English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

tchrist

12:28 AM

@Lawrence Yes, she's here now and then.

Cerberus

1:06 AM

@Færd Oops, that was a nasty typo: saw, not ~~say~~.

8 hours ago, by Cerberus

@Færd I'm surprised you saw the protests coming no more than I did.

Mitch

1:19 AM

@FaheemMitha Oh. Sorry, I thought it was self-explanatory. A noun pair or adj-noun pair sometimes becomes popular and common and so it gets a hyphen to show that it is a set phrase, a thing unto itself, so popular that they go really together. So they get a hyphen. Eventually they might be so popular that the hyphen is superfluous, and so removed and it becomes one word. This process takes a lot of time and seeing what other people say and there are transition periods.

But all along the way, there is just following what you think other people do. THat's the reason. Popularity.

Note how people spell it 'alright'. Not too long ago, it was 'all right', but people kept making the 'mistake' to make it look more like already'. Now all most noone separates them.

of course, sometimes the hyphen stage is skipped altogether, and sometimes it happens fast (made into a single word right away).

Cerberus

@Mitch *noöne

Lawrence

1:58 AM

@tchrist Good to know; thanks. By the way, happy new year!

Feeds

2:09 AM

0

Q: Can I use "down" short for "download" in informal conversations?

Some folks in my office have been using "down sth" to express that they would like to download sth off the Internet, it's okay to say it like that? for example: "Please down that version of app for me?" Enlighten me please!

single-word-requests

Cerberus

@tchrist It seems Xregexp doesn't have escape sequences à la \Q...\E.

Nor backreferences inside the regex like \K1.

tchrist

2:26 AM

Wait.

You're doing it wrong. :)

Cerberus

Hmm it does seem to have backreferences, indeed.

tchrist

Backreferences are probably \k<NAME> for a named one. It might also support the \g{NAME} notation.

Lemme look for something.

Cerberus

@tchrist Yes, they are, and also \k<1>

I found them after I told you they didn't exist.

tchrist

PCRE has very super subtly different rules on recursion: you can only recurse on a group that's been fully defined.

So that last example won't work in PCRE because it's not done being defined yet.

Somewhere I also have material on how to do it in PCRE instead, but that's not easily found just right now.

Cerberus

I don't think I'm at that level yet.

tchrist

2:32 AM

Cerberus

So this is PCRE, not Xregexp, isn't it?

tchrist

Oh, right.

Sorry!

Cerberus

The only thing I'm still trying to find is \Q...\E.

Whether Xregexp has that.

tchrist

I don't know to what extend those are handles by XRexExp. I suspect it can't call groups, but am not sure.

Well, the thing is that \Q...\E is not what it looks like.

Let me find an example to show you how to do it.

\Q...\E is not part of the regex engine proper. It's a string effect like variable interpolation, one that calls the quotemeta() function.

So like case-mapping escapes.

So like how "foo \Q$more\E bar" is really 'foo ' concatenated unto quotemeta($more) concatted to ' bar'

The compiler arranges to call that function itself or have the interpreter do it later.

This can happen "right" in Perl because the compiler literals have casemapping escapes like \U...\E for uppercase or \L...\E for lowercase or \Q...\E for well, quoting regex metacharacters.

Cerberus

Well, that's good enough for me?

I can use interpolation.

tchrist

2:40 AM

The reason XRegExp doesn't have them is because it has to happen at a "different" level of evaluation. You would have to arrange to call the right function yourself.

Oh.

Cerberus

It's useful.

tchrist

Then yes.

By the way, this is all the quotemeta function does: s/(\W)/\\$1/g

Cerberus

By I can use, I meant, that's useful for me.

tchrist

It prefixes every "non-word" character with a literal backslash.

Cerberus

OK.

tchrist

2:41 AM

So if you wrote your own tiny little quotemeta function, you could emulate it.

Cerberus

I believe that's illegal in Xregexp...

tchrist

So that's what \Q really does.

Cerberus

Or at least uselessly escaping some characters is illegal in Xregexp.

tchrist

I don't know how variable interpolations work there, but you could pass what you needed through a quotemeta function of your devising and put its return in a variable that you then interpolate.

Oh hm.

Then maybe that won't work.

But it should be ok: you aren't escaping word characters.

So it should be illegal to try to use a \F escape because that means to do something it cannot do.

