English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

@RegDwigнt Nice. Taking him one step further, I think Stravinsky was one of the three top masters of orchestration, maybe even the best. The others were Richard Strauss and, of course, Maurice Ravel. I give Igor top marks because his orchestrations were always surprising and a tad outré yet totally apt. Accented (what's the musical direction for spitzig in English? I can't think of it just now) flute half notes doubled by pizzicato cellos? Brilliant.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt Holst would need to prove himself with more than one piece the average person could name.

RegDwigнt

10:10 PM

@Robusto well that's why it's DEUTSCHsüdwestafrika!

@Robusto I knew you would say that.

He did take his time to make the point.

But still, I would probably need like ten times that time to make a point not even remotely as impressive.

Robusto

Now, I could have said Mahler, perhaps, or Bartok. But the real geniuses were the ones I named.

RegDwigнt

Not to mention the average person.

Bartok invented heavy metal and then retired.

Robusto

No, you're thinking of Bar Talk.

RegDwigнt

Mahler I dunno.

I've been to some concerts.

Can't remember a single tone from the Earth Symphony.

I can from Wozzeck, say.

Robusto

Gustavo Dudamel / SBSOV Mahler: Symphony No. 2 Mov III

►

Good orchestration in this.

But not surprising.

Just a yeoman job.

RegDwigнt

10:13 PM

Yeah I get what you're saying. But then again I have to say this.

Robusto

Prokofiev was no slouch, either.

RegDwigнt

Last week on Facebook someone on one of the piano groups I'm in posted their first piano piece. All dissonant and stuff. And asked for feedback.

Robusto

And you said, "That piece is the feedback!"

RegDwigнt

And I was like, dude. You have to earn it. In order to be surprising, gotta show me that you can be not-surprising first.

Robusto

/win

RegDwigнt

10:14 PM

Write me a KV 545 in C major. Then you can proceed to write Alban Berg.

@Robusto I was less merciful actually. I referenced this.

Hape Kerkeling - Hurz - Uraufführung vor Puplikum

►

Only need to listen to the first 42 seconds.

Because that was exactly what the piece sounded like.

Needless to say, he didn't even play it. Was MIDI.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt Heh. Fail.

RegDwigнt

So anyway my point is, Stravinski and Shostakovich and Ravel and even Glass, you know for a face they all could write Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Indeed they did before they got bored and decided to push their respective envelopes.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt I think Messiaen was one of the only composers who could pull that stuff off. And he did it by creating his own ideas of harmony and tonality. He didn't just grab a tone row off the rack.

RegDwigнt

So they first proved to you that they knew what they were doing, you could see that every note was there for a reason. And so when they came up with some weird bullshit, you knew for a fact it wasn't them it was you. Every note still was there for a reason, even if you didn't get it. So the onus was on you to now try and understand it, rather than on them to try and explain.

But these guys on Facebook, you have no idea if they just let a cat walk over their keyboard. More to the point, neither do they.

I could take the score and play every other note wrong, and you wouldn't notice.

You couldn't.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt In fact, there are plenty who would think, "Damn, I wished I'd have thought of a cat walking on the keyboard!"

RegDwigнt

10:25 PM

Nov 20 at 20:10, by RegDwigнt

Chicken Plays Operatic Aria on Piano Keyboard

►

Robusto

Piece of modern music plus make the front page on imgur.

RegDwigнt

You were there to see it the first time. Just referencing.

@Robusto imgur won't even load on my machine. Went the way of the Firefox.

Started off as the best alternative to all the horrible bloat, ended as the worst horrible bloat itself.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt Well, where the hell do you get your cat gifs and dank memes from then?

RegDwigнt

I've seen all of the Internet. All of it.

I don't need to see no more, I just reference things now.

0

Q: How do you call food that shreds a lot of crumbs?

Food that shreds many tiny particles when you bite it. For example, cookies or bread toast.

food

I dunno, I have fifty words in mind. Which of them do you want.

Also, "how do you call".

Pineapple alarm.

Robusto

Probably the biggest single indicator.

RegDwigнt

10:29 PM

Really they should be asking the question "how do you call how in English".

Should be the single most popular question ever.

Alas, they never do.

Nobody wants the free rep.

Robusto

Shouldn't it be "Who or whom do you call how in English?"

