English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

5:00 PM

The same question could be asked on italian.stackexchange.com, as the OP is not asking about an English word, but an instrument. That at least is how I see the question.

Rhodri

@kiamlaluno I'm vaguely inclined to agree, I'm just not certain that "instrument" isn't a mistranslation.

kiamlaluno

@Rhodri Said that, I don't really understand what the OP is really asking for.

Rhodri

It's tagged phrases as well, which confuses me

Confuses me more, at any rate.

kiamlaluno

It's all confusing, from the first word to the last one.

MrHen

@kiamlaluno Ugh, there are crapton of valid answers to that question. The most obvious would be, "physics"

kiamlaluno

5:03 PM

Maybe I will understand it when I drink a little of red wine. I should try.

Rhodri

OK, I'll go in and comment.

MrHen

Or "instrument"

kiamlaluno

@MrHen If you ask a question that is off-topic, the question is still off-topic even if it gets answers.

MrHen

@kiamlaluno Agreed. I am simply adding to the list of problems with that question

kiamlaluno

It's EL&U, not techonolgy.stackexchange.com.

@MrHen That is not a problem. :-)

MrHen

5:05 PM

(a) It is hard to tell what is being asked; (b) is open-ended; (c) it is off-topic

kiamlaluno

@MrHen Does that mean we can vote to close it three times each?

MrHen

@kiamlaluno It is if there is no way to know if one answer is better than another.

One big clue is that 3 of the 4 answers are of the form "This is the answer?"

Along with two comments in the same form.

Cerberus

Voted to close.

kiamlaluno

That means just an answer is left.

Cerberus

?

MrHen

5:07 PM

@kiamlaluno Hmm?

Rhodri

@Cerberus Ditto, and told the OP why.

Cerberus

@Rhodri: Cool.

kiamlaluno

@Cerberus I am proud of you. Should I send you a t-shirt, or a millefoglie?

@MrHen If three questions are in the form "is this an answer?", then they are not answers; they are meta-answers.

MrHen

@kiamlaluno Well, more accurately they don't understand what the question is and are simply guessing for the sake of getting more information.

Cerberus

@Kiam: Italy is chock full of the best food in the world: I'd prefer something else, like good lasagne or pesto or prosciutto...

kiamlaluno

5:10 PM

@Cerberus Wow. Now you are really an expert.

MrHen

Arg... why are we always talking about food?

Cerberus

Incidentally, would an Italian every say, in Italian, "let's have lasagna"?

kiamlaluno

We can talk of the spelling of prosciutto.

Cerberus

Huh what's wrong with that?

kiamlaluno

@Cerberus It would be mangiamoci questa lasagna.

@Cerberus Nothing; it was just to not speak of food.

Cerberus

5:12 PM

But wouldn't a lasagna be just one ehm leaf of pasta, instead of the dish?

We are taught to say "let's have lasagne" here.

kiamlaluno

@Cerberus If you are asking if we would say lasagna or lasagne, that is a little tricky. Normally, I would say lasagne.

Cerberus

Interesting.

RegDwight

Quick, someone post two dozen fresh questions. The front page is full of [closed] stuff right now.

kiamlaluno

You can say una bella lasagna too.

English takes the plural of Italian words.

Cerberus

Okay I will post one then. Why not.

RegDwight

5:13 PM

Collateral damage of JSBangs' highly appreciated efforts.

kiamlaluno

See spaghetti, salami, etc.

Truly, in Italian spaghetto would mean something different from pasta.

Mi sono preso uno spaghetto.

The translation would be "I got scared."

Uhmmm... I guess I was wrong when I called a module "Frontpage."

RegDwight

@kiamlaluno Hey folks, that one ain't really off-topic, just poorly worded. So I took the liberty of overriding your verdict @Rhodri @Cerberus.

Rhodri

@MrHen More to the point, why are we always talking about food an hour before I get to eat?

kiamlaluno

@RegDwight The OP is not asking the English word for such "instrument;" the OP is asking about an "instrument."

The fact she is asking that in English doesn't mean it is on-topic to ask it on EL&U.

RegDwight

I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. I take it to be a single-word request.

kiamlaluno

5:25 PM

@RegDwight I gave her the benefit of the doubt, but the question is still off-topic.

