English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

1:01 PM

so... question for the bar

if i refer to a lesbian woman's girlfriend as her "lesbeau" (1) does that count as a pun, and (2) would it be offensive for any other reason?

RegDwight

Lesbeau Bridges?

MrHen

@JSBangs (1) yes (2) probably not

Robusto

I think it would be perceived as offensive.

RegDwight

The dude cannot stand this aggression.

Robusto

Depends on whether you were friends or not.

JSBangs

1:02 PM

@Robusto good point. i'll probably refrain

i was going to post this as an actual Q on the site, but decided i was too ashamed to ask a lesbian-oriented pun question

MrHen

@Robusto Oh, uh, yes. I just assumed this was true. If you don't know them, then I wouldn't say anything. :P

Robusto

@RegDwight — Let's get our quotes right ... "I do mind, the Dude minds. This will not stand, ya know, this aggression will not stand, man."

RegDwight

@JSBangs Well, asking for opinions on puns is better left to the vgv8's of this world.

Robusto

If you didn't know the two Lesbians in question, "lesbeau" would sound identical to "lesbo" and nobody would buy you a drink in admiration of your cleverness.

In fact, you'd probably get your ass stomped by the sisters.

RegDwight

Ass-stomping is a valid display of admiration in certain countries.

Robusto

1:07 PM

It's the Russian equivalent of rep points, I hear.

RegDwight

Haha, I'm browsing old vgv8 questions right now. Them's hilarious. "Who was mockingbird?"

You can't invent this stuff.

The answer should have been "Him was phone".

Instead, it got deleted.

Such a pity!

Robusto

Link!

RegDwight

english.stackexchange.com/questions/13224/who-was-mockingbird

You should remember. One of the answers is yours.

Robusto

Yes, I do recall. But I couldn't find it by searching for "mockingbird" in the title.

RegDwight

OMG he has a son...

I only remember him having a wife.

english.stackexchange.com/questions/13277/a-non-straight-route/…

The "PS" kills me.

Robusto

1:15 PM

He's like one of those people on the bus who mutters to himself.

BTW, what is this "Mega" he's referring to?

RegDwight

Shopping mall.

JSBangs

@Robusto this was going to be in writing, such that lesbeau would be distinct from lesbo

RegDwight

megamall.ru/main.wbp

Robusto

Generic term or specific mall?

RegDwight

It's a chain.

Robusto

1:16 PM

@JSBangs — Well, if the woman were anything like @Martha, she'd still give you a sound thwacking.

RegDwight

In fact it belongs to IKEA.

MEGA Family Shopping Centre

MEGA The Family Shopping Centre is a chain of shopping centres in Russia owned and operated by IKEA. Each MEGA brings together in one place over 150 tenants offering goods and services. Its anchor tenants include the IKEA store, a hypermarket and a DIY store. At the moment there 12 MEGA centres in Russia: 3 in Moscow, 2 in Saint Petersburg, and 1 each in Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Ekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Rostov-on-Don, Adygea (near Krasnodar) and Omsk. MEGA Belaya Dacha in Belaya Dacha, Lyubertsy, Moscow oblast is the second largest shopping mall in Russia, largest outside Moscow and one ...

Robusto

Sounds like a pretty bad IKEA in the whole history of bad IKEAs.

RegDwight

It's a pretty cool place, actually, even by Western standards. By Russian standards, it's unimaginable awesomeness that cannot be topped, evar.

By Novosibirsk standards, it must be an instant head-assplode.

Robusto

I work with a woman who comes from the Novosibirsk region. Her head is still intact, btw. As far as I can tell, anyway.

"I only mention it because sometimes there's a man... I won't say a hero, 'cause, what's a hero? But sometimes, there's a man. And I'm talkin' about the Dude here. "Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's the Dude, in Los Angeles. And even if he's a lazy man — and the Dude was most certainly that. Quite possibly the laziest in Los Angeles County, which would place him high in the runnin' for laziest worldwide."

kiamlaluno

1:35 PM

(Somebody needs to understand what slang means.)

Robusto

@kiamlaluno — Huh?

JPmiaou

I would like to register a complaint with the Meteorological Complaints Department: the weather is not supposed to know about April Fools. There should not be white stuff in April.

