English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Alain Pannetier

12:00 AM

But now the gov has allowed children to compound father and mother last names to make their family name.

Billare

@Cerberus It's a specific phenonemon, I forget what's it called. But it's guaranteed in large populations.

Rhodri

The only Mandarin I can reliably remember is that "mun" is gate.

Cerberus

@Alain: Sounds sensible.

Alain Pannetier

men

Billare

@Cerberus It's the analogue to genetic drift....over enough time, a single genotype (or name) must come to dominate the population

Rhodri

12:00 AM

As in Tianamun (or however it's transliterated)

Billare

@Cerberus By random loss of small lineages

Cerberus

@Bill: In large populations, really? So when does something count as a single population? I suppose Europe doesn't count as one?

Alain Pannetier

@Billare. Yes. The older the population the less numerous the family names.

Cerberus

The Romans also had a highly restricted set of first names. Good thing the Empire was destroyed, then.

Alain Pannetier

16 first Names - And Roman first names were even restricted by Gens.

Cerberus

12:02 AM

Right!

Billare

@Cerberus Yes. Think about this way. Suppose a lineage has X% chance of dying out per generation. Then after N generations, the chances they have survived is (0.0X)^N. Take N to large. That is impossibly small. So most lineages, and family names, must die out.

Cerberus

@Alain: Thank God they had cognomina...

Billare

@Cerberus Yes. Think about this way. Suppose a lineage has X% chance of dying out per generation. Then after N generations, the chances they have survived is (0.0X)^N. Take N to large. That is very small. So most lineages, and family names, must die out.

Alain Pannetier

@Billare, thx. I couldn't think of a demonstration.

Billare

@Cerberus You are right, I confused it. It is in small populations, over long times, that surnames tend to die out.

Cerberus

12:03 AM

@Billa: But that is supposing that no new family names are created?

Billare

@Cerberus You are right, thanks for correcting me.

Cerberus

@Bill: Ah, ok, small populations sounds more logical... but then what about China?

Alain Pannetier

BRB

Billare

@Cerberus Remember that before the modern period populations were much smaller than today...genetic expansion will tend to excerbate certain surnames taking over

Cerberus

@Rhodri: I didn't know "mun" was gate... they usually translate it as "square of heavenly peace" in Dutch.

Excerbate?

Billare

12:06 AM

Well tend to increase the tendency of certian surnames taking over

Galton–Watson process

The Galton–Watson process is a branching stochastic process arising from Francis Galton's statistical investigation of the extinction of family names. There was concern amongst the Victorians that aristocratic surnames were becoming extinct. Galton originally posed the question regarding the probability of such an event in the Educational Times of 1873, and the Reverend Henry William Watson replied with a solution. Together, they then wrote an 1874 paper entitled On the probability of extinction of families. Galton and Watson appear to have derived their process independently of the ea...

Rhodri

@Cerberus I could be mistaken, but all the gates around the Forbidden City seem to end in "mun".

Cerberus

@Billa: So you mean that the set of Chinese family names was reduced to their current small number long ago, when the Chinese people were a rather small group? And then they expanded and expanded, without picking up too many foreign names?

Rhodri

The square is named from the gate, I think.

Billare

@Cerberus Right.

Cerberus

@Rhodri: Ah I see. Now I am going to look it up!

Billare

12:08 AM

@Cerberus In genetics, it is called "a population bottleneck"

Rhodri

@Cerberus Wise move.

Alain Pannetier

@Rhodri - depends on the romanisation standard. In the official one, a gate and actually any door is "men". It has two characters : one traditional, one simplfied.

Cerberus

@Rhodri: You're right: the word "suare" isn't in the name. Mun is gate.

So "Tiananmen Square" means "square of the gate of heavenly pacification".

Rhodri

@AlainPannetier I was trying to remember the Pin-Yin on the signage in Beijing. The one good freebie I got out of my current company was a visit there.

The problem being Pin-Yin doesn't read much like it's pronounced.

'e' would be more like a schwa. At least that's my excuse.

