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Mitch
Mitch
12:04 AM
But still..for a company based on design,they failed there.
 
 
2 hours later…
SmokeDetector
SmokeDetector
1:42 AM
[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Repeating characters in answer: What's the difference between 'scribble' and 'draw'? by Abdul on english.stackexchange.com
 
 
1 hour later…
Færd
Færd
3:11 AM
Dictionaries define 'be taken aback' as being shocked or surprised. But I fail to find an example that means be just surprised (without any negative connotation).
 
tchrist
tchrist
It has a negative connotation for me.
 
Færd
Færd
And would you normally use it with the active form of take?
> This took me aback.
 
tchrist
tchrist
Oh, no. No, I wouldn't. It likes to be passive, doesn't it?
 
Færd
Færd
It does.
> People in England are aware of the divide, but the extent of it took me aback.
(From ODO examples)
 
tchrist
tchrist
I’m not fond of that one, really.
 
Færd
Færd
3:17 AM
I can imagine.
 
tchrist
tchrist
It's to your credit that you are so attuned to the language that we had the same reaction.
 
Færd
Færd
It works occasionally, but often fails me too!
 
tchrist
tchrist
> I was taken aback by the temerity of the mendicants.
The other examples there are ok.
 
Færd
Færd
COCA has 1133 instances of taken aback and 74 of take/took/etc aback.
 
tchrist
tchrist
There you have it.
 
Færd
Færd
3:21 AM
Yeah.
Thanks.
 
user227867
You are welcome.
 
Tonepoet
Tonepoet
6:09 AM
 
SmokeDetector
SmokeDetector
[ SmokeDetector | MS ] No whitespace in answer, repeating characters in answer: Can "childs" ever be the plural of "child", in standard English? by hello on english.stackexchange.com
 
Tonepoet
Tonepoet
'The impressionable Frenchman is quite taken aback at the "unexpected beauty of the princess, both in figure and appearance unrivaled. After the ceremony of kissing hands, the ambassador read his speech; but what it was about," we none of us know we were so taken up with staring at the beautiful queen.' This is from Page 41 of One year in Sweden Including a Visit to the Isle of Götland written by John Murray and published 1862.
 
user227867
6:36 AM
Hi @Tonepoet.
 
Tonepoet
Tonepoet
Hi @JasperLoy.
 
 
3 hours later…
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
9:09 AM
@tchrist nonono, it's to your discredit that you are so attuned to your particular flavor or leetspeak that you had the same reaction to proper English.
28 cites in COCA.
Compared to 96 for the passive.
 
user227867
9:37 AM
@RegDwigнt You say nonono. Are you Britney Spears?
 
Færd
Færd
10:04 AM
@RegDwigнt It's 1133 against 74.
I asked if he would normally use it in the active, and he said no, it likes to be passive.
Although IMO those 74 COCA results and ODO's example sentence do make allowance for using the active.
@Tonepoet That's a good point; shock isn't always negative. I was struggling to find an example of being taken aback without being shocked. I guess that won't work, despite what dictionary definitions imply.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
@JasperLoy you say lol. Are you a Dutch whore?
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
10:32 AM
on the internet noöne knows you're not being paid to have sex
 
Tonepoet
Tonepoet
@MattE.Эллен In the English Language, nobody knows what to unambiguously call a woman who is obsessed with lewdness, without ulterior motivation. It's strange because we do have such a word for men, those loathsome Letchers.
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
Coincidentally, I used to live in Lechlade
 
Tonepoet
Tonepoet
What was that like?
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
lots of leeches and marmalade
 
Tonepoet
Tonepoet
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
10:41 AM
Just like that!
 
Tonepoet
Tonepoet
Except with leeches apparently. XP
 
Færd
Færd
Hi @MattE.Эллен! I wanted to ask a Brit this: is your way of saying kitchen (, bitching, etc) different from Americans'? I notice something like a glottal stop were the t would have been.
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
I don't know. I don't think so.
 