Martha

@Robusto @JPmiaou, can you post the halo picture? Please?

kiamlaluno

I didn't know that capisce would be considered slang; it would be like saying that merde is slang.

JPmiaou

@Martha I have to go download it from the camera, but I was thinking the same thing.

Robusto

1:44 PM

@JPmiaou — You are so right. Please tell them I am dismayed and appalled as well.

@kiamlaluno — You working on that Non Sequitur merit badge?

kiamlaluno

@Robusto I don't work on badges; the badges work on me.

RegDwight

Soviet Russia is off-topic here.

kiamlaluno

I didn't speak of s-badges.

Robusto

@RegDwight — I can't think of anywhere that it's actually on topic.

RegDwight

@Robusto Precisely. Soviet Russia is off-topic everywhere. That's because you don't discuss Soviet Russia. Soviet Russia discusses you.

Robusto

1:48 PM

@RegDwight — Yes, but who would win if it came to a fight: Soviet Russia or Chuck Norris?

RegDwight

Both, but Chuck Norris would lose.

Robusto

Now I know you are simply an apologist for the now defunct Sov-bloc. Chuck Norris cannot lose. It's in his contract.

RegDwight

I like how we thrinxed each other on the two-nouns questions.

@Robusto Chuck Norris can't even spell contract.

kiamlaluno

Is that called a "thrinx?"

Martha

Re: Meteorological April Fools, it's only raining here. It was trying to snow earlier, but it failed miserably.

Robusto

1:50 PM

@RegDwight — Well, he didn't challenge the Soviets to a spelling bee, did he?

kiamlaluno

(I can imagine people yelling "Thrinx!")

RegDwight

@Martha Well, I am happy to report that the grass is always green on this side of the pond.

Feb 8 at 10:26, by RegDwight

I'm looking outside, the grass is green.

February, April, you name it. The grass is green, the bunnies are hopping around.

kiamlaluno

"The neighbor's grass is always greener."

Robusto

►

Martha

Yes, but are there unicorns?

kiamlaluno

1:52 PM

Unicorns are on sale.

RegDwight

@Martha Some moles, and some herons. And even peacocks. But they are not hopping.

Martha

0

Q: Why aren't there any unicorns?

The Big ThreeTM sites get sparkly unicorns today. Where are our sparkly unicorns? I feel unloved. Hmph.

RegDwight

@Martha Too late.

It's almost the 2nd already.

kiamlaluno

(Just don't look for them in the Black Forest.)

Martha

@RegDwight Not where I am it isn't.

RegDwight

1:53 PM

It is too late.

You have to plan in advance.

Martha

Even in UTC time there are, what, 10 hours left?

RegDwight

That makes 14 hours without unicorn love. 14 > 24/2.

And it's more like 8 hours left here. And only 2 in Novosibirsk.

Martha

Hmph.

(If it weren't such a pain in the arse, I'd change my gravatar for today. But with caching and such, it'd be more of a headache than it's worth.)

Oh, and Google's April Fools offering this year? Laaame.

So, in general: hmph.

Where's that halo picture already, @JPmiaou?

JPmiaou

@Martha Sheesh! First I had to put the child down, then I had to go find said camera (not easy)... I'm working on it!

Martha

But I'm cranky, I want the anti-cranky antidote now!

RegDwight

2:04 PM

@Martha Gary Busey don't work?

Robusto

Uh-oh. I have a feeling @Martha and her sister are about to unleash a whole can full of cuteness whup-ass on this chat.

RegDwight

@Robusto But there is only one Robusto to rule them all.

Robusto

Feb 11 at 15:10, by Robusto

This chat will self-destruct in 5 minutes. You have 5 minutes to get clear of the chat room.

RegDwight

I mean, their offspring is neither sparkling nor kitties.

We are safe.

Martha

@RegDwight I'm not sure what Gary Busey would be an antidote for. Or, to put it another way, if he's the antidote to what I've got, I'll stick with what I've got, thankyouverymuch.

kiamlaluno

2:06 PM

(Amazing: Community has more badges than I do.)

Martha

@RegDwight I have no offspring. I just have THE NIECE!

RegDwight

@Martha Does that make her sparkle?

Robusto

For @Martha:

►

Martha

@RegDwight I'm sure if she got into the glitter she would sparkle. She has a fetish for office supplies which probably extends to glitter.

