English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

8:07 PM

earthy dynamic?

Indeedy.

@KitFox no. Like those rice fields in Asia.

Exactly.

Wet?

Flooded?

No, levelled.

8:08 PM

Paddy?

In levels.

Oh.

@RegDwigнt If it's baroque ... fiquse it.

Oh, terraced.

8:08 PM

You're either on one level, or you're on another. All of you. No mix-and-matching, no crescendo, no diminuendo.

Terraced dynamic.

Maybe.

Loud/unloud/loud/unloud. Look at Vivaldi.

music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/textt/terraceddynamics.html

Yep.

Write a wiki about it. I'll upvote it! Oh wait.

I wouldn't have any useful contribution.

8:10 PM

Anyhoo. That's one of the easiest signs you can teach your kids to tell Baroque from Classical.

Epoques 101.

I will recollect that at the appropriate time.

I am certain you will.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Everyone, I'm heading out, have a happy new year's, if you're not already started.

You too!

It’s tough to crescendo on a harpsichord.

8:11 PM

You too! Happy celebrating!

@tchrist precisely. Or an organ.

Which happened to be the shit du jour.

Tori Amos plays a harpsichord sometimes.

Come to think of it, she uses terraced dynamics sometimes too.

With a harpsichord, terraced dynamics use you.

BRB drinking.

> Despite its many (serious) limitations, including extremely low volume, it has considerable expressive power, the player being able to control attack, duration, volume, and even provide certain subtle effects of swelling of tone and a type of vibrato unique to the XXX.

What is XXX? No peeking!

It was Bach’s fave.

Although what he did with the organ is remarkable.

The clavichord.

I have a WTC recording on it.

Theremin?

Heh.

8:14 PM

@RegDwigнt I will join you in five hours.

Thermenvox?

Clavichord

The clavichord is a European stringed keyboard instrument known from the late Medieval, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was widely used as a practice instrument and as an aid to composition, not being loud enough for larger performances. The clavichord produces sound by striking brass or iron strings with small metal blades called tangents. Vibrations are transmitted through the bridge(s) to the soundboard. The name is derived from the Latin word clavis, meaning "key" (associated with more common clavus, meaning "nail, rod, etc.") and chorda (from Gree...

Yeah.

> Among recent clavichord recordings, those by Christopher Hogwood (The Secret Bach, The Secret Handel, and, most recently, The Secret Mozart), break new ground. In his liner notes, Hogwood points out that these composers would typically have played the clavichord in the privacy of their homes.

What's that warbly thingy? Is that the theremin?

8:14 PM

Think: Star Trek.

Etherphone or what have you, right?

Mark Twain wrote something about clavicula, and it was funny, but the Internet no has it.

It was a short story about a fake doctor. A sharlatan.

Or perhaps it was O'Henry?

"Leon Theremin playing his own instrument" I am hesitant to view this YouTube clip.

2

@RegDwigнt Twain also wrote about the solitary esophagus. Consider the source.

►

8:16 PM

Speaking of, apparently 'a tall ~~glass~~ drink of water' will give you lots of explicit images of nude women.

@RegDwigнt online-literature.com/twain/christian-science

@KitFox stop using Cuil.

That clip is actually astonishing.

@KitFox Isn't that supposed to be a tall drink of water? Or does that give you nude men?

@RegDwigнt What's that?

Cat must learn not to walk on keyboard.

Oh. Oh dear. Cat purring on my neck.

Must. Resist.

No, kitty, no. My cup of ... tea ... snxx

8:21 PM

@KitFox it was that funny search engine that existed for like three days claming that its index was OVER 9000 times the size of Google's, and all you found by using it was gay porn.

I think I just wrote the perfect elevator pitch.

Not just for Cuil. For anything ever.

Yes. That would be.

There should be a superspecial supersecret hat for repcapping today.

Isn't cuil slang for tail in the sense of uh...pussy?

I've been sitting for hours on a 165 with half a dozen answers bumped to the top of the front page, and nothing has been happening at all. Zilch.

@RegDwigнt Are you using George Takei's computer?

