English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room - 2013-01-06 (page 1 of 2)

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12:04 AM

> It doesn't matter how privileged your up bringing is or isn't. You either have it, or you don't. Jack Whitehall has 'IT' in spades. If you watch his stand up DVD, you see a very competent, well spoken young man, who is very depreciating and very, very funny. When it comes to shows like the big fat quiz, they are obviously trying to attract a young audience. So basically, if you didn't like it, then it wasn't made for you in the first place. Go watch a serious program with a more mature cast.

Third comment on the Daily Mail article.

May have influenced the writer of the Irish Times article, who mentioned reading the comments on the Daily Mail article.

The hats are gone. What a relief.

@MετάEd You could have clicked the "i don't like hats" [sic] link.

@AndrewLeach What, and miss out on the fun?

@MετάEd Oh, you mean you're relieved you can calm down now!

12:30 AM

@tchrist Here's the actual quiz, if you want to see Jack in action. (Context for Daily Mail and Irish Times articles referenced above.)

“Not in my country”

12:44 AM

Arthur eastward in arms purposed
his war to wage on the wild marches,
over seas sailing to Saxon lands,
from the Roman realm ruin defending.
Thus the tides of time to turn backward
and the heathen to humble, his hope urged him,
that with harrying ships they should hunt no more
on the shining shores and shallow waters
of South Britain, booty seeking.

1:33 AM

114

Q: A new search engine for Stack Exchange

After the performance problems we have run into with Lucene.NET we've decided to make a change, we're moving the network on to elasticsearch. The test screen is a little hidden at the moment until we swap all search over, but here's a link to get there. Note that searches via the top box will ki...

discussion featured search elasticsearch

1:56 AM

Yo.

Tú.

A new search engine, at last!

I haven’t checked to see whether it stops screwing up the stuff the old one did.

The look of search results is now more unified with the following differences between Q&A:
* "Q:" or "A:" prefix
* Answer counts and tags will be present in questions.
* The votes count will be highlighted in green if it's accepted.

> Quoted phrases are exact matches except for case-sensitivity, for example, you can search for code

> If not in a quoted phrase, words will now be stemmed

> Excludes are now explicitly supported (like -term and -"my phrase")

> We don't roll up to the question anymore, if you searched for something that matched an answer, we'll show you the answer directly in search results

> infavorites:mine is back, with infavorites:12345 (any user id) added

Sounds like an improvement. Allowing for "AND" is already a great improvement.

Or having it on by default.

I always assumed no operators were possible, because none were mentioned or listed.

In other news, I've just seen a video of the actor Charles Dance reading an excerpt from 50 Shades of Grey.

2:07 AM

Oh, dear.

The porn book?

@Cerberus "Erotica"

I don't know Mr Dance.

@Cerberus It was terrifying.

@simchona Oh, thank you for correcting me, that is quite different.

@TRiG Why? Because he is an otherwise respectable person? Because of the text per se?

0

Q: What would you call someone who has been kept in the dark for years?

Like someone who hasn't seen the sun for a very long time?

I don't know what to make of this.

2:10 AM

How about NARQ

Charles Dance is simply awesome. Period. Full stop. Nothing more need be said.

Ugh. Spam.

@Cerberus It was the combination of the text and the voice.

@simchona Hmm was it real spam, or just someone's advertising his own proposal?

@TRiG Was it ironic?

@Cerberus Drive-by advertisement

Which to me is pretty spammy

2:13 AM

@Cerberus Not ... obviously so.

His proposal looked, to put it mildly, not my cup of tea; but he does appear to be a serious SE user, with plenty of reps?

@simchona It had no relevance to this site, did it? Spam, so.

@TRiG Then what the heck was he up to?

@Cerberus But that doesn't mean you can just drop into a room, drop a link, and not say anything else

My friend got the book from her mother, who apparently saw it as in some way emancipatory or something.

@simchona Yeah it was weird.

2:14 AM

In other rooms links like that do get trashed too

Okay.

Products and Consumers, I mean, wtf?

