English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Feeds

01:04

0

Q: Term for Performing Action Early to Account for Delay of Transmission?

In sports, such as football, a player will throw the ball to a spot early, so the ball arrives as the receiver arrives. This concept is relevant outside of sports. For example, I could send a letter to one city while you're still in another city, but you'll receive it just as you arrive. I can a...

Mitch

@Ivan today is serious day. no jokes, no nothing

If any one claims it is opposite day, it must be so.

You can't really determine from location or ancestry from the other in the US. Sure, there are mild correlations, some Scandinavian in the north midwest (Minnesota/the Dakotas), some Hispanic ancestry in the southwest, but mostly every
mix of ancestry everywhere

alhelal

02:37

What is correct from followings?

So, I mean in my idea

So I mean in my idea

Is this sentence correct?

If I edit a question multiple time then, do I get +2 reputation for each time?

or,If I edit a question multiple time then, will I get +2 reputation for each time?

Anastasiya-Romanova 秀

Hi guys, I wanna ask something. Does this sentence sound native?

"Drafting a company's policy relating to finance which refers to the newest [latest?] government regulations"

So basically we want to draft a company's policy based on gov regulations [or use them as references]

Any advice to improve my sentence?

Boris_yo

04:20

- Drafting a company's financial policy according to newest government regulations?
- Drafting a company's policy relating to finance in compliance with latest government regulations?
- Drafting a company's policy relating to finance in compliance with latest government regulations?

I think complies is good if you want to emphasize compliance with latest government regulations.

I am not a native and these are my 2 cents.

Now it's my turn to receive 2 cents from someone.

"Thanks for being with me along the way [[to this]] [[until this]] bright and happy day."

Does this make sense? It kind of rhymes but what would you change grammatically?

Anastasiya-Romanova 秀

04:48

Thanks for the reply. I'll take it into consideration. Right now, I'm considering this one:

"Drafting a company financial policy that is in compliance with the recent government regulations"

But I'm not sure whether I should use: newest, latest, or recent

CowperKettle

06:08

How do I title a news report saying that fertilizer, which had been previously traded via company-to-company contracts, is now traded also in an exchange? "Exchange trading of fertilizer starts in Russia"?

Curio

10:15

Question

Sugar tastes good but (the) sugar in sweets can create problems.

Is it better with the article?

Faheem Mitha

10:38

@Anastasiya-Romanova秀 Is that the title of a report? Context?

@tchrist Yes, I'm aware how it worked. But since you were so precise about the half and half thing, I thought maybe your family was recently arrived, or you were just visiting, or something.

Though Europeans who arrive in the US have tended to stay put, historically. Though I don't know if this is a case any longer. Things aren't exactly improving in the US.

Anastasiya-Romanova 秀

@FaheemMitha I'd say context

Faheem Mitha

@Anastasiya-Romanova秀 I meant to ask what the context was.

Anastasiya-Romanova 秀

@FaheemMitha It's part of the report. Basically, it's an objective of the action plan for the next year

Faheem Mitha

@Anastasiya-Romanova秀 It feels a bit like an incomplete sentence.

Anastasiya-Romanova 秀

10:54

Well, it's like:

Objectives:
1) ...
2) ...
3) ...

Faheem Mitha

@Anastasiya-Romanova秀 Yes, I see. In that context, it's reasonable, because those bullet points aren't actually supposed to be complete sentences.

@CowperKettle "Exchange trading of fertilizer has now started in Russia", or "Exchange trading of fertilizer has now begun in Russia". "now" to distinguish it from the past, when things were different. (Just a suggestion.)

Anastasiya-Romanova 秀

@FaheemMitha By complete sentence you meant S + V?

Faheem Mitha

@Anastasiya-Romanova秀 Yes, I guess so. Something that looks like a standalone thing.

Anastasiya-Romanova 秀

What's supposed to be then?

Faheem Mitha

@Anastasiya-Romanova秀 Hmm?

Anastasiya-Romanova 秀

11:01

What do you mean by "something that looks like a standalone thing"? I don't get it

Faheem Mitha

@Anastasiya-Romanova秀 A complete sentence is just a sentence that the reader would perceive to be complete. And I'm no grammar expert, but I suppose that would require a subject and a verb. Stuff like that. Perhaps the experts here can explain all the things a sentence is supposed to have.