8:23 PM

@KitFox you were supposed to pronounce it "cool". Some people. rolls eyes

!!wiki cuil

KitSox

Cuil

Cuil ( ) was a search engine that organized web pages by content and displayed relatively long entries along with thumbnail pictures for many results. Cuil said it had a larger index than any other search engine, with about 120 billion web pages. It went live on July 28, 2008. Cuil was managed and developed largely by former employees of Google, Anna Patterson and Russell Power. The CEO and co-founder, Tom Costello, has worked for IBM and others. The company had raised $33 million from venture capital firms including Greylock. Cuil's privacy policy, said it did not store users’ search act...

Oh! I might could have helped. Do you need to cap today?

@KitFox I don't need to, no. Plus you can only upvote any user like thrice a day. But sure, knock yourself out.

@KitSox Does Cuil still exist?

> The Irish ancestry of Anna Patterson's husband Tom Costello sparked the name Cuil, which the company states is taken from a series of Celtic folklore stories involving a character, Fionn mac Cumhaill, they erroneously refer to as Finn MacCuil. The company says that Cuil is Irish for knowledge and hazel.

8:25 PM

Plus I was wrong about the number. 156, not 165. Unpossible.

Oh, according to Wikipedia, its current state is Down.

So it's short for Cumhaill and you're right, @KitFox.

Still don't have the Unicorn on, what was it, ELL? I think twas ELL.

@DamkerngT. shut down on September 17, 2010

It's supposed to be said like cool? No wonder it didn't survive.

@RegDwigнt I did what I could.

8:26 PM

4 hours ago, by RegDwigнt

Oh @KitFox! It was hard, but I finally came up with five useful comments for the ELL meta.

@KitFox thank you.

@ElliottFrisch Ahh... Thanks

I think even Bing is still having a hard time.

Bing. Bing. That's ice, right?

^^

Also an earthly branch?

I keep hearing that Bing is exceptionally useful for pron. I am still to use it ever.

8:27 PM

jia li bing ding

(Never know that Bing can be about ice before :-)

I don't remember the others.

I mean, why would you search for porn? You have your favorite pr0n site of choice and you search that one.

@RegDwigнt I have. Once. When Google was down.

Sometimes it is nice to be surprised.

8:28 PM

@RegDwigнt Done.

128 views for tchrist.

@MετάEd oh thank you!

Oh, Bīng is snow in Chinese!

Think you can get to 600 before Friday?

@DamkerngT. I thought it was just ice.

Snow was something else. thinks

Xie? That might be rain.

I'm not sure. I can only count 1 to 10 in Chinese. :)

No, wait, rain was yu. Xiayu

Because you could make funny fish puns that way.

8:31 PM

显示? (Xiǎnshì) <-- by Google :)

@KitFox And when you're finished with those, we can make more.

@DamkerngT. Um, no.

@KitFox That's what I expect from Google Translate. --An incorrect answer. :)

雪 Xuě

That's snow.

In Texas, what you do on New Years Day you will do all year.

8:33 PM

Oh, yes. Google can translate that back to snow.

So we try not to work too much and we try to eat well.

@MετάEd Sleep?

@KitFox Naah. I'll sleep when I'm dead.

@MετάEd Says who? I spent over 10 years in Texas, and I never heard that one.

@ElliottFrisch Ten years is pretty short.

Were you actually a member of a native Texan family?

8:35 PM

@MετάEd Maybe regional? I was 5 in Houston and 6 in Dallas.

@MετάEd I wish I knew you in real life. I think we'd get along well.

It isn't just a matter of time. You have to be enculturated.

@MετάEd That sounds Texan.

@KitFox That's the nicest thing anybody's said to me today.

Except for "I love you".

Happy New Year!

8:37 PM

Happy New Year!

@MετάEd I will take that as a compliment as well.

@KitFox Good.

Hey aedia! Happy new hat!

And @ElliottFrisch, too.

Congratulations on your like over 9000 hats, @Reg! Better wear 'em all while they last.

I wish to have gotten the Before it was Cool hat.

@aediaλ I have but 531, alas. 532nd incoming.

8:43 PM

Have you covered all the chat hats?

And yes, tis a pity I have to manually screenshot absolutely everything.