Billare

"A corollary of high extinction probabilities is that if a lineage has survived, it is likely to have experienced, purely by chance, an unusually high growth rate in its early generations at least when compared to the rest of the population."

Alain Pannetier

12:12 AM

Tian is sky (character : A guy with an horizontal bar on top of his head) An is peace : (a woman under a roof (chinese woman are peaceful)) men : a saloon bar door.

Cerberus

Nice.

@Billa: I didn't know Dutch had comparatively many family names.

Interestingly, the number of persons of Dutch nobility has increased over the past 50 years or so, while names keep dying out at a fairly regular pace, I think.

Then again, the general population has grown as well in that period.

Billare

@Cerberus I think that relates to that whole promigenture problem, where you must only give titles and lands to the eldest son, or else the land gets too split to be productive

Alain Pannetier

@Rhodri - I was sent there as well in 1999. When were you there ?

Billare

@Cerberus That's why there were feuds; not everyone can be nobility with exponential growth

Rhodri

@AlainPannetier Last year. June I think -- summer at any rate.

Cerberus

12:18 AM

@Bill: Oh, but nobody can live off his land here anymore anyway: in fact, having it often costs money. That why my family sold their land too, 50 years ago. Maintenance and all kinds of rules made it too expensive.

Rhodri

I did the typical Englishman Abroad thing and walked around in a white jacket and panama hat.

Billare

@Cerberus Heh. Don't tell me you're a Viscount or something like that :)

Rhodri

The locals seem to make a sport of photographing tourists :-)

Cerberus

White jackets and panama hats are the best!

Alain Pannetier

@Rhodri. I had a huge camera and cops kept waving their finger at me ;-)

Cerberus

12:19 AM

@Bill: No, not at all! But anybody can have land.

Billare

@Cerberus It would be so cool to talk to real nobility; I keep reading on Wikipedia at people being raised at ancient seats, in castles and manors and such

Cerberus

It just isn't worth as much, comparatively, as it used to be centuries ago. Much, much less.

Alain Pannetier

@Rhodri - that's probably some retaliation after I passed there then ;-)))

Billare

@Cerberus Ah, I see.

Rhodri

@AlainPannetier I had a tiny USB camera. Unfortunately it decided to self-destruct before I could get the pictures off it :-(

Billare

12:20 AM

@Cerberus Foolishly bought land vulnerable to the breaking of dikes? ;)

Alain Pannetier

Can you still read me ? chat interface says "retry/cancel"

Billare

I can read you. @Alain

Rhodri

@AlainPannetier Yes, I can read that.

Cerberus

@Billa: No it is just that agriculture is much less profitable than trade or industry. In the early to central Middle Ages, when trade was much, much less developed than in, say, the 16th century, that is when European nobility was at the peak of its power.

Rhodri

I think it does that occasionally when it runs low on resources or something.

Alain Pannetier

12:22 AM

Anyway I have to call it a day. Thx for this interesting chat. Still some work to do tomorrow.

Billare

@Cerberus Yes, same thing happened in America.

Cerberus

Bye Alain!

Billare

@Alain Ciao, Alain. Pleasure chatting as always. I will be sure to check out the recommendations.

Cerberus

Thanks for enlightening us!

Rhodri

Goodnight!

Cerberus

12:23 AM

I mean, the arrow up = edit last line.

Rhodri

True, I forgot to star that.

Now fixed.

Billare

@Cerberus In fact, it is a big political problem; the American public still believes in the image of the yeoman American farmer, and thus supports subsidies for them, when in reality only the rich and mega agricultural corporations profit from those subsidies. Farmers are actually not middle class either; if you're an independent farmer nowadays, chances are you are upper middle class or wealthy.

Cerberus

Right, and money = class in America! Hehe.

Rhodri

To be fair, it used to mean class in Europe too.

Billare

@Cerberus It sounds gauche, but I think it is fairer system that what exists on the Continent, I think. Most ways people make money here is being of service to others. And many times, they give a substantial chunk of it away.