Færd
Færd
Okay. Thanks.
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
they sound the same to me. YMMV
 
Færd
Færd
10:51 AM
Haha! Not to me!
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
how do they sound different?
 
Færd
Færd
(Didn't mean to give you that much trouble though.)
Yours has a stop before ch.
forvo.com/word/kitchen/#en (Compare loveacuppa's with anakat's, for example.)
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
I guess my ears aren't attenuated to it.
 
user227867
11:39 AM
@MattE.Эллен Did you get my link to buy the book?
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
I saw it, yes
 
user227867
Good, good.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@MattE.Эллен if you like leeches, it's great!
 
user227867
Language courses these days may come in audio CD or mp3 CD.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@Færd ??? No one pronounces the 't' in 'kitchen' separately anywhere.
 
user227867
11:45 AM
1 mp3 CD can contain say what 4 audio CDs contain.
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
@Mitch I prefer marmalade, but I take what I can get in this time of austerity
 
user227867
So as long as you are able to play mp3 files you should get the more compressed mp3 CD for portability.
 
user227867
Also, the duration of the CD in a language course itself is not a good indication of the amount of material you will learn.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@MattE.Эллен I had a bad experience with marmalade as a child so I can't really judge well
 
user227867
That is because the CD may actually contain a lot of instructions in English instead of things in the language you want to learn, making it noise.
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
11:47 AM
@Mitch did you confuse marmalade and mustard?
 
user227867
Now the Living Language Complete X CDs contain a lot of English, so the noise to signal ratio is high.
 
user227867
Teach Yourself Complete X also contains a lot of English, but usually it goes more in depth into the language, and so is preferable.
 
user227867
Assimil X With Ease is the best because the CDs contain only stuff in the target language, but unfortunately for Greek, there is no version for English speakers currently, though there is one for French speakers.
 
user227867
Just sharing in case you folks find these helpful.
 
Færd
Færd
@Mitch I know.
Unless they pronounce it as a glottal stop.
 
user227867
11:53 AM
Ah, I just learned about the glottal stop recently.
 
Færd
Færd
It has an actual letter assigned to it in some languages.
 
user227867
I am quite surprised so many language publishers have books teaching Arabic.
 
user227867
I didn't know Arabic is so popular.
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
my glottis certainly tightens after the i
 
user227867
I am trying to be a polyglot.
 
Færd
Færd
11:55 AM
@MattE.Эллен Yay! That's what I was talking about!
 
user227867
I am trying to speak 5 languages fluently.
 
Færd
Færd
@JasperLoy With 200+ million native speakers? Not that surprising.
 
user227867
@Færd It's also one of UN's 6 official languages.
 
Færd
Færd
Although some of the dialects of Arabic are so far from each other that it's hard to unify all those speakers into one community with a mutually intelligible language.
 
user227867
The dialects of Chinese are mostly mutually unintelligible.
 
Færd
Færd
11:59 AM
And they're all called Chinese? Or by some other shared name?
 
user227867
I think the Beijing dialect is called Mandarin (Chinese), and the rest have other names like Hokkien (Chinese). But I am not an expert in such terminology.
 
user227867
Also, different linguists use different terms, some calling them different languages, others calling them dialects of one language.
 
Færd
Færd
I see.
 
user227867
I speak Mandarin, and my mum Mandarin plus one other dialect, and my father Mandarin plus yet another dialect.
 
user227867
But my Mandarin is only 10 per cent as good as my English, LOL.
 
Færd
Færd
12:03 PM
Do you all share one standard language too?
 
user227867
Yes. We all speak Mandarin and English, LOL.
 
Færd
Færd
@JasperLoy How come?
 
user227867
@Færd Well, subjects in school are taught mostly in English. English is also the common language in my country.
 
user227867
In fact, the only subject taught in Chinese is ... Chinese itself, LOL.
 
