English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

@tchrist: OK, I've read Tolkien's Beowulf. It actually reminds me a lot of my own translation (wish I still had it), believe it or not, which was a more literal rendering than many you see. But I must say I do miss the rhythm of the four-beat lines divided by coesura. I find it passing strange that Tolkien, of all people, would opt for a prosaic rendering of a very strongly metrical poem. I need to read all the commentary now, but I've finished the poem proper.

Anonymous

I have about three thousand answer downvotes left.

RegDwigнt

@Alraxite Anyway, yes, to prevent malicious revenge downvoting, you can't go around downvoting many posts at once, especially not if they are all by the same person.

hichris123

However, if they're all crappy...

RegDwigнt

5:47 PM

The system does not know that.

Well not right away anyway.

I suppose if they are all sitting at -5 already it will take that into account.

But I don't know, and I'm not taking chances.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt Deep in its heart it must know that. Just plotting answers against a normal curve would suggest that the bulk of them will be awful.

RegDwigнt

Plus they are not sitting at -5 anyway, mine'd be the first.

hichris123

@RegDwigнt Yeah, it should take into account if it's not all at the same time, but who knows.

Anonymous

It seems like it takes a lot of downvotes before someone is prevented from participating further.

RegDwigнt

@Robusto oh come on dude, the system has a heart now? Enough with the crazy commie talk.

Robusto

5:49 PM

I mean that in the metaphorical, mechanical sense, of course.

RegDwigнt

@snailboat yeah tell me about it.

Robusto

That's the problem with the pathetic fallacy, yeah?

RegDwigнt

@Robusto see. Not with the crazy commie talk again.

@Robusto Grand Phallosy Pathétique?

Number 8 I would hope.

Robusto

Pathetic fallacy

The phrase Pathetic fallacy is a literary term for the attributing of human emotion and conduct to all aspects within nature. It is a kind of personification that is found in poetic writing when, for example, clouds seem sullen, when leaves dance, when dogs laugh, or when rocks seem indifferent. The British cultural critic, John Ruskin, coined the term in his book, Modern Painters (1843–60). History of the phrase John Ruskin at Glenfinlas, Scotland (1853–54), by [[John Everett Millais.]] Ruskin coined the term pathetic fallacy to attack the sentimentality that was common to the poetry o...

RegDwigнt

So that's a yes.

Robusto

5:51 PM

This is interesting.

RegDwigнt

Not to dinosaurs no it's not.

You must be holoceneating.

Just make sure not to drink it.

Robusto

This is 67 million years after the last dinosaur went extinct.

RegDwigнt

@Robusto exactly my point.

Anonymous

@RegDwigнt There are some dinosaurs nesting in the gutters over this room, but as far as I can tell they aren't interested in any sort of graphs

RegDwigнt

1

Q: "I can tell you but I'll have to kill you" - What to reply now?

I found myself dumbstruck when this punch line was spoken to me in soft sweet words by my friend. When I asked her about the guy she was flipping close her pic in cell. I am still thinking what is the best punch line I could come up with If someone says "I can tell you but I'll have to kill you".

meaning word-choice single-word-requests phrases meaning-in-context

Robusto

5:53 PM

@RegDwigнt I'll just assume you're making my points from now on then.

RegDwigнt

@Robusto you are three years too late. You will have to make it retroactive.

Robusto

In perpetuity.

Well, my work here is done. Bai!

RegDwigнt

Seriously guys!

Not a single close vote on that one?

Anonymous

However, they're quite good at chirping. All day, all night . . .

RegDwigнt

After an hour?

I cannot be closing all her stuff single-handedly.

Anonymous

5:55 PM

I voted to close one!

RegDwigнt

You really want me to look mean to newbies.

hichris123

goes to answer some questions

RegDwigнt

Make it so.

hichris123

I really want to downvote these questions.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt I voted. See my purple thumb?

hichris123

5:56 PM

english.stackexchange.com/search?q=%22dont%22

Tisk tisk tisk.

Bad grammar on an English site.

RegDwigнt

Anonymous

What are all these questions about teeth?

RegDwigнt

@Robusto That is so not you.

@hichris123 yeah now go check by whom.

You expect us to edit spam?

(Speaking in my capacity as someone who actually does that.)

hichris123

heh

Alraxite

@hichris123 That's not grammar.

RegDwigнt

5:58 PM

@hichris123 I bet your little site already has more alots than we do.

Robusto

I don't edit what I wouldn't eat.

hichris123

@Alraxite Well, grammar/spelling.

> Your search returned no matches.

Robusto

2 days ago, by Robusto

2 hours ago, by Robusto

Special Commemorative His Highness King FAISAL Large 24k Gold IGP Polish Wrist Watch

superbrass.com

Special Commemorative His Highness King FAISAL Large 24k Gold IGP Polish Wrist Watch

Nowadays you can just show the watch.

RegDwigнt

@hichris123 yeah just got that. After twenty seconds of loading! You are like Math.SE.

What is it that you need to load?

hichris123

... I guess you don't have MathJax cached.

RegDwigнt

6:01 PM

@hichris123 the stupid thing with caches is that they get wiped.

hichris123

shouldiblamecaching.com

RegDwigнt

@hichris123 Also, Dude, as Altraxite says, "grammar" is not the preferred nomenclature. "Orthography", please.