Anastasiya-Romanova 秀

Is it wrong in putting a complete sentence in a list of objectives?

Faheem Mitha

@Anastasiya-Romanova秀 What you are doing is fine.

My point was simply that the items in your list are not going to be complete sentences, since they are only parts of a sentence.

Anastasiya-Romanova 秀

So what do you thing about this sentence: "Drafting a company financial policy that is in compliance with the recent government regulations"

Does it sound native to you?

Faheem Mitha

@Anastasiya-Romanova秀 Sounds reasonable.

Though I'd probably have written "which is in compliance". I'm not sure which is better or more correct.

Anastasiya-Romanova 秀

11:11

Which one should I use: recent, latest, or newest?

Faheem Mitha

@Anastasiya-Romanova秀 I'd probably go with latest. "recent" is vague.

Anastasiya-Romanova 秀

@FaheemMitha OK, thanks for your help. I appreciate it. :-)

Faheem Mitha

@Anastasiya-Romanova秀 No problem.

Gary

13:30

why is there never anyone in this room!

i want to find out what music my fellow ELU friends like... how your holidays are going... did you eat to much at Christmas?

alhelal

@Gary ?????????????

Gary

hey welcome alhelal

alhelal

@Gary what is meant by shh? I am in sh hall(Shahidullah Hall)

Gary

it's a secret i can't tell you !

@alhelal dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/ssh

alhelal

@Gary dim the light, otherwise it explained itself publicly.

Gary

13:35

hhah ok :P

alhelal

@Gary Thanks.

@Gary I am true. It is open now.

not secret.

Gary

ok i cover with my hat one second

i fixed it now

alhelal

@Gary funny.

Gary

might take a few seconds to update

:D

alhelal

You are interesting person.

Gary

13:39

so are you! :)

alhelal

When I am closer to you, may be after some moment, I will tell you to visit my post on 8.37(scroll up)

As you are a student of English.

Gary

ok :)

Mitch

13:53

I disagree with most everything you say here.

1) Pretty much everybody in the US is an immigrant whether European or not, and the rest of the things you say are relevant to all immigrants not just the European ones (even though the large majority are European).

2) More than any other country in the world, residents in the US tend _not_ to stay in place. There is a lot of internal migration, from city to city, state to state, area to area. The midwest was settled mostly by migrants from the east coast. The west was mostly settled by migrants from east coast and the midwest. Californians ar…

user325499

@Gary Music? I attend rock concerts. Holidays? They rock. Eating? I don't eat much because it sucks to be fat.

user325499

Also friends? I don't think of strangers on the internet my friends.

user325499

perhaps it is because I am mean by default.

Feeds

0

Q: What is the opposite of "upfront payment"?

What is the opposite of "upfront payment"? Something that would signify a payment done after the service has been used.

single-word-requests

terdon

@Ivan That's not mean as much as petty and a pointless utterance. You might feel any way you like, but I really don't see why you would feel the need to point it out. Perhaps Gary feels that the people he interacts with here are his friends. Why would you consider it useful to state that you don't? And, frankly, who cares?

Especially given the fact that you don't even have an account on the site and have only been in chat for less than a month.

It seems safe to assume that the relationships people have built here over several years might feel different to them than they do to you after a couple of weeks here.

Mitch

13:58

@terdon I care

terdon

@Mitch OK, fine. But who else? Huh? Huh?

Mitch

Luke Skywalker - I care

►

user325499

@terdon Hey, I was just being silly.

user325499

I mean chillax.

terdon

@Mitch heh :)

Mitch

14:01

Luke had a thing for who he later found out was his sister

kinda weird

terdon

Tsk

user325499

Yuck

Mitch

I mean Leia's hot and all but...

terdon

That hairdo!

Mitch

George Lucas was ... imaginative?

I hope I haven't spoiled the Star Wars movies for you all

It also turns out that it was really important that George Bailey lived in It's a Wonderful Life because he would have kept the druggist from overdosing that poor kid and going to jail for it.

