« first day (756 days earlier)      last day (4183 days later) » 
00:00 - 05:0005:00 - 14:0014:00 - 16:0016:00 - 22:0022:00 - 00:00

MετάEd
MετάEd
4:00 PM
You asked for stupid search.
If you want smart search, that's what you have to ask for.
 
Matt Эллен
Matt Эллен
0
Q: Have Debt, Hold Debt

Nortonn SIs there a difference between 'to have a debt' and 'to hold a debt', or are they both same? I think 'have a debt' can mean 'not have enough money' and 'hold a debt' will mean 'not have enough money' in a wall-street style technical way.

grammar american-english
oh man. I spent minutes on that answer :(
 
simchona
simchona
@MattЭллен The title casing didn't give it away?
 
Matt Эллен
Matt Эллен
no.
 
simchona
simchona
"The Amerigo Vespucci School is waiting for you!" Only one exclamation point, please. Using two or more is just so fay. — Bill Franke 2 hours ago
 
Mitch
Mitch
@MattЭллен Barrie spends as little time as possible on his answers.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
4:03 PM
For that, his answers read better than much of what I produce.
 
simchona
simchona
My first impression is that "fay" is "fairy" which is derogatory for "gay". Am I just misinterpreting, or should that comment be edited?
 
Matt Эллен
Matt Эллен
@simchona at least I'll only lose 10 reps
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
@simchona Ask on ELU.
Instant MC fame.
 
simchona
simchona
@RegDwighт Welp. Editing that anyway.
 
Robusto
Robusto
@simchona I think you're looking for fey.
 
simchona
simchona
4:05 PM
@Robusto Google define said fay is also fairy
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
Whatever happened to Fay Wray? That delicate, satin-draped frame.
 
Matt Эллен
Matt Эллен
 
Robusto
Robusto
@simchona I think they must be related, but I'm too lazy to look.
Fey has supernatural connotations as well.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@RegDwighт There are correct and verifiable as correct to someone who knows the answer, but not always written to be useful to the OP, who doesn't already know.
 
Matt Эллен
Matt Эллен
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
4:06 PM
@Mitch that's an interesting point.
 
Robusto
Robusto
I flagged the Nortonn question but now I see it's been discussed here already.
So what are the mods waiting for? Christmas?
 
Mitch
Mitch
@simchona that's a bit presumptuous.
 
simchona
simchona
@Mitch Why?
 
Robusto
Robusto
0
Q: Meaning of "Someone's returned a geek"?

vehithaMy early apologies if my question appears to you very basic. I have searched internet but got no clues about this phrase. Context is below I dialed Aarti's number with dal-smeared hands "Hello" She said. "Boat ride this evening, Medam?" I said " Gopal! You are back? I will tell...

phrases meaning-in-context
 
simchona
simchona
I didn't delete the comment, I don't have time to start a discussion with him about it and I left the meat of the comment.
 
Robusto
Robusto
4:07 PM
All geeks should be returned to newegg. Just RMA them.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
@Robusto not Christmas in particular, but some presents would be nice.
 
simchona
simchona
Are you geeking at me?
 
Mitch
Mitch
You -think- it might be derogatory but don't have any support for that yourself, just a weird feeling. That is problematic.
 
Robusto
Robusto
@RegDwighт Your present will be in your future.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
WHOA ur so meta dude lol.
 
simchona
simchona
4:08 PM
@Mitch Comments are second class citizens, and that portion seemed derogatory. Why should it be left when it didn't help anything anyway?
 
Robusto
Robusto
But that's a typical problem. You try to get rid of a geek, and someone keeps returning him to you.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@simchona 'seemed'?
thta's the problem.
 
simchona
simchona
@Mitch Well it's gone now, isn't it.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@simchona because you did it, right?
 
simchona
simchona
@Mitch I'm not going to undergo the Spanish Inquisition about a comment. It's not like I deleted @Robusto's joke this time.
 
Mitch
Mitch
4:11 PM
@simchona I'm just trying to help -you- guard against -becoming- the Spanish Inquisition.
 
simchona
simchona
@Mitch Please don't patronize me.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
Well this is getting interesting but I have to commute.
 
