English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

3:00 PM

For me it's rather perilous, actually, since then I tend to skim rather than read, and then suddenly I notice that I haven't been paying attention for like three pages, and have to go back and re-read, and it's all complete news to me.

Turns out two pages ago someone eated a dragon alive. Interesting!

Cerberus

Huh.

I only have that when I'm falling asleep.

RegDwigнt

Well that's when I am reading.

Cerberus

So you fall asleep as you read the book.

RegDwigнt

That's the last thing I do on any given day, trying to read a chapter and giving up after a page.

Cerberus

After a page?

That's not much.

badass

3:06 PM

Isn't that a self defeating way to fall asleep?

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus Well sometimes I give up before a page.

Cerberus

Hmm.

So what do you think of the style?

RegDwigнt

You mean what I just said?

Cerberus

You know what Rob and Tchrist think.

I mean good or no good.

RegDwigнt

Oh I missed that.

Matt Эллен

3:15 PM

don't dree your weird alone

Jasper Loy

@MattЭллен Boo!

Matt Эллен

hi Jasper!

RegDwigнt

@MattЭллен I take a broth all morning.

Cerberus

So do you like it? I have a friend who really liked the books, but I have to say he is less... literarily developed.

Matt Эллен

@RegDwigнt no drawing the badger there

RegDwigнt

3:18 PM

@MattЭллен All trees have very deal bear.

Matt Эллен

I'd prefer the bull

RegDwigнt

You not make that to prate all day's work.

Cerberus

It's raining badgers, cats, dogs, everything.

It's also raining and hailing at the same time.

RegDwigнt

Make its a point, or make to mend them.

Matt Эллен

I'll not have any bellywengins

RegDwigнt

3:20 PM

@Cerberus So are you posting from a flying house, Dorothy?

Cerberus

I feel like even I am making more sense than you people today.

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus Willingly; I have not a most pleasure in the world. There is some game on they cantons?

Cerberus

QED.

That was easy.

Jasper Loy

Why do good people suffer and bad people enjoy?

Cerberus

I'm tethered to my phone now btw.

RegDwigнt

3:21 PM

No, not QED. Only a complete idiot would say "I am smarter than you all". :P

Likewise, only a Jasper could say "I make more sense than others".

Matt Эллен

@JasperLoy because of your definitions of good and bad.

RegDwigнt

Alas, I don't blame Cerberus, he's in a flying house after all, it's shaky. Thoughts no good form can.

Jasper Loy

@MattЭллен Thank you Buddha Matt.

Cerberus

A flying house?

RegDwigнt

Well who's taking the hurricane train to Kansas? Not me.

Matt Эллен

3:23 PM

@JasperLoy don't draw the badger

Cerberus

Why sense no make words your?

RegDwigнt

Scotland has faced the storm already. It was blown off of the rest of the UK, that's how strong the winds were.

Matt Эллен

It's about to crash into Norway

Cerberus

Ah, so we're only red.

@RegDwigнt But—without a referendum? That's impossible.

Matt Эллен

Who pawned her sister's ship?

Cerberus

3:27 PM

Hmm?

Matt Эллен

Whoa, Emma!

RegDwigнt

Emma Bunton?

Cerberus

Being closed for the first time in six years.

RegDwigнt

And what is that?

You close the sea?

Cerberus

Yes.

De Oosterscheldekering.

RegDwigнt

3:29 PM

Well. Be like that.

Cerberus

Basically giant sluices.

A duizen of sluices.

*duizend

*sluicen.

*

3:32 PM

These guys are apparently staying open (closed in the picture).

RegDwigнt

Oh nice, a giant pinball machine.

Cerberus

But a more effective one.

RegDwigнt

It's not more effective, pinball is in fact very boring in Holland.

Cerberus

The flippers were not made by an idiot, so they actually close off the hole.

RegDwigнt

But the ball does not roll.

Matt Эллен

3:33 PM

lol

The waves roll.

You're a roll.

What kind?

The t kind.

Viennese

3:34 PM

Gezondhijd.

badass

not a spring roll?

Matt Эллен

!!google Dutch Roll

KitSox

@MattЭллен en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_roll ; youtube.com/watch?v=h3uGwcFcD9c ; youtube.com/watch?v=oLe8ajpGNTs

Cerberus

T roll? Qhat's that?

