English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Cerberus

12:40 AM

Yooo.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 How long have you known me? Little new things are the end of the world, of course.

NoviceInDisguise

Hello!

Interesting color scheme :P

Cerberus

@NoviceInDisguise Huh, what do you mean?

Is there something out of the ordinary?

GiantCowFilms

Sort of, I'm used to other color schemes, it was a tad jarring at first

Cerberus

It's just beige on lighter beige?

Ton sur ton?

But welcome anyway!

tchrist

1:33 AM

We find it comforting.

> Beige . . . I think I’ll paint the ceiling beige.

GiantCowFilms

lol, ok :D

Cerberus

1:50 AM

Not sure about the ceiling...

tchrist

Just close your eyes and think of England.

2

Q: How did 'drone' come to mean both 'one who does no work' and 'one who spends most of the time doing menial work'?

Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary (2003) gives the following definitions for drone in senses derived from the word for male honeybee: drone \drōn\ n {ME fr. OE drān; akin to OHG treno drone, Gk thrēnos dirge} (bef. 12c) 1 : the male of a bee (as of a male honeybee) that has no ...

Cerberus

@tchrist One reason why.

They shouldn't have fed me beer and wine.

tchrist

Bier nach Wein, lass es sein; Wein nach Bier, das rat ich Dir.

Cerberus

Bier na wijn geeft venijn; wijn na bier geeft plezier.

Do you know what this is about?

tchrist

Yes, I wanted a finer match.

Cerberus

2:01 AM

Hint: it is not about actual drinks.

tchrist

I don’t know. I get lost without the capital letters. :)

Cerberus

No, I mean what the general expression is about, regardless of language.

Venijn = venenum.

Plezier = plaisir.

tchrist

It was posted in the Rathskeller at my university.

Cerberus

It is really about socio-economic class.

Going down is unbearable.

tchrist

Really?

Cerberus

2:04 AM

It's what all my knowledgeable friends tell me.

tchrist

May I quote you on that? :)

Cerberus

Certainly.

tchrist

> Beer then liquor, never been sicker. Liquor then beer, have no fear.

We always thought it was one of those.

Cerberus

> Beer after wine, and you’ll feel fine, wine after beer and you’ll feel queer.

It's all bullshit if it's about actual drinks.

tchrist

The scansion of yours leaves something to be desired. Amongst other things.

Cerberus

2:08 AM

At least the German and the Dutch sayings are bout class, not hangovers.

How so?

tchrist

Uneven meter.

Cerberus

One swallows the ands, presumably.

tchrist

Oh, I guess it can be made to work.

Cerberus

Good news: parliament has voted for a motion against TTIP's violating our democracy and judicial system.

Of course this is vague, but still.

At last, TTIP is becoming a topic of national debate.

And, so far, its cards look bad.

@tchrist How about America? Are people talking about TTIP at all?

Congress?

tchrist

2:23 AM

If so, they’ve left me out of the loop.

Cerberus

That is a no.

A popular presented dedicated part of his programme to it on national television, last week. That was a first.

tchrist

I’m sure I’ve not heard that particular sigla pronounced on the radio.

Cerberus

Right.

It will give European companies, including the countless foreign letterbox firms in Holland, the right to sue America for billions of dollars.

Those firms could be really Chinese or American firms.

Three arbitrators will judge on the case. They have shady conflicts of interests.

Law firms are already making rounds among the world's largest corporations as to whether they may file suits in their names.

There is no clear jurisprudence for the semi-corrupt arbitrators, no court of appeal.

tchrist

> First shoot all the lawyers.

I spend a day away and the bat signal clocks triple digits.

Cerberus

The bat signal?

Too bad my family are all lawyers. But they're mostly good lawyers. Except possibly my brother.

tchrist

2:32 AM

The number of review matters needing attention.

To the left of the review link. Colorful.

Cerberus

Ah.

tchrist

3:06 AM

How can YOU have an evil twin?

mjjjjjmmjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj jjjjjj

Lorin, not me. I swear it.

Cerberus

Heh.

Hey, he's not evil. Just a corporate lawyer. And, remember, lawyerism is a lot less corrupt here than in some other places.

The justice system basically works well; bullying people through meritless lawsuits normally doesn't work.

