English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room - 2016-09-02 (page 3 of 3)

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7:12 PM

@Helmar Exactly.

Best ever!

some might say it is dumbing down/anti-intellectualism. But it is in fact the opposite, it is not obscurantist, rather opening ideas without needing the technical vocabulary. Another way of saying this is that translation is always possible, it just may take more words.

Also, one could say that that book as fun as it is basically is an example of how trying to simplfiy language, replace it with simpler terms, does not work. That book is hard to read, and only works because you get a constant stream of "What's that mean? Ohhh, neato, 'food bag' is a funny name for 'stomach'."

@tchrist you're on an edit spree, I think, you've been changing all bold into italic on many users' answers. Why is that? :/

Too many edits on this page:

16

Q: Polite alternative for "none of your business"

It seems it's rude and impolite to say directly to someone "none of your business". So, what's the more gentle alternative(s) for situations in which we should say "hey, this is none of your business!"?

idioms expression-requests

Consistency? Fewer characters for italicizing than bolding ?

I don't see the point.. Why change em all?

Heyyy! Does tchrist have an automatic debolderizing machine?

and de-allcapitalizer too, I hate those

7:22 PM

@NVZ I don't disagree. I like quotes 'personally'.

New Very Zealand?

@caub :d

@Mitch Sorry? Didn't get you.

Oh, you agree. :)

Nerve Vascular Zincate?

Not Very Zealous, maybe.

7:24 PM

@NVZ I didn't want to agree to much with you in order to be contrary to tchrist, but I agree with you, I don't see the point. The energy to do that might be better spent tracking down errant apostrophe's or recomending mispelling errors

LOL, yeah.

Errors should be recommended? I missed that memo.

@AndrewLeach You would have noticed it if it had said 'Memmo'

I have started seeing these banners more, since the recent election. *"We're looking for long answers that provide some explanation and context. Don't just give a one-line answer; explain why your answer is right, ideally with citations. Answers that don't include explanations may be removed."*

Any particular reason?

Point made I think.

7:30 PM

@AndrewLeach mispeling erorrs. The way to erroneously misspell a word is to spell it correctly.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@NVZ tchrist has a long-standing policy of preferring italics to bold, on the grounds of nobody who knows anything about print ever uses bold for anything.

@NVZ Right, me too! I was wondering if they were new, but actually they seem to have existed for a while. They're just being used more now.

@NVZ They have been around for a while, but they are being used more often.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 well, is that an ELU policy, too? Unless it is, I don't think it's time spent well, if a mod goes on editing every answer in their path.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@NVZ I'm trying to find the meta post.

7:33 PM

@NVZ That particular one is actually designed to go on substandard answers, but it seems useful to use it as a guide/warning on questions which might generate substandard answers. Head them off at the start.

@AndrewLeach which raises a question... is my answer too short? How may I expand it?

20

A: Polite alternative for "none of your business"

If you're asked a question you do not want to answer, and you feel like saying "none of your business", maybe these might be a better way to be polite and convey the same idea. "I'd rather not say...", or even more polite would be "I'd prefer not to answer..."

I have a track record of posting the shortest answers..

Well, you could mention the word hedge, I suppose. I sympathise: I tend to write just as much as is needed but that may not be as much as is desirable.

@AndrewLeach hedge? that's not part of my answer..

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 @NVZ The most recent post on italics is

oh..

7:38 PM

-3

Q: What are the commonly accepted guidelines specific to this site (2015)?

At Folklore or official policy?, I wrote, "I feel like I've come into the movie theater in the middle of the movie. Please, help me understand what's going on in this site and what is expected of me." Highlighting some material from that thread: We write stuff in comments that is too obvious...

discussion etiquette

Before that,

3

Q: Bold vs italics for giving an example word/phrase

For word/phrase request questions, is there a convention for highlighting the example word given? In this answer http://english.stackexchange.com/a/169794/37273 I used bold, and somebody changed it to italics. What is the convention here?

discussion style use-mention

22

Q: What emphasis to use when referring to words?

Let's say I'm asking a question about the word "cheese". Which of the following should I use? I see various versions being used all over, and it'd be nice to have something consistent. Does the word 'cheese' indicate something yellow? Does the word "cheese" indicate something yellow? Does the w...

discussion style

All say "italics for mentions".