Færd
Færd
I didn't know China had such a welcoming attitude toward English.
 
user227867
12:07 PM
I am not from China, LOL. I am from a secret location known only to some SE folks.
 
Færd
Færd
Ah, okay. :)
 
caub
caub
wo.. I realize the time you save by saying just 'wai' for y, we say i-grec :)). It would have shortened Math courses by .5%
 
Mitch
Mitch
@MattE.Эллен I was a kid, not insane!
 
caub
caub
isn't it the same? oh well, you can stay insane as an adult too
 
user227867
@caub So you say i-grec in French schools?
 
Færd
Færd
12:09 PM
@caub What about all those Greek letters with comparatively long names?
 
Mitch
Mitch
@caub better than saying y-roman for 'i'
 
tchrist
tchrist
@caub Pity the Spanish then, with their longer i-griego.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@caub touché
 
caub
caub
@Færd oh, good point, we say them the same way
@tchrist hehe
 
tchrist
tchrist
You just call it i. People will know which one by context. :)
 
caub
caub
12:11 PM
reminds me about "mil noveciento noventa y nueve" for just 1999 in french it's even longer with the quatre-vingt-dix neuf thing
 
user227867
i is a complex number, LOL.
 
tchrist
tchrist
@caub dix neuf mil quatre vingt dix neuf is hardly handy better.
jinx
 
user227867
$e^{i\pi}+1=0$ is a great formula.
 
caub
caub
dix-neuf cent* or mille neuf cent
 
tchrist
tchrist
heh
dix neuf mille is a long time from now
 
Færd
Færd
12:13 PM
@JasperLoy True.
 
tchrist
tchrist
19 miles away, to be exact.
 
user227867
@Færd It's actually quite amazing that it holds, given that all those numbers have such different definitions.
 
Færd
Færd
@JasperLoy And different historical backgrounds.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@MattE.Эллен hmm ok but it's not like you're about to go all cockney and say 'ki?en'
@MattE.Эллен hmm ok but it's not like you're about to go all cockney and say 'ki?en', right?
 
Araucaria
Araucaria
@tchrist, @MattE.Эллен Seeing as you're here, there does seem to be some voting irregularity with regard to some random upvoter on the venerable Barrie England's posts at the moment. Eight or nine upvotes to random posts all within a minute etc ...
 
user227867
12:16 PM
At first, I thought Greek was only used to write the bible. I didn't know that the people in Greece speak Greek today. =)
 
tchrist
tchrist
@Araucaria That should be automatically rolled back by the script that watches for this.
 
user227867
Also, I thought that Hebrew was only used to write the bible. I didn't know that the people in Israel speak Hebrew today. =)
 
user227867
@Araucaria It is a fan of his. Well, not really a problem.
 
user227867
@Araucaria Certainly, this person does not know about serial upvoting.
 
Araucaria
Araucaria
@tchrist It has been in one instance, but most of them seem to have slipped through. Can I leave it with you? (I'm not really that bothered, but if it's happening here, it could be happening with other posters too ...). I leave it in your capable.
 
tchrist
tchrist
12:19 PM
@Araucaria I see no changes in his reputation today.
 
user227867
I was one of the early experimenters of serial upvoting. I no longer do it today.
 
Araucaria
Araucaria
@tchrist No, it's over the last few weeks.
 
user227867
Slow serial upvoting can also be detected over a period of time by mods who have certain statistics.
 
user227867
Well, this problem of serial voting only arises because SE is so focused on points.
 
Araucaria
Araucaria
@tchrist Check out July 14th for example ... Anyhow, I'm off. I gave a reply to Centaurus' meta question, but if it's not needed/helpful, feel free to delete it. Ciao everyone.
 
user227867
12:21 PM
But it's hard to think of an alternative system so that serial voting is not a problem.
 
user227867
I voted for snailplane as ELL mod.
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
@Mitch no
I pronounce the whole t
 
tchrist
tchrist
@Araucaria Thanks.
 
