English Language Learners

Damkerng T.

00:36

I wonder if you ran into your ex-teacher and had a pleasant conversation with him or her, and before leaving your teacher said, "It was nice talking to you," would you reply your teacher with "Thank you. Same here."? — Damkerng T. 1 min ago

For the love of the community.

CopperKettle

01:21

@DamkerngT. Yay!

"I am an insomniac agnostic dyslexic... I lay awake all night wondering if there really is a dog."

Damkerng T.

01:53

@CopperKettle There is a bumper sticker selling on Amazon for that!

Damkerng T.

03:27

If I hadn't known about resumptive pronouns, I would think that this sentence is perfectly fine:

> Simulation is sometimes so easy to sell to managers that analytical solutions that can yield optimal results are often overlooked.
http://ell.stackexchange.com/q/44726/3281

Now I'm thinking that it's probably not very good.

> ?Simulation is sometimes so easy to sell to managers that [blah blah blah].
?It is sometimes so easy to sell simulation to managers that [blah blah blah].

> It is sometimes so easy to sell simulation to managers because [blah blah blah].

> It is sometimes so easy to sell simulation to managers with the idea that [blah blah blah].

> It is sometimes so easy to sell simulation to managers by suggesting that [blah blah blah].

skullpatrol

Happy New Year my friends @DamkerngT. @snailboat

Damkerng T.

Happy New Year!

(I'm still trying to think about the alternatives of "so easy to sell to managers that".)

skullpatrol

03:48

hmmm...

Simulation is sometimes so easy to sell to managers that analytical solutions, which can yield optimal results, are often overlooked.

Damkerng T.

Oh, so "analytical solutions, which can yield optimal results, are often overlooked." is the consequence?

A-ha! I think I read it incorrectly the first time. I will remove my comment.

skullpatrol

I believe so...

Damkerng T.

Thanks!

skullpatrol

np pal, thanks for asking :-)

Damkerng T.

I thought the overlooking was the cause of the easy selling of the simulations. Silly me. :-)

skullpatrol

03:56

See you later.

Damkerng T.

See you later!

Co Koder

04:16

hi

Damkerng T.

Hi!

Welcome to the chat room!

Co Koder

04:33

A quick question

what is the difference of cue and hint?

Damkerng T.

05:03

@CoKoder A hint or a clue will give you some ideas to succeed the task involved. A cue is something that happens at the right time, according to plan.

Co Koder

@DamkerngT. thanks, but little bit confused.

Damkerng T.

Where did you find them? And how were they used?

Co Koder

05:23

ok, let me give you an example.

let's say a questionnaire asks what did you eat yesterday?, and to help you remember it gives a hint or cue.

so, hint or cue?

Damkerng T.

It's a hint, or a clue, not a cue.

Co Koder

why not cue?

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. This sentence is fine. The only relative clause is that can yield optimal results, in which the gap is in subject position

Damkerng T.

05:39

@snailboat The structure is indeed fine. I read the sentence incorrectly. (I thought the [blah blah blah] part was the reason that makes the selling so easy.)

Damkerng T.

06:00

0

Q: live VS. living

As a native speaker, could you think of any situation where the following could be used interchangeably or visaversa? live living Any help would be greatly appreciated

vocabulary

A new generation of questions!

Instead of asking how a word should be used or its meaning, which is typical on ELL, now our users seem to have a new generation of questions asking "when these two words can be used interchangeably".

Anonymous

I can't think of an answer longer than "No"

Anonymous

But someone else can probably think of sufficient filler

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Ahh, I see

Anonymous

I'd like a better name than "so ... that construction" because so ... that is rather different from so that, and I think that learners sometimes confuse the two

Anonymous

But anything else I can think to call it just sounds jargony: "the correlative extent-result construction" is no good

Anonymous

06:14

So I guess I'll stick with "so ... that construction"

Damkerng T.

nods -- I usually don't, but this one tricked me into thinking that the author was trying to say something nonsensical.