Cerberus

12:25 AM

@Rhodri: True, but at least we can deny that!

@Billa: How is our system different, then?

Rhodri

Yes, it was long enough ago not to matter. Honest.

Cerberus

Oh.

Well, power and money work the same way in Europe. It is not as though old money has a lot of it: they just feel better than the rest, even though they don't have much power or money left.

Billare

@Cerberus I don't know much about Dutch actually.

@Cerberus I'm thinking more about France.

@Cerberus I heard that you are basically tracked and shuttled from a very young age; the Bacculeaureate given at like 14 determines your trajectory towards life? Also that admissions in univerisites and things isn't strictly determined by merit

Cerberus

In France, money and power aren't much more tied to ancestry than in America, I think. A bit more, but not that much.

Well, isn't it the same in America?

You even have presidential dynasties.

That is rare in Europe.

Robusto

America is broken.

Cerberus

12:29 AM

The Roosevelts, the Bushes, the Kennedies (well something like that).

Hi Rob.

Billare

The Kennedys are not really all that.

Robusto

thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-08-18/…

Billare

I mean, I guess they are powerful, in a way, but only because the media makes 'em out that way.

Rhodri

@Robusto Not so much broken as trying to follow the old European monarchist ways without being seen to do so. Which is kind of broken, I suppose.

Billare

They have a serious fetish over the '60s when all these reporters grew up and dreamed about "Camelot"

Cerberus

12:31 AM

Well, don't they have a lot of money, and a lot of political functions?

Billare

But there's a fundamental lack of talent among the Kennedys

They are functionaries; they aren't really powerful.

Robusto

“This court,” Scalia pointed out, “has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a court that he is ‘actually’ innocent.”

Cerberus

@Billa: Even so, that is how noble families often were in Europe.

Billare

@Cerberus The Kennedys are the people who you invite to your banquet to look made, they aren't the ones hosting it or making the deals in the smoky room out back.

Cerberus

@Rob: This guy is actually OK with executing a man known to be innocent? Or does he mean that he is OK with the chance of this happening, but that, of course, he will not execute this man if it turns out he is innocent?

Robusto

12:33 AM

It's all bullshit. The rich get richer and the poor get children. Obama was supposed to give us hope; instead all we got was disillusion.

Billare

@Cerberus There seems to be many more men in European countries with a hand in both business and politics.

@Cerberus Silvio Berloscuni, IMO, could never exist in the US.

Robusto

"Scalia takes the position that, from a legal perspective, it no longer makes the slightest difference whether Davis is innocent of the murder he was convicted of committing, and for which, in all likelihood, he will be executed. If a defendant got a fair trial in state court, there’s nothing the federal court can do, Scalia argues, to reverse that verdict—even if new evidence comes to light that convinces the court to a moral certainty that the defendant is innocent."

Billare

@Cerberus He would either be Silvio the businessman, or Silvio the politican, but not both.

Cerberus

@Billa: Right, well, someone like Berlusconi could never exist in Holland, Germany, or England either, I think.

Billare

@Robusto Scalia is right. The "proof" isn't definitive.

Robusto

12:34 AM

@Billare — That is bullshit too.

Cerberus

@Rob: Okay, you're right, that dude is crazy. Weird. Does he have a decent degree in law?

Billare

@Robusto There are automatic appeals up the wazoo for death-penalty defendants.

Rhodri

@Billare He couldn't exist quite as Silvio. He'd have to be Rupert Murdoch instead.

Which on the whole is less fun for the rest of us.

Robusto

@Billare — You don't know what you're talking about.

Cerberus

@Rhodri: Right!

Billare

12:36 AM

@Robusto Yes, I do. Seriously, I read all about this case, and participated in the Volokh Conspiracy threads.

Rhodri

@Rob: isn't this mostly State vs Federal posturing?

Truth being (as usual) the first casualty?

Billare

@Robusto I also took the LSAT, and scored well. I could be in Law School right now, but I chose not to.