Rhodri

@RegDwight Fairy nuff. It's certainly hard to tell what she was asking.

Cerberus

@Reg: Sure. Voting just isn't really my thing anyway.

kiamlaluno

Isn't there a sci-fi Q&A site? We can migrate it there.

RegDwight

@Rhodri That's the point. I can't possibly tell if the question is off-topic or not, because I don't know what the question is.

Cerberus

Oh, and, new question posed. A bit difficult to answer, though.

Rhodri

5:26 PM

@kiamlaluno I wasn't convinced that "instrument" was the word she meant. She might have been going for "instrumentality", strange as it may seem.

MrHen

@RegDwight Er, isn't that a close reason anyway?

RegDwight

@Cerberus Immediately edited by JSBangs.

kiamlaluno

@RegDwight Actually, it's difficult to understand to which "instrument" she is referring, but it's clear she is asking about an "instrument."

RegDwight

@MrHen Absolutely. My point is that it's a different close reason. I wouldn't close spam as "belongs on meta". Likewise, I don't think poorly worded questions are automagically off-topic.

Cerberus

@Reg: Hmm... I thought he had gone on a rampage somwhere else now that his "words" quest was fulfilled...

RegDwight

5:30 PM

@MrHen I now realize that my wording was ambiguous. The question has been closed. By "overriding the verdict" I meant "selecting a different close reason", not "leaving it open".

kiamlaluno

@Cerberus Did you think of your new gravatar?

MrHen

@RegDwight Understood.

Cerberus

@Kiam: What? Who? Why?

MrHen

0

A: Does America have its Versions of U- and Non-U English?

Yes. The most stereotypical example is Ebonics and is a somewhat touchy subject due to the racial implication of calling African-Americans a lower class. The term seems to have officially become African American Vernacular English. Most other examples I can think of are things like hick or valle...

Can I get a quick dummy check to make sure I am not completely off base?

kiamlaluno

@Cerberus What: your new gravatar; who: you; why: because you will become a 10k user.

RegDwight

5:37 PM

I have no idea, so I'm pulling a nohat on this one.

@Kosmonaut or @JSBangs still here?

MrHen

-1

Q: How is a "thread of a bow" called?

Is there an English word (a noun) that is actually equivalent to "thread/string of a bow"?

word-choice

sigh

RegDwight

Seen that, replied to your comment.

Kosmonaut

@RegDwight Here I am now.

RegDwight

Then check out MrHen's answer.

Rhodri

@MrHen So very sigh

RegDwight

5:45 PM

I have no idea if U vs non-U is the same kind of distinction as AAVE vs non-AAVE.

Kosmonaut

I don't know. In the US we never had "classes" like that.

MrHen

@RegDwight I don't really either -- I keyed off of what we "use" for class

RegDwight

Grrr. Then how should I vote? Someone tell me!

Kosmonaut

So there really isn't any way to have something analogous to that distinction.

MrHen

The other colloquial term used is "urban."

Cerberus

5:46 PM

There is the Social Register in America.

MrHen

But most people just use "urban" as a euphemism for "black."

Cerberus

I am sure there are heaps of other similar groups and distinctions, as there are in every society on Earth I have ever studied.

MrHen

@RegDwight Well, I am rep capped. Wait until tomorrow and upvote. ;)

Cerberus

Aww.

Well done.

RegDwight

blood... thicker... water...

Kosmonaut

5:48 PM

To me, I think it is really forcing English dialects into boxes, but it doesn't fit that well.

MrHen

@Cerberus Agreed. I figured that it was just a good way to start the answers off.

Kosmonaut

I mean, maybe it is the closest fit, but I still don't think it fits well.

Cerberus

@MrHen: I knoez, and that's why I had given you my upvote already, too bad it won't benefit your rep.

MrHen

@Kosmonaut The problem seems to be trying to define the boxes by "class" which isn't really the word we use here.

@Cerberus Haha, I don't actually care too much about rep. @Reg and I have just been talking about it lately.

The "classist" vibe is alive and active in America; we just don't call it that.

Cerberus

@Kos: Part of my question is "does something similar exist?". If "no", a motivated explanation why it doesn't exist would be a good answer. (Not trying to pressure you hehe.)