Cerberus

Hmm no, only escaping word characters is an error.

So that part wouldn't be a problem.

tchrist

2:44 AM

Modern regexes have a super standard rule: only nonword characters are special so escaping them is always ok.

Even if they aren't special "yet".

Cerberus

So you can escape characters like % that are literal anyway.

tchrist

So like /\=/ is legal but identical to /=/ because equals doesn't do anything "magical".

@Cerberus Exactly.

Cerberus

Yeah, I misremembered the description.

So I'd have to find some way to interpolate something inside a regex, or to join a regex with a string passed through an escapatory function.

Hardly as convenient as \Q \E, but, oh, well.

It's good to remember that I can just replace \W in the escape function to be created and be done with it.

tchrist

Agree

Cerberus

> haystack.search(/20\d+/ + escape_function(" f*ck you?") + / end!+/);

This is not possible, it seems.

It will probably work if you do search("blabla" + ...

But then you lose the use of the slashes.

tchrist

3:02 AM

reads

I've been jabbering in TL.

I think so.

I'm a little unclear on how slashes work in javascript

Cerberus

So am I. As I am about almost everything in almost all languages.

Let me look at TL.

Feeds

4:33 AM

0

Q: using *I am not well* when physically injured?

I am a trainee at a company and happen to be suffering from hemophilia. I haven't told them about this yet. Today I happen to have an internal bleed on my left knee so I think I am gonna have to call in sick for work today. This made me wonder what to write in the email? Should I simply put i...

single-word-requests word-choice email

Faheem Mitha

8:50 AM

What happened to the title (or subject?) of this room?

@Mitch Thank you for the explanation.

@Mitch I never write "alright". To my mind it looks illiterate. Like "alot".

Feeds

9:36 AM

0

Q: Is there a word for intentional misspelling as a literary device?

Good examples would be writing "nite" for "night", and "4" for "for". I guess it also applies to substituting final s with "z", as in "wordz". In the way that Prince was prone to. Recently I've seen it a lot in alternative literature and music. Example sentence: "Nice ... in that album title 'On...

single-word-requests figures-of-speech

M.A.R.

11:36 AM

OK, should I be talking in IPA?

@FaheemMitha it lost skin and gained a more realistic and explanatory title

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R. Lost skin?

M.A.R.

@FaheemMitha Well, like a snake

AKA peeling

Faheem Mitha

Realistic and explanatory? It's some weird script. Elvish, perhaps.

I suspect @tchrist's hand at work.

M.A.R.

@FaheemMitha IPA: "The Incomprehensible Room"

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R. IPA?

M.A.R.

11:43 AM

International Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin alphabet. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation of the sounds of spoken language. The IPA is used by lexicographers, foreign language students and teachers, linguists, speech-language pathologists, singers, actors, constructed language creators and translators. The IPA is designed to represent only those qualities of speech that are part of oral language: phones, phonemes, intonation and the separation of...

Faheem Mitha

@Lawrence Thank you for the explanation. But this is all a bit too sophisticated for me - I feel my brain overheating. Or should that be over-heating? And do people really give so much thought to their writing? For the most part they cannot be bothered to spell correctly. And the less said about their grammar the better...

M.A.R.

I am very thoughtful

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R. Oh, I see. Thank you for the clarification.

M.A.R.

Of mi writing

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R. That's nice. But is it relevant?

M.A.R.

11:46 AM

@FaheemMitha I was about to misspell "my" and make a bad joke

Faheem Mitha

The whole eat/drink conundrum is indeed vexing.

Alas, why is life and language so complicated?

It would be simpler if we were all single-celled organisms.

M.A.R.

@FaheemMitha Anything you use that's not under your control becomes a mess

@FaheemMitha Oh, no. You're looking at my profile. Walks away in shame

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R. Yes. As far as I know, it isn't actually illegal.

M.A.R.

Happy new year all!

Faheem Mitha

Personally I tend to say "eat soup". But I agree it isn't optimal. Maybe "drink" would be better, but it isn't perfect either.

M.A.R.

11:51 AM

I pinged people in LO and I feel too lazy to do it here

@FaheemMitha Hmm. After two years or so, I tend to prefer "drink"

@FaheemMitha Are you always this serious in chats? :)

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R. Serious?

M.A.R.