@Cerberus Yes, consumerist claptrap. FMH.

I applaud his ability to come up with a proposal that is both utterly uninteresting and extremely broad.

It's usually either one or the other.

Or maybe not. Whatever. Why am I discussing this?

2:16 AM

At 1:25:30.

(It's a quiz question.)

It's time they moved Youtube outside America.

> The uploader has not made this video available in your country.

Matt Эллен

it's a British show

But don't ever move it to Germany!

@MattЭллен But American laws.

@Cerberus It's available here in Ireland, and it's a British show (Channel 4, Quiz of the Year 2012.)

Matt Эллен

curses

2:18 AM

The question was "Which book is Charles Dance reading from?"

@TRiG Youtube falls under American law with its DMCA.

@Cerberus True.

At least that is part of the problem. I don't know.

By the way, how come you nesians are up at this hour?

@Cerberus You really don’t know Charles Dance? Try this:

Hey I know her.

Matt Эллен

2:19 AM

I watched the big fat quiz of the year

GoTh.

Indeed. Maisie.

Yeah they're a nice duo.

So Tywin is Charles?

Yes.

The longer one with the pair of them is quite good, too.

You what the problem is?

Lannister.

Noble houses fighting.

It's just too jarring.

2:23 AM

It’s what they do. They each want to be on top.

Either go all out and pick Leicester, or change the name enough to remove the echo.

Oh, that.

Does it not jar you?

You mean Lancaster.

If you evoke a parallel, it must be on purpose, and well thought-out.

Oh oops, yes, Lancaster.

2:24 AM

The allegory thing annoys.

Why did I say Leicester?

stomps self

Yet York / Stark is far enough not to annoy so much.

You should watch Tywin and Arya in the long one if you have not seen them. Quite good.

Oddly, I find that it is the oldest and youngest actors in the series who do the most outstanding jobs.

Like these two.

@tchrist That never even occurred to me, also because there are many other houses fighting over the Throne in the GoTh.

One of the complaints about the production by some of the actors is all the horse work. They said they could never manage to get on or off a horse by themselves, that they would cut the camera when it was about to happen so retainers/helpers could rush in to finish it off for them.

Except for Dance.

@tchrist I have seen the series.

2:27 AM

He gets on and off a horse, in armor, flawlessly, all by himself.

How knightly.

He has actual experience. Decades of it.

He’s not just a pretty boy like Jon or Robb, or even Theon. He’s done Real Work in his long acting career.

Those names, arg!

What was he thinking!?

Either pick John and Rob, or forget about it.

He is not good with names.

I hate how he diddles a letter here and there. And in ways that make no sense.

I don't understand. He knows what they resemble, and yet it does not bother him?

2:30 AM

Did you hear who is playing Loras’s and Margery’s grandmother this season? Dame Diana Rigg!

@Cerberus He used to be a bit of a hack screenwriter. He never really rose above that.

@tchrist Is this the GoTh again?

It is.

I don't know any actors' names.

Is Margery a normal spelling?

No.

I know Marjory, Margaret...

2:31 AM

He spells it Margaery, which is worse still.

But there are like 40 spellings for that name, it turns out.

Ugh.

But it is pronounced as though it were Marjorie.

Probably none of them Margaery!

Margery is the normal medieval one.

He cannot help himself.

I find it interesting that both you and Robbusto dislike him.

2:33 AM

Why?

Well.

You realize that Margery is Pearl, right?

Just cause.

It is pearl in Latin, yes.

@Cerberus Magrat.

Hmm.

Never seen that spelling.

2:35 AM

Margaret, Margarita, Marguerite, Margret, Margareta, Margarete, Margarette, Marjorie, Margery, Maggie, Madge, Marge, Meg, Megan, Mog, Moggie, Rita, Daisy, Greta, Gretel, Gretchen, Magee, Marg, Margot, May, Molly, Margo Sanna, Margi Meggie, Peggy, and Peg.

@tchrist I knew a Peig.

Daisy?

@Cerberus Yes. And Vera is a true name.

May?

Sanna?

Peggy?

