English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

@Pitarou: That there are patterns is indisputable. However, natural language isn't math. The patterns taught in English textbooks published in Japan encourage EFL students to believe that any noun can fit into the noun slot & any adjective can fit into the adjective slot etc. That just isn't true. My answer doesn't say that anything that's comprehensible is right. It says that the reason "There's a fishing man..." isn't normal is that it's not idiomatic. It's comprehensible but not standard. It fits a pattern, but it's an anomaly. It's case-by-case. これは、わかりやすいですよね？ — Bill Franke yesterday

Cerberus

@MattЭллен So how did you make the inner colours more jagged than the outside?

And did you use Photoshop? Or some other program?

Matt Эллен

:Þ

Cerberus

Oh, nice.

</Onslow voice>

Matt Эллен

are you pulling my leg?

user19161

@MattЭллен I am from under the table.

Matt Эллен

6:22 PM

@JasperLoy jumps a mile EEEP

7 mins ago, by Matt Эллен

@JasperLoy I did not :D someone else did

5 mins ago, by Matt Эллен

@tchrist no. it's someone else, like I said :D I just follow their tumblr

5 mins ago, by Matt Эллен

@Gigili I did not. Thank you for thinking me that creative

Cerberus

Yeah, whatever. So did you create that on your laptop?

Matt Эллен

lol

no no

Cerberus

On your phone?

Matt Эллен

I made it by drying leaves at various stages of decomposition

Cerberus

On a piece of paper, with crayons?

Ohh.

Dry leaves, of course.

D'oh.

Matt Эллен

6:25 PM

:D

Cerberus

That explains the jagged lines.

tchrist

Thank you. I’ve been waiting to protect that damn thing all day.

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus I had to travel hundreds of miles to find all the leaves, too. blue leaves are the hardest to come by

Cerberus

Really?

tchrist

Cerberus

6:27 PM

You can't rub them against blue frogs or something?

Gigili

@MattЭллен Well done.

Matt Эллен

thanks!

Gigili

Haha, 15000.000000

user19161

@tchrist exactly 15000!

tchrist

Exactly.

Matt Эллен

6:29 PM

@Cerberus I hadn't thought of that! I will have to try that.

RegDwighт

Hold on a sec, and I'll show you a magic trick that turns it into a 14,998.

tchrist

Sim deleted two spammy things on it this morning, but didn’t protect it from further incursions. So I just waited it out.

I didn’t want to bother her.

Doesn’t matter. The die is cast.

Or the spell.

user19161

I never get the Simpsons. I think the Simpsons movie is one of the worst movies.

RegDwighт

Don't worry, it probably thinks the same about you.

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus I just used leave from the stilton tree

tchrist

6:30 PM

If you publish your postal address, I’m sure we can arrange for you to get lots of Simpsons.

Cerberus

Your masterpiece must smell great.

tchrist

My work here is done.

vanishes

user19161

@MattЭллен You mean leaves?

Matt Эллен

oh, yeah, them too

RegDwighт

Wait, this is still open?

You people are lazy, that's who you are.

Matt Эллен

6:34 PM

my instinct is NARQ, but my brain is fuzzy

user19161

@RegDwighт I am just here to chat today...

user19161

@MattЭллен I see my NR has not caught on.

RegDwighт

@MattЭллен it's a dupe, I linked to the original OVER 9000 milliseconds ago, hence my wondrously wonderful wondering.

Matt Эллен

yay! the system works.

RegDwighт

@JasperLoy North Romania?

user19161

6:35 PM

@RegDwighт A beautiful display of alliteration there.

user19161

@RegDwighт North Russia.

Matt Эллен

Naughty Region

RegDwighт

There is no such thing as North Russia. That's like saying South South Pole.

Matt Эллен

Or the East India Company

RegDwighт

EIC renamed themselves into OIC.

user19161

6:37 PM

@MattЭллен There is a clothes store here with that name.

Matt Эллен

is it a British company?

user19161

@MattЭллен I don't know, never stepped in.

Robusto

@RegDwighт Talk to the janitor. Not our problem.

Mitch

@RegDwighт e.g. CR

Robusto

@MattЭллен You Brits got around that by just calling it John Company.

coleopterist

6:44 PM

Hullo

Is anybody aware of a walk-through on adding links using the SE editor?

or using the SE editor in general.

A video would also be nice.

user19161

@coleopterist Adding links is very simple. Click on the link button after selecting the text. Then paste the website.

coleopterist

@Jas

@JasperLoy This is for Yoichi Oishi.

user19161

@coleopterist For him? Oh, he does not know how?

coleopterist

@JasperLoy Yes. See english.stackexchange.com/questions/83815/…

user19161

@coleopterist I think you can comment to him what I just said.

coleopterist

6:49 PM

@JasperLoy hmm

Maybe I should simply ask him to come in here when he's composing his next question.

Cheers Jasper.

RegDwighт

@coleopterist /editing-help, with examples.

