[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Link at end of answer, potentially bad asn for hostname in answer, username similar to website in answer (114): Is the Word Homeopathy Used Inappropriately? by Dr. Naval Kumar on english.SE

g'day

@AllexKramer There's a distinction between opinion based and primarily opinion based. The P.O.B. closure reason itself acknowledges that some amount of opinion may be involved in answering a question, but necessitates that questions at least hypothetically be answerable with corroboration with facts, references or specific expertise. The more likely guesswork is to be needed, the less likely the question is to be on-topic.

Questions which have answers that are all equally valid irrespective of those are also almost always off-topic. What's your favorite programmer cartoon is usually considered the prime example of a P.O.B. question on the network, because votes for or against them are meaningless. Every answer is (short of psychic knowledge to the contrary) the answerer's favorite cartoon.

@MattE.Эллен same here

How widespread is the concept of count noun vs mass noun? I feel like Germanic has it, and Romance (but maybe not Latin?). But not Russian or Chinese.

It sounds like one of those grammar things made up for the teaching of English (like conditional of the third kind).

But I feel like any language with a grammatical plural vs singular will most likely also have similar non-plural items like 'water'.

also gradable vs universal adjectives. I'd think there's be a lesson in every intermediate or advanced language teaching everywhere that says [in that language] "Wow, you cannot say 'more unique' "

@Mitch Russian actually takes it a step further than English. There are nouns that are uncountable semantically, just like in English, but then on top of that it has nouns that are uncountable grammatically (but still might be countable semantically, just to confuse matters further).

Like, even if nobody in the entire history of English has ever said "waters" or "cheeses" or "fishes" or "milks", you could still go ahead and build those plurals at least theoretically. And in many cases the meaning would actually suggest itself, too.

In Russian you have those wealth of nouns that just do not have a plural form (even though, again, their meaning might or might not be countable), and you can't possibly make it up because unlike in English, there is no single default way of building plurals. Different nouns build their plurals in totally different ways. You can't just slap an S onto the end.

To think of the plural of a noun, you need to know what the plural of that noun is. But if it doesn't have a plural, you can't think of anything.

Non-gradable adjectives I don't know. I feel like Russian must have those too, because of course it must, but then again I also feel like this is an issue that I only actively became aware of when I started learning English. So maybe everyone has those, but only English is so up in arms about them because English is so simple and has very few things left to be up in arms about at all. So people make their own entertainment out of what little they have.

Also don't forget that Russian still has remnants of dual. So for lots of nouns, though again not all, you have two different plural forms, depending on whether there's five or more of that thing, or merely two to four.

It's a clusterfuck really. Better not think of it too much.

Is the -ive in accusative different than the one in adjective?

@Færd hm. 'adjective' is not analyzable to me (ie 'adject' doesn't mean anything obvious)

but, without thinking, I can't see how they would not be the same.

@Mitch It's das Adjektiv and der Akkusativ in German, so I thought they should be different. I had the same problem with adjective.

But they are the same.

Yes.

But it is nomen adiectivum v. casus accusativus.

The moral of the story is that German articles don't tell you squat about etymology.

The nouns determine the gender, not the adjectives.

@Færd But they do!

They match the Latin genders.

Hmm. Let me digest that.

Nomen "noun" is neuter, casus "case" is masculine.

Ah so two different endings in Latin become one in German?

German dropped the endings from the Latin adjectives on -vus/vum.

Right. Makes sense now.

Just as English dropped them (and turned them into -ve).

And French?

But they kept their genders.

French doesn't even have neuter.

Aha

And, yes, it dropped those endings, too.

Accusatif, adjectif, I presume.

Is Cerberus masculine for the same reason?

@Færd It is a masculine substantive noun, yes.

So I should be more praecise about French: most Latin neuter nouns became masculine in French, so both adjectif and accusatif are masculine in French. The feminine form would be on -ive.

Ah I see.

I think almost all words on -ive in English are from the same Latin suffix.

A silly question maybe, but does Cerberum make sense?

Like if he was castrated?

That would be the accusative.

@Færd I suppose so, yes.

Ah good. Glad you didn't take it personally. :))

It could be neuter nom/acc, or masculine acc.

I'm rarely so personable with people.

Hmm.

Good evening

Let's hope it is!

For me it is, rain and classical music : )

I am thinking about a syntax question

Given a sentence with a DP-head and a complementizer, for example like this: 'The people that have been indicted'

Can one consider 'that have been indicted' as a NP itself? Or is it just a CP?

Oh, I'm just thinking - maybe this is something for grammar.stackexchange chat

If it fits there, it fits here.

@bngschmnd Sounds good! What are you listening to?

@bngschmnd That's no sentence!

Strange how people call rain "bad weather".

@bngschmnd Does that exist?

I think grammar discussion are more than welcome here.

Very true, no sentence.

@Færd You get wet.

Let's say 'The people that have been indicted have not been charged'

@Cerberus Depends on your standpoint.

@Færd will never understand neither

@bngschmnd If you were my pupil, my reply would be thus: define each of those abbreviations, and see whether those instances fit the definitions.

