English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Mitch

7:00 PM

Just saw that recently. God that was boring.

Get to the ape smashing another one with a bone already.

user19161

Do you know the new meme in this room by tchrist @mitch?

Mitch

and christ space is slow and boring. Where's the acid trip? and that acid trip? kinda long and boring.

@JasonBourne That should be the new meme. That there is a new meme. Oh what the hell, by tchrist.

@KitFox Who's a racist and why?

user19161

@Mitch The new meme is RHOTIC. I keep saying LOL and he didn't know what I mean, and then he said RHOTIC and I didn't know what that means, so now when I say LOL he says RHOTIC.

KitFox

@Mitch Um. I dunno. I was teasing.

Cerberus

Hah, I've just brought down a user to a negative score, that is, 99.

KitFox

7:03 PM

With Cerb's Roman bias.

Sudhir

Hi kitFox

user19161

@Cerberus Where?

Cerberus

Should I feel proud or ashamed?

-1

Q: Can 2 identical paragraphs - when translated - turn into different target paragraphs in a language that is used today?

Is there a language where you could translate something into differently even though the source text is the same, based on the preceding paragraph? Example 1: Hey ho paragraph1. text to translate. Example 2: Hey ho paragraph2. text to translate. Where "text to translate" wi...

KitFox

Hello @Sudhir.

Mitch

@KitFox racist

KitFox

7:03 PM

@Mitch Yup. Totally. Can't help it.

user19161

@Sudhir You already said hi a few minutes ago didn't you?

Mitch

@Cerberus on principle you should just always feel ashamed.

Cerberus

@KitFox Huh what?

Mitch

oh...about that question?

Sudhir

yes,I have

Cerberus

7:03 PM

@Mitch Of my sins in general?

What's your age?

@Cerberus Haha.

@KitFox?

Sins? just standing there should be shaming enough.

simchona

@Sudhir No flirting.

Mitch

7:04 PM

Oh. You're sitting down? You're OK then.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт I know. And that guy is 20-freaking-7!

KitFox

@Sudhir I am three dozen years old. If you don't exercise patience and restraint, I will kick you from the room until you learn to.

RegDwighт

27? 27 what?

Sudhir

@simchona: I am not flirting

user19161

@simchona I don't think that is his intention. Also, he might not know what you mean, LOL

Mitch

7:05 PM

@Sudhir why would you imagine that?

Oh right, because of the shame thing. Well played.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт Years old.

Mitch

RHOTIC?

KitFox

@Cerberus With Jove and Saturn and um. The other one.

Sudhir

@KitFox:Sorry

user19161

@Mitch LOL

Cerberus

7:06 PM

@KitFox Those are Roman, so what about it?

Mitch

@JasonBourne Ha ha.

rhotic

RegDwighт

Ah.

Mitch

@Cerberus atheist

KitFox

@Cerberus It was a joke. You only named those. Those were your favorites.

user19161

@sim Your kitten looks very fierce.

Cerberus

7:06 PM

@Mitch Gods => athetist?

@KitFox Oh ah, haha.

KitFox

headdesk

I need lunch. brb

Mitch

@Cerberus Oh. is that your question?

Cerberus

The funny thing is that we have jovial, but none of the others in Dutch.

user19161

@kit That day I was talking about a lady with cats. Do you really know who I was talking about?

Sudhir

@KitFox: Sorry

Cerberus

7:08 PM

@Mitch Yes. I have 99 reps on Linguistics.

simchona

@Sudhir Jeez, stop saying sorry.

user19161

@simchona He is not too well versed in the use of this chat yet.

Mitch

@Cerberus 1) you're guilty 2) of something 3) you mentioned some Roman Gods 4) therefore you must be guilty of not believing in the one I'm imagining thinking of right now ergo 5) you're goddamned atheist. QED. I hope this helps you turn your life around and start eating more greens. Really all that cheese can't be good for you.

user19161

@Cerberus You did not take part more?

user19161

@Mitch I am confused.

Cerberus

7:09 PM

@Mitch Okay, clear.

Sudhir

You guys are very competent in this conservation. Iam not so

user19161

@Sudhir It's just pretty random.