Mitch
Mitch
If somebody had flagged it...with a reasonable justification, then maybe yeah delete it.
@simchona Oh...um... I'm sorry.
I don't want to have arbitrary words censored by some authority (like you) because of some inarticulate feeling. I think I have that exact same inarticulate feeling about that particular word, but better to be Voltairean about it. (that's why I say instead of being an authority to knock it down yourself, wait to see what other people say)
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@MattЭллен Faygeles?
Also, have you noticed that you have a '0% accept rate'? You should go through all your questions and 'accept' an answer for each one (if they help answer). Otherwise no one will want to bother answering you. — Mitch 2 hours ago
I think @Mitch didn't count the answers on that question before making the comment …
 
Robusto
Robusto
Hunting deer with your car.
 
simchona
simchona
4:19 PM
@MετάEd Can you speak to the regional meaning of "geek" like this?
0
Q: Meaning of "Someone's returned a geek"?

vehithaWhat does "someone's returned a geek" mean in the context below? I dialed Aarti's number with dal-smeared hands "Hello" She said. "Boat ride this evening, Medam?" I said " Gopal! You are back? I will tell you when we meet. Wow, almost a year, right?" "Three hundred five da...

phrases meaning-in-context
I feel like this is super regional. I've never heard it, maybe someone else has.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@simchona That's when you put your geek in the geek drop slot, right?
 
Mitch
Mitch
@MετάEd maybe that's where the questionably derogatory feeling comes from.
@MετάEd !! no I didn't. doing things on a smart phone is like looking at the world through a pinhole.
 
simchona
simchona
@Mitch Sometimes with the pin still in it
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@Mitch I think the low answer rate deters high-rep answers. So it more or less guarantees crappy answers.
@simchona Don't pull the pin out.
 
cornbread ninja
cornbread ninja
@simchona it doesn't make any damn sense. See my comment.
 
simchona
simchona
4:22 PM
@cornbreadninja I commented too, but based on his definition it's entirely possible that Australia/New Zealand use this.
 
tchrist
tchrist
@simchona Well, fay doesn’t mean that when I use it, but I do agree with you that one gets the idea that it meant something off-color when he used it there.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@simchona I looked at it, got it, and saw that Theo got it and answered before I could.
 
tchrist
tchrist
I use fay to mean something more like eldritch. Not queer or faggy.
Eerie.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@tchrist Being able to use "eldritch" in a sentence correctly is like being able to use "mauve", or like eating quiche.
You can't see it because you're in it.
 
tchrist
tchrist
I beg your pardon?
What the hell is wrong with eldritch?
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
4:25 PM
If I used "fay" in a sentence where I worked, or "eldritch", or "mauve", I would probably get beat up.
Also if I said anything nice about Mr Obama, but that's a whole nother thing.
 
tchrist
tchrist
If there is any word that you could use which would cause you to get beaten up at work, then you need to stop being a prison guard.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@simchona I think (not knowing anything) that it is very Indian vernacular. could even be a coincidental spelling of .. see my comment there.
@tchrist NOthing is wrong at all as far as I see because I've never heard it before.
 
tchrist
tchrist
Oh come on!
 
simchona
simchona
@Mitch I think Theo's interpretation may be right here
 
Mitch
Mitch
@MετάEd whoa dude...some people actually eat quiche, and use mauve. not necessarily at the same time.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
4:27 PM
@Mitch Well yeah. I do, for one.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@simchona Ohhhh... SOmeone, her friend ahs returned -as- a geek. I get it. That makes total sense.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
But then, I voted for Obama, and what does that tell you?
 
Mitch
Mitch
@MετάEd Quiche eater. Mauve...
Mauve .. user.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@Mitch And I write ... poetry.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@tchrist OK what -does- it mean? Sentence please. Is it on the nerd/geek/dork/dweeb spectrum?
 
Robusto
Robusto
4:29 PM
@MετάEd You just used "eldritch" correctly in a sentence. You put it in quotes, holding it at arm's length like a wriggling snake.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@MετάEd I bet you.. spits ...
like mime.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@Mitch Sissies spit. Real men sw ... wait, this is a family room.
 
tchrist
tchrist
@Mitch That’s insulting.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@MετάEd You mean using 'fay' is being fay?
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
Wait, now I have to check out "mime".
 
Mitch
Mitch
4:31 PM
@tchrist to eldritches or to geeks?
 