Cerberus

Okay, I in practice it should depend on the strength of the proof. But what this guy is saying is that it doesn't matter whether he is proven innocent: if he got a fair trial, he must be executed, even if we know him to be innocent based on decent proof.

Robusto

I don't know how you could make a statement as brutally idiotic as Scalia's. I don't know how you could even make the words come out of your mouth.

Billare

@Robusto Scalia is considered the conservative lion. When they elected Kagan, they wanted a figure that would stand up to him. Who are you to presume exactly that he's "dumb"?

Robusto

12:38 AM

@Billare — Argumentum ad verecundiam ... and yet I am strangely unpersuaded that you are a legitimate authority on this topic.

@Billare — Back to reading comprehension class for you.

Cerberus

Guys, let's keep politics out of this.

I don't like where this is going.

Thanks.

Billare

Right, I can agree to that; but surely we can have an adult conversation without tossing around words like "idiotic" and "dumb"?

Cerberus

By the way, @Rob, did you know that pressing the up arrow will let you edit your last line? I had no idea.

@Billa: I think it would be most prudent if we dropped the subject all together.

Billare

These things were coming from Robusto, not I. I really hate wearing my political views on my sleeve, honestly.

K.

Cerberus

Thanks!

Rhodri

12:40 AM

Since when has @Robusto been subtle about anything? :-)

Cerberus

Hehe yeah.

Robusto

@Rhodri Since when would you notice if it was?

Rhodri

Sorry, did someone say something?

I was cleaning my glasses :-)

Cerberus

Haha.

Very wise.

When will it be officially April 1 on this website?

It already is in cheese land.

Billare

Is that a nickname for the Netherlands?

Rhodri

12:45 AM

@Cerberus Sod it, I knew I'd forgotten something.

Cerberus

Yes! At least, some people call it that.

Its inhabitans are called cheese heads.

In Dutch.

Robusto

Everyone knows the cheeseheads live in Wisconsin:

Cerberus

Wtf...

Robusto

Say hello to the fans of the Green Bay Packers football team.

Cerberus

I like them already!

Rhodri

12:46 AM

Some people will wear anything.

Robusto

Cheesehead

Cheesehead is a nickname, sometimes used disparagingly, referring to a person from Wisconsin, referring to the large volume of cheese production of the state. It is also the nickname of fans of the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League. Origins The term "cheesehead" began as a derogatory term used by Illinois football and baseball fans to refer to opposing Wisconsin sports fans. The term, however, was quickly embraced by Wisconsinites and is now a point of pride. The original display of a "cheesehead" hat was at a Milwaukee Brewers vs. Chicago White Sox game in 1987. It wa...

Cerberus

I don't think even we have such hats with football matches...

Robusto

Well, now's your chance to take a fashion risk.

Cerberus

Kaaskop

Kaaskop is een locofaulisme voor mensen uit: * Alkmaar * Nederland

Robusto

@Cerberus [Points to sign at the top that announces this is English Language and Usage.]

Rhodri

12:48 AM

@Robusto I've managed to avoid wearing six foot leeks to rugby internationals, so I'll pass.

Cerberus

@Rob: Sometimes my non-native eyes skip text that is incomprehensible to them.

Robusto

@Cerberus — Wow, that is like so not as cool as a cheesehead hat.

Cerberus

I knew my fellow countrymen wouldn't disappoint me.

Billare

gtg

cya.

Cerberus

@Rob: What do you know about cheese.

Bye @Billa!

Robusto

12:51 AM

The braids are cute but the whole ensemble is kind of lacking in the testosterone department.

Let me reiterate:

6 mins ago, by Robusto

Cerberus

I think that is part of the Vrouw Antje look or something...

We need no added testosterone!

Besides, EU football is way gayer than US football anyway.

Robusto

Take a look at both and tell me which one would be more likely to kick your ass: Pippi Longstocking or Cheesehead Packers Fan?

Cerberus

Back to reading comprehension class for you: Pipi can lift a horse.

Robusto

@Cerberus — I know how to make the best cheese fondue you never had.

