English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Cerberus

01:00

I knew it.

Robusto

But I don't want to give the impression that I can play.

Cerberus

But you didn't like it?

Robusto

Because I can't.

Cerberus

Lies.

Robusto

I liked it when I had a partner who wasn't a dunce.

Cerberus

01:01

Hey my level isn't high at all; but it is high enough to like the game. And I am too lazy to really do my best to crank out as many points as I can.

So if you liked the game with a decent partner, you liked it. Period.

Robusto

Well, see, that's the thing. To get good at it is really hard.

It's like chess. If I wanted to play higher than 1800 I would really have to study opening theory and pawn structure and all that.

Cerberus

I just wrong-bid myself into a 3NT contract while we are lacking about 5 points. But it is still fun!

Robusto

And I just don't have the time. Or, probably, the ability.

Cerberus

But do you need to play high at everything?

Does it cease to be fun if you don't?

Robusto

Well, let me just say that my son inherited some of his competitive nature from me.

Cerberus

01:03

So I gather!

Robusto

I'm kind of obsessive. You mean you couldn't tell that? :)

Cerberus

Huh, what, you?

I can be obsessive too, but not regarding competition, strangely enough.

Robusto

But I've mellowed a lot.

It's not that I'm competitive, actually, it's just that I want to do something to the max, whatever it is.

Cerberus

Old age, right...

But isn't the max relative?

There is max fun, max points...

Well I probably sound like your mother now.

Robusto

There is a carrot tied to a stick in front of this horse. I never get to the carrot, but I keep trying.

Cerberus

01:07

But there could be several sticks, sticking out in different directions.

Robusto

I'm obsessive in my job. I absolutely can't stand it if I can't make what I'm doing as good as it possibly can be. Even if there isn't time for that.

Cerberus

A good quality in general.

Robusto

When I get a defect to fix, I generally refactor WAY more than just the simple fix it would take to correct the defect.

Martha

@Robusto I resemble that remark.

Robusto

I just love it when my stuff is perfect. I can play with it for hours then. :)

@Martha Good for you!

Cerberus

01:09

I often lose interest when I reach a goal.

Robusto

Kindred spirits.

Same here.

When I got on SO, my goal was to hit 10K rep in under a year. When I hit it, I completely lost interest.

Cerberus

That.

But don't you ever tell yourself, I can reach that goal, but why should I?>

Okay I have a weird hand:

3 HCP, void in spades.

Robusto

One has to do something while one's code is compiling.

RegDwight

Ccccccccombo breaker!

0

Q: using apostrophes.

hey guys!i hope you can help. as homework, i was asked to write an essay using some words the teacher gave in class and the last word i need to use is country. can someone please tell- does country needs to have an apostrophe-s at the end of the word? and is the next sentence i wrote correct? - ...

apostrophe

Cerberus

haha nice.

RegDwight

01:12

This time, without an exclamation mark.

Robusto

@RegDwight — Someone's gonna flunk writing.

Cerberus

I have just posted the laziest answer ever.

Feel free to suspend me holds out wrists.

Robusto

Nah, I just upvoted you.

Cerberus

Wat!?

Robusto

I'm too lazy to give that boy the thrashing he deserves.

RegDwight

01:14

I mean, just in case anybody's not noticing: that's her third question about her homework assignment for today.

Martha

And two of them have identical titles.

Cerberus

I thought I recognized her je-ne-sais-quoi.

Robusto

OK, then I'm too lazy to give that girl the thrashing she deserves.

@Cerberus — That's French for "I don't know anything," right?

Cerberus

Hey you wouldn't know that: it is in a foreign language.

American, right>

Robusto

Oh right, I forgot: I'm an American.

Cerberus

01:16

D'oh.

But yes that's what it means.

Robusto

じゃ、米国人ですが。。。

RegDwight

"A native speaker of English is usually someone who does not know any other language, did not ever study any foreign language and honestly believes that there is no need to know any language except English/American"

english.stackexchange.com/questions/14582/…

Robusto

@Cerberus Not exactly. It means "I don't know what"

Cerberus

Oh God, what does this mean: partner opens 1H, East bids 2H and alerts...

@Rob: D'oh!

