English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

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cornbread ninja

@RegDwightАΑA shine on, you crazy diamond

RegDwight АΑA

►

Blog - Stack Exchange: Stack Exchange Machine Learning Contest

Kevin Montrose on August 21, 2012

Over the last 4 years we’ve built up quite a bevy of moderation tools here at Stack Exchange. We’ve got closing, editing, deleting, flags of all sorts, voting, commenting, review queues, and more.

Plus our super secret mod tools.

These all work great, but they all require action after a post is made. This is a lot of work for the community, and not particularly friendly toward those posting, particularly new users. In a perfect world, we’d be able to offer specific, targetted guidance for authors whose posts were likely to be shot down, before they ever showed up on the site, and without requiring as much up-front effort from our community. …

$11,000 up for grabs.

JSBձոգչ

8:20 PM

i saw that earlier today. veeeery interesting

i'll probably download the data sets and poke around, at least

RegDwight АΑA

Just a couple years ago I would go nuts about the visualization challenge. I guess I'm old now.

ΜετάEd

@tchrist.

JSBձոգչ

also, i want a close dialog that looks like the one in their screenshot

cornbread ninja

Wow.what-if.xkcd.com/6

oh good, it didn't post the whole damn thing.

RegDwight АΑA

@cornbreadninja OLD

That whole damn thing got posted here already.

cornbread ninja

8:23 PM

cries

user19161

Also, I would like to announce that I successfully stopped at 1100 downvotes.

Matt Эллен

you should successfully stop at 4400

RegDwight АΑA

He will.

Matt Эллен

like the TV show

RegDwight АΑA

Before he successfully stops at OVER 9000.

Matt Эллен

8:24 PM

:D

user19161

That day one got removed to be 1099, so I added one more to make it 1100.

cornbread ninja

@RegDwightАΑA How's that meta meme post coming?

ΜετάEd

Why am I not seeing dings to my reputation for downvotes yesterday?

RegDwight АΑA

@cornbreadninja Slowly and unsteadily.

Mahnax

@cornbreadninja Are we getting one of those?

RegDwight АΑA

8:25 PM

Why you no start yourself?

cornbread ninja

@Mahnax I hope, since I miss everything.

@RegDwightАΑA see above.

RegDwight АΑA

It's easier to jump on an existing bandwagon than to fool around with hammers and saws trying to figure out how wheels get invented.

cornbread ninja

@RegDwightАΑA I'm convinced. casts off heuristicism

user19161

@Mahnax Boo!

Mahnax

@JasperLoy Hi.

ΜετάEd

8:28 PM

@RegDwightАΑA Why am I not seeing dings to my reputation for downvotes yesterday? Did I earn a get out of jail free card somehow?

user19161

@ΜετάEd You downvoted someone?

RegDwight АΑA

@ΜετάEd wat is dings?

cornbread ninja

@RegDwightАΑA dents.

ΜετάEd

@RegDwightАΑA I normally expect to see my reputation adjusted -1 (downvoted) once for each downvote that I cast on a Q or A.

RegDwight АΑA

Oh like minuses.

Why you no say like so.

Well how can I know. I no know what you vote down yesterday.

Certainly can't be that I deleted them all.

user19161

8:29 PM

@ΜετάEd Perhaps the post got removed.

Matt Эллен

@ΜετάEd downvotes on Qs are free

Mahnax

@ΜετάEd Only on an answer. Question downvotes do not warrant rep loss on the downvoter's part.

RegDwight АΑA

@ΜετάEd and Q have been free for like over a year. Good morning!

Matt Эллен

jinx!

user19161

@RegDwightАΑA Maybe say good night instead.

RegDwight АΑA

8:30 PM

Maybe you pay me first.