Did you get your New Year's hat in Writers?

All? No. But a bunch.

4 hours ago, by RegDwigнt

I don't see Writers there.

That's because I forgot.

8:45 PM

Fixed.

Most excellent indeed.

You didn't read my novel this year, did you?

I did not. Sorriehs.

Now you owe me. grins

I don't even think I saw the link, actually.

8:46 PM

I didn't link it, is why.

@KitFox only because you were faster than myself.

I only sent pdfs to a select few.

Oh so that's how it works now, eh.

It's better than last year's but that don't make it good.

If you want to read it, I will send it to you.

Call it a prequel to fool everyone.

8:47 PM

Did you read last year's even?

I can promise that I want, I can't promise that I will in the most swiftest manner, as I am still stuck with Le Guin.

Just the little Russian short story, I think, is all you've read of my writing.

@RegDwigнt Really? It's been months, hasn't it?

@KitFox I think I did. I even remember something. But perhaps it was drafts you asked me about...

@KitFox yes, tell me about it.

Did you ever read Peter Pan?

I read when I go to bed, and I've conditioned myself to fall asleep as soon as I'm in bed, so two and a half pages is like the absolute maximum, and that's on a good day.

8:49 PM

Or Winnie the Pooh?

@KitFox sure. In Russian. As a kid.

@KitFox oh come on now.

Well, I thought you would have.

Chain yanking is for Cerberusa'es.

I was just asking.

I got those for my boys for Christmas.

Excellent.

Did you watch the Russian Winnie the Pooh cartoons?

That was like last year, and your Russian must've greatly improved by now.

8:50 PM

A bit, but not as much as I should have.

@RegDwigнt winces

I need to take a proper class. I'm too undisciplined for self-study.

There's the crazy Ice Girl whose questions on ELL have been forcing me to stop to drink.

Sorry, I meant stop drinking.

Same difference.

Feliç any nou'

2

!

And also to you.

@tchrist use more notes

@tylerharms y feliz año nuevo a ti también

9:02 PM

y tu mama también

Y tu mama tampoco.

@aediaλ gracias a usted.

y tu mama tampax?

2

And now I've been called away by the powers that be to dismantle a Christmas tree. L'ennui.

oh, sorry, wrong room

@tylerharms I thought you were supposed to wait until tomorrow

9:04 PM

@RegDwigнt Good for your health. :)

@DamkerngT. as I said, a typo. :P

"Vodka turns all people into Russians." — Ivan Rebroff

:D

@KitFox searches

gets pictures of glasses of water

stares intently at ice cubes

@Gilles this is never the wrong room. No seriously, ever. For anything. Just dump it here. It belongs.

It's about time the subtitle of this room is changed to something more comprehensible.

9:09 PM

@Яeg and tchrist: Well, if I ever wanted to find out how to describe this exact scenario — i.e. a newly inducted beta SE site that is flouting the established norms on SO, is being discussed by non-participating yet smug SE-citizens on MSO on new year's eve — in ONE WORD, I'd ask on English Language & Usage. Every site has its own norms and acceptable level of questions... the plethora of "one-word for X" bullshıt that's rampant on English Language & Usage might be shocking for most other sites, but that's what your community chose to allow. Let Sound Design establish their own set of rules that makes them happy. — yoda 13 mins ago

2

Ooooohhhhh.

Someone has not been drinking on New Year's Eve.

Someone get Yoda a bottle.

Yoda does not drink.

@JasperLoy s/something more comprehensible//g

@JasperLoy That is the precise problem I am in the process of identifying.

@JasperLoy oh? I thought that was why he couldn't get his words in the right order

@JasperLoy I think Reg is saying yoda should start.

9:11 PM

@RegDwigнt oh, snap

@JasperLoy : In case you didn't hear all those pings, here's another.

I am very sad today. I failed to do something very important. Now I may have to wait another year.

@JasperLoy lucky for you, it'll be next year in just a few hours

@JSBձոգչ No, it's already 2014 here long ago...

@JasperLoy then you have all year to work on it. and you're writing it off already?

9:13 PM

@Mitch Thanks, I like to receive pings.

