English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Mitch

19:00

@ΜετάEd I can barely use the keyboard I can see in front of me (as is well documented) let alone a virtual one.

ΜετάEd

@tchrist Text services and input languages, Keyboard, United States-International

Mitch

Alt 001, Alt 002, Alt 003, ... Alt125... aha! go it.

KitFox

I thought he meant the Institutional Care and Use Committee.

ΜετάEd

@KitFox I have no idea what he meant.

KitFox

@Mitch } Nah, that's just a bracket.

;-þ

Mitch

19:01

But that's what I was looking for...oh...it is on my kb already. clever! Kids these days know everything.

ΜετάEd

:-ß

tchrist

@KitFox ¿sʞɹɐɯ uʍopəpᴉsdn ɥɔᴉɥM

ΜετάEd

@tchrist Now you're just showing off.

KitFox

Quotes and exclamation.

For Spanish.

Mitch

That's only impressive if you did it with a right-to-left editor.

ΜετάEd

19:02

@KitFox What's your operating system?

Mitch

actually...the other way around.

KitFox

@ΜετάEd Win 7.

ΜετάEd

@KitFox On my keyboard it's AltGr+1.

KitFox

@Mitch That's only right-to-left editor if you did it with impressive?

@ΜετάEd ... What's Gr?

cornbread ninja

@ΜετάEd Les bacons narval à minuit.

ΜετάEd

19:03

Which seems arbitrary but of course the regular exclamation mark is Shift+1 so it actually makes perfect sense.

@cornbreadninja minuit?

cornbread ninja

@ΜετάEd nuit mi?

Robusto

@cornbreadninja Lesbians? Now with bacon? How could things be better?

tchrist

     ¡  00A1        INVERTED EXCLAMATION MARK
            * Spanish, Asturian, Galician
            x (exclamation mark - 0021)
     ¿  00BF        INVERTED QUESTION MARK
            = turned question mark
            * Spanish
            x (question mark - 003F)
            x (reversed question mark - 2E2E)
     ⸘  2E18        INVERTED INTERROBANG
        = gnaborretni
        x (interrobang - 203D)
 ⸮  2E2E        REVERSED QUESTION MARK
        = punctus percontativus
        x (question mark - 003F)

cornbread ninja

@Robusto "Butter your bacon, boy!" --Homer Simpson

ΜετάEd

@KitFox AltGr is the right Alt button, also known as Alt Graph.

Robusto

19:05

How could things be butter?

ΜετάEd

AltGr key

AltGr (also Alt Graph, Alt Graphic, Alt Graphics, Alt Grill, Alt Car or Alt Char) is a modifier key found on many computer keyboards and primarily used to type characters that are unusual for the locale of the keyboard layout, such as currency symbols and accented letters. On a typical IBM compatible PC keyboard, the AltGr key, when present, takes the place of the right-hand Alt key. In Mac OS X, the Option key has functions similar to the AltGr key. AltGr is used similarly to the Shift key: it is held down when another key is struck in order to obtain a character other than the one th...

KitFox

Nope. I got nothing but smileys.

Robusto

Let a smiley be your umbrella. :-)

ΜετάEd

@KitFox Windows 7 has to be told to use the US-International keyboard mapping in place of the default, US, mapping.

KitFox

OK, let me try. brb

Cerberus

19:08

So balrogs.

6

KitFox

Hmm. Now no joy.

ΜετάEd

@KitFox One path to it: Start, control panel, region and language, keyboards and languages, change keyboards, add, English (United States), Keyboard, United States-International

cornbread ninja

@KitFox Move outta Mudville?

KitFox

Yeah. I did that.

ΜετάEd

In the same place you can for example add a Dvorak layout.

cornbread ninja

19:10

@ΜετάEd Êtes-vous un sorcier?

KitFox

The left Alt still works, but the right Alt gives me nothing.

ΜετάEd

@KitFox Adding it just installs the new layout. Then you choose, on a window by window basis, what layout you want to use.

KitFox

If I switch to US, the right Alt works again.

ΜετάEd

This is done from the Language Bar.

KitFox

Yeah.

I know. That's what I'm doing.

I switched my keyboard to US-International. The right Alt doesn't do anything.

I switch it back, it works just like left Alt.

So there must be something else going on.

Matt Эллен

19:12

@Cerberus they're totally blue, shoot water from their mouths and are only 1 metre tall

ΜετάEd

GrAlt+1 doesn't type anything?