Mahnax

Coke (fuel)

Coke is the solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. Cokes from coal are grey, hard, and porous. While coke can be formed naturally, the commonly used form is human-made. History The Chinese first used coke for heating and cooking no later than the ninth century CE. By the first decades of the eleventh century, Chinese ironworkers in the Yellow River valley began to fuel their furnaces with coke, solving their fuel problem in that tree-sparse region. In 1603, Hugh Plat suggested that coal might be charred in a mann...

ΜετάEd

@RegDwightАΑA Well, color me embarrassed. I had no idea.

Matt Эллен

@Mahnax thanks. I need some for my generator

RegDwight АΑA

@ΜετάEd wasn't it you whom I told just that like three or four weeks ago?

Mahnax

@MattЭллен No problem.

user19161

8:33 PM

@mahnax Your python looks very beautiful today.

Mahnax

@JasperLoy Has something about it changed?

user19161

Am I the top downvoter on ELU???

user19161

@Mahnax Nothing. It just seems so today.

user19161

Wait, I am the top downvoter on ELU???

Mahnax

@JasperLoy If you say so.

cornbread ninja

8:35 PM

@ΜετάEd seconded.

user19161

Who has more than 1100 downvotes?

RegDwight АΑA

RegDwight АΑA ♦, Europe, GMT+1

36.5k 5 109 183

Matt Эллен

@JasperLoy Shaft.

Mahnax

@JasperLoy I only have 909.

Only, heh.

RegDwight АΑA

2905 up, 1599 down.

And it would be OVER 1600 but I've been out of votes for hours.

Matt Эллен

8:36 PM

He's a bad mother f- Shut your mouth!

user19161

@RegDwightАΑA Geezis...

RegDwight АΑA

I actually have a postit on my desk at work with the IDs of the Qs and As I must downvote tomorrow.

Mahnax

@MattЭллен Has a nice even 2500 votes.

Matt Эллен

so I do!

RegDwight АΑA

5 hours ago, by RegDwight АΑA

Coincidence? I think not!

Matt Эллен

8:38 PM

:D

we coordinate his editing and my voting. it's a scam to rake in kittens from SE

RegDwight АΑA

Every time @JSB edits, @Matt votes, and a kitten dies.

Jinx.

Matt Эллен

:D

Mahnax

SE has no kittens. Only hamsters.

RegDwight АΑA

And why?

Have you thought about that?

Mahnax

sudden realization

ΜετάEd

8:44 PM

@RegDwightАΑA I don't remember it.

RegDwight АΑA

Hm. Not sure myself. Let's see.

May 23 '11 at 11:20, by RegDwight

Downvotes on questions are free.

That was for z7sg.

Spare Oom

►

RegDwight АΑA

Jan 28 at 19:20, by RegDwight Ѭſ道

@Robusto Downvotes on questions are free, duh.

May 12 '11 at 11:15, by RegDwight

The most recent change I am aware of is that downvotes on questions are now free.

That was for Alain and F'x.

Spare Oom

@RegDwightАΑA But doesn't downvoting cost something?

Mahnax

@SpareOom Only answers.

KitFox

8:51 PM

What? Downvotes are free?

giggles and runs off

Mahnax

Oh.

RegDwight АΑA

@SpareOom it costs seconds of your life.

Spare Oom

I've been missing out all this time!

RegDwight АΑA

Apr 23 at 9:55, by RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@DavidWallace Facepalm. Downvotes on questions are free.

Spare Oom

What should I go vote down?

RegDwight АΑA

8:52 PM

It could be that I'm confusing Ed with David, actually.

Mahnax

It costs more seconds of your life when Carlo argues with you about your downvoting habits.

Spare Oom

@Mahnax I feel like gaining an enemy. Point the way.

Mahnax

@SpareOom I think he's suspended.

Oh, nope.

cornbread ninja

@Mahnax yeah, just mysteriously absent.

Mahnax

@cornbreadninja I was just about to say something of that nature.

cornbread ninja

8:54 PM

Ever since a certain kitty was elected to a certain position, it seems.

Mysteriously, wonderfully absent.

