English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

> For the sake of longevity, acting childish can do amazing things to your career and future opportunities. And I mean amazing the same way that Chernobyl was amazing. While the consequences in the internet era for being awesome are significant, so is the opposite true.

RegDwighт

What is he trying to say?

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus who said that?

Cerberus

12:10 PM

Oh, it was about some internet guy who couldn't take criticism.

Not very interesting otherwise.

techdirt.com/articles/20130122/08574221751/…

RegDwighт

There are Internet guys who can take criticism?

Matt Эллен

Whoever they are is a stupid poopoohead. Everyone knows being childish is the best and you can't stop me and if you try I'll scream and scream until I'm sick.

Cerberus

If you will come with us and step into the white bus, everything will be all right.

RegDwighт

What is the purpose of the Internet if not being childish?

Cerberus

@RegDwighт I'm trying!!

RegDwighт

12:11 PM

@Cerberus you're an Internet dog, though. Everyone on the Internet knows that.

Cerberus

And dogs can't be guys?

RegDwighт

Not in English.

Cerberus

Then let's speak some other language. This room is always the same anyway.

RegDwighт

Frühstück!

Cerberus

Ach so.

Das ist...früh.

Matt Эллен

12:13 PM

nein nien nine

Cerberus

Why is it called stück anyway?

A piece of food?

The Dutch word is even more bizarre, ontbijt.

Unbite.

Or exbite.

The French word makes sense, petit dejeuner.

Small un-fast.

Matt Эллен

breakfast

Cerberus

Exactly.

Matt Эллен

I see what you're talking about now

Cerberus

But -bijt, what does it mean? Bijten = to bite.

To fast = vasten.

Matt Эллен

12:17 PM

Cerberus

Received?

Matt Эллен

apparently ont means that

Cerberus

That makes no sense at all.

Matt Эллен

but I'm going by a sinister advertising company intent on making me their adverslave

Cerberus

Haha.

Matt Эллен

12:20 PM

they make words mean whatever they like

Cerberus

Ont- is a verbal prefix meaning "away from, separating, beginning".

Matt Эллен

first bite?

Cerberus

Possibly. But it is not used with nouns, and it wouldn't make sense that way. But who knows what they were thinking in the year 1000?

Matt Эллен

those crazy fools! Making up language as if such a thing were easy

Cerberus

Yeah!

KitFox

12:22 PM

The separating bite.

Cerberus

Ontbranden = to catch flame.

KitFox

The breaking bite.

The bite that breaks the fast.

Cerberus

Yeah, it is a possibility.

Ontharen = to remove hair from.

KitFox

The parting glass.

Cerberus

Ontsnappen = to un-catch, to escape.

Ontsteken = to light (a fire).

Ontwarren = to un-confuse, to untie a complicated knot.

Matt Эллен

12:24 PM

ontvlammen

Cerberus

Ontzetten = to unsettle.

@MattЭллен Yup!

To catch fire.

KitFox

onthosen

Cerberus

That's German.

German is ent-.

KitFox

ontheisen

Cerberus

Ontbroeken.

KitFox

12:26 PM

ontleefen

Matt Эллен

there's no ontananas :(

Cerberus

None of those are words, but they should be!

KitFox

At least I'm making Dutch-sounding words.

Cerberus

Eigen = own. Onteigenen = to disown (as in land for a highway).

@KitFox Actually, f and s become v and z between vowels, usually.

And double vowels become single in VCV.

So ik leef = I live, wij leven = we live.

Matt Эллен

onzeker

Cerberus

12:28 PM

Yeah, that's simply on- = un-.

oh

Uncertain, insecure.

ontdoe

Yup! Ontdoen = to remove from.

Matt Эллен

dejeuner

Cerberus

12:30 PM

To unfast.

KitFox

unfastens

Cerberus

Oh, dear...

Whose pants are you unfastening?

KitFox

It's funny how you contextualize that.

Robusto

@MattЭллен Doesn't that mean to become unyoung?

KitFox

Good morning, @Rob.