Cerberus

Lies!

Robusto

12:53 AM

@Cerberus — That's just propaganda.

Cerberus

And if it's true, you have my permission to make said fondue. I am peckish.

(When am I not...)

You say propaganda, I say scientifically proven fact.

I don't remember your people providing much resistance when we took Manhattan.

We also ruled your motherland for a while. How did any of your silly Anglo-Saxon countries ever conquer us?

Martha

@Cerberus I dunno, I would think that if a trial found him guilty but there is evidence of his innocence, then ipso facto the trial could not have been fair.

Robusto

OK, here we go: First, rub garlic on the inside of the fondue pot. Next, heat some white wine. Go for a stronger white, no chablis or chardonnay. Something you would rather cook with than drink. Then you sprinkle peppercorns in the wine. While the wine heats, grate your cheeses: 30% Jarlsberg, 30% Emmentaler, 40% Gruyere (make sure it's nice and dark).

When the wine is bubbling, start mixing in the cheese. Once it is melted (keep stirring), you mix cornstarch and Kirschwasser (cherry liqueur) in my secret proportions and stir that in. Then you take fresh nutmeg berries, grind them in a mortar and pestle, and sprinkle on the top. Use dried French bread, mushrooms, and apple cubes for dunkers.

Cerberus

@Martha: I think the case is that the evidence was discovered only after the final verdict or something? If not, I agree.

Cornstarch? That is surprising.

Robusto

If that surprises you, you've never had decent fondue.

Cerberus

12:59 AM

Now look what you've done... made me a Tantalus again...

I don't think I've ever made it myself!

The Kirsch also surprises me, but less so.

Robusto

I can't believe I'm hearing this.

Cerberus

I know, I know...

Robusto

You live in freaking Holland and you've never had real cheese fondue?

Dude.

Cerberus

Hehe.

Martha

@Cerberus My point is that a truly fair trial would have discovered the evidence, since said evidence presumably existed at least since the crime was committed, possibly even before that.

Robusto

1:01 AM

You realize that Gouda and Edam are not really cheese, right?

Cerberus

I have probably "had" it, but prepared out of my sight.

I don't even know what Gouda cheese would taste like. I don't like Edammer much.

Robusto

Neither is that Bonbel crap. And I spit on the Laughing Cow!

Rhodri

Southern France and Austria are more fondue territory than Holland.

Robusto

And Switzerland.

Rhodri

Yes, but they get it from the French and Austrians.

Martha

1:03 AM

@Robusto Hey, now. I like Laughing Cow. It's the only so-called "Swiss cheese" that my sister will eat, mostly because it doesn't taste anything like Swiss cheese.

Cerberus

@Martha: I don't feel that a fair trial has to be a perfect trial in all respects: the court has to do its best under the circumstances; but there is always a chance that mistakes are made, or that somehow the evidence was too hard to acquire at the time.

Rhodri

@Martha I think you can delete "Swiss" from that sentence.

Cerberus

Bonbel? What is that?

Rhodri

Babybel?

Cerberus

La Vache Qui Rit is hardly cheese, agreed.

The best Dutch cheese is what they call "Boerenkaas", farmer's cheese.

Robusto

1:04 AM

@Rhodri — Word.

Cerberus

If you ever come to Holland, go to an expensive cheese shop and ask for Boerenkaas, make it belegen or oud. That is the best we have.

Martha

@Rhodri No, because then it'll be massively inaccurate. (Both of us adore cheese, it's just that Juli prefers the holes in the Swiss variety.)

Cerberus

I have no idea what the regular tourist buys in Amsterdam actually.

Rhodri

@Martha Yes, but calling La Vache Qui Rit cheese is a bit like calling Monterey Jack cheese :-)

Cerberus

Well, do we call mozzarella cheese? Or mascarpone?

Martha

1:08 AM

I think basically if it's made of milk and it's (1) no longer liquid and (2) not butter or yoghurt then it's cheese.

Cerberus

My friend who swears he hates cheese like the Devil still eats tiramisu.