Mitch

@Cerberus wait...are you Kit Sunde or acattle?

Cerberus

@JasonBourne That was sarcastic.

simchona

What are we saving?

user19161

7:10 PM

@Sudhir Also we have talked before but I was using another username, LOL

Cerberus

@Mitch You know who I am.

Sudhir

ok

Mitch

@Cerberus !! actually no I do not. I know you to your soul. But I don't know your name.

Or maybe I forgot.

no I can't remember ever knowing it.

user19161

His name is ******.

Cerberus

Or maybe you should look at the letters next to my picture.

Sudhir

7:11 PM

Please talk with me

anyone

simchona

Please don't butt into conversation.

user19161

@Sudhir We are all talking. You can join in the stupidity.

Sudhir

I am not getting what you are talking

user19161

@Sudhir Neither do I, LOL

Mitch

@Sudhir we are talking.

user19161

7:13 PM

@Sudhir There is no need to get everything. Do we ever really understand life?

Sudhir

I am not so intelligent as you guys

user19161

@Sudhir You don't even know us to say that.

simchona

Ugh. Pineapples.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus so why is it still open? I can't vote to close. And I am tempted to answer, of course, though the answer would be laughingly trivial. I could add examples from half a dozen languages, but the comment actually says it all.

Or am I expected to ping @alenanno?

KitFox

@simchona That's not very gracious.

Mitch

7:13 PM

@Sudhir sometimes I'll come back to the transcript and try to read it and I have no idea what people are talking about, but they seem to be conversing somehow. SO just play along.

simchona

@KitFox Not in a gracious mood.

Sudhir

ok bye Guys

Mitch

@simchona cake. you need more cake.

Sudhir

Its too late in India

user19161

@Sudhir See you!

Mitch

7:14 PM

sorry. projecting. I need more cake.

KitFox

Bye @Sudhir! Try again some other time.

Sudhir

ok

user19161

I am always here to talk to you @sudhir.

KitFox

@Mitch Everyone needs more cake.

Mitch

@Sudhir later dude. we tend to write too fast.

Cerberus

7:15 PM

@RegDwighт I am on the fence. It is sort of a serious question, and a serious though trivial answer as per the comment is possible. On the other hand, the level is just very, very low. We don't easily close questions on Linguistics of well-meaning users if there is no urgent need. I don't know, perhaps this one deserves closing.

user19161

@Mitch Might even be a dudette, LOL

Mitch

@KitFox Exactly. It's all about portion control.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus I see. Thanks. I'm not often on Ling, so I don't even know how many active 3k people you have.

Mitch

@JasonBourne did not think that. Also, 'dudette' should be more popular but I can understand why it is not...too hard to say.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт Maybe ten.

user19161

7:16 PM

@Mitch I remember the user apoorva...

user19161

Apoorva, Bangalore, India

664 1 12

word-choice single-word-requests meaning expressions american-english etymology synonyms

user19161

At first, I thought it was a guy too.

Cerberus

@KitFox This was funny.

Mitch

@JasonBourne Oh. I wouldn't have.

Cerberus

I had to wait before starring it until he had stopped talking.

user19161

7:18 PM

Do you guys want to see two nice couple pics I found on math SE?

JSBձոգչ

yes

user19161

Let me find them...

Mitch

@Cerberus all questions are stupid at some level, and smart at others...check that, sometimes there are just idiotic questions.

Cerberus

I wonder, does that guy talk to girls in a club the same way he talks to people here?

Matt Эллен

quesadillas are part of a nutritious breakfast, right?

Cerberus

7:19 PM

@Mitch Yeah...I thought maybe the OP meant something else.

JSBձոգչ

@MattЭллен yes

Cerberus

@MattЭллен Only if they contain plenty of cheese.

KitFox

@Cerberus Probably. It has been my experience with Indian men. I think it is a cultural thing.

Cerberus

@KitFox Really? OMG.

KitFox

@MattЭллен I just this moment finished eating one.

JSBձոգչ

7:19 PM

i see that i missed some sort of drama... and i'm pretty happy about that

user19161

Danny Birch

38 4

algebra-precalculus analytic-geometry euclidean-geometry

Cerberus

No it was OK.