Robusto
Robusto
What, you're using the wrong mime type? Rookie move.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@tchrist Did you see I found ASCII and ANSI in the Online Etymology Dictionary?
 
Mitch
Mitch
@MετάEd ha ha! you're not eldritch enough!
 
tchrist
tchrist
@Mitch Eldritch is an adjective, rimnod.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
That's "nimrod".
I know.
 
Robusto
Robusto
4:32 PM
An eldritch is an old ostritch.
 
tchrist
tchrist
Nope. I encrypted it.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@MετάEd now you're being all rimnod.
 
Robusto
Robusto
nimrod => or mind
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
You encrypted it? What do you call it, ROT-something?
 
Robusto
Robusto
ROT-13
But that is not encryption. That is obfuscation.
 
Mitch
Mitch
4:33 PM
na und?
 
Matt Эллен
Matt Эллен
swap halves!
 
tchrist
tchrist
1508 Dunbar Gold. Targe 125 ― Thare was Pluto the elrich incubus.
1513 Douglas Æneis vii. 108 ― Vgsum to heir was hir wyld elriche screik.
1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 636 ― Thair cleithing quhilk wes of elritche hew.
1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. I. 217 ― Mony haly and relligious men··fled in desertis and elraige placis.
1585 Jas. I. Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 68 ― The king of Fary··With many elrage Incubus rydant.
1598 J. Melvill Diary 25 Feb. 320 ― The amazfull, ugly alriche darkness.
1789 Burns On Capt. Grose, ― Ye’ll find him snug in Some eldritch part.
1834 Pringle Afr. Sk. ii. 144 ― Loud bursts of wild and eldrich laughter.
1850 Hawthorne Scarlet Let. vii. (1879) 122 ― Pearl··gave an eldritch scream.
1860 Ld. Lytton Lucile i. iii. §i. 87 ― Truth is appalling and eltrich, as seen By this world’s artificial lamplights.
1866 Howells Venet. Life iii. 40 ― Joy that had something eldritch and unearthly in it.
 
Robusto
Robusto
Uh-oh, who got tchrist rolling?
 
Mitch
Mitch
Man they can't spell worth a damn.
 
Robusto
Robusto
Or worth a dam.
Or worth a tinker's dam.
 
tchrist
tchrist
4:34 PM
Eldritch Wizardry
Eldritch Wizardry is a supplementary rulebook by Gary Gygax and Brian Blume, written for the original edition of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game, which included a number of significant additions to the core game. Its product designation is TSR 2005. Contents Eldritch Wizardry introduced psionics and the druid character class. The sixty page supplement added several other new concepts to the D&D game, including demons (and their lords Orcus and Demogorgon), psionics-using monsters (such as mind flayers), and artifacts (including the Rod of Seven Parts and the Axe of...
 
Mitch
Mitch
tinker's get all the luck.
 
tchrist
tchrist
I still have my original 1976 copy.
Which I bought with my employee discount.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@tchrist more proof that they went back in time to make up words that they could eventually come to use.
 
tchrist
tchrist
I can’t help it if ESL speakers have richer vocabularies.
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch is a 1965 novel by US science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1965. The novel takes place some time in the 21st century. Under United Nations authority, humankind has colonized every habitable planet and moon in the solar system. Like many of Dick's novels, it utilizes an array of science fiction concepts and features several layers of reality and unreality. It is one of Dick's first works to explore religious themes. Plot summary The story begins in a future world where global warming has result...
 
Mitch
Mitch
Dick's fist language wasn't GenAmE?
 
tchrist
tchrist
4:37 PM
> This group of writers became known as the "Lovecraft Circle", since they all freely borrowed elements of Lovecraft's stories – the mysterious books with disturbing names, the pantheon of ancient alien entities, such as Cthulhu and Azathoth, and eldritch places, such as the New England town of Arkham and its Miskatonic University – for use in their own works with Lovecraft's encouragement.
Which word would you like translated into ghetto? Miscellany, or macabre? Or maybe tale?
 
Matt Эллен
Matt Эллен
tales told by an eldritch
 
Robusto
Robusto
@RegDwighт I prefer Tina Fey to Fay Wray.
 
tchrist
tchrist
 
Robusto
Robusto
Bosnia, really? Bosnia?
 
tchrist
tchrist
You’d jump, too, if you had all those bullets flying around you.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
4:43 PM
@Robusto If you want good obfuscation, use ... well maybe I should not tell ALL my secrets.
 