I thought you were jokingly parading American ignorance in a subtle wordplay on the ability of the poster... let's keep it at that!

Robusto

Me knows a thing or two.

I was doing that.

Cerberus

01:19

You might be; there are so many twisted levels in this chat that I couldn't possible keep up.

Robusto

I was saying she doesn't know nothing. Or, in the parlance of today's youth: She dosnt no nothin.

Occasionally I pretend not to understand @RegDwight's jokes just to see how pissed off he gets.

Cerberus

I see... no I don't...

Well I am bidding 4H even though I have only 3HCP.

Robusto

It's the only time I ever see him get angry.

You are going down, my friend.

You will be set by one trick.

Cerberus

Probably... but I don't like this opposing cue bid.

One, you say? That is fine; I am just trying to block the opponents' bidding space.

Robusto

Are you vulnerable?

Did you get doubled?

JPmiaou

01:22

They're using English words to speak another language. Is there a word for that?

Robusto

It's called cheating.

RegDwight

Denglisch.

Cerberus

No and no, but it was probably the wrong bid. We are going down so hard. I am going to save this hand to see whether opps would have made 6 otherwise.

Martha

Jargon?

Robusto

BTW, here's a diagram that defines the nerd better than your Venn diagrams, @RegDwight:

RegDwight

01:23

Denglisch

Denglisch (German spelling) or Denglish (English spelling) is a portmanteau of the German words Deutsch and Englisch. Used in all German-speaking countries, it describes an influx of English, or pseudo-English, vocabulary into the German language through travel and English's widespread usage in advertising, business and information technology. Synonyms are Gerglish, Angleutsch and Engleutsch. While it has been argued that this influx, similar to the import of Latin and French words in the past, makes the language more expressive, in many sectors of society it remains controversial, nota...

Robusto

Anyway, gotta go eat dinner. TTYL.

RegDwight

Not to me. I plan to be sleeping.

Cerberus

Aww nice diagram.

And bye Rob!

JPmiaou

So they're using Bridlish?

Or is it Engridge?

RegDwight

Let's settle for vgv8isch.

Cerberus

01:24

Man it looks like I am going to make 6H.

Yay made it.

Aww poor vgv8 (that you even memorized his name!).

JPmiaou

But actually no portmanteau like that really covers this situation: the vocabulary is 100% English, it's just used in ways that make no sense in the normal language.

RegDwight

I can even spell kiamlaluno and ShreevatsaR anytime.

Part of my job description.

Cerberus

That is called Google Translate?

@Reg: Wow I am impressed. I might vote for you again. Just give me some candy too, will you?

JPmiaou

Gotta go attend to needy child. Read everybody later...

Cerberus

Bye!

RegDwight

01:27

@JPmiaou That is most certainly vgv8isch.

yesterday, by Kosmonaut

I read through this question a few times and now I feel like I don't understand English anymore.

Cerberus

Yup!

I wonder why he won't come back on an alt.

RegDwight

Mar 3 at 11:11, by RegDwight

Candy

Candy, specifically sugar candy, is a confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water, to which flavorings and colorants are added. Candies come in numerous colors and varieties and have a long history in popular culture. The Middle English word "candy" began to be used in the late 13th century, coming into English from the Old French çucre candi, derived in turn from Arabic qandi and Persian qand, "cane sugar." In North America, candy is a broad category that includes candy bars, chocolates, licorice, sour candies, salty candies, tart candies, hard candies, taffies, gu...

Cerberus

Please...

Martha

Please what?

Cerberus

Ehm... please, gimme candy! Now!

RegDwight

01:31

I'm scratching my head, too.

3 mins ago, by RegDwight

Mar 3 at 11:11, by RegDwight

Candy

Candy, specifically sugar candy, is a confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water, to which flavorings and colorants are added. Candies come in numerous colors and varieties and have a long history in popular culture. The Middle English word "candy" began to be used in the late 13th century, coming into English from the Old French çucre candi, derived in turn from Arabic qandi and Persian qand, "cane sugar." In North America, candy is a broad category that includes candy bars, chocolates, licorice, sour candies, salty candies, tart candies, hard candies, taffies, gu...

Cerberus

I think it was rather like an "oh, please...".

