English Language Learners

Cerberus

01:45

@WendiKidd Have fun! Where are you going?

WendiKidd

02:48

@Cerberus Hi! :D I'm going to Germany, I'm so excited. I've never left the country before. I'm participating in the International Game Jam at a really cool company :)

WendiKidd

03:05

Okay, this game is so much fun

blog.oxforddictionaries.com/media/spelling-challenge-v2

2

It's from the Oxford Dictionary and it tests your spelling at different levels. It's fun to play and I learned a new word (leitmotif)!

Cerberus

03:29

@WendiKidd Ohh have fun! Where in Germany? You may be within a few hours from here...

WendiKidd

03:57

@Cerberus Meep, we're playing chat-tag! xD I'll be in Berlin! Is that close to you?

Cerberus

Alas, no.

WendiKidd

Aww, too bad.

Cerberus

Several thousands of km.

WendiKidd

Haha. Yes that is indeed far!

Cerberus

But Berlin is said to be cool.

Lots of arty-farty underground stuff.

WendiKidd

03:59

That's what I've heard! I'm excited. I have a day and a half to myself to do whatever, and then the rest of the time is the Game Jam

There's an egyptian exhibit at a museum, too, that I think I might go to

I forget where it is, but I'm going to google it tomorrow and maybe get a ticket saved :)

I have so much stuff to do tomorrow, I put way too much off until the last minute! Which isn't something I normally do, but life has interfered.

Cerberus

Haha.

C'est la vie.

The Pergamum-museum is famous.

WendiKidd

Oh yeah? I'll have to check it out then! I love museums : D

Cerberus

The Gate of Ishtar is great, that's the first thing I would want to see...

smb.museum/smb/standorte/index.php?lang=en&objID=27

WendiKidd

Haha, now I'm going to make a list to go see everything you tell me to!

Cerberus

Printing tickets in advance (if possible) is a great idea, to avoid the queues...

Although it may not be so bad in winter.

The Gate of Ishtar is in the P.-museum.

WendiKidd

04:05

Yeah, that's the one thing--it's going to be around freezing temperatures every day I'm there

Cerberus

And maybe snow...

WendiKidd

I'm used to much warmer weather LOL

Cerberus

So take the U-bahn or a taxi?

WendiKidd

Oooh but snow would make me happy. It's snowed where I live twice, ever. We just get sleet and ice

Cerberus

Oh, really?

You will regret those words!

WendiKidd

04:06

Yeah I'm excited to try the public transit! We don't have much of that here either (though of course we have taxis)

Cerberus

And don't wear your good shoes if it's snowing.

WendiKidd

LOL! Really? You don't like snow?

Cerberus

Well, it is nice to look at.

WendiKidd

Haha

Cerberus

And I suppose it is not so bad if you go everywhere by car.

Where do you live anyway?

WendiKidd

04:07

Texas, USA

Cerberus

Ah, Dallas.

WendiKidd

It is hot 95% of the time

Yep yep

Cerberus

Then Berlin will be quite a change!

WendiKidd

Yes, definitely! I'm not a fan of the heat, so I'm hoping I'll handle the cold okay. But you're making me nervous about the snow now! ;)

Cerberus

It is probably not a city you would want to walk around in a lot anyway, not like Paris or something, so the weather will be less of a problem if you can afford taxis.

Anonymous

04:08

@WendiKidd Leitmotif is a fun word! I first learned it not from opera, but from video games.

WendiKidd

@Cerberus Yes, I think I'll take your advice and do that. Taxis will save time too, so that's a good idea!

@snailplane That's cool! I think it's fun to say

In the game they pronounce the word and you have to spell it. And of course leitmotif is spelled as it sounds

And I'd never heard it, so I just typed "lightmotif" even though I knew that couldn't be right ;)

Cerberus

The main problems with snow: 1. on the pavement, an icy layer will form that it can be hard to walk on without falling. It depends. The closer it is to 0 °C, the worse. 2. They often deposit salt to melt the snow for traffic, and all the water, the mud, and the salt will ruin leather shoes.

WendiKidd

So of course I got it wrong, but then I learned a new word!

Cerberus

is ashamed to say he totally misheard capillary

WendiKidd

@Cerberus Oh dear

Cerberus

04:10

I heard c*cillary, so I had no idea what it could be.

WendiKidd

Haha that's okay, I misheard a few of the words too

LOL!

Cerberus

I had also forgotten how gherkin was spelled. I knew what it meant, but...gurkin?

WendiKidd

I think there are a limited about of games, too; I played so much they started to repeat.