KitFox

Nothing.

ΜετάEd

Heck.

KitFox

Maybe it needs mapping?

Matt Эллен

GrAlt+1 does nothing for me too

Cerberus

19:13

@MattЭллен Um blue upright dolphins?

ΜετάEd

@KitFox It should just work.

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus balrogs are dolphins?

KitFox

@ΜετάEd OK. Well, let me try a reboot.

Mitch

@MattЭллен with smoky wings

KitFox

brb

Matt Эллен

19:13

man, that Tolkien was an odd chap

ΜετάEd

@KitFox On Screen Keyboard ought to show the new mapping.

@MattЭллен Only if you have the correct keyboard mapping active.

Matt Эллен

I have UK international so I get things like ñ and ẅ and such, but altgr+1 gives me nada

Mitch

18

Q: Is there a term that defines nostalgia for something you've never experienced?

Often I find I have a sense of nostalgia for things I've never actually experienced, in a way that rivals the same sort of feelings I have for things I have experienced. For example when listening to music that was big before one's own generation or seeing old black and white photos of how peop...

single-word-requests

Cerberus

I get nothing for altgr+1 either.

Matt Эллен

maybe if I had some tea and scones things would go my way...

Cerberus

19:18

Excellent idea.

I have guacamole.

ΜετάEd

@MattЭллен US-International has it. I can't say about UK-International.

Mitch

yeah, it's called 'nostalgia by proxy', listed in DSM-IV and V with an ICD-9 (and 10) code as a debilitating disorder. Leads you to stay at home listening to parents 'LP's and 'records' on a 'turntable'

Matt Эллен

@ΜετάEd stupid windows. I think it works in Ubuntu

ΜετάEd

@MattЭллен You have UK international? Or UK?

@Cerberus If you come across one, best make friends with it quick.

Matt Эллен

@ΜετάEd uk international

cornbread ninja

19:23

@Mitch I fancy false nostalgia

ΜετάEd

@MattЭллен I see this which looks like a third party put it together. Is that where you got it?

@Mitch Nostalgia. "A sentimental longing for the past."

So yes. There is such a term. It's nostalgia.

cornbread ninja

@ΜετάEd ...that you yourself experienced?

ΜετάEd

No.

Not necessarily.

Can be.

I never have enough downvotes and closevotes.

Matt Эллен

@ΜετάEd no, it comes with windows

ΜετάEd

Feh.

@MattЭллен Ah.

Mitch

19:26

Is there a term for when:
- you stick you hand in a blender, it's not on yet, but you slip and trying to hold yourself up, you are about to press the 'puree' setting.
- same, but it's a hand blender.
- same, but also you're blending a margarita

cornbread ninja

@Mitch Let's ask Rupert Holmes.

ΜετάEd

@Mitch GR, GR, GR.

KitFox

@Mitch Yes.

Mitch

@cornbreadninja OK.

Who's rupert holmes?

cornbread ninja

yes I like pina coladas / and gettin' caught in the rain

Mitch

19:28

@ΜετάEd no. I said puree

ΜετάEd

I feel we are sadly underutilizing Close---General Reference.

Mitch

argh...another song reference possibility.

ΜετάEd

Or maybe we are all just running out of closevotes.

Cerberus

@ΜετάEd How does one do that?

Mitch

not enough time to change ....to... martini?

KitFox

19:29

¡Oh!

ΜετάEd

@Cerberus I suggest setting yourself on fire.

Cerberus

Kill some elves?

Oh.

Mitch

@ΜετάEd yeah...how can you run out of close votes?

tchrist

@ΜετάEd Every time I try to close-vote, it asks me for a couplet. Slows me down.

@Mitch By unslackering.

Cerberus

But I'm incompatible with a balrog.

KitFox

19:30

I was using the numpad. Code switching problem.

Cerberus

We're not in the same league.

Not the same mythological league, you know.

tchrist

@Cerberus You're both hot.

ΜετάEd

@KitFox Ah.

Cerberus

@tchrist Thanks, but still.

ΜετάEd

Don't do that.

AltGr + [!1]

cornbread ninja

19:31

No flirting in chat.

tchrist

@KitFox Mais pourquoi were you code-switching tu teclado?

Cerberus

What she says.

ΜετάEd

No “[n]o flirting in chat”.