And the answer is howm.

With comments about prescriptivism that get a few upvotes.

RegDwigнt

Well when you call me, you can call me Al.

Which funnily enough you actually can.

Robusto

Al X.

Will Hunting

I can call you AI? Aye.

RegDwigнt

@Robusto LX, actually. Is what an old friend of mine coined 20 years ago.

Maybe 25.

Robusto

10:36 PM

What, you're 60 now?

RegDwigнt

No, only you are that old. Nobody else can be that old.

Will Hunting

People live to 120 these days, so 60 is still young.

60 is when you get the midlife crisis now.

Robusto

0

Q: How pseudoantonyms or false antonyms in the English language can be justified?

Pseudoantonyms give the misleading impression that they have opposite meanings because of the prefixes. Are not these misleading for the non native English speakers and learners? How can we justify them?

antonyms dictionaries

RegDwigнt

@WillHunting I don't think you can call it a life if all they do is watch YouTube.

Robusto

And you think we have it bad on ELU.

RegDwigнt

10:38 PM

I am curious, can you name a language where these things don't exist? — ЯegDwight 7 secs ago

Bait and switch.

Will Hunting

I finally finished watching Star Wars 1--8. 9 will be released next year.

RegDwigнt

I finally finished watching Star Wars 15 years ago. Catch up.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt I thought mods were supposed to be nice to New Cons.

RegDwigнt

@Robusto I'm not a mod on ELL.

Or am I? Don't scare me like that.

Will Hunting

Luke Skywalker acted comically in a few scenes in 8. I was not expecting that.

RegDwigнt

10:40 PM

Everyone was acting comically in that one. That's why it sucked.

Will Hunting

Yeah, I think it is the most comical one in the series.

Robusto

People who fuss over the Star Wars universe ought to find something better to do.

RegDwigнt

People who fuss over the Star Wars universe are not aware there's better things to do.

Will Hunting

Yeah, I am not exactly a fan of Star Wars either, but it is OK.

RegDwigнt

No it is not.

Next topic.

@Robusto also there's nothing unnice about that comment, actually.

Robusto

10:43 PM

Also, Star Wars combat is really, really imprecise. I don't think any of those people ever hit anything with those blasters. Just a lot of lights going every which way: pew pew pew.

@RegDwigнt TPTB might differ with you.

Will Hunting

I like how Snoke, the big evil guy, was split into two parts in 8.

RegDwigнt

If they had actual light sabers the movies would be like one minute long.

@Robusto they might differ with me anyway. And I don't mind. That's my way to approaching zen.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt They really want to welcome the unwashed, the illiterate, the vacant-eyed tree sloths of trailer parks everywhere.

Will Hunting

Yeah, I am making some light sabres in my basement now. Currently I have Light 1, Light 3, and Light 5.

RegDwigнt

@Robusto SE is the Lady Liberty of the Interwebs.

Will Hunting

10:45 PM

Did you know that the faeces of a wombat is cube-shaped?

Recently scientists discovered that is due to their special intestines.

RegDwigнt

Yes that video was in my YouTube suggestions as well.

Robusto

No, but if you hum a few bars I think @Reg can fake it.

Will Hunting

And they published the finding in a journal on fluid dynamics.

RegDwigнt

Remember that YouTube suggestions are the same for everyone now.

@WillHunting fluids are not cube-shaped.

Robusto

The only thing worse than wombat shit as a topic of conversation is Star Wars.

RegDwigнt

10:47 PM

I am on the fence on that one.

Will Hunting

I think I was inspired to mention wombat because I saw the word combat, lol.

RegDwigнt

I think Episode 2 was better than people give wombat shit credit for.

Robusto

That passes for inspiration with you, eh?

RegDwigнt

Limitations foster creativity.

Robusto

You mean treaclivity.

RegDwigнt

10:48 PM

I will write a fugue on the word wombat right now.

It will be very short because I can't find the W on any of my instruments.

Robusto

But you can't use b or a.

RegDwigнt

No worries, these I can't find on any instrument anyway.

Robusto

Using wombat in a sentence for ELL: John said to Mary, "Where is your womb at?"

RegDwigнt

That is too sophisticated even for ELU.

You are not being very welcoming to the unwashed, the illiterate, the vacant-eyed tree sloths.

