English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

tchrist

1:00 PM

Pure χάος I tell you.

Matt Эллен

@Robusto you might be, I'm still youthful!

tchrist

No flirting in this chat.

Robusto

@MattЭллен You're mispronouncing useful, and when have you ever been that?

tchrist

@Robusto The s is silent in America.

RegDwighт

Uzeful.

Robusto

1:05 PM

Fictional footnote: USA is pronounced "yoosa" in Russell Hoban's Riddley Walker.

1

Q: Why are all acronyms accented on the last syllable?

When saying acronyms out loud, almost always the last syllable is accented (no matter how long the acronym is): US*A*, U*N*, RSV*P*, etc. Accenting any syllable but the last makes you sound silly (try it). Why is this the case?

Why is this open?

Fallacy of complex question, also it's bullshit.

user19161

@tchrist You have taken over Reg I see.

tchrist

@Robusto The answers are even worse than the question.

Robusto

I say NARQ it from orbit.

tchrist

Non-native seem to think there is a always a right answer. There isn’t, though.

1

Q: Hyphens after the prefixes "non-" and "anti-" in mathematics

Is there a convention when to attach the prefixes non- and anti- to mathematical terms using a hyphen and when without? One uses non-zero but also noncommutative. Likewise for anti-. I no longer know which is correct — anti-isomorphism or antiisomorphism, anti-isometry or antiisometry.

orthography hyphen prefixes mathematics

Perhaps they are French.

user19161

@Robusto It seems to me at first that the claim is true, but on second thoughts it is not.

tchrist

1:15 PM

(No, I know: they are an hispanohablante.)

@JasperLoy Counterexample?

Matt Эллен

In South Africa they stress the U in UK

tchrist

Sounds odd.

Matt Эллен

always puts a smile on my face

user19161

@tchrist Well, if I say "The UN is a great organisation", I could stress the U and not the N.

tchrist

Surely you jest?

user19161

1:16 PM

@tchrist And what about this question?

tchrist

Really?

Weird!

Robusto

Your contention is demonstrably false. Try pronouncing NAACP and you'll see that the last syllable is not stressed. In fact, with respect to initialisms that are extensions of other acronyms (IDE => EIDE, VGA => SVGA), it is the extension (i.e., the difference) that is always given the stress because it is that syllable that underscores the distinguishing feature. — Robusto 39 mins ago

user19161

The uN or The Un sounds equally good. Actually I prefer the latter.

tchrist

I could not say the YOU-en.

user19161

But it seems to me that Americans would prefer uN as I often hear from TV.

RegDwighт

1:18 PM

@Robusto the extension steals the main stress for obvious reasons you mention, but secondary stress remains on the last letter.

Robusto

That's loser talk.

RegDwighт

No you.

user19161

Loosers loose and losers lose.

Robusto

Let's all cheer for the one who came in second!

Matt Эллен

yeah! Go Robusto!

user19161

1:20 PM

The second is the first because they measured the distance backwards.

RegDwighт

Cf. Al Gore.

user19161

Also cf is often mistaken to mean see when it means compare.

user19161

One should use v or vide to mean see.

user19161

Best to avoid Latin altogether though IMAO.

tchrist

@RegDwighт That is correct. Only when you saying things together like CFI and CEO and COO do you steal stress for the thing that changes.

RegDwighт

1:21 PM

@JasperLoy Cf means cantus firmus, you incognocento.

Matt Эллен

I would suggest using see to mean see. It's already short.

tchrist

@JasperLoy You should also avoid Portuguese then.

user19161

@tchrist I always misspell it as Portugese. I was recently correct by some people speaking Portuguese in the other room.

tchrist

It’s português, of course, irmão minho.

user19161

@RegDwighт et al Gore would mean Gore and others.

RegDwighт

1:23 PM

You wazh rezhently corrected by zhome people zhpeaking purtuguesh?

Matt Эллен

portugeese are drunk water fowl

RegDwighт

Portugeesus Christ.

tchrist

I hate when drunks water foul.

Robusto

@JasperLoy You et Al Gore? How did he taste?

RegDwighт

Drunks water everything when left unattended.

tchrist

1:24 PM

One spells it ate, but pronounces it et.