Mahnax

Ah, yes. That would do it.

Spare Oom

I thought he liked Kit, but not Simchona

Mahnax

He liked Matt, too.

Spare Oom

He was campaigning for @KitFox and @MattЭллен.

Yeah.

Mahnax

Jinx.

Spare Oom

8:57 PM

He hasn't been active for a couple weeks, it appears.

Matt Эллен

well, I'm just such a loveable guy, you know?

Spare Oom

@MattЭллен Do tell. I don't know you that well yet.

Mahnax

He's a drummer.

Matt Эллен

@SpareOom well, you just need to stare into the eyes of the Terrifying Orc Head for a while, and your troubles seem to drift away, as you become under its spell.

Spare Oom

So then he must be loveable?

Matt Эллен

8:59 PM

@Mahnax oh, that too :D

Mahnax

OK, I have work soon. Bye everyone.

Spare Oom

@MattЭллен In a band or solo drumming?

Matt Эллен

In a band

Spare Oom

ok bye @Mahnax

Matt Эллен

C U Mahnax

We're called Small Angry Child, but we've not anything to show for it yet.

cornbread ninja

9:02 PM

@MattЭллен consider a name change to Blue Lace Banana.

Matt Эллен

@cornbreadninja :D I will suggest it!

cornbread ninja

@MattЭллен or No Chicken Sandwich :)

Matt Эллен

heh. I'll call that plan F

maybe that could be a song title...

I had a chicken sandwich
But now it is gone
I am so sad

No chicken sandwich
No chicken sandwich
No chicken sandwich

I'll work on it

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA Damn, if I hadn't just switched from NLP to call-data processing, I'd look at. Can't turn down $11k.

Cerberus

Hi.

Matt Эллен

9:09 PM

Hello.

Cerberus

Sat on a terrace, drank beer.

With a friend who is moving to Paris.

Matt Эллен

hark at thee! so modern with your terrace and your beer

Cerberus

Which is nice for her, but I'll miss her.

Matt Эллен

awww

Cerberus

@MattЭллен Hey, since when is city life modern?

You do it too.

RegDwight АΑA

9:10 PM

Tell her how Paris is full of dog poo.

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus since the 1700s?

Cerberus

@RegDwightАΑA She'll blame me. Bad idea.

@MattЭллен Naaah.

Matt Эллен

lol

Cerberus

Since never!

Matt Эллен

Well, you'll keep in touch, yes?

cornbread ninja

9:11 PM

@MattЭллен :D

Cerberus

I have known this friend since we were like zero. Now we are neighbours. Come October, she will be 3.5 hours away by train. And I will have a free hotel in Paris. Could be worse.

Sure, we'll keep in touch.

Matt Эллен

yay!

cornbread ninja

yay @Cerb!

Cerberus

And her parents have a great apartment on Manhattan, so that's another free hotel.

We have known each other since before we were born. Parents.

Matt Эллен

in New yorK?

KitFox

9:13 PM

@cornbreadninja Hmm. Yes.

Cerberus

No, Manhattan on Greenland.

Matt Эллен

golly!

Cerberus

It is an icy mountain.

Surely everyone knows it?

Matt Эллен

Are you messing with me?

I've never heard of it

Cerberus

@MattЭллен If you had to guess, what would you say?

Matt Эллен

9:15 PM

I would say yes

Cerberus

Then you would be right.

RegDwight АΑA

I only know Mainhattan.

Matt Эллен

:D

RegDwight АΑA

Mainhattan

Mainhattan ist ein Kofferwort aus „Main“ und „Manhattan“ und wird gelegentlich als Bezeichnung für die Stadt Frankfurt am Main verwendet. Begriffsentstehung Frankfurt am Main ist eine der wenigen Städte in Europa und die einzige Stadt in Deutschland, die den Bau von Hochhäusern im Stadtzentrum erlaubt. Dadurch wuchs seit den 1960er Jahren ein charakteristisches Stadtbild, die Frankfurter Skyline. Der damals entstandene Begriff Mainhattan galt ursprünglich wie die zur selben Zeit aufgekommenen Bankfurt und Krankfurt als Schimpfwort für die Stadt am Main. Zur Zeit des Frankfurter Häuse...