@Martha: I think we need some fermentation too?

Martha

Hungarian actually has a separate word for the fresh cheeses like farmer cheese or cottage cheese (túró), as opposed to aged cheeses (sajt).

Cerberus

Ahh.

Those are like Hüttenkäse, right?

Martha

@Cerberus Not necessarily. Ricotta isn't fermented at all, for example.

Robusto

I answered this guy's question in English and he asks me if I speak Japanese. Huh?

1

A: Another way to say "the end of our relationship."

Both are rather awkward and strange-sounding. Probably the most common way to end a relationship, at least in America, would be to say: "We need to talk ..."

Cerberus

1:11 AM

Ah, isn't it?

@Rob: He probably saw your avatar and hoped that it would be easier for him to understand if you could explain it in Japanese, which you did?

Weird.

Odd indeed.

Well he was right.

My gravatar is just a serious of random brush strokes ... or so I was told at the tattoo parlor. Now I wonder if I should have gotten the facial tattoos ...

Cerberus

Now you're probably lying.

Robusto

1:14 AM

You saw the cheesehead?

Cerberus

And yes you should get some facial tattoos. Lovely.

I have ignored such cheeseheads, if any existed, and will continue to do so.

Martha

Weh. No unicorns on EL&U.

Cerberus

Unicorns? Whence should they have come?

Robusto

Amanda Palmer has tattoos where here eyebrows used to be.

Rhodri

@Martha: No corn involved. That's pure cheese. Well, purish. Well, fake, but a cheesy fake.

Robusto

1:17 AM

Martha

Go upvote something on meta or SO.

Robusto

Amanda Palmer

Amanda MacKinnon Gaiman Palmer (born April 30, 1976), sometimes known as Amanda Fucking Palmer, is an American performer who first rose to prominence as the lead singer, pianist, and lyricist/composer of the duo The Dresden Dolls. She has since started a successful solo career, and is also one half of the Evelyn Evelyn duo. Biography Palmer was born in New York City's Mount Sinai Hospital, and grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts. She attended Lexington High School, where she was involved in the drama department, and attended Wesleyan University where she was a member of the Eclectic So...

Cerberus

Charming.

Robusto

You liked her "Coin-Operated Boy" video well enough.

Cerberus

@Rob: I mean the eyebrows and the tear thing.

Martha

1:18 AM

Hey. It even works on SU. That's not fair.

Robusto

yesterday, by Cerberus

A pleasant variation on the Pygmalion story.

Cerberus

@Martha: What are you trying to make us believe this time?

Martha

2 mins ago, by Martha

Go upvote something on meta or SO.

Cerberus

Hmm...

Robusto

BTW, she grew up about 5 miles from my house, FWIW.

Cerberus

1:20 AM

@Martha: Okay, you did it. Congratulations! Made me believe you. Sheesh.

@Rob: I'm not saying that someone whose aesthetic decisions I do not all support can't be great in many respects...

Robusto

@Cerberus — Whose aesthetic decisions do you not support, hers or mine? I assure you, my facial tattoos are quite lovely.

Cerberus

@Martha: Oh! I see! I thought you meant meta.en.se, but you meant meta.so. +1

@Rob: I have complete faith in your facial tattoos. Your choice of cheesehead, however, is another matter.

@Martha: I thought you were doing some meta-prank.

Martha

@Cerberus no, meta = meta. EL&U meta = EL&U meta.

Cerberus

Got it.

Martha

@Cerberus Would I do that?

Cerberus

1:25 AM

@Martha: Let's be honest...

Martha

Ok, ok, I do wish I had thought of something devious like that.

Cerberus

And I am glad that you didn't!

I still can't think of anything but cheese fondue... eating is my favourite pastime.

Robusto

もう少しチ−ズください。

Rhodri

Bless you.

Robusto

mou sukoshi cheezu kudasai (A little more cheese, please.)

Cerberus

1:47 AM

Lies.

Cerberus

2:05 AM

This dog is going to bed. Bye!

Rhodri

Goodnight.