Matt Эллен

of global warming and the internet?

tchrist

The rest of us, however, pronounce it eight.

user19161

I had a Portuguese phonetics teacher in school. She was irritated by me when I did not pass down the phonetic slips to the rest of the row to solve. Later on, she realised it was because I solved the whole bunch instantly for the group to win.

tchrist

We have to find that one and kill him.

RegDwighт

Why is six afraid of seven? Because seven ate cetera.

Robusto

1:25 PM

@tchrist Boswell spelt it eat, for both present and past.

tchrist

Well.

Bovine pronunciators excepted.

Robusto

@tchrist Rhymes with height.

user19161

I remember that teacher said "My my, you are slow!" That really pissed me off.

Robusto

@JasperLoy Yet she was right. You're only now beginning to vent about that slight.

tchrist

@JasperLoy "irritated by" should not be "by", but "at" or "with".

user19161

1:27 PM

@tchrist OK.

tchrist

Unless you are passive.

Then it is ok.

user19161

@tchrist Wait, is it OK to use ok? I think it is not OK.

tchrist

Don’t ask me why. I have no idea. Ask @Reg.

ok is not OK.

ok is ok.

user19161

Use either OK or okay, not ok. QED.

Matt Эллен

OK ok okay ook

tchrist

1:28 PM

Quoth not the OED.

RegDwighт

ok is oll korrekt, but OK is OLL KORREKT. I rest my case.

user19161

But maybe ok is OK too, I dunno.

Matt Эллен

Oklahoma?

user19161

But I only use OK, as I have said 9000 times.

tchrist

You also rest your o's. And your shift key.

RegDwighт

1:29 PM

Kool people have kruise kontrol.

Matt Эллен

YEEEAAAAAAHHHH

RegDwighт

puts on sunglasses

user19161

Cool people have no sunglasses, only normal glasses.

RegDwighт

Cool glasses have people.

user19161

Uncool people need sunglasses to hide their uncoolness.

user19161

1:31 PM

By the way @matt I have written several jimericks which I posted in the other room.

Matt Эллен

which is the other room?

RegDwighт

Click on "all rooms", then click on the room that's not ELU.

user19161

@MattЭллен Let me search for them, the math room.

Matt Эллен

@RegDwighт I've done that twice, and not found any Jimericks

RegDwighт

It was a karefully orkestrated trap.

user19161

1:32 PM

in Mathematics, Oct 18 at 14:51, by Jasper Loy

I often think about the great anon
How many books he has in his canon
He looks so cool
He makes me drool
I hope he comes to me in a carton

Matt Эллен

now I feel like Admiral Akbar

RegDwighт

Oh, now you feel like an admiral.

user19161

in Mathematics, Oct 18 at 14:56, by Jasper Loy

I see the side of Jay
He looks so happy and gay
He shares some secret
Pulled out from the closet
Oh what a joyful day

user19161

in Mathematics, Oct 18 at 16:30, by Jasper Loy

I love to see bro Jonas
I light up when he enters
He looks so sexy
Not seeing him is a pity
Just forget all your manners

Matt Эллен

@JasperLoy that one's pretty good!

RegDwighт

1:33 PM

@MattЭллен do you know his brother, Allahu?

Matt Эллен

@RegDwighт He's great!

RegDwighт

Greater, even.

user19161

in Mathematics, Oct 19 at 23:21, by Jasper Loy

The great mathematician Pedro
Looks just as beautiful as Monroe
Doing exercises in Munkres
Makes him go bonkers
He makes you feel your typing is slow

user19161

in Mathematics, Oct 20 at 6:27, by Jasper Loy

The girl named Marilia
Who makes me enter mania
She computes her norm
While in her dorm
Her languages are like encyclopedia

user19161

in Mathematics, Oct 20 at 6:33, by Jasper Loy

The boy named Benja
Who likes to avoid anger
Hates differential equations
But links to animations
Oh listen to his dhamma!

Robusto

1:36 PM

@JasperLoy What a terrible way to celebrate Tom Petty's birthday.

RegDwighт

He asked for it by being petty.

