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00:14
@MetaEd I've got to go see about a girl.
 
3 hours later…
03:12
0
Q: Another word for monument or idol?

Howard RoarkI am looking for another word or idiomatic phrase for "monument" that would not connote memorialization, but would connote that it is functions as a symbolic replacement for what it represents, more specifically, a demonstration of some future (or empty) promise. E.g. In 1930s, Stalin built in...

Can anybody pls help understanding the phrase
"Tisk it or drat it, this task still takes a basket"
04:01
Anybody there?
 
4 hours later…
08:06
Hi @terdon
bhai koi h kya
Can anybody pls help understanding the phrase
"Tisk it or drat it, this task still takes a basket"
08:19
When "a task" takes "a basket" it means throw it in the waste paper basket.
Task = garbage
yar title paragraph ka "Why it is so difficult to measure inflation" h
so it has some figurative meaning
koi tokri nahi
"Inflation" includes the cost of living
08:34
So, what I am getting is:
<Irrespective of your opinion, the task "measure of inflation" is of no worth>
correct?
@skullpatrol bhai can u check if it's correct?
Yeah, pretty much.
It's a rough measure, at best.
Thanks man!
Thanks for asking :-)
08:50
:)
@Jasper jolly good
 
2 hours later…
11:17
0
Q: Is there an equivalent of "monetize" for data?

luchonachoAccording to the OED, to monetize is to Convert or adapt (a society, economy, etc.) to trade based on the exchange of money. There are similar conceptualisations, like gentrify, gamify, and so on, which refer to process of conversion of something into something else. Is there an equivalent...

 
2 hours later…
13:30
0
Q: Word for something being controlled?

Yousef AmarI'm looking for a word that is the counter part to "controller". So far, the closest I can think of is "controllee", but that means something else. Any ideas?

13:42
@skullpatrol Can you understand that language? Just curious because it is Hindi written in English.
@Mitch Haha, yeah I'm good.
Search term popularity in New York: "solar eclipse" against "my eyes hurt":
@Færd Heh, cute, but not true I'm afraid: trends.google.com/trends/…
13:59
@terdon OK. There's just a tiny problem with the scaling.
@Færd Not exactly small. I mean, yes there was a peak on that day but for all we know that peak was 3 searches. There's no meaningful way to compare if we don't have the numbers.
Well, there's a smidgen of difference between "tiny" and "small". I was being ironic.
@terdon So yeah, they're incomparable. Thanks for pointing it out.
I've got to get to the bottom of things before sharing them.
14:19
0
Q: Single adjective meaning "as a mentor" or "with foresight"

MetalgearmaycryI had a conversation with a friend to describe how my divorced parents raised my brother and I: "My mom just had kids; my father knew he was raising future adults and took care in his instruction." I am looking for a single word to describe my father's view of raising children, i.e., with fores...