Mitch

@JasperLoy I don't think bad people are really enjoying themselves. They're just putting on a face to cover up their inner turmoil.

RegDwigнt

3:35 PM

Not what but who, and you.

badass

Rock & Roll

Cerberus

Hmm I'm tethering now, so I hope @tchrist won't post huge pictures in chat!

Now I'm on normal Wifi.

Mitch

looks for huge pictures to post

Cerberus

2l8

Matt Эллен

I'm on preternormal wifi

Cerberus

3:36 PM

How does it feel?

Matt Эллен

I feel wired

Cerberus

Praeternormal wifi was faster than normal wifi for me.

Wired? That's not good.

Why?

Matt Эллен

wired and tired and mired

badass

@Mitch did you find any yet?

Mitch

working on it.

Cerberus

3:39 PM

I'm back to normal speeds.

On no a huge image!

U DIEEEE

Noooo not the galaxy!

RegDwigнt

That's my favorite euphemism now, "you are slower than 77% of the Netherlands".

Cerberus

3:40 PM

puter splodes

@RegDwigнt Not sure that is a euphemism...

badass

why 77%?

Matt Эллен

a small picture of something huge. now we need a huge picture of something small

RegDwigнt

@badass Because that's over 9000.

Mitch

Cerberus

@badass They compare speeds. Apparently, 77 % of the people that took the test have faster Internet than I.

RegDwigнt

3:41 PM

@Mitch what nonsense. You can clearly see in the picture that the typewriter does not work, but forces his wife to do the job for him.

Cerberus

@Mitch We get it, Americans think bigger is always better...

Mitch

That's not his wife.

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt He married his daughter?

Matt Эллен

Well, that's married the widow

RegDwigнt

Okay, his affair.

It reminds me of another image I saw earlier today.

Mitch

3:42 PM

@Cerberus He's the priest, yes.

RegDwigнt

Cerberus

@Mitch That's not quite what I had in mind...

@RegDwigнt Wow.

RegDwigнt

Hm. The skies are deep purple here. Should I be worrying?

Cerberus

What's not pathetic about that?

The slogan? The idea? The ladder? The awfully failed Photoshopping?

Nope.

RegDwigнt

I think I'll just commute for as long as I can still take the bus and not the plane.

See you on the other side.

Cerberus

3:44 PM

Oh, dear.

Good luck.

RegDwigнt

tx

Cerberus

If you can't run, lie down and cry.

Matt Эллен

CU

badass

later

Mitch

@Cerberus There's no photoshopping.

@Cerberus runs...and cries

Matt Эллен

3:45 PM

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt I forgot to mention how pathetic it is that they put two men at the top, and I forgot to ask where they bought the dwarf girl at the bottom.

@Mitch Are you suggesting the girl is a real dwarf?

@MattЭллен They just had to have their own version of slang, no matter the cost.

Mitch

@Cerberus Oh yeah, why are the two dudes at the top? Thie chicks could so easily push it over.

Cerberus

Yeah!

Mitch

@MattЭллен OK so what are car and dog life?

Cerberus

I mean, you have five girls at the bottom, two guys at the top.

Matt Эллен

3:47 PM

@Mitch there's no defintion for "cat and dog life" :D

that's why I found it so funny

Cerberus

I imagine.

> Unhappy married life.

Matt Эллен

!!define cat and dog life

KitSox

@MattЭллен cat and dog life Unhappy married life.

Matt Эллен

not something I ever heard

Cerberus

Saint Nicholas abates the storm (17th century). Today is Saint Nicholas' Day.

Mitch

3:51 PM

Also, that 'ssssapeur' song... the lyrics don't mention gay, ineffable dogs.

dutempsdescerisesauxfeuillesmortes.net/paroles/…

I'd think a cat and dog's lives are pretty good.

Oh. Together? Well, I'm sure they coul work something out.

Matt Эллен

why'd a cat and dog get married in the first place? It's like a Capulet and a Montague getting hitched

better to have Monkey and Parrot time

Mitch

bettern smothering a parrot.

Cerberus

Is it possible that my Internet is slow because everyone is staying inside during the storm?

Matt Эллен

yes

Cerberus

Oh.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

4:06 PM

@Mitch naw.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

4:29 PM

Ha! Lolwer.

