English Language Learners

user116848

19:00

Oh, cute!

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Oh, did you used to make an angel on snow?

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. I bet I did, but I don't remember doing that specifically

Anonymous

I know we played in the snow, but I don't have many specific memories of it

Damkerng T.

Aww

Snow is something curious for me.

Anonymous

We lived in a cul de sac, and when they plowed it, they'd make a huge pile of snow in front of the tree in front of our house

Anonymous

19:02

Like, whatever path they used for plowing, they ended up pushing all the snow from the cul de sac into that one spot

Anonymous

So to us kids, it was like a mountain

Anonymous

And we'd climb up on it

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Oh, that's a new word for me!

Anonymous

That's my strongest memory of playing in the snow

Damkerng T.

Hehe!

Playing in the snow sounds like fun, especially for someone who has never played with snow before like me.

Anonymous

19:03

A cul-de-sac is when they make the end of a road into a circle.

Damkerng T.

Eh, into a circle?

I thought it's just a dead-end.

Anonymous

Yuh-huh.

Anonymous

If it's just a dead end, then it's not a cul de sac.

Anonymous

Anonymous

See these little circley-doos?

Damkerng T.

19:04

Oh, I see!

That's uncommon here. We don't make our end of a road round.

Anonymous

They're very common in suburbs in the U.S.

Damkerng T.

nods

Anonymous

They're not common everywhere in the U.S., though.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat I think it's more logical.

Anonymous

19:06

They look nice, though, don't they? :-)

Damkerng T.

Yes, they do!

Hey, they look sort of like a thermometer!

user116848

It's like a roundabout for houses :-)

Anonymous

This image claims that dead ends are also cul-de-sacs:

Anonymous

Although it says "Image not found", so please use your imagination.

Anonymous

19:08

And pretend I successfully uploaded an image :-)

Damkerng T.

I can see the image just fine.

Anonymous

Yay!

Damkerng T.

Nice diagram!

Anonymous

I can't! ;-(

Damkerng T.

Oh, no!

user116848

19:08

So I am bad at pretending :-)

Anonymous

Haha.

Anonymous

In my understanding, it's not one of those unless it's a circle-ish thing.

Anonymous

But apparently people don't all use the word the way I do.

Damkerng T.

The bulb one is way cuter, no matter what. :D

Anonymous

In my experience, you can live in a city without knowing any of your neighbors, but in a cul de sac you know everyone

user116848

19:11

You betcha!

Damkerng T.

I suppose!

Anonymous

That makes me miss the phrase "You bet your bippy!"

CopperKettle

@snailboat One must know one's fellow cul de sac-ers!

Anonymous

@CopperKettle It's true!

Anonymous

You have no choice.

CopperKettle

19:12

(0:

user116848

@snailboat :-)

CopperKettle

although "cul de sac-ers" sounds like an imperative sentence calling for a dose of water to be sprinkled on some persons

Anonymous

Wikipedia says:

Anonymous

> In Catalan or in Occitan, "cul-de-sac" literally means "ass of a bag". J. R. R. Tolkien used the name Bag End as a literal translation of "cul-de-sac", to poke fun at the British use of French terms.

user116848

@snailboat Hey, I remember seeing a picture of your brother’s car broken by a hamster here recently. So do the hamsters do such destruction at home as well when they are not in their cage? :-)

CopperKettle

19:15

@snailboat ah, never knew that!

Damkerng T.

Oh, so Baggins is from this word?

Anonymous

@Farooq If you let them, they'll chew on everything :-)

Anonymous

Hamsters need to chew every day.

user116848

Oh! :-)

Anonymous

Y'see, their teeth just keep on growing and growing.

Anonymous

19:16

So they have to chew to wear them down to remain healthy.

Anonymous

That means that whatever's in their environment, they'll chew!

user116848

And people who keep them as pets, do hamsters bite or hurt them? Because they seem to have really sharp teeth.

Anonymous

Typically no. Some hamsters will play bite. Occasionally hamsters do bite, and you can get hurt

Anonymous

But you can usually tell if a hamster's unhappy and wants you to leave them alone

user116848

Ah

CopperKettle

19:17

will it growl?

Anonymous

Hamsters can't growl.

Anonymous

They can make various sorts of vocalizations, though most of them are ultrasonic (other hamsters can hear them but humans can't)

user116848

Ultrasonic, nice!

Anonymous

They're very aware of their immediate environment, though, and they can control whether or not they'll let you touch them

Anonymous

If a hamster doesn't want your hand to be there, it'll usually be obvious

Anonymous

19:18

And they'll usually only bite if you try to do something like pick them up when they don't want to be picked up

Anonymous

Some hamsters are bitier than others, though.