@FaheemMitha I made a nonserious remark again and it came off wrong

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R. Well, someone over in U&L recently used the (unfortunate) term "stalking" when I referred to something in his profile. So I guess I'm being a bit defensive.

@M.A.R. non-serious, perhaps.

Aren't hyphens fun?

M.A.R.

They look more official, yeah

@FaheemMitha Well, people aren't really prudent in what they say

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R. I think he was joking, but that's not a fun word to hear.

M.A.R.

12:06 PM

From what I gather, internet has changed its meaning and connotation

Faheem Mitha

Especially as things like sexual harassment are considered the seventh deadly sin these days. Though still much practiced.

@M.A.R. Maybe it was once inter-net?

M.A.R.

In-ter-net

-

Now I get why dictionaries use so many hyphens

Faheem Mitha

See? Hyphens are fun.

M.A.R.

I guess everything with "inter-" had a hyphen like, 40 years ago?

Inter-national

Inter-continental

Inter-n

Faheem Mitha

Did you know that in Bombay they have separate women railway compartments? And separate trains? Curiously called "ladies special".

M.A.R.

12:09 PM

@tchrist A person that has no metabolism, maybe

Faheem Mitha

Because otherwise women get molested on trains. And/or robbed.

M.A.R.

Unless eating is "something to do", and oxygen "something to hope for"

Faheem Mitha

Or so I'm told. Obviously, I have no first-hand experience of this.

Now, should that be "first hand"?

M.A.R.

@FaheemMitha Where?

Faheem Mitha

See, now I'm doubting everything I write...

@M.A.R. In Bombay.

M.A.R.

12:10 PM

Oh

Well, I heard there are problems there, yeah

Faheem Mitha

Note the "Did you know that in Bombay"bit.

@M.A.R. There are problems everywhere. Some places are worse than others.

M.A.R.

@FaheemMitha forgot to read that message when I was replying to TCh

Funny thing is, someone trying to be funny in Persian is referred to as "salty"

Faheem Mitha

I get the feeling that sexual harassment is more of a problem in India than in some places, though. It seems to be in the news a lot.

One common theme seems to be servants falling in love with their female employers. Which always seems to end badly.

It sounds like something out of a bad thriller, but it seems to actually happen a lot here.

Often the lady spurns the advances of her suitor and ends up dead.

I was talking to some (Indian, female) guests here, and they said it's a cultural thing. Possibly exacerbated by the media. I don't watch Indian media, so I don't know what kind of messages they send out. I mean, Hollywood and friends is bad enough.

(Sorry, I ramble as usual.)

tchrist

12:28 PM

@FaheemMitha You still have slaves in India??

Faheem Mitha

@tchrist Not officially. But unofficially, yes. I think so.

tchrist

Oh, you pay them a little, which is why they're servants not slaves.

But gosh, that sounds horrible.

Faheem Mitha

Random link - cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/08/…

tchrist

I don't know that anybody has servants unless you're the 18th century nobility.

Faheem Mitha

@tchrist It is.

@tchrist They do in India.

And here's Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt_bondage_in_India

tchrist

12:31 PM

I don't think we consider people who mow our lawn or shovel our snow or clean out our gutters or who come into our homes to clean them every few weeks to be “servants”. Servants sounds like a live-in and mostly a slave.

@FaheemMitha my God

Faheem Mitha

While I'm no expert, one problem in India is that the legal system doesn't function probably here. Unfortunately, judges are also Indians - and lawyers.

@tchrist Not necessarily live-in. But live-in is quite common.

tchrist

Ok, this is "indentured servitude".

That's illegal.

Faheem Mitha

Often they sleep in the kitchen, or something like that.

tchrist

Or is supposed to be.

Yes, slaves.

Faheem Mitha

@tchrist Lots of illegal things happen in India.

tchrist

12:33 PM

Indentured servitude

An indentured servant or indentured laborer is an employee (indenturee) within a system of unfree labor who is bound by a signed or forced contract (indenture) to work for a particular employer for a fixed time. The contract often lets the employer sell the labor of an indenturee to a third party. Indenturees usually enter into an indenture for a specific payment or other benefit, or to meet a legal obligation, such as debt bondage. On completion of the contract, indentured servants were given their freedom, and occasionally plots of land. In many countries, systems of indentured labor have now...