@AndrewLeach that's just 2 upvotes on tchrist's answer, while MarilouA's comment's got 4. I agree with MarilouA on this:

There are cases where the single-word answer is typed in italic but because it is in a long post, people do not notice it. I see no harm in placing that key word or short phrase in bold type in a lengthy post. If nothing else it stops people from suggesting duplicate answers. I think a little individualism is permissible, EL&U is not a volume, it is made up thousands of different users who have their own quirks and styles. This doesn't mean I advocate titles in CAPS, or entire paragraphs in italicized bold type, there has to be limits otherwise the site would indeed look chaotic. — Mari-Lou A Sep 1 '15 at 16:34

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@NVZ tchrist's answer references nohat's older answer, which is to use italics

@NVZ Indeed. There is scope for both.

5

A: Bold vs italics for giving an example word/phrase

Mentions are generally in italics, and emphasis is indicated with bold. You can use can to indicate ability, reserving may to express permission, although in informal situations can generally works for may. Keeping the two typographical conventions distinct means that it’s possible to combi...

But "mentions are generally in italics".

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Essentially, the default should be italics, unless there is a strong reason not to.

@AndrewLeach there's your answer, I like it. :)

7:45 PM

> the advice ... has generally been followed to the extent that now it’s the norm here and you may find that posts are edited to conform to it.

You've obviously found some posts have been edited! :-)

electrons are free, no one uses actual physical lead type. bold or italic or shadowed or beveled, any is as easy as the other, a parameter to the vector based system.

how they read is another story. I submit that there may be something out there better than italic

Thanks all. Doubts cleared.

Bold is very bold. Italic is not very particular to the italians.

See you later. Tata

Be bold, or italic, never regular.

@NVZ Please avoid using too much bold; it risks making the site look like some tawdry billboard. The use–mention distinction is best maintained by setting mentions in italic, although for longer passages quotes or ">" indentation may be less distracting.

7:49 PM

Ah, hi

Yes, I was told..

Thanks to Andrew Leach and others.

"Go big or go home. Either way, just please go."

Poof..

@NVZ That was not meant against you.

Pica (disorder)

Pica (/ˈpaɪkə/ PY-kə) is characterized by an appetite for substances that are largely non-nutritive, such as ice (pagophagia); hair (trichophagia); paper (papyrophagia); drywall or paint; metal (metallophagia); stones (lithophagia) or earth (geophagia); glass (hyalophagia); or feces (coprophagia). According to DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition) criteria, for these actions to be considered pica, they must persist for more than one month at an age where eating such objects is considered developmentally inappropriate, not part of culturally sanctioned practice...

Oops.

7:51 PM

Pica pica.

@Færd drywall? That's a new one.

I wonder where the name's come from.

@Færd Greek?

> The term pica originates in the Latin word for magpie,[29] a bird that is famed for its unusual eating behaviors

What's the Latin name for a magpie?

Yeah.

> Mid 16th century: modern Latin, from Latin, literally 'magpie', probably translating Greek kissa 'magpie', also 'false appetite'.

7:53 PM

(Hint: I think it's appeared here already)

@tchrist I choose you!

I must learn to type faster.

... literally 'magpie'

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Mitch I wonder, does tchrist get the reference?

@Mitch Gesundheit.

user227867

8:10 PM

I cannot believe I have 200 rep now, which means a flair on this site.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@MetaEd heh, we make a similar joke here - my parents started it, and now the whole family does it. Whenever my son says "Pikachu" or "Raichu" someone says to him "Bless you". At first he found it annoying, then he started saying it preemptively: "So Pikachu-bless-you is an electric Pokémon..."

So what is the actual onomatopoeia for sneezing?

user227867

I call it achiu

Gesundheit.

@Mitch en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drywall .

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 We have someone at our office who routinely can be heard to say: sneeze -- bless me -- thank you.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

8:20 PM

@MetaEd do you mean they sneeze or literally say "sneeze"?

not that it makes much difference

They sneeze. Then they bless themselves and thank themselves for the blessing.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

well, at least they're polite

It's all extremely polite, yes.

Never a bad thing to treat one's self with respect.

One might spoil oneself.

@Færd No, not what is it drywall, but I've never heard of drywall eating

8:26 PM

Oh.

It's like wanting to have kaopectate.

literally (because kaopectate has lots of gypsum...or is it just clay?)

I'd heard of plaster eating.

Lots of kaolin, presumably.