Anonymous

Plus, there are times when that is omissible, which makes it a confusing name

Damkerng T.

> ?This food is so good for you that it is healthy.

Anonymous

Maybe "so ... (that) construction"

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. That does look silly :-)

Anonymous

06:16

Though grammatical.

Damkerng T.

It took me a while before I could come up with (that) dropping.

Come to think of it, it seems to be optional in all cases.

Anonymous

Jan 16 '14 at 16:42, by snailplane

> He had no need to make speeches, so impregnable was his position.

Anonymous

In this inversion, that can't be used

Anonymous

But it means "So impregnable was his position that he had no need to make speeches"

Damkerng T.

Ah, I mean dropping that only for the so ... that cases.

Anonymous

06:20

That's the same construction

Damkerng T.

Oh!

Anonymous

Just with an inversion

Damkerng T.

It's strange that fronting made it look entirely different for me.

Anonymous

At least, you can analyze it that way.

Anonymous

Quirk et al do. We talked about that a year ago

Damkerng T.

06:21

I think I remember that.

Anonymous

But I think it usually is optional

Anonymous

Since the semantics are the same and the grammar is quite similar, it's tempting to analyze them as the same thing

Damkerng T.

I guess that keeping that in the inverse version is okay.

Anonymous

If the clause expressing the result comes before so, you can't mark it with that

Anonymous

I still can't figure out how CGEL analyzes it

Damkerng T.

06:29

nods

Anonymous

But I found something interesting, though unrelated, while looking:

Anonymous

> In AmE [the degree modifiers enough, sufficient, and sufficiently] license a complement with the form of a content clause or a so + content clause: %The orchestra is far enough away from you that you miss the bow scrapes, valve clicks, and other noises incidental to playing. [...] (BrE would have to have an infinitival complement here: far enough away from you for you to (be able to) miss the bow scrapes . . .)

Anonymous

I didn't know that wasn't kosher in BrE!

Damkerng T.

Oh, I didn't know that it wasn't kosher in AmE!

Anonymous

It is!

Damkerng T.

06:31

Ahh... Got it!

Anonymous

BrE is the one where it doesn't work, it seems.

Anonymous

The % means "grammatical in some dialect(s) only"

Damkerng T.

Hmm... "This is near enough that you can't miss" is not kosher in BrE?

Anonymous

Um, maybe? :-)

Anonymous

It seems like it should be okay

Anonymous

06:35

I don't really know how to apply what I just quoted

Damkerng T.

I can't convert it nicely into an infinitival complement!

?"This is near enough not to miss."

Very awkward!

Anonymous

You might have to ask someone more familiar with BrE

Anonymous

It's CGEL p.969 in case you want to cite it

Damkerng T.

Oh, I see. I have to include "for you".

"This is near enough for you not to miss."

Still a little awkward.

Anonymous

Oh, yeah, that does seem better

Anonymous

06:40

@DamkerngT. I think it sounds okay

Anonymous

It's 3°C!

Anonymous

The low for tonight is 6°C.

Anonymous

What does it mean when the temperature is already lower than the "low"? :-)

Damkerng T.

@snailboat nods

@snailboat Eh? :D

Anonymous

You might have to click the gear thingy in the upper right to get it to show up in Celsius

Damkerng T.

06:43

Data inconsistency error!

Freddy

@snailboatin my town might be 6°C will be less than the lowest temprature

Damkerng T.

Hi @Freddy!

Anonymous

@Freddy It doesn't get much colder than that here

Anonymous

It got down to -2°C this year!

CopperKettle

Good morning all!

Damkerng T.

06:45

Good morning!

Freddy

@DamkerngT. hello

Anonymous

Доброе утро, CopperKettle!

Damkerng T.