Robusto

9:53 AM

@Cerberus I just listened to a Dan Carlin podcast on the subject. Chilling, it was.

It's called "The Illusion of Control": available here.

dancarlin.com/common-sense-home-landing-page also.

RegDwigнt

11:28 AM

Sup.

Here's a lesson on political correctness for you all Americans:

neger.de

Now that's what I call a logo.

tchrist

Whoa!

The dead return to life!

RUSEmplNow?

> Due to I have an exam, I am unable to come to college today! Therefore, grant me leave for today!

Bang up job, that one.

It is now verging on 30 hours that this eyesore has festered unedited by our fine community:

0

Q: I wanted sb to win ==? Sb is the entity I wanted to win

When I say, StackExchange is the website I wanted to win (in an implied context of best website award), it sounds like I wanted to win (own) StackExchange, whereas I'm trying to imply that I wanted StackExchange to win the best website award. Am I wrong? Is the following statement: Stackexchange...

subject

I will grant the small, slim possibility that nobody has touched it because they realize it needs more than font fixes and retitling.

Still.

> Would "hordes of brain-hungry zombies" be more zombies than "a horde of brain hungry zombies"?

One little, two little, three little——BRANES! MUST HAV MOAR BRANES!

@RegDwigнtI wanted to ping you yesterday, but you’d gone sub rosa.

Just hope she was worth it.

tchrist

12:09 PM

OP just edited his deleted post, but I feel no urge to undo @Andrew’s fine work.

Andrew Leach

Now it's proofreading.

> If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.

Still doesn't fit.

tchrist

Exactly.

And we can’t even tell him that.

This is not a complaint!

Nor a suggestion, either.

Merely an observation.

Andrew Leach

Well, I can comment on it. So I have.

terdon

You gotta love the exclamation marks though. "I can't come to college today! Whohooooo!"

tchrist

I like the one on the imperative.

RegDwigнt

12:19 PM

2

Mind = blown

tchrist

Missing meaning.

That so many people want to fly to Bangkok?

Andrew Leach

That's rather clever. The proportions of the Helsinki box are out, though.

Or rather, the stripes in the Helsinki box.

Robusto

1:00 PM

@tchrist Five current national flags are cutouts of the Norwegian flag.

I.e., contained within.

Johan Larsson

1:24 PM

proper subsets

proper star

Matt E. Эллен

english.stackexchange.com/stackegg/leaderboard

RegDwigнt

1:57 PM

Jesus rice, I can't use this ELU Tamagotchi.

Where's usability when you need her.

What am I supposed to click and when?

I am too stupid for this Internet.

user116848

Hi Reg and all!

GiantCowFilms

Google PacMaps is so much fun :D

RegDwigнt

Yes. It is only so much fun.

Cerberus

Hello!

RegDwigнt

Is it me you're looking for?

Cerberus

2:03 PM

Is it?

RegDwigнt

I'm asking you?

user116848

I thought that was the "Hello" song.

RegDwigнt

And so it was.

Cerberus

I'm only asking questions today?

That flag is pretty nice!

terdon

@Cerberus Sounds like you two are playing this:

Whose Line Is It Anyway- Questions Only (Whoopi Goldberg)

►

Cerberus

2:05 PM

Haha, yes, that game.

We have in fact played it here.

RegDwigнt

Nov 15 '12 at 16:20, by Robusto

@RegDwighт That's half of the joke. The other half is that she is famous for anything.

Cerberus

Oh, and neger.de? Also pretty good.

RegDwigнt

Yes.

And not an April joke either.

Cerberus

Unfortunately, neger.nl is nothing.

Nor is nigger.com.

Of course the words are not entirely comparable.

RegDwigнt

For you, I have another photo of Russian architectural genius.

Cerberus

2:08 PM

How marvellously planned.

terdon

@RegDwigнt Huh, I'd always thought that Escher was Dutch.

GiantCowFilms

Oh wow . . .

RegDwigнt

Oh and this, of course.

Cerberus

That's planned obsolescence for you: it's obsolete even before it exists.

GiantCowFilms

XD

Twice the likelyhood they will see it, right?

Cerberus

2:09 PM

@RegDwigнt Very nice, very effective.

GiantCowFilms

Or they will just get confused and go off the road and kill someone :P

RegDwigнt

Doppelt hält besser.

