English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

user174558

00:21

Hello @kit.

Mitch

02:09

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 This was funneh:

english.stackexchange.com/questions/294808/…

> When you say stupidity, are you using it in the original 17th century meaning of "numbness, incapacity for sensation"? And when you say sheer, do you mean it in the original 13th century sense of being cleared or acquitted from a crime or guilt? If so, I agree this is just a case of numbness acquitted from guilt!

Cerberus

05:14

@Mitch But it is also a bit of a fallacy:

Just because one kind of change in meaning is deemed acceptable, that doesn't mean any kind is.

Matt E. Эллен

10:25

I hope you don't mind me fleshing out your answer @JohnNash

SmokeDetector

11:14

[ SmokeDetector ] Pattern-matching website in body: Are "Among …, include(s) ….” constructs illogical? by user152425MH on english.stackexchange.com

Kit Z. Fox

14:00

Is this right? I reda it and feel like I don't understand it?

0

A: Is “Am I needing to. . . ?” grammatical?

Needing is a gerund for need that means it is used as noun. So, grammatically your statement "Am I needing to read this book?" is incorrect because you are here using it as a verb. In a continuous form, need is used as need or needs and -ing is used with something that should have something done ...

user174558

14:29

@MattE.Эллен No problem, I edited it again for some minor issues, but what you added stays.

Kit Z. Fox

Hi @John.

user174558

@KitZ.Fox I do not think it is used as a noun there, no matter how bad my grammar is, hi!

Kit Z. Fox

OK, good. I thought maybe I was missing something.

user174558

I think your question is not so much one of syntax but of word usage. The question is: Can 'need' be used as a dynamic verb?

user174558

And we all know words change meaning over time.

user174558

14:36

@MattE.Эллен Why are you offering a bounty? LOL. Oh, must be to get a hat!

Shafizadeh

"followed answer" or "following answer"? (I want to refer to below answer or that answer which is under the question)

Kit Z. Fox

@Shafizadeh Following answer

Shafizadeh

ok tnx

user174558

That should be OK thanks.

user116848

hello @KitZ.Fox @JohnNash.

user174558

14:45

@Arrowfar Hello!

Mitch

Merry Solstice everyone!

user116848

Merry Solstice!

Mitch

I'm guessing that's why it was so quiet here yesterday

When we get to Mars, we're going to have a whole new set of solstices

That's when the real culture war on Solstices will start.

@Cerberus He was just making fun of the hyperbole of sheer stupidity. All in good solstice fun

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Making fun of hyperbole is the reason for the season.

Mitch

@Arrowfar are you up north or down south? Do you ever get snow if you're up in the north (but not in the mountains)?

user116848

14:51

Are we going to Mars? I'm coming with!

Mitch

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 that's over the top

@Arrowfar you haven't heard?

user174558

Just don't commit treason this season.

Mitch

Well, not necessarily anyone of us here

@JohnNash Yeah. people who treason suck

user116848

@Mitch I'm in the south near the Arabian Sea. In the north we get lots of snow.

user116848

@Mitch Arabian Sea is at a 20 mins drive from where I live :)

Mitch

14:53

@Arrowfar Oh. So no snow.

user116848

Yes no snow.

Mitch

I grew up halfway in the south so that we always wanted snow and would get some sometimes, but it was very tantalizing.

like 2 inches once or twice a year.

then it would melt by the next day

user116848

Oh cool!

Mitch

well, no, decidedly uncool. just enough to get us all excited, but not enough to have fun with.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Snow's great until you have to shovel it off your driveway. And then the snowplow goes by and pushes it back onto your driveway.

Mitch

15:00

They're just doing their job.

I always push the snow from our driveway a little down street. SO the plow pushes it into the next guys driveway

@JohnNash You should commit another good question to ELU. You're almost at 10 for eyes/pupils/students

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

luckily in Toronto we have edgerow clearing, so a 2nd snowplow follows the first and does its best to re-clear the snowplow mess from your driveway. It's not perfect but it's decent.

Mitch

??

What?

how does that work?

user174558

@Mitch I thought of that example when I woke up this morning.

Mitch

I'd expect a second plow just to make things worse

push more of it into your driveway

user174558

@Mitch I see you want more rep, lol.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

15:07

@Mitch No, it drives right up to where the other plow left the snow hump, puts its blade down, and plows it out of the driveway.

Mitch

Well...there's that too. But it's nice to have 1) an interesting question 2) in which people recognize interesting useful answers (like mine!)

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Wow. That's ... so nice. It's seems beyond nice.

But where does all the snow get plowed to? The corner? People living on the corner get really upset that,, after they've had to plow their extra long sidewalks, the plows fill up what they just plowed right at the corner.