Mitch
Mitch
12:50 PM
@JasperLoy I think it'd be better to be $e^{2 i \pi} = 1$. because you get the 2 and the equality isn't so weird.
@Færd I find it near impossible to pronounce kitchen' as /ki?n/. The affricate spelling 'tch' is just a convention of orthography to spell a single articulated event; there aren't (in AmE) two separate events a 't' and then a 'ʃ'. Do you also have a near glottal stop in 'rich'?
 
Færd
Færd
1:05 PM
@Mitch You'd lose 0 for 2, which destroys the elegance of the equation for me.
@Mitch What is /?/?
No, not in rich. For me, who am practicing mainly the American accent, rich and kitchen don't differ at all in the /ɪtʃ/ part.
@Mitch Did you check the Forvo link? You can also compare M-W's and Macmillan's pronunciations. They do differ, with the British ones having a stop before /tʃ/.
 
Færd
Færd
1:23 PM
Which brings me to the question why the stop is not included in the IPA transcription of kitchen then.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@Færd my quick glottal stop symbol. I couldn't find the upside down one.
@Færd but since you say that you're trying to get a 't' or glottal stop in a British version of 'kitchen', how would you try 'rich' in BrE? With or without (attempt at) glottal stop?
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
I pronounce t every day at five.
 
Færd
Færd
@Mitch Without, since they don't have a stop in rich, I think.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
And @Matt is constitutionally obliged to do that.
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
it's in the magna carta
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
1:29 PM
It's in the à la carte, too.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@Færd you're relying too much on spelling to tell you how things are pronounced.
 
Færd
Færd
Not at all.
It works with Mitch too: compare TristanJaimes's and cpainter's pronunciations here.
 
Mitch
Mitch
there is no separate stop in (the middle of) either 'kitchen' or 'rich'. Both are unvoiced palatal affricates. So you should pronounce them the same
 
Færd
Færd
True, in AmE.
 
Mitch
Mitch
If you're trying to pronounce the 't' separately, then you're doing it wrong. If you're trying to replace the 't' with a glottal stop, you're really doing it wrong.
@Færd Also in BrE
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
1:33 PM
Richie Rich (film)
Richie Rich (sometimes stylized Ri¢hie Ri¢h) is a 1994 American family film, directed by Donald Petrie, based on the Harvey Comics character of the same name, starring Macaulay Culkin as the title character. Edward Herrmann, Michael McShane, Christine Ebersole, Jonathan Hyde, and John Larroquette serve in supporting roles, while Reggie Jackson, Claudia Schiffer and Ben Stein appear in cameo roles. Culkin's younger brother, Rory Culkin, played the part of young Richie. While in theaters, the film was shown with a Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner cartoon called Chariots of Fur. In 1998, it was...
If you're not pronouncing it /¢/ you're doing it wrong.
 
Færd
Færd
@Mitch I can't deny what I clearly hear.
Thanks for the time. I gotta go.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
I clearly hear voices that tell me that English is a giant scam by Obama and his crew.
 
Mitch
Mitch
Thanks Obama
@Færd Do you hear it in BrE for both 'kitchen' and 'rich'?
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
What one hears is very much determined by one's native tongue.
No Russian can hear the difference between "beter" and "better" or "shot" and "shut".
 
user227867
I am back, kids.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
1:41 PM
And no Englishman can hear the difference between "Tanya" and how the actual name is actually pronounced. Which is not "Tanya" at all WTF.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@RegDwigнt I can't hear the difference either since I don't know what 'beter' is
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
It's Poopiepants.
@Mitch Better in Dutch.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
Exactly. That's the other problem with English-speaking people. They cannot hear words that they hear for the first time.
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
Greek beltion.
 
Mitch
Mitch
well, now I hear the difference. THe first one sounds like it is 'better' with a Dutch accent.
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
1:42 PM
Somehow Englishmen seem worse at pronouncing other languages than other northern Europeans.
 