No drama.

KitFox

I think I will wash it down with tea and scones.

user19161

Jeroen

141 5

real-analysis combinatorics continuity homework improper-integrals linear-algebra matrices

JSBձոգչ

@JasonBourne awwww

Cerberus

7:20 PM

Oh God, not a Dutchman...

user19161

Such lovely couples, so sweet...

JSBձոգչ

well, these are obviously fake b/c everyone knows that mathematicians can't get women

KitFox

My brother has one!

And he's a mathematician!

Well, maybe he's not a very good one. I don't know.

Cerberus

Surely they can get a random woman to pose with them for a picture?

simchona

@Tim, thank you, I am pleased to hear from you. No, there is no joke in my profile, to which I added my ... finished after having asked this legitimate question: english.stackexchange.com/questions/76876/… As you probably know, the question was closed and I was suspended for a procedure violation dealing with my comments. Alas, but the question, which was surely an expert one, is still blocked and I cannot post my ... — Carlo_R. 2 hours ago

JSBձոգչ

7:21 PM

[citation needed]

RegDwighт

@JasonBourne that looks like some CSS is missing.

simchona

"Procedure violation"

Cerberus

If enough money is paid...

Matt Эллен

@KitFox mmmmm. I have some too, but not enough for a full meal today and friday. I think I will have the meatless one for breakfast tomorrow

KitFox

Meatless? You mean a quesadilla? That's their natural state.

I might make another with tomato sauce and tomatillo salsa.

user19161

7:22 PM

@simchona I saw his profile a few days ago, LOL

JSBձոգչ

meatful quesadillas are quite delicious, but i agree with @Kit that meatless quesadillas are the unmarked member of the species

Matt Эллен

@KitFox oh, well the instructions on the box say to add chicken

I have tortillia, cheese and salsa in the meatless one

KitFox

Box? They come in boxes?

JSBձոգչ

are you making these from a pkg?

Matt Эллен

wall, tortilla around

KitFox

7:23 PM

I have a hard time fathoming that.

Matt Эллен

@JSBձոգչ yeah.

JSBձոգչ

man, go buy some tortillas and shredded cheese

Matt Эллен

I did that

user19161

@MattЭллен tortilla

Matt Эллен

and some salsa

JSBձոգչ

7:24 PM

quesadillas are the simplest food in the world to make

KitFox

Surely a stack of tortillas and a bag of shredded cheese is cheaper?

JSBձոգչ

to save more money you can shred your own cheese

Matt Эллен

well, whatever you buzz kills. I'm enjoying these quesadillas regardless

Cerberus

@RegDwigh: They theory may be that words with h- were more avidly borrowed and more frequently retained because they start with h- and thereby prime "house". — Cerberus 1 min ago

@MattЭллен I want some too...

KitFox

@MattЭллен Hey I didn't mean to harsh.

user19161

7:27 PM

There is this guy who deletes half the things he says in the math room.

user19161

It's like a game he plays.

RegDwighт

Haha, just run into this deleted question again. These were the days.

user19161

@RegDwighт ran, those would be preferred

Cerberus

@RegDwighт Gotta love bromfiets.

RegDwighт

@JasonBourne Not by I, however.

Cerberus

7:30 PM

I actually have no problem with such questions.

simchona

@Cerberus You don't have a problem with most questions

Cerberus

I really, really liked the question "what words are most often pronounced incorrectly by educated speakers?". I even learned stuff from it.

KitFox

@RegDwighт The amaranthine question.

user19161

My favourite close reason is not a real question.

Cerberus

@simchona Live and let live is my device.

user19161

7:31 PM

I think reg likes general reference.

user19161

And sim likes not constructive.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus You're obviously not one of the Beatles.

Cerberus

You figured that out by now? Kudos to you.

user19161

Maybe he is not Beatles but Beadles.

user19161

Mark Beadles, Columbus, OH

12.8k 1 23 57

single-word-requests meaning word-choice nouns pronunciation meaning-in-context idioms

KitFox

7:32 PM

Time to shovel the steps again. brb

RegDwighт

Kudos is such a strange word.