Robusto
Robusto
@MετάEd If I want good obfuscation I'll write English like a pineapple. That's almost as good as encryption.
 
tchrist
tchrist
 
Robusto
Robusto
Actually, I wonder if @PeterShor could weigh in on pineapplese being a form of quantum encryption. If it turns out that statements are so ambiguous that they cannot be parsed, isn't that just as good? PGP: Pretty Good Pineapplese.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
054754 031566 025723 101703 073314 034775 000050 104700 127400
 
Robusto
Robusto
@MετάEd You misspelled 101702.
 
tchrist
tchrist
4:47 PM
There. Now go read a book. In the small fishing village where I come from, even our hobos know what eldritch means.
 
Robusto
Robusto
Lake Geneva, WI is a small fishing village?
 
tchrist
tchrist
Oh aye.
It is also the home of Dungeons and Dragons.
We know eldritch there. Trust me.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@Robusto Prove it, then.
 
Robusto
Robusto
@MετάEd But I would have to give away your secret.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@Robusto You don't have my secret.
 
Robusto
Robusto
4:56 PM
@MετάEd And you don't have mine. But I'll tell it to you anyway: I was making a joke.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
 
tchrist
tchrist
dreamy
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@tchrist Præternatural.
 
Mitch
Mitch
5:15 PM
@tchrist I bet the hobos in your town know a whole bunch more than I will evr.
 
tchrist
tchrist
5:38 PM
@Robusto It was a paraphrase of a humorous/ironic response from a book by Steven Brust: "I don't suppose you have any experience in military reconnaissance?" "I assure you, in the small fishing village I come from it forms the sole topic of conversation." Brust is from the Twin Cities, was involved in early D&D games with the Arneson crowd there, became a programmer early on, and is now a full-time writer. He’s 57.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
5:56 PM
@Cerberus Beat me to it.
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
What? Where?
 
Matt Эллен
Matt Эллен
Pizza hut are advertising a "Halo Stuffed Crust". WTF?
the picture has Master Chief from the halo games. Is it stuffed with him?
Or part of a halo world?
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
Also called the euphemism treadmill. — Cerberus 12 mins ago
I had the link on my clipboard and returned to find you had beaten me.
@tchrist Don't dream it: Be It.
 
Justin808
Justin808
Just checking, per the closure of english.stackexchange.com/questions/93482/… it seems tor reason that all etymology questions are no longer permitted. Correct? If not please let me know how to ask etymology questions so they wont be closed.
 
Robusto
Robusto
6:14 PM
@MετάEd Reminds me of a Grace Jones video.
@Justin808 Your question was closed as General Reference, meaning that it's something you could look up for yourself.
 
Robusto
Robusto
6:30 PM
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@Justin808 Etymology questions are fine. Questions should include the research you've done before asking, and what references you have already consulted. Many questions we get are already addressed by reliable online reference works and did not need to be asked here.
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
@MετάEd Poor man. What will you do now?
@MετάEd I disagree with this.
Etymological dictionaries are often extremely concise. They leave out information, and they are often hard to interpret unless you know more about the subject.
And, while prior research is nice, it is not required.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@Cerberus I am aware you have a different opinion. Nevertheless, SE management has made fairly clear in the FAQ and extremely clear in various answers and comments over the past few years that ELU questions should show evidence of substantial research effort or else be closed.
So I will continue to say what I say.
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
Of course you are free to say what you say.
 