Solve that, Canadia.

user174558

0

Q: please help me answer these questions

16) What constructions are used after the introductory it? 21) What constructions are used to describe characteristics of an object/person? Provide the examples. 23) Provide the examples of the Complex Subject with the infinitive. 24) What construction is used after the verb+possessive adjecti...

questions

Shafizadeh

what is difference between "it seems good" and "it does seem good" ?

user174558

ROFLMAO

user174558

@Shafizadeh Does acts as emphasis.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

15:14

@Mitch It just goes along the front of the yard past the driveway. Or in my case, into a huge mound not quite past my driveway.

Shafizadeh

@JohnNash Ah I see, tnx

user174558

You mean thanks, lol.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@JohnNash I think there is some nuance here, besides just emphasis.

I'm struggling to explain it.

user174558

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I feel what you feel, the force.

Shafizadeh

@JohnNash ;-)

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

15:18

lets the Force flow through him

Mitch

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I really like the snow, or rather the look and the idea of the snow. And I don't mind terribly the pushing around of the snow (except for being late to work and such). But what really gets me is that after all that pushing and labor and piling up into huge mounds, in a couple months it's just going to melt, all that hard work gone to waste. I think of the huge mounds towering above my head as an accomplishment of a sorts, and the melting just ruins all that.

@JohnNash The force is strong with this one. Probably an excess of metachorions.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Mitch I hate the part where I just finished moving it all and more falls onto the area that's been cleared. non-stop. all effing winter.

@Mitch chime in on this: when would you use "He does X" instead of "He X"? Like, "He reads well" vs "He does read well", or "It seems good" vs "It does seem good"?

Mitch

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Or where you pile things up just right, and then it snows again badly, and... now there's no where to put it. You took up all the good places the first time and there's just no where for the new snow to go.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I'm thinking exactly that too, the same force, it flows through you and everyone in the universe except for those who don't know English. There's another force for them, actually the same force but colored differently. In Russian the force is mostly profanity.

Hm..now that I think of it, same with English.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Is this a question worthy of the main site?

Mitch

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I'm with Jasper, it's mostly just emphasis, I can't see much more to it than that as a label for the extra feeling.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 It good be easily interpreted as 'primarily opinion based' because people like to press buttons (literally)

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

15:23

@Mitch I don't think it just emphasizes. I feel like it's used when you're stating something that contradicts expectations, or something.

Mitch

Bascially it is asking what 'does' means. Which could be a page of dense linguistic text.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 you mean sort of like 'but' (an extremely complex situation)

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

"I can't believe there's no food left." "Well, he does like chicken."

Mitch

(that almost every language recognizes)

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

hm, maybe that IS just an emphasis.

Mitch

Emphasis seems like a boring word for it, but I think maybe whatever 'does' does, it colors what 'emphasis' should be.

'does' means other things of course, but in @Shafizadeh's example it is just emphasis I think.

user174558

15:26

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 As long as it IS not ISIS.

Mitch

"He does not like chicken" there's no emphasis, it's just negation. well, maybe a little emphasis (!).

@JohnNash Or ISS

user174558

@Mitch I like ISS.

Mitch

Or Isis, goddess of fertility

@JohnNash I like Ike-iss

user116848

@JohnNash haha!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

heh. I always feel like it's emphasis to say "does not" instead of "doesn't". But then my son, for some reason, rarely uses contractions. "I do not like it!", "I cannot do that!". It's so odd.

@JohnNash ISIS is just emphasis.

user116848

15:28

That thought crosses my mind too everytime I see "is" in capitals.

user116848

:)

user116848

Which is funny.

Anonymous

Native speakers sometimes insert an extra is or two when they say things like "The thing is, is"

Anonymous

And linguists dubbed this Isis, way back before ISIS existed

user116848

Good evening snailboat.

user174558

15:30

I have 10 hats!

Anonymous

But you can call it Extris (extra is).

Anonymous

@Arrowfar Morning!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

> In affirmative sentences, used to give emphasis, esp. in contrast with what precedes or follows.
The stress is placed upon the auxiliary, as in the perfect and future tenses. There may be inversion of order as well.

From the OED on "do"

stack

This is correct? (as a title of question) "Returning a regex output to the first case"

Anonymous

Do is special. Since it adds no meaning of its own as an auxiliary, it can be added any time we need one, whether it's to form questions or to emphasize the polarity of what's being said. "What's the matter? You don't like hot dogs?" "Well, I do like hot dogs, but only Chicago hot dogs."

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

15:37

@stack Well, it's not a question

Anonymous

Of course, if we already have an auxiliary, we don't need to add one. We can stress the existing auxiliary instead.

Mitch

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 That sounds weird, but I bet it is common. Like somehow they know to make it easier to understand for others by not contracting.

@snailboat ISIS ruined a perfectly good word.