Mitch
Mitch
They take pride in it.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
Well. You tell them it's Nabokov, and they say Nabakov.
Like srsly.
Morons.
With that level of attention to detail, what do you expect.
 
Mitch
Mitch
Which reminds me...
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
It's the stressed syllable, too.
 
Mitch
Mitch
nope, told that one already.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
1:44 PM
Half the world can't tell the difference between Rick Astley and Lick Astray.
 
user227867
@RegDwigнt I think only ten per cent of the world.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
You misspelled "of the time".
 
Mitch
Mitch
Their loss
 
user227867
I think Kit must be at work or on holiday.
 
Mitch
Mitch
Or not caring
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
1:46 PM
Russians can't hear the difference between "of" and "off". Or "in" and "inn". Or "kit" and "KITT".
 
Mitch
Mitch
"The city's pretty gritty for an itty-bitty pretty girl!"
 
user227867
So in the end I decided not to get the Langenscheidt dictionaries.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
Gritty girls pretty girls pity pity gritty city.
 
user227867
I got the Oxford ones instead.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
I'd not trust a piece of writing titled after cattle crossing a stream.
 
Mitch
Mitch
1:50 PM
@JasperLoy I like their phrase books. Actually seem to have phrases one might actually use.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
"Fuck off, mate".
 
Mitch
Mitch
instead of "Madam, if I may be so bold, how far is it to the pustularium", Langenscheidt has "Where is the goddam bathroom? I'm about to explode!"
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
"My nipples are about to explode with delight".
 
Mitch
Mitch
There's a section for that
 
user227867
I am shocked that an ELU mod says such things.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
1:52 PM
Seriously though, if you need a phrase book to look up how to say "toilet" in any language, you totally deserve to shit yourself.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@JasperLoy Would it be acceptable if it were a medical condition?
please vote to undelete
it's worth being seen
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
Sec, must vote Trump first.
 
Mitch
Mitch
no problem. we'll wait.
 
user227867
Has anyone here watched the Harry Potter play?
 
Mitch
Mitch
There's a play? Or is it a musical?
How many volumes does it get through?
 
user227867
1:56 PM
I think it is a play, in two parts.
 
user227867
I think the 7 books and 8 movies are enough. Any more and it's not going to work well.
 
Mitch
Mitch
Well, my answer is obviously 'no'.
 
user227867
Just like 3 Bourne movies are enough. The 4th was bad and the 5th was not great.
 
Mitch
Mitch
Does it count if I've been to Harry Potter land at Universal Studios?
I haven't been there either.
 
user227867
Same for Star Wars. 3 movies are enough.
 
Mitch
Mitch
1:58 PM
@JasperLoy JKR just came out with HP and the Cursed Child. I don't know how it fits in with the rest.
@JasperLoy Did you finally see #5?
 
user227867
@Mitch That is the play!
 
Mitch
Mitch
@JasperLoy What?
Oh.
Really?
 
user227867
@Mitch Nope.
 
user227867
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a two-part West End stage play written by Jack Thorne based on an original new story by Thorne, J.K. Rowling and John Tiffany. Previews of the play began at the Palace Theatre, London on 7 June 2016, and it was scheduled to officially premiere on 30 July 2016. The rehearsal script, not a novelisation of the play, was released on 31 July 2016 and became the eighth story set in the Harry Potter universe. The story is set nineteen years after the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and follows Harry Potter, now a Ministry of Magic employee, and his younger...
 
Mitch
Mitch
#5 was so bad, it made me realize that #4 was actually pretty good. Not as good as #1, but still not bad
 
user227867
2:00 PM
I think that they should get me to be the new Bourne in #6.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@JasperLoy Huh.
I'll wait for the bookization of the play.
@JasperLoy You will be sadly disappointed that their are no 'romantic' scenes at all in the JB movies, even if Mariah Carey were in them
You realize she's available now.
 
user227867
@Mitch Well, that would change when I take over.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@JasperLoy If you're director too you can make anything happen.
 
user227867
@Mitch Interesting that JB stands for Jason Bourne, James Bond, Justin Bieber, Jacob Black.
 
user227867
@Mitch Yeah I will make you my assistant.
 