MrHen

5:49 PM

There is a certain "feel" to blue-collar or white-collar communities

Rhodri

@MrHen Damn, I was just going to point that out in a smug upper-class English way.

Kosmonaut

It's not simple; I'm working through the answer.

Cerberus

If you read Emily Post, she does in fact state some U rules that are quite close to British U.

RegDwight

@Cerberus For the next three hours or so you are obliged to accept anything MrHen posts, so he can get to 3k tonight.

MrHen

The blue-collar/white-collar distinction is worth its own answer, if anyone wants to go for it.

Cerberus

5:50 PM

@Reg: Does accepting break through the cap?

MrHen

@Cerberus Yes.

I just snuck 4 more through by accepted answers to my own questions.

RegDwight

@Cerberus Sure. And do throw in a few 500-rep bounties to sweeten the deal.

Cerberus

@MrHen: I'm still looking for a more specific sociolect. U works differently from larger sociolects as far as I know.

MrHen

@Cerberus The three or four major "class" distinctions in the US do not strictly have their own speech patterns

Cerberus

For instance, there are strong links between the U's in different countries.

MrHen

5:52 PM

Most of it breaks down regionally

Cerberus

What about Post and the Social Register?

MrHen

As in, all the upper class move to one side or the other and then start speaking one way because of the region

@Cerberus I'd need a link; I got nothing in my brains.

Cerberus

If so, that would be an interesting answer. The problem might be that it is difficult to prove that something doesn't exist without some scientific paper...

Emily Post

Emily Post (October 27, 1872 – September 25, 1960) was an American author famous for writing on etiquette. Background Post was born as Emily Price in Baltimore, Maryland, into privilege as the only daughter of architect Bruce Price and his wife Josephine Lee Price of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. She was educated at home and attended Miss Graham's finishing school in New York, where her family had moved. She met a prominent banker named Edwin Main Post, her husband-to-be, at a ball in one of Fifth Avenue’s elegant mansions. Following a fashionable wedding and a honeymoon tour of the Conti...

RegDwight

The only scientific data point I can come up with is Moe ridiculing Homer for his use of garage.

So obviously, garage is U-AmE.

Cerberus

Social Register

Specific to the United States, the Social Register is a directory of names and addresses of prominent American families who form the social elite, (socialites). Until very recently it did not include those of the political or corporate elite. Inclusion in the Social Register was formerly a guide to the members of "polite society" (or those with "old money") in the "Social Register cities" of Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton, Detroit, Kansas City, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, Providence, St. Louis, St. Paul, San Fra...

Kosmonaut

5:54 PM

@RegDwight Doesn't he call it "car hole"?

RegDwight

Non-U-AmE being car hole, in case anybody's not informed.

MrHen

@RegDwight Well, U-AmE is mostly all derived from our perception of U-English.

RegDwight

Jinx!

Cerberus

@Reg: The problem is that there are several layers between "average" and "U" for some synonyms.

RegDwight

@Cerberus Whoa, hold on buddy, one step at a time.

Kosmonaut

5:55 PM

I want some examples of "U" and "Non-U" American English

RegDwight

@Kosmonaut U-AmE: Astronaut. Non-U-AmE: Kosmonaut.

Cerberus

There can be one word that most people use; another word that sounds very affected and is used by upper-middle class; and a third word that is U, or something.

MrHen

@Cerberus Eh... the "social elite" don't really strike me as speaking drastically different. It seems to swing the other way: The social low speaks differently.

Cerberus

I knew this was going to a be a very difficult question to answer.

RegDwight

0

Q: Difference between Universe and Cosmos

Is there a difference between the 'Universe' and the 'Cosmos' ? I used to think that the Cosmos was a sort of container for the universe, one that could contain potentially infinite universes.

meaning ambiguity words

MrHen

5:57 PM

@Kosmonaut Yacht and boat

Cerberus

But hey Reg wanted some new questions...

Kosmonaut

@MrHen Those are two different things.

MrHen

@Kosmonaut Non-U just calls yachts boats

Cerberus

The fact that there are two (near-)synonyms, one more sophisticated, says nothing about whether one or the other, or neither, is U.

RegDwight

@Cerberus Absolutely, and we've got 6 in the past 34 minutes alone.