Robusto

Weak.

I would urge you to try harder, but that probably wouldn't help.

RegDwighт

I don't work by acclamation.

Matt Эллен

The notable Jasper Loy
Was among the hoi polloi
They doff their caps
Their backs he slaps
Regardless of girl or boy

Robusto

@RegDwighт That's only one of the reasons you don't work.

user19161

1:38 PM

@MattЭллен Hmm, they wrote two for me too, let me find them.

RegDwighт

@Robusto superfluous edit.

The original was funnier.

Robusto

@RegDwighт Wanted to preserve the full context for posterity.

user19161

in Mathematics, Oct 19 at 23:35, by anon

By day a poet, by night a flirt,
Admirer of the cryptic,
Eccentricer than an elliptic,
Any rule he can skirt.
Tastier than Chips Ahoy,
Why, he's Jasper Loy.

RegDwighт

@Robusto The posterity won't give a shit about I or yourself.

Matt Эллен

Posterior, on the other hand

user19161

1:40 PM

in Mathematics, Oct 19 at 21:20, by Charlie

The man with black rimmed glasses
Share his thoughts wherever he passes
Yesterday "I'm bad"
To me me he said
I just want to bring Joy
To that @Jasper Loy.

user19161

That's all, sorry for boring you all...

RegDwighт

@MattЭллен if your posterior is on the other hand, you must be horribly disfigured.

Matt Эллен

@RegDwighт sitting on my hands is quite literal

Robusto

@RegDwighт Compare it with Fischer's annihilation of Byrne in 1963. Fischer was pissed that Byrne resigned because he wanted his stunningly brilliant checkmate scheme in the text, not the analysis. I take my cue from that.

Matt Эллен

@JasperLoy the one by anon is better than the one by Charlie

but now I'm thinking about that unicorn

Robusto

1:42 PM

@JasperLoy I don't believe you're truly sorry.

RegDwighт

@Robusto I am comparing, and comparing, and comparing, and still no part where you start looking good.

user19161

@MattЭллен anon is mysterious, he/she says anon stands for anonymous.

RegDwighт

@JasperLoy when in reality, it's a backwards interval.

Matt Эллен

if they insist. although it is a word in its own right

I shall be back to work, anon.

tchrist

@JasperLoy He shall reveal the truth anon.

user19161

1:44 PM

Wait, is there a word anon?

Matt Эллен

aye

RegDwighт

Anon, rien de rien, anon, je ne regrette rien.

user19161

oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/anon

tchrist

@RegDwighт v.d., v.s., et v.i.

user19161

Behold! Anon is a word!

RegDwighт

1:46 PM

@tchrist You appear to have spilled some commata & perioda all over the ground. Shall I help you pick them up?

tchrist

He halt ever anon without stirring.

C. 1220 Ureisun in Lamb. Hom. 189 ― [He] halt euer anon wiþute sturunge.

A. 1000 Cynewulf Christ 970 (Grein) ― Téonleʒ bærneð þréo eall onán grimme togædre.

That one I shan’t translate, lest some of you be at work.

@RegDwighт If you can do so without reference to dexter and sinister.

The toiling rowers are anon at the haven where they would be.

RegDwighт

Sure. I'll refer to masuka instead.

tchrist

> 5. Gradually misused (like presently, immediately, by and by, directly, in a moment) to express: Soon, in a short time, in a little while. (Cf. d. above.) till anon (obs.): until by and by, for a little.

1858 Sears Athan. vii. 59 ― We dream now, we shall wake anon.

"gradually misused" heh.

user19161

It seems that almost any combination of letters is a word in the OED.

Matt Эллен

not rfgyhjudscxcxder

tchrist

1:52 PM

C. 1386 Chaucer Sqrs. T. 391 ― Right anon she wiste what they mente.
C. 1430 Lydg. Bochas i. v. 8 ― To make a mariage, after anon right.

Where right anon and vice versa both mean right now.

Matt Эллен

nor dfhlkjoiuytrnvdasew

I would say most combinations of letters are not words in the OED

tchrist

Anon is hardly an unknown word, nor some arbitrary permutation of letters.

user19161

@MattЭллен Now if one takes almost to mean except for a countable number, that is certainly true, since all possible finite strings of letters form a countable set!