Anonymous

If you happen to know that a hamster is bitey, then you have to be more careful … :-)

CopperKettle

(0:

user116848

Yes, you bet :-)

CopperKettle

If you get 8 bites by a hamster you can say you've been bit

Damkerng T.

19:20

lol

CopperKettle

"I got several kilobites by my hamster! Gosh!"

(0:

Anonymous

Hee.

Anonymous

Well,

Anonymous

There's wild hamsters and domestic hamsters.

Anonymous

Domestic hamsters usually trust humans to some extent, some more than others

Anonymous

19:21

Wild hamsters won't let you within ten feet of them

CopperKettle

nods

Anonymous

►

CopperKettle

A very well groomed hamster!

Anonymous

That hamster would bite you if you cornered it!

CopperKettle

I wouldn't try taking it though

Anonymous

19:25

Hamsters bathe very often.

CopperKettle

He looks serious

user116848

Hehe!

user116848

Oh, I just remembered something from The Game of Thrones. I don't know how to say this but...

user116848

I think some people used to use hamsters to torture people in the past. Yikes! I saw that in none other than Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones can be creepy sometimes :-)

user116848

I hope I didn't kill the conversation :-)

Anonymous

19:27

Hamsters, really?

Anonymous

I think rats are more traditional

user116848

Yeah, it was iirc.

user116848

I skipped the scene though.

Damkerng T.

I haven't really watched Game of Thrones but that doesn't really surprise me. ;-)

CopperKettle

@Farooq I've read about tortures involving rodends and some specialized implements..

Anonymous

19:28

Hmm

Anonymous

Wikipedia says it was rats

Anonymous

Game of Thrones is something I will never watch

user116848

I know :-)

user116848

@CopperKettle Oh no!

CopperKettle

My sister swallowed the hefty book quite fast, I have it lying(?) on my bookshelf

Damkerng T.

19:30

@CopperKettle They were really creative back then!

Anonymous

@CopperKettle One of my close friends has been trying to get me to read that series for years

CopperKettle

@snailboat I picked several random pages, all turned out to be descriptions of battles.

(0:

or related to battles

Damkerng T.

or cracking someone's skull with bare hands. ;-)

Anonymous

I don't like to read about or watch things like that

CopperKettle

yes, that kinda thing (0:

user116848

19:32

I hate violence as well.

CopperKettle

"It's full of violence. That is everything that is bad about it." - is this use of "everything" felicitous, I wonder

user116848

Sorry guys but I have a habit of writing what's on my mind :-)

CopperKettle

No problem with me (0:

user116848

My opinions just wrestle their way out.

user116848

:-)

CopperKettle

19:35

(0:

user116848

I have to catch up with some work. See you all!

user116848

Ciao!

CopperKettle

Bye-bye, @Farooq!

Damkerng T.

See you later!

CopperKettle

Jeitinho

Jeitinho (Brazilian Portuguese: [ʒejˈtʃĩɲu], "knack") is finding a way to accomplish something by circumventing rules or social conventions. It is a typically Brazilian method of social navigation where an individual can use emotional resources (appeal to emotion), blackmail, family ties, promises, rewards or money to obtain favors or to get an advantage. It is a similar concept to viveza criolla in Argentina and Uruguay, and malicia indigena in Colombia. The word "jeitinho" comes from the expression dar um jeito, literally "find a way." It implies the use of resources at hand, as well as personal...

Damkerng T.

19:41

Wow

CopperKettle

I've encountered the term in a discussion between two Brazilians at lang-8

lang-8.com/1124677/journals/…

The words sounds nicely. Portuguese is a melodic language.

Good night, Damkerng!

Damkerng T.

Good night!

Iplodman

20:00

Hey!

What's up?

Anonymous

20:26

Interesting! Tetsujin doesn't like "if it's rainy tomorrow"

Anonymous

I wonder why not

Iplodman

20:54

What the heck is Tetsujin?

Anonymous

It's the name of a user on ELL. In Japanese, tetsujin means something like "iron man" (though -jin is actually gender neutral)

Iplodman

Ooh, I thought it was software! ;P

Anonymous

Although his username is a Japanese word, I think he's a native speaker of British English

Iplodman

Gotta' love Japanese.

Chat room I built:

►

I'm planning on learning Portuguese. Obviously not much like Japanese, but still a different language ;P

Anonymous

59

Portuguese Language

Proposed Q&A site for linguists, teachers and learners wanting to discuss the finer points of the Portuguese language.

Currently in commitment.

Iplodman

21:02

Ooh!

Thanks ;P

Pyraminx

22:56

WHOS ON???

Transcript for