Robusto

12:36 PM

Morning.

Cerberus

@KitFox I did so while looking at your icon.

Robusto

@Cerberus Contextualize means masturbate, right?

KitFox

@Cerberus Uh...wut?

Cerberus

@Robusto Ask her.

@KitFox I was trying to sound creepy. Did it work at all?

KitFox

Yes. Yes it did.

Robusto

12:37 PM

Masturbation is OK as long as it's consensual.

KitFox

Besides you're not into foxen.

Although I suppose the vole might have done it.

Cerberus

Great.

KitFox

Well, this has been a fun morning.

tchrist

@MattЭллен Have you always had these bendy-gendy issues, Ellen?

Matt Эллен

Gendy Tartakovsky?

I've no issues with him, bendy or otherwise

tchrist

12:53 PM

You seem to think of derrières as feminine, whilst most assholes of my own acquaintance are of a distinctly masculine persuasion.

Matt Эллен

I have, however, inadvertently thrown off the yoke of red squigly lines. So my habit of looking down at the keys when typing will have to be broken

KitFox

squiggly too

Matt Эллен

and even then, that won't stop my mistakes

tchrist

@KitFox That’s Scooby’s oriental cousin.

Matt Эллен

@tchrist I don't subscribe to the binary genderisation of words in other languages

unless I have to

tchrist

12:55 PM

summons the gendarmes

KitFox

My husband very kindly got me a Castle calendar for my office. Now I have Nathan Fillion staring at me.

Matt Эллен

heh

KitFox

He's looking at me like "huh? what's up"

It's distracting.

Matt Эллен

I've not seen castle. is it any good?

KitFox

user19161

12:57 PM

I am glad nobody is going to lose any rep as announced.

KitFox

@MattЭллен Did you ever watch Moonlighting?

Matt Эллен

@KitFox just like you describeD!

@KitFox yes

that with cybil shepard and the guy from die hard?

KitFox

Yeah.

Matt Эллен

bruce willis

I see

user19161

I rather have a Taylor Lautner or Justin Bieber Calendar.

KitFox

12:59 PM

Kind of like that, only she's a cop and he's an author.

Matt Эллен

ah!

KitFox

There's a lot of witty repartee, sexual tension, good relationship sort of stuff.

Also, the crimes are interestinger than your run-of-the-mill crime drama.

The supporting cast is very good. The mother is the mother from Arrested Development, but she's nicer. Retired actress socialite type.

His daughter is cute as a button but has her own mind.

Matt Эллен

I've not seen arrested development

KitFox

WHAT!?

You should. It's very funny.

Matt Эллен

is it Canadian?

user19161

1:01 PM

I have seen Gilmore Girls, LOL.

KitFox

@MattЭллен No.

Matt Эллен

not that it matters, just idle curiosity

KitFox

And the two backup cops are really funny too.

Anyway. Um, I recommend it.

Also Arrested Development.

user19161

Anyway @kit just be more careful with the data in future so that you don't lose it!

KitFox

Thx.

Matt Эллен

1:05 PM

Cool. I'll check them out!

KitFox

Why are there red lines in my workbench?

I don't understand why I don't get repositories.

Matt Эллен

red lines?

and green lines too?

KitFox

from branch to main. usually they turn blue, but sometimes they are red.

Matt Эллен

red are ones that you've removed, green are ones you've added

KitFox

No, I mean in the graph.

With the nodes.

Matt Эллен

1:13 PM

oh! I think those colours are arbitrary

tchrist

@KitFox That’s between you and your pharmacist.

KitFox

highly doubtful

Matt Эллен

no rhyme or reason

KitFox

Yeah, like that.

Not merges versus something else?

Matt Эллен

nope, they're all merges

KitFox

1:14 PM

Yeah OK then.

Matt Эллен

why brown and cyan? I dunno :D

KitFox

So...is it crazy to store an entire page worth of content in a table so I can swap it out depending on which site is being accessed?