More then happy to take the role of the pupil here.

@Færd A standpoint under an umbrella?

Yeap. Or anywhere else you can enjoy it.

I guess NP is noun phrase.

I'd thay 'that .. indicted' is the CP and 'The people' is the DP.

And 'The people that have been indicted' is a DP as well?

DP is determiner phrase?

If so, the subordinate clause should be the DP.

Just guesswork you can ignore.

DP is determiner phrase, yes

@Færd I'm not any better here, hehe

Similar construction: A process that took over two years.

Two down, one to go. What's CP?

Complementizer Phrase

It would be difficult for me to have an opinion without definitions.

The most horrid of all

If you can define it, you can probably answer your own question!

Logic.

@bngschmnd Isn't a determiner in want of a determined? If the whole thing is a determiner, what does it determine?

@Cerberus We talked at some point about the fact that y'all traditionally slept on mattresses above the floor and us on ones on the floor.

I wonder if you remember.

I think that may be the reason.

walks off to RTFM

@Færd I remember a discussion about a similar topic, yes.

But then you should be the first to be affected by a flood.

Not much flooding going on here.

It shouldn't have much to do with floods. It's how wet your ground is.

Our ground is wet, but our floors are dry.

Maybe not in the past?

That will have been a very long time ago.

In which we might not have had actual beds.

Okey doke. Don't wet your floor. Nor your bed.

I should go to mine now.

That's early!

I went to bed very late last night.

And you didn't wake up late as well?

No. I wake up at the same hour every morning.

By my neighbor's spluttering motorcycle.

Yikes.

And you can't get back to sleep then?

The bustle only grows from when it starts.

Children coming to play football.

Young ones who don't go to school.

Ugh.

I often sleep in my bathroom to escape the street noise.

I have to match my sleeping time with others.

@Cerberus How does that work?

Like throwing empty steel barrels off a lorry.

@Færd Well.

I also use ear plugs, those wax balls.

Good.

Yeah I should get some.

There is no loo in my bathroom and it's quite clean.

I wrap plastic scraps in paper and put them in my ear.

I recommend the wax balls from uhh they come in a brown-yellow little box.

@Cerberus Oh. BATHroom.

Ohropax is the brand.

I shall look for it.

They are like 10 cents per plug, and you use each one several times (as many times as you're comfortable with).

They are soft and don't hurt or irritate.

And go to the bathroom for a nice experience.

And from what I hear they stop more noise than cheap foam plugs.

Have fun.

Do read the manual, because it is possible to use them incorrectly.

Like pushing them in too deep? Hehe.

(They don't actually go far into your ear: you need to knead them a bit and put them in your ear as a ball, then squash it flattish.)

Yeah.

The ball is too large for your ear's tunnel, as it should be.

Sleep well!

I wsih I could get rid of the noise instead.

Naturally.

We all get terrorist fantasies.

Well, that's not the right word.

Murderous.

Ah not so cruelly.

I was thinking of a future where making too much noise is outlawed.

I wish.

Or where you had to get a permit each time, and pay all the neighbours.

I actually like that I hear children shout and holler and scream under my window.

Makes me feel part of the neighborhood.

But the motorcycle ...

That's what I bought, renting on the first floor.

Hmm.

How long have you lived there now? A few months?

Three. Or four.

Should be three.

How do you like living on your own otherwise?

I'm loving it.

Doesn't feel lonelier than it did living with my family.

People come and go sometimes.

Good!

Sometimes?

Some people can't live alone. Others can.

There are busier seasons apparently.

And then for ages nobody comes.

I think I can.

Do they come spontaneously or do you text to make appointments?

Both happen.

How does your family feel about your moving out?

My father is very proud I'm sure, even if he doesn't say.

My mom is coming to terms with it.

I guess my father was always annoyed to see me still clinging on the family like a burr.

Haha.

The reality was something else: mom didn't want me to leave. But that didn't sit well with him.

So the reason you stayed was your mother's feelings?

Absolutely.

OK.

How far away from them do you live?

And the fact that I thought of contradicting her solemn requests or desires as a sin.

Hmm.

Or that I felt guilty hurting her.

I can imagine.

@Cerberus Less than an hour

I had always in mind to leave, ever since I was 15. Or earlier.

Then she kept you long.

That's a practical distance.

So you can still often see them.

How about your siblings, where do they live?

@Cerberus It would break her down to tears every time I spoke of leaving.

@Cerberus I have only a younger brother. Lives with my mother.

@Færd sigh

It took all these years and a final blow to make me make the decision.

What was the final blow?

How old were you again?

Your poor brother, how can he ever leave...

@Cerberus Give me an impression.

@Cerberus Haha he does never want to.

I thought you were a few years longer than I.

I guess. 29 now. nearing 30.

Right.

And you? 35?

What would you say is a normal range of years in which to leave the family house, in your circles?

Yes.

@Cerberus There was this girl I spent a fabulous night with in a park. The goodbye moment came.