Cerberus

I mean, I mention "Manhattan" without an explanation, and I assume you will know I mean an icy mountain on Greenland...

@RegDwightАΑA Ach so.

Matt Эллен

9:16 PM

@Cerberus an iceberg twice the size of Manhattan has broken off Greenland

Cerberus

Really?

Good.

Matt Эллен

yes, that is what I found I when I Googled for Greenland Manhattan

Robusto

Why good?

Cerberus

Staying on a floating iceberg will be fun. I'll call them and announce my stay.

Matt Эллен

lol

cornbread ninja

9:17 PM

I'll sink Mainhattan / right under the sea

RegDwight АΑA

@Robusto because then Cerberus's home gets flooded again. It's a hot August, you know.

Cerberus

An arbitrary course across the Atlantic will bring the necessary excitement.

@RegDwightАΑA Oh, please.

Why does nobody here understand the concept of dikes?

RegDwight АΑA

0

A: Are there only so many state-of-being verbs?

I just want too know wat the hell is a being verb yall motherfuckers don't understand shit somebody damn say !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@Cerberus yes, why don't you?

You're the one most affected, after all.

tchrist

@MattЭллен Since a Manhattan contains no ice, neither does the berg.

Matt Эллен

@RegDwightАΑA roflcopter

Spare Oom

9:19 PM

@RegDwightАΑA What!? lol

Cerberus

@RegDwightАΑA Because I am not. It's all nonsense.

RegDwight АΑA

I don't have any votes left, mofo shit somebody damn say!!!

Cerberus

Raising the dikes a tiny amount over decades is a trivial matter.

@RegDwightАΑA Too bad you have no other way of dealing with silly answers.

Spare Oom

@RegDwightАΑA Does that need downvotes to be deleted?

Cerberus

It will be there forever.

RegDwight АΑA

9:20 PM

@Cerberus the iceberg won't take decades to get from Greenland to Dutchland.

@SpareOom flag as offensive. And downvote.

Cerberus

And what if it gets here?

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA Which reading?

RegDwight АΑA

Do both. All of you. Then it will be gone.

And you'll get the reps back.

Cerberus

Why didn't you just push your red button?

Mitch

@KitFox not really...meetings and shit. no time even for snacks.

RegDwight АΑA

9:21 PM

@Cerberus Why do you think I am the only citizen of this community?

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA Why the Angmar do you need votes to expunge the naughty bits?

Cerberus

@RegDwightАΑA That's not an answer.

RegDwight АΑA

It is.

Don't start that nonsense again.

Cerberus

Is not.

What Tchrist says.

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA I did already do those things.

Cerberus

9:22 PM

Not that I care in the least.

RegDwight АΑA

And I answered that.

And Tchrist already did what I asked.

Cerberus

You're just silly.

RegDwight АΑA

I am silly?

tchrist

Ok, balrogs on the house.

Cerberus

I voted to delete.

RegDwight АΑA

9:22 PM

I want this community to work.

Cerberus

Yes, you.

Mitch

@KitFox excellent find. everything make sense now.

KitFox

@Mitch Wow, bummer. I let MetaEd in on it instead.

@Mitch shakes hands, bows

It wasted my work time.

Now I have to work tonight.

But it's the race that's fun.

Mitch

@KitFox you shouldn't delete your answer though.

mostly because i need to respond to MetaEd there.

KitFox

@Mitch Um. I did.

RegDwight АΑA

9:25 PM

0

Q: how to pronounce when 2 consonants integrated?

