English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

1:34 AM

What exactly is a teahouse like?

what is the meaning of "like" in the above sentence ?

Hi!

The answer would be: "a teahouse is like an x".

@Pratik Ceci n’est pas un dictionnaire.

@Cerberus I would actually say "a teahouse is like x", without using "an"

What is a teahouse for? It is for drinking tea. What is a teahouse like? It is like a café where people drink tea.

@simchona See my example above.

I'm trying to keep it simple.

@Cerberus Why? I think you should try for an extended simile. :)

1:42 AM

@Cerberus I see where you were going with that, but I feel like "an" is confusing too

Bleh, why torture our poor users with badly set up similia...

@simchona Then how would you explain it?

@Cerberus I would say that the 'like' in "what is a teahouse like" can be answered as "a teahouse is like X".

I felt that the article enhanced the parallel.

@simchona A teahouse is like Superman’s serene palace of solitude, but warm and inviting, a refuge from the hustle and bustle of the outside world.

Hmm. Well, it looks like we're getting too much into it at this point

@tchrist Were you here earlier for CR's announcement?

1:45 AM

Mm, which?

That you were a terrorist?

You would mostly use an article if you were to answer with a like sentence to that (which you normally wouldn't, but then it would become too complex).

@tchrist Yes, that one

In a nutshell

Yes.

This stupid thing keeps telling me I type too fast. Makes me retry.

I know, it sucks!

Get used to it.

Edit a previous line and add text if you become too frustrated.

Must act like a dumb, slow m o n k e y .

Not a flittery cardinal.

1:46 AM

Did you know you can press the up key to edit your previous line?

@tchrist It is hard for all of us.

Hadn't, no. Thanks.

Great, more monkey questions.

I have just come back from two consolation sessions, I'm exhausted.

Friend no. 1 has just been dumped.

Then at 1 am I had to leave for friend no. 2 who was having a mental breakdown about her job and her thesis and life in general.

Some peace and quiet here at last.

@Cerberus CR goes to sleep early.

Is that Carlo?

Then thank God.

@Kit You have the fewest down-votes of all, yay.

@simchona I’ve reviewed some of the logs from almost 4 months ago. I don’t know that he’s a good candidate for rehabilitation. It’s not as though anything has actually improved.

1:55 AM

@tchrist I really wanted to help him learn, but I was getting frustrated because he's not listening

Yes, you're tried hard. And earned only his spite and disdain for your trouble.

shrug

Usually I would be like "OH NO YOU DIDN'T"

but at this point, I just don't want to engage. I already had to deal with speedy.

flash floods

You do realize that is ragequit threat if you're elected is hollow? He's lying.

We're getting a torrential downpour!

1:58 AM

Oh, no!

Whatever happens, I'm not leaving

We had some flash floods yesterday.

Hail and thunder to boot.

I had a hurricane blow open my French doors to the north today. Buckets of water.

So who is CR?

1:58 AM

@Cerberus Carlo_R

Ah OK.

As of May 2011

means one of the day of may 2011

is it correct /

@Pratik Huh?

correct ?

@Pratik Your sentence doesn't make sense

2:03 AM

As of May 2011, GitHub was the most popular open source code repository site .

@Pratik Basically, "in May of 2011, GitHub was the most popular open source code repository site".

ok

It suggests when that statement was valid

@Pratik It originally meant "starting from", I believe, but it now usually means simply "in May".

@tchrist How very unpleasant.

2:13 AM

@Mahnax I had to stand there bracing myself against the doors for about ten minutes to keep them shut. We got 100 mph winds and like an inch of water in that time. My entire house was soaked on the north side, through the closed windows. It was like nuts.

@tchrist In Colorado?

I've never heard of hurricanes in Colorado.

Neither had I.

I'm just describing the force of the winds and the amount of water dumped all at once. It wasn't actually cyclonic.

Well, it may have been a minitornado type thing.

If you say so, I suppose.

My cottonwood shed some large limbs on my garage roof.

It was hurricane force, not hurricane.

My poor neighbors had their north windows open and came home to a swimming pool's worth of water dumped into the back of their house. I swear I've never seen anything like this in my nearly 50 years.

But it's all fine now?

2:19 AM

Yes, it was quick. One spotter, not far away, said we got 1" in 30 minutes. Felt like more, but that's still a lot. Lots of flash-flood trouble in the burn zones.

I have to figure out how to haul away the dead limbs. Fortunately they fell on the garage roof not the house.

Yes, that is fortunate.

> Yet Again, Netflix Class Action Shows That Class Action Lawsuits Are Mostly About Making Lawyers Rich

techdirt.com/articles/20120730/01264019871/…

> ... in a class action lawsuit against Netflix way back in 2005, in which the lawyers got $2.5 million... and everyone in the "class" just got their accounts upgraded for a month (and if you forgot to manually downgrade after that month was over, you were charged more).