Spanish Margarita is Daisy, yes.

And the Peggy thing, not there is a tale.

> Margaret, Margarita, Marguerite, Margret – Maggie, Marge, Margie, Marjorie, Margery, Madge, Margot, Margo, Magsie, Maisie, Daisy, Mamie, Maidie, Mae, May, Meg, Megan, Peggy, Greta, Gretchen, Rita;

2:36 AM

@Robusto Probably...I assume it is Latin, although names like Aviva are not.

@Cerberus Neither is Adidas.

@tchrist Oh, yes, but no etymological connection, is there? Margriet is daisy too, or actually not quite the same flower, but a similar one.

Margaret has spawned an amazing variety of names, some of which you wouldn't connect with the original in a million years. For example: Margot, Marguerita, Rita (!), Greta, Gretel, Gretchen, Marjorie (originally Margery), Margie, Maggie, Madge, May, Maisie, Daisy (!!), Maidie, Meg, and Mog.
As for Peg, one historian writes, "the nicknames Mog and Meg later gave rise to the rhymed forms Pog(gy) and Peg(gy)." Can't say as I know a lot of Poggies, and can't say as I want to. But you see how Grandma Margaret wound up with Peg.

@Robusto Yeah I don''t even know where that came from. Nor do I need to know, probably...

> Regarding the question about how Peggy derived from Margaret, you showed some astonishment that Daisy derived from Margaret. It is, in fact, the origin of the name. La marguerite is French for daisy. Daisy historically (until this century) has been a common diminutive of Margaret, and in the fifteenth century Marguerite d'Anjou, wife of England's Henry VI, used the daisy as her personal symbol.

In search from A to Z they passed,
And "Marguerita" chose at last;
But thought it sound far more sweet
To call the baby "Marguerite."
When grandma saw the little pet,
She called her "darling Margaret."
Next uncle Jack and cousin Aggie
Sent cup and spoon to "little Maggie."
And grandpapa the right must beg
To call the lassie "bonnie Meg."
From "Marguerita" down to "Meg,"
And now she's simply "little Peg."

2:39 AM

@Cerberus It's an amalgam of the beginnings of the names of the founders, IIRC.

@Robusto So obvious you whooshed him.

I did indeed.

@Robusto Oh hmm.

I still don't get Daisy.

@Cerberus Turns out it's from the founder's name, which was Adolf Dassler.

And I thought May came from the month, like April and June and whatnot...

2:41 AM

Adidas AG () is a German multinational corporation that designs and manufacturers sports clothing and accessories based in Herzogenaurach, Germany. It is the holding company for the adidas Group, which consists of the Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-Adidas golf company (including Ashworth), and Rockport. Besides sports footwear, Adidas also produces other products such as bags, shirts, watches, eyewear, and other sports- and clothing-related goods. Adidas is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Germany and Europe and the second biggest sportswear manufacturer in the world. Adid...

Hmm.

By rights September ought to be Tiber.

At least if Sue Tonius is to be believed.

Why?

Tiberius?

I suppose. But he was a whole lot less august.

Not to mention Caligula...

@Robusto You really have to wonder how much of what he wrote was propaganda.

Too much is single-sourced through him.

@Cerberus Why do you not get Daisy? From above: "It is, in fact, the origin of the name. La marguerite is French for daisy. Daisy historically (until this century) has been a common diminutive of Margaret, and in the fifteenth century Marguerite d'Anjou, wife of England's Henry VI, used the daisy as her personal symbol."

@tchrist Well, it wasn't as rigorous a science as, say, linguistics.

2:51 AM

> Daisy historically (until this century) has been a common diminutive of Margaret

@Cerberus You mean Gaius.

Why? How?

Yes.

Because English and French were overlapped.

@Robusto Depends.

Modern English is a creole. We had much to do with the French for a long time.

So it is a calque.

2:52 AM

Que cal.

The etymological connection, if any, is not obvious, but never mind.

Marguerite is Daisy in French.

So no connection?

So someone named Margaret would go by Daisy for short. It is completely duh-level obvious.