Cerberus

Ah yes.

WendiKidd

Yes, I misspelled a few as well. gherkin is a fun word, I like words with odd combinations of spelling like that

Now you'll never forget it though, right? It's like getting it wrong on a test! xD

Cerberus

04:11

It is so weird!

It comes from Dutch augurkje, apparently.

WendiKidd

Yes, definitely :)

Cerberus

I knew it was an augurk-like thingy.

WendiKidd

Hehe

Cerberus

At least now you can accost random strangers in Berlin and say "Leitmotif, ja ja!"

WendiKidd

Hahahaha

Yes, definitely!

And then I'll miss my flight home because they've had me committed to an insane asylum ;)

Cerberus

04:13

Hehe.

Most likely.

priceoftravel.com/555/…

Hmm it appears taxis are expensive.

WendiKidd

Wow...yes, yes it does

Hmm

I guess if I just take a taxi to go to the museum and back and walk everywhere else, it wouldn't cost too much overall.

Ah, the nefertiti thing is at the museum you were talking about!

smb.museum/smb/kalender/details.php?lang=en&objID=29934

Cerberus

Or take the U-bahn.

@WendiKidd Hmm or the Staatliche Museen may be a collaboration between museums.

WendiKidd

Oh?

Where's the nefertiti one at then? I'm having trouble navigating this website x.x

Cerberus

I don't get it either.

WendiKidd

haha

Cerberus

04:20

Maybe several museums are housed together in the same building, or close to each other?

But Museen = museums.

Museum = museum.

WendiKidd

It would help if they gave an address anywhere

You'd think that would be important for a business! lol

Cerberus

Yeah.

WendiKidd

Oh, I got it!

smb.museum/smb/kalender/details.php?objID=29934&p=1

:D

Cerberus

Ah.

Museum Island

Museum Island () is the name of the northern half of an island in the Spree river in the central Mitte district of Berlin, Germany, the site of the old city of Cölln. It is so called for the complex of five internationally significant museums, all part of the Berlin State Museums, that occupy the island's northern part: *The Altes Museum (Old Museum) completed on the orders of Karl Friedrich Schinkel in 1830. *The Neues Museum (New Museum) finished in 1859 according to plans by Friedrich August Stüler, a student of Schinkel. Destroyed in World War II, it was rebuilt under the direction o...

So all these museums are right next to one another.

WendiKidd

@.@ There isn't enough time to see them all!

Now I have a dilemma xD

Cerberus

04:29

Hehe.

Don't feel obligated to see every single object in the city.

Just pick a few things that you really like.

WendiKidd

Haha yeah. I've always loved Egyptian stuff, that's why I want to see the Nefertiti exhibit. (I had so much fun when the King Tut exhibit came to Dallas. It was brilliant.) I'll have to pick and choose between the rest!!

Cerberus

Oh, does it travel the world?

Cool.

My #1 pick would be the Gate of Ishtar at the Pergamon.

WendiKidd

Hmmm, it did for a while. I'm not sure if it still does, this was a few years ago. I know everything was on loan from Egypt.

Well then, I will put that on the list and if I have a chance to see it (I hope I will!) I will take a picture of it for you :)

Cerberus

Yay!

Okay, have a great time!

WendiKidd

:D Thanks

Cerberus

04:34

You'll hate the weather, but you'll like the rest.

WendiKidd

Hee, I'm sure :D Thank you! ^^

Okay, I think it's bedtime for me. 11:30 at night and I have to be up early tomorrow--lots to do! So it was great talking to you, and I shall talk to you later! Good night :)

Cerberus

Bye!

Auf wiedersehen.

Anonymous

12:05

I saw that @J.R. wrote an answer to the question about grammaticality

Anonymous

I decided to write an answer. I don't think I should post it, but I think I needed to write it to get it out of my system :-)

Anonymous

Cerberus

12:28

@snailplane Post it!

It's good.

StoneyB

@WendiKidd, @Matt, @waiwai933 Congratulations on your diamonds!

Anonymous

Let's star those congrats :-)

Cerberus

Ohh, were diamonds handed out? Yay!

Huh? Matt doesn't have a diamond?

Or am I looking at the wrong Matt.

@StoneyB And why don't you have one? If anyone, I would have expected you...

Ohh it's Other Matt. I don't know him.

StoneyB

13:40

@Cerberus Because for that job, tact and willingness to do the scut work are more important than rep, which is (in my case at least) rather the sign of a diseased and unreliable personality.

Anonymous

Is Phuong asking homework questions directly? I'm not very good at detecting this sort of thing.