3

Q: Sarcastic Idioms for being slow to notice something

The scenario: The power was out but it came back up. However, a friend or family member noticed that late and said: Oh, the power is back up! You noticed that long before they did (sometimes because it is obvious). You want to comment on/about their late notice sarcastically with something ...

idioms idiom-request

CopperKettle

@snailboat Wow, you are mastering Russian! Hope it's not due to the cold weather. (0:

Anonymous

Hee

Damkerng T.

06:46

I know that "Duh" works. What about "Meh"?

Russian letters look neat on my screen. :-)

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Meh expresses strong indifference

Damkerng T.

> Oh, the power is back up!
Meh. (I already know that.)

Anonymous

I don't think it fits really well

Damkerng T.

Okay. Thanks!

Anonymous

"Oh, the power is back up!" "Meh. (Whatever. I don't care if the power's back up or not.)"

Damkerng T.

06:48

nods

Freddy

For noticing something late I might use "tubelight"

CopperKettle

"Tubelight"! Very interesting.

Damkerng T.

MaulikV's answer is tube-light.

Anonymous

What is "tubelight"?

Freddy

It takes some blink to start

Damkerng T.

06:53

I think it's an InE term for fluorescent light.

Anonymous

Oh, like old fluorescents!

Freddy

Yes

Anonymous

I remember when they used to blink

Damkerng T.

Also note that my LED light bulbs are all tubes.

Anonymous

I've got LEDs in bulb shape.

Anonymous

06:54

I'm happy to use LEDs instead of CFLs

Damkerng T.

I think they keep the old form factors to aid the replacement and installation.

Me too!

Anonymous

Although some lights can look pretty unnatural, the LED bulb I have in here looks nicer than the CFLs I had

Damkerng T.

I changed from white-white to yellow-white, and it looks warmer in here. :-)

Anonymous

I might suggest white-white :-)

Anonymous

Whitey is a racially charged term in AmE―not sure about other dialects

Damkerng T.

06:56

Okay! (^_^")

Thanks for the tip!

Freddy

@DamkerngT. yellow-white??

Damkerng T.

It looks rather yellow, but they still call the bulb white.

Anonymous

I think the pre-existing whitey might block the affixation of -y to white

Damkerng T.

nods

Anonymous

But whitish is an established word

Damkerng T.

06:58

(I think they grade the whiteness by temperature.)

Anonymous

I'm really rather happy with LED lamps

Anonymous

For a long time I missed halogens

Anonymous

But halogens are rather inefficient

Damkerng T.

Ah, I got a few lamps. The one I'm most happy with is a standing lamp.

@snailboat They are burning hot!

Anonymous

I like floor lamps a lot.

Damkerng T.

06:59

I got one of them. :D

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Plus, poor moths.

Damkerng T.

Oh, no! Indeed.

Anonymous

I like moths.

Damkerng T.

Moths are okay. I don't like mosquitoes.

Anonymous

In Japan, moths are rather unpopular.

Damkerng T.

07:01

I like birds and butterflies.

Anonymous

I think in many cultures moths are unpopular

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Ah, like those poor slugs.

Anonymous

I like moths and butterflies both!

Anonymous

I like all scale-wings.

Damkerng T.

Sometimes there will be a few birds hopping around in my garden looking for worms, and it's quite pleasant just to look at them.

Anonymous

07:02

Birds are nice. We have a few species here

Anonymous

I can't identify very many birds, though.

CopperKettle

"A Bird, came down the Walk —
He did not know I saw —
He bit an Angle Worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw"

Anonymous

I learned about some species of birds as part of learning Japanese

Damkerng T.

Me either. I think I've seen no less than 7 types of birds in my garden. Some are small, some are quite large (large cranes).

Anonymous

When I used to do flashcards more, I'd make flashcards with the names of animals on front, and pictures on back

CopperKettle

07:03

@snailboat I learned about Whip-Poor-Whills while reading American books

Anonymous

I think one of the cutest birds is the chidori ("plover" in English)

Anonymous

Damkerng T.

@CopperKettle Neat! Poor worms. :P

Anonymous

@CopperKettle Oh, and isn't that a neat word!