Viel hilft viel.

GiantCowFilms

Sure . . . ?

Cerberus

Haha.

RegDwigнt

@GiantCowFilms nah, that's not Russian drivers. That's German pilots.

GiantCowFilms

2:11 PM

I saw a sign once, that was supposed to say "BUMP", for frost heaves, etc. Well, some creative person decided to top off the U and add a piece to the P to make it say "BOMB"

I wish I had gotten a picture XD

RegDwigнt

Terror level: elevated.

Matt E. Эллен

2:33 PM

@RegDwigнt click on the labels

"answer" "ask" etc

RegDwigнt

Yes yes.

I've graduated a site by now.

Matt E. Эллен

woo!

RegDwigнt

Trying to win the Internet next.

Matt E. Эллен

not enough people are playing

RegDwigнt

One people is enough.

Matt E. Эллен

2:36 PM

we've moved down three places on the global leaderboard!

RegDwigнt

Yes.

What bozo clicks on "nothing".

Matt E. Эллен

me :D

RegDwigнt

We need four hearts everywhere and they click "nothing".

Matt E. Эллен

I think only the two of us are playing

RegDwigнt

Gimme teh algo plz.

Matt E. Эллен

2:40 PM

no se

RegDwigнt

Yup, that's el algo I've been using.

Matt E. Эллен

I guess if we wait 311 days, we'll win another internet?

RegDwigнt

We can't wait.

We need to click, otherwise the same day resets all over again.

Matt E. Эллен

ah

RegDwigнt

I think we win the Internet as soon as the traffic is at 4.

For that, we need answers + quality.

This is the most boring game I have played all day.

Matt E. Эллен

2:43 PM

yes

RegDwigнt

I've never owned a tamagotchi, either.

Matt E. Эллен

nor me

RegDwigнt

I also like movies and music.

Matt E. Эллен

@Cerberus play this game already!

@RegDwigнt good

RegDwigнt

Stop voting on other stuff than me, it needs a majority decision.

I think.

Matt E. Эллен

2:45 PM

I thought that if we each did one, both would go up

RegDwigнt

It said that, at least.

@MattE.Эллен yeah perhaps. Hopefully. Would make more sense.

Let's try it a couple rounds, then.

Matt E. Эллен

OK

hmmm

I still can't tell

RegDwigнt

It does some weird stuff.

Matt E. Эллен

yeah

looks like we've got a third participant :D

RegDwigнt

Who likes to close everything.

So it can't be Cerberus.

Must be tchrist.

Matt E. Эллен

2:49 PM

lol

RegDwigнt

> Whatever your little Site should do next, it is decided by a majority vote of all players. Each voting round takes 20 seconds, after which your Site performs the action with the most votes.

Matt E. Эллен

ah

RegDwigнt

Reading teh first sentance of help hels lol

I think we should get one metric to the eleven, then work on the others.

Matt E. Эллен

yeah

oopth

RegDwigнt

You people with your wurst fingers.

Matt E. Эллен

2:55 PM

which one are we trying o increaes?

RegDwigнt

We had questions at 4 already.

So I'm trying to keep it at 4, without letting anything else drop below 1.

Still no traffic.

Matt E. Эллен

I'll bbl

aye

RegDwigнt

k

Robusto

0

Q: Which is more grammatically correct

Didn't take you as the guy who bows down to peer pressure, or didn't take you as a guy who bows down to peer pressure. Or if there is a better way of saying this.

grammar grammaticality

I think they're taunting us.

Johan Larsson

I want stronger types and more types.

And with less text.

RegDwigнt

3:18 PM

Stronger is not my type.

Johan Larsson

sure it is

RegDwigнt

NOU

What is with this (excessive use of parentheses) on the main page?

Johan Larsson

I have only looked on main once or twice I think

RegDwigнt

Like, ever?

Or just today?

Johan Larsson

ever

I have no business there

wrote a comment once bud speled it wrong

RegDwigнt

3:22 PM

I have a lemonade stand in the top left corner.

@Matt, I got our traffic to two already.

Three now, after 249 days.

Four after 253.

Just for the record, right now we have 4 internets, 311.8 avg days to win, 1.3 avg flags left.

Let's see if I can beat that.

Robusto

Wow, it's really weird having a conversation in Skype and watching their typing progress. After two minutes of churning they come up with a six-word answer.