MrHen

5:58 PM

It has drifted down into Non-U but the idea that Non-U would even own a yacht makes it a joke amongst Non-U

Kosmonaut

I don't know. I thought all yachts are boats, but a yacht is a kind of boat.

Cerberus

@Reg: Yay!

MrHen

@Cerberus Ah, I see.

Cerberus

Nouveau riche likes yachts more than anything, and is definitely not U...

RegDwight

@Cerberus Sometimes I am amazed at the madness of my skillz of summoning stuff.

MrHen

5:59 PM

How about vase?

Cerberus

@Reg: You little Rasputin with your magicks!

RegDwight

@MrHen Oh yea, I got called out for using vase once.

Cerberus

What about vase?

MrHen

@RegDwight Yeah, no joke. You comment on me getting 500rep and *bam*, 500rep

@Cerberus vahz versus vayse

Cerberus

Do Americans say vayse?

RegDwight

6:00 PM

@MrHen Yeah, it's not like you had any say in that or anything.

MrHen

@Cerberus Yes, unless you sound "posh"

@RegDwight Just sayin'...

Cerberus

Ah OK. Then posh probably sounds British...?

RP is vahz.

MrHen

@Cerberus It can. My hunch is that most of the "posh" is dying. I don't hear references to it anymore.

Cerberus

Interesting.

MrHen

But I seriously think that an American style U-speak is going to swing the other way: Upper "class" sound "normal" and lower "class" just speaks differently. Looking at the upper class isn't going to show anything odd; looking at the lower class will.

Cerberus

6:02 PM

My problem is that I have no way of verifying answers unless they are backed up by some reference, because I know nothing about it myself.

RegDwight

Victoria Beckham is not dying. She's merely thin to the point of being invisible.

Cerberus

Aww.

MrHen

@Cerberus Yeah; I just pointed to the topics on Wikipedia which isn't what you needed but it was a start.

Cerberus

Yeah.

Kosmonaut

@MrHen But I don't think it is class; it is just education

U/non-U sounds like something where each one would never want to use the vocabulary of the other.

Cerberus

6:04 PM

There is some connection between class and education, but it is probably complicated.

MrHen

@Kosmonaut No, what I am talking about trumps education. We tend to think of Education as the class definition but that isn't really the case.

Cerberus

@Kos: That applies to some words, but not to others.

MrHen

@Kosmonaut "Ain't" is a good example.

Cerberus

In Dutch, for example, and in British as well, if I am not mistaken, WC is OK for anyone, while toilet is strongly non-U.

MrHen

Most slang gets dumped into this topic as well.

@Cerberus Yeah, actually, "bathroom" versus "restroom" is a current topic here.

The dividing line is more the identification of "traveller," however.

Cerberus

6:06 PM

The double l is supposedly British?

MrHen

We have too many linguistic effectors to really parse "class" without a severe study

Cerberus

Effectors?

MrHen

@Cerberus You mean in traveller?

Cerberus

@MrHen Yes, I thought that was what you meant?

MrHen

@Cerberus Er, things that affect. Not effectors?

Cerberus

6:07 PM

I didn't understand what you meant by "linguistic effectors".

MrHen

@Cerberus Nah. I use mostly "ll" in those words because I think it makes the various forms easier to recognize. Mostly "cancelling," even though it is technically wrong.

Cerberus

Things that affect language? Linguistic things that affect class?

Technically wrong?

MrHen

@Cerberus Ah; education, region, culture, race, family, how often you moved, what shows you watch, etc.

Cerberus

Why?

@MrHen OK, so things that affect one's language.

MrHen

"Cancelling" is not an official American spelling.

But I like it better so I use it anyway.

"Official"

RegDwight

6:09 PM

Sorry to interrupt, but this is the best answer ever:

0

A: Comma after "Please"

This answer is simple and good. Thank you. Best regards, Svetlana from Moscow

Cerberus

OK in that sense.

MrHen

But the word comes up a lot in my job.

@RegDwight They cannot comment until they have rep, ya?

Kosmonaut

@RegDwight EL&U is done. There is nothing more we need to say.

It is the perfect answer.

Cerberus

@Reg: Aww that is sweet.

@Kos: So it claims...

Martha

Oooh, my rep currently ends in 666. What evil thing should I do to celebrate?