I didn't want to say goodbye, but I had to, cause at the moment I didn't have a place of my own to invite her to.

Ahh yes.

Has she come to your new house?

That night I was so angry with myself I thought I'd do it at any cost.

@Cerberus Yeap :)

@Cerberus I guess 20 is reasonable. Or 18 if you have to go to another city for college.

But more and more people are staying with their parents now. I can't reckon an average.

@Færd Heh.

@Færd Ah, okay, all of that sounds similar to here.

People are now even moving back 'home' after university because houses are so expensive.

Right.

And after break-ups/divorces.

Do children have the same liberties at their parents' houses as they would in their own?

@Cerberus Huh. Similar situation in the US

I should think not.

@Færd Mostly, yes. Though it will depend on the child and the parents what arrangement they strike.

@Mitch Yeah, we are the unlucky generation.

In some sense, things have become so great now, there's little incentive to try harder.

Family is where they have to accept you if you fail and want to fall back somewhere.

That's sort of a BS explanation.

Thank you.

YOu tweened me. It was a comment on my own statement

Hahaha I know

You two could do this all day, couldn't you.

@Cerberus You don't live alone, do you?

I hesitate to say so but yes

argh. tweened again

@Færd I do.

Oh. How do you like it?

Well.

Other people are hell. And they eat your stuff from the fridge.

Good.

The first time I left the family house, I was 20 or so, and I shared an apartment with a friend.

Which was nice, although she found cleaning somewhat more important than I.

It's only going to get dirty again, so why bother

After that, I've always had my own cooking arrangements so I practically lived alone.

@Mitch Exactly.

@Mitch That can't work for me.

Not yet.

like pushing a rock up a hill

actually it's exactly like that

And I've had my own real apartment for eight years now.

@Mitch We are Sisyphi!

I find that having other people around is like an incentive to clean up.

When I was by myself, ... ew.

@Cerberus Ah great. Did you start renting at first?

Indeed.

@Færd I'm not sure what you mean. I've always rented.

I would experiment trying to see for how long I could avoid doing some cleaning things.

It was a real easy experiment to do

@Cerberus I thought you meant you own the place.

@Mitch I am doing just that all the time. For science!

@Færd Oh, no.

It is my own in that I do not share it.

hahaha

You are revolting.

science is great

I've actually cleaned the kitchen at work today.

Even though we have a cleaner, officially.

I had a cat. Before we continue I want to make clear that I cleaned the litter box religiously.

Also twice a day

because religion, what good is it really?

Aww.

Twice a day, that's quite often.

Anyway, I would feed them twice a day also.

Also often.

@Cerberus poop is gross, and for that very reason needs to be cleaned.

Bleh.

@Cerberus This was a long time ago. So I may be exaggerating.

I wouldn't want an indoors cat, for that reason.

It was more than zero times a day.

@Cerberus I can't stand the whole indoors restriction thing. It's not right for animals.

Impressive.

@Mitch Some like it.

Where's the cat now?

But it does make there life longer (and in a good way)

If leaving a mess invites a throng of cockroaches I cannot sleep before I've cleaned.

@Færd Ew. cockroaches. But they're not part of this story. I'm not giving anything away.

@Cerberus Sure. It just seems wrong to me.

Mostly because it means having to clean up poop twice a day

@Færd Yikes!

I don't have any animals inside.

Maybe the occasional little spider.

@Mitch It was to justify my cleanliness. Your story tweened mine.

Or flying animals when I leave the windows open in summer.

@Færd 1) It was actually two cats (may explain my insistence on using 'two' a lot)

2) this was quite a while ago, so they're not with us any more.

Also they died.

Old age.

@Cerberus Spiders are your friends against other insects.

Yes.

I usually leave them be.

Instead of in a fight like nature intended.

@Cerberus OMG.

Unless they're exceptionally scary, for I don't want to accidentally touch or eat them when they roam loose inside the house.

Europe needs just one window screen company and they'd make a mint.

@Mitch I don't know which they would prefer.

My parents have screens everywhere.

But I don't get very many insects in the city anyway.

A few moths and mosquitos.

Wouldn't mind screens, though.

Ah screens. I should get a fine grating for the shower drain.

That would keep the roaches away.

Ah, the drain doesn't close off?

So, the story, as far as it goes, which is not very, was that one day, I missed the trash can when I was throwing away the empty but somewhat messy can of cat food.

and, I didn't bother picking it up.

I was at an age where I actively Just Did Not Care.

Now I'm sort of non-committal about not caring, which means sometimes it looks like I do.

@Cerberus On its own? Do drains do that?

And for show I have to act like it. You know, as a role model.

@Mitch Ah nice climax.

To people who don't care

It's complicated

@Mitch Anticlimactic.

@Færd I'm not done yet.

Even though it may seem like I haven't even started.

I'm following don't worry

By the way, @Jasper looks like he deleted his youtube account.

That's pretty annoying.

I had in mind to ask him for the link.

Anyway, the next time I threw away a can (that evening or the next day, you know how it is when you don't care), by chance it also missed.

And I let it lie