English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

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Robusto

14:00

Time for a walk. Laters.

tchrist

From here.

> A large porcelain dinner and dessert service was often considered a suitable gift from a king to an ambassador or fellow monarch. Such services, like the famous Swan Service made by Meissen from 1737 to 1741 for Count Bruhl, might consist of more than 2,000 pieces. When production of the Copenhagen Porcelain Factory's Flora Danica Service suddenly stopped in 1802, it numbered 1,802 pieces.

Mirabile visu

skullpatrol

14:14

Hi @cornbreadninja麵包忍者 how are you?

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@tchrist playing with her breasts.

@skullpatrol 7-0, BABY

Well, in a few hours.

skullpatrol

nice :D

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 Just Win Baby

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

nice!

@Robusto poor Wall St.

skullpatrol

You set a record against us!

On Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013, the Kansas City Chiefs Arrowhead Stadium was filled with Terrorhead Returns fans of all ages, determined to reclaim the Guinness World Record for loudest crowd roar in an outdoor stadium.

As posted on KMBC.com shortly after the game, 'The Red Sea' of fans reclaimed the title earned last month by fans of the Seattle Seahawks during the Chiefs' 24-7 win on Sunday over AFC Western Division rival Oakland Raiders.

Kansas City Chiefs fans raised the noise level up a notch or two with 137.5 decibels recorded at Arrowhead Stadium, breaking the Seahawks fans' record of 13…

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

14:33

I know!

It was a glorious day.

skullpatrol

Everybody enjoys cheering against da raiders ;-)

we are the most hated team in sports

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

skullpatrol

Here is three pages worth of urban definitions.

Cerberus

14:59

@tchrist That's a decent dinner table.

@tchrist Cocotte?

Yes, it is used in English:

> 1. (Cookery) a small fireproof dish in which individual portions of food are cooked and served

Often used to cook eggs.

Well, "often" in comparison with how often one uses a cocotte. I don't.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

15:35

@skullpatrol what came first, the fans dressing like members of GWAR, or the hatred?

skullpatrol

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 Hatred.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Okay, so why the hatred?

skullpatrol

Ask the haters.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Hmm. I'll have to research this.

tchrist

I'm surprised that the greeting-card companies like Hallmark haven’t seized on the opportunity to make sympathy cards you can send the terminally ill. I mean, they seem to have them for everything else. Figure they'll add the "I'm sorry you're dying" cards pretty soon now.

I mean, they already have "Get Well Soon!" cards. But where are the cards for the people who have no chance of getting well ever?

It's a missed market opportunity.

The vampires will suck that one soon, mark my words.

skullpatrol

15:47

Duly noted.

Johan Larsson

16:30

@tchrist your view of the world is very similar to mine, scary.

tchrist

Too many fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil lying about, I’m afraid.

skullpatrol

Try to see the forest and not just the trees.

...and the fruit lying around them.

Noah

16:46

Can "before" be used in the following context

"The building is before the big green sign"

Or the building is before the hospital

Sounds strange to my ears

skullpatrol

me too

Cerberus

That would mean you can't see the green sign, because the building is in front of it.

skullpatrol

unless you were travelling

Noah

I have a doc to edit and there are many similar uses

@cerb I am pretty sure the author didnt mean that

Cerberus

@Noah Yes, so then it's wrong.

@skullpatrol Right, another possibility!

Noah

16:52

Is there any way to rephrase this to make it clearer?

skullpatrol

infront of

Noah

Here's an example:

"Take the main road and the small town is before the city"

I don't think in front works here

Cerberus

@Noah No, that is OK.

It's what Skullpatrol said.

When you're moving, it becomes before in time, not before of place.

Noah

Okay. What if we make it: the small town is before the city

Cerberus

In the context of moving, that is OK.

Although it usually makes more sense to say "your destination is after this landmark", because then you still have time to look for your destination after you've spotted the landmark.

When you say, "your destination is before this landmark", what use is that if you only see the landmark after having passed your destination?

Noah

17:03

But what if we are just telling the guy where the small town is. Where is the small town? Have you seen the city? Yeah. The small town is before the city.

Cerberus

Yes, then you could say that.

Not sure of how much practical use it would be as directions...

Noah

Any better alternative?

Cerberus

I would probably say "the village is somewhere on the way to the city"?

Noah

17:19

Yeah. That's one.

But here the village could be anywhere on the same road. It doesn't imply it's right before the city

Cerberus

That is true.

So you could say that, if that were exactly what you wanted to say.

Noah

Yeah. I know it sounds right with the word "right" but I am not sure if it's idiomatic to use it without that

Cerberus

It is idiomatic, but colloquial, I would say.

Noah

Can you run this through the COCA, or whatever the name is. I don't know how to use it and I am currently on my iphone

Assuming you don't mind me asking you that.

Cerberus

17:45

I've never used COCA.

What do you want me to run through Google Ngram?

Your construction is probably too colloquial for print.

Cerberus

18:05

Wow, I am listening to a video that is so poorly pronounced that it is very hard to follow. He says COMman (command; I thought he was saying comment), booten (button), accurayte, yoossèd, (used), leest (list), paoze (pause)...

2 hours later…

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

19:47

Tree That Owns Itself

The Tree That Owns Itself is a white oak tree, widely assumed to have legal ownership of itself and of all land within eight feet (2.4 m) of its base. The tree, also called the Jackson Oak, is located at the corner of South Finley and Dearing Streets in Athens, Georgia, United States. The original tree fell in 1942, but a new tree was grown from one of its acorns, and planted in the same location. The current tree is sometimes referred to as the Son of The Tree That Owns Itself. Both trees have appeared in numerous national publications, and the site is a local landmark. Legend The earlie...

Mitch

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 Just throw that in our face, the rest of us who -don't- own ourselves. "See, even a tree can do it, why can't you get off your lazy ass and own yourself, too?"

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Take that!

I gotta leave, though.

Mitch

Ha!

Cerberus

@Mitch Hey, slavery is not so bad, is it?

It Gets Things Done.

Jez

20:46

en.wiktionary.org/wiki/joe_job

how did the second, more recent definition of "Joe job" come about?

Cerberus

21:17

No idea!

> 3.2:
- Translations into Swedish (+John Larsson)

Mitch

21:47

@Jez How did either come about? I've never heard of em.

RegDwigнt

22:15

Tim is really pushing it now. Forcing his way right into the broken window Cerberus was so determined to create. Alas.

Cerberus

Excuse me?

Who's Tim?

Is he a friend?

Mitch

22:28

What broken window? Does that mean we can break windows now?

Cerberus

23:11

@Mitch: It is the development of English words in the history of English, which also includes the Latin phase, as you well know. You will find similar etymologies all over the Oxford English Dictionary, too; but the ones for these words don't treat the Latin phase as extensively as needed, as opposed to, e.g., the article on -ine. An arbitrary limitation of disciplines is bad for arts and science alike. Edit: in case that was a genuine question, I take it all back and replace it with "Latin". — Cerberus 4 mins ago

Mitch

My question was sincere. Was the meaning change that you refer to during Classical Latin, or was it when those words were first used as neologisms in English in the 15th-16th c. or in the past 5 centuries of English usage? — Mitch 51 secs ago

Cerberus

@Mitch: Oh, then I apologise. The change occurred in Antiquity. — Cerberus 16 secs ago

Mitch

It's relevant to the question. Tim (who is unknowledgable about English roots) has been consistently looking for the meanings of parts of English words. In English, those roots have not separable or productive meaning.

Cerberus

23:29

I didn't think anyone would ever think those things I described happened after Latin, but I suppose users thing the darndest things...