English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

12:55 AM

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Q: What is the English word for "someone who started a new work/job/etc but has a long way in front "?

I need a word for this definition: "Someone who started a new work/job/etc but has a long way in front." Do yo know any word?

Ender Look

@Cerberus Thanks you!

Cerberus

@EnderLook Good luck!

By the way, the proper phrase is thank you.

Ender Look

@Cerberus Without the s of thanks??

Cerberus

@EnderLook Yes.

I believe it is short for [I] thank you.

dictionary.com/browse/thank--you

Ender Look

1:39 AM

@Cerberus Oh, I can't believe it. I always thought it was with s... how much things I've written bad!

Cerberus

@EnderLook There is the informal expression thanks, with which you were possibly confused.

Ender Look

Oh. I thought it was: thanks (normal), thanks you (more grateful) like saying very thanks.

Cerberus

2:00 AM

Ah, nope.

If you want to emphasise your gratitude, you can say thank you very much.

Ender Look

2:21 AM

Ok, thank you very much ;)

Cerberus

2:32 AM

Yay!

SmokeDetector

3:54 AM

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] URL in title, bad NS for domain in body, bad NS for domain in title, bad keyword in body, bad keyword in title, +4 more: testosteronesboosterweb.com/climadex/ by sintroen on english.SE

SmokeDetector

4:34 AM

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad NS for domain in body, bad keyword in body, blacklisted website in body, pattern-matching product name in body, pattern-matching website in body: Healthy Retirement - Really Beverages by lolipopkp on english.SE

SmokeDetector

7:57 AM

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] URL in title, bad keyword in body, bad keyword in title, blacklisted website in body, blacklisted website in title, +3 more: healthonlinereviews.com/total-tone-turmeric-slim/ by user303728 on english.SE

Færd

5:07 PM

Saluton.

Cerberus

5:54 PM

Quoi?

Færd

It's Esperanto for hello. :)

@Cerberus I think that's clear in its generality.

At the time I was thinking about the far-reaching influence that corrupt money could have over a government's approach to foreign policy.

Cerberus

Ahh.

@Færd I think most people in the West do care about the freedom of people in other contries.

I've never met anybody who wouldn't.

Færd

I didn't accuse the people. I wouldn't do that.

Cerberus

The question is, to what extent does one act on it?; not whether one is truly concerned for their welfare and over their lack of freedom.

Færd

And to what extent one finds oneself influential.

Cerberus

6:00 PM

Yes.

Færd

If you think your acts have no effect, you don't do anything.

Electoral participation rates could be a good measure of that.

I think many of those who don't vote consider themselves effectively disenfranchised.

It's not like they don't care; they just don't think they could bring about meaningful change.

And gradually they slide down a spiral of apathy.

Cerberus

That is a substantial factor, yes.

Færd

.

So vorzüglich literally means beyond comparison, right? Or unparalleled.

Detecting linguistic parallels between French and English is proving far easier for me than between German and English.

The time I spend on French is more rewarding. German hasn't let its guard down yet.

Not that I spend that much time on either.

Cerberus

@Færd Ziehen = to pull, draw, even stretch I think.

Vor = before, front.

So it means pulling something to the front, to prominence.

That's how I would interpret it.

It is true that German uses many roots that English uses very little or not at all.

Færd

6:26 PM

@Cerberus Thanks.

Right. We've already got vorziehen. I ignorantly thought it was from vor+zu+gleichen.

Cerberus

6:42 PM

Ahh nope.

Mitch

@Færd Or worse, you do anything at all.

Also...

0

Q: Is the word 'the' unnecessary in the English language?

Measuring the frequency of words in almost every English book or document (which is long enough) ends up ranking the word 'the' as the most used word. Is there any solid function the word 'the' plays in context of a sentence other than making the sentence "sound right"? For example, let me strip...

grammatical-structure language-evolution language-formation

Vote to reopen!!

@Cerberus Or they are used but in rarer words displaced by romance ones.

Wait... what about between Dutch and German? Don't you find German vocab a lot easier to handle than English?

Cerberus

@Mitch Sometimes, but not usually.

German does weird things with the same roots.

Whereas English and Latin reinforce themselves.

And I know the Latin words whose roots English uses.

Feeds

7:19 PM

0

Q: A term meaning "container made of food"?

What's a concise, preferably one-word expression describing a container made of food? Examples: bread bowl mushrooms in the case of stuffed mushrooms bell peppers in the case of stuffed bell peppers

single-word-requests food

Færd

7:39 PM

@Mitch I like the radical 'tude, but the question neglects/negates points that are too obvious for it to suit ELU. Doncha think?

> Does "the" ever make any difference?

Feeds

7:58 PM

0

Q: How do I describe an unstable network of connected pieces?

I'm looking for a word or idiom which describes an unstable, may-break-at-any-time collection of related/connected items. For example, That framework's really fragile; it's just a _____. or Be careful what you change, or else the _____ will fall apart. I'm looking to use this is a so...

single-word-requests phrase-requests

Mitch

@Færd In that sense maybe it is more appropriate for linguistics.SE

@Cerberus a case of being too close but not equal making it too hard to understand when its slightly different? Lots of false friends (or cognates with just too much drift)?