Mitch
Mitch
2:09 PM
Jesus Brist. It's no coincidence.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
@Mitch there's a play, in which Hermione is black.
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
2:29 PM
"I don't think you cannot deny someone the right": Jamison Hensley, "Ravens' John Harbaugh defends Colin Kaep... http://bit.ly/2bywoXp
Tweeted by LanguageLog on August 30, 2016 at 12:44 PM
 
Lawrence
Lawrence
2:51 PM
@Mitch Any idea why the OP withdrew the question in the first place?
 
Mitch
Mitch
@Lawrence I see as much as you do.
Maybe the two downvotes?
@RegDwigнt There should be a musical where they fix Hermione's name to be JK Rowling to be more accurate.
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
@Mitch The play has already been released in book form, but it's a play script not a novel
@JasperLoy Which shocks you? the nipples thing? It's from a Monty Python sketch
 
Lawrence
Lawrence
3:20 PM
@Mitch Fair enough. Since (1) dictionary and thesaurus lookups are now almost just a matter of typing the word into the address bar of the web browser; and (2) the UI of the site is such that even the tour and FAQ / help pages are often overlooked, I'm not sure there's any point in hosting a dictionary / thesaurus on EL&U. Is there some underlying merit to the meta post that I've missed? (not rhetorical)
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
3:44 PM
@Lawrence I don't think people realize that you can search for definitions on google.
I'm not being snarky or sarcastic. They just don't realize it.
People have asked for dictionary integration into ELU before:
7
Q: Feature suggestion: dictionary lookup on double-click or context menu

JeffSaholSince we have recommended online reference sources, wouldn't it be nice to be able to access these directly from the site? I could see having either a right-click context menu to allow choosing which dictionary/thesaurus to use, or allowing the user to save a preferred resource that would be acce...

discussion feature-request design
I think, given the fact that trillions of people have posted dictionary-lookup questions here, that the built-in (on mac) or web-based (google, onelook, dictionary.com, etc) dictionaries aren't being used.
Sounds like a great idea for a userscript... — Shog9 ♦ May 25 '11 at 23:20
I think Shog misses the point of this feature. It's not power users who need to know how to look up words. It's users who guaranteed won't have a userscript installed, or a bookmarklet.
The best thing would be if we had some kind of definition tool that popped up definitions or made tooltips or whatever for questions while they're being asked. What we want is to prevent questions from being asked if the question is just "look this up in the dictionary"
However, we also want people to demonstrate research, and I'd worry that all our questions would go from "what's the meaning of X" to "What's the meaning of X? your built-in help didn't help"
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
4:13 PM
I think that might actually help!
 
Mitch
Mitch
4:35 PM
@Lawrence I guess you don't see my (lack of a) point. I want it to be undeleted so it can be discussed. I'm not in favor one way or the other (yet).
I am annoyed by people coming to ELU for definitions or synonyms (that they can get from google as already mentioned)
I am also annoyed by ELU feature requests that seem like changes to the software (pre-emptorially for the SE developers benefit). That kind of feature seems way outside the engineering scope of SE.
There should be a Close link to dictionary thesaurus. I am always shocked that people find it easier to go through the SE login/registartation process, typing up markup, and typing a wordy question that is in essence "What's another word for 'bucket' that rhymes with 'mail' and starts with a 'p'?"
But if it's possible to autocreate such a link, I guess that's engineering progress, the self flushing toilet reduces bacteria transfer.
We all live on google, yet people can't seem to be able to search
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
@Mitch Why shouldn't we request changes to the SE software for our benefit?
 