@Robusto Unfortunately, I'm at work, can't watch.

JPmiaou

Robusto

2:09 PM

Just showing that Gary Busey wasn't always a punch line.

JPmiaou

Who or what is Gary Busey?

Robusto

1 hour ago, by Robusto

I still win.

Nice try, though.

JPmiaou

@Robusto I disagree.

RegDwight

2

Q: Why aren't there any unicorns?

The Big ThreeTM sites get sparkly unicorns today. Where are our sparkly unicorns? I feel unloved. Hmph.

feature-request gripe unicorns

Robusto

Gary Busey

William Gary Busey (born June 29, 1944), best known as Gary Busey, is an American film and stage actor and artist. He has appeared in over 120 films not including regular appearances on Gunsmoke, Walker, Texas Ranger, Law & Order, and Entourage. He received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in 1978 for his role in The Buddy Holly Story. Early life Busey was born in Goose Creek (now Baytown), Texas, the son of Sadie Virginia (née Arnett), a homemaker, and Delmer Lloyd Busey, a construction design manager. He graduated from Nathan Hale High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1962. While att...

RegDwight

2:10 PM

Or that.

Robusto

@JPmiaou — It's to be expected. You are a mother and that's your child. You are forgiven. But I still win.

Martha

@Robusto Nope, sorry, halo trumps glitter.

RegDwight

Robusto is wearing his halo as we speak.

So he wins.

Robusto

You don't even know the game we're playing. You might not want to win this one. So ease up.

JPmiaou

@Robusto I still don't get it.

Robusto

2:12 PM

It's a very dangerous game, btw.

@JPmiaou — See? Told ya. Best not to mess with things you don't understand.

Martha

@JPmiaou Go read my gripe on meta.elu, or more specifically, @RegDwight's answer to it.

RegDwight

@Robusto It's one of them forbidden games, actually.

►

Martha

@kiamlaluno Hmmm? Community has 6 badges, generally. You have 12 and 46, respectively, on meta and main EL&U.

JPmiaou

Hungarian has some nice ways of asking "what is it" that express your utter perplexedness: "do you eat it or drink it?", "what tree does it grow on?" and so on. I can't think of any English versions.

RegDwight

"I'm speechless".

JPmiaou

2:15 PM

@Martha Oh. Last time I looked at that, there weren't any answers yet. Hence my confusion.

Robusto

@RegDwight — Ooh, it's a concert in Japan.

kiamlaluno

@Martha I was not referring to EL&U. :-)

Martha

@kiamlaluno Ah, ok.

@JPmiaou, ide kéne rakni az egész kosár-progressziót valahogy. :)

Robusto

これが最後ですと言った。

Martha

Ok, that part where I said it was only raining here? I take it back.

RegDwight

2:19 PM

Schneeglöckchen, Weißröckchen.

kiamlaluno

L'erba del vicino è sempre più verde.

Arda chèla aca là che la a en chèla cà là.

(Now I can say I have spoken in slang.)

Martha

@RegDwight Isn't that schnee_f_löckchen?

RegDwight

@Robusto Kore wa what, what des to talking tta? (I can't even discern those two kanji, and have no idea which pronunciation to use for the 言.)

Schneeflöckchen, Weißröckchen

Das Kinderlied Schneeflöckchen, Weißröckchen ist ein Winterlied. Da es immer wieder auch in weihnachtlichen Liedersammlungen erscheint und oftmals im Advent gesungen wird, wird es häufig als Weihnachtslied bezeichnet. Meist wird der Text als „volkstümlich“ bezeichnet – was bedeutet, dass der Name des Verfassers nicht bekannt ist. In diesem Fall ist der Ursprung des Liedes aber nachzuvollziehen. Die Urfassung stammt von Hedwig Haberkern (geb. Stenzel; 1837–1902), die zunächst Kindergärtnerin und dann Lehrerin in Breslau war. Als „Tante Hedwig“ verfasste sie Erzählungen für Kinder; 1869 ersch...

Robusto

Kore ga saigo desu to itta. "This is Saigo," he said. I am assuming that Saigo is the song name, meaning "one's last moment" or "one's last breath"

RegDwight

@Martha I have no idea why I misspelled that, especially since I was explicitly referring to snow and not to snowdrops.

