English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

5:04 AM

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Link at end of answer: How to prevent a sentence beginning with the word "The"? by user199262 on english.stackexchange.com

Tonepoet

6:50 AM

I have seen the future, and the future looks terrifying:

RegDwigнt

9:35 AM

-2

A: What is a "thread" called on Q&A sites like SE?

This entire page is called a question. When I refer you to it, I will say "look at question such and such". It is then perfectly obvious that I also mean the answers and the comments and everything else. Nobody will go and look at just the actual question and then immediately go away. (That's why...

Seriously now?

Like, seriously?

We now officially call questions threads? And I get downvoted for telling people that for the last ten years we have been calling questions questions?

And over on meta, he asked the same question and accepted the answer "Q/A set". FFS.

"Tchrist, can you please have a look at this Q/A set?"

Because people like actually say that all the time. Roight.

Tonepoet

9:56 AM

@RegDwigнt Perhaps the point would have been made more convincing, if you could have at least cited a few of the instances where people insisted "It's not a thread! It's a question!" However also worth note is that I am that some of the voters may be comparatively inexperienced here...

tchrist

10:17 AM

@RegDwigнt He’s not a native speaker.

tchrist

11:14 AM

@terdon Every single time I read one of these U&L questions, something inside me screams and screams and screams.

terdon

12:03 PM

@tchrist Oh wow. Well, at least the OP said "Until I find the offending script", but yeah.

tchrist

@terdon No, reading folder for directory sends me into some sort Tourette’s outburst.

terdon

Ah, that one. I thought you OSX folks also did that.

tchrist

@terdon I’m a BSD guy who uses a Mac for a laptop.

Which is just a way to have multiple xterms running at once.

terdon

@tchrist Oh, sorry, I thought you were one of those strictly-GUI, no CLI knowledge types.

I used to always s/folder/directory/ but I've long since decided that's a losing battle.

tchrist

@terdon [N]ever give in, never give in, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

terdon

12:13 PM

I take it you still correct people who use hopefully to mean I hope then?

:P

tchrist

I still won’t use mail as a count noun. I shall never give in.

I almost never use the word email at all, but if I do, it’s a verb or a mass noun.

And it never means some SMTP RFC’s To: line, either.

terdon

@tchrist What, as in 12 mails? Ugh, fair enough. But you wouldn't say 12 emails either?

tchrist

@terdon Correct.

terdon

What do you use instead?

How would you say that you sent a couple of emails out yesterday?

tchrist

I don’t correct other people; after all, it’s their language. But mine is mine, and that does not form part of it; I cannot generate that sentence.

The same way one makes partitives of any mass noun.

I sent off a couple pieces of mail yesterday.

Or I sent a couple messages.

terdon

12:21 PM

I see.

tchrist

It’s how it always was.

Pre-muggle, pre-muddle.

terdon

Would you send a wire, though?

tchrist

If I were Conan Doyle, perhaps.

I generally resist gratuitous convertings of mass nouns into count nouns.

Like that one.

Or trainings.

terdon

Ewww. How about trainers?

For shoes.

tchrist

Tennies, or gym shoes, for me unless I’m putting on aers.

I also ask for three glasses of beer or five cartons of milk or seven plates of mac-and-cheese.

I don’t fear partitives.

terdon

12:30 PM

@tchrist tennies? Really? I'd only ever heard that one in Spanish.

Or was it French? Probably both, but not in English.

tchrist

@terdon It’s quite common, at least rank-wise.

terdon

Tennis shoes I know, tennies I'd never come across before. Perhaps it's regional.

RegDwigнt

1:22 PM

@Tonepoet citing a few instances will do jack shit to change my being right or wrong in the first place. Look no further than the accepted answer that does cite a few instances of people calling questions "threads"

tchrist

@RegDwigнt People cannot be wrong, of course.

RegDwigнt

I can cite a few instances of people calling a tomato a "fruit", and I can cite a few instances of people calling a tiger a "panther". And I can even cite every dictionary ever backing them up as being 100% correct. That doesn't change the fact that 99.999999% of all people of all countries and ages would never do any such thing.

tchrist

I typed faster. :)

RegDwigнt

No, you typed fewer.

Kit Z. Fox

Trainers isn't even on the list.

tchrist

1:24 PM

@KitZ.Fox That's because it's from DARE.

RegDwigнt

You're a horrible typer. I read some of your Perl shit. You even misspelled Pearl.

Kit Z. Fox

And NR. What's that?

No response? I don't call my shoes "no response".

RegDwigнt

I call my left one "no?" and the right one "response!"

YMMV

Kit Z. Fox

oh, I see.