One way or the other it's very... um... something. yes, gray. but also... what is the adjective for ... whatever it does?

@MetaEd I quick wiki dive says Yes, kaopectate involves kaolin which is a kind of clay"

roughly

@Færd I hadn't. But wallboard (drywall or sheetrock), a convenient and easy to install replacement for plaster, is also made from gypsum.

I've heard of eating paste, but that has different connotations.

I remember something about pregnant women getting uncommon appetites, for example for plaster.

BTW, we have the same word for chalk and plaster in Farsi. Now I know they're both made from gypsum.

8:37 PM

@Færd what is that word?

گچ

/gætʃ/

because the limestone that make up most of concrete/plaster is also called chalk

I was confused when I found out there are different words for those in English.

@Færd is that a 'jod' at the end?

@Mitch Is that the name of a letter?

8:40 PM

@Færd English has different words for everything. even if it has a single word, it has multiple meanings.

I don't understand your question.

@Færd sort of. it's the semivowel for 'y' like the first sound in English 'you'

No, it's like catch, but with a g.

@Mitch It's not just English. Russian has different words for light blue and dark blue. They perceive them as different colors.

@Færd Oh. my eyes are going. the 'sh' letter looked like a 'j' with an accent on it.

but it's voiced? so /dʒ/?

No. Just like the ending voice of catch.

What time is it there?

8:53 PM

@Færd but you said "but with a 'g'"

Instead of the c in catch.

gatch

/gætʃ/

@Færd 16:55. 03:25 there?

01:25.

@Færd Oh. instead of the first c in catch

I can't read

I guess I'm too brief.

8:56 PM

@Færd oh. it's daylight savings time here (pushed 1 hr ahead)

Daylight Savings and Loan

i can ever remember

or type

5th of november

@Mitch We have that too, but I don't know how it works, and what ahead means, and ...

I guess I know, but I'd have to think.

@Færd right, it's always confusing. and the rules seem to change every few years here

8:59 PM

I just ask my mom when I have to wake up when they change it.

She does the calculation.

@Færd oh. I misremembered your location as India. Also I was in another time zone when I remembered that.

This will be a mess when we're chatting from Mars

Heh.

@Færd she has to find out somehow. She's your local ntp.

Among the facts that never cease to amaze me, is that the world is round and there are people on the other side right now.

And that there are actual people who have English as their actual native language.

@Færd and in the other hemisphere they see mostly other stars, but some near the horizon are the same.

@Færd yeah, that's messed up. It's like only people in class should speak it.

But they do it on TV so that's another thing.

9:05 PM

I never attended English classes of my own accord.

The funny thing is is that people mostly have that accent as they do on TV, but little of life is like TV in the US

But yeah, something like that.

Except for 'The Middle'. It is almost too accurate. (of course for one very specific set of personalities with comic exaggeration)

@Færd meaning you were forced to go to them, or that you never had formal classes?

To get nearer to what a people are like, I sometimes watch Youtube videos made by ordinary people.

@Mitch We had the subject in high school, but I hated it then.

@Færd yes, those might be more natural, not as well staged. but they can also give a strange misleading point of view in their own right.

9:10 PM

True. Especially when these search engines form an unhatchable bubble of information around you. They keep feeding you the same things.

Like Jackass... very you-tube-ish, and borne out of a bunch of idiots doing entirely idiotic stunts in reality. But over and over and over. Most people in life do at most one kind of stupid stunt like that, if ever.

Jackass is a popular channel? Ordinary videos of normal people don't get high viewership.

Usually.

@Færd I was unclear. I don't think Jackass has their stuff on youtube (unless people put illegal copies on their). But I see (accidentally!) lots of stuff there that is like Jackass.

And you think Jackass is ordinary video about normal people?

Doesn't sound like one.

My head's nodding off and on like an upside-down pendulum.

I'm off to sleep. See you in DreamWorld.

later

user227867

10:09 PM

Hi.

10:27 PM

What's up?

10:43 PM

A bit of land that Michigan stole from Wisconsin so they could feel more Superior.

@MattE.Эллен Hmmm I'm not sure I trust RT at all, it's operated by the Russian state.

Let alone the Sun...

@MattE.Эллен I would certainly consider it! It's just too bad that it is so expensive.

Dec 21 '15 at 16:02, by Cerberus

user image

11:16 PM

@Cerberus Nice.

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