What do you mean no connection?

Do you not know what a calque is? Or a translation?

It’s like saying that the Jacobites should be called Jamesians or something.

No cognates. All other words in your list were apparently a cognate of μαργαρίτης.

2:55 AM

What I do not know is the link between Latin pearl and French/Spanish daisy.

That is the mystery.

D'oh.

Link = connection.

You said you do not know how French daisy became English daisy. That is so obvious I do not understand why you would even ask.

Never mind.

Shower time!

I googled for "girl named Winnipeg" and the dumb thing returned me "Lesbian dating in Winnipeg". I hate that.

I promise you: I haven’t dated a lesbian since I was in high school, and even that was an accident.

I really have no interest in doing so, stupid Google.

@Sim I think I may understand why Fortiter tried for that edit. The quote was truncated, and unattributed.

@tchrist It didn't fix the other issues, used ALL CAPS, and didn't attribute

Oh wait, you got the attribution bit

3:06 AM

I am not disagreeing with you.

I am saying that I think they were trying to do the right thing, but failed.

I at first thought it was spam, actually.

They had a different valid edit, but this one didn't pass muster with me

Yes, I know. Both.

I think they haven’t yet got the hang of our formatting. This ALL CAPS thing is so gross.

4 hours later…

7:10 AM

Hey everyone!

I am here to rant a bit...about a suggested edit..
http://english.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/15926

So, it started with a duplicated "is" (which still exists), and the more I looked into the question, it started to look a bit odd with respect to formatting. So, I fixed both (supposedly). And then I tried to fix language in the first part of the question to make it easier to understand and so that there would be lesser need to read the last part (which is nothing but rephrased 1st part mostly)....

It looked like all you did was change formatting, which didn't really help

Formatting was all inconsistent...does it not matter?

Next time say in the comment that you were taking out the double is, but the formatting was fairly consistent.

Also, please don't bold everything. It makes things a bit hard to read. The italics were enough, in this case.

Italics and inverted commas used for the same purpose in the same question, how is that consistent....

Hmm..I do get you point about bold

7:25 AM

Nobody needs to be exactly consistent--what matters is whether the post is easy enough to read. I'm glad you're making an effort to edit, but in this particular case I can agree with the reviewers.

That being said, the edits I've seen come up have been pretty good so I think this one just happened to be not quite as good.

Hmm..

Next time, just make it a little more explicit what you were initially trying to change. Otherwise it looks like you went on a formatting rampage that didn't change much substantially :p

Not quite sure what to make of "Nobody needs to be exactly consistent" ..... I specifically changed italics because that's the first time I saw them being used for this purpose.... I guess I was wrong about it...

I have seen italics being used usually for bringing out some specific words out of a quote or a sentence..

Yeah..I would definitely be more explicit in the future.... :)

Please don't let this discourage you :]

Definitely not! :)

Is usage of italics defined somewhere on stackexchange, or it depends on a specific question?

7:38 AM

I think it depends on your style. They're less emphasize-y than bold, so they're used quite a bit.

Hmmm

One uses italics to talk about words or phrases.

Exactly

One avoids bold. Sometimes it is used to highlight specific words in a quoted sentence, where introducing italics would do the wrong thing.

that's what I had in mind

Hmmm

7:40 AM

Italics are good for the use-vs-mention distinction. Better than quote marks for that purpose.

@simchona - what can you tell me about the language change made in the 1st part of the question? This is pretty unique but 2nd part of this specific question consists mostly of what has already been said in the 1st part....so I tried to make it clearer in the 1st part itself

@tchrist - please see the context, if you haven't already! :)
http://english.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/15926

Yes, I had seen it. I would not have used bold, nor quotation marks.

Hmmm

Points taken from both of you! :)

2 hours later…

10:03 AM

Wikipedia has a rather curious and amusing page to find its own grammatical errors.

For example, had ran gets 74 hits, had drank gets 18 hits, etc.

The thing is, now that we have the new Search, we can do that for us, too.

For example, here is our “has began”, which gets one hit currently.