They'd never makke it in The Incomprehensible Room.

RegDwigнt

Yeah because it shows you their erasing.

Robusto

Those have to be the most perfect six words they've ever written, I guess.

RegDwigнt

36 mins ago, by RegDwigнt

You people with your wurst fingers.

My contender in that category.

Interestingly and inexplicably, this question is missing the answer "quiet is fine". What gives? I'd vote on that. — RegDwigнt ♦ 17 secs ago

Seriously. Like, seriously.

Mitch

3:51 PM

@RegDwigнt "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent."

RegDwigнt

Nice try, Joanne K.

Mitch

whosoever notwithstanding...

@RegDwigнt I think she's said enough.

RegDwigнt

Of which she could not, to boot.

Mitch

Nodody wants to tell her "This needs a little tightening up, let's say a word here, pages 200 through 800 there."

RegDwigнt

Mkay. So now we have 5 internets, 313.6 avg days to win, 1.4 avg flags left.

Mitch

3:54 PM

how do you win an internet?

RegDwigнt

By taking an internet, then winning it.

It is a complicated two-part process. Get an expert to help.

Mitch

So you can get the color you want. I just won a bet!

RegDwigнt

> 1. Code Golf Stack Exchange
2. Anime & Manga Stack Exchange
3. Arqade
4. Stack Overflow
5. Meta Stack Exchange
6. Aviation Stack Exchange
7. Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange
8. Ask Ubuntu
9. Mathematics Stack Exchange
10. RPG Stack Exchange

Nice to have it spelled out for once which "professions" jerk off the most at their "jobs".

Mitch

I don't see 'physics'

RegDwigнt

For physics, even jerking off is just too much work.

Commute!

user116848

4:12 PM

So I have been chatting here for almost eleven months and I still haven't got the outspoken badge. Am I that boring? I wonder.

7

user116848

Star that ^

user116848

Or don't :-)

user116848

4:26 PM

Heh

user116848

terdon

Feel better? :P

GiantCowFilms

lol

user116848

:)

crl

5:29 PM

Did you see the pacman in google maps?

you need to play it in Manhattan-like streets preferably

beer!this or that?

@crl this

@crl that

GiantCowFilms

@crl Yes! It is really cool :D I played in Brooklyn for a while

crl

@GiantCowFilms hehe

Cerberus

5:44 PM

@RegDwigнt Okay, I'm playing...

How does it work, are we all feeding the same site?

Mitch

@Cerberus It's google's way of crowd sourcing an AI to find optimal attack paths for it's human extermination drones

2

Cerberus

@Mitch That's it!!

You mean Pacman.

Mitch

One of the original authors of Pacman... Sergei Brin.

His plans are finally coming to fruition.

I'm kinda bummed out...I can't get any of the pacman stuff to show up. I never get a button, even around Manhatten

Cerberus

@Mitch Really??

GiantCowFilms

It should always be there, by the sattelite button

Cerberus

5:54 PM

@Mitch Huh?

Mitch

I know! That's why I'm bummed.

maps.google.com, right?

Cerberus

Yes.

Lower left corner.

Mitch

so it works for you in amsterdam?

goes to amsterdam

GiantCowFilms

lol

Mitch

I zoomed to that picture and I still don't get the button. I want to waste time like the rest of the world!! Wahhhhhh!!

Cerberus

5:59 PM

@Mitch It works for me in Pyonyang.

In both browsers.

Mitch

I'm in chrome. is that a problem?

Cerberus

No.

Works for me in Chrome.

Mitch

I have mostly good thoughts. would bad thoughts pose a problem?

Cerberus

So what do you seen next to your "Satellite" tile?

Mitch

The people who I have bad thought about really deserve them.

Cerberus

6:00 PM

Are your thoughts Kitsch?

Mine are now about quiche.

Which I am eating.

Mitch

@Cerberus just the staellite/map toggle

Cerberus

OK.

Oddest.

GiantCowFilms

What does this link show: google.com/maps/@30.041075,31.2018952,18z/data=!1e3

Cerberus

The game!

Mitch

got it!

Cerberus

6:15 PM

Good!

Mitch

6:31 PM

OK that was 15 minutes wasted. I don't even like pacman

also I won. What do I do now for fulfilment?