Faheem Mitha

I'm not very familiar with the kinds of people that become judges in India, but they often say and do wacky things.

@tchrist Yes, that. It's quite common in India.

tchrist

Indian indenture system

The Indian indenture system was a system of indenture, a form of debt bondage, by which 3.5 million Indians were transported to various colonies of European powers to provide labour for the (mainly sugar) plantations. It started from the end of slavery in 1833 and continued until 1920. This resulted in the development of large Indian diaspora, which spread from the Indian Ocean (i.e. Réunion and Mauritius) to Pacific Ocean (i.e. Fiji), as well as the growth of Indo-Caribbean and Indo-African population. == First indenture == The British wanted Indians to work in Natal as workers. But the Indians...

Faheem Mitha

@tchrist That was a European thing.

tchrist

Why do we still do business with slaver countries?

needs more dragons

M.A.R.

@FaheemMitha Ayep. That's what the statistics say

Faheem Mitha

12:35 PM

@M.A.R. What statistics?

M.A.R.

Colorful diagrams of horrible things

@FaheemMitha Sexual harassment stats you see here and there

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R. ok. Like I said, partly a cultural thing. Partly it's also that India is a very repressed place.

But when you try to repress something, it then shows up in unhealthy ways.

tchrist

Power corrupts.

Slaves, sex trafficking, sexual tit-for-tat

Corruption

> Farmers taking small loans can find themselves paying interest on the loans is that exceeds 100% of the loan per year.

How can this not be illegal??

Interest rates are supposed to be locked to a maximum by the government so as to prevent gross human rights violations like this.

> States protect their citizens from usurious payday lending by prohibiting the product or by setting rate caps or usury limits. Georgia prohibits payday loans under racketeering laws. New York and New Jersey prohibit payday lending through criminal usury statutes, limiting loans to 25 percent and 30 percent annual interest, respectively. Arkansas’s state constitution caps loan rates at 17 percent annual interest.

Do you have sharecropping too? :(

M.A.R.

@tchrist Um, wow

tchrist

> [Sharecropping] can have more than a passing similarity to serfdom or indenture, particularly where associated with large debts at a plantation store that effectively tie down the workers and their family to the land. It has therefore been seen as an issue of land reform in contexts such as the Mexican Revolution.

M.A.R.

12:47 PM

I thought we were the biggest poor devils in the universe

Hugging corrupted Iranian officials

tchrist

Let's kill all the lawyers

"Let's kill all the lawyers" is a line from William Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 2, Act IV, Scene 2. The full quote is "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers". It is among Shakespeare's most famous lines, as well as one of his most controversial, and has been used as the title of movies and books. Shakespeare may be making a joke when character "Dick The Butcher" suggests one of the ways the band of pretenders to the throne can improve the country is to kill all the lawyers. Dick is a rough character, a killer as evil as his name implies, like the other henchmen, and this is his rough...

2

@M.A.R. Sure that's not sexual harassment? :)

Gigili

@M.A.R. What is funny about that?

M.A.R.

@Gigili Nothing

You don't appreciate what you have, or don't have, unless you have/unhave it

tchrist

@Gigili In English, salty means coarse language often of a sexual or defamatory nature. But in Spanish it can mean funny/amusing.

M.A.R.

@tchrist Spanish? Nice

tchrist

12:54 PM

dle.rae.es/?id=X10c5KN sense 3 is "Gracioso, agudo o chistoso."

Computer programmers in India make only 10% the U.S. rate for programmers.

Gigili

@tchrist Yes, It can mean funny/amusing in Persian as well. But that doesn't sound funny to me.

tchrist

@Gigili Chistoso means funny.

M.A.R.

@Gigili Its meaning funny is not funny in itself, its contradiction with the English interpretation is

When I was new to this whole Englishing thing, I kept misusing it

And I got weird looks

Gigili

@tchrist I think it has to do something with the function of salt in food

tchrist

@Gigili "Having salt" is of course the direct sense, but there are many others.

Gigili

1:02 PM

It enhances other flavors and whatnot

M.A.R.

What is that thing called when you used to have the opportunity to try something but you didn't, and you're prohibited in some way right now and you want to try it?