RegDwigнt

NR tho stands for Nike Reebok.

Kit Z. Fox

1:28 PM

You might think I'm foolish

RegDwigнt

You might think I'm Polish.

But I'm quite impolite.

Matt E. Эллен

don't polish trainers, though

Kit Z. Fox

Or maybe it's untrue

RegDwigнt

I will polish your trainers for $3000.

@MattE.Эллен and also, stop channelling Nigel Farage.

Matt E. Эллен

@RegDwigнt I tried to send him across the channel, but he came back

RegDwigнt

1:37 PM

Matt E. Эллен

flags offensive face

RegDwigнt

Nonono, you're thinking of Boris Johnson.

Dunno who Bori is and why you'd think of his Johnson. But you do.

Matt E. Эллен

People are worries that politicians are lizard people, but Farage looks like a frog, and I'm not using that as a slur on the French

RegDwigнt

Oh you've finally decided your future lies beyond the horny back toad.

In other news, I recently found the very first video on the Internet that made me go "What. The. Fuck."

I thought I had seen it all.

"Goodness Gracious Me" - Rowan Atkinson, Pixie Lott and Nick Mohammed

►

Kit will love the chick. Tchrist will love the Rowan. And Matt will love the fact that the video was made with his tax money.

Meanwhile I'll be updating the Wikipedia article on Rule 34.

terdon

1:54 PM

OK. What. The. Fuck, Reg?

RegDwigнt

Nothing special, just the best video ever. You're welcome.

Also, actually accomplishes its goal. It literally makes me want to donate all my organs.

No idea what the "NHS" is, but I don't care. Nazi Heil Sieg? Whatever. Shut up and take my organs.

Matt E. Эллен

Nike Hreebok Shoes

RegDwigнt

Oh that's cool, as chance would have it some of my organs come in shoes.

Wait. That came out wrong.

That, too.

Oh bollocks, I'll just go watch the video again instead.

terdon

No Horny Strangers

RegDwigнt

Oh. So that's why Nigel Farage had it printed on his bus.

Now it all makes sense.

Mitch

2:31 PM

@MattE.Эллен don't they do what?

Kit Z. Fox

@RegDwigнt Is that meant to be an Indian accent?

But I agree, yes. WTF indeed.

And NHS is National Health Service, innit? Hereabouts, it's National Honor Society, but that's a different can of peaches.

Mitch

@tchrist that's amazing, but so outdated. Horse hockey, flim-flam.

@KitZ.Fox WhoTH is Pixie Lott? Obviously not a singer.

Kit Z. Fox

Pixie Lott

Victoria Louise "Pixie" Lott (born 12 January 1991) is an English singer, songwriter and actress. Her debut single, "Mama Do (Uh Oh, Uh Oh)", was released in June 2009 and went straight to number one in the UK Singles Chart. Her second single, "Boys and Girls", also topped the UK chart in September 2009. Lott's debut album, Turn It Up, was released in September 2009. It reached number six on the UK Albums Chart, spawned five consecutive top twenty singles, and sold over 1.5 million copies. Lott's second album, Young Foolish Happy, was released on 14 November 2011. The lead single, "All About Tonight...

Mitch

Yes, just looking at that.

I guess I was nominally wrong.

Kit Z. Fox

She appears to be famous for nothing at all.

Mitch

2:39 PM

people buy her records though

but presumably not the quality of her voice

the ability to walk in those heels?

terdon

Well, she's a "singer, songwriter and actress". That's better than most "celebrities"

Ugh. I heard a couple of her songs. Rowan almost sings better.

Mitch

Exactly

and has a better Indian accent

which was awful

Kit Z. Fox

2:55 PM

I don't understand why it was Indian. What was the point of that? It felt as distasteful as blackface.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

From the youtube comments, it would appear that it's based on an earlier sketch where Peter Sellers was doing it in brownface

Kit Z. Fox

oh good lord

I gotta say, one thing I like about Biden is that he doesn't sanitize shit.

Matt E. Эллен

@KitZ.Fox agree

terdon

@KitZ.Fox Probably because the song was called goodness gracious me.

Goodness Gracious Me (BBC)

Goodness Gracious Me is a BBC English-language sketch comedy show originally aired on BBC Radio 4 from 1996 to 1998 and later televised on BBC Two from 1998 to 2001. The ensemble cast were four British Indian actors, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Syal and Nina Wadia. The show explored the conflict and integration between traditional Indian culture and modern British life. Some sketches reversed the roles to view the British from an Indian perspective, and others poked fun at Indian stereotypes. In the television series most of the white characters were played by Dave Lamb and Fiona Allen...

