English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

why can I see a thing that says I should not see it

Acid three sucks. Acid issy is much better.

am I going to die?

3:03 PM

I told you you were.

no!

IE beats firefox in acid 3

FF seems to pass on my machine

@GeorgePompidou I'm quite sure I did. I tell it to everyone.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 interesting

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 what version are you running?

I'm on 31.0 on windows

3:05 PM

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 does it do that by saying "thanks, I'll pass?"

@MattЭллен same.

Never mind percentages. "The animation must be smooth". In my FF it is not.

oh. that's weird. I wonder why mine stops then

Do you have downloadable fonts turned off or otherwise non-default?

@RegDwigнt It wasn't smooth in IE or chrome on the first run, but it was smooth in chrome on subsequent runs

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I don't know

FF is smooth for me

3:08 PM

If you click on the A it tells you some info about what tests failed

Failed 0 tests.
Test 26 passed, but took 71ms (less than 30fps)
Total elapsed time: 0.44s

Failed 0 tests.
Test 26 passed, but took 79ms (less than 30fps)
Test 69 passed, but took 39 attempts (less than perfect).
Total elapsed time: 1.58s

That's what my FF says.

I don't have the 69 test

hahaha

that's the sex number.

user8153

@AndrewLeach is it like "I am sad to do..."
??

3:11 PM

The 69 test is the best one

forever alone

@user8153 I can't tell you what it means.

Perhaps "It makes me sad, doing..."

"Simply existing makes me sad"

user8153

but the subject is "I"

not it makes me sad to exist...

@user8153 What is the question?

A: "It is fun to write letters" vs. "It is fun writing letters"

@user8153 Dummy it.

6

Both Gerund and Infinitive Subject Complements can be Extraposed -- inserting a dummy It -- with the predicate adjective (be) fun. (For Indef) To write English letters is fun. ~ It is fun to write English letters. (Indef('s)) Writing English letters is fun. ~ It is fun writing English letters. ...

3:17 PM

Any particular reason you're not just saying writing letters is fun?

43 mins ago, by user8153

@AndrewLeach I cry to exist in this horrible world. What is this "to?"

Clumsy?

I eat to live. I live to eat.

I swim to run in this horrible world

Yes, but you cry to express your sadness, not to exist.

apparently that author cries to exist

3:20 PM

But I try to exist is fine.

Which is probably where the confusion arises.

to me it means that the person cries so that they feel real.

without crying they do not feel real

@MattЭллен So the "YOU SHOULD NOT SEE THIS" is related to :visited links, somehow.

I don't think you can cry to exist

crying is not a thing that accomplishes existence.

not in the literal world, but in a poetic or figurative one, why not?

Q: Why is "I refuse running" wrong?

@AndrewLeach I know. I hate those things. It has something to do with different verbs "licensing" different complement types apparently:

4

I got into a discussion with another user in the comments section of this question. We disagreed over the following phrases: I refuse running. I decline running. To me, they are both clearly wrong. The correct forms of the above sentences would be: I refuse to run. I decline t...

The literal world is all there is. End transmission.

3:23 PM

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 interesting

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 It is a a thing that accomplishes the feeling of existing on this plane.

@Zoe crying doesn't accomplish feelings.

yes it does

feelings lead to crying.

Commute.

3:24 PM

One must be a really different breed of Casper if crying makes them real somehow.

user8153

isn't this like

crying also leads to feelings

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 And leads to worst feelings developing

or better feelings

one feels bad -> one cries -> one feels better

@MattЭллен It creates some kind of feeling. Sometimes relieve. sometimes peace... sometimes desperation

3:25 PM

@MattЭллен meh. it's a placebo.

one feels bad -> time passes -> one feels better.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 AHA! A placebo is a feeling.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 no, not at all.

@Zoe well, not exactly.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Not entirely implausible, too.

How can a placebo be a feeling?

3:27 PM

implausiblé

but not impossiblé

@terdon Feeling better even if physically it accomplishes naught

@Zoe The placebo isn't the feeling. Your body tricks itself into feeling better on its own when presented with the placebo.

Felling better is a feeling and in this case, it's caused by a placebo effect but placebo itself is not a feeling.