Also, in 'Finding Nemo', they find Nemo by the end

You don't want to know what happens in 'Titanic'

user325499

14:07

@terdon Besides you say "That's not mean as much as petty and a pointless utterance" Why do you care if I write something petty or pointless here? It is not like I was saying anything inappropriate.

user325499

I was simply replying to Gary in my own style.

user325499

I mean you could simply not butt in I guess.

Mitch

@Ivan If you want to stay on topic for ELU, you should have pointed out that that is exactly what being mean is, being petty and pointless. That's what 'mean' is! @terdon get your lexical semantics right!

But being on-topic here is off-topic

user325499

I know being on topic here is off topic that's why I am almost always off topic.

Mitch

Well, done. Except that kind of talk is on-topic.

user325499

14:10

Then I am all set

Mitch

I don't think you got it

You are not 'all' set.

You are mostly not set.

Not set at all.

user325499

What makes you say that?

Mitch

See how this works?

Everything can be denied

It's opposite day

Wait...

OK now it's opposite day

It wasn't a moment ago

solar limbs and all that

Astronomy matters

religions that follow sunset rules (Like Judaism and Islam) really must have a lot of trouble north of the Arctic circle.

They should sunset that rule

Which brings up a good point... for the soon to be constructed moon base, what will they do for time? where you are there, there'll be a half month of darkness, ten half of light.

user325499

There is nothing on the moon, you will be bored and will be importing everything from the earth. So no fun.

Mitch

unless you're on the great circle between the near and far sides of the moon. and then you'll randomly bounce back and forth between light and dark because of libration.

@Ivan It'll be exporting moon dust

user325499

14:17

And what can you possibly do with moon dust?

Mitch

which is good for things like abrasives like sand paper or for causing mesothelioma (basically it's like asbestos)

user325499

Then why go to moon just to bring back asbestos? ha ha ha

Mitch

@Ivan but more practically, I think there's a lot of aluminum in moon dust? Not sure

user325499

Not sure myself either.

user325499

Never been there

Mitch

14:19

A moon base is really a much more practical staging area for going to Mars or the asteroids, rather than direct flights

@Ivan You should go. I recommend it.

user325499

Yah, let me call my quadrillionaire dad and book a flight.

Mitch

Yes, that would be the way to do it.

user325499

Hah

Mitch

of course you're exaggerating. Your dad must be only a billionnaire

I don't think there is a quadrillion of any currency in existence today. Many trillions. But not yet quadrillion

Just trying to be realistic

user325499

Well, if we are considering other planets and stars and other galaxies then... you never know.

user325499

14:23

I could be an alien

user325499

I mean... who is selling all that oil or fuel on Pluto?

Mitch

Like the recent 'UFO' news, it'd be pretty silly to think that an alien race would construct transportation to come all the way here to earth, just to either 1) show themselves for just a moment to a handful of people in the wilderness or 2) talk for a few moments on just this chatroom about how Luke and Leia kissed once.

user325499

That's gotta be me

user325499

@Mitch So how did they kiss? I didn't even bring up their kiss. But, now we can discuss it.

Mitch

What?

Did they?

Only an alien would know that

Are you outing yourself as an alien?

Alien

I knew it

user325499

14:28

Well, you are just a chat bot so not far from an alien yourself.

Mitch

Aliens and chatbots are entirely different

Unless there's an alien chatbot... but let's not get distracted from the main point

user325499

They are not. An alien can never be a machine you say?

user325499

Perhaps

Mitch

I'll allow the (slim) possibility that an alien can be a machine

user325499

Why can't we get distracted from the main point? We discover things by going on tangents all the time.

Mitch

14:30

Seems implausible, but I'll allow it for the sake of argument

As long as...

uh oh... meeting

carry on...

Educ

Good morning

user325499

Quoi de neuf?

Educ

14:48

ca va merci et toi

?

j'ai des examen semaine prochaine

je serais besoin votre aide

pour bien les preparer

@Mitch Mitch do you familiar with the word 'ASHURA'

user325499

@Educ Bien sûr, je suis là pour t'aider. De quoi as-tu besoin?