Mitch
Mitch
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 in their shoes, I'd be annoyed at such a request because it seems like a weird one-off that wouldn't be useful for any other site, and the other sites would then want their weird one-offs.
 
Kit Z. Fox
Kit Z. Fox
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 what was the name of that book again?
More importantly, who wrote it?
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
4:54 PM
@Mitch It's perfectly fair for them to say no, but considering that they have weird one-offs for some of the other sites, (like code snippets on SO, LaTeX on Math), I don't know why we shouldn't ask for what we need. And it's not like they don't have other language sites that could use similar features, only backed by different dictionaries.
@KitZ.Fox The Magicians, by Lev Grossman?
 
Kit Z. Fox
Kit Z. Fox
Yes thank you. Also the Mistborn trilogy is not here, but sone other Sanderson. Worth reading?
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Sanderson is okay. Not the best writer. His forte is complex, inventive systems of magic.
 
Kit Z. Fox
Kit Z. Fox
Hmm.
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Each of his books is set in a different world, but they're all part of the same universe, and their magic systems are created by mumble mumble mumble and they're all interconnected somehow, in ways that don't (yet) matter for the stories.
 
Kit Z. Fox
Kit Z. Fox
The covers look interesting.
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
4:57 PM
So Mistborn uses a system of magic where metals are linked to powers.
Warbreaker uses a system of magic where people's souls are linked to colours and colours are linked to magic abilities.
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
Did you like Modesitt's systems?
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
The Way of Kings and its sequel are based on a system of magic where ideas and concepts are beings and you can harness them to change the world.
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
I liked them as a child.
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
@Cerberus what's that
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
About black and white magic.
Neither being good nor evil.
L.E. Modesitt.
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
4:59 PM
Never read any
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
Hmm.
It was nice.
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Sanderson's audience seems to be teens. He's very ... chaste. and not very violent.
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
But so many fantasy and science-fiction books that seemed marvels of literature when you were young now turn out to be shallow and less than literary.
Ah, I see.
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
@Cerberus yes like everything I liked as a child. Kids have terrible taste.
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
Yes, well, I also loved Vance.
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
5:01 PM
my favourite books were the Chronicles of Narnia. I read those to pieces.
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
Whom I still regard very highly.
Ah, haha.
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Now I can barely stand them.
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
I read them, but I was never super impressed by them.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 ah.. then those reasons seem ...uh... reasonable to be explained on that question which @KitZ.Fox should also vote to reopen.
unless you're just being devil's advocate.
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
I've always hated fantasy books that make a conexion with the real world.
 
Kit Z. Fox
Kit Z. Fox
5:02 PM
@Mitch I'm on mobile. At the library. Ask me later.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 then why would teens care about it!!
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
@KitZ.Fox Have you read the Wheel of Time? If not, start with The Eye of the World. It's long. But you could read just the first 1 or 3 novels and stop there.
Or the Malazan books. The Gardens of the Moon.
Also really long.
but very creative world building, IMHO
 
Mitch
Mitch
@Cerberus like Harry Potter?
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
But stick to the Steven Ericson books, don't bother with Ian C Esslemont. He's not a good writer.
@Mitch heh
 
Mitch
Mitch
@KitZ.Fox slacker. books are so last century
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
5:05 PM
The Malazan series is finished, btw, so no worries about the authors dying. There are 10 books in the main series, and several in the secondary (Esselmont) series.
 
Mitch
Mitch
wow. them's a lot of books.
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
yeah and they're not skinny books
 
Mitch
Mitch
did you make it through all of that 3 or nine or 27 volume history of the world by Stephenson?
in 5pt type. 1000 pages per smallest division
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
The Malazan series gets a little long, even if you just read the 10 main books. And the 8th book is really slow. But the tenth book wraps things up fairly well.
@Mitch yes, I did. It was okay, if you like Stephenson.
Like all his stuff, he doesn't bother with plot arcs.
 
