English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

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Robusto

19:03

@Cerberus Not with me. Chantraine agrees with Kitto. They may even have used him as a source, or at least the same sources he used.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Kitto?

Robusto

4 hours ago, by Robusto

According to H.D.F. Kitto, noted Greek and Classics scholar, the Ptolemaic Greeks named those large structures pyramids meaning "buns" because they looked like the buns they were accustomed to eating.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Pointy buns.

Robusto

Yes.

amazon.com/Greeks-Penguin-History-H-Kitto-ebook/dp/B002RI9VIA/…

Most of his writings are on Greek drama, and very esoteric. This is an exception. He unbent enough to write a popular introduction to Greek culture.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Oh hey, it's the Kindle edition.

Robusto

19:14

And you have a Kindle.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Hmm.

What did you go to school for, anyway?

Robusto

That's a broader question than you intend, probably.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

I was in the bathroom and missed that.

Jasper Loy

19:42

I am here. Don't tell Robusto. He has ignored me so he can't see me, lol.

tchrist

@Reg @Kit If you think I have been abusive, please give me a ten-year suspension or delete my account.

@Frank I take your accusation of “abuse” with deadly seriousness. If you thought my tagging counts abuse, then you should have flagged it for a moderator, not made a public accusation here. — tchrist 2 mins ago

Jasper Loy

@tchrist That sounds a bit drastic.

tchrist

Tough shit.

Let those who can, do; let those who cannot, complain.

I refuse to flag anything where I am involved. But I am not very thickskinned when it comes to assholery these days.

Jasper Loy

@tchrist Just relax.

skullpatrol

20:03

!!youtube relax don't do it

KitSox

►

skullpatrol

@Reg @KitFox while you're handing out ten-year suspensions could you make mine a double please?

Jasper Loy

@skullpatrol That sounds dramatic, lol.

KitFox

20:23

ffs

It's Saturday.

skullpatrol

The night with the fever.

Mitch

@Szabolcs Actually I wasn't going that way, but if it answers the question then great. I was just curious if another langage had single words for all those concepts (fellow country man, fellow townsperson, etc)

KitFox

rubs eyes OK. Anybody know what's up?

Or is this the extent of it for the chat room?

skullpatrol

dunno

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@KitFox What do you mean?

skullpatrol

20:27

44 mins ago, by tchrist

@Reg @Kit If you think I have been abusive, please give me a ten-year suspension or delete my account.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Yeah. See his meta question.

KitFox

I'm reading through a lot of material.

I just don't want to miss anything.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Those who hate shall hate henceforth.

KitFox

Was that the sum tota of the references in chat?

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Believe so.

KitFox

20:29

OK. Thanks. @tchrist If you are around and want to talk about it, ping me.

skullpatrol

He'll be OK after he cools off.

We all need to vent sometimes...

...it relieves the pressure.

KitFox

I understand. I'd like to give him the opportunity to vent to me.

skullpatrol

You're a good mod/friend.

KitFox

I'm not a friend in this; I am a mod.

Mitch

@Robusto grunt grunt snarl I did like Beowulf a lot, what with all the dying and arm-ripping and the car chase that ended up with the motorcycle jumping onto the top of a train. Wait, that was the movie. In the book, there was the thing with the mom. What's up with that?

skullpatrol

20:39

@KitFox If you're not a friend you would be dividing by zero :-)

3 mins ago, by skullpatrol

You're a good mod/friend.

Robusto

What, did I miss all the drama?

skullpatrol

yep

KitFox

You can jump on the lauding Kit train though.

I feel pretty cruddy today, so maybe flattery would help.

Also, here is the question on Writers, if you feel like you have an answer:

Q: Getting short fiction published

I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of what to use flash/micro fiction for. I've had several flash fiction works published, and the process was quite illuminating. I'm ready to start exploring short fiction length, aiming for works at 2500 and 5000 words. I have some idea from working...

Mitch

@KitFox You're great!

KitFox

The title probably needs work.