Robusto

2:26 PM

Sad or happy moment? You be the judge.

RegDwight

@Robusto Oh rats, now I even misread が as a は. <shakes fist at self>

Thank you.

Robusto

The to iu construction is a phrase of attribution: how people quote others or themselves. He/she/it/you/I say/said.

JPmiaou

@Martha Julianna just woke, so it'll have to wait.

Martha

Aw.

Robusto

It also is used to say "what kind of": nan to iu mono desu ka means "What kind of thing/situation is this?"

RegDwight

2:30 PM

You know, at first I wasn't even sure if that っ was a geminate or a tsu. I just kind of figured that tsu would make no sense...

Robusto

Notice the size there? When it's smaller than the other hiragana it means a syllable has been elided but must be accounted for in time.

RegDwight

That's the thing! It looked completely normal to me.

At the font size I'm currently using.

Robusto

ひとつ vs.　いった ... See the difference in size in the tsu?

RegDwight

God, I wish I had Japanese input again, this whole google-copypasta sucks. Anyway: っつ. Now I can see the difference.

@Robusto Yes, when they are alongside each other, obviously I do. But if you just write いった , I have to guess.

Robusto

Google absolutely makes a mishmash of Japanese.

@RegDwight — That's because you don't read enough Japanese.

RegDwight

2:35 PM

@Robusto My point exactly.

I mean, it's not like my guess ain't educated. It's just that I would like not to have to guess at all.

Robusto

@RegDwight — Welcome to reality then.

RegDwight

Why thank you, kind sir!

Robusto

Btw, re: Gary Busey ... "On December 4, 1988, Busey was severely injured in a motorcycle accident in which he was not wearing a helmet. His skull was fractured, and doctors feared he suffered permanent brain damage.[12]
At the recomendation of Dr. Drew Pinsky, Busey was seen by psychiatrist Dr. Charles Sophy. Sophy suspected that Busey's brain injury has had a greater effect on him than realized. He described it as essentially weakening his mental "filters" and causing him to speak and act impulsively. He recommended Busey take a medication called Depakote, to which he agreed."

Martha

Robusto

So let's go easy on the poor man, huh?

RegDwight

2:38 PM

@Robusto Yes, I know that.

He's not a punch line for me personally. I'm just going with the flow.

@Martha Well, you can still see the difference. In fact, you have it much easier! Just look at the numbers!

Robusto

For the Japanese-impaired.

RegDwight

See! That is a great font. Now I could see the difference from a mile away.

Martha

Ooh, pretty squiggles.

RegDwight

That's quite obviously no tsu.

Robusto

Get a Mac.

RegDwight

2:42 PM

No.

Robusto

Then suffer.

RegDwight

Ok.

Martha

(I can see Japanese characters on my laptop at home, but not on this virtual machine.)

RegDwight

I prefer to suffer without a Mac rather than pay Steve Jobs huge dollars for the privilege of suffering with a Mac.

And I'm proudly posting this from my Chinese pirate copy of OS/2.

Robusto

There it is with "quotes" around the quoted part.

I still can't find the keystrokes for those. Have to look them up in the glyphs every time. So I was being lazy.

RegDwight

2:48 PM

Look under the rug.

Robusto

I did. Also behind the refrigerator. No joy.

RegDwight

Mar 4 at 16:27, by Robusto

So it is a conspiracy.

Robusto

Ha! I was right! I knew it!

RegDwight

OMG it's Rhodri. Quick, hide under the rug.

Rhodri

Oh look, a rug. I wonder if it's comfy to walk on?

RegDwight

2:50 PM

It really ties the room together.

kiamlaluno

(We aren't speaking of a roof, are we?)

RegDwight

No. But thanks for asking.

kiamlaluno

I was wondering about the "it ties the room together."

RegDwight

One day I will calculate how much of his precious lifetime @kiamlaluno has spent typing unnecessary parentheses, just to mess with him.

kiamlaluno

Be ware of the rug: it could be a dog laying on the floor.

Robusto

2:53 PM

Those parentheses aren't unnecessary. @Kiamlaluno just speaks with a Lisp.

RegDwight

Lazy thwack.

Robusto

Awww, come on. You can do better than that. Where's @Martha?

RegDwight

@kiamlaluno I am ware. The question is, am I hard, soft, tupper or glass?

kiamlaluno

That's not true. In that case, I should be nesting parentheses over parentheses.