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Hey, I know chidori (via Naruto).

Anonymous

07:04

The literal meaning is "thousand birds".

Anonymous

Maybe because they used to fly in large flocks?

Damkerng T.

Oh, that makes sense.

@CopperKettle They look cute!

Anonymous

The set of animals people have in their vocabulary varies from language to language, and from area to area

Freddy

Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary

Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary is a bird sanctuary also known as safe haven for birds located in Jamnagar district of Gujarat, India. It has about 300 varieties of migratory birds. == Sanctuary == The sanctuary is unique having both fresh water lakes, salt and freshwater marshlands. It is spread over an area of 6.05 km2. Before Indian independence, a check dam was built for storing the waters of river Ruparel just before it entered the sea. Over the years with fresh water of the rain and river on one side and salt water of the sea on the other side, a unique area was formed here. On the other side of...

Anonymous

I'd never heard of cormorants in English, but it's a word I think is relatively normal in Japanese

Anonymous

07:06

@Freddy Oh!

Damkerng T.

@Freddy Sounds like a great place for all the birds.

CopperKettle

@DamkerngT. I like how kingfishers look, and the name is quaint

Kingfisher

Kingfishers are a group of small to medium sized brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found outside of the Americas. The group is treated either as a single family, Alcedinidae, or as a suborder Alcedines containing three families, Alcedinidae (river kingfishers), Halcyonidae (tree kingfishers), and Cerylidae (water kingfishers). There are roughly 90 species of kingfisher. All have large heads, long, sharp, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. Most species have bright plumage with little differences between the sexes...

Anonymous

I don't suppose they have pictures of the sanctuary somewhere

Damkerng T.

@CopperKettle Oh, the beak is quite standing out!

Anonymous

Aw, Wikipedia doesn't have a list of animals named after types of royalty

Damkerng T.

07:08

@snailboat I bet it must be a beautiful sight to see.

Freddy

@DamkerngT. bird sanctuary is very close to my town, where birds come from all over the world during winter

CopperKettle

"AS kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies dráw fláme" (from a great poem)

Damkerng T.

@Freddy I envy you just for that!

Anonymous

It seems like the sort of thing Wikipedia would have.

Anonymous

@CopperKettle Why the accent marks, by the way?

CopperKettle

07:09

@snailboat Hopkins was always marking his poems so that they be pronounced right

Anonymous

@CopperKettle I see!

CopperKettle

en.wikisource.org/wiki/…

Anonymous

Poor angleworm, by the way.

Anonymous

I like earthworms.

Anonymous

I don't like planarians.

Damkerng T.

07:10

Eep!

CopperKettle

I had a problem once deciphering the meaning of "angle" (used for "angleworm") in a poem (0:

Anonymous

Ah, well, if you look it up without a space

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Divide-and-multiply-able!

Anonymous

An angleworm, one for use in angling

CopperKettle

4

Q: To slay the helpless angle

From Guy Wetmore Carryl's "The Precipitate Cock and the Unappreciated Pearl": He turned again to where his clan In one astounding tangle With eager haste together ran To slay the helpless angle The author uses "angle" to refer to a worm, a key hero of the narrative. Does t...

meaning etymology

Anonymous

07:12

Ah, I see, without the following worm

CopperKettle

"To kill a geometrical figure" would be strange

Anonymous

Hey, I commented!

CopperKettle

Indeed!

He summoned all his kith and kin,
They hastened up by legions,
With quaint, expressive gurgles in
Their oesophageal regions.