 
1 hour later…
15:22
@terdon @Færd's link shows a peak of 100
@Mitch Yeah, but that's a relative value. They just define the highest peak as 100 and then graph the rest according to that.
> Numbers represent search interest relative to the highest point on the chart for the given region and time. A value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term. A value of 50 means that the term is half as popular. Likewise a score of 0 means the term was less than 1% as popular as the peak.
So a term that was searched for twice could have a value of 100 for the day it was twice searched, and one that was searched for 1 million times would have the same value.
@terdon I don't think it is a false inference that many 'eclipse' searches were causatively followed by many 'eyes hurt' searches
the ratio of the usual 'eyes hurt' searches peak to regular is roughly 20:1 (100 at peak, usually between 1 and 5)
The second link by @Færd shows # of searches just for 'eyes hurt'
I don't see how that graph could have been generated from the source given though. And I certainly can't imagine that both 'solar eclipse' and 'my eyes hurt' peaked at the same number of searches, so the graph is very misleading.
@Mitch No, that's the problem. It does not give the number as far as I can tell.
Only the change over time. But if the 100 value represents 5 searches, it is not informative at all.
@terdon the first graph doesn't give units so yes, you're right in being skeptical. but Færd's later link shows actual # of searches, not ratio or percentage
Look at the vertical scale. Both search peak at exactly 100. So the values are probably normalized to percent of the maximum search rate.
15:29
@terdon the shape of the curve is so variable (as opposed to blocky) that It's not a random 5 on one day and 1 or zero the rest, it's 1 to 5 on most days and then peak 100 on the eclipse day
@MetaEd yes, for the widespread image and the one shown here first by Færd
More importantly, why are people so mean to Neal DeGrasse Tyson?
@Mitch Where?
Literally, the Humanities. https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/904861739329708034
Obviously prof Gabriele not good at reading comprehension, which he should have learned being a prof of medieval history. I think NDT must have said backhanded compliments about non-STEM subjects.
@MetaEd Precisely (or just fabricated which seems equally likely), which means we can't really compare them or, if we do, that the only conclusion we can draw is that there was a bump in the number of both searches around the eclipse. However, with no absolute numbers, we have no way of knowing if either bump was significant.
@Mitch Yes, where are the numbers? I just see the same normalized data there where max==100
15:37
But to be honest, 1) NDT left out 'information' in that hierarchy and 2) that hierarchy really is stupid. It sounds so perceptive, but in the end is a false extrapolation of meaning of those words that doesn't really exist in real life. It's what marketers do with buzzwords. What is cognitive computing'? 'Oooh sounds so deep and complex and unfathomable it must be rocket science and important and will make IBM money'. But in the end, it's just a funny word for AI.
Oh yeah I forgot... inscrutable. That's almost an autologous word.
Is 'autologous' autologous? Self-describing? Actually because autologous is so inscrutable, it can't be autologous, so yes, autologous is heterologous.
There. PhD is epistemology completed. Where's my cap and gown?
@terdon Oh. Hunh. Right. They all seem to be max scaled to 100. Even in the one I was claiming otherwise.
hm.
well, even though I was wrong in fact, I think by the smoothness of the curves (the 'eyes hurt' one is more jagged showing, yes, a much smaller absolute hit rate, but still not explainable by randomness.
THere's still a -non-random- peak.
Yes, that's the 'story' that could have been manufactured, but I am inferring from curve jaggedness.
In other words you're right (but I'm not totally wrong). WTF, where are the absolute numbers?
@Mitch IKR? Those would settle it.
@terdon The non-random peak is in the graph of 'eyes hurt' by itself. Your link shows the relative sizes in comparison.
which = " way way way more people were searching for eclipse instead of 'eyes hurt'"
but separately, 'even so there was a correlation between eclipse and a peak shortly afterwards of 'eye hurt'.
I think this means you don't care much about NDT
Heh, not much no. I know he's some science pundit but that's about it.
16:03
haha. yeah he knows some science. He's like today's Carl Sagan.
Is this natural sounding English "I stopped growing physically when I reached 18"?
@terdon Exactly. Once they're normalized they can't be compared.
Yeah, that was my gripe with the original graph.
@Ahmed Yes. Perfectly natural.
very idiomatic
(that is, very natural)
okay, thank you.
16:12
@MetaEd they can be compared but there are questions about that comparison (exactly the one we're worried about, scale). and then only if the scale of one of them is infinitesimally small to the point where the peak is <5 and the rest are 0 or 1 (very roughly). There's stats behind this which I am handwaving away.
I was just thinking the listener might get the wrong impression, like "I stopped getting fat etc." when I am going for only things like height, and other physical attributes not necessarily "fat". Also, "growing physically" has that "growing fat" vibes you know.
 
1 hour later…
17:25
0
Q: A word to describe a sudden urge to work

Ramon MeloI was wondering if there's a term for a person feeling an unusual drive to be productive, as well as for the feeling itself. Some example sentences could be: I just drank four cups of coffee, I'm _____, bring it on! Johnny is really excited to start working here. He arrived early and w...

@Ahmed No, I think you've gotten the wrong nuances. 'growing physically' doesn't have the 'fat' nuance to it.
You 'grow up' (get older and get taller as a child but generally stop getting taller around 18).
You 'get fat' when you put on weight around the middle. This can happen at any age.
you just don't say 'growing fat'. That's not idiomatic English. One could come up with a bizarre circumstance where that is used naturally ("I have a fat farm. I am growing fat on this farm. I have huge vats in which I am growing many delicious varieties of fat")
@Mitch Well, "he grew fat" meaning "he became fat" is entirely idiomatic. But growing fat isn't.
Looks like I got everyone busy with my graph.
I like the jaggedness analysis. There indeed was at least 100 searches for eyes hurt (20x more than normal), since the interest units in the graph are mutually prime: trends.google.com/trends/… .
(6, 17, 100, ...)
But the original graph was no more than phony clickbait.
17:43
@AndrewLeach 1) that would lead me to believe that 'grow fat' is idiomatic also. 2) it sounds old-fashioned or clumsy in contemporary English.
Then again google seems to pay no shit to what the jaggedness of its graphs implicate. I've seen tons of elaborate Ngram graphs based on a few hits.
@Færd "interest units"? Where did you find those?
@Mitch The vertical axis is labeled interest over time
@Færd Yes. The more jagged they are, the fewer actual hits.
@Færd but for every keyword search that is normalized to 0 to 100, 100 being the max over time for the one search
That's what I said units. :)
17:49
@Mitch That's a nice explanation, thanks!
@Færd You said the 'interest units in the graph are mutually prime'. That implies that 1) the interest units for the two searches are different (can't be prime if they're the same) and 2) you can actually view them to see if they're relatively prime. How did you see these units then? Where did you find them?
@Mitch Because those are valuable data that can be sold?
@Mitch I meant the interest units of eyes hurt (one graph) on different days. On Aug 20 it's 17 and on 21 it's 100.
 