144

Q: Formatting Sandbox

As per Jeff's suggestion here in the comments. You can use this question as a formatting sandbox (if you can edit CW questions) and you can post answers if you want to test out formatting there as well. Beware that since the changes to syntax highlighting in December 2010, and the inline hints ...

And then there's always the source code view of your edit.

Though that's a tad complicated.

coleopterist

@RegDwighт I think markdown syntax is too complex for him. Anything similar that points out the link button in the editor etc. ?

nod

Make a screenshot.

Thanks Reg.

NP

7:01 PM

I was initially just going to ask him to press CTRL + L and follow the instructions.

tchrist

@RegDwighт Would it be appropriate to edit out this lock-deleted coproloquy so that nobody has to see it?

RegDwighт

Oh yeah.

We usually do that. Sometimes we forget.

tchrist

Well, Community got to it.

Thanks!

Nice username, eh? Those get edited away on SO when they find them.

RegDwighт

Oh crap. See, I forget.

Inattentiveness spreads its tentacles to grab oh nice a new LEGO set.

coleopterist

lol

tchrist

7:09 PM

That’s so funny.

RegDwighт

The new name? Yeah I tried.

tchrist

You got to most of the things I thought needed protecting on the 21st.

Must have had quite a run then.

coleopterist

It appears that my account has registered ~-23 in downvotes/unupvotes since I downvoted an answer yesterday. That's nice.

RegDwighт

I don't remember anything. I'm looking at LEGO bricks in Maersk Blue.

tchrist

@coleopterist Huh?

RegDwighт

7:12 PM

I'm not seeing it. Well the unupvotes I can't see by definition.

coleopterist

I don't think I can upload an image here.

RegDwighт

What's holding you back?

tchrist

Bashful.

coleopterist

oh, I can :)

RegDwighт

I just did, remember?

coleopterist

7:17 PM

RegDwighт

Right. I'm stupid. Was looking at today.

coleopterist

I was under the impression that only mods were allowed to oslt ...

RegDwighт

Well the good news is, it was all in vain, you still maxed out.

coleopterist

True dat :)

RegDwighт

Also, I guess the daily script hasn't been run yet. If this was the work of one person, it will get detected and invalidated.

And if it was the work of many different people, then oh boy did you post lots of crap answers yesterday!

tchrist

7:20 PM

:)

coleopterist

:P

tchrist

Well . . .

coleopterist

It must've been all that talk about working girls being career women or some such.

tchrist

Look at the –7 one — that has to be the work of more than one sock.

Or hooman.

coleopterist

@tchrist that's the one with the "unupvote"

Cerberus

7:22 PM

Anyone using Tasker on Android?

RegDwighт

Sorry, I only use Nandroid.

Cerberus

You mean you make Nandroid back-ups?

I don't believe you even have an Android!

MετάEd

@tchrist Where are we getting -7?

RegDwighт

MετάEd

I see +2 -4.

RegDwighт

7:24 PM

We are getting it from the screenshot.

An upvote turned into a downvote. On a question. So −5 −2.

Cerberus

play.google.com/store/apps/…

> The onandroid script was developed by Ameer Dawood.

You forgot Onandroid.

RegDwighт

@MετάEd We're talking cole's rep change, not that question's score.

Cerberus

Which is apparently Online Nandroid.

MετάEd

@RegDwighт gotcha

Wish I weren't at my vote limit

coleopterist

@Cerberus I was thinking "onanism" for some reason.

RegDwighт

7:27 PM

@Cerberus Onandroid? No.

Nov 17 '11 at 20:15, by RegDwight Ѭſ道

This is an Onandroid.

coleopterist

hehe

Cerberus

@coleopterist Gosh, that never occurred to me.

RegDwighт

Jinx.

MετάEd

Hmm ... suddenly I am getting downvotes on old answers with no comment.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт Haha yes. Very robotic.

tchrist

7:27 PM

@RegDwighт I read orodroio.

MετάEd

4

A: How should the word "brutal" be used in marketing?

The use of brutal as a slang term for “excellent; powerful” is attested by the fourth (2007) edition of Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.¹ The example given by Spears is, “Man, what a brutal tune!” The connection his example makes between music and the...

RegDwighт

@Cerberus see, that's why we are smart and you are not.

MετάEd

1

A: Word or phrase for multilingual pun/word play

Interlingual pun seems to be quite common in Google search results.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт Yes. I posted that without any ulterior motive.

coleopterist

Speaking of which, I wonder what happened to that jerk off/ jack off question.

tchrist

7:28 PM

@MετάEd Are you sure that means what you think it means? :)

@coleopterist FTFY

RegDwighт

@MετάEd oh noes! You got infected by entering this chat! Blame @coleopterist, he's the host.

MετάEd

@tchrist Damn you, @coleopterist. :-)

Cerberus

@coleopterist Was it well received?

coleopterist

/me washes his hands off it all.

:P

tchrist

9

Q: Why “off ” in jerk off, jack off, get off?

