English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Spare Oom

12:01 AM

@Mahnax So if it's not in my set, avoids misspelling it won't really work then, right?

Mahnax

@SpareOom No, it won't.

Spare Oom

@Mahnax I want to delete my misspelled line but it's too late! hangs head in shame

Mahnax

@SpareOom It's OK.

user19161

@mahnax When you learn Perl, you can change your pic to a Perl pic.

KitFox

psst Please upvote this:

2

A: Community Promotion Ads - 2012

Spare Oom

12:06 AM

@WillHunting Is that why your pic is blank?

user19161

@SpareOom Oh, good observation. Yes, my life is also blank now.

Spare Oom

@WillHunting Aw, sorry to hear that.

user19161

@KitFox Oh, that's why he is in this chat.

user19161

@neil I like your design.

tchrist

@tchrist ... yes, you are right! ... language must be more simple as possible, but language is information too; and I pose attention to categorization of information in the construction of cognitive maps! "cogito ergo sum" someone said! — Xavier Vidal Hernández 1 hour ago

user19161

12:13 AM

@tchrist Again, I am amazed by his authoritative comments.

tchrist

That’s enough time.

Can’t believe what a screaming idiot he is.

@sim Is this guy for real?

Or what?

cornbread ninja

@tchrist are you suggesting that I teach mahnax to Perl, or were you offering to hold a special class for him and me?

Mahnax

> I teach mahnax to Perl

Wot?

cornbread ninja

I'm on my phone or I'd properly at the comment, but tchrist suggested that you 'palwal' with me.

Mahnax

Oh, I misread that.

cornbread ninja

12:18 AM

oic

Mahnax

I thought you were going to teach Perl how to Mahnax.

cornbread ninja

I'll be at a real keyboard in a bit.

ha!

Mahnax

OK.

Spare Oom

@tchrist What was your previous comment all about?

tchrist

I have to go.

I wish I could stay and chat.

Spare Oom

12:24 AM

Bye.

tchrist

@Mahnax I’m happy to help as I can.

I may not be the best teacher for you though.

cornbread ninja

aaaand we're back.

Jez

richarddawkins.net/news_articles/2012/9/3/…

Rabbis in NY say they will ignore a new law if it requires them informing parents that their sucking babies' cocks might give the babies herpes and/or kill them

cornbread ninja

:S

simchona

I read that as rabbits and was thoroughly confused.

Cerberus

12:38 AM

> Over the past decade, at least one other newborn died after contracting herpes from the rite, in which the rabbi draws blood from the penis with his mouth.

That is the grossest thing ever.

cornbread ninja

...through a sterile pipette.

Cerberus

No, no, that's the Wrong Way.

Cerberus

1:07 AM

> To those who enjoy the pleasures of the dining table, the news may come as a relief: drastically cutting back on calories does not seem to lengthen lifespan in primates.

nature.com/news/…

And I read an article a few years ago that said the opposite, but that has been debunked now.

So annoying.

I'm never believing strong conclusions in science again.

As usually drawn in the papers.

Neil Fein

@WillHunting Thanks!

I assume you mean this ad.

Cerberus

> Given how closely so many people associate "Nigerian prince" with "scam," you'd think that it would make sense for scammers to move away from such things, and try to find a story that is slightly more realistic.

> ... , which reveal why it still makes sense for Nigerian scammers to say they're from Nigeria: It weeds out all the non-suckers.

> ... So, for it to be worthwhile, they actually need exceptionally gullible people and by flat out saying they're from Nigeria, given how closely associated that country is with such scams, they quickly weed out the people who are probably smart enough to realize they're getting conned.

> Since the cost to them of spamming everyone is close to nothing, you may be confused about why you keep getting "Nigerian prince" emails, but they don't care about you. In fact, in ignoring those emails, you're kind of doing them a favor by not bothering them with time-consuming efforts that won't pay off.

> As the WSJ piece notes, this highlights a potentially better way to deal with such scammers: waste their time. Of course, we've written about such scambaiters before, with 419 Eater being the most well known community. But this research suggests that, not only are such efforts amusing, they can be genuinely effective in harming the economics of such advance-fee frauds.

techdirt.com/articles/20120901/22174020252/…

Mahnax

1:47 AM

edmontonsun.com/2012/09/04/…

Some guy in a Hummer saved four kids from some idiot in a car.

@RobinMichael Ahoy there.

Spare Oom

2:02 AM

@WillHunting You only say that because you have some.

cornbread ninja

@Mahnax nice!

@WillHunting that in itself is a social skill.

Mahnax

@cornbreadninja Yeah, it's nice to see things like that. I mean, this guy sacrificed his Hummer and put himself at risk. It seems like a small price to pay for four lives, but some people wouldn't do it.

cornbread ninja

@Mahnax I wonder whether most would notice.