KitFox

@tchrist You can't use French on me. I'm from Maine. We speak Franglais all the time there.

tchrist

@Cerberus You're both pyrogenetic critters. Or ignisomething-or-other.

7

Q: Is there a single word that can describe something that breathes/produces fire?

I'm looking for a word that I can use to describe something that "breathes" (out) fire. If there is no such word, I can create it myself, much like Stephen King created Pyrokinesis. Is there such a word? To clarify: I am using the word as an adjective, and as part of a description in a document...

synonyms

ΜετάEd

19:33

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 wringwraiths?

KitFox

¡Oh! I can make «guillemets» too! Neato.

ΜετάEd

¡Sí!

Beware, though, of dead keys.

They take a little getting used to.

KitFox

Dead keys!?! shudders

Cerberus

@tchrist Igniferous?

ΜετάEd

Yeah. You want a ç you type ' c. But that means that when you want ', you type ' '.

Cerberus

19:34

That is terribly ennoying.

Use AHK!

ΜετάEd

Your dead keys are: ' " ` ~ and ^.

Cerberus

I type c,, for ç.

And n~~ for ñ.

KitFox

@ΜετάEd Oh, I see.

Cerberus

Convenient and easy to remember.

ΜετάEd

AHK was mean to my Windows install.

KitFox

19:35

So I just need to tweak my keyboard shifter.

tchrist

@Cerberus Pyropneumatic?

Cerberus

@ΜετάEd What happened?

AHK doesn't do anything by itself.

@tchrist I'm not sure I can live up to that.

ΜετάEd

@Cerberus I don't remember. Locked it up, or something. No, it does do something. It inserts itself into the pipeline for your keyboard input stream and fools with it. That's at a fairly low level, and if it is at all buggy whoops! there goes Windows.

Cerberus

@ΜετάEd Ehh that is odd. I have never ever heard of anything happen to other people.

Hundreds of thousands use AHK.

Matt Эллен

I'm making tea now if anyone wants some!

Cerberus

19:37

I have used it on many versions of Windows.

KitFox

@MattЭллен Oh yes, please!

Cerberus

@MattЭллен I demand scones!

KitFox

@Μετά Are you coming to Writers chat tomorrow?

ΜετάEd

If I'm spared, yes.

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus They're on there way

Cerberus

19:40

Yay.

@ΜετάEd What else are you using that interferes with your keyboard?

And by "installation", do you mean you were unable to boot into Windows??

ΜετάEd

@Cerberus No. By my Windows install I mean my installed software (Windows).

Cerberus

So you mean it interfered with other programs?

ΜετάEd

@Cerberus Nothing I can think of. No, that's not true. PasswordSafe does autotyping.

Robusto

@tchrist Flying balrogs?

Cerberus

You could set your AHK script to be inactive when certain windows are active.

ΜετάEd

19:42

@Cerberus I don't remember. I used AHK (rarely) on XP, so I installed it on Windows 7 when I first got Windows 7. And then I pulled it. It hung up, or screwed up somehow, I don't remember.

I hardly used it anyway.

I could try AHK again.

Cerberus

Perhaps your script was messed up, because it works fine on Win 7.

Try a fresh script if you do.

ΜετάEd

But then I'd want to define a compose sequence for every damned Unicode character.

Cerberus

I can give you my script for the common accents.

Including macrons.

Make sure you install AHK_L, though.

The best fork.

ΜετάEd

Unless your script is consistent with RFC 1345, no.

Cerberus

Works best with Unicode.

ΜετάEd

19:44

There's no point in my learning two sets of n-graphs.

Cerberus

Right.

ΜετάEd

I use RFC 1345 digraphs with vi already.

Cerberus

How do those work?

What do you type for ē, for example?

Robusto

-2

Q: Why is the word "Hell" in the word "Hello"?

Why is the word "Hell" in the word "Hello" ? Why is it appropriate to say "Hell" when greeting somebody ?

meaning word-choice etymology expressions

This aggression will not stand, man.

ΜετάEd

Oh. That's one I never use; let me look.

Cerberus

19:45

(I set it to e-=- as a working version, which I was going to change later—but now I'm used to it.)

ΜετάEd

@Cerberus It's E hyphen.

Cerberus

Shift-E, then hyphen?

ΜετάEd

Yes.

Cerberus

OK.