Cerberus

@Rhodri: Gracias!

RegDwight

10:19 AM

I am considering merging this one:

2

Q: "Yours faithfully" / "Best regards" — what to use when?

I've been taught to end business letters with "Yours faithfully" but I can see from my daily correspondence that "Best regards" is more commonly used but seems more informal. What term should be used and under what circumstances when writing email these days? NOTE: If other terms exist too (...

into this one:

24

Q: How to end an email

At the end of every email, we use ending expressions like Best regards, Kind regards, Yours sincerely, Yours faithfully, What other expressions can be added to this list? Which ones should we use/not use in which cases?

expressions email list-request correspondence ending

Any objections?

F'x

10:49 AM

@RegDwight no

in fact, go for it!

while you're at it:

0

Q: Spellings, words, what is 'official'?

This is a question about officialness of spellings in contrast to that of words. To set up, I coming from the point of view that spellings are things that are written, and words are things that are spoken. And there is description (what people tend to express) and prescription (what some authorit...

spelling descriptivism correction

1

Q: Who/What decides if a word is "proper" English?

I was taught since kindergarten that "ain't" isn't a proper English word. I was wondering, who determines which words are acceptable and which words are not? Do words ever go from "improper" to acceptable? What are some examples and what caused the change?

contractions colloquial rules correction

RegDwight

Ah yes. Lemme see.

F'x

these should probably be merge with:

10

Q: Regulatory bodies and authoritative dictionaries for English

Some languages have a "regulatory body" issuing recommendations and guidelines regarding the use of that language. For example in the case of Spanish it's the Real Academia Española whose status is recognised in all Spanish-speaking countries. The Academy, among other things, publishes a diction...

dictionaries

RegDwight

Okay, so the first one is closed. Merging ain't necessary, as there are no answers.

The second one is trickier.

The OP is actually asking for examples of words that have gone from "improper" to "proper".

Hardik Ruparel

11:23 AM

OK this is a very basic doubt. I'm just not getting the word for 'always present in one particular place.' . I know omnipresent is present everywhere. But, something to say this sentence in a nicer way:

The beggar is __always present__ in front of the church

Robusto

11:46 AM

@RegDwight: Thanks for the FB comment. I was looking for a way to chill that guy out without coming off all "get off my lawn" about it.

RegDwight

@Robusto Oh hai. Me was in boring meeting.

Well, you can't blame people for being attracted by SexyNurseInDrag666.

JSBangs

@HardikRuparel ubiquitous, mayhap?

RegDwight

@JSBangs Err, where I come from, ubiquitous does not refer to being in the same place at all times.

JSBangs

@RegDwight maybe you should move?

Robusto

It means being everywhere.

RegDwight

11:52 AM

@JSBangs It kind of means the exact opposite thing.

@Robusto Precisely.

Robusto

Everywhere available, just like @RegDwight.*

* Except United States and United Kingdom

RegDwight

Being everywhere at all times implies nothing about being available.

Robusto

Harrumph, so you say.

We know how you make your money.

JSBangs

@HardikRuparel maybe fixed or something

i don't know

Robusto

@Hardik: You could say The beggar is a fixture in front of the church.

RegDwight

11:54 AM

Or you just say The beggar is always there.

Robusto

fixture • informal a person or thing that is established in a particular place or situation : palm readers were a fixture in most '40s nightclubs.

When in doubt, listen to the native speaker.

RegDwight

Yeah, like JSBangs.

With his ubiquitous.

Robusto

OK, the smart native speaker then.

RegDwight

Well, if you're smart enough, you don't have to be native.

The main problem is that people don't go around carrying signs "I am smart". And those who do should actually be avoided.

Robusto

So ... ditch the sign then? Sigh

How about the halo? Does that have to go as well?

RegDwight

12:00 PM

Well, you can't ditch it as it is tatooed to your body.

That's why people won't stop trying to make friends with you. Or babies.

Robusto

Eeuuww, is that what they're trying to do?

Babies I can handle, but friends?