I am a beginner in american English(totally English) so I have hard times when i want to pronounce some words which have the property i mentioned in title.I think this should be a rule about this words.Can you please help me how to pronounce a word with 2 constant that there is not any vowel be...

pronunciation american-english ipa

Linguistics?

Mitch

@ΜετάEd I see your answer and that sounds right double plus to both you and Kit. But...

@KitFox can't you undelete it? well duh you can undelete with your new super powers.

Matt Эллен

Mitch

so my response to MetaEd is as follows:

Robusto

@MattЭллен Except stupit'y.

Mitch

@ΜετάEd "The Klan did not treat your family ties to Jews or blacks differently on account of your state of marriage. " yeah I think they did.

KitFox

9:28 PM

What? He said that? That's not true.

Cerberus

@RegDwightАΑA Seems more about English.

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA Not necessarily. He needs to understand syllabic consonants. It could be better marked in the IPA, or using a different transcription style.

Mitch

@KitFox in his last comment on your answer.

Cerberus

@MattЭллен Great.

Matt Эллен

And on that not'e I'll away to m'y slumber.

KitFox

9:29 PM

@Mitch Well, it's not pertinent to the question, even if I think he's wrong.

Cerberus

@tchrist I don't feel there is a syllabic consonant there. I know some dictionaries transcribe it as such.

@MattЭллен Sleep well.

KitFox

@MattЭллен Sw'eet dream's.

tchrist

@Cerberus Well, somebody didn't put a schwa there.

Cerberus

Yes, and it has always seemed odd to me.

RegDwight АΑA

@Cerberus as far as English is concerned, you pronounce /fl/ by pronouncing /fl/.

Mitch

9:30 PM

@ΜετάEd: impertinent and wrong.

RegDwight АΑA

I commented to that extent.

Mitch

Brick. Hornets nest. Throw.

Cerberus

@RegDwightАΑA I don't feel that that is true, but I know some people feel that way.

Robusto

@CerberusL There may be a very small schwa in the last syllable of successful, but it is quickly overpowered by the vocalization of the L. The L sound is just a schwa with the tongue curled up and touching the front of the palate.

Cerberus

@Robusto To me, vocalisation is not the same as a syllabic consonant. It means a vocal is pronounced.

Robusto

9:32 PM

Well, then I guess L must be a vowel.

Cerberus

It is not to me.

I hear a schwa.

RegDwight АΑA

@Cerberus do you also pronounce sports as suhportuhs? The question is about any and all combinations of consonants.

Mitch

@Robusto there is some support for that, and 'r' too.

Robusto

Rhotic r.

Cerberus

@RegDwightАΑA That s is a syllabic consonant to me. I don't understand why you bring that up.

RegDwight АΑA

9:32 PM

@Cerberus then read the question.

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA That is imperfectly clear. Consider awful [ˈɔːfɫ̩] vs flower [ˈflaʊɹ].

Mitch

syllabic r and l, vowel coloring by r and l is a lot like diphthongization

RegDwight АΑA

@tchrist exactly.

Cerberus

Yes, -ful in awful and fl- in flower don't sound the same to me.

A schwa is by definition an insignificant sound, but still.

Robusto

Aug 23 '11 at 0:58, by Robusto

@Cerberus — No. I have schwa de vivre!

RegDwight АΑA

9:34 PM

@Cerberus True, but the OP is asking about both, and also about sp in sports. You can't tackle that question.

tchrist

@Cerberus FYI In English we usually say vowel there rather than the noun vocal, which monoglots may not understand. It is not that way in all other languages; for example, Spanish uses vocal for both.

RegDwight АΑA

a) You can't write up a comprehensive guide on the pronunciation of all consonant combinations ever in all positions ever, and b) it's pointless because OP's very own mother tongue will have many of them.

tchrist

@Cerberus You don't believe in syllabic consonants then, and always introduce a schwa. This is a different transcription framework, but both are valid.

Cerberus

@RegDwightАΑA I don't see sports. I don't like watching sports anyway.