Matt Эллен
Matt Эллен
no! down with freedom of speech! everything must be filtered!
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
6:42 PM
Then filter him.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@Cerberus I do agree with you that after looking at reference works it may still be true you need an expert's help. That is what this site is for. This site is just not a substitute for research.
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
A substitute for research?
That is an odd way of phrasing it.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
Yes. Posting a question on this site is not a substitute for doing the research. Do the research first, then post on the site if you have a question.
We are not the human help key, or the dictionary, or what have you.
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
Does looking at a website count as "research"? Isn't that inflation of the word?
I think I disagree with you on a basic level on the general quality of questions on this site.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@Cerberus Anything counts as research. Looking at unreliable sources is bad research, but it is still research. Better than almost all of our OPs do.
@Cerberus If you mean that generally most questions on this site are not very good quality, I heartily agree.
But if you mean that ELU should welcome low quality questions, then yes we disagree.
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
6:45 PM
But you seem to say that an "expert" level is at all attainable.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@Cerberus I cannot make sense of this sentence.
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
Which I think is very far removed from almost everything we have here. Which is fine, because I don't think that's what we are or should aim at.
@MετάEd You want to hold all questions to a certain standard that I think is far too high and would result in closing down much of the site.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@Cerberus What we are is very clearly identified by the very first line of the FAQ: "The English Language and Usage Stack Exchange is for linguists, etymologists, and (serious) English language enthusiasts."
@Cerberus I know you think that.
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
OK.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
ELU has been overrun by basic questions because there's a huge need for answers to basic questions. It's just that ELU is not for that. We do not need to be all things to all people; we do not need to help the world learn English. We proposed ELL because we agree there is a need.
@RegDwighт Spray a pair of dogs with glitter and let them mate in your front yard and dig up your flower bed. That's all you need to know about Twilight.
5
 
David Wallace
David Wallace
6:58 PM
@MετάEd There are other sites that cater to that need.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@DavidWallace That's true too. In any case ELU isn't the place for it.
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
Let's hope ELL takes off soon.
I have to go, bye!
 
cornbread ninja
cornbread ninja
7:18 PM
bye Cerby!
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@Cerberus Later. Sorry about the glitter dog comment.
@cornbreadninja.
 
cornbread ninja
cornbread ninja
@MετάEd ?
You want me to unstar it?
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@cornbreadninja I am just acknowledging your presence.
 
cornbread ninja
cornbread ninja
@MετάEd oh, thanks! :D
How are you?
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@cornbreadninja Not bad, if you like counting things.
 
cornbread ninja
cornbread ninja
7:24 PM
@MετάEd I do, usually.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
It was always last on my career interest surveys in public school.
So of course ultimately what do I do for a living?
@cornbreadninja How are you?
 
cornbread ninja
cornbread ninja
@MετάEd oh, I can't complain.
I might anyway, though.
 
soandos
soandos
Feminism is for women like what is for men?
 
simchona
simchona
7:39 PM
5
Q: What is the synonym/antonym for Feminist/Feminism?

aDeveloperI m looking for a word or phrase which mean the same for men's rights as the word Feminist/Feminism does to women rights. And will the word or phrase be called as synonym or antonym?

synonyms antonyms
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@cornbreadninja Fire away.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
8:04 PM
@soandos Like nothing, really. Feminism consists of movements to remedy unfair treatment of women. There have been minor movements to remedy unfair treatment of men, but they're much, much smaller because men typically get preferential, not unfair, treatment based on their gender.
 
soandos
soandos
@MετάEd that sounds sexist ;)
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
One word used for such movements is Masculism.
@soandos Sexism is one of the great challenges to women's rights because it leads to unfair treatment. Consequently, feminism aims to fight sexism.
 
soandos
soandos
@MετάEd @simchona thanks
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@soandos Sexism is not nearly so much a threat to men.
Arguably, though, sexism does cause unfair treatment of men in some situations. For example some men feel they get unfair treatment in child custody court.
And divorce court in general.
 
user19161
The thing about sexism is that even when people say something not discriminatory they can be accused of being sexist sometimes. Now that is not good.
 
user19161
8:11 PM
Essentially people think in terms of all these superficial words like "sexism" or "racism" without thinking about what they really mean and whether another person is really being racist or sexist.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@JasperLoy I think people are often unconsciously sexist or racist all the time.
But it is also true that people take offense easily even when none is intended.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
8:33 PM
@Robusto too much Sarah Palin.
 
cornbread ninja
cornbread ninja
8:45 PM
@MετάEd hits you with her best shot
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
falls over
 
cornbread ninja
cornbread ninja
blows across end of pistol
spins pistol and replaces in holster
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
9:06 PM
I don't know about ninja with guns.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
9:19 PM
TIL Antarctica is a country.
And @tchrist will be interested to see how Castellano lost to Català.
 