5:15 AM

@Marthaª Whose child is that?

@Marthaª Is that your picture as a child?

@Mahnax It's my niece.

@Marthaª Nice.

@KitFox See above.

@cpx I have never been that pretty. :/

5:22 AM

This is my niece:

(In case that all was confusing, the above picture is a reply to KitFox's baby ambush earlier today.)

@Marthaª Neither me. But I'm not a girl, I'm a boy.

@cpx Well, I am a girl, but even so. :)

@Mahnax Pardon me if I'm being slow, but I don't see anything. Is that the point?

@Marthaª Yes indeed.

@Mahnax Gotcha, thanks.

5:25 AM

@Marthaª Anytime. Just doing my job.

I don't see a picture.

gently rests head on laptop

I don't get the point either.

@cpx "Is that the point?" "Yes indeed." What is still unclear?

I don't have a niece, but I felt as though I had to contribute an image as well.

5:29 AM

Oh I see.

Hence the transparent image.

Hopefully, I won't have a niece for quite a few years.

Ok, managed to get that one marked up correctly.

And now I'm off to bed, since NBC's Olympic's coverage sucks. (It's a little bit better in late night than in primetime, but that's damning with faint praise.)

Good night!

Frank Science

6:31 AM

What about the words from Latin past participle?

For example, picture, obesity.

Frank Science

7:16 AM

What's the name of having done structure?

Or to have done?

I have done is present perfect, I think.

Frank Science

Having is present participle?

user19161

Hi @mahnax.

@JasperLoy Hi!

user19161

@Mahnax Have you cast your votes in the primary? I thought you were going to nominate yourself?

7:30 AM

@JasperLoy Nah, I decided not to nominate myself. But my votes are cast!

user19161

@Mahnax OK, OK. (new reduplication)

@JasperLoy Oll korrect, indeed.

user19161

Oh I forgot to greet you with KFC @mahnax. KFC!

@JasperLoy stern glare

user19161

@Marthaª Wow, your niece has grown up quite a bit since the last pic.

Matt Эллен

9:39 AM

Hello!

Robusto

10:24 AM

Hello.

Head-scratcher for the day:

I was referring to the adjectives "the", "a", and "some". (Articles are a subset of adjectives.) — Jay 8 hours ago

I would have said they are determiners, which are distinct from adjectives. They place the noun in a context rather than describing its attributes.

10:45 AM

@Marthaª Aww! She has gotten even cuter!

@KitFox hey i'm thinking of going a bit more cheesy on the online dating profile. tell me what you think of this:

I smile when I'm happy and I frown when I'm melancholy.
I have an eclectic taste in music.
I'm an aggressive driver.
I speak some French... badly.

Did you know an anagram of "Westlife" is "wet flies"? That one always sticks in my head.

I like playing squash.
I drink cider.
I enjoy visiting places in the world, particularly Canada and California.
I am an unapologetic atheist.

And, if things work out well between us,
I'm yours for all eternity.

Cheesy. Nice.

cheesy and nice, or cheesy is nice?

Makes me think you're probably a sweet guy with a sense of humor.

ah but you know better, from this chat

10:49 AM

Also, probably incredibly possessive and jealous, but that might just be because I know you.

why incredibly possessive and jealous (from what i wrote above)

Actually, I think it is all those things plus the "aggressive driver" bit.

And "unapologetic atheist"

aggressive and unapologetic are covert marks against you.

hmm

stupid women for finding that bad

"I'm a practicing atheist" would be clever and read more positively.

"aggressive driver" is perhaps there for comic relief

seasoning

10:52 AM

Yeah, but it still puts "aggressive" in my mind while I'm reading the rest of it.

"I'm a fearless driver." Maybe.

And confident and assertive = good, aggressive = bad.

fearless, brave driver?

Sure.

Bold, even.

I assume it is your confidence that you want to present there.

that's less funny

Then maybe push it harder instead, so it is more apparent that you are being funny. And push it to the end.

how?

10:55 AM

"I'm an obnoxious, loudmouthed, crazy driver."

that's just lying

Also, keep in mind that joke or no, she's going to believe what you write.

Aggressive driver != someone I want to shag.

why? women believe everything? i guess they are more disposed to religion...

do americans say "shag"?

No, but people rarely lie about themselves.

@Jez Not many, and only when we are posing.

yeah but even then i'd have thought you'd say "fuck"

10:57 AM

I like the sound of "shagging" better.

heh

Sounds more fun than "fucking."

but other than that the rest of it is OK? i'm trying to shorten it a lot really. it's very traditional and long-winded at the mo

Oh yeah, totally.

You present a nice picture, and several things that could be common interests, plus you seem like you have a sense of humor.

All good qualities.

Sounds like my son is awake, so I have to go. I'll be back later if you want to talk more.

what about the last line though

it's so tacky i can barely stand to read it

ok cya