RegDwight АΑA

@Cerberus go post that as an answer.

Cerberus

9:37 PM

@tchrist I meant to include something broader than vowels alone. I know that vocal ≠ vowel.

RegDwight АΑA

Then I'll upvote it in 2 hours 23 minutes.

Cerberus

@RegDwightАΑA I read the OP's question as being about -ful mainly.

@tchrist No, not true.

RegDwight АΑA

@Cerberus then you read stuff into it.

> I think this should be a rule about this words.Can you please help me how to pronounce a word with 2 constant that there is not any vowel between them

> how to pronounce when 2 consonants integrated?

tchrist

@Cerberus I don't know which part you're saying untrue to.

RegDwight АΑA

Successful is but one example.

If this question is about pronouncing successful, then please change it into just that.

Cerberus

9:40 PM

@tchrist I mentioned syllabic consonants earlier.

@RegDwightАΑA Of course. We always interpret questions.

cornbread ninja

affluent waffles

tchrist

To me full [fʊɫ] is different from awful [ˈɔːfɫ̩].

Spare Oom

@cornbreadninja Good example.

cornbread ninja

@SpareOom I was just thinking the opposite :|

Cerberus

@Tchrist: If you pronounce /səksɛsfl/ and /səksɛsfəl/, do they sound essentially different to you?

Oops, I was still in IPA mode.

tchrist

9:43 PM

@Cerberus If you sing full, you can hold the /ʊ/. If you sing awful, the sound you would hold (in its second syllable, were you to do so) is the /ɫ/. Thus it is syllabic.

Consider syllable.

Cerberus

I would transcribe that the same way as successful.

cornbread ninja

chlorophyll

Cerberus

3 mins ago, by Cerberus

@Tchrist: If you pronounce /səksɛsfl/ and /səksɛsfəl/, do they sound essentially different to you?

And I mean a short, quiet schwa, obviously.

tchrist

In syllable, you have three syllables [ˈsɪ.lə.bɫ], with three different vowels, one apiece.

Cerberus

Nothing like /ɜ/.

tchrist

9:47 PM

@Cerberus I have no [ɜ] phoneme, you know.

Cerberus

Oh.

2 mins ago, by Cerberus

3 mins ago, by Cerberus

@Tchrist: If you pronounce /səksɛsfl/ and /səksɛsfəl/, do they sound essentially different to you?

RegDwight АΑA

0

Q: Is the expression, ‘a legitimate rape’ logically appropriate and viable?

The Republican Senate candidate of Missouri, Todd Akin’s naive remark on anti-abortion issue is now the target of thundering criticism. Time magazine (August 20) introduced the Congressman’s disastrous remark as follows: “Asked about his stance on abortion, the Republican Senate candidate attemp...

word-choice

Oh noes. The tide has reached us.

Robusto

Wait, don't tell me. Yoichi is at it again.

tchrist

The vowel in the second syllable of syllable is higher and more open than the one in the third syllable. They are clearly not the same vowel at all.

Robusto

That has to be a Yoichi Oishi question.

RegDwight АΑA

9:48 PM

Aug 11 at 21:20, by RegDwight АΑA

@tchrist I usually recognize, Yoichi-san's question by the first comma which normally comes after the third word, at which point I move on.

@Robusto It's a bingo!

Robusto

Whoop! Whoop!

Fortunately/unfortunately I have to go to physical therapy just now, so I cannot get involved.

Sorry, I mean

@Cerberus: In the word fulsome there is definitely a vowel sound independent of the "l" in ful; but in successful, because it is not stressed, there is not.

@RegDwightАΑA I said physical therapy, not physical travesty.

Anyway, bye.

RegDwight АΑA

CU

cornbread ninja

Fulsome Prison Blues.

RegDwight АΑA

9:52 PM

I hear a trainuh coming.

cornbread ninja

@RegDwightАΑA so does @Robusto.

Time to depart.