English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

6:08 PM

I have now voted exactly 1917 times. Looks like the Bolshevik part of my job here is done.

6:29 PM

@RegDwight I'm still in the 14th century in that respect. I don't offhand know of anything significant that happened in 1384...

nohat

It makes me really happy that this question was closed without a moderator intervening

-1

Q: What is the purpose/meaning of the word "THE"?

What is the purpose of the word 'THE'? What is its meaning? From where did it orgin from? When should I capitilize "THE"? Please provide some examples of when I should not use "THE"?

Can we get more questions closed that way, please? :-)

Rhodri

Looks like we got five closed in one go there!

@Martha I'm still in imperial Rome by that standard. Selective, that's me.

RegDwight

@nohat Sure, here you are:

0

Q: What are "broken" words called?

Possible Duplicate: What is it called when an interjection is inserted inside another word? We have "broken" words, e.g. fan-bloody-tastic, etc. What are these expressions called?

words

(^_^)

But yeah, I still remember the beta days when questions would get closed by the community.

@Martha Zain Al-Abidin succeeds his father, Shah Shuja, as ruler of the Muzaffarids in central Persia.

Not offhand, mind you.

1384

__NOTOC__ Year 1384 (MCCCLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–December * May–September 3 – Lisbon is besieged by the Castilian army, during the 1383-1385 Crisis. * August 16 – The Hongwu Emperor of Ming China hears a case of a couple who tore paper money bills while fighting over them—a case considered equal to the act of destroying stamped government documents, which by law necessitates 100 floggings by a bamboo rod. However, the Hongwu Emperor decides to pardon them, on the...

Martha

@RegDwight I thought I said "significant".

RegDwight

@Martha And I thought Robusto said

Feb 10 at 16:01, by Robusto

Yeah, but who has time to read all of @RegDwight's crap.

Martha

6:40 PM

Who said I read all of what you write?

RegDwight

Point taken. Now go and look at this question:

0

Q: Why do most of the forms ask for initials?

I have seen a lot of forms that ask for the name (first name, middle name, last name) and then initials. Why does anyone want to ask for initials? Isn't initials the first letters of the name? For example, name = john doe => initials = J D. Isn't this always true?

usage words

Martha

Hmm, Jadwiga was crowned king of Poland in 1384. I'd say that's significant, given that she was a woman.

RegDwight

Sexist talk!

Rhodri

@RegDwight Good grief.

Martha

I wonder if these forms are actually asking for degrees and the like. John Henry Doe, OD, FAAO - that sort of thing.

RegDwight

6:45 PM

Sir Reginald Kenneth Dwight, CBE.

Rhodri

I've seen forms asking for middle initials, but I can't think of one that asked for full name and initials.

Martha

I've seen forms asking for middle initials as a required field. That always gets me annoyed. (I don't have a middle name.)

RegDwight

The way I read this question, and I've only ever seen this in movies, but still: they ask you to sign a contract, and they tell you, "sign here, and here, and the initials here, and here".

Martha

Oh, the initials thing is not only in movies: when we bought our current house, we had to do exactly that.

But that's not how I would read this question.

RegDwight

Well yeah, by "that's how I read it" I mean "that's the only reading that makes it remotely on-topic".

On a second thought, I'm not quite sure how this is on-topic in any sense, way, shape, form, or manner.

Rhodri

6:49 PM

That reading does at least make it make sense.

RegDwight

If anything, it's about culture, but I'm not even sure about that.

Martha

If we cross our eyes and hold it just so, can we make it into a usage question?

Kosmonaut

The "initial here" thing is just "give a short signature"

RegDwight

@Martha Haha. You should know by now that every question is a usage question, eyes wide shut or not.

@Kosmonaut Yes, I figured as much.

Anyhow, I'm not sure what "the forms" is supposed to mean, but he might be a non-native speaker, so that's okay. What I'm skeptical about is the "most" part.

Kosmonaut

Good point about "the forms". Maybe this is part of an ongoing conversation that we aren't privy to.

RegDwight

6:56 PM

Why are most of the cars orange?

Kosmonaut

@RegDwight: Holy crap. People really liked your answer to this question.

5

Q: Isn't the word "uninstall" wrong?

I've never understood this. Why is the proper usage "uninstall"? You can't actually "unin" something at all and this isn't that case with most (all?) other use cases. Examples: You make someone sane, but you don't uninsane them. You make something accessible but never uninaccessible something. ...

usage prefixes

RegDwight

No. It got Twittered.

And SuperCollidered.

What I hope you like is my comment, which I think I plagiarized wholesale from you or nohat.

Kosmonaut

I can't imagine what would have happened if it was LargeHadronCollidered.

RegDwight

Cheap joke of the day: You're giving me a hadron.

Kosmonaut

I'm not paying a cent for that.

RegDwight

7:01 PM

I'm not accepting any cents today anyway. Maxed out.

Rhodri

That's no incentive

RegDwight

Yup, it was actually from you @Kosmonaut:

5

A: Does the verb "unpublish" exist?