LOL

Anonymous

Oh, I like that oe

Anonymous

We generally don't use oe in AmE spelling, apart from in names

CopperKettle

07:15

nods

Anonymous

I wonder if that was different a hundred years ago

Anonymous

Or if the author just had a taste for etymological spelling

CopperKettle

I guess it was seen as more "proper" then

Anonymous

books.google.com/ngrams/… (AmE esophagus versus oesophagus)

CopperKettle

By the time of WWI they got tired of "oe"

Anonymous

07:19

Maybe it was one of Noah Webster's spelling reforms

Anonymous

books.google.com/ngrams/… (BrE esophagus versus oesophagus)

CopperKettle

By the time of Falklands War they had got tired of "oe"

Anonymous

The OED lists it as œsophagus

CopperKettle

nods

Anonymous

œ is neat.

2

CopperKettle

07:24

oh, yeah

Damkerng T.

:D

CopperKettle

(0:

There's no key on the keyboard for it though..

Anonymous

Can you type alt+0156?

CopperKettle

њ

Anonymous

Wow

Damkerng T.

07:26

œ

Oh, nice to know!

Anonymous

I didn't expect њ!

CopperKettle

Neither did I!

It's a Serbian letter, the soft "N"

Anonymous

You're using Windows-1251!

CopperKettle

Probably (0:

Anonymous

It's 156 in Windows-1251.

CopperKettle

07:28

Ь

Anonymous

is how I came to that conclusion

CopperKettle

ђ (0:

†

‡

yes, indeed..

@snailboat "Scholars have long seen Webster's 1844 dictionary to be an important resource for reading poet Emily Dickinson's life and work; she once commented that the "Lexicon" was her "only companion" for years. One biographer said, "The dictionary was no mere reference book to her; she read it as a priest his breviary – over and over, page by page, with utter absorption"."

It's the third mention I've seen of a poet reading a dictionary over and over

Anonymous

Wow!

CopperKettle

I read also that Sergei Yesenin gave himself problems to solve - to create numerous rhyming lines for given words taken from a dictionary, as a way of exercise.

Anonymous

English is a good language for rhyming

CopperKettle

07:36

But compared to Russian it's poor for that purpose: it has no changing enginds for words..

Anonymous

It's true, English has lost most of its inflectional morphology

Anonymous

Japanese has a lot. But it's a very poor language for rhyming

CopperKettle

So I heard..

Anonymous

I remember you brought this up recently

Anonymous

It has only five vowels

Anonymous

07:38

And almost no syllable codas

Anonymous

There's occasionally some rhyming though

Anonymous

Popular music sometimes copies western styles of singing and writing, and sometimes uses more English-like pronunciation

CopperKettle

(trying to read up on "syllable codas")

Anonymous

It seems to be trendy :-)

Anonymous

A syllable has three parts:

Anonymous

07:39

The vowel is in the middle (most of the time)

Anonymous

Then you can have 0 or more consonants before it: this is the onset

Anonymous

And 0 or more consonants after it: this is the coda

Anonymous

The middle is the nucelus

CopperKettle

nods

Anonymous

So cat /kæt/ is:

Anonymous

07:40

/k/　← onset
/æ/　← nucleus
/t/　 ← coda

CopperKettle

But Japanese words tend to end in vowels, so no codas for them?

Anonymous

Languages have different rules for each part.

Anonymous

In Japanese, there are two types of syllable-final consonants:

Anonymous

1. The moraic nasal /ɴ/

Anonymous

2. A geminate consonant

Anonymous

07:42

In the case of 1, there are words like anpan /aɴ.paɴ/ (sweet roll with red bean paste)

Anonymous

In the case of 2, we have words like zekkyō /zek.kyoʜ/ (a scream)

Anonymous

The latter case isn't really applicable to rhyming since it can't occur word-finally

Anonymous

It only occurs in the middle of words

CopperKettle

@snailboat Like in Russian

Anonymous

Oh, right! Russian has geminate consonants!

CopperKettle

07:44

Yes!