Robusto

@RegDwighт They have eyes, and yet they do not see.

user19161

@Robusto Wow, I often say that line these days. And follow it with the one on ears.

Robusto

1:55 PM

Stop trying to cheapen my feeling of triumph.

Matt Эллен

@JasperLoy huh? almost means except countable numbers? So uncountable numbers? Your maths words have stumped me

user19161

@MattЭллен No, I just mean if "almost" means that. It can have different meanings in different contexts.

tchrist

@JasperLoy amain amen amene amine ammine amnion anan anime anion anon anyon enam imam imine immane immune inane inhume inion inone omen ommin omnium onion onium onmun onym uninn union unman unmoan unnun ymene

Matt Эллен

@JasperLoy uhhhhh, I still don't get it. But OK!

RegDwighт

2:13 PM

3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:

> The movie was amazing! I think that it would have been better if it had been closer to the book, but obviously they had to edit it for time. Orlando Bloom was SO HOT! (Orlando was the elf in the fellowship!!) And so was Elijah Wood! (Elijah was Frodo!) -note to self: fantasize about Orlando and Elijah A truly fantastic movie. But the book is MUCH better. If I could, I would have voted for this movie, giving it an 11! If you have not seen it, see it! Now! NOW! Go now!

I sure hope the Maya will kill off our joke of a race come December.

Matt Эллен

Icing on the cake would be if that is a review of Harry Potter.

Nimza

Good evening

Matt Эллен

Hello

RegDwighт

@MattЭллен A writer with the phantasy to imagine the world in which I would delve into reviews of Harry Potter is yet to be conceived.

Nimza

please help me with title! My paper is about finding almost periodic modes in a particular problem of cellular dynamics. How should I entitle it? "Finding almost periodic modes..."? Sounds messy. I don't like "finding"

Matt Эллен

2:25 PM

@RegDwighт are you suggesting I write some EL&U fanfic?

RegDwighт

Meanwhile COCA informs me of their largest, carefully-corrected, frequency-based word list of English available anywhere.

@Nimza if you are writing about finding, then finding seems like an apt word.

Nimza

@RegDwighт good, but "finding" or "searching" is better?

Matt Эллен

@RegDwighт why is their h a link? that's just weird

RegDwighт

@Nimza What do you mean, better? They mean completely different things.

Nimza

@RegDwighт say, I search and I find such modes.

RegDwighт

2:29 PM

@MattЭллен Easter egg?

You're not supposed to click on it before April.

Matt Эллен

I see. Probably

Luckily it's long after April then :D

RegDwighт

I wonder how much of the list I can paste together from the various bits and pieces they provide at wordfrequency.info/100k_samples.asp

Matt Эллен

@Nimza are you writing about how you did it, or something else?

Nimza

@MattЭллен yup, first variant

Matt Эллен

"How to find almost periodic modes"?

you could call them quasi-periodic modes!

Nimza

2:37 PM

"How to find almost periodic modes"? sounds unimportant for diploma :(

Matt Эллен

"Explication on Quasi-periodic Mode Detection"?

that's full of pomp.

Nimza

yeah, really:))

@MattЭллен, @RegDwighт thank you!

Matt Эллен

no trouble. But check with your supervisor first :D

Nimza

aha)

KitFox

Explication?

Matt Эллен

2:46 PM

Well, it's a grand word

KitFox

Theoretical Quasi-Periodic Mode Detection.

Explication is too literary, not science-y enough. ;-)

Matt Эллен

:D

KitFox

Isn't there to be a blog chat?

Matt Эллен

yeah, I think it starts as I'm cycling home, because I keep sleeping in

but no reason not to start it now

KitFox

Oh.

I am consulting today, so I am only sporadically available.

In fact, I have to go right now.

Matt Эллен

2:49 PM

CU

Robusto

@KitFox Meaning you shed spores as you go?