Martha

That's what I read it as, but "oh, please" what?

RD01

RegDwight's self-references are coming closer and closer together. We are doooooomed.

RegDwight

Don't make me go ABBA.

Martha

Eh, we're already doomed.

Cerberus

01:32

It was an ironic "oh, please.... not again!".

RegDwight

Ah. You and your irony. Was your answer to the apostrophes question snarky? I think it was snarky. Was it?

Martha

Ah, ok. (lightbulb just went off. Or on. Whatever. Enlightenment dawns.)

RD01

Another apostrophe question? Yikes.

RegDwight

Englightenment!

Martha

The Hungarian version is "leesett a tantusz", i.e. the coin dropped.

Cerberus

01:34

Yup it was meant as snarky.

RegDwight

Now we at least have a term for the opposite of what your sis is looking for.

Cerberus

The coin dropped... hey we say that too in Dutch!

RegDwight

Hey yo! No fixing

Martha

Too late.

Cerberus

But we also say "his light went on/up".

RegDwight

01:35

It will be too late for you in less than two minutes, but not for me! Mwuahahahaha.

Martha

Well, except "tantusz" means something closer to "coin-shaped token". The word for "coin" is érme.

Cerberus

Is that something communist?

The coin-shaped tokens.

Martha

No, I think it pre-dates communism. Think really old-fashioned pay phones. Once communism got ahold of Hungary, there were no phones to speak of, so there wasn't anything to put coin-like objects into.

Cerberus

What, seriously? No phones?

RegDwight

Hm. Why? In the USSR, them phones were all over the place.

Cerberus

01:39

Yeah, I mean, when did Hungary receive the blessing of cummunism? Was that the fourties?

I now realize that I have no idea what Hungary's position was at the start of WWII.

Martha

I had like, two relatives who had phones. One was a doctor, and the other a teacher. The teacher had a shared line between all the apartments in her building.

Cerberus

Wow I had no idea.

Martha

1948.

Cerberus

In what year?

Ah.

Martha

Hungary was unfortunately still too close to Austrian control to enter WWII on the "correct" side. Horthy tried to keep it neutral as long as possible, but that wasn't very long at all.

Cerberus

01:41

Ah, that sounds logical.

Well it is all forgotten!

We tried to stay neutral as well.

Martha

Plus, there was the issue of Trianon; many Hungarians thought Hitler was their best chance of regaining all those lost territories.

Cerberus

It sort of didn't work when the Germans conquered us in a few weeks.

Martha

(I think Hitler almost came out and promised just that.)

Cerberus

I am not surprised.

Hey is it true that Hungarian has a word like /bakvis/ that means a girl aged 16-20 or something?

RegDwight

Backfisch?

Cerberus

01:44

Yes, is that it?

Martha

Yes. It's a slang word, though. I think it's spelled bakfis, and the online dictionary translates it as "flapper".

Cerberus

But that sounds German.

Martha

It's doubtless a Hungarianized spelling of a German word.

Cerberus

Okay, I see. Then we probably both got it from German.

Exactly.

RegDwight

Backfisch (Mädchen)

Backfisch ist eine – heute veraltete – Bezeichnung für Mädchen im Teenager-Alter. Der Begriff stammt von dem gleichnamigen Wort aus dem Fischfang und bezeichnete sehr junge Fische. Bis in die zweite Hälfte des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts hinein war es eine Bezeichnung für junge Mädchen. So hießen Mädchenbücher früher auch „Backfischromane“, zum Beispiel Der Trotzkopf. In den 1950er Jahren standen die Backfische den Halbstarken gegenüber, die in der Erwachsenenwelt provozieren wollten. Nur wenige Mädchen waren Halbstarke, die Mädchenwelt war mehr eine „Kultur der vier Wände“, die sich in den...

Martha

01:45

There are lots of those. My grandmother called curtains "firhang", which obviously comes from German vorhang.

RegDwight

@Cerberus "De naam is afkomstig uit de visserij. De te kleine vis werd in een bak gedaan, om overboord te worden gezet. Bakvis is dus jonge vis."

Cerberus

@Reg: Thanks; but I liked it better when your link would suddenly transform into Dutch before my eyes!

