English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room - 2014-01-04 (page 1 of 3)

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12:00 AM

aaaand it's over

Anonymous

Oh! The Hatpocalypse!

Who has won?

Anonymous

Everyone, I think

Really?

Anonymous

Yep! I consider myself a winner.

Anonymous

12:11 AM

I won 30 hats!

Congrats!

What will you do with them?

Anonymous

12:31 AM

@Cerberus I have framed them and put them on a wall.

Anonymous

user image

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhh the hats are gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@snailplane I clicked close ten times :)

12:44 AM

@snailplane Scary!

@skullpatrol Breathe. Take a pill.

> Real wages in Mexico have fallen significantly below pre-NAFTA levels as price increases for basic consumer goods have exceeded wage increases. A minimum wage earner in Mexico today can buy 38 percent fewer consumer goods as on the day that NAFTA took effect.

How common is it to mistakenly use as for than?

(I Dutch, this is common.)

@JohanLarsson How about in Swedish? How do you say "more than" and "as much as"?

mer än och så mycket som eller lika mycket

So än = "than"?

yes, it also means still depending on context

And så...som = "so/as...as"?

@JohanLarsson Hmm what do you mean?

Ingen dager synes än. Still no daylight.

12:49 AM

Ahh "still", OK.

Hmm so that seems to be different from the other languages.

@Cerberus Not common, I adjudge with little enough contemplation nor any research.

I feel a bit confused from translating, maybe I mesed up

@tchrist That is also my impression.

> This chat room is better than the other chat room.

what other? I'm in ten or so, mostly lurking.

Heh, that was a suggestion for a sentence with than.

12:51 AM

Think I'm owner of close to ten rooms for some reason. Even languages I have never written any code in.

That's a lot!

I own only two rooms.

Det här chatrummet är bättre än det andra. (chat room is implicit in the end I think)

Yeah.

Ok, so clearly än.

It should be.

The other phrasing was heavily reduplicative.

I liked heavy :)

12:54 AM

*was more heavily reduplicative than this phrasing

Var tyngre än den här.

Not nimble.

dunno how to translate the fancy part :)

Hmm.

I need to write some UI :(

12:56 AM

I’m sorry.

Have fun!

@kalina Sauron the Deceiver is as bound to time as any other Ainu who has entered Arda. He may not pass from the circles of the world, let alone return.

@Cerb It was 20 degrees Celsius today here. Unfortunately, tomorrow we’re converting back to Fahrenheit, but leaving the digits unchanged.

@tchrist But Morgoth has also entered Arda?

@tchrist That's crazy!

You should fix your thermometer.

Yes, and was kicked out, for good reason. But his spoor remains.

There was one other who passed out of time.

But it was not Sauron.

And that one was sent back by the One.

@tchrist What does that entail?

Why is a guard needed if Melkor cannot return anyway?

1:11 AM

‘I threw down my enemy, and he fell from the high place and broke the mountain-side where he smote it in his ruin. Then darkness took me; and I strayed out of thought and time, and I wandered far on roads that I will not tell. Naked I was sent back — for a brief time, until my task is done.’

sniffs goodbye, hats. See you next year.

Now I must find other ways to shine.

> He was sent by a mere prudent plan of the angelic Valar or govenors; but Authority had taken up this plan and enlarged it, at the moment of its failure.

@KitFox did you get the hat?

@tchrist Ah, Gandalf?

@tchrist Even more cryptic.

So the plan of the Powers/Lords of the West/Valar for the Istari had failed. Instead, that plan was taken up at its moment of its failure by God Himself, who returned the spirit of Gandlaf/Mithrandir/Olórin/Incánus to Arda, hallowed now, to turn the tide.

Sometimes even the governor general needs a helping hand from the monarch.

‘Yes, you may still call me Gandalf,’ he said, and the voice was the voice of their old friend and guide. ‘Get up, my good Gimli! No blame to you, and no harm done to me. Indeed my friends, none of you have any weapon that could hurt me. Be merry! We meet again. At the turn of the tide. The great storm is coming, but the tide has turned.’
...
‘In happy hour you have returned to us, Gandalf,’ cried the Dwarf, capering as he sang loudly in the strange dwarf-tongue. ‘Come, come!’ he shouted, swinging his axe. ‘Since Gandalf's head is now sacred, let us find one that it is right to cleave!’

.

Isn’t “In happy hour” a classical reference?

There’s also one that is like ‘happy accident’, and I think both have Latin citations.

@Kit Did anyone else on ELU see the light?

1:28 AM

@tchrist I don't know...

Two translated words with rather broad meanings make for a meagre reference...

Happy chance, perhaps.

@tchrist Hmm. The fate of Morgoth now intrigues me. Was he cast out of Arda only, or out of Eä?

Arda is the world as we know it, both here on these Hither Shores and Aman. Eä is basically the entire universe of Creation.

@tchrist And is the Void within Eä?

I do not know what lies beyond the Door of Night other than the Void, where Melkor sought the Sacred Flame, but found it not, for it was with Eru.