It’s not listed in any dictionaries, but its meaning is plain from the component morphemes, and is formed by the same process that gives us undo, unbend, undress, unfreeze, and unfold. Merriam-Webster gives a definition for un-: “do the opposite of: reverse (a specified action) … in verbs formed...

Kosmonaut

You bastard!

RegDwight

No, wait. It was ALSO from nohat:

1

A: Does the verb "Unstar" exist?

i am not sure about unstar but you can definitely use Unstarred as gmail and other e-mail provider use in there action buttons

Kosmonaut

Mine was first! Yes!!

RegDwight

7:05 PM

Hahaha.

Here, have a bagel for your efforts.

Kosmonaut

Pshh. That's not a New York bagel.

RegDwight

I'm not in NY, sorry.

If I were in NY, you would be sorry.

Kosmonaut

!

Hey, you know what I really love? Laugenbrötchen.

RegDwight

Oh yeah.

Kosmonaut

It's really hard to find here, but some places have it or something similar... bagels are a normal kind of thing, but Laugenbrötchen day is always a special day.

RegDwight

7:09 PM

My wife would kill for them, too, ever since I introduced her to them when she moved here.

Martha

@Kosmonaut Oooh, that looks like the pretzel rolls you can get at Wegman's.

Kosmonaut

I have killed for them and would do so again.

RegDwight

Käsestangen.

Käsestange

Käsestange bezeichnet verschiedene Gebäckarten. Allgemein handelt es sich um eine Käsespeise aus Blätterteig. Zwischen Teigschichten werden Schichten von geriebenem Parmesan und Paprikapulver eingerollt. Die Masse wird in Streifen geschnitten, und diese korkenzieherartig verdreht. Diese Teile werden mit Käse bestreut und im Ofen gebacken. Es gibt diverse Varianten, bei denen die Füllung oder die Bestreuung mit anderen Lebensmitteln ausgetauscht werden (zB. Mohn, Sesam oder Kümmel). Gemeinsam ist neben der Verwendung von Käse und Blätterteig die typische Form. Außerdem werden stangenförm...

Ignore the top picture. That's not the real thing.

Kosmonaut

@Martha: I don't know Wegman's, but probably. It does exist in the US here and there.

RegDwight

Speaking of wife and killing, I think I gotta go.

Wait. That doesn't sound right.

Kosmonaut

7:11 PM

Yikes, someone report a murder!

Rhodri

Thanks for reminding me I'm hungry when I have to go out now :-/

Martha

Well, I immediately interpreted it as "gotta go or my wife will kill me".

RegDwight

Feb 21 at 16:13, by RegDwight

I'm here to help.

Martha

RegDwight

@Martha Women are like that. They interpret things in their favor.

@Martha That looks tasty, but that ain't a Laugenbrötchen.

Martha

7:13 PM

No, it's krémes.

Kosmonaut

Or it is a very poorly made Laugenbrötchen.

RegDwight

Harharhar.

Kosmonaut

What's in the middle?

RegDwight

Cream and onion.

Anyways, party people, I'm outta here!

Kosmonaut

Tschau!

Martha

7:16 PM

@Kosmonaut krém, of course. Hence krém-es "with or having krém".

Ok, ok, it's like a very stiff bavarian cream or pastry cream. Or vanilla pudding, for the culinarily-challenged.

Rhodri

Bye, Sir Reginald

Kosmonaut

Sorry, my Hungarian is rusty. And by rusty I mean, "never used"

Martha

Well, see, now you learned a word in Hungarian, so you can now no longer mean "never used" by "rusty".

Kosmonaut

Sounds tasty

That's not true — I still haven't actually used it!

Martha

Oh. Well, in that case, you have my permission to continue to use the word "rusty" as you had been doing.

Kosmonaut

7:20 PM

I could really go for some

right about now.

Martha

So could I. Dammit.

My great-grandpa was a pastry chef, and there are stories of my dad visiting his grandparents and having so much krémes that he invented poems about how all such pastries should be drawn and quartered.

Personally, I can't imagine having too much krémes.

Kosmonaut

haha

I don't know what I would do if I were a pastry chef. I would not be able to control myself.

"Well, this one looks a bit off. I'll just eat it."

Martha

Then there was the time when my dad (again) ate his krémes with garlic, because we had been making fun of him for having garlic with everything.

Kosmonaut

And how did he like it?

JPmiaou

@Kosmonaut Not at all.

Robusto

7:24 PM

@Martha, stop flashing indecent photos in chat. I'm gonna flag you.

Martha

He hasn't repeated the experiment, so I'm guessing not.

Robusto

Look, you've got @Kosmonaut doing it now.

Martha

@Kosmonaut My mother used to work at a chocolate factory, but had to quit for health reasons: she gained too much weight. They kept telling her, "eventually you get tired of eating chocolate", but she never did.

@Robusto :-p

Kosmonaut

That would happen to me.

I like the Louis C.K. line, something like: "I'm not done eating when I'm full. I'm done when I hate myself."