RegDwighт

1 the AT the
20 have VH0 have
40 would VM would
41 said VVD say
60 your APPGE your
80 first MD first
91 very RR very
100 even RR even
101 good JJ good
120 in RR in
140 while CS while
160 each DD each
177 came VVD come
180 before II before
181 got VVD get
197 went VVD go
200 men NN2 man
204 made VVD make
210 took VVD take
211 little JJ little
220 around II around
240 point NN1 point
250 sure JJ sure
260 almost RR almost
261 right JJ right
275 thought VVD think
280 program NN1 program
284 knew VVD know

Not much, turns out.

Robusto

I think you need to try harder if you're going to attempt poetry.

RegDwighт

@Robusto it's American English, so you'll have to cut it some slack.

Robusto

Hey, we can't all be Schiller or Goethe.

But Rimbaud was American. Sylvester Stallone played him in a number of films.

RegDwighт

2:58 PM

I'm just saying. Culture is 640th, way behind police. Poetry is nowhere to be seen.

Robusto

Yet it is discoverable if one looks for it.

RegDwighт

That's hope you can believe in.

Robusto

Speaking of which, someone please bet me an amount of money that Obama will win the election. If I bet money on Romney, it ought to ensure his defeat.

Matt Эллен

But what about a Pope I can believe in?

Robusto

New product idea: Pope On A Rope. Perfect for showering!

RegDwighт

3:00 PM

@Robusto this works better IRL.

I'm not sure Internet bets will be considered.

Robusto

I'm serious. Make it real life.

Matt Эллен

what about SE bets? "I bet 2 upvotes and a favourite"

Robusto

Bet me $50. I will snail-mail you the currency upon an Obama victory.

RegDwighт

My problem is that I, too, would like to bet on Romney.

Matt Эллен

You could papal the money

Robusto

3:01 PM

He even has "money" buried in his name. You don't have to look too hard to find it.

Matt Эллен

Ro money, Ro problems

Robusto

@MattЭллен Leave off with the Pope references. He has enough money.

more than enough

:D

3:04 PM

Your is 60th, but mom is 902nd.

Matt Эллен

I hope all the words in between are adjectives

RegDwighт

Bad, happy, and fine are.

Whole, too.

Your whole bad happy fine mom.

tchrist

Honor?

RegDwighт

No honor, but attorney. 1193rd.

Matt Эллен

I've just won a snickers bar by eating a snickers bar

tchrist

3:06 PM

First shoot all the lawyers.

Willard (1971 film)

Willard is a 1971 horror film starring Bruce Davison and Ernest Borgnine, directed by Daniel Mann. The movie is based on the novel Ratman's Notebooks by Stephen Gilbert, and was nominated for an Edgar Award for best picture. The supporting cast included one of Elsa Lanchester's last performances, and one of Sondra Locke's first. The film opened to good reviews and good box office, making it the sleeper hit of 1971. It later inspired other horror films with wild animals in them, climaxing in 1975 with the hit film Jaws. Plot Willard is a meek social misfit with a strange affinity for rats...

RegDwighт

@MattЭллен and who are you, Ouroboros?

Matt Эллен

I'm not scaley enough

tchrist

American dentists prefer Oroborroughs.

RegDwighт

Pictured from left to right: Matt, Snickers bar.

Matt Эллен

:D

RegDwighт

3:08 PM

I gotta run, dem bus wont weight.

tchrist

No autoeroticism in this chat.

RegDwighт

Lators.

Matt Эллен

CU

tchrist

Him and his bus fetish.

Robusto

@RegDwighт I thought that was manufactured by HP.

►

BTW, I plussed your gravy boat because you worked so hard at it.

tchrist

3:36 PM

It as another example of a quasi-GR question whose answer actually improves the site and doesn’t drive someone off.

Bob Dole can tell you the cure for a flip-flop nation.

KitFox

@Robusto Yes. That.

tchrist

Isn’t it the fungal kingdom that reproduces by spores, or do some plants do so, too?

KitFox

Both. Fungi don't rely on spores either.

I should say, not all fungi reproduce via spores.

Ferns use spores, and they are plants.

Gigili

@KitFox Can you kill a user with one bullet as a mod?

KitFox

Possibly.

Gigili

3:50 PM

Good for you.

KitFox

Do you want me to shoot you? Is that what you are trying to tell me?