ΜετάEd

Of course you begin with whatever your compose key is.

Cerberus

19:46

I feel that no modifying keys is much more convenient.

What is a compose key?

ΜετάEd

So you might press Insert, E, -.

Cerberus

Oh.

ΜετάEd

Your compose key is whatever key you decide should introduce a sequence.

Cerberus

That is much less convenient than simply typing e-=-, I must say.

I guess my =- at the end function as reverse compose keys.

ΜετάEd

I don't like it that way. It's so confusing when your input stream accidentally matches a pattern.

Cerberus

19:47

To make sure I never type ē by accident.

ΜετάEd

yup.

Cerberus

Well, e -=- is 100 % safe for me, so far.

I end abbreviations with qq.

Oxford English Dictionary = oedqq.

Out of curiosity, would e// be safe for you?

I imagine qq would be safe for anyone?

KitFox

Hey @Matt, I've decided that you sound like Ferb. That's how I plan to hear all of your text from now on.

Cerberus

Who is that?

My lifping coufin?

KitFox

Phineas and Ferb

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

19:52

@ΜετάEd wyes, wof wcourse.

KitFox

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Want me to fix that for you?

giggles, flexes muscles

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

heheh, it's ok.

Matt Эллен

@KitFox I shall find out what that means...

KitFox

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Oh, OK. deflates

►

Cerberus

Ahhh my Easy Drag to Go plugin broke!!

@Aedia Help!

Matt Эллен

19:55

@KitFox lol. yes, that's what I sound like ;)

KitFox

@MattЭллен He never says much more than a few words per episode.

Just like you!

Matt Эллен

:D

Actually

KitFox

So are you saying you don't sound like that?

Matt Эллен

Not at all!

It has Richard O'Brien in it!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus not chinese users of QQ

KitFox

20:01

@MattЭллен Not at all you don't or not at all you do?

JSBձոգչ

@KitFox do your kids also love phineas and ferb?

Matt Эллен

@KitFox I do

KitFox

@JSBձոգչ Yes. They know that I am a sucker for it too, so if their attempt to cajole TV fails, they almost invariably start in on P&F.

"Please, Mommy, could we watch Phineas and Ferb?"

JSBձոգչ

my 2 year old loves it, but my 4 year old is disinterested

of course, the older one doesn't like television in general

i love it

KitFox

@MattЭллен I never realized that. That's fantastic.

Matt Эллен

20:05

David mitchell is in it too!

KitFox

@MattЭллен We watched that one last night.

It is so freakin' clever.

"I'm a..." "A zookeeper?" "No, no, that's rather legitimizes it..."

JSBձոգչ

@KitFox i just heard that line, and was just about to post it

Matt Эллен

@KitFox I lolled :D

KitFox

And the way that Doofenschmirtz menaces the Tri-State Area! sets me in giggles every time.

Curse you, Perry the Platypus!

Right. I was doing something just now though.

looks busy

second click pick won't stick.

Matt Эллен

20:22

flick the hick and prick his crick

KitFox

20:32

Erg. Why won't this datepicker arrow show up in IE9?

kicks dumb browser

Baies!

ΜετάEd

20:46

@Cerberus I'd rather have a single press to prefix a sequence. So as I say I would probably try to remap Insert.

Matt Эллен

21:07

gaad noght

RegDwight АΑA

> However, these days, no one pays attention to such niceties, which means that everybody gets called whatever.

This made me laugh.

KitFox

21:26

shh, shh children. Mommy's got a date with the Captain tonight.

simchona

0

Q: When do you use ‒, –, — or ―?

In the Windows character map, in the group General Punctuation, there are four different dashes: Figure Dash ‒ En Dash – Em Dash — Horizontal Bar ― Which is used for what really?

punctuation dash

Would Writers like this?

KitFox

I think it is a dupe.

tchrist

@simchona It's pretty well spelled out in many places on the web. Wikipedia has it, but there are other sources, too.

I explain this all the time.

Yes it is a dupe.

Can't search for punctuation, can you? Just search for en dash em dash etc.

simchona

@tchrist I saw your vote and finished it up. I forgot there's that canonical dupe lying around

cornbread ninja

You aren't allowed to say cock-up in polite company in America. Too many images of cocks out and dangling at full mast. I know you will find this silly, perhaps insane, but trust me: you will embarrass people if you do. — tchrist 1 hour ago

don't go off half-cocked. :P

simchona

21:34

That's a bunch of cock and bull

cornbread ninja

:D

RegDwight АΑA

I dunno @tchrist, he is looking for a synonym for half ass.