Ahhh fries and ice cold kiwi strawberry snapple, what a better way to end a day of frustrating teaching and intensive sermon?

@terdon So crying causes the placebo that in turns causes the feeling so crying does generate some kinds of feelings in a way.

Crying might, sure. A placebo is not a feeling is all.

3:29 PM

Anyway I still don't like "I cry to exist".

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 But i thought it was "I cry to feel real"?

What breed of Casper is "I cry to exist?" Maybe "I exist to cry" would parse

12 mins ago, by Andrew Leach

43 mins ago, by user8153

@AndrewLeach I cry to exist in this horrible world. What is this "to?"

@Zoe What breed of Casper is "what breed of Casper"?

What breed of Casper is what breed of Casper?

Jinx!

jinx

Casper is a ghost.

3:31 PM

That we know :)

If someone can cry to exist than maybe Casper could.... sneeze to be real?

Crying makes them solid

For someone to exist by an action (event/ritual), one must have been non-existent before and thus, makes one a ghost or spirit. So, they're Caspers. They're all Caspers.

I met someone called Zero. I wonder why she chose that name.

@JasperLoy Vampire Knight!

@Zoe Is that a show?

There is a white haired teen in there called Zero

@JasperLoy It is an Anime

3:38 PM

@JasperLoy Maybe she likes this song or this one

!!wiki Zero Kiriyu

Ah, OK. She has really short hair. She cuts my hair. I suspect she is a lesbian, but I don't dare to ask.

does anyone know about flies?

why are they everywhere in my house!?

Recently, there are some spiders in my bedroom

and my neighbor's.

3:39 PM

I tried to kill all of them i suspect one of them still lives somewhere

I think they're doing sex stuff together and making babies.

google.com.sg/…

@GeorgePompidou You can just ask your neighbours to leave, probably.

vampireknight.wikia.com/wiki/Zero_Kiryu

@GeorgePompidou I should give you the spiders

A few weeks ago, I killed 2 mosquitoes in my room. They were fat after feeding on my blood.

Hello @KitFox

3:40 PM

Hello.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 no no, you misunderstood. my neighbors aren't on leave. they're right next door.

@GeorgePompidou Then why did you say they were in your house, with the flies?

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 houses can't fly, dummy.

the flies are in my neighbors. my neighbors eat insects.

yeah, I just live in a campus apartment. it's not at all similar to what you posted.

3:44 PM

so you say

probably looks like this

Here's where I used to live:

(btw these are all Jacek Yerka)

Hello @Mr.Alien

3:59 PM

Anyone who has a couple of cents to share, please.

saffyresanctuary.org

If you smell something bad, and cannot find out what it is, the smell might come from inside your nose, lol.

horses around

NSFW Women Go Topless In Protest Against Gun Nuts

why

I've seen more nonsensical protests.

> From what I can tell, these women weren’t trying to tell people that they should own guns. Instead they were trying to show second amendment activists that just because you can legally do something that makes people uncomfortable, it doesn’t mean you should- and they were exposing their breasts to the hot Texas sun as examples.

That makes sense I guess

4:06 PM

Nothing sums up America more than that: Guns in public? meh. Boobs? OH NOEZ

8

Wow, that was really, really, NSFW.

yeah I wish I'd known it was a porn site before I clicked

I didn't notice the sidebar until my manager walked up to my cube.

So not safe that the links there are blocked in my country, lol.

Shit, shit, shit.

4:08 PM

I usually use a VPN to access blocked sites now.

Q: Is it ok to say "minutes later" without a number

Well, explicit and fully penetrating anal...

Kind of awkward.

1

Can I say "I forgot about it minutes later" or I have to say "a few minutes later" ? Thanks

word-usage

How is this on-topic?

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I hate like hell to admit you're right. But when you're right, you're right. groans inwardly

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Nothing sums up my country more than that: Guns in public? Oh noez. Boobs? Oh noez.

@JasperLoy you misspelled gum

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I was just typing that.

4:12 PM

Canada: Guns in public? You must be going hunting, eh? Boobs in public: You must be cold, eh?

Eh?