Anonymous

@Mitch It's actually rather upsetting to me.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Mitch He does use some contractions, and he understands them, but where I feel that most people use them all the time in speech, he often doesn't, and I notice it.

Mitch

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Pfft.. OED

What do they know.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

15:40

Another thing I've noticed: now that he's started to read, he's started pronouncing words wrong because he's pronouncing them the way he reads them. Example: He pronounces chamber to rhyme with amber, despite having heard the word before he ever read it.

Mitch

@snailboat That makes sense. The thing about hotdogs. People who put ketchup on a hotdog are just ruining a perfectly good hotdog. That's scientific fact.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 The most annoying thing about kids (after having to wipe their butts for them), is that their first word is usually dada and not mama as most people think. The dental stop is usually the first phoneme they learn. It's annoying because really the mom is doing all the work, she deserves the first name.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Funny. At least he's learning through reading. I think we all have little words like that still into later life. Up until recently I pronounced 'awry' as aw-ree. Sounds hilarious now.

stack

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Well, How can I bring up it as a question?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@stack you could use a question word: "How to return a..." And end with a ?

stack

I see, tnx

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Mitch yeah I'm not worried about his language development, but it's interesting and amusing to watch it.

@Mitch incidentally, both my kids' first words were "more" and "bubbles", which they learned at daycare.

Matt E. Эллен

15:57

@JohnNash No, it's as I say: I like both your answer and Kit's so I want to reward you both

@KitZ.Fox looks like randle thor has done the job for me

user174558

@MattE.Эллен Did you enjoy the movie?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@MattE.Эллен I guess you've never read the Wheel of Time

Matt E. Эллен

16:24

that is correct

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

If you had you'd know it was rand al'thor.

or more precisely, Rand al'Thor

Matt E. Эллен

20 hours ago, by Matt E. Эллен

yes. I enjoyed it.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 ah, right. I was feeling too lazy to copy/paste

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

John Scalzi's review of Star Wars TFA:

> Star Wars is that friend of yours who you haven’t seen in a while, who was in a long-term relationship where everything was cool for a while and then things just plain went to hell, and the last time you saw them, they’d kind of hit the bottom. Now you’re seeing them again for the first time in years and before they show up you’re humming a little mantra that goes please please please please don’t let this be awkward and weird like it was the last time we saw each other.

And then they show up! And they look great. They sound great. You talk to them and slip into the groove with them, and…

Matt E. Эллен

I didn't want to cry, but it was like that, yeah

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I'm seeing it tonight

We mailed our kids to their grandmother's house so that we can get out.

Matt E. Эллен

16:28

nice :D

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Postage was a lot, but as it's Tuesday movie ticket prices are cheaper, so it works out.

Probably should have sprung for a tracking number. oh well.

Matt E. Эллен

they'll turn up when they're hungry

Kinson Chan

16:51

im hungry

Kit Z. Fox

18:12

The xx - Crystalised

►

user124234

18:34

Hi , I am new here.
I am new in this chat room.

Kit Z. Fox

@user124234 Hi.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

Sup ELU'ers?

Kit Z. Fox

Yo.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

1 hour later…

Weird to see that here.

user124234

Hehe, Sir Mar

Hi , Kit .

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

18:55

Hot damn, I got a secret hat!

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 Whose name is?

Oh. Sun Wukong?

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Yeah!

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

That's good, but over time I've grown to hate this hat. Sorry.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Sun Wukong?

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

Yeah.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

18:58

May I ask why?

Kit Z. Fox

Lolcat Genesis 1:1 for your bemusement.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

I wish there was a yachting cap called the Peemster.

Kit Z. Fox

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 I sent that one over to Pops.

Although his inbox is dramatically full, I imagine.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@KitZ.Fox Pops?

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 Well, you earn this hat for getting a post in meta with 5 upvotes and 5 downvotes. So people abused the system to get hats and that happened more in the case of this hat than the others.

It was a bad idea to put the downvotes in.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

19:00

I don't disagree.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

Just like the 'peer pressure' badge is a bad idea.

Kit Z. Fox

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 The hat guru.

Mastermind.

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 He says no such thing exists. Maybe you should explain the awesomeness of it to him.

For next year.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Hum.

Oh, Peemster is not a real thing?

I want that black sails in the sunset hat.

Hugo

19:15

@KitZ.Fox 9,999 views! english.stackexchange.com/questions/25235/…

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Oy, the present continuous.

Kit Z. Fox

19:42

@Hugo w00t! I think that bounty did it. Thanks!

Hugo

19:59

happy hat!

Mitch

Double is to triple as halve is to three fourths. Hah! I rock the SATs — Mitch 20 secs ago

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

20:25

I added a new answer that Q because I didn't like trisect

Anonymous

21:01

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…