KitFox

We're missing a few dashes there.

RegDwight АΑA

I think cock up is par for the course.

KitFox

Are there additional questions that cover those, or do we need to reopen it?

RegDwight АΑA

21:35

In fact he has accepted half-cocked and piss-poor. Or piss-pour, I forget.

KitFox

Well, that's what you get for new answers on year old questions.

RegDwight АΑA

@KitFox we got taught dashes in school. For countries without proper schools, there's Wikipedia.

KitFox

@RegDwightАΑA So we accept some dash questions and not others then?

I don't mind either way. I'm off to make dinner and drink rum.

Later!

cornbread ninja

@KitFox yo ho ho!

hickory daiquiri doc.

RegDwight АΑA

@KitFox no, we accept his rewording the question such that it asks about the horizontal bar only, or improving the older question accordingly.

tchrist

21:42

@RegDwightАΑA Try piss-pore.

RegDwight АΑA

OMFG I just got my first Reversal badge.

On MSO, but still.

cornbread ninja

Congrats!

RegDwight АΑA

►

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA I've tried for that one. Almost had it a zillion times. The trick is to find something that's been seriously downvoted that you know you can give an answer to that people will kneejerk upvote.

The problem is that as soon as you get very far up there in your answer, other people will decide to pityvote the OP.

Which makes it hard to get.

Because if your answer is so good, how could the question be so bad?

At least that's what I think is happening.

RegDwight АΑA

The much bigger problem is that on any site other than SO, twenty votes is all but unattainable, in any direction.

Actually, my latest answer has been on the MultiCollider for ten hours, in the top spot. 14 votes so far.

@corn oh I know. That's not what I mean.

cornbread ninja

21:48

@RegDwightАΑA visits multicollider

RegDwight АΑA

It's probably down to the fifth spot now.

Nope, third actually.

Anyway. The only way to get any serious number of upvotes on Bicycles, say, is through money for jam.

But at that point @tchrist's observation kicks in.

I.e. the OP gets his share of the money. And the jam.

cornbread ninja

wishes for jamwiches

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA The founders don't want to create a two-tiered system of award levels. They want the other sites to grow to keep up. But since that obviously isn't happening, it creates these wastelands that nobody wants to bother with. It's a problem.

RegDwight АΑA

@cornbreadninja wishes for three Swiss witch-bitches, which wished to be switched Swiss witch-bitches, and wish to watch three Swiss Swatch watch switches. Which Swiss witch-bitch which wishes to be a switched Swiss witch-bitch wishes to watch which Swiss Swatch watch switch?

cornbread ninja

@tchrist bbbut betas have lower-rep privileges.

tchrist

21:54

@Robusto Women are seldom bothered by being told their penis is too tiny.

RegDwight АΑA

@tchrist perhaps @Cerberus and @Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 are right and we should just allow all questions ever on this site. I see no other way to reach SO's levels, ever.

tchrist

@cornbreadninja Yes, but that's different.

RegDwight АΑA

@tchrist are you implying that most women's penises are huge?

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA Big OH.

cornbread ninja

@tchrist 'why did you say that twice?' 'I didn't.'

@RegDwightАΑA damn.

RegDwight АΑA

21:56

@cornbreadninja is that your answer?

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA Only the best ones.

> Although the genitalia of the male spotted hyena is not unusual, that of the female closely resembles that of the male; the clitoris is shaped and positioned like a penis, and is capable of erection.

Spotted hyena

}} The spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), also known as the laughing hyena or tiger wolf, its rounded ears, its less prominent mane, its spotted pelt, its more dual purposed dentition, its fewer nipples and the presence of a pseudo-penis in the female. It is the only mammalian species to lack an external vaginal opening. The spotted hyena is the most social of the Carnivora in that it has the largest group sizes and most complex social behaviours. Its social organisation is unlike that of any other Carnivore, bearing closer resemblance to that of cercopithecine primates (baboons and macaq...

cornbread ninja

@tchrist I thought all clitorises erected to some degree.

@RegDwightАΑA no, sir.

tchrist

@cornbreadninja They don't call it the glans clitoridis for nothing. The point is that the she-hyena has, and in fact is, a big dick.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…