RegDwight

@kiamlaluno You should not. Please.

Rhodri

2:54 PM

So @kiamlaluno is nesting in parentheses, @RegDwight is hiding under the rug, and @Robusto is... thwack-bait. So far, so normal.

RegDwight

@Rhodri Except for Rhodri who is running amok in circles for no reason whatsoever. Him's crazy, man! CRAZY!

Martha

@RegDwight What he said.

kiamlaluno

Then, to lisp is not lazy at all: try pronouncing a s like th in thick, and you will tell me.

RegDwight

@kiamlaluno Try pronouncing a duck with an f, and you tell me.

Robusto

@kiamlaluno — You're thick, dude. Totally thick.

Martha

2:56 PM

thinkgeek.com/interests/looflirpa/e8b9

Robusto

See? No problem at all for Americans.

kiamlaluno

It's what I do all times: I ask for a ducf, and they don't understand what I want.

RegDwight

@Martha Are you aiming for the Non-Sequitur of the Century Award or something?

Martha

Or something.

Robusto

@RegDwight — Uh, @kiamalaluno already walked away with that one.

RegDwight

2:57 PM

Ah. Then I understand.

Everything makes sense now! Class dismissed!

Robusto

Great! Now I can finish life at home in my spare time.

RegDwight

BTW, how's your Flanders going.

kiamlaluno

(I wonder why I should walk away taking something with me; it would be easier to use a cart.)

Robusto

First chapter only. Real life intervened. But I plan to get to it this weekend.

Martha

Damn real life is intervening: gotta go work. TTYL.

RegDwight

3:01 PM

You see, when I read that book, I wasn't into chess at all, so I was kind of easily impressed. I wonder what my impression of the book would be today.

Robusto

I figured the Latin quote under the paint was a reference to chess.

RegDwight

So I keep asking you, since you're probably a more regular player than I've ever been.

@Robusto Without spoiling anything, this is not the only reference to chess in the book.

Robusto

Not really. I played when I was younger, then casually, then teaching it to my kids and going to my son's tournaments where I did some playing to pass the time.

RegDwight

But IIRC you are (or were) around 1800. Which is only a bit higher than I've ever got myself, but the point is, I probably was at 1100 when I read the book.

Robusto

When my son got to the point where he could spank me like a baby even giving me pawn odds the game lost its allure.

I doubt I could play at 1500 level today.

RegDwight

3:04 PM

Same here. Sadly.

Robusto

Well, maybe. But I wouldn't be surprised if a 1500-level player beat me.

RegDwight

Then again, you can't have your chess and eat it, too.

Robusto

I have Shredder on my Droid, but mostly I just do the puzzles, which fall into two categories: those that are too easy and those that are too hard. Kind of like sudoku in a way.

RegDwight

Aha! Okay. Then I will say nothing for the moment.

Robusto

I still think I deserve more props for the Lisp comment. /sulk

RegDwight

3:10 PM

Mar 18 at 18:01, by Martha

@Robusto, I'm not your personal thwacking pet, perpetually at your beck and call. If you know you deserve a thwacking, you can very well thwack yourself. (Or - gasp horrors - not make the pun in the first place.)

Robusto

/sulk

RegDwight

New macro?

Robusto

1 min ago, by Robusto

/sulk

RegDwight

That's not a macro, d'oh.

Robusto

Word.

Now that's a macro.

RegDwight

3:12 PM

And a very excellent one.

Robusto

Word.

RegDwight

Quoting Natalie Imbruglia, this conversation has run dry.

Rhodri

And here I was looking forward to being entertained on the subject of Word macros.

RegDwight

Actually, this reads like an exchange of 8-year olds...

@Rhodri You can still look forward to that. For all eternity, if you so choose.

Rhodri

Like I said, so far, so normal

Robusto

3:14 PM

@Rhodri —You gotta put in your own work here, dawg.

RegDwight

...and then Robusto will tack on a "word" to it.

Rhodri

Word

RegDwight

Lul.

Mar 13 at 15:21, by Cerberus

It still makes me think of dick every time I see it, yes.

Robusto

It's not all that hard to make @Cerberus think of dick. Just sayin'...

RegDwight

@Robusto That's what he admits in his very next comment.