RegDwight

So my money is on Frisian.

Cerberus

Eh, what, Frisian?

RegDwight

Frisian languages

The Frisian languages are a closely related group of Germanic languages, spoken by about 500,000 members of Frisian ethnic groups, who live on the southern fringes of the North Sea in the Netherlands, and Germany. The Frisian languages are the second closest related living European languages to English, after Scots. However, modern English and Frisian are mostly unintelligible to each other. Frisian languages bear similarities to Low German, Dutch (from which many Frisian words have been borrowed) and Danish, and Danish speakers are able to understand some spoken Frisian. Additional share...

Where else would the Dutch and the Deutsch get it from?

Cerberus

01:49

Well, why didn't we all get it from German?

Or possibly Dutch; but why Frisian? I mean, it could be, but...

RegDwight

Because the fishermen in Germany are typically not Bavarians.

BTW, nohat strikes again:

1

A: How to properly pronounce 'mall'

There are a couple confusions at work here. First, there are different "lexical sets" the word could fall into: TRAP, LOT, BATH, CLOTH, PALM, THOUGHT, NORTH, FORCE. For the most part, most speakers and dictionaries of English agree that mall is either pronounced with the vowel for THOUGHT or ...

Cerberus

So? I think I am missing a link. Is this about early German vowel shifts or something?

RegDwight

@Cerberus No. Just a theory. A gut feeling. Nothing less, nothing more.

Cerberus

But why the Bavarians?

RegDwight

Not the Bavarians.

But anyhow, "Andere Quellen sprechen davon, dass das Wort aus dem britischen Anglerlatein stamme, wo mit backfish ein Fisch bezeichnet wird, der noch nicht groß genug ist, um gegessen zu werden, und deswegen wieder ins Wasser geworfen wird. Auf die jungen Mädchen übertragen bedeutet dies, dass sie weder Kinder noch Erwachsene sind."

So it could be coming from the Brits, after all.

But still no Bavarians.

de.wiktionary.org/wiki/Backfisch

Cerberus

01:55

My dictionary says (if I interpret it correctly) that it has existed in German as a term for young girls since ca. 1550, and came to Dutch in the 19th century.

RegDwight

Interesting. Still, the Germans themselves have to have it from somewhere, too.

Non sequitur: OMG, what have they done to the envelope?

4

Cerberus

Huh?

RegDwight

It's an arrow now.

Cerberus

I think I am slow...

Martha

Precisely what I was just going to complain about, @RegDwight!

RegDwight

01:57

On the main site. The thing before your user name.

Martha

How am I supposed to figure out where those recent points came from?

Cerberus

Oh!

I see.

RegDwight

@Martha That, and now all of a sudden logout links are everywhere!

Martha

Ok, this really sucks. Where should I direct my torches & pitchforks?

RegDwight

And who needs that privileges link?

yesterday, by RegDwight

Complaints are to be filed over ------> there

Cerberus

01:59

I did notice that the reputation graph has doubled in width.

RD01

So now I have to click twice to get to my profile. Egads.

Martha

@RegDwight Especially since your reputation score takes you to the same exact privileges page. With a single click.

RegDwight

My point exactly.

I have a feeling all **** is about to break loose on MSO.

RD01

I was just loading it up, under the assumption someone was already going bat-shit crazy

Well, someone found the first bug due to the new change.

Martha

I just posted my contribution to the all ****.

RegDwight

02:03

At least now I see why people are upvoting my old stuff. It's because of Popular Demand's follow-up.

6

Q: I bet SEDE thinks I'm an electronic gadget

Consider this the less interesting, lower-grossing sequel to last year's surprise hit comedy, I am not an electronic gadget!. The Stack Exchange site list has been updated in response to that question — although some mistakes snuck in since the cleanup, e.g. "Q&A for peer programmer co...

bug data-explorer spelling description

RD01

@Martha thanks for tagging it 'bug'. I love that.

Martha

Well, what else could I tag it as?

RegDwight

Certainly not 'discussion'.

RD01

There needs to be a 'WTF did you do now' tag

RegDwight

There was. But it got renamed.

As did always-friday-in-iceland.

RD01

02:07

merged with 'Status-by-design'?