tchrist
tchrist
@RegDwighт That’s nonsense. They are claiming that Catalan dominates Castilian in Spain.
Jinx.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
Or, as a fellow Redditor put it,
> Spanish really lost out. It even lost in Spain!
 
tchrist
tchrist
And English in Mexico.
It used to be that the Catalans were thought of as richer than the Castilians, although I rather doubt that that remains true.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
 
tchrist
tchrist
As population centers go, Madrid and Sevilla must beat out Barcelona.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
9:26 PM
@tchrist which is why I linked to the site rather than leaving it at the image.
They explain their method.
Which was counting geotags.
 
tchrist
tchrist
Darn, @Rob isn’t here. I wanted to politely and honestly ask him his reasoning for not wanting this question reopened:
3
Q: Meaning of “Someone’s returned a geek’?

vehithaWhat does “someone’s returned a geek” mean in the context below? I dialed Aarti’s number with dal-smeared hands. “Hello,” she said. “Boat ride this evening, Madam?” I said. ”Gopal! You are back? I will tell you when we meet. Wow, almost a year, right?” “Three hundred five ...

phrases meaning-in-context
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
What. I. Like. Um. Can't even begin.
He seriously goes with geek²? "Australia, New Zealand informal"? That is his first choice?
 
tchrist
tchrist
Clearly they have made a mistake.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
@tchrist I could say that goes without saying, but you said it.
 
tchrist
tchrist
I wonder why they latched on such a rare use when the other is much more obviously correct.
Maybe they are equally unfamiliar with both sorts.
Surely I have never heard of the second one.
Well, had.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
9:30 PM
@tchrist What's obvious to me and yer, matey, is maybe a candidate for not obvious to most people, to a first approximation.
 
tchrist
tchrist
I suspect their English isn’t very proficient. Maybe I am wrong, though.
*meself
Eldritch.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
@MετάEd that much is true, but again, at the very least he could have quoted geek¹.
 
tchrist
tchrist
I apparently don’t understand what a geotag is.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
@tchrist frankly, neither do I.
 
MετάEd
MετάEd
Did eldritch inform eldar and eldila?
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
9:32 PM
But I think it's the thingy in the upper right corner of an article.
Like, here:
Brandenburg Gate
The Brandenburg Gate () is a former city gate, rebuilt in the late 18th century as a neoclassical triumphal arch, and now one of the most well-known landmarks of Berlin and Germany. It is located west of the city centre at the junction of Unter den Linden and Ebertstraße, immediately west of the Pariser Platz. It is the only remaining gate of a series through which Berlin was once entered. One block to the north stands the Reichstag building. The gate is the monumental entry to Unter den Linden, the renowned boulevard of linden trees which formerly led directly to the city palace of the...
Basically the GPS coordinates.
 
tchrist
tchrist
But that has nothing to do with language.
It is, however, what I thought of as a geotag.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
It has in that there are articles about the Brandenburg Gate in OVER 9000 languages, and some of them are tagged and others aren't.
Or something.
 
tchrist
tchrist
Autoboxing loses.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
That's a freaky font.
 
tchrist
tchrist
Eh?
doesn’t understand
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
9:35 PM
Serifs. Condensed.
 
tchrist
tchrist
Oh, did I pick the condensed variant? Let me check.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
The last thing I'd want on a monitor. In a book, yes.
 
tchrist
tchrist
No, I did not.
Um, why?
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
This is what I have. Boring as hell. But easy on the eye, and takes a back seat to the actual content.
 
tchrist
tchrist
Yours is a less-bad sans-serif than mine would have been.
But I don’t even see the font when reading.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
9:38 PM
Serifs just scream, look at me! ROAAARRRR! I'm a font!!!!
 
tchrist
tchrist
They do? They seem like normal text to me. Sans always glares LOOK AT ME!!! I AM A HEADER!!!!
I don’t like reading long headers.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
Again, on a monitor. In books it's actually the other way round. Sans serif looks like child scribblings.
@tchrist yeah or that.
 
tchrist
tchrist
I wonder why different and indeed oppositional guidelines/principles/aesthetics/thingies would apply in the two cases.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
I think I even read some research. Years ago.
(Then I think I read some opposing research not that long ago.)
Whatevah.
Could have been Nielsen. Or someone of that caliber.
 
tchrist
tchrist
Wait.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
9:41 PM
@tchrist resolution?
 