Robusto

Then you can lick my wombbat.

RegDwigнt

10:50 PM

Better.

Robusto

0

Q: Old English vs Modern English

What is the main difference between old English and the English we use nowadays? Why did this transformation happen?

grammar british-english early-modern-english old-english

While you've been fucking around in here ...

RegDwigнt

What the

The main difference is everything. The why is because what do you mean, why.

Robusto

Lessee, the main difference is that it's an entirely different language that hardly looks or sounds like what we speak today.

Jinx

RegDwigнt

I'm not even bothering with typing jinx anymore, just add the can to the pile.

Zen. Remember.

Will Hunting

I didn't know about jinx until I came to this chat.

Robusto

10:53 PM

@RegDwigнt I'm retired. I don't have to remember shit.

RegDwigнt

@Robusto then how about you remember all the other things that are not shit.

Believe it or not, these exist.

Robusto

The jury is still out on that.

RegDwigнt

@WillHunting same here. Learned it from Martha.

Then found out it was on Seinfeld all along.

Will Hunting

I think she no longer comes here.

But I did watch a few episodes of The Martha Show.

RegDwigнt

@Robusto these slackers are always out, how about we find us some other reference.

Robusto

10:55 PM

We have to wait till they come back in to fire them.

RegDwigнt

That's loser talk.

That is not how the US works.

That is very Unamerican.

I can see the jury from my porch.

Now fire.

Robusto

Get Trump to fire them.

Will Hunting

I did watch a few episodes of The Apprentice too.

Time to sleep, kthxbai.

RegDwigнt

It's funny isn't it. Palin would lie about seeing Russia from her house just as well as Trump would lie about, well, everything ever. And yet she didn't get elected. It really is about gender, isn't it.

Robusto

Well ...

RegDwigнt

11:02 PM

1

Q: Does "I like my new car" express a permanent or temporary state?

We all know that Simple Present is normally used for "more permanent state" & Present Continuous for "more temporary state" (Source) She lives with her parents. We use the present simple to talk about permanent facts and general truths. In this example we don’t expect the situation to...

word-usage tenses present-tense present-progressive stative-verbs

Robusto

Ask Hillary Clinton.

RegDwigнt

"New" is not a permanent state. "Car" is not a permanent state.

So what is your question, really.

You are not a permanent state.

100 years from now you won't be liking any cars at all.

I need some videos of Prokofiev or something.

Robusto

What is this, Spanish? Wanting to know whether to use ser or estar?

RegDwigнt

Maybe Skryabin.

Sorry, misspelled him as a hash first try. A common typo.

Robusto

Corned beef # is tasty.

RegDwigнt

11:05 PM

Why is the top google entry on Skryabin not Skryabin.

Why are all Skryabin videos on YouTube about some other shit.

What is happening.

Robusto

Scriabin?

RegDwigнt

Skryabin (band)

Skryabin (Ukrainian: Скрябін, also transliterated as Scriabin or Skriabin) is a famous Ukrainian rock, pop band formed in 1989 in Novoyarivsk, Ukraine. Prominent Ukrainian musician Andriy "Kuzma" Kuzmenko (Ukrainian: Андрій Кузьменко) was the band's lead singer until his death in 2015.During its existence Skryabin has gone from synthpop to rock and pop music. As it progressed, the band's style has been divided into "classic Skryabin" and "new Skryabin". This transition took place between 2000-2003. One of the group's 2005 songs, Lyudy Yak Korabli (People like ships - Ukrainian: Люди Як Кораблі...

"Is a famous" No it is not.

Give me Prometheus or give me death.

yesterday, by RegDwigнt

The Internet fails me today.

Robusto

Searching on Scriabin

RegDwigнt

Thank you. That is death. Froze my PC for 33 seconds.

Robusto

What kind of Windows XP box are you running?

RegDwigнt

11:08 PM

What are these people even loading in the background. The entire Internet?

@Robusto the worst kind. Name's Vista.

Robusto

Ooof.

RegDwigнt

You knew that. I only mention it fifty times every day.

That is too much shit even for you to not read.

2 hours ago, by RegDwigнt

Will it run on my 32-bit Vista, tho...