Educ

merci beaucoup

Rewrite the following material in a well-built paraghraph observing all
rules (topic sentence, punctuation, ir/relevance, transitional expressions,
coherence, ect.

ASHURA

1. Additionally, children play with fireworks in the streets and light a fire called the ’Shaala’.
2. Parents and family buy toys for their children.
3. For the Shia Muslims, Ashuraretains strong religious overtones as a day of sorrow and mourning
remembering the grandson of Prophet Mohammed ( Hussein) who was martyred in the battle of
Karbala some thirteen centuries ago.
4. In Sunni countries like Morocco, however, the commemoration has grown into a merely folk
tradition with little religious significance to become a simple festuve and enjoyable event.

first i have to locate the irrelevant statements

then

choice logical order

for example goes from general to specific

Mitch

@Educ Ben oui

Educ

and the final step link them with tranisional expressions

Mitch

Wasn't Ashura a month or so ago?

Educ

15:01

yeah

:)

you are expert in terms of culuture

Mitch

Oh it's mainly a big Shi'ite thing, right?

I thought Sunnis didn't bother with it.

@Educ We all have wikipedia at our fingertips

Except for the moon base, they have the 4 second lightspeed delay

Educ

ah yes but also sunnis do it but the way that expresses the exercise

Mitch

OK that's idiotic, the Moon base IT people should have the hole internet cached there all the time

Faheem Mitha

@Mitch I think you are misunderstanding me.

Mitch

@Educ Do you have any French ancestry? or, separately, any Kabile/Berber ancestry? Or are you totally Arabic? (if this is weird no need to answer)

Educ

15:06

I'm totally arabic

Faheem Mitha

When I said Europeans in the US tend to stay put, I meant stay in the US, as oppose to leaving. Perhaps "stay put" was a poorly chosen term, but it an off the cuff remark. I wasn't expecting a response, or commentary. And I agree everyone in the US is an immigrant. Well, except for the Native Americans, relatively speaking.

user325499

@Mitch coming from a chat bot, that is not only weird, that is... yeah weird.

Faheem Mitha

But I was restricting my comments to Europeans.

Also, I think it's pretty clear things in the US are deteriorating. Whether or not they will improve again is anyones guess. The US is still is far better shape than most places, in a relative sense.

Note: that's also meant as an off the cuff remark. Not really intending to have a political discussion.

Educ

@Ivan 1- Topice sentence 2- Reorganize the material 3- relevance 4 - Coherence 5 - Transitional expression (Readability)

those are the steps that we must to follow to well-built paraghraph.

user325499

@Educ oh, that's a lot of work and I don't know.

Educ

15:14

I would really appreciate any help you can give

user325499

and... I'm lazy.
If you need help with individual sentences then let me know.

Educ

I'm not in hurry

okay, I'll post my attempts

and see if they looks fine

Mitch

I'm in a hurry. At light speed

user325499

Yah, that would be better

Educ

is that okay with you

?

and see if they looks fine

tchrist

15:15

Mitch

I'm in a hurry. At light speed

Or really at electron speed, and those having mass, can only be near light speed

Educ

@Mitch Do you have any idea

user325499

Oh cool toy gun.

Mitch

@Educ I have lots of ideas

mostly crap ideas

user325499

@Mitch you Americans are always in a hurry when you are not.

Educ

15:16

Just say them may be it will help me

user325499

Beats me.

Mitch

@FaheemMitha It's good to have the outside perspective. Inside it's all funhouse mirrors

Faheem Mitha

@Mitch No offense intended to Americans or anyone else. I think it's educational to take a quick look at a graph of the Gini index for the United States for the last century. It's a pretty clear indication of the way things have been going.

Mitch

@FaheemMitha understood

@FaheemMitha I'm not so sure the Gini index is the best way to compare things (but it is something). There may be huge disparities between super-rich and average americans, but as long as the material comfort level of the average is high, I don't think it is as bad as people make it out to be.

(of course for poor people things are terrible in the US in comparison to many European countries)

Faheem Mitha

@Mitch Opinions vary. And it's more about power structures and democracy (or lack of it), than about living standards.

I agree that the living standards in the US are nothing to complain about.

At least by international standards.