Anonymous

And if so, what is the appropriate response?

Anonymous

I'm looking at this question in particular: ell.stackexchange.com/questions/3832/…

Anonymous

It says: We thought he is planning to go on vacation after the first of the month. a.thought b.is c.go on vacation d.after Could you tell me which one is incorrect and why? thanks

StoneyB

@snailplane He may be; his first suggested he'd gotten his homework back and was asking why the right wrong answer was in fact wrong. ... I believe the established principle across SE is that a question rises or falls on its own merits, not OP's motives.

Anonymous

13:46

Ahh, I see

StoneyB

On the other hand, we could get swamped with this stuff, and the authorities have always warned us against getting involved in a homework war in Asia. How 'bout demanding some 'research and effort'?: "Which ones do you know are OK? Which ones do you think might be wrong?" ... with a friendly note to the effect that You'll never learn this stuff if we just tell you.

Anonymous

I left a comment, but I should probably delete it and write a better one.

StoneyB

I do that all that time. At my age I should know better than to write first and think after, but I do it anyway.

Anonymous

For me, it happens with answers, too.

Anonymous

I think I'm just impatient.

Anonymous

13:52

(And too often convinced I'm correct!)

StoneyB

... and now the boss has arrived and I've got to do all the work that piled up last week in her pocket.

Anonymous

Good luck!

Cerberus

17:52

@StoneyB Um okay...

WendiKidd

19:54

@StoneyB Thank you! I'm very excited and hope to do the site justice!

I'm leaving the country for a week tomorrow, though, so I will miss you guys while I'm gone!

Cerberus

@WendiKidd Hey! You're still here?

WendiKidd

@Cerberus Hi!

I was just checking out the shiny new moderator tools : D

I leave tomorrow morning :)

Cerberus

Yay!

Ahh OK.

WendiKidd

Is it odd to be disappointed that there aren't any flags to handle? xD

In theory it's good to not need to take care of flags, but I wanted there to be at least one! LOL

Cerberus

I could call you names?

WendiKidd

20:08

@Cerberus LOL! Don't do that, I don't want you to get in trouble! xD

But thanks for the thought ;)

Cerberus

scared

WendiKidd

Haha. If you follow the rules there's no reason to be scared, right? : D

Cerberus

And if you have nothing to hide, there is no reason to have privacy, right?

WendiKidd

LOL!

ctype.h

@WendiKidd Is there a reason you used the site-faq instead of faq for the List of common symbols? I could have tagged it site-faq, but only moderators can use the faq tag. That is why I used a moderator flag.

WendiKidd

20:23

@ctype.h Ah, I see! Thank you, I was unaware. I'll make that change for you now!

And fixed. :D

ctype.h

@WendiKidd Thanks.

WendiKidd

@ctype.h np!

simchona

20:39

@WendiKidd Congrats!

WendiKidd

@simchona Thanks! : D

StoneyB

@ctype.h Thanks for adding angle brackets; but as I feared, they're showing up as □x□ in Arial. I'm afraid we'll have to do less-than/greater-than <> on ELL, until we graduate and can get a more comprehensive face.

@WendiKidd Hope the new job doesn't take all your time on the site. We need your answers, too.

ctype.h

@StoneyB They look fine in the list (it might just be because Chrome just displays them with a similar font), but for some reason Arial only has less-than and greater-than and angle quotes. We really need a better font here.

WendiKidd

@StoneyB Oh, I'll be sure to keep answering, I promise! I've yet to see a flag on the main site (did handle 1 on meta) so moderating isn't taking up too much time so far ;)

StoneyB

21:14

@ctype.h They're in the CJK glyphs, U+300x, for East Asian languages. (There's a pair at U+27E8 and U+27E9 which is now deprecated.) Unhappily, the fonts that actually have either of these are mostly pretty ugly.

@WendiKidd My impression was that mods spent about 40 hours per day editing, looking for dupes, and closing. I've always seen them as prematurely greyed prisoners chained to their keyboards, struggling to remain afloat above a rising flood of improprieties, hoping desperately for interesting flags to relieve the frantic tedium.

3

Cerberus

21:47

Haha exactly!

40 hours sounds accurate.

WendiKidd

@StoneyB Ha!

I mentioned in the mod chat room that I hadn't seen any flags yet; a mod from another site offered me some of the 500 he had pending ;)

If we get to the point where I need to spend 40 hours a day on the site moderating, I'll be happy for our growth (and sad for my social life).

WendiKidd

22:03

@StoneyB See, I've just posted an answer. My promise has been kept ;)

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English Language Learners