

user116848

I should delete that ^

user116848

00:41

;-)

user116848

Well, everyone does it.

Anonymous

@Arrowfar That's not true.

Anonymous

I don't see mean comments starred very often.

Damkerng T.

Depending on what "mean" means, perhaps.

user116848

@snailboat Yeah, 'mean; concept is very different to me :-)

Damkerng T.

00:43

I remember I starred "Don't feed the trolls". Maybe it's mean for trolls. :P

user116848

@snailboat I starred something two days back. I guess you removed it!

Damkerng T.

Generally, I don't think people usually star personal attacks.

user116848

How should I properly say "Two days back"?? Can I say "A while back" when referring to two-three days?

user116848

Because I don't know how many days has passed since then.

Damkerng T.

You could be specific about the date; "two days back" or "two days ago" is fine too. "A few days ago" is also fine if you don't know the number of days.

Anonymous

00:46

@Arrowfar That's fine. "A few days back" is fine.

Anonymous

"A couple" has an indeterminate sense which is smaller than "a few"

Damkerng T.

Even "last week" would work in this case, because today is Monday.

Anonymous

The basic sense of a couple is "two", but it can be used with an indeterminate sense ("around two; a small number") if context allows it

Damkerng T.

Wait, it's still Sunday in the US.

Anonymous

(Context doesn't always allow it.)

Anonymous

00:47

@DamkerngT. That is true. How's life in the future?

Anonymous

Got flying cars yet?

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Looks good. Too bad the cars won't fly. :D

Anonymous

Aww!

user116848

@snailboat Okay. How do say it when you are unsure whether it is one day back or two days back?

Anonymous

My hopes have been dashed!

Anonymous

00:48

@Arrowfar "A day or two ago"

user116848

okay. Thanks!

Anonymous

"Yeah, I talked to him, like, a day or two ago" ← informal, spoken

Anonymous

People use hedges like like less often in writing

Anonymous

You can use hedges like like (informal), about, around, etc. to make it less specific

Anonymous

A couple can be nonspecific to begin with, but adding a hedge forces that interpretation

Anonymous

00:51

"Yeah, I talked to him about a couple days ago, I think"

Damkerng T.

There are a few words we can use in front of X days ago to make it less definite: maybe, perhaps, probably, possibly, 'I think', 'if I remember correctly', 'I guess', etc. For example, I told him that maybe five days ago.

Anonymous

Yeah, I like that a little better than about!

Anonymous

Modal adverbs are fun.

Damkerng T.

Indeed!

Anonymous

English has third-person imperatives: "Nobody move!" This is neither "Nobody, move!" with a vocative nor "Nobody moves!" with the usual present singular third-person -s inflection. — snailboat 23 hours ago

Anonymous

00:54

I was reminded of this because of modality → imperative mood

Anonymous

I think the existence of third person imperatives affects how we analyze verbs used in imperative constructions

user116848

And can we assign like one, two days in the past for "a while back"?

Anonymous

That is, we can't just view the imperative form as simple ellipsis of you

Damkerng T.

I guess I can't tell the difference between "Nobody move!" and "Nobody, move!" (if anyone writes it as such) when I hear one.

user116848

Or a 'while back' is for much larger duration?

Damkerng T.

00:56

Maybe I can tell if it's "Nobody--move!" which is weird. :P

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. It can't be a vocative because you can't address "nobody" and command them to move, unless I suppose you're talking to Odysseus

Anonymous

"Nobody" isn't a person

Anonymous

The positive third person imperative could be construed as a vocative: "Everybody, put your hands on the ground!"

Damkerng T.

@Arrowfar A while back is very vague, imo.

Anonymous

But "Nobody move!" can't be construed as vocative

Anonymous

00:58

And if it were a declarative sentences, it would be "Nobody moves!"

Anonymous

So it seems to be an imperative with a third-person subject

Damkerng T.

Indeed!

Anonymous

So we can see that in imperative constructions, the plain form of the verb is used regardless of subject

Damkerng T.

Which makes the traditional rule of implied "you" questionable.

Anonymous

Now compare: "Everybody put their hands on the ground!"

Anonymous

01:01

This is clearly a third-person sentence with their, not your

Anonymous

So it can't as easily be construed as vocative

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. This data does challenge the traditional analysis of imperatives, at least with respect to Present-Day English

Anonymous

I think the traditional analysis was correct 300 years ago

Damkerng T.

nods

Anonymous

@Arrowfar A while back is pretty vague. Depending on context it could work, but I think my default interpretation would be more than one or two days

Damkerng T.

01:04

I'm not sure how they would command "Nobody move!" 300 years ago. :-)

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. I don't know.