@KitFox word

Sometimes I feel like America is a novel written by Lois Lowry.

@GeorgePompidou But what is the matter, m'lord?

it's what everything is made of, but that's besides the point.

Leslie Nielsen hippo

4:13 PM

sighs no appreciation for the classics.

@GeorgePompidou Is he related to Augustine of Hippo?

no I was just remarking that I made a Leslie Nielsen style reply and additionally I am a hippo.

but very... very... concisely.

Needs more indentation.

         does indentation work here?

huh.

Hey, now it's out of scope!

Can't access it any longer.

4:16 PM

yeah, like everything written in python.

BTW, the other day I wasn't leaving in a huff, so no need to apologize for calling me not a true Chicagoan (because I secretly divide the set of all true Chicagoans into those who like deep-dish and those who don't, the former being the only genuine articles).

kwak

@JasperLoy Run away from smokers or just orient well if I need to talk to him with the wind when possible (stable wind), 1 meter upwind is fine

@GnomeSlice That was a nice pic, lol.

any statistics on how many Chicago natives/people who have lived in Chicago for a few years actually like deep-dish?

I've always seen it as more of a tourist attraction since none of my Chicagoan friends like it either.

or my parents, or literally anyone I know who is a Chicagoan

besides you, I guess.

Do you like beer and bratwurst?

4:19 PM

of course, who doesn't?

I don't like beer.

@GeorgePompidou OK, I'll overlook the other thing. For now.

do I look like some kind of buffoon to you?

You look like a hippo.

gets nostalgic about living in Zürich

4:21 PM

You could take a drive up to Lake Zurich.

pff.

@Robusto I suggest you put quote marks around "seconds later", but it is your choice.

@JasperLoy might you be a homosexual?

Or Lake Geneva, which is farther north.

(pejoratively, not literally)

4:22 PM

@GeorgePompidou No, though this opinion is very common.

user116848

Hello folks :)

die.

The die has been cast.

user116848

who?

@GeorgePompidou What is the meaning of die?

4:25 PM

pineapple.

When did pineapple become die?

never.

Ananas later.

@JasperLoy Yeah she's got a nice rack

a gun rack?

4:26 PM

@GnomeSlice We both love Shawna Lenee, lol.

Dies irae, dies illa, solvet saeculum in favilla

you know you're a redneck when your gun rack... has a gun rack on it.

Also that's a Pornstar (Dylan Ryder), not a protestor.

I guess they just googled for a pic with tits and guns in it

Because why wouldn't you?

They will now be sued for lack of attribution, lol.

4:35 PM

my roommate has a cousin who is mentally disabled and his name is Beau. the way this is pronounced, it is exactly the Romanian word bou which means bull, but is generally used as an expression to mean a dumbass or idiot. so my roommate refers to him as my cousin Beau and I die of laughter every time because to me he is saying "my dumbass cousin."

Mr. Alien

@JasperLoy hello :)

I don't know if I'm awful or awful in another way

or if I'm just a guy named George.

wearing a shirt. who knows.

but hey, at least my name isn't Jasper. that's a baby pig's name.

Also, a dog's name.

no no. little piggy.

I do like my name a lot. Suits me very well.

4:42 PM

What was it before you changed it?

I never changed it.

did you change your species?

Nope.

user116848

Wow! three lines of users here today. Although not all active :)

user116848

@JasperLoy Your name is awesome I agree.

4:44 PM

@Arrowfar What is yours?

user116848

@JasperLoy Real name is 'Farooq'. I changed it some time ago.

user116848

But since I was using my own profile pic that's why I changed my name to this.

Q: “Members’ gallery” vs. “members gallery”

1

What would I use when setting up a gallery for many members to submit to? I am thinking, Members’ Gallery, as it is a gallery belonging to all the members, but I frequently see the use of just Members Gallery.

grammatical-number possessive apostrophe

5:02 PM

There are so many zombies in this chat.

user116848

So would i seem like a chick if I upload some actress's photo as my profile pic?

user116848

I thought I should ask first.

does everyone do a fair bit of dicking around when they're at work?

@GeorgePompidou Only when I'm bored.

@Arrowfar Four lines on an iPad.