RegDwight

Haha.

RD01

On the plus side, I like the new profile page. Once I stopped panicking and realized there were two menus now.

Martha

The new profile page is "meh" for me. You still can't zoom in on the rep graph, for one thing.

RD01

LOL you're up to 4 votes already. Fastest BugReport in the West should net you a great many question points.

Martha

Ok, someone posted that the envelope used to lead to this page:

english.stackexchange.com/users/recent

(I swear, I felt like a druggie in need of her next fix. Must... see... recent... changes....)

RegDwight

02:11

Someone commented on that.

Martha

Yes, I saw. :)

RD01

Heh, they changed the tags page too. Another complaint has been lodged.

I don't know why people complain there isn't a good new features notification. I just read MSO complaints.

RegDwight

The thing is, TPTB are probably having some fun time right now. I mean, it's not like they couldn't have anticipated all this. Bets are being won and lost as we speak.

in The Tavern (General) on Meta Stack Overflow Chat, 6 mins ago, by Tim Stone

4

Q: Eeeek! What happened to my envelope?

The envelope is gone from next to my name! How am I supposed to check where those recent points came from? I don't remember the link to that page!

bug

in The Tavern (General) on Meta Stack Overflow Chat, 6 mins ago, by Rebecca Chernoff

I used that page all the time, just didn't pay attention to whether it was lit up

RD01

Uh oh, the Tavern's involved.

RegDwight

Jin is whistling.

in The Tavern (General) on Meta Stack Overflow Chat, 8 mins ago, by Rebecca Chernoff

grrrr @Jin

RD01

02:19

Hah, coordinated EL&U invasion of the tavern.

I've never had to release changes to a running system, I'll bet that is a load of fun.

RegDwight

But that's actually the cool part about Web development.

RD01

I'm a "close to the metal" developer.

RegDwight

You can breaks stuff for everyone, but you can also fix it for everyone, at once.

Mar 1 at 15:01, by RegDwight

@MrShinyandNew Webmaster, for the most part. I do a lot of customer support, too. But no product development, except for some GUI design.

RD01

Anyway, look at the related questions in Martha's MSO question. There's a bazillion "what happened to X" questions.

That's pretty funny.

Martha

Betcha none of them start with "Eeek!" though.

RD01

02:26

You've gotta stand out. I'd add a picture of the baby next time.

RegDwight

Grats on the fastest badge in history.

By the looks of it, you will be getting a Good, Great, Popular, Notable, Famous, Favourite, and Stellar Question in no time.

Martha

Yeah, I'm earning badges left and right for that question.

RD01

I'm surprised there hasn't been a duplicate question yet. I guarantee that happens soon.

RegDwight

No badges for that.

Except views and passive rep.

RD01

I didn't mean on purpose. Just that nobody checks before they post.

Usually there's a ton of closed duplicates for this kind of thing.

RegDwight

02:31

I must say that I am a bit proud, Martha beats the entire SO to it.

Whaddatheyhave? One billion users?

RD01

Of course it might mean we don't have enough good new questions.

Cerberus

Q: I just created a new account on the board games beta, though OpenID as I always do; but now I get an account called usersomething, and I have 1 rep. What gives? Is that because it is in beta? No, I don't think so: I was OK in the Latin alpha...

RD01

What's the user name?

Cerberus

This is I; fear me!

user1040

1

Martha

Did you forget to tell it to associate the account with your others?

RD01

02:45

If you had used the same openid, wouldn't the gravatar image have been grabbed?

RegDwight

@Cerberus I am looking for that question on MSO. Can't promise I will find it, though. Not my day today.

Cerberus

I never typed anything; just did what I always do when I visit a new site on se.com; I get logged in automatically everywhere with Lastpass.

@Reg: Thanks for looking!

RegDwight

It was something like "why am I userXXXX on [site name]"...

Cerberus

I see all my other accounts as they should be under Related Accounts.

RD01

Worked ok for me.

Cerberus

02:48

Hmm then I'll just have to try 9999 times...

Okay, I have disassociated and reassociated my accounts; now I have 101 rep! But still the wrong picture.

RegDwight

@Cerberus I registered on Drupal today and didn't get the association bonus. I disassociated and reassociated, and got it.