Damkerng T.

Maybe with shall, like "Nobody shall move!"

Or shalt, even!

Anonymous

My guess is that a vocative would have been used, and that the modern third-person imperative comes from a reanalysis of a vocative as a subject

Anonymous

Since there is a grey area where they can be interpreted either way, and that grey area allows for reanalysis

user116848

And how do I properly say: "I was downloading a file (four hours ago)"

user116848

01:08

If I don't specifically know the time

Anonymous

@Arrowfar I was downloading a file a few hours ago

user116848

Yeah, silly me. Thanks!

Damkerng T.

Another way is to use this morning, this afternoon, etc. instead.

user116848

I like it when someone jogs my mind!

Anonymous

Or earlier

Anonymous

01:09

A bit ago

Anonymous

The fun thing about vague phrases is that there's so many of them, with so much overlap! :-)

Anonymous

It's easy to come up with a bunch of them!

Anonymous

It's really hard to come up with substitutes for specific words.

Anonymous

But when we're being vague, it's easy! :-)

Damkerng T.

> I was downloading the Sarah Conner file October 19, 2014, 18:46.394 Pacific Time.

user116848

01:12

@DamkerngT. Okay. Only a robot can be that specific.

Damkerng T.

:-)

Anonymous

Hehe!

Damkerng T.

> I have the detailed file now. Ready to commence the operation. Awaiting your command.

user116848

@DamkerngT. You remind me of the movie "Resident Evil".

Damkerng T.

@Arrowfar Hehe!

user116848

01:18

:-)

user116848

I loved the action in that film though.

Damkerng T.

I guess there will be another sequel sooner or later. :-)

user116848

Not many zombie movies like that.

user116848

I think it comes under the category of "Girls with guns" in Wikipedia.

user116848

I haven't looked though.

user116848

01:21

Like "Kill Bill" etc

Anonymous

@Arrowfar That's a genre? :-)

user116848

@snailboat Yep :-)

Anonymous

I've heard of Resident Evil. It's called Bio Hazard in Japan

Damkerng T.

A very popular video game!

user116848

Girls with guns

Girls with guns is a sub-genre of action films and animation — often Asian films and anime — that portray a strong female protagonist who makes use of firearms to defend against or attack a group of antagonists. The genre typically involves gun-play, stunts and martial arts action. == History == The genre started in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Asia. Suzuki Seijun's 1958 film Underworld Beauty is an early example of a "girls with guns" film out of Japan. In 1966, Hong Kong actress Cheng Pei-pei starred in the Shaw Brothers Studio film Come Drink with Me, an early Chinese film of the genre...

user116848

01:22

See? lol

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Oh, yes, I've heard of both the video game and the movie

Anonymous

I've never played that particular game

Anonymous

Although I'm no stranger to video games

Anonymous

@Arrowfar I did not know that was a thing!

Damkerng T.

Oh, this reminds me that I think Vocaloid was on Late Show with David Letterman last week.

Anonymous

01:23

That Wikipedia page mentions La Femme Nikita. My mom liked that show (?) a lot

user116848

@snailboat It is all fantasy stuff. I don't believe in it too.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Me too!

Anonymous

@Arrowfar The Wikipedia page says it's big in Japan, but I'm not familiar with any of the Japanese movies or cartoons they list

user116848

Here are all the films:

user116848

Category:Girls with guns films

"Girls with guns" is a genre of film which first appeared in the early 1960s....

Anonymous

01:25

Oh, they list Alias! I watched that!

Anonymous

Alias got really bad after season one :-)

user116848

@snailboat You did? It was my favorite show in the past!

user116848

I watched it till the end season. But skipped some episodes.

Anonymous

@Arrowfar Yeah! I liked the first season.

Anonymous

The fifth season was . . . not so good

Damkerng T.

01:26

Hey, they mention Jeeja from Thailand too!

Anonymous

I liked Sark the whole time.

Anonymous

Julian Sark

Julian Sark is a recurring fictional character portrayed by David Anders on the ABC television series Alias. The series follows Sydney Bristow, an operative working for an organization called SD-6 which she believes is a covert branch of the Central Intelligence Agency. However, she learns it is actually a subsidiary of the Alliance of Twelve, a crime syndicate which seeks to make profits from stolen intelligence and artifacts. Upon learning the truth Sydney offers her services to the CIA as a double agent with the intention of destroying SD-6 from within. Julian Sark is introduced in the first...

Anonymous

David Anders is great.

Damkerng T.

I don't know Sark. Oh, that's him!

user116848

@snailboat I thought you'd like Vaughn!

Damkerng T.