17

Q: Is it correct to say "on accident" instead of "by accident"?

There is a great chasm on these phrases in the US. The great divide seems to be currently centered at the age of 40. The younger generation has began shifting to "on accident" for unknown reasons. What is your view?

word-choice prepositions

I will leave that one there for now, just so you can see how this works.

And an affect scores 2 hits right now.

Whack-a-mole.

2 hours later…

12:09 PM

@tchrist An IPA comment of yours triggered a question on Linguistics. :P

12:37 PM

how often is the phrase "put the kettle on" used in US english?

if it isn't used, is that because you don't have kettles? don't have freeze-dried coffee?

Matt Эллен

12:51 PM

surely they have tea?

With a splash of milk.

Matt Эллен

1:10 PM

or a soup scone of lemon

Yum!

1:51 PM

@tchrist That was pretty funny, actually.

@Jez Polly put the kettle on, kettle on, kettle on. Polly put the kettle on, we'll all have tea.

@tchrist Affect is also a noun, don't forget.

2:07 PM

Hi

How are you?

@Robusto And it's a mass noun.

Matt Эллен

2:24 PM

who're you calling fat?

2:36 PM

@Noah Not always. Historically it was used with an article, and as this site deals with the history of the English language as well as current usage, the results of a search for "errors" could be skewed in that case.

@Robusto How could I forget? Be that as it may, those two hits for “an affect” are indeed misuses, and should be “an effect”. You have to look at them manually, but it’s true.

1

Q: Use of articles in English

Which article should I use in the following situations: 1) There is only one book store near my school, and I buy books there. Suppose, that I'm having a conversation with a person, who doesn't know anything about that book store, my school, how many book stores are there near my school, or...

Dupe, surely.

18

Q: Are there any simple rules for article usage ("a" vs "the" vs none)

I can't for the life of me figure out where to use a and where to use the (and where there is no article at all). Is there a simple rule of thumb to memorize? (The standard one if a person knows which item you are talking about then use "the" doesn't clear things up for me as I have no idea whe...

grammar articles

I think we should prefer general rules over "How about this case? Or this one? Or this one?" questions.

We’ll probably just give up on articles in English by and by. After all, 1.3 billion Chinese can’t be wrong forever.

@tchrist No, but the effect of their wrongness is multiplied by their numbers. For example, in any given instance, 1.3 billion Chines are 4.33 times wronger than 300 Americans. QED

I am increasingly convinced that Kris has some form of autism. He cannot perceive humor to save his life.

2:45 PM

Autism? Or animus? You be the judge.

Also, with a 42% accept rate, he must feel sorely disappointed in EL&U to "get" him and his questions.

He has a stupidly high rep for someone who says the stupidest things.

People must like stupid.

@Jay Was that supposed to be "Moreover, the dog came and licked his sores", "Moreover, the dog, came and licked his sores", or "'R' over, the dog, came and licked his sores"? — Kris 3 hours ago

At least frend, grete, and a few other words here are not misspellings. — Kris 2 hours ago

He just doesn’t get humor.

Not even when someone tags it as humor with a smiley.

So the question is: is that a congenital condition, or did he have a humorectomy at some point? Or perhaps it was lost in some horrific accident?

Can an unfortunate accident turn one into an ass?

Or does this require intent?

BTW, Hugo's answer seems out of proportion to the task at hand. Kind of like taking a sledgehammer to a flea.

If I were not an atheist I might believe that it was all part of God's special plan for him that he be forever unpleasant.

Kris, or Hugo?

2:56 PM

The former.

Too easy to blame people’s flaws on anything but themselves.

SE chat, as good as it is, does have a problem with antecedents.