Can a word get any less English? Even sputnik sounds more natural.

user19161

@Cerberus Perhaps they are "binoculars" and "graphics".

Cerberus

@RegDwighт Yeah. At least they should have spelled it cydos or something.

@JasonBourne Umm I don't think so?

user19161

Did any of you here watch the fifth movie in the Twilight series?

Cerberus

More like hyperbole.

user19161

7:35 PM

@Cerberus Anyway, I pronounced both wrongly, at least according to the dictionaries I checked.

RegDwighт

@JasonBourne there's a fifth movie?

When will the madness end?

Cerberus

No, I didn't catch the fifth movie in the Twilight series.

user19161

@RegDwighт Yes, last one.

Cerberus

@JasonBourne With slightly different vowels?

RegDwighт

I've watched the YouTube compilations of that "actress" from Twilight looking the same in every scene.

Matt Эллен

7:36 PM

@Cerberus but don't worry, there's a vaccine so you can be immunised against it.

user19161

@Cerberus Yes.

KitFox

I didn't know there was a second movie.

Cerberus

I would say binoculars has two received pronunciations.

user19161

The second was the best. I liked the muscles in it.

Cerberus

@MattЭллен phew

RegDwighт

7:37 PM

The YouTube video was like six minutes long, but I feel like having been forced to sit through ten three-hour movies. Even though I laughed a lot.

KitFox

What is love? Baby, don't hurt me, don't hurt me no more...

Damn it @Matt!

Cerberus

I didn't know there was a movie, I thought it was a book.

user19161

@KitFox THat's Mrs Hiny's song!

RegDwighт

A "book".

Matt Эллен

@KitFox what?

RegDwighт

7:37 PM

Actually, it's a saga.

Everything is a saga.

Cerberus

Is Twilight not a children's book?

Oh.

RegDwighт

You're a saga, I'm a saga.

user19161

@RegDwighт You should tell that to S. M.

RegDwighт

Free sagas all around!

Cerberus

A book saga, then.

KitFox

7:38 PM

@MattЭллен You put that song in my head.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus uh, there's vampires hitting on teenagers.

Matt Эллен

Saga are a package holiday operator that target the retired

@KitFox oh! you're welcome

user19161

@RegDwighт WHo later become vampires too.

RegDwighт

Unbelievable!

That has never happened before!

user19161

I think my favourite love song is "Nothing's gonna change my love"

user19161

7:39 PM

THe older pop songs were nicer.

RegDwighт

I must say at least they kept the entire movies in exactly one shade of Jasper Bley, so they do not interfere with your falling asleep.

Matt Эллен

Everything you need to know about the last twilight film

user19161

@RegDwighт There was a vampire called Jasper in it.

RegDwighт

Color me even less surprised.

user19161

Also, Jasper appeared in one of my favourite movies, The Holiday.

RegDwighт

7:42 PM

@MattЭллен that ripoff of Zero Punctuation is not sitting well with me.

Something about it is patently wrong.

But I'll try to watch on.

Oh yeah, he has a point. Though he should go see The Room some day.

user19161

THe worst movie of all time I have seen is...

user19161

Reg should know.

RegDwighт

Fridge.

I mean Freeze.

user19161

No, Freeze.

RegDwighт

Jinx.

user19161

7:45 PM

Jinx.

RegDwighт

Also, I was funnier.

Also, it's not the first time that I call the movie that and you correct me, so whoosh.

user19161

I can't recall you saying Fridge though.

user19161

It probably happened in a rapid conversation when the room was in madness.

KitFox

I find it so endearing when I get a hint of pineapple flavor from Reg.

user19161

How?

user19161

7:48 PM

From the above few lines?

Matt Эллен

I should head out. So I'll head out. Baii

KitFox

Bye @Matt.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт So yes, right?

By "children" I mean pubescent children.

user19161

@MattЭллен See you in your dreams!

KitFox

Wow. That vampire battle sounds epic.

RegDwighт

7:51 PM

@Cerberus exactly.

@KitFox actually you find it extremely disconcerting. Source: you.

KitFox

Well, maybe I've gotten used to it...

user19161

By the way, there is another movie called Freeze which was not too bad, the one about the sea monsters.