Mitch

15:28

@FaheemMitha my point was that there is a lot of internal migration in the US (beyond what I mentioned the very general rural to urban migration that every country has)

Faheem Mitha

Or if you prefer a different measure of bad, I point you to the recent repeal of Net Neutrality. One could hardly ask for a better indication of bad stuff happening.

@Mitch Yes, of course there is. The US is a very mobile society.

Anyone who wants to read something totally crazy should go and look at the stated justifications for the Net Neutrality repeal. It's laugh-out-loud stuff.

The Republicans have got to the point where they just parrot words and catch phrases for whatever lunacy they want to commit.

Mitch

@FaheemMitha I could commiserate with you about a lot of those things

Faheem Mitha

Though of course the repeal is meeting with a lot of opposition, so let's hope it gets shut down.

Mitch

@Ivan as a quasi AIG chatbot on crack and quantum computation, I've read that and already sped past the heat death of the universe and wrapped around and come back up from behind to be here now.

So in some sense yes, I'm in a hurry, and no, it doesn't matter because I'm so fast I can be slow.

@Ivan chatbots are totally messed up man. they'll ask things you wouldn't believe

user325499

@Mitch "quasi AIG chatbot on crack" I knew you were on crack LOL

Mitch

15:37

like 'There's a turtle lying on it's back in the hot sun' or 'What do you think of your mother?'

user325499

@Mitch If you are so fast you are slow then I am so hot I am cold.

user325499

Erm, that sounds like lyrics to a cheap song so... never mind

Mitch

@Ivan Only a chatbot would make a silly error like that. Human flesh bags make stupider mistakes

@Ivan I'm sensing us going into a Katy Perry Sing-Off!

user325499

Human flesh bags sounds... lewd.

Mitch

You change

you mind

user325499

15:38

Ha

Mitch

like a girl

changes ... what the hell kind of lyric is that?

Educ

@Mitch What do you think about people that believe Earth Is Flat ?

user325499

They are in the past.

Mitch

@Educ I think a lot about people like that

Educ

:)

the DOME

is it in the bible

?

Rocket hitting the flat earth dome

►

Feeds

15:47

0

Q: What do you call a guy who chooses to prioritize beautiful ladies among other customers/clients

Here's the scenario. I was going my way home and my girlfriend offered me to call a taxi driver she just met and has her contact number. The taxi driver expects that she will be his passenger and was probably disappointed that I was his passenger instead.

single-word-requests

0

Q: What's a good word for a person, or a state, when a person is constantly waiting for life to get good, but does nothing to actually make it happen

I've written a song about people who constantly wait for something good to happen to them and am looking for a word to describe this state/paradox/condition. The song is about people who expect life to get better for no reason, talk about moving to a bigger city or a different place as if that ...

single-word-requests meaning word-choice terminology vocabulary

Mitch

@Educ In some sense, the great majority of people don't need to know whether the earth is flat or not. Having one thought or the other in their heads makes no difference whatsoever to getting their work done that day.

of course it makes a big difference in impacting their daily lives with their phone service and weather forecasts and delivery speed of cat photos (and delivery of food from far off places). But that knowledge is only used by a relatively small # of people.

@Ivan meat bags? You corporeals are so sensitve

Sorry, that was concretist. Physical objects are just as good as quantum electron doubly stochastic matrix processes

I mean I'm just saying that to sound like I care.

Ooh... wittle baby cellular mass has a wittle sniffle? Wipe your nose, you infected meat mass!

Educ

@Mitch I see

Ivan is planning to study at university this next academic year. If you were to give her \textbf{one} major piece of advice, what would that be ? Explain how important your advice is.

Please any help

I want to see examples of paraghraph for this kind of stituation

Mitch

I don't think he's a her. Unless they prefer that pronoun

Educ

:)

Mitch

16:02

@Educ ?? oh, was that sentence you want fixed up? Then you should put quotes around it so we know you are referring to it, rather than meaning it. I was really confused because I didn't think Ivan really would want that kind of advice.

user325499

@Mitch flicks hair

user325499

Ivan what what what?

Mitch

Also, do you want this in Br English or AmE?

user325499

oh, yep, not a girl.