GiantCowFilms

lol

Matt E. Эллен

@Mitch answer a question on EL&U

Mitch

@MattE.Эллен checks

@MattE.Эллен does commenting count?

Matt E. Эллен

@Mitch nooooooooooooooooooooooooo head asplode

Mitch

that was not grammaratical

@MattE.Эллен dangit. tries again

argh! commented again!

Wait, I'll get it right.

Matt E. Эллен

6:40 PM

there's a box labelled "Your Answer". you should write an answer in that

Mitch

commas usually don't have a space before them — Mitch 27 secs ago

@MattE.Эллен That's a little too obvious don't you think.

"Here, kick this ball" and then they pull it away at the last minute. No sir, I'm no chump.

BIg security risk. I wrote my answer on paper, then mailed it without a stamp (DNA testing from the saliva you know)

How about this one:

0

Q: TR sound and Word Stress

I read in American accent book that when a "t" is followed by an "r" sound, the "t" changes and becomes an almost "ch" sound. "To create this sound correctly, say "ch" as in chain, but just make the tip of the tongue a bit more tense when it touches the gum ridge, and focus on creating a stop o...

american-english pronunciation stress

I frankly don't agree with this at all. I think the quality of the 't' in "tree" and "tee" are identical, very aspirated, no 'ch' palatalization. But I'm no phonetician. so I feel like the best I could give is a comment, not an answer.

GiantCowFilms

That link is correct I think, as far as I can tell, tree = CH-r-EE, tee = t-EE. The T in TR becomes a CH, however the R remains the same.

It really depends on the dialect tbh

I have heard it many different ways

American english is very diverse :P

Mitch

6:58 PM

@GiantCowFilms It's pretty well established that the varieties of English in the US is much less than in the UK.

GiantCowFilms

Oh wow, that must be bad

Very bad :P

Like impossibly bad

o.O

Mitch

@GiantCowFilms I may e having the native speaker problem of not seeing things. but 'chree' (which is hard to say) and 'tree' (which is easy) are similar but it's still [tʃrij] and [trij] respectively

GiantCowFilms

Chree is hard to say . . . ?

Mitch

It feels very unnatural to me. Are you a native speaker of English?

GiantCowFilms

Yes

Northern US though

Matt E. Эллен

7:08 PM

@Mitch nothing gets past you, eh? It's true. Stack Exchange collates all the answers to a question together so that they can be judged by other users

Mitch

@MattE.Эллен hm... I suppose. I bet they have users vote (maybe even vote downwards too) to give the appearance of thoughtful judgement.

Matt E. Эллен

@Mitch Yes! and votes affect a user's reputation. It's all a ruse to collect fake internet points

Mitch

Reputation? wow. nice. And of course those are convertible directly to bitcoin?

Matt E. Эллен

indirectly, via voting rings

Cerberus

I've almost won...

But: why??

Matt E. Эллен

7:19 PM

noone knows

Cerberus

How many times have we won yet?

Matt E. Эллен

this is the first time, I think

Cerberus

Oh, it's 6.

Matt E. Эллен

oh, 6 times

jinx

Cerberus

At least we are ahead of Superuser, and Christianity.

In other words, Christianity is behind.

Mitch

7:21 PM

how am I missing all these fun time wasters? I want to win the internet too!

Link please?

Cerberus

You don't see the Tamagotchi thing?

Mitch

looking

Cerberus

Go to the main site, see the advertisement in the upper right corner.

GiantCowFilms

the animated gif

Mitch

Oh. That? I thought it was just an image or an ad. I totally ignore things like that.

Cerberus

7:23 PM

Same here.

But this time people told me to click on it, or something.

Mitch

That tamagotchi thing is expressly designed to eat up time. While I have my attention directed towards that, someonw is breaking in through my back door and stealing all my junk

There should be rounds of at most 5 econds each. Hurry up, Time!

@Cerberus what sort of crazy behavior odification scheme is this? Just tell us the algorithm for the real sight and we'll do more of that on the real site!

Cerberus

8:02 PM

@Mitch Yeah, why do they keep hiding the real algorism??

At least the morale of the game is: users don't matter, you can neglect them pretty much until they begin to revolt. Then throw them a tiny bone.

I could have posted actual answers in the time it took me to finish that game!

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…