1:32 AM

In that case, I suppose the business about the Ainur being bound to the world still applies.

> To Melkor among the Ainur had been given the greatest gifts of power and knowledge, and he had a share in all the gifts of his brethren. He had gone often alone into the void places seeking the Imperishable Flame; for desire grew hot within him to bring into Being things of his own, and it seemed to him that Ilúvatar took no thought for the Void, and he was impatient of its emptiness. Yet he found not the Fire, for it is with Ilúvatar.

> But Gandalf stood firm. ‘You cannot pass,’ he said. The orcs stood still, and a dead silence fell. `I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass.’

Can’t do matching single quotes. It is messing up.

Musta hitta backtick.

@Cerberus So it seems tomorrow’s low is 8, down from 68 today, so 60 degrees in 36 hours. Blech.

1:55 AM

@tchrist Fortune can indeed be happy, but it is often so.

As to happy hour, were you perhaps confusing antiquity with alcohol?

Unlikely.

@tchrist I am telling you, something is amiss in your lands. Is it Ilúvatar bringing his flame now closer to them, then farther from them?

Oh, maybe I was thinking of this.

I have to go fetch some kitten-pleasers.

@tchrist Like bonheur.

2:39 AM

I wonder if it's possible for a English as second language learner can become better than Barack Obama in English

He says "folks" all the time: at least you can do better than that.

^_^

@Cerberus So what?

Would "mates" be a better word then?

It’s intentionally folksy.

@EnglishMaster No. Especially somebody who doesn’t understand articles.

@EnglishMaster Please don’t bring sex into it.

2:44 AM

Ok

@tchrist You know.

@Cerberus Not regal enough is hardly a valid complaint.

Hah.

That is far too mild.

@EnglishMaster Just "people", and/or avoid using constructions that use it where it is not necessary.

right

"Some people disapprove of what the NSA does." ← OK.

2:57 AM

He’s a professor of constitutional law, for Pete’s sake! He used to be dinged for being overly articulate. He is making a deliberate attempt to lower the register into a casual one to avoid putting people off who are less erudite than he is.

I was afraid it was something like that.

He is extremely well-spoken. This is all an act.

But lowering one's register need not and should not go beyond "neutral".

I don’t think he has done so.

I think it's ridiculous, "folks".

"Some folks disapprove of what the NSA is doing." Come on.

2:59 AM

So, you have a peeve with one particular — and dare I say, eminently commonplace — word.

shrugs

@JohanLarsson I got many hats, including the one you holp with. Thanks.

I like the word folks. It feels nice.

Way better than "you people".

When would a head of state need to say "you people"?

Folks feels like he likes me and feels like we share community, even when our opinions differ.

I don't identify with people. It's exclusive, and therefore doesn't apply to me.

> A quick search for "Unhandled Exception" on Facebook returns 3 community pages, 3 groups, and 14 people by that name. (At least one of them is a band.)

3:10 AM

I prefer not to handle exceptions. They are icky.

@KitFox You are wise.

Now it's me for bed.

Good night.

7 hours later…

10:09 AM

I am glad that hats are over. Hats are stupid.

5

1 hour later…

11:31 AM

Shog came back to me about Eureka 8 minutes after the deadline. Couldn't have been #1!

1 hour later…

12:35 PM

that was on purpose, obviously

1:30 PM

Was it intensionally unintentional?

1:40 PM

!!youtube intensionally unintentional

I need some RegEx help. Anybody about?

@Matt perhaps?

Matt Эллен

ohai!

sorry, my headphones are in another castle

@KitFox I can help!

Sweeeeet.

OK. Here's what I have: ';[^;]+$'

Match on the ; all the way to the end, right?

Matt Эллен

so, ; followed by anything but ;

yes, that should be fine

1:46 PM

Right, but if I take out the [^;] then it doesn't do it.

So I must be doing it wrong.

Matt Эллен

right, because then you're matching at least one ; all the way to the end

so it would match ;, ;;;, ;;;;, etc

Oh, that doesn't make sense.

So that's my problem right there.

[^;] means any character but semicolon.

Yeah, I know.

What's just any character? I want it to start at the semi-colon and go to the end.

Matt Эллен

.

do you want at least one other character, or 0 or more?

1:48 PM

smacks self in head

@MattЭллен 0 or more.

I was fixed on *.

Matt Эллен

;.* = semicolon followed by 0 or more of anything

I mean, just asterisk. Not asterisk-full stop. I couldn't get it out of my brain, but of course that doesn't work.

Matt Эллен

:D

I'm so rusty. Already. And it's been what, five weeks?

Although, Oracle is a giant pain in the ass compared to SQL Server.

And also every other SQL DB I have ever used.

Ah, Oracle...

Matt Эллен

1:51 PM

the way I'm slowly learning regex is to write a regex engine in node.js (I'm also as a by product learning about node.js and co-routines), but I'm guessing you don't have time for that :D

Well, it's very handy. I use it when I have the opportunity, which is not often enough to remember it really well.