I tend to eat food with little salt, but now that I can't consume much salt, I want to

Maybe because I think about it more often and the fact that I'm prohibited

Gigili

@Robusto I just finished listening to the entire podcast "bodyguards of lies"

stares blankly into distance

Faheem Mitha

@tchrist Enforcement isn't terribly good in India.

tchrist

@FaheemMitha Just give all the girls lethal laser vision.

And the problem will take care of itself.

Oh that's a different problem.

Faheem Mitha

Part of this is certainly cultural. Once upon a time South Korea wasn't in much better shape than India. In some ways perhaps worse.

tchrist

1:15 PM

When "cultural" includes a history of abusing other human beings, it should not be tolerated.

Faheem Mitha

But they are doing better than India now. And there are South American countries with a non-dissimilar history. They are also doing better.

@tchrist I'm using culture in a very broad sense. The concept of public ownership (for lack of a better term) doesn't exist as a robust concept in India.

tchrist

@FaheemMitha "Public ownership" like in national parks, or something else?

Faheem Mitha

Indians don't think of themselves as part of a larger whole. There is little spirit of community.

@tchrist Well, like roads and gardens, for example.

It's all "devil take the hindmost" thinking.

Though people here can be quite kind and compassionate, taken individually.

There was an article in the Economist, which started with someone's servant throwing dirty dishwater just outside the door. That sort of thing is typical here, though not necessarily literally in that form.

tchrist

Do you have little neighborhood parks for kids to play in?

Faheem Mitha

@tchrist A few of them. Not a lot.

It's worse than London, for example.

tchrist

1:20 PM

Those are a thing I think of as public spaces for the public good.

@FaheemMitha Dumping one's own garbage in the public street is just awful.

M.A.R.

Let's lighten up the mood a bit

The Great Dictator - Grenade Scene

►

Just happened to link it in another chat

Faheem Mitha

@tchrist Yes, public parks are nice.

Public libraries are also good. Also something there is not much of here.

On of the civilized things about the US is that they have public library systems.

I'm fuzzy on who pays for them, though.

And there are also university library systems. Which often offer quite civilized borrowing rights to the community.

Libraries here are mostly private/charitable and struggle along. There is also a British Council library.

Feeds

1

Q: Looking for a verb that describes the movement of a breeze

I am looking for a word that descibes how a breeze travells over a beach. It it was a wind, it could be blowing over the beach, past the rocks and gras, but blowing seems too fast for a breeze. My Intention is to convey a sense of movement, but more gentle and less directional then "blowing". C...

single-word-requests word-choice verbs synonyms vocabulary

tchrist

@FaheemMitha It depends. statelibraryofiowa.org/ld/k-p/new-lib-dir-man/money/…

Faheem Mitha

Some libraries are owned by cities too, I think. And there are also state-wide systems. For example the town of Chapel Hill has quite a big library for its size.

Proverbially the busiest library in NC.

tchrist

1:28 PM

> There are five fundamental characteristics shared by public libraries. The first is that they are generally supported by taxes (usually local, though any level of government can and may contribute); they are governed by a board to serve the public interest; they are open to all, and every community member can access the collection; they are entirely voluntary in that no one is ever forced to use the services provided; and they provide basic services without charge.

Faheem Mitha

And they did a major renovation some years ago, too. I think they did it with a bond.

tchrist

@FaheemMitha That's quite common.

Faheem Mitha

@tchrist Why would anyone be forced to use the services?

@tchrist What is? Bonds?

tchrist

@FaheemMitha Yes, using municipal bonds for public works.

@FaheemMitha That caught my eye as well. I don't know what they mean.

Faheem Mitha

@tchrist Yes, I see.

I don't know how a municipal bond would work, though.

@tchrist Are you in Iowa, then? Your profile says CO.

tchrist

1:31 PM

@FaheemMitha No, I just found the quickest link.

Faheem Mitha

@tchrist Ah

tchrist

@FaheemMitha denverpost.com/2016/04/15/…

> Municipal bonds are issued by states and local governments to raise money to build the school down the street or expand the local sewer system. In exchange for funding projects meant to be good for the community, investors generally do not have to pay federal income taxes on the interest payments they receive. In some cases, they’re also exempt from state and local taxes.

Faheem Mitha

Reviews of the CH Public Library on Yelp - yelp.com/biz/chapel-hill-public-library-chapel-hill-2

It's true that it can be noisy. It's been many years since I was there, unfortunately. But I remember people used to sit and chat in the reading areas. It was quite annoying.