01:28

See, I didn't really watch Alias when it was running around here.

Anonymous

@Arrowfar I did until he turned out to be a secret French agent

Anonymous

That was just lazy writing

user116848

@snailboat No. He was okay till the end I guess.

user116848

Oh, I remember!

user116848

But French as in not "an enemy"

Anonymous

01:30

French as in "from France"

Anonymous

That was in season five.

Anonymous

They totally changed his character

Damkerng T.

Heh, All the Time in the World sounds like a short story by Clarke.

Anonymous

It does have that golden / silver age SF feel to it

user116848

@snailboat So, I hate all the Sark kinda guys!

user116848

01:32

:-)

Anonymous

Apparently. I appreciate the hostility. Keeps me edgy. — TRomano 57 mins ago

Anonymous

*snort* If you want hostility, you'll have to take it to chat. — Codeswitcher 56 mins ago

Damkerng T.

Wow!

Anonymous

They could always use a chat room.

Anonymous

Duke it out, frenemy-style.

user116848

01:33

No! It sounds like a bad idea if they fight here.

user116848

I mean here in chat

Anonymous

Probably. :-)

Anonymous

Oh, not here here. In their own room.

user116848

Yeah, that!

user116848

Then I'd say "Who cares lol"

Anonymous

01:34

It's true, though, that people should Be Nice.

user116848

Yep. I like nice people.

Anonymous

Their hostility seems to have a tinge of friendliness to it.

user116848

Like Damk for instance.

Damkerng T.

The most important rule!

user116848

And you

Damkerng T.

01:34

@Arrowfar Ah, thanks!

Anonymous

But I could link to japanese.stackexchange.com/help/be-nice

Anonymous

Oops, wrong site!

Anonymous

ell.stackexchange.com/help/be-nice

user116848

@DamkerngT. :-)

Anonymous

Please remember to Be Nice! That applies whether you'd like to discuss things in comments or move it to chat. — snailboat 6 secs ago

Anonymous

01:36

I guess that works.

user116848

Yay!

user116848

Good work snail.

Damkerng T.

I guess the OP must've already seen all the comments by now.

Which could be very enlightening!

user116848

Oh, no! They are both fighting over their answer!

user116848

That looks sad!

Anonymous

01:37

corpus.byu.edu/glowbe/?c=glowbe&q=33856835

Anonymous

Looks like BrE.

user116848

> They are both fighting over their answer

user116848

Or

user116848

> They are both fighting over their answer(s)

user116848

plural?

user116848

01:39

right?

Anonymous

I would use the plural

user116848

I see

Anonymous

Between the two of them, they have two answers

Anonymous

Their answer would be used when they shared a single answer

user116848

yeah

user116848

01:41

So, I read that "seen seen" can also be said as an alternative to "I see"

user116848

But it looks wrong to me!

user116848

Here on Yahoo answers

user116848

answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081031152657AAGmB84

user116848

I like the question though

user116848

(It's in the last answer btw)

Damkerng T.

01:44

Too bad that they didn't say much about which people they knew.

user116848

I haven't chatted this much in a while :-)

user116848

I better go and eat and stuff!

user116848

See ya all!

user116848

Bye!

Damkerng T.

Bon appetit!

Anonymous

01:56

@Arrowfar "Seen, seen" is not Standard English

Anonymous

Unfortunately, they didn't say what dialect they speak

Anonymous

It's certainly not any variety of English I'm familiar with

Damkerng T.

> If you not got a job, what would you do?

Auxiliary verbs aside, I think the a job part is curious. Did people have any jobs 300 years ago? I mean, did they think of what they do as "jobs"?

Anonymous

02:13

@DamkerngT. Hmm, I think you're right

Freddy

11:51

Hello everyone

Ice Boy

hi

Damkerng T.

Hi! @IceBoy @Freddy

Ice Boy

12:10

hi pal, thanks for commiting @DamkerngT.

we'll see how much interest it attracts...

...in beta

Damkerng T.

@IceBoy I'm number 199!

Ice Boy

:D

user62015

13:53

Hi!

I read somewhere "you don't belong in Long Bay" as per my opinion it should be "you don't belong to Long Bay" which one is more perfect "in" or "to" after the word belong. I am using a mobile so maybe I have made any typo mistake but I hope I have made the question clear and it makes sense.

If anyone needs more details or source I can provide, please let me know.

Ice Boy

if "Long Bay" a place, you don't belong in a place

user62015

I am also hoping it is a place.

It is from a novel and the novel name is "Men With Brooms".

Ice Boy

14:12

"in" sounds more natural, but "to" will work with enough supporting context

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