Just enough to be dangerous.

Matt Эллен

that's why your middle name's Danger

I like that I can use it right in my Oracle queries. I don't think I can do it that easily in MSSQL Server.

Matt Эллен

yeah, probably not.

@KitFox oh. I must have misheard

That worked like a charm. Now there are only 2 search terms that don't return criteria.

And you know what those are?

Matt Эллен

1:53 PM

woo!

Searches with no criteria!

Matt Эллен

what are they?

yay!

I think this will make me look like a genius and also make people secretly envy and hate me.

Matt Эллен

yay!

Regex is such a doubly-edged tool.

Matt Эллен

1:54 PM

very much so

Like me! I am a doubly-edged tool.

giggles

Matt Эллен

:D

Well, that should makes things a bit easier.

Matt Эллен

I'm more like a truncheon — a single sided blunt instrument

I haven't done this kind of meta work before.

Matt Эллен

1:56 PM

sounds like you're getting along pretty well

I have a table of all the queries made against the db from the public search and they want to analyze search terms.

So naturally I grouped them.

There are some IPs that have hit the site 6000 times this year.

I'm not sure how to break out 'high traffic' and 'search terms'.

Seems like I should group by IP, then by search term maybe, ordered by number of hits.

Matt Эллен

could be. my SQL is so rusty it's pretty much gone back to iron ore

Really? But your regex is spiffy.

I can help with SQL! Also occasionally .Net config!

These Oracle queries take for. eh. ver.

Matt Эллен

:D luckily at the moment I don't go near DBs

Oh.

This isn't my job anymore either. I'm pulling this data for a report.

And letting my boys play video games. I am the slackiest of slacker moms this morning.

Matt Эллен

2:04 PM

so you'll get a lot of practice with SQL, I guess.

drinks coffee Go play, kids, Mommy has some queries to run.

Matt Эллен

well, you could let them play the SQL video game that you're playing with ;)

@MattЭллен I'm learning how to love Oracle, she said sardonically.

!!define sardonic

Matt Эллен

heh

@KitFox sardonic Scornfully mocking or cynical.

Matt Эллен

2:05 PM

yeah, I've not had a lot of good experience with Orccle

OK. For a minute, I thought I meant ascerbic.

!!define mordant

@Robusto mordant Having or showing a sharp or critical quality; biting; caustic; sarcastic; keen; severe.

!!define ascerbic

@KitFox My pocket dictionary just isn't good enough for you.

2:05 PM

I would call it mordant as well.

Did I spell that wrong?

Matt Эллен

!!define acerbic

@MattЭллен acerbic Sour or bitter.

!!defien acerbic

Hahaha

@KitFox I'm sorry. I don't know what you mean. Maybe you meant: define

Matt Эллен

2:05 PM

!!define jinx

@MattЭллен jinx A hex; an evil spell.

So actually any of those would work.

Matt Эллен

!!define acerbic wit

@MattЭллен My pocket dictionary just isn't good enough for you.

Mordant makes me think of chewing.

2:07 PM

I answered a question on JLU this morning. Not sure why I bothered, but it seemed like an interesting question.

@KitFox Exactly. It means biting.

That's how I remember what it means.

Because I think "Chewing. No, not chewing. A chewing statement just sounds weird. But something like that..."

Then I crave gum.

Chew on that for a while.

Stock number 002052 is our most popular search term.

By IP.

So one person looks this stock number up all the time.

Yes. 002052 is definitely my favorite stock number.

54-40 was my number.

I guess someone doesn't know how to bookmark.

2:11 PM

Pfft. 002052 is way better.

Matt Эллен

you have your own stock number?

they sell you?

@KitFox 54-40 or fight?

Matt Эллен

or is it for internal use only?

Oregon boundary dispute

The Oregon boundary dispute, or the Oregon Question, arose as a result of competing British and American claims to the Pacific Northwest of North America in the first half of the 19th century. Both the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (USA) had territorial and commercial aspirations in the region as well as residual claims from treaties with Russia and Spain. The British knew the region as the Columbia District, a fur-trading division of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), while Americans referred to it as the Oregon Country. The broadest definition of the disputed region was defined...

2:12 PM

@Robusto Got our battle cry mixed with Toots and the Maytals.

Another fave number.

I said 'Yeah!' it's what I say.

So I've been discovering that Christian Bale is actually quite a remarkable actor. Much better than the stick he plays in the Batman films.

Oh yes.

I've been discovering that I don't know the first thing about analyzing search terms.

And now I think breakfast.

I don't even bother to try. I leave that to people who are interested in that sort of thing. I look on DBAs the way most people look on baristas at Starbuck's.

Just get me my fuckin' data and STFU, TYVM.

2:17 PM

What data would sir like?

Triple latte espresso.

Later.

Matt Эллен

CU

@KitFox No. Now!

Fuckin' lazy-ass data baristas.

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Jan '144

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