подержать [pədʲɪrˈʐatʲ] vs поддержать [pəddʲɪrˈʐatʲ]

different meanings

to hold vs. to support

Anonymous

I'm going to have to look up [ʐ]

Anonymous

I don't remember that one

CopperKettle

like "hold me" vs. "help me out"

@snailboat "zh" like in Doctor Zhivago

like in "fusion"

Anonymous

Ohh, I think it's not quite the same as in fusion

CopperKettle

nods

It seemed the same to me

Anonymous

07:48

It seems like ʐ is articulated slightly further back in the mouth

Anonymous

And ʒ slightly further forward

Anonymous

In terms of tongue position

CopperKettle

nods

forvo.com/word/…

Anonymous

Ah, I can hear it! :-)

CopperKettle

(0:

Anonymous

07:51

Japanese has /d/ but mostly lacks geminate /dd/ (it's present in some loanwords)

Anonymous

In English you can say things like bad drum (distinct from umm, badrum? :-)

CopperKettle

coma - comma

Anonymous

Oh, I was trying to think of an example for /dd/. Maybe red drum and redrum are a better pair

Anonymous

Although redrum is specific to Stephen King :-)

CopperKettle

Oh, I remember "red drum" (0:

Anonymous

07:53

@CopperKettle That's not gemination, though, it's just spelling

CopperKettle

From that movie (0:

Anonymous

The consonant is the same in both, but the first vowel sound is different

Anonymous

coma /ˈkoʊmə/ versus comma /ˈkɑmə/

CopperKettle

Oh, interesting!

Anonymous

English has very little in the way of distinctive consonant length

Anonymous

07:54

We have a few compounds, though, like blackguard

Anonymous

36

Q: Why is "cupboard" pronounced with a silent "p"?

According to Google at least, the word "cupboard" originated in late Middle English as denoting a board that held cups. Since then, the word has evolved to mean a kind of cabinet. My question is, given its origin and spelling, why do we pronounce "cupboard" with a silent "p"? Has the pronunciati...

pronunciation pronunciation-vs-spelling silent-letters

CopperKettle

Oh, I see.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Very interesting! I might've mispronounced it all along.

Anonymous

One answer there says "blackguard (when pronounced as though it were spelled blaggerd)"

Anonymous

I'm not familiar with that pronunciation!

Anonymous

07:58

Maybe I can find a better example to use then, if some people pronounce it like that

Anonymous

0

Q: fewer iterations vs a fewer interations

The process will terminate in a fewer iterations with method A. The process will terminate in fewer iterations with method A. May I know which one is grammatical

grammaticality

Damkerng T.

Probably it's amount to the same thing. (Macmillan says /ˈblæɡə(r)d/.)

Anonymous

This user may be confused by the quantifier a few

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. I don't have that pronunciation

Damkerng T.

Oh!

Anonymous

07:59

I'll have to find another example!

Anonymous

Well, maybe I'll use red drum and redrum :-)

Damkerng T.

Oh, my Macmillan is set to BrE at the moment.

Anonymous

Of course, that crosses word boundaries.

Anonymous

But that's mostly when you get doubled consonants in English.

Damkerng T.

Hmm... It's the same in both BrE and AmE.

Anonymous

08:00

Yeah, I saw that.

Anonymous

Some dictionaries do give a /kg/ pronunciation

Anonymous

Japanese does have /dd/ gemination in some loanwords, but it's not allowed by the traditional phonotactics of Japanese, it's something new

Anonymous

So you have words like /heddo/ head

Anonymous

When there's another voiced obstruent, the gemination often devoices: /beddo/ bed is often pronounced /betto/ instead

Damkerng T.

What about "header"?

Anonymous

08:07

And Japanese speakers have trouble noticing the difference between /beddo/ and /betto/

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. That's ヘッダー /heddaʜ/

Damkerng T.

Oh! Interesting!

Anonymous

Since it has no other voiced geminate, the gemination is generally not devoiced

Damkerng T.

(I was expecting heddero.)