MrHen

6:11 PM

@Cerberus Yes. "Class" in American can probably be defined by each of those other things.

Kosmonaut

Converting to comment. Don't be mad anyone...

MrHen

@Martha Be punny?

Cerberus

@Martha: Edit weird things into all Robusto's answers! Good luck!

MAD

MrHen

@Cerberus So the idea of asking what class distinctions exist with regards to language is redundant.

RegDwight

@Martha I don't see how 7676 ends in 666.

MrHen

6:12 PM

In other words, go find out why they are in that class and you will see why they speak the way they do.

Martha

@MrHen THWAC... oh, wait, that's not evil. Sorry, nevermind, nothing to see here, move along.

@RegDwight It says 7666 on my screen. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. And no, I'm not gonna refresh.

Rhodri

@Cerberus Don't you mean "Edit more weird things into all Robusto's answers"?

Kosmonaut

But it doesn't always fit. Like I said, since we have no clear-cut class distinctions, sometimes highly educated or rich people will have thick dialectal accents.

Cerberus

@MrHen: An important factor in group speak is aping your peers or superiors to fit in.

MrHen

@Kosmonaut Yes. I agree.

RegDwight

6:13 PM

@Martha Well, my screen says that I have provided 333 answers. Am I half Satan now or what?

MrHen

@RegDwight Does that mean you are half of @Martha?

Kosmonaut

Ross Perot being a ridiculously extreme example :)

Cerberus

@Rhodri: I was this close to succumbing to the temptation! But I was strong.

RegDwight

@MrHen No, 333 != 7676/2.

Cerberus

@Kos: Don't overestimate EU class distinctions. All you say there we have too.

Martha

6:15 PM

@RegDwight I only see 320 answers on your profile.

Kosmonaut

@RegDwight: Did you notice that someone upvoted Svitlana's answer before it was deleted?

Cerberus

I did!

MrHen

@Cerberus Well, yeah, but I think that just makes the confusion more obvious. "Class" is different in America.

RegDwight

@Martha Hence "on my screen". 13 of my answers are deleted.

Get to 10k and you will see them all!

Cerberus

@Mrhen: If you approach an average Dutchman on the street, he will tell you the same.

MrHen

6:15 PM

@RegDwight Worst prize ever.

Martha

Only what's on my screen counts.

@MrHen This.

RegDwight

@MrHen That's Cerberus' line.

MrHen

@Cerberus He will tell me class is different in America?

Kosmonaut

In the US, we have concepts like "a good boss lets you call him by his first name", "a good president is someone you could have a beer with", and so on.

Cerberus

Heh. He will tell you that class doesn't really exist any more in Holland.

RegDwight

6:17 PM

Mar 10 at 1:22, by Cerberus

Oh dear, what happens at 10k? You see all the deleted stuff? One reason to start attracting down-votes...

MrHen

@Cerberus Well, it does exist in America, but is more of an effect than a cause.

RegDwight

Feb 2 at 14:58, by kiamlaluno

Frankly, if all you get when you reach 10k is that silly menu extra, then to reach 10K is not a goal it seems worth the time took to reach it.

Cerberus

The Dutch are extremely informal. Many people call their bosses by their first names, and even the once-dreaded "jij".

MrHen

"Class" in America survives 1 to 3 generations on average? (This is unfounded.)

Rhodri

@Kosmonaut Has there been such a president in the last century?

Cerberus

6:17 PM

Hah.

kiamlaluno

"The famous last words."

Cerberus

Totally unfounded.

RegDwight

@Cerberus But do they call their bosses prachtig?

MrHen

@Rhodri It was used to describe the last three US presidents, I believe.

kiamlaluno

(Or is that "the famous lost words"?)

Cerberus

6:18 PM

@Reg: Only if their bosses are female and they are violating company rules in the closet.

Kosmonaut

@Rhodri What do you mean?

RegDwight

@Kosmonaut You could totally have a beer with Dubya. He just couldn't put it to any good use. Where's that video of him with Schroeder?

Cerberus

He quit drinking, didn't he? Such a bore.

Kosmonaut

@Cerberus *alcoholic (FTFY)

kiamlaluno

Wasn't it "FFT"?