Matt Эллен

in EL&U Blog, 1 hour ago, by Matt Эллен

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 still furious?

Mornin'!

Hullo!

Hi!

I've found a new old meaning for faggot

Cerberus

4:35 PM

Let me guess...

Matt Эллен

ok

Cerberus

OK never mind.

Matt Эллен

oh

go on! have a guess

> Prize faggots — Well developed breasts in women.

From here

Cerberus

Ah!

That's interesting.

Matt Эллен

That's what I thought :D

Cerberus

4:40 PM

In Dutch, one can say a woman has a large "bos hout", a bunch of wood.

Matt Эллен

is that related to breasts?

Cerberus

Which is the same as a faggot.

Yes, it means big breasts.

Matt Эллен

indeed

how curious

Cerberus

The full expression is a large bos hout in front of the house.

Matt Эллен

the faggot in the above is derived from the meat ball

Cerberus

4:41 PM

Oh...

I see.

Matt Эллен

but the meat ball name is derived from the bundle of sticks

Cerberus

Then perhaps there is no relation.

I know.

badass

4:51 PM

You guys get away with sooo much in here with mixed company, in the math room there would be flags flying and a swarm of moderators in there by now :D

Matt Эллен

Talking about words is our bread and butter

aedia λ

That was an oddly on-topic discussion.

Matt Эллен

:D

aedia λ

I came back from getting coffee and started thinking way too much about those expressions.

Here if I said someone had a bunch of wood in front of the house, no one would think I referred to a woman.

Matt Эллен

nor here

aedia λ

4:55 PM

So then I started staring off into space thinking about how idioms make sense and then I remembered that they're idiomatic and that's just what they do.

Matt Эллен

in fact these days "prize faggots" would not be understood at all

aedia λ

It makes me think of like a prize hen.

I guess that's the only context I have for "prize" like that. Winning fair animals.

Matt Эллен

yeah, me too

highly valued farm animals

aedia λ

Our state fair is the best state fair...

Great, now look what I got stuck in my own head.

►

badass

faggots that are prize worthy?

Matt Эллен

4:58 PM

yes, for being very big

Cerberus

@badass Like what?

badass

@Cerberus Like they are waaay too sensitive in there, and English is taken very literally.

Cerberus

@aediaλ I know, it's weird! I think many expressions are created when one person makes something up that sounds appropriate and funny in a particular context at a particular moment, and then the people present may start using it on other occasions, and then once in a thousand times, it spreads and becomes popular.

@badass Take English literally is what we do not do here.

So what things, for example, that we say here would shock them?

in The Frying Pan, 21 mins ago, by SAJ14SAJ

@Yamikuronue My dining table seats 12 wth the leaves in....

aedia λ

Double negatives?

Cerberus

Do you people also say "leaves"?

@aediaλ That's a very risqué subject...

aedia λ

5:03 PM

@Cerberus I don't even have another word for them besides "leaves".

badass

Come and watch, it is very different in some ways...

Cerberus

@badass Is talking about big breasts taboo there?

in The Frying Pan, 22 mins ago, by Cerberus

In Dutch, it's "bladen". Which would be related to "blades".

in The Frying Pan, 22 mins ago, by Cerberus

But a blad is also a leaf! Of a tree or of paper.

A blad is also a tray.

badass

@Cerberus Some of them may get offended.

Cerberus

So they discriminate against the big-boobed?

badass

Let's just say they are conservative :-)

math is ruled by conventions and rules

Cerberus

5:10 PM

I see.

Matt Эллен

@JSBձոգչ I just looked up fag-end (cigarrete butt) in the OED, which I said came from faggot, but apparently comes from the verb fag meaning to droop which might come from a corrpution of the verb flag.

Cerberus

> Rack: Meaning "set of antlers" is first attested 1945, Amer.Eng.; hence slang sense of "a woman's breasts" (especially if large), c.1980s.

I guess any prominent duality can be used as a euphemism for breasts.

And a prominent duality they are! Usually.

Matt Эллен

:D

much like mind and body

Cerberus

If you were a woman, you could refer to them like that.

Who is the most famous person of 2013, would you say?

aedia λ

Carl Kasell!

Cerberus

5:16 PM

Who??

Is he edible?

aedia λ

No I have no idea, I just want it to be him because I listen religiously to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me.