3:08 PM

8

A: The secret behind the Epic Punyon Beard

It was employee-only. The only exception was dmck who got it as a reward for being the first to figure out what it was all about. That's all.

ftn

7

A: Hats data in Stack Exchange Data Explorer

No, there won't be any hat data in the data explorer. Far as the beard goes... the data e̴͉̖̺̞ͥ̽ͧ̎ͩx̤͙̫ͭ̑̿p̅̔̈҉͇̫̤͉̫ĺ̜̗̖̉͐ͨ͗ͦ͟ǫ̱̱̹̹͇͍̫ͫ͂̃ͨ́r̸̻̱̦ͥ̌ͦ̀é̄̇҉̰̥r͍͓̺͙̞̻͍̾̀͊ͯ̈͜ ͇̭̤ͨͯ͌ͭ͂̓̽̇͂͜ would n̶̢̯̜̻ͪ̔̐̓ͣ͋͜o̢̦͕͚͚̳̹̓͞t̯̻̹͖̳̪̭͖ͦͤͯ̈ͧ̂͛͠ ̑͋ͮ̿̒ͯ҉̩̫̟̻̙̰͕͢ḧ̯̝̟̅ͬ́ͩe̴͚̗͓̟͇͓ͫ̐ͪͯ̚ͅͅl͂ͨ̏̓̅ͯͮͯ̌҉̪͎p̔ͨ͏͎͔͉̫̭̙ͅ...

@Jez only in old movies. I think nowadays the only thing Americans have is 'coffee makers'. If you want tea, you prosaically 'boil some water'. Maybe we have 'tea kettles' but 'put the kettle on' sounds really old-fashioned.

I have a tea kettle on my stove as we speak.

Far as the beard goes... the data e̴͉̖̺̞ͥ̽ͧ̎ͩx̤͙̫ͭ̑̿p̅̔̈҉͇̫̤͉̫ĺ̜̗̖̉͐ͨ͗ͦ͟ǫ̱̱̹̹͇͍̫ͫ͂̃ͨ́r̸̻̱̦ͥ̌ͦ̀é̄̇҉̰̥r͍͓̺͙̞̻͍̾̀͊ͯ̈͜ ͇̭̤ͨͯ͌ͭ͂̓̽̇͂͜ would n̶̢̯̜̻ͪ̔̐̓ͣ͋͜o̢̦͕͚͚̳̹̓͞t̯̻̹͖̳̪̭͖ͦͤͯ̈ͧ̂͛͠ ̑͋ͮ̿̒ͯ҉̩̫̟̻̙̰͕͢ḧ̯̝̟̅ͬ́ͩe̴͚̗͓̟͇͓ͫ̐ͪͯ̚ͅͅl͂ͨ̏̓̅ͯͮͯ̌҉̪͎p̔ͨ͏͎͔͉̫̭̙ͅ... oh god...m͈̘̄̍ͭ̇͞a̲̠̣̱̘̘̟͚͖̚͡k͍͉͚̼̣̪̞͙ͥ͜e̛ͣͦ̕҉̣̬̭͇͔ͅ ̫͇̙͉̟́ͤͩͣ̈ͣ́t̢͆̏҉̭̰h̴͚̣̻̪̮̙͎̲͈̃̀̆ͦͨ̃̉̀e̤͍͇ͤ̈́͋̏̂͡͞ ̝̱͖̹̦̪̰͖̐͑ͭ̃ͦ̔̐ḇ̡̢̄ê̜̥̗̼͖̼ͣ̋̆̀̚ḁ̻͚͙̻̭͙ͣ͌͘ṙ̤̟̪ͭ̓̓̋d͉̜̩̯̪̜͔̘ͧͬͥ ͩ̀̓̑̋̅ͣ҉̘̙̭͎̠̖̀s͕͓͐̋̎̍͐̕͞t͍̋̊͛ͤo͎̘ͨ̌ͧ̓̎̔ͣp̎̓̃̔̊҉͙̪̲͎.͇͇͙̲̫̣̻̃͆͋͒̏ͪ̀͠͝ͅ ̡̘̻̜͎̜̖̯̑̄ͧ͡m͎͊̾͑̎̈a̶̸̪͓͇͖̭̬̘̾ͮk̠̜͛ͮ̃ė̷̪̬̠̤̈̇͛̽̅ͪͥ͞ ̒̃͆̿҉̬̣̤í̪͉̇̿͗̏̓̚t̢͔̖̪͇ͥͦ̄̑͌̍ͤ͛͘ ̩ͤͥ̃̀ͨ̈̌̕͢â͇̖̪̗̌͠͡ľ̌̊̿…

Doesn't quite work in chat, does it?