Mar 13 at 15:21, by Cerberus

Then again, what doesn't.

Robusto

3:18 PM

See? Told ya.

RegDwight

I could have told ya that as well.

Robusto

I didn't need the artificial memory. I went to my regular memory.

RegDwight

Mar 13 at 15:22, by Robusto

Huhuh ... he said lulz ... huhuh.

See? I can have this conversation entirely with myself.

Rhodri

You usually do. We only throw peanuts from the gallery.

Robusto

Man, the regular board is just dead today. WTF, did I miss a holiday or something? Is this Good Friday or something? Pesach?

RegDwight

3:20 PM

@Rhodri You misspelled rotten tomatoes.

@Robusto Yes. Them piplz are in the streets celebrating. Your absence, that is.

Rhodri

Meanwhile we have a spate of "Is this grammatically correct" questions. Life isn't fair.

Robusto

A low blow. Characteristic of you, so not surprising.

RegDwight

I'm not here to surprise.

Robusto

Hmm ... well why exactly are you here? We might not want to open that door.

RegDwight

You have posted eight answers in the last three hours. That's eight times more than other people, myself included, have posted in a week. And you are complaining?

Just face it: you are hooked. You need more, more, moar.

Robusto

3:25 PM

Nah. Just bored. Lots of cleaning and compiling and deploying and that sort of thing.

Plus server startups and shutdowns, rinses and repeats.

RegDwight

Well, I told you what you have to do, then.

Robusto

???

RegDwight

Mar 25 at 11:55, by RegDwight

Well, you could pull an Attila and ask a question yourself. "What does GAFT mean?" or "What does HAA mean?" are only two excellent questions that immediately spring to mind.

Hours of free entertainment for everyone.

Robusto

I was working on a vagina question, actually. But their popularity has recently been debunked, so I've had to go back to the drawing board.

RegDwight

Just replace vaginas with kitties.

Robusto

3:26 PM

Ouch!

RegDwight

Easy as π.

Robusto

Don't provoke me. I will totally ask "Why is pussy a slang term for vagina?"

Kitties and vaginas in the same question. A masterstroke.

RegDwight

"Which Ubuntu distro allows the fastest downloads of Hello Kitty pictures?"

Robusto

That could work.

RegDwight

When I say, you have to replace, I mean, you have to replace.

Not pile on top.

Rhodri

3:29 PM

....aaaaand we're back to the sex.

RegDwight

Feb 7 at 16:19, by Kosmonaut

Haha, I guess we are back in a psychiatry session then!

Robusto

"Is it possible using Ubuntu and PHP/MySQL to determine whether "Hello Kitty" image downloads contain sparkles or not? Specifically, can I determine if such a GIF is animated or not, and whether or not it contains sparkles?"

RegDwight

@Robusto Too long. Work the catchiness. Work it, already!

Robusto

Too tired.

RegDwight

Okay, then just strip all the useless fluff. "Is it PHP Kitty sparkles or not? Also, Windows is better than Linux!"

Instant win.

kiamlaluno

3:34 PM

(I would rather short it in "Does PHP sparkle?")

Billare

@RegDwight Who was Shinto Sherlock?

@RegDwight What happened to him?

kiamlaluno

@Billare: See "Master of Disaster."

RegDwight

Mar 4 at 13:29, by RegDwight

Kinopiko -> Shinto Sherlock -> Ex-User -> Kinopiko -> Master Of Disaster.

kiamlaluno

(I wonder why they keep to copy words from Italian; and I am sure somebody will say vagina is a Latin word.)

RegDwight

@Billare Start reading here:

Mar 4 at 13:28, by RegDwight

No. He never got banned. He just left over a disagreement with Kosmonaut.

kiamlaluno

3:36 PM

@Billare: Consider yourself lucky, if you have never met him.

By the way, what does shinto mean?

RegDwight

Well, he did offer people money to meet him. Substantial amounts, even.

kiamlaluno

@RegDwight: Wow... When, why, what?

RegDwight

24

Q: Alternatives to "and/or"?