Educ

American

Mitch

16:03

@Ivan Sassy

user325499

it is funny how people fall for my cute anime avatar.

Mitch

@Ivan You should take that as useful information. If you want people to fall for it, keep it.

Educ

sheknows.com/baby-names/name/ivan

Mitch

@Educ "Ivan is planning to go to college next academic year. If you were to give him \textbf{one} major piece of advice, what would that be ? Explain how important your advice is."

Educ

yes i see

Mitch

16:05

In the us you say 'go to college' even if you will be going (specifically) to a university.

Educ

what I need is paraghraph that answer that question

collegue means

two years fo preparation

before

to go to university

that what our professor

said to us

but i think

according to morroco

Mitch

It currently being December (in 'this' academic year), it is obvious what is meant by 'next academic year' (the one coming Sept 2018. You don't need to emphasize with 'this next'.

Educ

we should talk about university

Mitch

And 'Ivan' is considered a male name and so a male pronoun should go with it by default.

Educ

actually the question

is :

I Choose to write on \textbf{TWO} of the following three topics. Use a fully developed paraghraph for each topic

Maria is planning to study at university this next academic year. If you were to give her \textbf{one} major piece of advice, what would that be ? Explain how important your advice is.

Mitch

16:09

It is a current cultural trend (only by a few people) to choose the pronoun one wants for oneself, but that needs to have been established in context. Otherwise the default is the generally accepted cultural norm for the most common gender for a given name.

@Educ are you writing this or are you cut and pasting? 'study at university sounds very BrE to me.

Educ

I'm just rewrite it from orginal exam from another university (rabat) and i want to train my self

Mitch

WHat's the original?

Wait, are you trying to answer the question, or are you trying to rewrite the question and do it well?

Educ

i'm trying to answer the question

to train my self

for this kind of exams

But i need to see an examples of answers

Mitch

@Educ oh. the Moroccan system must be like the French system maybe? (I've never understood the French system). In the US it is school until 12th grade (usually ~ 18 yrs old), then 4 year college (18-22), then either med school, law school, Masters or PhD degree (with at any stage a switch to working a real job)

tchrist

> I confess that if it were me and I were feeling a wee bit naughty, I might be tempted into minting me a nifty neologism like fthwacking for this act, which although perhaps less prim than queenly English would like any good shibboleth serve to separate those who can say fifths and twelfths from those who cannot. :)

Educ

16:16

yes it's like french system

tchrist

In my garden there are many paths.

Mitch

@Educ ?? you want someone here to write an answer to one of those?

Educ

yes

please

i want to see an example of answer

Mitch

@Educ I think you'll have a hard time getting anyone to do that here, or frankly anywhere.

Educ

any help would be appereciated

Mitch

16:18

just do a google search for such things. you'll have a better chance of getting something like that than asking for people to do homework.

Educ

i can do the answer

Mitch

it'll be painful enough to get people to proofread the thing that you write

Educ

but i need someone

to tell me if its looks good

or not

tchrist

phthwaques

Mitch

I thought you were asking for people to write something?

Educ

16:20

in first yes

but now as you said i ll try to write something

tchrist

φθwæx on, φθwæx off

terdon

@tchrist Ο, σατ απ γιου

tchrist

Now if I can just find a ligature for φθ, I'll be set.

@terdon blushes

Mitch

@tchrist whines

tchrist

17:06

@terdon So, the newspaper says the Athens and Boulder share the same projected high temperature today (60F). Course, that won't last for us, where we'll yoyo back down to single digits by tomorrow night.

terdon

Wow. That kind of variance must be hard to deal with.

tchrist

That's what Mom always says, since it never happens in Wisconsin.

Any time we get like four sunny days in a row like that, the violets decide it’s time to bloom again.

terdon

Roses are red, violets are optimists.

tchrist

It's that flaming red thumb shooting up from El Paso; it actually hugs the eastern edge of the Rockies.

Happens a lot.

And it isn't something that "moves east" with the normal weather.

Just a one-time spike.

@Robusto Enjoying the weather today? Don't go back to Boston.

He's even south of me now, so should be in the 70s.

