English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

SmokeDetector

00:34

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] No whitespace in answer: Tense change: previous actions on something that's currently true by Suusan on english.stackexchange.com

Tonepoet

03:10

This is probably going to sound like a stupid question but my rep. went down by 2 and the system is not reporting why. I would expect it to show me which answer was affected by a down vote, so I am assuming it is not that. My best bet other than that, is that a suggested edit I made in the past was deleted somehow, and the associated rep. bonus went alongside it. Is that a possible reason for it?

tchrist

I work too hard.

0

A: A cool way to ask if someone is "cool"

From 23 skidoo to kickin’ it — and beyond! You’ve asked for “a cool way to ask if someone is cool”, something with the same feel to it as seen in the Brazilian Portuguese slang expression suave na nave. Although translated literally that short snipped might render something along the lines of “c...

Tonepoet

03:35

@tchrist The relationship of the answer to the question is a little too incidental in my personal opinion, especially the second half, since you didn't make a corresponding proposal (See ya later, alligator, although a good example of the prosody, means something entirely different and since this person is a beginner, you should probably note that). It's still interesting to read though.

tchrist

I couldn't come up with anything that was a rhyming bit that meant the same thing.

Asking for short, pithy, popular, contemporary slang that means all those things is probably asking too much.

Tonepoet

That's probably the case. I will note that both suave and smooth have similar meanings in English though.

tchrist

I think you've misunderstood what he is asking.

Because you've misunderstood the meaning of is here, Mr President.

He wants to know whether someone’s playin’ it cool not whether they’re a cool person.

I’m certain his brain was thinking estar for that "is" in his title, not thinking ser.

State versus essence.

He's just interested in the state.

And yes, both essence and ser derive from the same Latin verb esse, just as both state and estar also derive from the same Latin verb stare. That’s why I picked those two for pairing.

Tonepoet

Maybe I'm just too sleepy. XP

tchrist

essence

Noun: essence ‎(countable and uncountable, plural essences)

The inherent nature of a thing or idea.
Landor
The laws are at present, both in form and essence, the greatest curse that society labours under.
Addison
Gifts and alms are the expressions, not the essence of this virtue [charity].

(21 more not shown…)

See Figure One.

:)

@Tonepoet Fixed in the next release.

Tonepoet

03:56

Well let's discuss this a little more. Nature in this sense probably refers to definition no. 2:

nature

Noun: nature ‎(countable and uncountable, plural natures)

(uncountable) The natural world; that which consists of all things unaffected by or predating human technology, production, and design. e.g. the ecosystem, the natural environment, virgin ground, unmodified species, laws of nature.
Nature never lies (i.e. tells untruths).
Thomas Macaulay (1800-1859)
Nature has caprices which art cannot imitate.
1891, Oscar Wilde, The Decay of Lying

(37 more not shown…)

Verb: nature ‎(third-person singular simple present natures, present participle naturing, simple past and past participle natured)

(obsolete) To endow with natural qualities.

Adverb: nature

naturally

Adjective: nature m, f ‎(plural natures)

plain, unseasoned
Une brioche nature ou sucrée ?
File-moi un yaourt nature s’il te plait.
bareback, raw dog
Une fellation nature.

(2 more not shown…)

Why doesn't that resemble the actual page?

tchrist

Because it skips down to what it thinks are the definitions not the front-matter.

Tonepoet

Coughcough, I meant this one "2. The innate characteristics of a thing. What something will tend by its own constitution, to be or do. Distinct from what might be expected or intended."

Tonepoet

04:08

If you can accept the innate characteristics of something as being part of its state of being, that references back to its condition and hence its state.

I suppose the distinction you're trying to make is more of a nature vs. nurture distinction though. That which is immutable as compared to that which is conditional.

user227867

@Tonepoet Maybe a post you edited got deleted.

user227867

@Tonepoet Wiktionary is not to be trusted as much.

Tonepoet

@WillHunting I'm using wiktionary because tchrist used it, which tacitly makes it a fair arbiter of meaning for the debate. As much as I prefer Webster's, most people in this chatroom would deign it ridiculous to use a 188 year old dictionary to settle anything...

user227867

@Tonepoet I now prefer AHD forever, lol.

Tonepoet

@WillHunting I'm the one to blame for that. >_>

user227867

04:23

@Tonepoet Yes, I blame you for many things. <_<

Tonepoet

Maybe if I'm lucky I can get more people to reference the Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia, if not only because it's one of the principle sources of The Online Etymology Dictionary.

The good ol' Etymonline is a well respected resource 'round these here parts, I reckon, if not only as the poor man's O.E.D...

user227867

I am not interested in etymology. I think it is rather silly.

user227867

Now now, before an etymologist comes here to scold me, remember that we all find some things silly, don't we?

user227867

And it's alright to find yourself silly too, and laugh at yourself. Have a good laugh.

user227867

You all have fun laughing, bye.

Tonepoet

04:35

Hmm...

SmokeDetector

04:54

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword with email in answer, email in answer: Is there an informal way to describe a woman that can not have a baby? by Michelle Morgan on english.stackexchange.com

Tonepoet

@tchrist It's spam. Sic it.

It's too bad because as the first flagger commented, it looked like it could've gone somewhere if it actually had an answer in it.

Færd