Rhodri

Fine. If you're done taunting me with food, I have to go and eat people.

Meet people after eating, that is

Kosmonaut

7:27 PM

You're going to eat people?

Rhodri

:-)

Kosmonaut

A lot of horrendous crimes taking place this afternoon...

Rhodri

members.optusnet.com.au/pennywyatt/Interests/FlandersSwann/…

"Eating people is wrong."

Martha

@Kosmonaut Yup. I'm counting the hours until I get to nibble on my niece, for example. She has very tasty earlobes.

JPmiaou

@Martha Currently she's complaining that she's stuck against the office chair (with the boppy pillow as go-between).

Kosmonaut

7:30 PM

Oh well. I'm going to go rob a bank, I guess.

Martha

Is she being a creepy-crawly?

JPmiaou

Backwards-creepy.

Martha

Is that a ypeerc? Ow, I think I need to thwack myself for that.

JPmiaou

She had crawling demos from Alex (Gavin and what's-her-name's kid) last night; dunno if they stuck.

Martha

Oh, was shire meeting infested with rugrats?

JPmiaou

7:32 PM

If you call two an infestation, then yeah.

Alex is less than two weeks short of a year old, but weighs less than Julianna.

Martha

What was his original due date? That's often a more reliable indicator than actual birthdate for preemies.

JPmiaou

Dunno. May, I think.

But he's doing the stuff one-year-olds do: he walks holding onto people.

Martha

Dammit, gotta go. I'll call you later.

JPmiaou

Pá.

Robusto

Cya @Martha

Robusto

8:10 PM

Hey, @RegDwight: My Chilean friends says this about Germans and bread: aleman come pan con harina y alquitran. (forgive absence of diacriticals, I'm too lazy to look up the keycodes on this crappy work PC).

Robusto

8:37 PM

Oh, damn.

-1

Q: "FOR SALE: Car by elderly lady with new body and spare tire."

Historical examples: “Croesus asked the oracle what would happen if he attacked Persia. The reply: ‘A mighty empire will be humbled’.” “Thanks you so much for the book. I shall lose no time in reading it.” What is the term used for these examples?

usage terminology

Am I a sucker or what. Debating whether to delete my answer.

Andy

Why does he/she keep posting these things?

Robusto

@nohat: I see your gravatar in chat. If you're around, can we get a ruling on this ArthurRex issue? I'm convinced this guy is gaming the system for his personal amusement.

He has to know the answer to these things.

Andy

I can't put my finger on why, but those questions just FEEL like they're not real, like they're seeding for content sharecropping or something...

Robusto

Supposedly this guy works for SO.

Andy

Didn't see anyone named Arthur or Attila on SO's team page.

Dori

8:42 PM

@Robusto Used to, I believe

Robusto

So what's the deal here? Is this guy a troll?

Andy

But to what end is he posting them, then?

nohat

@Robusto Can you summarize which questions are at issue?

asking questions you know the answer to is not in and of itself forbidden

Robusto

Well, the one I listed, plus the one about "poured into a dress" ...

45

A: What is this an example of: "She looks as though she's been poured into her clothes, and forgot to say 'when"

This is called paraprosdokian. A paraprosdokian (from Greek "παρα-", meaning "beyond" and "προσδοκία", meaning "expectation") is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpre...

5

Q: Mrs. Malaprop = Malapropism - any other examples

Are there other literary examples where-in a character or subject eventually morphed into descriptive verb/genre?

usage etymology

Andy

But something just seems weird about them. It's almost like he runs across, oh, say, the term "paraprosdokian" (who knows how), looks it up, finds some examples, and then posts a question about what figure of speech they are.

Robusto

8:47 PM

1

Q: When does a word become a 'word'?

Possible Duplicate: Creating a new word The rule of thumb used to be that when a word hit the Oxford Dictionary, it was considered to be an accepted word - this, however, seems to have transitioned into a lagging indicator in the last 5 years, primarily because so many new words are be...

etymology words

Just look at his question list. They begin to seem fishy.

@Andy — Yeah, that's exactly it. It looks like he's just stirring the pot. A very sophisticated way of trolling, if trolling is what he's doing.

Andy

Something about these questions makes me think of Jeff Atwood's post about the recent content farming (codinghorror.com/blog/2011/01/…), which also links back to his post about digital sharecropping (codinghorror.com/blog/2009/08/…).

Dori

He had some odd behavior over on Cooking as well—note the bounties

ArthurRex

35 4 21

baking cooking-techniques preparation food-safety substitutions fish chicken

Andy

"What a strange person."

Dori

Same weird bounty stuff on Guitars, too.

ArthurRex

31 11

theory guitar technique guitar-components practice classical solos

FX_

common, how is the following not a duplicate?

0

Q: How to write a bulleted list?

Should each item be in uppercase or not? I've seen both forms: Yada, yada, yada, such as: standardized bananas Standardized bananas And if each bulleted item is a complete sentence, should it be punctuated? And even if it isn't, should it have a comma?