That's the association I made, anyway.

Kit Z. Fox

@terdon Huh.

RegDwigнt

3:05 PM

@KitZ.Fox the original was with Peter Sellers.

terdon

That was one funny series though.

> One of the more famous sketches featured the cast "going out for an English" after a few lassis. They mispronounce the waiter's name, order the blandest thing on the menu (apart from one of them, who opts for the tastier option of a steak and kidney pie) and ask for 24 plates of chips. The sketch parodies often-drunk English people "going out for an Indian", ordering chicken phall and too many papadums. This sketch was voted the 6th Greatest Comedy Sketch on a Channel 4 list show.[3]

RegDwigнt

Who specialized in painting his face black and singing racist shit.

Mitch

@KitZ.Fox Better for fecal transplants

terdon

Yeah, same lyrics and same tune. I see:

PETER SELLERS and SOPHIA LOREN Goodness Gracious Me (1960)

►

RegDwigнt

Peter Sellers And Sophia Loren - "Goodness Gracious Me"

►

terdon

3:06 PM

Too slow bub!

RegDwigнt

No, I looked for the correct video unlike you.

Kit Z. Fox

@RegDwigнt I didn't think he was Indian.

terdon

Which probably also explains the name of the BBC show as well.

RegDwigнt

@KitZ.Fox exactly my point.

Nobody did. Except for Peter Sellers.

Kit Z. Fox

Ah, I see.

@terdon That sounds very funny.

terdon

3:08 PM

It was. It was on TV when I was living in England; used to love it.

RegDwigнt

Anyway, apparently the BBC while paying homage to the original wanted to ease up on the blatant racism, so in addition to the Brit singing in Indian they introduced an Indian singing in British.

Mitch

boom bidee boom bidee ... Stop! I'll tell you the names of all of our spies so you can kill them, just stop it please!

RegDwigнt

Not sure who succeeded, or failed, more. But Pixie was Hott alright.

I tried listening to her other stuff and gave up on it after two bars. But in this one she sings alright guys come on.

Mitch

If you don't practice an exaggerated accent, you'll never get it right.

RegDwigнt

I thought Rowan's was fine. I've heard worse. And couldn't do better myself.

Like, how many people do you see trying the Russian accent every day? Somehow nobody ever jumps on the fact that exactly zero of them get it right.

Mitch

3:11 PM

Now if he was the patient, and Pixie played the Indian doctor.

RegDwigнt

That's part 2 and it's behind a paywall.

Mitch

@RegDwigнt Even Russians ruin it every time they speak

RegDwigнt

@Mitch yeah no shit tell me about it. Mila Kunis can't talk in Russian, out of Russian, or instead of Russian.

terdon

Da Vinci was an Indian sketch - Goodness Gracious Me - BBC Comedy

►

RegDwigнt

But she always tries. And everyone always goes oh and ah.

Fuck that.

Mitch

3:13 PM

@RegDwigнt People will compliment any body with a lot of money.

RegDwigнt

I would compliment them on the apparent money skills. But why compliment them on their non-existent Russian skills?

Like seriously, you walk up to Donald Trump and the first thing you compliment him on is his Kalaallisut?

No one, ever, does that. So why Russian.

MetaEd

3:26 PM

I am currently hating VoIP.

RegDwigнt

H8orz gonna h8.

Tonepoet

3:57 PM

@RegDwigнt Citing virtually never changes whether somebody is actually right or wrong. We do it for other reasons. Also wow, what a swing in the votes in such a short amount of time. I'm guessing the regulars here agree with you. Also, even in matters of language I'm not unwilling to say most people are wrong The deciding factor of what makes something a fruit, in the strictest sense of the word, is whether it has seeds or not. So not only are tomatoes fruit, but Bananas are not fruit. >_>

Or rather, Bananas are fruit if they look like this. =P

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Link at end of answer: How can boating be otherwise called? by Sarmad Sandeelo on english.stackexchange.com

MetaEd

4:20 PM

@RegDwigнt How did you know.

Because h8orz gonna h8 8x8.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

4:34 PM

@terdon I didn't find this sketch funny at all. Not even a little. Is it just me? Would I find it funny if I were British or Indian or both?

Andrew Leach

Many Brits, and even British Indians, do. Perhaps what they find funny is that it is actually poking fun at the taboo rather than Indians. Subtle difference, which may require a British sense of humour.

However, it is true that sensibilities have altered in the last 15 years.

It's far less acceptable to mention that such a thing as racial stereotyping might actually exist even as a philosophical concept, let alone do it.

Mitch

5:08 PM

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 It's funny because the dad thinks everything great came from India when instead it came from England.

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