As a programmer, I have no problem with seeing or using "and/or" in technical documentation. For example, I can upvote an answer that satisfies me and/or mark it as accepted. That's perfectly good English to me. However, if I were writing a novel, or even just an essay, or — heaven forbid —...

word-choice synonyms conjunctions formality

"If I ever meet you, Doug T., I'll pay you a substantial sum of money to hear you go into a Mexican restaurant and say 'Please give me a taco and/or a burrito'". – Master Of Disaster Aug 27 '10 at 16:58

Billare

@kiamlaluno Wow, he was that notorious huh.

Rhodri

@kiamlaluno Shinto is a Japanese religion (or spirituality, depending on your point of view)

Shinto

or kami-no-michi is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written historical records of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki in the 7th and 8th century. Still, these earliest Japanese writings do not refer to a unified "Shinto religion", but rather to disorganized folklore, history, and mythology. Shinto today is a term that applies to public shrines suited to various purposes such as...

Billare

3:40 PM

@RegDwight What was the disagreement with Kosmonaut?

RegDwight

This is the Internet. You can click on links.)))

kiamlaluno

@Billare: There are good ways to be notorious; being paranoid about people copying his answers even when he was saying the opposite it's not what I would call a good way to be notorious.

RegDwight

I mean, it's too long to just quote here.

Billare

@RegDwight I am, I'm reading the transcript. Is it the might could question?

RegDwight

Yup.

kiamlaluno

3:43 PM

Does then "Shinto Sherlock" mean his roots are Japanese?

Billare

@RegDwight I asked because I didn't see any direct interaction between him and Kosmonaut in it.

RegDwight

@Billare It's been deleted, to clean things up. Not that long ago, actually.

Yeah, entirely my fault. I thought it was still there.

Billare

Shinto Sherlock is a rearrangement of "No shit, Sherlock"

Interesting.

RegDwight

That is the more likely explanation, if you ask me.

Billare

Yeah, I agree.

Anyway, gtg.

Cya later.

RegDwight

3:52 PM

CU.

I will be gone in a few minutes, too.

Robusto

0

Q: Where did the term "garage band" originate from?

Apart from the video game, the term has been in use amongst musicians for years - where did it come from, documented listings?

etymology

Before you go, please bring the hammer down on the new T-Rex.

RegDwight

Yeah, seen that one already.

Robusto

"Where did the term 'coal mine' originate from?"

"Where did the term 'printing press' originate from?"

RegDwight

I dunno, totally invalid? Or just too basic?

Robusto

It's mockery disguised as a question. The new T-Rex, I am sure of it.

RegDwight

3:55 PM

Yeah, it's the user name that gently pushes me off the fence.

But if you don't mind, I will go home first, check back if I should close later.

Besides, where's him @Kosmonaut?

Less celebrating in the streets! Those lazy Yorkers.

Robusto

You're the head mod here now.

RegDwight

We are a Cerberus.

Robusto

@Kosmonaut and @nohat seem very busy on other tasks, or just aren't on when I am.

RegDwight

Kosmo is still the all-time leader. But I'm catching up.

Robusto

There should be a "vote to close" entry that amounts to Das ist selbstverständlich, du Idiot!

RegDwight

3:57 PM

@Robusto Jeff Atwood promised to give us just that.

Rhodri

@RegDwight So now you're wearing wooden shoes too?

Robusto

Well, what is he waiting for? Christmas?

RegDwight

8

A: Should we require some reasonable research being done? (aka Questions that can be answered by opening an online dictionary)

see http://meta.scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/197/should-trivially-easy-to-find-be-a-benchmark-for-moderating-the-site specifically some new close reason proposals: not sufficiently interesting: this question is too basic; it can be definitively and permanently answered by a single link...

Go ask him. He's quite responsive.

@Rhodri No, I am not wearing wooden shoes. I am being worn as a head.

There's a difference, but it's fairly subtle. You'll have to check a number of resources to pin it down. Get an expert to help.

I'm out!

Rhodri

Ah, JB's just modified his previous question to bring it back up the active list. Very T-Rex-like, once you look at it.

Robusto

4:38 PM

@RegDwight — Actually, now that I think of it, the saigo in the guitarist's statement might just mean this: 最後 (the end). He may just be announcing that this is his final piece in the performance. I took it as the song title, but ga is a particle that implies ownership (in the figurative sense) of the direct object, so it could just mean "This is my last piece [that I will play tonight]" instead of "This is Saigo [a song whose title means 'the last moment of life']."

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…