Matt Эллен

sounds like something @Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 would do

Jez

1:26 PM

is that SVN? yuk.

tchrist

git serious.

Matt Эллен

@Jez tortoise hg

Jez

ah, not so bad

funny how windows users really value GUI source control with the popular Tortoise suite, yet unix users scoff at it

Matt Эллен

yeah, when I switch to linux I don't miss it, except for the merge tool, because I can't figure out command line merge tools

Jez

i always merge through Bitbucket's web interface

Matt Эллен

1:32 PM

my boss uses vi but I can't fathom it

Jez

but i could probably figure out git merge if i tried

yeah, unix really lacks good text editors

Matt Эллен

it's not the command, it's the tool that lets you sort out conflicts

Jez

but i don't think any text console lends itself to a good text editor

Matt Эллен

possibly not

Jez

ah well with git, you can associate a difftool and a mergetool

p4merge or meld, for example

tchrist

1:33 PM

@Jez go away

Matt Эллен

same with hg, but I've not figured out a good one

Jez

@MattЭллен p4merge for windows, meld for linux

both very good

Matt Эллен

@Jez ok, thanks!

tchrist

@MattЭллен That’s because you look at the keys while you type. You said so yourself.

Matt Эллен

well, the merge tool I use in windows works fine. meld is news, though :)

@tchrist that's irrelevant and you know it. looking at the keys is not my problem. not having cause to learn the commands is my problem.

tchrist

1:35 PM

@MattЭллен No, I don’t know it. All successful users of vi are touch typists. It lends itself to that mode of operation.

Jez

@MattЭллен what merge tool is that?

Matt Эллен

I am a touch typist. I just look down when I type

tchrist

People no longer tolerate any learning time, even for something they use frequently.

Matt Эллен

@Jez kdiff I think.I don't know. whatever comes with tortoise

KitFox

kdiff.

Jez

1:36 PM

@tchrist I've used vi(m) for probably 5 years while admining my Linux server and home PC, and i still hate it bitterly.

tchrist

It’s worth spending a little time learning something that will save you time in the long run. You amortize your learning time.

I learned vi 30 years ago, and have used it ever since. Time well invested, you must admit.

Jez

@tchrist only if what you're learning is necessary. if you're learning to get around a bad design, that's something like the broken window fallacy

tchrist

Just because you don’t care for something doesn’t mean it is bad. In this case, it is likely because you do not understand it.

Jez

vi(m) is designed to get around the horrible limitations an ancient dumb terminal places on you, such as no mouse and try-not-to-press-the-control-key

tchrist

Anything that distracts my fingers from their rightful home upon the home row is Evil and Wrong, by very definition. Therefore, vi wins.

I cqn edit with my eyes closed. Try that with your mousey toys.

Matt Эллен

1:39 PM

I can type blindfild, but I just find it easier to look down for some reason.

hence my need to break the habit

KitFox

> Conversion failed when converting the nvarchar value to data type int.

What?

Jez

I am typing this wiuth my eyes closed. Let's see how many mistakes I maieke

hmm not too bad

Matt Эллен

@KitFox databases, man, they're weirds.

tchrist

@MattЭллен Practice your scales. I’ve always found that helps quite a bit.

Jez

@KitFox relatively clear error message

Matt Эллен

1:40 PM

@tchrist what are the scales?

tchrist

> This particularly rapid unintelligible patter isn't generally heard and if it is it doesn't matter.

KitFox

@Jez Clear if I were making that conversion anywhere, but I'm not.

tchrist

With my eyes closed.

Matt Эллен

or do you mean on a piano?

tchrist

@MattЭллен Ayup.

And I’m serious, actually.

Matt Эллен

1:41 PM

the quick brown kit jumped over the sleepy cerb

6

KitFox

Cerb, not Reg.

Jez

that would be really clever if "kit" and "reg" were anagrams of "fox" and "dog"

The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick.

KitFox

Seriously, why is this even trying this conversion?

It's strings everywhere. Everywhere strings.

Why is it trying to make it an int?