5:11 PM

And I hate being bored.

I'll admit that nearly half my time at work is playing around on the internet, chatting, etc.

user116848

@AndrewLeach That's swell :)

I guess I am relatively bored. since I have not graduated school yet all the programming jobs I get are barely more than testing/internal stuff/boring.

@GeorgePompidou I would say you need a more challenging job.

I'm hoping that'll come at my next job and if not, after I graduate.

5:13 PM

What, you're still in school?

yeah.

I have two years left ^.^

almost. it's one of those stupid 5-year co-op programs.

Oh, well, then the challenging thing should take care of itself.

What school?

IIT?

RIT

R is for . . . ?

Rochester, NY

sorry, typo

5:15 PM

I would have thought Rensellaer.

But OK.

I should've gone there.

or to U of I. I got accepted to UIUC and I didn't go.

Instead you went to Buffalo's ugly stepsister.

and out of all reasons, I thought it was too rural and awful there.

@GeorgePompidou You could do a lot worse than U of I. That's my alma mater.

little did I know that Rochester is an armpit of a smelly fat guy.

5:16 PM

I've never understood where "school" and "graduate" fit into the US education system.

yeah. I should've definitely gone to U of I.

@AndrewLeach A. You go to school. B. You graduate (if you do well enough). Any questions?

would've been much cheaper, probably better, and definitely more recognized and prestigious.

@GeorgePompidou Totally.

Yes. At what age do you graduate? (We leave school at 16)

5:17 PM

I've been considering trying to transfer either there or to U of Washington for my last two years, but it's just so complicated.

@AndrewLeach you graduate at the age at which you are when you graduate.

@GeorgePompidou OK. Don't explain it then.

I graduated high school when I was 17. my friend did when he was 18. I am probably going to graduate from college when I am 24 because I took a several year break in between.

but some of my friends graduated college between 21 and 23

I'll bet a guy graduated college when he was 56 at some point.

@AndrewLeach We have elementary school, grades 1-6. Middle school 7 to 8 (or sometimes 9). High school for 9 or 10 to 12. One is usually 17 or 18 on graduation.

Ah. Thanks. So graduation is not necessarily a degree.

sure it is.

5:19 PM

It is if you're talking college.

yeah.

In the UK it's always a degree, from a university.

do you not have high schools?

We refer to getting a high school diploma as the signifier of achievement.

that may explain why you talk so funny.

5:20 PM

> This job requires a high school diploma.

err, no. talking is generally from before high school I guess.

> Must be a high-school graduate.

do some people not graduate high school?

@AndrewLeach: You don't still have O and A levels, do you?

Why are you looking at limbo-dancing ads?

5:21 PM

No. We have infant schools to age 6, juniors 7-11, secondary school 11-16, sixth form (tertiary college) 17-18, university 18-21 or thereabouts. There are some longer university courses.

There are O-level equivalents (GCSE) at 16 and A levels at 18.

oh, I remember sixth form from watching skins.

@AndrewLeach Don’t toddlers come after infants?

there's lots of sex and drugs.

@tchrist Infants come after parents do.

You have the whole go–come thing thing swapped around.

Parents go after toddlers.

5:23 PM

@GeorgePompidou Apparently. Things have changed since my days in a rural backwater.

Time to commute. Latours.

@AndrewLeach How displombatic of you to avoid the familiar four-letter word!

what is commute

Anyway, that's why I was confused, because we only graduate once (unless we go on to a higher degree).

Not very gradual then.

5:25 PM

gets really queasy thinking about skins

Junior-highschool graduates are seldom diplomatic.

I think they use naugahyde instead of proper sheepskin for junior high.

I'm writing an iPhone app to compete with an existing iPhone app for my school's bus system schedules. should I be at all worried about the author of the original app claiming some intellectual property theft or something?

if it's just the idea of an app for the bus system that I'm taking

Well sure. That said, I wouldn’t worrit the poor dear to death if I were you.

@AndrewLeach I thought graduate can be used for anything, such as nursery school.

Nobody bothers with a mote in a kidling’s eye but that very kidling.

5:31 PM

so, no intelligible answer.