Mitch

20:43

What do you want to be great at?

KitFox

I had one answer that felt like it missed the point entirely.

@Mitch I dunno. Um. Parenting.

Robusto

@KitFox paeans of praise

KitFox

OK, this isn't working. It's actually kind of having the opposite effect.

Robusto

What's wrong with paeans of praise?

KitFox

I don't know. I really don't. It's probably just my emotional state.

Mitch

20:45

@KitFox You're a great mom!

Robusto

You're a good parent if you love your kids and do your best by them and they know that without you telling them. That's about the best you can hope for.

Even the best parents make huge, glaring mistakes in parenting.

@medica: The day we start editing this site to remove "triggers" for people's insecurities is the day I delete my account. And I'm not kidding. So . . . now you know how to get rid of me. — Robusto 8 secs ago

KitFox

I think I need some tea.

Robusto

Liquor is quicker.

Jez

21:03

yay for tea > coffee

Szabolcs

@Mitch Yes. I think it might be a universal European concept, i.e. something that must have entered in some form into most European languages through translation. I mean translation of novels, books and such.

KitFox

-2

Q: Literal antonym to "Outspoken"

I'm working on a humorous project in which one character is called the Outspoken Mime. The adjective "outspoken" means the mime in question is "free, bold, or unreserved in speech." On one side, this describes the mime as gregarious, talkative, and friendly — while visually implying the mime li...

word-choice single-word-requests adjectives antonyms pun

Jez

for added bonus points - Earl Grey. Hot.

KitFox

I'm confused why this question has so many downvotes. It's not any worse than our usual questions like this.

Jez

@KitFox so it's crap then.

Szabolcs

21:04

@Mitch It was Hungarian BTW.

KitFox

OK, it's better than most of our questions like this.

Mitch

21:48

@Szabolcs Nice. It was fun seeing the many meanings that word in Hungarian.

user116848

Hi everyone I asked this question on the forum but would love to get some responses right now (chat). My phrase is " I still wished I could have done more"

KitFox

What about it?

And which forum?

user116848

So why aren't we using only "could" here instead?

user116848

English language and usage forum

KitFox

Oh. It's not a forum, it's a question and answer site.

user116848

21:58

Yes there

KitFox

She's right about the tense difference.

"I could do more" is different than "I could have done more".

user116848

I know about that

user116848

But

KitFox

"I could do more" expresses the desire to continue doing, in the present. "I could have done more" expresses the desire to have done more in a completed action, in the past.

so "have done" implies that there is no possibility of doing so.

user116848

But what I don't get is why @medica says that "I still wished I could do more" refers to still existing fact.

KitFox

22:01

She means it is in the present.

It is something that is occurring that you wished you had the opportunity to continue doing.

tchrist

@KitFox I’m here. In what format would you like my input?

user116848

So my next query is with 'wished' wouldn't it be correct to say with one additional had "I wish I had had done more"??

user116848

Or is one 'had; okay?

KitFox

Only if you were saying it now. If you were recounting a story, you could use "I wished I could have done more" to express that the wishing also occurred in the past and was probably now completed.

tchrist

I’ll ask differently. Do you want this in the channel, in our own room, or elsewhere?

KitFox

22:07

And only one had. "had had done" isn't grammatical.

@tchrist I thawed a spot.

tchrist

Ok.

F.E.

yawn

@Farooq Go and ask your question. :) . . . Or, you could ask your question over in ELL chat, as it's quieter over there. Your choice.

user116848

Where is ELL chat?

F.E.

English Language Learners

A room to talk about English, linguistics, or anything you wan...

user116848

So for english queries ELL is better??

user116848

22:14

i mean where would I get focused answers (in chat) ?

F.E.

@Farooq It is quieter there now, so there will be less of us interrupting other discussions.

@Farooq Put your cursor over the right side of the message, when you want to reply to it, and click. That will notify the person you are trying to talk to.

user116848

23:12

Anyone here?

user116848

How Should I know? All signs are highlighted.