Cerberus

6:20 PM

@Kos: Thank you... I can never keep up with such things.

Rhodri

@Kosmonaut, @MrHen: the impression I get from outside is that the high-powered plutocrats running the US are no more approachable than the high-powered plutocrats running the UK.

Cerberus

The funny thing is that power and class do not always run parallel.

Kosmonaut

@Rhodri They aren't actually going to have a beer with you, it's the idea that a good one is one who seems to be your peer, who you could imagine hanging out with in this way.

Cerberus

True that.

Reagan-like?

Rhodri

@Cerberus Indeed. They usually did at one point, then history happened :-)

Kosmonaut

6:21 PM

It's a silly notion, but it is pervasive.

Cerberus

@Rhodri: True!

kiamlaluno

@Cerberus Is that like "a parallel convergence"?

Rhodri

@Kosmonaut I can imagine having a beer with Honest Dave (the PM), I just can't imagine it happening.

Cerberus

@Kiam: Not really? How?

Rhodri

Though I have had a beer with a number of MPs, now I think about it.

Cerberus

6:22 PM

Does your Queen ever go out incognito?

Ours does.

kiamlaluno

@Cerberus If something converge with something else, then they are not parallel.

Rhodri

@Cerberus I don't think so. Unless you count visiting Cambridge University with her husband.

Cerberus

@Kiam: Ah I get it. I don't think this distinction between parallel and convergent applies to class.

Rhodri

Prince Phillip is the Chancellor, so by strict university protocol he is announced first. Apparently it's the only time he gets announced before the Queen does.

Cerberus

Nice.

I brushed past my Queen some time in a museum.

kiamlaluno

6:25 PM

@Cerberus It could apply to power and class.

RegDwight

@Cerberus You sure it wasn't Hape Kerkeling?

Cerberus

She did have some very discrete body guards in civilian dress at a distance.

RegDwight

►

Rhodri

Actually now you mention it, I did once run into Prince Edward in the local supermarket. Literally. I wasn't watching where I was going, and neither was he.

Cerberus

@Kiam: Too confusing!

Rhodri

6:26 PM

We were both new students at the time, that's our collective excuse.

Cerberus

@Rhodri: Who is Edward again?

Rhodri

Duke of Wessex I believe, third son of the Queen, safely far from the throne.

kiamlaluno

@Cerberus They are both a parallel convergence.

He would be safe even if he were the second son.

MrHen

-1

Q: How is a "thread of a bow" called?

Is there an English word (a noun) that is actually equivalent to "thread/string of a bow"?

single-word-requests

Am I cleared to flag this?

Cerberus

@Rhodri: Ah ok. I hope you weren't sentenced to death.

My grandmother once spilled coffee on the Queen.

MrHen

6:31 PM

Is that a no...?

Cerberus

@Reg: That Hape guy is rather funny. He is obviously doing a Dutch accent... but is he actually Dutch or pretending? It is at least clear that his German is quite good?

Rhodri

@MrHen I don't think you need clearance to flag, you know.

Anyway, I must go. Food awaits, along with friends and boardgames.

Cerberus

Yeah I have no idea, the question seems excessively basic to me too.

Have fun! @Rhodri

Ah, Hape is German.

He is doing a rather good Dutch accent I think!

kiamlaluno

Now I can speak of lasagna, pesto, millefoglie, and whatelse.

RegDwight

@Cerberus He can do excellent accents. He has a deep understanding of an awful lot of languages — Finnish, Dutch, Czech, Hungarian, you name it — but if he can't speak a language at all, he won't be caught dead trying to mimic the accent.

Cerberus

6:37 PM

@Reg: Ah! Yes he might have fooled me! I was tending towards his being German, but I wasn't sure at all! His Dutch accent is even a bit non-standard, which I suppose is even more difficult. It sounds a bit lower class, hehe.

RegDwight

@MrHen Well, you are cleared to close-vote it in just a few hours.

Flagging for mod attention doesn't make much sense at this point, as discussed earlier.

And flagging as spam/offensive is not an option.

Cerberus

I like Beatrix's "hallo" very much, that is very Dutch.

RegDwight

Lekker Mittagessen!

@Cerberus If you're not familiar with him at all, check out this:

►

Cerberus

OK!