RegDwighт

@KitFox no, you can only name one instance of it happening, ever. Source: you.

user19161

Have they decided on what to name ELL yet???

KitFox

@RegDwighт OK. Yes. The glass of peas. It was really like bizarro world.

RegDwighт

7:53 PM

Welcome to my world.

KitFox

But the verb tenses up there were just a little pineapple-y.

user19161

@RegDwighт Step into my heart.

RegDwighт

Bizarro is to the left hand side of you. Everything to the right of you is bizarro.

KitFox

Boys on my left side. Boys on my right side. Boys in the middle, and you're not here.

I need a big loan from the girl zone.

RegDwighт

@KitFox I don't even know what you're talking about.

KitFox

7:54 PM

It's a Tori Amos song.

RegDwighт

I scrolled up and saw no tenses.

user19161

There was only tension.

RegDwighт

Every morning I walk into my office my gay colleague has Tori Amos playing.

user19161

So, they are now having Ninja Warriors here as well, and the finalist will go to take part in Japan!

KitFox

@RegDwighт Oh. You used present tense. "It's not the first time that I call the movie that."

RegDwighт

7:56 PM

And I would do it again.

KitFox

And I will enjoy it again.

user19161

Tori Amos is not my type of music. I know Kit likes her.

KitFox

I have to go. My boys are home.

user19161

@KitFox See you!

user19161

By the way, I am surprised Ninja Warriors never made it to America.

RegDwighт

8:02 PM

1 NOT THE FIRST TIME THAT I 'VE 4
2 NOT THE FIRST TIME THAT WE HAVE 2
3 NOT THE FIRST TIME THAT WE 'VE 2
4 NOT THE FIRST TIME THAT YOU GET 1
5 NOT THE FIRST TIME THAT HE HAS 1
6 NOT THE FIRST TIME THAT HE CHOSE 1
7 NOT THE FIRST TIME THAT HE 'S 1
8 NOT THE FIRST TIME THAT THEY SAY 1
9 NOT THE FIRST TIME THAT THEY FOCUSED 1
10 NOT THE FIRST TIME THAT THEY 'VE 1
11 NOT THE FIRST TIME THAT SHE RECALLED 1
12 NOT THE FIRST TIME THAT SHE READ 1
13 NOT THE FIRST TIME THAT SHE HAS 1

Not anywhere as clearcut as you make it sound, @KitFox.

Though of course I likely calqued the German phrase in my head.

user19161

@RegDwighт Can you tell me what this is about?

RegDwighт

A COCA query for the collocations of "not the first time that", to check what tenses people use.

corpus.byu.edu/coca/?c=coca&q=20493003

Cerberus

@RegDwighт And so few results?

RegDwighт

Yeah I wondered, too.

user19161

I have talked enough rubbish for the day, ouvert et haut !

RegDwighт

8:05 PM

Perhaps I should add some asterisks, but where?

Where could stuff be possibly injected in that phrase?

Cerberus

Or is the corpus tiny?

RegDwighт

It's COCA.

It's the hugest corpus of them all.

Cerberus

I have never used it.

Isn't it American?

Asterisks at the beginning and the end should be enough.

RegDwighт

It has 4,838,537 cites for I and 25,133,373 for the.

@Cerberus these are implied, silly. Or do you think "NOT THE FIRST TIME THAT I 'VE" is the entire phrase with nothing preceding or following?

@Cerberus whaaaa?

Cerberus

@RegDwighт That is what I assumed.

RegDwighт

8:09 PM

Ah okay.

I was wondering already.

By now I've easily drawn two dozen graphs using COHA and Google Spreadsheets.

Kids these days should get off my lawn with their NGrams.

Cerberus

Why do you use an American corpus?

RegDwighт

I use an American and a British corpus.

Cerberus

Okay.

RegDwighт

Seriously, you ever seen any of my answers? scratches head

It's all COCA here, BNC there. COCA this, BNC that.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus you should try using COCA.

I'm surprised you don't.

RegDwighт

8:17 PM

Yeah furreal.

Cerberus

I would use it if I had to look something up about American usage. But then I could ask people here...