Anonymous

That is, /heddaʜ/ but */hettaʜ/

Anonymous

08:08

No, Japanese pronunciation is based on an idealized British English accent from the late 19th century

Anonymous

It is generally non-rhotic

Damkerng T.

nods

Anonymous

And English -er generally becomes /aʜ/ in loans

Anonymous

Otherwise, it would probably become /aru/

Anonymous

Schwa in general becomes /a/ in Japanese, and the high vowel /u/ is the default epenthetic vowel following consonants other than /t/ and /d/

Anonymous

08:10

But most words loaned into Japanese are done based on spelling, analogous to words that have already been borrowed

Anonymous

So -er becomes /aʜ/ regardless

Anonymous

If you don't have the rules internalized, there can be a number of surprises from the perspective of an English speaker :-)

Damkerng T.

"hedda(h)" already surprised me. :-)

Anonymous

Even then, there's no set of rules that describes loans perfectly, so you just have to memorize some of them

Anonymous

For example, UFO is ユーフォー /yuʜfoʜ/

Anonymous

08:13

Most AmE speakers today pronounce each letter individually, but when it was borrowed into Japanese, the two-syllable pronunciation was still normal!

Anonymous

Maybe you remember that question :-)

Anonymous

Another example is /hw/, which is now /w/ for most English speakers but is still often /hw/ in Japanese

Anonymous

White /(h)waɪt/ is loaned into Japanese as ホワイト /howaito/

Damkerng T.

Nice!

(I like the wh sound.)

Anonymous

Ah, /hw/ is kind of neat sounding

Anonymous

08:15

I don't know anyone who uses it in English, but

Anonymous

It's not completely dead, either

Anonymous

This is called the wine-whine merger

Anonymous

Because whine used to be /hwaɪn/, but is now /waɪn/ for most speakers, which has made it a homophone of wine

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. I like the spelling wh, even though it's backwards :-)

Damkerng T.

Hehe!

Anonymous

08:17

blog.oup.com/2010/04/wh

Damkerng T.

I was about to ask!

Anonymous

08:33

I know people online who claim to make the distinction

CopperKettle

I wonder should we use an in "We compared our tool with (an?) another tool"

1

Q: "other tools" vs "others tools"

We compare our tools with others state-of-the-art tools. We compare our tools with other state-of-the-art tools. May I know which one is grammatical?

plural comparison determiner

I guess not.

Anonymous

Are you asking about another versus other?

Anonymous

08:48

*An another is ungrammatical

Anonymous

My phone auto completes ungramm to ungrammatical&mdash

Anonymous

I must type that a lot :-)

Anonymous

09:31

3

Q: Is there a word similar to "reddening" for the color blue?

In planetary astronomy often the "color" of an object is described by relative amount of reflected light in the blue versus the red part of the spectrum. If something reflects light equally at all wavelengths it is "grey", if it reflects more light at red wavelengths then it is redder than a gre...

single-word-requests

Anonymous

Bluening! :-)

Anonymous

I think I'd prefer a multi-word phrasing to any of the single-word alternatives, though

Anonymous

Maybe instead of single-word-requests, ELU should have Word Golf

Anonymous

Fewest words wins! ;-)

Anonymous

I guess blu(e)ing sounds fine, though

Anonymous

09:34

Bluening is just funny.

Anonymous

It sounds like a fake movie title: The Bluening!

CopperKettle

10:03

blueshifting seems okay (proposed by one of the answerers)

Anonymous

10:20

@CopperKettle That has a rather specific meaning

Anonymous

I may be misunderstanding the OP's question, but it doesn't sound like it fits

Anonymous

If you take an existing spectrum and you increase the frequencies of the component waves, you're blueshifting, and if you decrease the frequencies of the component waves, you're redshifting, yeah? Whereas if a process causes a filter which simply increases the amplitude of existing waves in the blue portion of the visible spectrum, you are not

Anonymous

Blueshifting doesn't mean "to make more blue"

Anonymous

That is a misunderstanding based on what the word looks like, I think

Anonymous

Admittedly, it's been a while since I studied this :-)

Anonymous

10:25

But based on my understanding I wouldn't upvote that answer

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