Cerberus

@Reg: Yeah I just tried that: I got the bonus now, but still wrong name, wrong picture...

Perhaps I should delete it.

RegDwight

Ah yes.

RD01

I think I read somewhere that the images are cached. I'd give it a little time. As long as things are associated ok.

Martha

There's some method for going to one of your good profiles and telling it to use that on all of your accounts.

RegDwight

02:51

Yes, it's on the accounts tab, the button on the bottom.

Cerberus

Right, I will try that. Thanks.

RegDwight

I couldn't try that, as it would copy my profile from ELU to all 47 other accounts, and I have different info on each.

Cerberus

Yay it worked!

RegDwight

Great.

Cerberus

Thanks @Martha.

And @Reg and @RD01.

RegDwight

02:53

Now @RD01 just needs to find that question to totally pwn me.

RD01

You are the accounts master RegDwi

Cerberus

Hehe.

RD01

What question am I looking for?

RegDwight

The one about "why am I userXXXX on [site name]"

RD01

Ah.

RegDwight

02:54

Anyhow, looking at the time, I must go to work soon, and I think (I think!) it might help if I go to bed first.

RD01

1

Q: New account has generic name and associations

Note: the solution is to disassociate accounts and reassociate. Then copy your profile to fix the names. Original I'm pretty confused about account associations. I went over the AskUbuntu site. I logged in with the same OpenID I've always used (from myopenid.com) and logged in as dlamblin; it fo...

support linked-accounts askubuntu

Cerberus

Oh dear, you will only be getting a few hours' sleep?

Well done, RD.

RegDwight

@RD01 Close, but no cigar.

RD01

Hrm.

Cerberus

I should be going to bed as well.

RD01

02:57

And I as well.

Cerberus

Let's go.

I mean, bye!

RD01

Toodles!

Cerberus

Hey!

I didn't know "toodles" was English.

Martha

Lordy, how'd it get to be 10pm? And I'm still in the office.

Cerberus

It is used in Dutch as well.

RegDwight

02:57

Okay. I will find that darn question tomorrow. I must. I hope it won't deprive me of my sleep.

Cerberus

Bed time!

@Martha: Not-at-the-office time!

Martha

There's a lady on a mailing list I frequent who always signs off "toodles, Margaret". We call her "Toodles Margaret".

RegDwight

Bye all, night, I'm out!

Cerberus

Funny last name.

Bye!

Martha

Good night, joéjt, etc.

RD01

02:59

One last try

7

Q: My profile just went blank?

Signing on today, I was showing up as "user351327" on SO and "user46143" on serverfault. Looking at my profile, every field was blank. I'm not sure if any of the fields besides display name used to have a value.

bug status-completed profile-page

Cerberus

I'm off as well, night!

Billare

03:10

Someone accept my edit....rawr

Robusto

03:45

I've decided to spice things up in here. What we need is a bawdy limerick contest.

The only rule is, it has to be a limerick and you have to write it yourself.

Let me start us off:

...........................

The actress who played Lysistrata
While on stage seemed no inamorata
But her backstage libido
Made her act more like Dido:
Hot love scenes were desiderata.

........................

And you thought it was going to be dirty.

Billare

lol

Robusto

And another:

.......................

A Shanghai gal's passion for Heine
Gave her husband a painful angina
Her lovemaking lyric
Was victory Pyrrhic:
He expired ... oh, somewhere in China.

........................

Billare

Do moderators have to personally approve each edit?

Is Heine supposed to be short for Heinken?

Robusto

Heinrich Heine

Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder (art songs) by composers such as Robert Schumann and Franz Schubert. Heine's later verse and prose is distinguished by its satirical wit and irony. His radical political views led to many of his works being banned by German authorities. Heine spent the last 25 years of his life as an expatriate ...

Billare

Ahh....

Robusto

03:50

What question did you try to edit?

@Billare: ^

Billare

04:11

Umm, "using apostrophes"

I think alot of people tried to do so, that's what a too-long delay does....sigh..

Prasanna

10:21

hi guys. i m new to this chat

kiamlaluno

11:20

@Robusto Chickens don't need to speak any language, to point at people.

Prasanna

hello all

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