@Færd maybe. I'm just supporting @RegDwigнt desire to see it not closed as mentioned in his comment.

It actually may very well be a duplicate, but the proposed duplicate is very tendentious whereas this one seem not to be so bad.

RegDwigнt

8:20 PM

@Mitch it's the perfect question for Kosmonaut or JSBangs or nohat.

It's stupid but legit, and can be turned into something amazing by means of a solid answer.

We've had stuff like this before. Questions that any native speaker would roll their eyes at, but an actual linguist would turn into the canonical resource on that subject.

Mitch

8:42 PM

@RegDwigнt and like you point out, the commenters all seem to not 'get it'.

Færd

9:09 PM

Have fun in the it-getters' club, but I think it's easy enough to turn any fundamental question into an amazing thread.

On a different note,

Rare Yosemite Falls Rainbow Time Lapse

►

If only I couldn't explain it! It would be so magical.

SmokeDetector

9:27 PM

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Few unique characters in answer: "We weren't all happy" — does that mean some of us or all of us? by trhis huy on english.SE

Cerberus

@Mitch No, that's not it.

It could be that the forms of the same root are often not recognisable.

Or that they use the same root with very different meanings.

Especially combined with prefixes, such as vor-.

I'm not even sure whether we use the same root as züg/zug/zog/zieg.

That is, I believe we have tuig/toog in Dutch that is cognate, but it is rare.

We have trek with a similar meaning, but I don't know whether it's related.

And any composite words with trek have very different meanings.

E.g. voortrekken means to ehh help someone to give him the upper hand, as a schoolmaster might do with certain pupils.

So it's entirely different from Faerd's example vorzüglich: without looking it up, I would not have been able to guess what it means, at least not out of context.

But I could tell what roots it was composed of.

False friends are not so common—that is, either they don't exist, or the meaning is similar enough that it helps rather than hinders us.

@RegDwigнt Agreed!

@Færd It's nice!

Is there some magical explanation other than that it's some kind of effect similar to normal rainbows but in a different position?

Educ

9:56 PM

how can replay to a friend of mine that she is going to give birth to a baby she told me that she is too tired I don't know how to say in English in this case; should I told her to recover soon but she is not sick she is tired and she is pergonnant but she is soon going to give birth a baby

Feeds

10:16 PM

0

Q: What do you call a problem that has been solved? I'm not looking for the word "solution"

I've found myself once again stuck in a mind block. It seems to me that we may or may not have a word for a problem that has been solved. A word in relation to the problem and/or the solution. Please help!

single-word-requests

Mitch

11:19 PM

@Cerberus No names!

well, maybe one or two more

But that's all!

Cerberus

All right.

Mitch

@Educ 'recover' works for after giving birth too. no, being pregnant is not sick but it does take a lot out of a woman.

Educ

so what should I say to her for tired and being pregnant

Mitch

@Cerberus reading that comment thread again, it's not terrible. it's just comments.

I was probably thinking of lots of other questions where people just say any old thing without knowing anything. but I'm not giving up names!

Except for that guy. You know who I'm talking about.

@Educ 'Congratulations! Your baby is so good looking!'

That's all I can think of.

Cerberus

11:41 PM

@Mitch Me?

MetaEd

@Educ You want to say "I hope you get well soon" but the problem for you is that she is not sick, she is tired. Perhaps you can say "I hope you feel better soon".

Cerberus

@Educ I hope you feel better soon?

MetaEd

@Cerberus You're so vain, I bet you think this post is about you.

Cerberus

Ugh, ninja'd.

@MetaEd Yes, and rightly so.

It isn't vanity when it's justified.

MetaEd

Carly Simon - You're So Vain

►

Cerberus

11:43 PM

NOU

Mitch

@Cerberus What? Were you in there?

Anyway, yay! reopened!

Cerberus

I don't know!

I've long forgotten what all this was about.

Mitch

@MetaEd well, you've mentioned 'you' a couple times so if it ain't about 'you',it's a weird way to introduce it.

@Cerberus probably world domination,

Educ

@Mitch thanks but she is still pregnant :)

Mitch

@MetaEd What else could it be about?

Educ

11:52 PM

@MetaEd Yes That's what I meant Thank you

@Cerberus Thank you

MetaEd

@Mitch It was written for Sesame Street: "You're So Vain, I Bet You Think This Song Is About U".

Mitch

@Educ Oh. I disagree with the others. Saying get well soon' or I hope you feel better soon' does sound like she is sick and it will pass like a sickness, which is not what you'd want to say about a pregnancy.

But I can't think of anything to say instead

MetaEd

You should really say "here, let me massage your feet".

Educ

@Mitch could I ask this question en ELU ?

@MetaEd no I can't because here you can't touch married women

Mitch

@MetaEd Marcellus may not take that the right way. You don't just massage someone's wife's feet

Educ

11:59 PM

yes is just like having sex with her

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