I wonder why the particle off is used in these verbs. I know their meanings, but I don’t understand why off is used. Does anyone know why?

meaning verbs

Cerberus

7:29 PM

Or was it a shot in the dark?

MετάEd

@Cerberus groan

Cerberus

It is surprisingly easy to pun that question to ~~death~~ a fitting end.

@MετάEd Are you trying to go through what the OP went through?

RegDwighт

►

MετάEd

@Cerberus Shakespearian?

@tchrist You know ... this is not a bad question.

Cerberus

@MετάEd Hmm?

MετάEd

7:33 PM

@Cerberus Death.

RegDwighт

Man, why can't I flag my own comments as obsolete? How else am I going to get Marshal?

tchrist

@MετάEd blow off

MετάEd

La petite mort

La petite mort, French for "the little death", is an idiom and metaphor for orgasm. More widely, it can refer to the spiritual release that comes with orgasm or to a short period of melancholy or transcendence as a result of the expenditure of the "life force", the feeling which is caused by the release of oxytocin in the brain after the occurrence of orgasm. Literary critic Roland Barthes spoke of la petite mort as the chief objective of reading literature. He metaphorically used the concept to describe the feeling one should get when experiencing any great literature. The term "la pet...

Cerberus

@MετάEd A Shakespearian death, as in backstage?

Oh.

MετάEd

The Bard used that metaphor.

Cerberus

7:34 PM

Ahh OK.

I think I have heard of it, but I didn't know it was (typically or otherwise) associated with Shakespeare.

Now I must needs obtain foodstuffs.

RegDwighт

0

Q: ”An SDET” or ”A SDET”?

What is the correct form of the article for the SDET (Software Development Engineer in Test)? Should we put "an" to match with "Engineer", or rather "a" to match with "Software"?

articles

Gigili

@RegDwighт Go to a shopping center and buy one.

RegDwighт

kill

Cerberus

> I have pasted a better face onto the bare shouldered image of a friend. It seems to fit perfectly but the color in her face doesn't match the color in her shoulders. I've tried several tricks but nothing seems to blend the two images so that they look seamless. Any suggestions?

That's what friends are for.

RegDwighт

Just pretend she's wearing makeup.

Many people do have a completely different face color from the rest of their body.

And yeah, where did you get that from?

Robusto

7:45 PM

@Cerberus I have a suggestion. Start hanging around with better-looking people. People who don't have to be Photoshopped.

2

Gigili

That's-what-friends-are-for.com

Matt Эллен

I don't have to be photoshopped. people don't photograph me

tchrist

We already saw you crawling up that cliff nekkid.

MετάEd

@tchrist Montgomery Clift?

RegDwighт

@MattЭллен People photographed me exactly once, and I liked how it turned out, so no need for a second time.

Feb 16 '11 at 10:56, by RegDwight

Cerberus

7:49 PM

@RegDwighт elementsvillage.com/forums/showthread.php?p=387241

@Robusto What if I'm not easily pleased?

Matt Эллен

@RegDwighт lol

Cerberus

@RegDwighт Wow, those hues match perfectly.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus I know, right. It was a beautiful day full of matching hues.

Gigili

@Cerberus Go and see a doctor or you'll be killed with one bullet.

Cerberus

Most supermodels are ugly.

Too skinny and weird.

Cloth hangers.

RegDwighт

7:50 PM

@Cerberus most supermodels are neither super nor models. Kind of like the Federal Reserve.

Cerberus

And intellectual property.

coleopterist

/me can't believe that "such as occurred" is more popular on Google Books than "such as those that occurred".

Matt Эллен

it's neither feral nor on a reservation

RegDwighт

@coleopterist popularity doesn't mean shit. Cf supermodels, Federal Reserve.

Matt Эллен

not just a regular girl!

RegDwighт

7:52 PM

Jul 20 at 13:08, by RegDwight АΑA

I'm not the kind of girl who gives up just like that.

coleopterist

Never say die, girl.

RegDwighт

Always say dice, girl.

coleopterist

books.google.com/ngrams/…

RegDwighт

@coleopterist the latter only accounts for plural.

What about "such as that that occurred" or "such as the one that occurred"?

Robusto

@Cerberus All the more reason to hang around with beautiful people in the first place.

coleopterist

7:56 PM

@RegDwighт They fare even worse.

RegDwighт

@Robusto I dunno, beautiful people are usually not very pleasing. Except to the eye, but you don't need actual people for that.

Matt Эллен

►

RegDwighт

Not available in here.

I'll take your screenshot for it.

Matt Эллен

►

how about that one?

coleopterist

"like the one(s) that occurred" and "like those that occurred" are a mite better.

Matt Эллен

7:58 PM

worse quality, same song

RegDwighт

@MattЭллен better. Or perhaps worse, I haven't finished watching yet.

Matt Эллен

:D

RegDwighт

Das fetzt!

coleopterist

Mo' beautiful people: youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…