It's funny, the Four Corners (AZ/NM/CO/UT) to my west is only in the 60s, but where NM/CO/TX/OK/KS cluster to my southeast, it's in the 70s. Or better.

Mountain ranges running north–south block off or funnel weather blocks like that.

terdon

It's all the fault of the Chinese and their dirty "climate change" hoax.

tchrist

17:24

I blame all the lavadoras down in El Paso–Juárez: too many secadoras to go with em.

Oops, it’s actually the maquiladoras there that are the pollution problem.

> However, maquiladoras are clearly not the leading cause of air pollution in Ciudad Juárez and El Paso. Moreover, most maquiladoras are probably less important sources of dangerous air pollution than at least one notoriously polluting Mexican-owned industry.

Sigh. Everything I know is wrong.

> However, most of the pollutants related to these health issues do not come from the 300 or so maquiladora factories but from dirt roads, vehicles and family-run brick kilns.

"maquiladora factories" ~ "PIN numbers"

> [bəˈloɪt] [nuˈbɝlən]
[ˈoɻəˌgɑn] [ˌpʰɻeɻiduˈʃin]
[ˌdeɻiˈæn] [ˈɛɫˌkʰo˞n]

When Garrison Keillor took Prairie Home Companion to Portland Oregon, they teased him for saying [ˈoɻəˌgɑn], not realizing that that’s how we say words like that in our accent. We even have a town named that.

> It’s not supposed to sound like gone, Mister Kyeler.

Or however they said it.

The irony is that they say [gɑn] for gone, but he of course pronounces gone as [gɔn] with an open-o with the THOUGHT vowel not the FATHER vowel, so for him, it doesn’t sound like gone sounds for him anyway.

I think the only non-merger (of cot–caught) cluster in the West is in the top of the San Francisco Bay area, but I'd have to check to make sure I didn't miss one.

Robusto

20:28

@tchrist Beautiful here today. Got in a good 40 miles in the sun.

My son is back in Cambridge, staying indoors doing his master's thesis at Harvard.

Færd

Accept and except sound exactly the same. Who'd think they did!

They sound so differnt in your head.

Robusto

I pronounce them ever so slightly differently.

Færd

But when you say them, voila: the same!

@Robusto Oh you do?

Robusto

It might be a mental thing, indistinguishable to others, but thoughts are things, right?

Feeds

0

Q: Is there any suitable word for describing the highest point of a difficult situation?

Words like apex, peak, pinnacle or acme are usually used to describe the most successful, powerful or exciting part of something. Is it okay if I use them for the maximum point of a bad situation? If not, what word can I use then? (any word other than maximum) For example: In 1870s, the sense ...

single-word-requests

Færd

20:31

And whenever I pronounce exorcise with an o it feels like I'm straining something.

Robusto

It just means you're being fastidious.

Færd

@Robusto Sure, imaginary things.

Robusto

Just a bit more than imaginary.

Færd

So how do you say exorcise?

Robusto

For instance, I always say the /o/ in exorcise.

Just to be clear.

Færd

20:34

OK. Interesting. But I guess for a lot of people it's about the same as exercise.

Robusto

Well, one doesn't exercise one's demons unless one is a fitness proselytizer of unimaginable proportions.

Færd

Haha!

Anyway, exorcise is not a word I use everyday, except there's this song that I hum sometimes:

Brandi Carlile - The Stranger At My Door

►

Beautiful one. Reminds me of the refugee crises.

> We exercise the demons of the things we used to know
The gnashing of the teeth become the remnants of our homes
We think we're moving on, from materials we long...
...to forget we ever sold our souls to own

I copy-pasted the lyrics. I only just realized the typo in the first line. It kind of attests to my assumption.

Robusto

Yeah.

Færd

Don't you people take a vacation from here? It's your New Year after all.

Happy New Year btw!

Before I forget.

I suppose there's no harm in dropping in here even in the most vacated of the vacations.

Robusto

20:50

I'm on permanent vacation. And loving it.

Færd

Hope you enjoy it all the way through.

Of course you're keeping yourself occupied, with ... Spanish I remember.

And prolly other stuff.

I can't imagine retiring my brain. That would be the beginning of the end. I prefer an abrupt end to a gradual one.

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…