RegDwight

Yeah, I know. Friends are just one letter away from being fiends.

Robusto

Meh, snow here today. Happy freakin' April.

RegDwight

Yeah, I didn't like the snow you sent me, so I sent it back.

Mediocre qualities, them snows of your.

Robusto

Well, at least we don't have summer-long brush fires.

RegDwight

12:12 PM

Apropos brush, how's the beaver question faring? Lemme see.

Robusto

You're thinking of bush, not brush.

RegDwight

No, really?

Robusto

In fact, I suspect you're pretty much always thinking of bush instead of brush.

Bunny wabbit beat beaver all to hell.

565 - 140 at last count.

So ... the vagina ploy isn't working as well as it used to.

RegDwight

I told you so.

Robusto

Cute bunnies, on the other hand ... aaaawwwwwwww

RegDwight

12:16 PM

I now have a very good understanding of which questions will or will not get popular.

Robusto

I need to work the "Hello Kitty" angle much harder than I ever have before.

Maybe my new gravatar?

Seriously, I bet I get 10-15% more upvotes with that gravatar.

Or how about this one?

RegDwight

@Robusto but 15% more upvotes translates to 0% more points.

@Robusto I think you beat Martha with this one.

Robusto

Eh, how do you figure?

RegDwight

Congrats, you beat the final boss of this chat.

Robusto

Wow, I can play a different game now? Cool!

RegDwight

12:21 PM

Yes.

Robusto

OK, I'm going to put in the GTA IV disc now. Seeya later.

RegDwight

The Overlook Hotel

General discussion for writing.stackexchange.com. Writing exer...

Robusto

Meh, this E&U won't eject.

RegDwight

You have to turn this knob and press that thingamajig over there.

Robusto

BTW, note the message The last message was posted 2 days ago. Them writers.

RegDwight

12:23 PM

Sie müssen nur den Nippel durch die Lasche ziehn, und mit der kleinen Kurbel ganz nach oben drehn. Da erscheint sofort ein Pfeil, und da drücken Sie dann drauf.

►

Robusto

OOH! SHINY!

I win.

This cannot be topped.

RegDwight

@Robusto The activity chart for the Writers chat looks like an insult in Arabic.

Robusto

Then it probably is. That's proof enough for me.

RegDwight

Robusto

Nice try, but no cigar.

Using a unicorn and a rainbow together has a rather desperate quality to it.

Hardik Ruparel

12:26 PM

Thanks guys! I thought about

"The beggar is always there"

But I didn't really like the sound of it.. Will have to brainstorm some more :)

RegDwight

@Robusto Well, that's the best I could sketch in MS Paint in 23 seconds.

Robusto

You work at it too hard. It should be effortless.

RegDwight

I'm getting better.

Robusto

Mine has sparkles. Or "brilliants", as @Cerberus would call them.

Sparkles > bubbles.

RegDwight

Mine has three Hello Kittys. And a Hello Doggy.

BTW, "Sparkles > bubbles" is BS, as them bubbles have sparkles, but your sparkles don't have bubbles.

Robusto

12:33 PM

You are trying too hard. Look, you got sweat all over your last attempt.

10 mins ago, by Robusto

This cannot be topped.

Just give up and stop embarrassing yourself.

RegDwight

Robusto

So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell,
blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?
And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?

►

JSBangs

@RegDwight what is that from?

RegDwight

Some video game fan art.

The Legend of Zelda

, occasionally called Legend of Zelda or simply Zelda, is a high fantasy action-adventure video game series created by Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It was developed and published by Nintendo, with some portable installments outsourced to Flagship/Capcom and Vanpool. Considered one of Nintendo's most important franchises, its gameplay consists of a mixture of action, adventure, and puzzle solving. The series centers on Link, the playable main character and protagonist. Link is often given the task of rescuing Princess Zelda in the most common setting of the ...

JSBangs

@RegDwight i thought it might be zelda, but i wasn't sure

close this plz

0

Q: improve language

Hi, What are the key elements to improve English language skills?