Mitch
Mitch
to be very honest, books really bore me nowadays.
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
5:08 PM
Stuff happens and then the book ends.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 using the same character names with roughly the same personality covers that.
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 but a lot of stuff happens. like a great action movie.
so what if they aren't connected.
something happened.
and then something right after that!
what else is a story for?
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 so many words.
I've recently (past 5 years maybe) liked Connie Willis.
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
@Mitch oh, they're connected.
That's the fun of Stephenson: he connects all these things together in interesting ways interjected with history lessons or economics lessons or whatever.
But most people expect a novel to have a climax and a conclusion.
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
@Mitch Probably.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Pfft...stupid people and their expectations.
@Cerberus muggles and stuff
 
Cerberus
Cerberus
I haven't read it.
 
Mattew
Mattew
5:16 PM
Hello
Anyone knows the origin of "godfather"?
 
Mitch
Mitch
 
Mattew
Mattew
I mean, why god and father? word "god" hasn't any connection with meaning of godfather
 
Mitch
Mitch
Not everything is so literal. a godfather is someone who acts like a father having something to do with 'god', namely is responsible for the child's 'spiritual' welfare, but really ends up being either someone who will take care of the child in case of the demise of the parents or in the end just a favored friend of the family.
really, more like 'rich uncle'
 
Helmar
Helmar
@Mitch Maybe, you're not reading the right books ;)
 
Mitch
Mitch
5:51 PM
I'll get a dictionary. has all the words and I can put them in the order I want them in.
 
Færd
Færd
@Mitch I guess just kitchen, but I'm not very sure, since it's not followed by a vowel to make the rhythmical change obvious.
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
@Mattew Yes, "godfather" is connected to "god". Your godparents sponsor you for baptism.
> As early as the 2nd century CE, infant baptism had begun to gain acceptance among Christians for the spiritual purification and social initiation of infants.[4] The requirement for some confession of faith necessitated the use of adults who acted as sponsors for the child. They vocalized the confession of faith and acted as guarantors of the child’s spiritual upbringing.
from here
 
Kit Z. Fox
Kit Z. Fox
6:21 PM
I think suggesting that "whatever floats your boat" is innuendo for female masturbation is ridiculous bordering on offensive.
 
Færd
Færd
whatever floats your boat
Pronoun: whatever floats your boat
  1. (idiomatic) What makes you happy; what stimulates you.
Interjection: whatever floats your boat
  1. (idiomatic) Do whatever makes you happy or stimulates you.
 
Kit Z. Fox
Kit Z. Fox
Right.
 
Færd
Færd
That innuendo is not even on top of the Urban Dict.'s list of the meanings of the idiom.
 
Kit Z. Fox
Kit Z. Fox
That's not innuendo.
That's like saying "that's not my cup of tea" is innuendo.
It's a ridiculous assertion.
 
Færd
Færd
I shoulda said that suggestion... .
I'm not even sure if referring to female genitalia as boat is an understandable metaphor, is it?
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
6:35 PM
I think it's a stretch to say that it refers to "female masturbation" but I can see it as being used in the context of "whatever gets you off, sexually-speaking".
 
Færd
Færd
The reverse I can recall: "It's not the size of the boat, it's the motion of the ocean".
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Well, there is the "little man in the boat" as slang for the clitoris.
But you don't float that boat, you rock it.
 
Færd
Færd
Hmm. I guess it works better figuratively for female outerparts.
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
6:53 PM
of course it's pretty sexist to call it the little "man" in a boat.
 
Færd
Færd
Can't you pass as being just joking?
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
hm?
 
Færd
Færd
That you're not making a sexist remark by "man"?
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
It's still sexist, even if it's a joke, even if it's funny, even if it's unintentional.
 
Færd
Færd
Of all the people who sail a boat alone, what portion do you think are female?
 
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
6:57 PM
not relevant
 
Færd
Færd
If you want to use a metaphor, maybe man fits better.
But I can understand that such metaphors can be hurtful, even when used among the dearest friends.
 
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