@hichris123 downloadmoreram.com

hichris123

@RegDwigнt Eeek! Fancy words!

RegDwigнt

@hichris123 there are no apostrophes at all in speech. You can't be saying all spoken English is ungrammatical. )))

Well, technically I guess you can.

Hm.

A conundrum!

An amaranthine one at that.

hichris123

in Charcoal HQ, Apr 7 at 15:37, by Undo

is it illegal to download ram? I am ok if I need to use a fishy site. — jOE 2 mins ago

Alraxite

6:03 PM

I don apostrophe t think my name is Altraxite full stop

Anonymous

@hichris123 chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2013/03/22/being-an-apostrophe

RegDwigнt

@Alraxite Don Corleone >> Don Apostrophe.

And when they introduced Apostrophia Coppola, it all went downhill.

hichris123

-2

Q: Is there any word for person who can read lines on forehead?

Is the word same for person who can read lines on forehead? Because In India people can read forehead lines and claim to tell you your future.

meaning word-choice single-word-requests expressions expression-choice

^ Methinks it should be closed.

Anonymous

Metoposcopy

Metoposcopy is a form of divination in which the diviner predicts personality, character, and destiny, based on the pattern of lines on the subject's forehead. It was developed by the 16th century astrologer and physician Jerome Cardan. The 16th century astrologer Giovanni Antonio Magini also concerned himself with this subject. Metoposcopy is prominently featured in the Zohar. Criticism Metoposcopy is described as a form of divination, in which the expert obtains their information from other-worldly or supernatural sources. This alone makes it clear that the practice of Metoposcopy is n...

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

The answer is "con man"

Alraxite

6:13 PM

You can make a reasonable guess whether the person being read is old.

And anxious.

RegDwigнt

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 foreteller, duh.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Alraxite or thinking really hard.

Alraxite

or frowning.

RegDwigнt

Or of his skin color.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

or po.... no, I'll let Jasper suggest that one.

Robusto

6:16 PM

Apparently the Nile River froze over in 829 CE.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Robusto where are you reading this?

Robusto

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 atmo.arizona.edu/students/courselinks/fall12/atmo336/lectures/…

Table at the bottom of the page.

> The period from 750 BC - 800 AD saw warming up to 150 BC. Temperatures ... did not get as warm as the Climatic Optimum. During the time of Roman Empire (150 BC - 300 AD) a cooling began that lasted until about 900 AD, although Global average temperature remained relatively warm until about 600 AD. From 600-900 AD, global average temperatures were significantly colder than today. At its height, the cooling caused the Nile River (829 AD) and the Black Sea (800-801 AD) to freeze.

atmo.arizona.edu/students/courselinks/fall12/atmo336/lectures/…

I believe they mean height metaphorically.

> The irregular warming has been used by opponents of anthropogenic global warming (those who do not think the recent warming has much to do with human-added greenhouse gases) as evidence that natural climate fluctuations dominate over the effects caused by increased greenhouse gases. In particular, they point to two periods:

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

interesting

Robusto

1. The rather large warming that occurred from 1910-1940. This warming is too rapid and too large to be fully explained by the rather small increases in greenhouse gas concentrations that occurred during this period.

2. The cooling trend that occurred from about 1940 to the late 1970s. This cooling occurred even though greenhouse gas concentrations continued to increase during this period.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I listened to this podcast and the ideas discussed caused me to go searching for solid information. I'm still searching.

> Proponents of global warming caused by greenhouse gas increases contend that even during the general warming trend expected as greenhouse gases increases, there will be fluctuations along the way. They also claim that the cooling period from 1940-1970s can be explained by high aerosol concentrations in the atmosphere during this period related to "dirty" coal burning.

Rojo

6:36 PM

Hello people

Sorry for barging in and asking a question out of the blue

Alraxite

Hello

Rojo

Hello @Alraxite :)

I want to improve my knowledge ON/IN/OF an area/subject. Which preposition fits?

After Googling and seing a question of this forum it seems knowledge always likes to be followed by "of", but that gives me the impression of knowledge as "awareness that something happened", and not "understanding" as I'd like to say here

Robusto

@Rojo It can be either.

Rojo

@Robusto Thanks! Either of the 3?

Robusto

Not absolutely. It depends on what you mean.

But in the main, "knowledge of" [a subject] is preferred.

Rojo

6:40 PM

Oh, thanks

RegDwigнt

@Rojo I'm too late to add anything of substance, so as an aside, it's seeing, with two S.

Rojo

@RegDwigнt Hehe, thanks :)

I think I'll hang out around here more. I used to be better with English, but spending so much time chatting where people don't care about how you type is a bad habit

Anonymous

7:05 PM

Do we have an expression/phrase in English that means exactly this:

Anonymous

Robusto

7:15 PM

@BiVOC "“There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price alone are that person’s lawful prey." —John Ruskin

Anonymous

@Robusto Thanks. I was looking more for a phrase than a whole sentence :)

Robusto

So you were looking for something cheaper?

Anonymous

Exactly.

Robusto

Good luck to you.

Alraxite

At heart, it really only means that there is no such thing as free lunch.