Jul 6 at 1:27, by RegDwigнt

@Robusto when I bought it there was no 7 you silly you. I was considering between Vista and XP, actually. So by the time 7 rolled out the update was useless to me because this machine can't even run a toaster. It has like 2MB RAM.

Aug 20 '14 at 21:19, by RegDwigнt

I watched Buena Vista Social Club a couple days ago, and was horrified how little I understood.

Apparently I wasn't lying. Can't remember a single word from that movie.

But it was good, that I remember.

Scriabin: Sonata No.2 in G-sharp Minor (Trifonov, Melnikov, Pogorelich)

►

Well this doesn't sound too shabby.

Robusto

Hmm.

RegDwigнt

> The section in E major represents the tender moonlight which comes after the first dark of the night. The second movement, presto, shows the stormy agitation of the vast expanse of ocean.

Oh so this is the Moonlight sonata.

Robusto

And it only took him five years to write.

RegDwigнt

11:19 PM

@Robusto wait for it. The first two pages are like wtf but then it's gorgeous.

Robusto

Imagine what he could have done in the daylight.

RegDwigнt

@Robusto it very much sounds like it did.

Robusto

> Coincidentally, the first time I listened to this piece was while I was playing Minecraft. I happened to be on a shore at night, then to travel across a vast ocean. I had no idea at the time that this piece was programmatic. So, naturally, while the piece certainly invokes the image Scriabin wanted... mine just happens to be a bit more... well....blocky. Haha

RegDwigнt

Though frankly I can see how you can write it in five years, but I can't see how you can play it in ten.

Robusto

Thank you for your input, sir.

RegDwigнt

11:21 PM

Yeah read that one as well.

Kudos to him tho, not every Minecraft player listens to Scriabin.

Scriabin retaliated by not playing Minecraft, mind.

Robusto

A childish response, to be sure.

RegDwigнt

Well Scriabin is just Nancarrow without the punch cards, so what did you expect.

Robusto

Whoosh.

RegDwigнt

I don't get the whoosh.

Anyway no, this music doesn't evoke moonlight or the ocean. It evokes the moonlight or the ocean about as well as the Star-Spangled Banner does.

People should stop trying to sell me music on images.

To this day I can't tell Vivaldi's four seasons apart.

You play me summer, I can totally see how it is winter or fall, until you tell me it's supposed to be summer.

Robusto

Whoosh = "Nancarrow without the punch cards" ... (hadn't heard of Nancarrow till I googled him just now).

RegDwigнt

11:28 PM

Ah that I figured, that you might be whooshing yourself rather than me.

But I didn't want to be impolite.

Yeah anyway Nancarrow was that guy with the impossible rhythms.

Robusto

I thought that was Elvin Jones ...

RegDwigнt

Basically he invented MIDI before MIDI was a thing. And it sounded about as good, too.

Robusto

Player piano rolls.

RegDwigнt

How to play Nancarrow's impossible rhythms (with humans not machines)

►

There there's our Bruce composer guy again.

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt Yes, it should mean "being in the middle".

> the note halfway between the tonic and the dominant

RegDwigнt

11:29 PM

Conlon Nancarrow's Impossible Piano

►

Also 12tone.

Cerberus

Does that not make sense?

I know nothing about musical theory nor terminology.

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus no.

> is the third scale degree of a diatonic scale

The diatonic scale has 7 notes, not 5.

Sometimes 8.

Sometimes 12 or whatever.

It can have 5 if it's a pentatonic scale.

But then it has no mediants.

Cerberus

I have no idea.

RegDwigнt

I'm noticing. :-P

Cerberus

That's where Latin ends and musicology begins.

RegDwigнt

11:31 PM

Anyway I'm just making fun of things as per usual. Don't take it literally. Doubly not if you're not into the subject matter.

I love mediants.

Cerberus

I'm shocked.

RegDwigнt

You can actually look it up, Elton John uses them a lot.

Cerberus

I barely know who that is.

RegDwigнt

It's me, silly.

Cerberus

Okay, I know who he is. But do I care?

RegDwigнt

11:32 PM

Sir Reginald Kenneth Dwight, Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Or Elton John for short.

Cerberus

Then my advice to you would be, get different glasses.

I see.