@JSBձոգչ I guess that's the good news.

@yoda: I am topping the hat charts on Sound Design. You don't even have an account there. Or on ELU. What is your point? Smug does not enter the building until you force it to. — ЯegDwight 15 secs ago

Seriously. WTF.

@JSBձոգչ for him it is already next year. Maybe he can ask one of us to do it for him?

i suppose. i can do things!

@Gilles if we wait until tomorrow, the nye Party will devour the poor tree.

@Mitch I have been trying to do this for the past few years. This is the third time I failed, in a way.

9:15 PM

@RegDwigнt that's over the top

Anyway, it's time to reexamine my life and see what drastic changes need to be made. I don't want to fail again.

maybe you should give that thread a rest until tomorrow

That I already was in the process of doing.

He pinged me.

Do not ping a drunken Russian.

3

Seriously, do not.

pings @Reg

Do not ping a Russian. Got it.

9:17 PM

drops bottle

curses

@JSBձոգչ Nice! The alternative is kind of boring.

@RegDwigнt When you are frustrated with SE, remember that all of us can quit right now and nothing bad will happen.

Oops. Here. hands new bottle

@JasperLoy Whoa whoa whoa. I am not frustrated with anything or anyone. It's all peace and eggcake here, as the Germans say.

wishes for more coffee

9:18 PM

@JasperLoy or just not respond at all.

can't resist pinging @Reg just a little

drops another bottle just a little, catches in midair

@aediaλ Oh I'm sure there's more.

@aediaλ That is very simple. Just go get some more.

Especially with those adorable ears.

9:18 PM

That was close, aedia. You've no idea.

!!jinx

KitSox

@Mitch That didn't make much sense. Use the help command to learn more.

!! jinx

KitSox

@JasperLoy That didn't make much sense. Use the help command to learn more.

There's no sense to be made of.

9:19 PM

tries to look innocent

@Mitch I am still trying to make sense of my life.

Psst. Life doesn't make sense.

What? Shut up!

It's like, you're a blob of water, held together with a bacterial colony, and you can sort of perceive stuff, and whoa.

Well, some lives make more sense than others.

9:22 PM

Just in books. They're all made up.

@aediaλ No. I just tried out a needle. Didn't pop.

I am going to sleep.

get's water balloon

puts bacteria in it

Mmmm.

much more satisfying to pop.

9:35 PM

@Gilles: absolutely. Let's keep things on-topic. This question here is about SD. And it has generated two exceptionally solid answers, I might add. Which I upvoted and moved along. I'd rather see people do the same. Attacking the messenger rather than the message is uncalled for, especially now that the answers have been posted. It is an ad hominem. If someone has a beef with ELU, they are very much welcome to post the exact same question for ELU. As a separate question. Shifting the focus here will not stand. — ЯegDwight 1 min ago

Let's hope that's done with now. Back to drinking.

9:52 PM

I killed the chat room. But I didn't kill the deputy.

Kit is off! Wish her fun.

I think I'll follow suit.

CU around!

Johan Larsson

11:00 PM

Happy new year

Happy New Year GMT+1!

Right. I know somebody who is celebrating in an hour because Zulu.

All hell is loose here right now. It's raining fireworks into our garden.

Johan Larsson

11:15 PM

@RegDwigнt Maybe it'll come up chrysanthemums.

I've got to stay awake for six more hours.

bathes in coffee

Shower Shock

Shower Shock is a bar of soap that has been impregnated with caffeine. The manufacturer ThinkGeek claims that when the soap is used, caffeine is exuded in the lather, to be absorbed through the user's skin. However, the idea that caffeine passes rapidly through the skin is unproven, and it has been suggested that the amount absorbed is not significant compared to a cup of coffee. Anecdotal accounts of using this soap also suggest that it is not effective as a delivery method for caffeine. Showershock is peppermint scented glycerine soap that comes in a "normal" size, weighing 4 ounces (...

I had that once!

I couldn't tell if it worked, but the mint was pretty refreshing.

It would probably be more effective to lave one's mucous membranes with it.

11:29 PM

cringes

"Wake up sonny boy or you'll get your mouth washed out with soap."