The librarians are nice too.

Reading those reviews is making me homesick.

Well, dinner time. Later, folks.

Lawrence

2:18 PM

@FaheemMitha You're welcome. And yes, people do pay attention to things like punctuation, especially when there's a desire for whatever's said to match whatever's heard. I'd imagine that much of it comes quite naturally when working with one's native language, whichever language that may be, though revision-editing is just about an art form in itself.

Faheem Mitha

2:31 PM

@Lawrence In my experience, good prose style, or even middling prose style, is a dying art form.

tchrist

2:46 PM

@FaheemMitha There's more to being a gifted writer than having been taught how to read and write.

Faheem Mitha

@tchrist Of course. But being able to read and write helps.

Lawrence

@FaheemMitha The fast-growing dialect(s) spawned by mobile phone messaging might have something to do with that. Good prose style often includes several rounds of review and rephrasing, something quite foreign to the no-editing nature of messaging.

Mitch

3:01 PM

@FaheemMitha haha me too, but it seems like everybody does it nowadays, I don't see 'all right' anywhere. like the 'misspelling' 'woah' for 'whoa', it's such informal language that it doesn't really matter.

tchrist

@Mitch hha me 2 bt it smz lk evrybdy dz it nwdyz I dnt C al rt anywhr. lk th msplng wh 4 whoa its sch nfrml lngj tht it dznt rly mtr

Faheem Mitha

3:22 PM

@tchrist That's horrifying. Fortunately, I don't think any actual human beings write like that.

CowperKettle

I'm translating a warehouse specification. "The maximal dimensions a storage item can/may have are L1200*W1000*H1700 mm." (I think it should be may but I'm unsure)

tchrist

It means the same thing here, mostly.

And what the difference there is, is likely to be lost on most readers.

CowperKettle

Ah. Okay, thank you.

Cerberus

That sounds a little bit pleonastic?

tchrist

Yes.

Cerberus

3:24 PM

Why not, the maximum dimensions of a storage item are x?

tchrist

> The maximal dimensions of a storage item are L1200 × W1000 × H1700 mm.

CowperKettle

A bit wordy, but I don't see how it is pleonastic. I'll reword, thank you for the suggestion!

tchrist

I'm not sure that L/W/H prefix strategy is common in English.

One figures it out, of course.

A storage item's maximum allowed dimensions are ...

CowperKettle

Maybe it's not common but I think it's clear. But of course I've got no idea what the standard strategy in English is.

tchrist

@CowperKettle I should look at a post office sign.

Faheem Mitha

3:27 PM

@Cerberus One might argue that "a little bit pleonastic" is itself pleonastic. :-)

tchrist

Do we actually care which is which here, or is that merely convention?

CowperKettle

Post office sign?

tchrist

They have signs about boxes and allowable dimensions, or actual ones.

usps.com/ship/priority-mail.htm

CowperKettle

nods

Cerberus

@FaheemMitha Quite so!

And pleonasm can be a figure of speech.

Mitch

3:42 PM

@M.A.R. 'salty' literally means having a taste of salt. But in English there is a very nonliteral meaning. 'Salty talk' is 'talking like a sailor' or using lots of rude language and profanity. Probably not what non-literal salty is in Persian

@FaheemMitha or the fashions of prose style are just changing. No one writes like Jane Austen anymore, but that doesn't mean the style is bad now.

Also, more people are writing now and maybe it is just these lots of new people that are writing are not writing in a style that you care for.

OK, also, twitter.

and FB

and emojis.

and chatrooms.

chatrooms are the worst

what with their no periods

and intertwined conversations

and appeal to ignorance

meaning people people appeal to each other's ignorance.

"You're ignorant? Excellent!"

CowperKettle

If a storage room in a warehouse sustains temperatures defined as "medium-range", can one call it "Medium-range temperature-controlled storage room", I wonder. I'm translating from Russian, and in Russian the name of the room is "Medium-temperature temperature-controlled storage room", but that looks weird in English, with two "temperatures" back to back

tchrist

Not sure how else one would say that; seems clear enough.

CowperKettle

Thank you!

@M.A.R. Married life?

tchrist

3:57 PM

heh

CowperKettle

It Takes A Married Man To Sing A Worried Song - Woody Guthrie

►

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…