Matt Эллен

I suppose there must be one somewhere

Cerberus

Why are people jumping over me again?

Jez

1:48 PM

you're lying on a BMX track?

Cerberus

Oh shit.

KitFox

@MattЭллен No, there isn't. It must be some hidden property that I couldn't possibly divine.

Cerberus

Hey @Kit, do you know anything about scones?

KitFox

A little. I haven't made my own in ages.

Cerberus

Hmm.

Strange little pastries.

KitFox

1:51 PM

About the only thing I remember is that it is one of the few things I would use baking powder for.

tchrist

@KitFox If you are getting a failed implicit conversion, then you must be doing something that implicitly relies upon that field being an integer, right?

Cerberus

Does baking powder make stuff taste funny for you?

tchrist

@KitFox Not for cookies?

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus it improves toothpaste

KitFox

No, I don't use powder for cookies.

Cerberus

1:52 PM

@MattЭллен Uhh that sounds...interesting.

Matt Эллен

I use fresh baking root for cookies

tchrist

Hm, maybe baking soda.

KitFox

Soda is far more common.

tchrist

Baking powder if for weak leavening, right?

KitFox

Yeah.

As I recall.

Cerberus

1:53 PM

I always forget which is which.

Jez

needs to pull his finger out and get his ancient MySQL databases transitioned over to new Postgres server :-(

KitFox

There's not much actual difference.

Matt Эллен

tchrist

@Cerberus Apparently I do, too.

Cerberus

I think one had added acids or something.

KitFox

1:53 PM

I like Postgres.

Jez

i don't like transitioning

Cerberus

@tchrist It's silly.

KitFox

I've got a meeting. Later.

tchrist

@Jez Well, it is a nasty word.

Cerberus

Bai.

Matt Эллен

1:54 PM

CU

@tchrist oh, so do I

tchrist

What’s the difference between baking soda and baking powder?

Baking soda is pure NaHCO₃. Baking powder has other bits in it.

Matt Эллен

TIL

difference Tomorrow vs two marrows

tchrist

@MattЭллен Why do you have vegetable marrows?

Those sound positively carnivorous compared with zucchini, which merely sounds like an exotic flavor of gelato.

Matt Эллен

2:12 PM

Pumpkins sound like fat children.

tchrist

And bumpkins?

Matt Эллен

they sound clumsy

unsophisticated, you might say

tchrist

I was sure we would have something coming out of BUM (arse, hobo) and -KIN (children, females).

That, or little things that go bump in the night.

Matt Эллен

the ususal punspects aren't here

tchrist

One should be off to work.

Why aren’t there female hobos?

Because we call those bagladies.

Cerberus

2:31 PM

Everybody, please look at this and support us.

0

Q: Where does a user go when an admin abuses their privleges?

In the following question: What's the English equivalent of the Japanese saying, “A fart ruins 100 days of sermons by the priest (bishop)”? An admin deleted my answer that addressed the entirety of the OPs phrase and had received 6 up votes, after having edited their own answer to include mi...

good work!

Thanks!

Voted

Great.

This must not escalate.

It may.

Reg is being ominous and unclear.

Jez

2:47 PM

books.google.com/ngrams/…

oh. bugger. i just realized what I did there :-D

stupid company names based on improper nouns

Cerberus

Haha.

You need capitals, my friend.

Maybe use "and Apple" instead, in order to avoid sentence-initial apples.

Jez

books.google.com/ngrams/…

Cerberus

Better. Now you can subtract the older horizontal yellow line.

Jez

books.google.com/ngrams/…

I can never decide whether to say "with regard to" or "with regards to"

Cerberus

Now you can.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

2:58 PM

My wife: (Son's name)! Your nose is full of snot! What is it doing in there?
Son: Hiding. From the bears.
Wife: Hiding from bears?
Son: They want to eat it. Daddy, do bears eat snot?
Me: (laughing) No!
Son: They DO.

KitFox

rofl

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I don't know what it is with him and bears. He's got like two things on his mind. Bears, and trains.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…