> Member for 7 years, 11 months

RegDwigнt

Elton John

Elton Hercules John, geboren als Reginald Kenneth Dwight (Pinner, Middlesex, 25 maart 1947), is een Engelse popzanger, componist en pianist. Bij leven werden er van hem meer dan 300 miljoen opnamen verkocht. Hiermee is hij een der bestverkochte artiesten aller tijden. Van de heruitgave uit 1997 van de single Candle in the Wind (origineel uit 1973), gemaakt naar aanleiding van het overlijden van de Britse prinses Diana, werden meer dan 33 miljoen exemplaren verkocht. Van zijn singles belandden er 56 in de Amerikaanse top veertig, zestien in de top tien, vier op de tweede plaats en negen op de eerste...

Cerberus

@Robusto I'll catch up soon!

Oh.

Are you a fan?

Robusto

@Cerberus We will hold a suitable party when you do.

Cerberus

I didn't know he had died.

RegDwigнt

11:34 PM

That's because I haven't.

Cerberus

Or, no, it doesn't give a date of death.

RegDwigнt

I'm touring North America right now.

Will continue next year.

Follow me on Instagram.

Cerberus

@Robusto That sounds...ominous.

I don't "follow" people.

Robusto

@Cerberus Relax, I didn't mean the Republican Party.

RegDwigнt

People don't follow you either.

Like literally any thing you say, I'm not following.

Cerberus

11:35 PM

@Robusto It would be nice if you could hold them, though. Preferably in a small bottle. Like a bonsai kitten.

Robusto

Well, sure.

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt Oh, why do you always segue into non sequiturs.

Robusto

Everybody would like a bonsai kitten.

Note the s is not a z ...

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus because seguing into not-non-sequiturs is easy.

I leave that to hoi polloi.

Robusto

jisho.org/search/bonsai

Cerberus

11:36 PM

@RegDwigнt Better!

RegDwigнt

@Robusto あれは誰だ

Mitch

@Robusto fits well on crackers

Cerberus

RegDwigнt

Oh Uncle Cracker is for Cerberus alright.

Uncle Kracker - Follow Me [Official Video]

►

Robusto

Hoi pollio ... didn't that get made into a Mexican TV series? ¡Hola, pollo!

RegDwigнt

11:38 PM

Полиомиелит

Полиомиели́т (от др.-греч. πολιός — серый и µυελός — спинной мозг) — детский спинномозговой паралич, острое, высококонтагиозное инфекционное заболевание, обусловленное поражением серого вещества спинного мозга полиовирусом и характеризующееся преимущественно патологией нервной системы. В основном протекает в бессимптомной или стёртой форме. Иногда случается так, что полиовирус проникает в ЦНС, размножается в мотонейронах, что приводит к их гибели, необратимым парезам или параличам иннервируемых ими мышц. == История == Есть основания предполагать о наличии полиомиелита уже в Древнем Египте и Древней…

Doesn't look Mexican to me.

To Trump maybe.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt 日本語字引だ。

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt Oh, I remember!

Upsilon is translitterated as и: is that because of French?

RegDwigнt

@Robusto 本当にありがとうございました。

Robusto

@RegDwigнt Wow, that is truly awful. Why did you foist that on chat?

Mitch

@Robusto no, it's a Yiddish Spanish dish

RegDwigнt

11:41 PM

@Robusto so Cerberus can finally follow someone.

Take it up with the dog.

Mitch

Oy pollo

RegDwigнt

Also it topped the charts in 50 countries. I bet also in the US.

It was very popular.

Cerberus

I was probably like 18 or so.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt ええええ。。。。。まあああああああ。。。。。なんとか

Cerberus

Follow Me (Uncle Kracker song)

"Follow Me" is the debut single by Uncle Kracker, released in 2001 from his debut album Double Wide (2000). == Meaning == Some of the song's lyrics can be interpreted as referencing drugs and/or extramarital sex. Since the song's debut these points have been widely disputed amongst Internet users and listeners alike, and mixed views abound. These elements have been affirmed by Uncle Kracker himself, where in a 2007 interview with MTV News where he stated, in reference to the meaning of the song: "It takes on a couple of different meanings. I've heard some people think that I'm talking about drugs...

That is exactly two days after I had turned 18!

Mitch

11:42 PM

That's racist

Cerberus

NOU

RegDwigнt