Mahnax

@DavidWallace That would only be an appropriate comparison if I had asked him to recommend a programming language.

@cornbreadninja Any good driver should, IMHO.

Spare Oom

@Cerberus !

cornbread ninja

2:06 AM

@Mahnax are these amber lights flashing all the time, and one is supposed to slow down on approach and stop if the crosswalk is in use?

hello @SpareOom!

Cerberus

@SpareOom You disagree?

Spare Oom

@Cerberus I disagree with the rabbis!

Cerberus

They will not like that.

Spare Oom

@Cerberus I meant ! to mean "and how" and agree with your comment.

Cerberus

Hehe.

I was deliberately interpreting it in an absurd way.

Mahnax

2:08 AM

@cornbreadninja These amber lights flash when people are crossing.

You should slow down if you see them flashing, and stop if there are people still crossing.

cornbread ninja

@Mahnax do they have to press a button for that?

Spare Oom

@Jez @Jez Thanks for that article. I need to go to bed so I can be awake for work tomorrow, and now I won't be able to sleep.

Mahnax

@cornbreadninja Yes.

cornbread ninja

@Mahnax okay, just trying to compare with US crosswalks.

Spare Oom

@cornbreadninja Hi. And Bye.

I need to sleep.

Cerberus

2:10 AM

Night!

Spare Oom

I'm on my way out. I still haven't caught up with today's transcript.

cornbread ninja

hai bai!

Spare Oom

Night y'all.

cornbread ninja

Where did Robin Michael go?

Cerberus

> The 5-inch phone fills the new "phablet" niche that has sat empty for the carrier while the 5.3-inch Samsung Galaxy Note sold millions worldwide, including on carriers like AT&T.

This is an infelicitous name.

Mitch

2:20 AM

@cornbreadninja where did he go? He's barely started. Where did he come from and why can't he read?

cornbread ninja

@Mitch I feel bad for the guy. I tried.

Amateurs and beginners don't usually know the limits, so they imagine bigger, fail more frequently, and learn more often. — cornbread ninja 1 min ago

simchona

5

Q: What is the role of non-experts on ELU?

This pertains to both asking and answering questions. According to the Area 51 FAQ: To attract experts, you need a site where people are asking very interesting and challenging questions, not the basic questions found on every other Q&A site. Your goal is to make it clear that this is a ...

discussion

cornbread ninja

@Mitch did you read his profile? He compared himself to refuse bag-ripping seagulls.

BBS

Mitch

@cornbreadninja oh you mean he 'educated idiot' question? Is that irony?

simchona

He made an answer there that was something about educate idiots plus all te text from his profile

cornbread ninja

2:21 AM

@Mitch naw, the newer one (amateur v. professional)

Mitch

@cornbreadninja Yeah I saw that. I didn't get the metaphor. Is he the seagull or is he the visitor. Either way it's kind of skew.

or skua

I'm gold clapping for myself there. Because no one else should.

I'm adding to irony:

Mahnax

0

Q: The revenge of the gifted amateur … be afraid, be very afraid …

What is the meaning of the word 'amateur' and how is the amateur compared with the professional in this article on computing. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1822283 They are “punching above their weight” in their dealings with larger competitors who are less exposed to ...

meaning

hangs head in sadness

Mitch

Is this for a class? — Mitch 41 secs ago

David Wallace

@Mahnax Au contraire, Tom didn't invent perl. He simply wrote books.

Mahnax

@DavidWallace You could consider Tom and Bill enthusiasts of Perl and Windows, respectively.

user19161

2:27 AM

@Mahnax Which Bill?

user19161

Bill Clinton?

Mahnax

@WillHunting Gates.

Mitch

@cornbreadninja So the metaphor is that he is a sea gull picking at trash? and others are visitors watching the 'majestic bird' pick at a garbage heap? Doesn't say much for the rest of us.

user19161

@Mahnax Ah, Gates lead to Windows, hehe.

Mahnax

@WillHunting Oh you.

David Wallace

2:28 AM

@Mahnax What's the average number of LQQs that someone asks before they give up and go home?

Mahnax

@DavidWallace Seven.

user19161

@Mahnax How did this get a star? Ridiculous!

Mitch

funneh!

Mahnax

Ain't nothin' wrong with that.

user19161

Pay the Bill and the Gates and Windows will be open for you to enjoy Micro and Soft applications.

Mitch

2:34 AM

@WillHunting Mahnax was only acknowledging your humor in a humorous way. very understated.

user19161

@Mitch See my above new pun.

Mitch

I laughed....very quietly.well, I smiled. a little.

@cornbreadninja oh duh. I really should try to read. You said that. Yes, that's idiotic. Educated but incoherent.