RegDwighт

Yeah you specialize in a different kind of questions.

Cerberus

Do you get context, as in Google Ngrams?

RegDwighт

I answer pretty much only COCA lookup requests.

Cerberus

Is it a website? Or do you need to install it?

RegDwighт

8:19 PM

@Cerberus you get the entire context, publication, author, year, everything you need.

@Cerberus it's online. I just posted a link to my query ten minutes ago.

Cerberus

OK.

RegDwighт

I had to register because I use it so often, but that was completely free and was the usual email+password thingy.

But you can easily query it every now and then without registering at all.

Cerberus

google.com/…

Ngrams also has a problem with "not the first time that I" and "...-'ve". Both return 0 results in Ngrams, but thousands in Google Books.

So perhaps the problem is of a similar nature in COCA.

RegDwighт

I didn't search for "'ve" in COCA.

I searched for not the first time that [PP*] [v*]

Cerberus

No, but there could be something wrong with the way such phrases are indexed or accessed by the database.

RegDwighт

8:22 PM

It supplied all the verbs.

There are occasional quirks here and there, yes. But not on a meaningful scale.

Cerberus

Okay, it turns out Books only has 22 results for "...'ve" after all.

RegDwighт

Sometimes things are tagged nouns that are clearly verbs, say.

Cerberus

While it said "about 2000" at first.

RegDwighт

It always does that.

Cerberus

I thought it was fixed.

It seemed to have been fixed for regular Google search.

RegDwighт

8:24 PM

It pretends to search the entire Internet or whole libraries, but in reality it just sends off a student to rummage through whatever Sergey Brin happens to have on his bookshelf right now.

Cerberus

Then he still has more books than Coke.

Alenanno

@RegDwighт uuh.. wakes up ...what?

RegDwighт

@Cerberus Coke only has stuff from the last ten to twenty years. The rest goes into COHA.

Cerberus

! "not the first time that I have" gets 78 results! Eat that, Coke!

RegDwighт

It is called the Corpus of Contemporary American English for a reason.

Cerberus

8:27 PM

Ugh.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus yeah now good luck finding out how many of those are simple present and how many are present perfect. In Coke, you'd see it at one glance.

Cerberus

Of course.

But anyway, the beverage seems to contain less than the book case.

RegDwighт

@Alenanno we were wondering if that questions on Linguistics should be closed for good.

Cerberus

And the former also has speech!

RegDwighт

2 mins ago, by RegDwighт

@Cerberus Coke only has stuff from the last ten to twenty years. The rest goes into COHA.

Cerberus

8:29 PM

in lɪŋˈgwɪstɪks, 1 hour ago, by Cerberus

What do you think? Should the above question be closed?

@RegDwighт Yes. That's what I'm saying.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus it also has magazines, newspapers, academic papers. You can have your results neatly sorted by category.

Cerberus

Of course.

Alenanno

@Cerberus Ah didn't see that, sorry. lol

RegDwighт

@Cerberus and I am saying that I can fire up COHA, which contains everything all the way back to the Great Fatherland War.

Cerberus

@Alenanno No, that's OK. I only pinged you now because Reg mentioned that question. I'm not sure what I think.

@RegDwighт Well, have fun?

RegDwighт

8:32 PM

@Cerberus corpus.byu.edu/coha/?c=coha&q=20493525

There. Ain't this beautiful?

Alenanno

@Cerberus No you guys are right. It's rather unclear. I don't get what he's asking.

I closed it.

RegDwighт

Kthxbai.

Alenanno

But it already had 2 close-votes too.

So... it deserved it.

RegDwighт

I am still not done watching that Twilight video.

@Alenanno yeah I couldn't see those, and Cerberus was being secretive.

Alenanno

You could flag-to-close.

RegDwighт

8:33 PM

I was thinking about that.

Also, I sort of did.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт I didn't see any close votes when I looked.

RegDwighт

Ah.

Alenanno

@RegDwighт It's OK. I am more keen to close with close-votes/flags being there.

0

Q: Languages with a word for "work-play"

I hope this is an ok question... Are there any human languages you're aware of that have a word that works almost like a combination of "work" and "play"?