Matt Эллен

Jennifer Lawrence? Grace Helbig?

Cerberus

I get this as a caption when I GoogleIMage him:

> Photo of Carl Kasell. Carl Kasell: America's Next Top Model, or something.

aedia λ

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! is an hour-long weekly radio news panel game show produced by Chicago Public Radio and National Public Radio. It is distributed by NPR in the United States, internationally on NPR Worldwide and on the Internet via podcast, and typically broadcast on weekends by member stations. Format The show is hosted by playwright and actor Peter Sagal. When the program had its debut in January 1998, Dan Coffey of Ask Dr. Science was the original host, but a revamping of the show led to his replacement in May of that year. The show has also been guest hosted by Luke Burban...

Cerberus

@MattЭллен I know none of those people...

aedia λ

5:17 PM

The official scorekeeper of this.

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus name someone famous that you think I'll know

Cerberus

@aediaλ Ahh I see.

@MattЭллен Edward Snowden?

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus I know him. perhaps he is the most famous

even you've heard of him!

Cerberus

I know!!

aedia λ

@Cerberus I wouldn't be surprised if that was an official caption. It's the right style for their humor.

Cerberus

5:19 PM

But seriously, he has to be the most-mentioned person of the year.

@aediaλ Haha, I see.

JSBձոգչ

@Cerberus snowden? not even close.

Cerberus

No? Then who?

JSBձոգչ

way behind obama, putin, most celebrities you can think of...

Cerberus

I am giving extra points for "new".

(You know I can't think of many celebrities.)

There isn't that much new or interesting that Obama or Putin has done this year.

Putin is always his nasty own self, and Obama is mostly boring.

JSBձոգչ

@Cerberus well i can't disagree with that

if we add the qualifier "new", then i'll agree he's in the running

Cerberus

5:27 PM

OK.

Whom else would you nominate?

JSBձոգչ

i'll have to look over current events for this year

i know about as many celebs as you do

Cerberus

@JSBձոգչ Hmm that is an interesting challenge.

@JSBձոգչ The only other person I can think of is Assad, but...

He was always mentioned in media as a pretty bad dictator, but he got a lot more attention when the rebellion started.

Still not nearly as much as Snowden.

He's on the front pages every single week.

JSBձոգչ

@Cerberus i don't have any direct evidence against this, but it's pretty clearly a function of what you read

Cerberus

Yes.

It's hardly a scientific label.

> After graduation, he accepted a job in the litigation department of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, called "America's most grueling law firm," which represented blue-chip clients like Bank of America, JPMorgan and AT&T. In his first year, Greenwald made over $200,000 – more money than he'd ever seen in his life.

That's a lot of money for a first year.

Johan Larsson

How free is PostgreSQL? Free enough to use for work stuff?

Mitch

5:44 PM

Free as in beer. Free as in speech too.

Johan Larsson

like you pay for it?

aedia λ

5:58 PM

45

Q: Free as in "free speech", not as in "free beer"

Free software is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of free as in free speech, not as in free beer. — Richard Stallman Translating free to my language (Ukrainian), generates a huge variety of different terms, including (I apologize for my lame transl...

meaning-in-context

I knew I had seen this on some stackexchange.

Cerberus

6:18 PM

rollingstone.com/politics/news/…

Cool article chronicling the Snowden leaks, partly from Greenwald's perspective.

With lots of details about how he was contacted, the role of Assange, what happened to Snowden after the first leaks, Snowden's formative years, etc.

Mitch

6:44 PM

@MattЭллен mmmm...bread and butter... eat your words.

Robusto

@JohanLarsson My current place of work uses it, but it's apparently not as robust as MySQL. But at least it's free.

Johan Larsson

ok ty sir

I think I'll go with a bunch of xml files in a folder to avoid writing an installer

Robusto

Nobody wants to write an installer.

JSBձոգչ

installers are for n00bs who don't want to hack regedit and /etc

Cerberus

Computers are for n00bs who don't want to write down ones and zeroes in the sand.

JSBձոգչ

6:56 PM

@Cerberus zeroes are for n00bs who can't hack roman numerals

Cerberus

@Mitch Ah, okay, I get the Persian thing now. You must have had a hard time in school with Shakespeare plays!

@JSBձոգչ Numerals are for n00bs who can't do mental arithmetic and mathematics.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…