@simchona holy crap, this is...weird:

meta.english.stackexchange.com/a/3080/4972

I was going to say crazy...but then what if it actually is. That wouldn't be funny any more.

ΜετάEd

2:55 AM

@Mitch What's that link? it seems to get rewritten when I use it. Did you link to an answer that isn't there any more?

cornbread ninja

@Mitch My empathy surfaces at strange times and in strange ways.

wonders where Rachel went

Cerberus

Hello.

cornbread ninja

Howdy @Cerb; how's your widget?

Cerberus

You know what I find a little bit annoying? How Lawler throws in lots of unexplained terminology at the beginning of his questions—terminology that I don't feel is necessary to explain the answer.

@cornbreadninja It's doing great!

It's nice and flexible.

cornbread ninja

@Cerberus :\

Cerberus

3:05 AM

How's yours?

@cornbreadninja That bad?

cornbread ninja

Um...

@Cerberus woops!

There we go.

Cerberus

What are you trying to do?

cornbread ninja

Sigh.

Make a slanty face in response to your Lawler comment.

Cerberus

Ahh I see.

Then we are agreed.

I also find his his frequent references to his own articles a bit...shameless.

cornbread ninja

Where is the line drawn, though?

Cerberus

3:08 AM

I don't know.

cornbread ninja

Should he explain it in very layman terms?

It's a sticky wicket.

Cerberus

Depends.

cornbread ninja

@Cerberus heh.

Cerberus

1

Q: Position of verb for object clause

Is the general word order of this sentence correct? We investigate how strong the effect of X on Y is. Or, as an alternative, We investigate how strong the effect of X is on Y. In a preprint for a scientific publication I came across the formulation: We investigate how strong is t...

grammaticality verbs word-order clauses inversion

cornbread ninja

Ha, and his own answer to another question.

Cerberus

3:09 AM

All I know is that I find this an inefficient form of communication ^.

I don't want to have to read links in order to understand an answer if it shouldn't be necessary.

cornbread ninja

I want to poll OP in comment and find out if Lawler's answer was at all helpful.

Cerberus

I, who am fairly experienced in linguistics, and who know how the construction in question works, couldn't follow Lawler's answer even after a second (cursory) read.

@cornbreadninja Hehe.

Now, if it is a very complicated phenomenon, then perhaps a difficult-to-understand answer is unavoidable.

Oh, well.

Shower time!

cornbread ninja

Scheveningen!

Bedtime for cornbread.

butters self

Cerberus

Ohhh with herring?

Raw of course.

That's what we eat in Scheveningen.

Later!

ΜετάEd

3:30 AM

Turn him over and butter him. He's done.

Mahnax

Haha.

Mitch

@ΜετάEd sorry, it was deleted (thankfully) by simchona. Synopsis:as an answer to the meta question "What is the role of non-experts on ELU?" RMs answer is comprised of:

Il Dottore or the Doctor (usually called Dottore Balanzone, Dottore Baloardo, or Dottore Graziano) is a commedia dell'arte stock character, one of the vecchi or old men whose function in a scenario is to be an obstacle to the young lovers.

Il Dottore (the doctor) was a caricature of learning—pompous and fraudulent.

http://italian.about.com/library/weekly/aa110800b.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_Dottore

What is an 'Educated Idiot'?

followed by a copy of his user profile.

misplaced meds?

ΜετάEd

@Mitch The implication being that the writer is a pompous and fraudulent Il Dottore?

Mitch

@cornbreadninja classes just started.

ΜετάEd

An educated idiot?

Interesting. And full of sound and fury.

Mitch

3:36 AM

@ΜετάEd I don't think you can infer anything content wise...ohhh....ha Ha! I see what you did!

@ΜετάEd yeah, signifying nothing. isn't that a reference to farts or something?

So what -is- the first character in "ΜετάEd". It ain't an M. (or type ahead don't work) with it.

ΜετάEd

@Mitch Yes, from Shakespotte, I believe.

@Mitch It's a capital mu.

Mu (letter)

Mu (uppercase Μ, lowercase μ; Ancient Greek ), Modern Greek μι or μυ ) is the 12th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 40. Mu was derived from the Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol for water (𓈖) which had been simplified by the Phoenicians and named after their word for water, to become mem . Letters that arose from mu include the Roman M and the Cyrillic М. Names Ancient Greek In Ancient Greek, the name of the letter was written and pronounced . Modern Greek In Modern Greek, the name of the letter is spelled μι and pronounced . In monoton...

tchrist

3:52 AM

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Mahnax

Oh, you know what's neat?

In IB English, any books we read are ours to keep.

The school buys them for us.

tchrist

"IB"?

Mahnax

cries

I really don't want to explain this again.

ibo.org

chat.stackexchange.com/search?q=IB&room=95

tchrist