1 hour later…
19:19
All SE sites have a basic rule that you should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face. Does this question cross that line?
0
Q: Is it possible to have second-order collective nouns?

K. PriceMore out of curiosity than out of need, I was just wondering whether it would be possible to have a second-order collective noun for something, e.g.: One crow becomes Several crows becomes A murder of crows becomes Several murders of crows becomes ??? No harm done if that's the bigg...

0
Q: What is a single word for using something in a good way?

Raghuram VadapalliSo, basically what I want is a word for using power in good way. Like opposite for 'abusing power'. Is there a word for that?

19:38
0
Q: Single word similar to, but distinct, from 'polymath'?

StilezAs the question says, I'm looking for a word similar to, but not quite the same in meaning as, "polymath". A polymath tends to carry a sense of either being a generalist (doesn't imply any sense of specificity), or genus (not relevant), or ideal/rennaisance person (not useful). Portrait of a pe...

0
Q: The opposite of "actual" in the mentioned text?

Sasan That system involves either actual or ----- discrimination. That system involves discrimination in actual or ----- terms. What I want to say is that the system might make discrimination in the actual conditions that hold now or make discrimination in close possible conditions. A tech...

@MetaEd Every SWR ever is speculative."I was just thinking the other day..."
19:57
@Mitch Is "I was just wondering" enough to make a question practical on other sites? For example would SO accept it?
20:11
I just thought of something again and thought I would mention it. It is something maybe @AndrewLeach suggested in the past. Should we change the URL of ELU to something else? It seems that maybe the current one attracts the wrong kind of questions (ELL type).
1
Q: What is a word to describe a lifestyle of few possessions?

bubblekingI think there is a word that exists, though it won't quite come to me, that describes the life of someone who purposely leads a sparse existence, materialistically, and has few, if any, possessions. The only word that comes to me is "monastic," but that's not quite right, and I'm thinking there ...

20:25
0
Q: Does any other language have as many reflexive pronouns as English?

Michael Hardy1st person: myself, ourselves 2nd person: yourself yourselves 3rd person: himself, herself, itself, themselves, oneself In Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, and German there is only one reflexive pronoun, used only in the third person, except that in those last four it's also a second person "p...

@Mitch
NVZ
NVZ
@MetaEd It it on-topic for language learning or some other SE?
I'd like to know if it is suitable for Linguistics.
But I assume they have the same research requirement we do, and I see no evidence of research in the question.
NVZ
NVZ
@MetaEd Maybe ask a mod there? Maybe Alenanno.. english.stackexchange.com/users/6550/alenanno
I just am a bit curious to see some answers to that question.
20:43
@NVZ Huh. I was just going to say "if only it were an interesting question" ...
It's this sort of question that can lead to other more interesting questions, that usually involve the word "why".
NVZ
NVZ
@MetaEd Not really invested on that question. Just a bit curious, as in, trivia.
0
Q: Word for a person who does not want to disagree

M AliIt's there a single word for a person who doesn't want to disagree with anyone and who just wants to go with the flow?

0
Q: Is there a word mirroring common usage of "proportional" (which I characterize as "monotonically increasing as a function of")?

user2429920In mathematics, a and b are proportional if their ratio, a/b is constant (DEFINITION 1). In common language, proportional is often used to mean something more like "when a goes up, b also goes up (and vice versa)" (DEFINITION 2). I'm looking for a word other than "proportional" which matches DE...

21:27
@NVZ gotcha
21:52
@MetaEd All I'm sayin is that I don't think 'having an actual real world need for the answer' is a compelling need on ELU to be on-topic. Most all of ELU is idle speculation, unless it is translation or proofreading and that is off-topic for other reasons.
But why listen to me? I think that is an interesting meta question.
@MetaEd 1) it does seem under-researched, 2) on the face of it not even correct and 3) why questions <strike>bug the shit outta me.</strike> tend to be unanswerable as to reason.
But it's still interesting to do a PIE crosslinguistic analysis of reflexives.
On one hand a comparison of inventories (eg Eskimo has 30 words for snow, but English hundreds for being drunk) seem to be the academic version of factoid clickbait, but then again it may show provenance/mixing of languages etc.
oh. @NVZ said trivia. yes.

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