Gigili

Kill @you-know-who, kill him with one bullet.

KitFox

@Jasper You are feeling better?

Gigili

@KitFox Ono, I can do that on my own.

user19161

@Gigili Who? Me? You can't kill me!

user19161

3:52 PM

@KitFox Well, not really, but thanks for asking.

KitFox

I thought because of your picture.

Wow, I made my lunch today and this red pepper pizza dough is kicking my ass.

Matt Эллен

quite spicy?

KitFox

@Gigili I'm sorry @Gigili, I can't do that. There are rules for policemen.

@MattЭллен Yep.

Did you tell Jasper your news?

Gigili

@KitFox OK, I'll call the police.

Matt Эллен

Wasn't he here when it was announced?

KitFox

3:54 PM

Dunno.

Matt Эллен

@Jasper - did you read my blog post?

user19161

@Gigili So lame!

Matt Эллен

in The Overlook Hotel, 3 hours ago, by Matt Эллен

Hello! Neil Fein was kind enough to post something I wrote on his Magnificent Nose

Gigili

@JasperLoy You are lame.

user19161

@KitFox The one where his story is published? I know about it from reading the transcript.

KitFox

3:55 PM

I was using it as an excuse to get him to say it again.

Matt Эллен

:D

KitFox

I gotta go again. Later!

Matt Эллен

time for me to cycle home. byeeeeee

Gigili

@MattЭллен Why would you tell that guy who has never been to the overlook hotel and not me?

user19161

As you can see, my Chrome has delayed my seeing the messages, so I am going to say stupid things again.

Gigili

3:57 PM

@JasperLoy I don't think Chrome has anything to do with that.

user19161

@Gigili Hmm, it only happens to me. I wonder why.

Gigili

Umm, good that you didn't get it.

tchrist

@JasperLoy Because God specials you.

Noah

Hi

Cerberus

Hi.

Noah

4:02 PM

Hey, @Cerberus

How are you?

Cerberus

@RegDwighт Ah, okay, that is indeed an extenuating circumstance. But what happened to their u?

@Noah Good, and you?

user19161

@Noah Wassup?

Robusto

Man, do I wish developers understood what HTML doctypes mean and do. We're vending pages with <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> doctype and yet the markup is replete with unclosed tags and other violations. sigh

tchrist

It’s probably in a proprietary Microsoft encoding, too.

What do browsers do then? So much for strict validation.

Cerberus

You should contact the authorities.

Noah

4:05 PM

Is upcoming a good synonym for future in cases like, future events, upcoming events, future mail, upcoming mail, etc, etc.

tchrist

Upcoming events yes. Upcoming mail, not so much.

Cerberus

Yeah, it is somehow linked to scheduled events.

They also need to be of some consequence, I'd say.

tchrist

The upcoming election is not the future election.

I don’t think they’re very good synonyms.

Noah

@tchrist thanks

@JasperLoy Good, how are you?

user19161

@Noah I thought you would answer "My XXX" to my "Wassup?"

Noah

4:13 PM

@JasperLoy What's that?

Is it a new domain?

user19161

@Noah It can be anything you want it to be.

Noah

@JasperLoy cannot be 90000, it is only three digits

tchrist

It could be 90000 if it were in base-300 notation.

Noah

Could you write that?

Bank of America charges more than 40 on a small transfer to another bank. Hell with them...

It is just like sending money to another country.

Robusto

@tchrist base-300 is used to count sarcastic comments, no doubt.

Cerberus

4:32 PM

marinetraffic.com/ais

This is cool.

If you zoom in, you can see individual ships.

> The system is based on AIS (Automatic Identification System). As from December 2004, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) requires all vessels over 299GT to carry an AIS transponder on board, which transmits their position, speed and course, among some other static information, such as vessel’s name, dimensions and voyage details. References: Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Identification_System

user19161

@Noah That is why you must not have any bank account. Just put all your money under the pillow.

Matt Эллен

4:59 PM

@Gigili because you go to the Overlook, where it's already posted :D BTW, I wrote a short short story, that Neil Fein posted on his blog "The Magnificent Nose": Soaked

blogy blog talk