What the... what is thus Hurz!?

RegDwight

A nonsense word.

Cerberus

6:44 PM

Ah.

The pianist's moustache is also quite... remarkable.

I presume the audience is real?

RegDwight

It's probably the one word that made him famous.

Yes, the audience is real.

Cerberus

So who are those people? They are not a regular audience; are they journalists or something?

RegDwight

Well, I suppose they are opera lovers or something.

Cerberus

But they keep commenting on his performance...

He is great. Das ganze Leben ist ein Kwis!

RegDwight

Quiz.

Cerberus

6:49 PM

Oh!

I think Dutch spells quiz as well.

RegDwight

They are commenting on his performance because he's supposedly an opera singer from abroad introcuding some modern opera and asking for feedback.

Cerberus

Ah, ok.

RegDwight

A matinee with open discussion.

Cerberus

Are matinees supposed to be test performances?

Oh.

(In the Concertgebouw, the Saturday matinee is a full performance.)

RegDwight

Well, that's what I would call it, not necessarily what it actually means in any language.

Cerberus

6:53 PM

OK, I was just thinking that maybe I'd missed some international connotation of matinee (things like that happen to me a lot).

RegDwight

We've been there before:

0

Q: *Elections Results* or *Election Results*

When announcing the results to a series of elections, what sounds better as a title? Even though I believe Elections Results seems to be the logical answer, Election Results is by far the better-sounding choice in my head. I did a quick Google search and found that the internet seems to agree by...

word-choice

2

Q: "BookList" or "booksList?"

Possible Duplicates: “User accounts” or “users account?” Is it correct to say “lesson count” or “lessons count”? I'm wondering wether or not I should use a plural form noun with a collection name. For example, which one is correct, book...

grammatical-number

3

Q: "User accounts" or "users account?"

Is it correct to say "user accounts" or "users account", when referring to the accounts any user has on a site like this one? In general, in the case of a noun that is used as adjective for the noun that follows, is it better to use <plural-noun> <singular-noun> or <singular-noun&g...

usage word-choice grammatical-number nouns

2

Q: Is it correct to say "lesson count" or "lessons count"?

Possible Duplicate: “user accounts” or “users account”? If I mean "number of lessons", which grammatical construction should I go for? I can imagine three of them: Lesson count Lessons count Lessons' count

count

Cerberus

Ugh.

Close them pleeeeez?

RegDwight

I need some support. Because the highest-voted answer to the original question is mine, and not particularly good. At all.

Cerberus

Arg! I was just going, need to run before it gets completely dark, sowwy. I will look at it when I get back if that will still be useful. I am terrible at duplicates in any case... later!

MrHen

Back

@RegDwight What are you referring to?

RegDwight

7:02 PM

@MrHen Ah, never mind. The question's been closed in the mean time.

MrHen

Okay.

RegDwight

Harrr, what's going on here:

MrHen

Is it okay to ask interesting questions that I already know the answer to?

RegDwight

english.stackexchange.com/posts/14949/revisions

27

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

Comedians seem to use phrases that employ this type of sentence structure - is there a name for it? Examples of Groucho Marx's one liners seem to fit this pattern - and if memory serves, Emo Philips. "One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas, how he got in my pajamas, I don't know." "I've...

sentence-patterns structure

MrHen

@RegDwight Ugh.

Why is he still around?

RegDwight

7:11 PM

Why is he editing stuff like that?

MrHen

Because he is a troll.

RegDwight

@MrHen Yes, if it's on-topic and you're not ashamed to ask, go ahead. I've asked a ton of questions like that myself. I could dig up a few meta posts in a minute.

MrHen

I am assuming you are going to roll that back.

@RegDwight Okay. Cool.

RegDwight

7

A: Asking questions you know the answer to

A good question is not a bad one by virtue of the fact that you personally know the answer. A bonus is that you might learn a facet to the answer you weren't aware of, or you might find out you weren't as right as you thought -- either is an opportunity for you, or for others to learn. In shor...

10

A: Pointless questions and answers

The idea behind any StackExchange site is to build the ultimate resource on a given topic. Just like StackOverflow, with which it all began, we eventually want to cover all questions that are on-topic, even those already answered elsewhere. Just because an answer to a question is right there shou...