@tchrist I always have a teakettle on my stove.

0

A: jQuery Lightbox kills other JQ scripts

The statement that new version of jQuery breaks other jQuery plugins infers that jQuery already exists in page. If it was added without using wp_enqueue_script ie hard coded into a template, it won't deregister. Adding a new version of jQuery over writes the jQuery objectand will wipe out any pr...

Hmm ... "infers"? Really?

These are the people who flock to EL&U with their questions. Our site should be renamed to SlopOverflow.

And don't go all prescriptivist on me. Infer should never mean imply; otherwise we lose a useful distinction.

Although if we do let it go it is as if we are allowing a person to place a sign on his back, one visible only to competent speakers of English, that says, "This person is an idiot."

Here's another:

> I am having a display issue with the jquery plugin elastislide demo on the enclosed like where it says featured music, mean't to be the slide show. Inspect element has the slide code as display none.

See if you can spot the spurious contraction.

3:27 PM

They need to have their licence revoked.

@tchrist sure, but do you say or think 'put the kettle on'? That makes me think of a corn cob pipe that fits through the gap from the missing teeth.

Of course I do.

@Jez would be happy to know that.

The old that is strong does not wither. Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease?

3:33 PM

Rain in August portends crickets in the tea kettle.

Mama put the kettle on. As interpreted by Swioricians.

By the way, that video points up an important fact about keyboard players and their solos. However good those solos may be, as soon as a lead instrument steps on them they are, by definition, over.

-3

Q: Lump on my willy

There is a lump on my willy and it really hurts I got my sister to pull it off with her teeth help me? And my Facebook isn't working LOL Thank you x

SO is not immune to idiots, part MMMCMXIV.

I thought you weren’t one to go slumming.

Bored. But too lazy to get up and go out.

Same. No coffee. But getting some means moving.

For which coffee is first required.

Sounds like a dilemma. Or a paradox.

Or An Inconvenient Truth.

3:41 PM

wonders whether tea mightn’t serve to bootstrap the day

Tea elevates the afternoon, but is powerless to affect the morning.

2 hours later…

5:40 PM

@tchrist that has all the signs of NS puppetry

tea?

Or the dictionary thief?

Ask @Reg, he can check.

His username Sauter probably refers to telling us to sod off.

But stealing from elsewhere for to pretend to post questions here is part of his modus operandi, yes.

5:54 PM

You know, there are times when one of our mods does something that makes me want to cheer, but I say nothing because I don’t want to generate controversy by bringing it to general attention by nitpickers, nor risk having us descend into a metameta rat’s next of infinite regression. But I still cheer.

Quietly.

0

Q: Is it correct to say "An X which Y has Z", where X, Y, Z are inanimate objects?

My initial sentence is the following: I have a class which constructor accepts an Action. Should I use "whose" instead of "which", and won't it imply that class is animate? Or maybe it's all wrong and I should phrase it some other way?

this whole 'whose/which' controversy, as well as many others, is a general sign of forming underspecified rules.

There is no controversy.

There are people with FITH ideas. That does not mean there is a controversy.

In fact we were taught in school where I was studying English that whose only restricted to inanimates... — Anixx Apr 30 '12 at 2:36

Matt Эллен

wtf?

Underspecified. That should be for -question- words.

5:58 PM

Read "animates" instead.

Matt Эллен

oh

oh sure.

But it is still wrong.

modulo errors.

well it is correct...bu just for question words.

"whose coat is this?" it must be a persons, not some poor dog.

It only holds for the possessive interrogative whose, not for the genitive relative whose.

Matt Эллен

5:59 PM

which is why we need animate bisuits

No, it might be the dog’s coat, the poor thing.

Some dogs have coats.

mmm dog biscuits. clean your teeth while you eat.

But few make good fur coats for any but themselves.

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Jan '136

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