tchrist
tchrist
They are using geolocation for browser language-preference in the HTTP header?
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
The real world doesn't have subpixel rendering.
 
tchrist
tchrist
Well, I certainly don’t care to read it too small, no.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
> In Spain, we also have one case of a 'minority language' (Catalan) with significantly more content (about thirty-five thousand articles) than the 'majority language' (Castilian/Spanish with about nineteen thousand articles) of the country. Nowhere else in the world do we see such high-visibility for a relatively small language.
 
tchrist
tchrist
But I do not like to read anything too small, especially when the font doesn’t have multiple masters.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
9:43 PM
I only just read that bit.
And what should I say, that's actually quite plausible, is it not.
If your language is Basque or Albanian you're probably way more obsessed with it than if it's English.
 
tchrist
tchrist
It could be.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
So you write, write, write.
 
tchrist
tchrist
There are not that many Basques compared with Catalans, I imagine.
11.5 million Catalan speakers vs 0.7 million Basque speakers.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
@tchrist They probably also couldn't care less about places or monuments in mainland Spain. But they will certainly kick the crap out of Castellano when it comes to Euskariotic monuments.
Stupid typos.
 
tchrist
tchrist
I had to read it five times to stop seeing eukaryotic.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
9:48 PM
That was the idea.
 
tchrist
tchrist
Even though I know the other word.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
I am so clever.
 
tchrist
tchrist
Right.
Eldritch wizardry.
I do not know what the Catalan separatists hope to reasonably achieve. Please do not give me the slapstick answer.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
Nah I really do not have any answer to that. I wonder if they do.
Could be plain boredom.
 
tchrist
tchrist
I could more easily see Flemish secession than Catalan.
Wait, they already got away, didn’t they? :)
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
9:51 PM
Also I heard at least some of it is the usual "let's distract from graver issues like how we screwed up the budget" approach.
 
tchrist
tchrist
That might be the immediate bruhahah, but this is long-standing.
It may turn on respect.
> Flying pro-independence flags - a lone star against yellow and red stripes - Catalan voters on Sunday handed 87 seats, almost two-thirds of the local parliament, to four different parties that want a referendum on secession. But voters also punished the movement's figurehead, Catalan President Artur Mas. His Convergence and Union, or CiU, remains the biggest party in the local parliament, but it lost 12 seats and Mas said he will have to ally with another party to govern.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
Yeah. I heard and read about it.
They lost and yet they won.
 
tchrist
tchrist
I wonder if it is hard for us to understand because we don’t live there, or because it is actually confusing. I want to go with the latter.
But then, I would.
Couple days back I read about all these secessionist petitions circulating in Tejas. Good luck with that one.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
Cui bono. Divide et impera. Yada yada.
 
tchrist
tchrist
The Puerto Rican vote was also confusing.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
9:57 PM
I never understand anything about what's going on anywhere remotely close to South America.
 
tchrist
tchrist
> Puerto Ricans have supported U.S. statehood in a vote that jubilant members of the pro-statehood party say is the strongest sign yet that the Caribbean island territory is on the road to losing its second-class status. Nearly a half million voters chose to leave a portion of the ballot blank. And voters also ousted the pro-statehood governor, eliminating one of the main advocates for a cause that would need the approval of the U.S. Congress.
> But the results aren't so clear cut. It was a two-part ballot that first asked all voters if they favor the current status as a U.S. territory. Regardless of the answer, all voters then had the opportunity to choose in the second question from three options: statehood, independence or "sovereign free association," which would grant more autonomy to the island of nearly 4 million people.
> More than 900,000 voters, or 54 percent, responded "no" to the first question, saying they were not content with the current status.
> On the second question, only about 1.3 million voters made a choice. Of those, nearly 800,000, or 61 percent of those expressing an opinion, chose statehood — the first majority after three previous referendums on the issue over the past 45 years. Some 437,000 backed sovereign free association and 72,560 chose independence. Nearly 500,000, however, left that question blank.
 
RegDwighт
RegDwighт
Well then. It's like they wanted the outcome to not make any sense. status-by-design.
 
00:00 - 05:0005:00 - 14:0014:00 - 16:0016:00 - 22:0022:00 - 00:00

« first day (756 days earlier)      last day (4183 days later) »