[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Link at end of answer (60): A better word for transforming a software project from start to finish by Comb1s on english.SE

in the order of speed from fast to slow, a horse can gallop, canter, trot and saunter.

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Link at end of answer (60): express or voice? different usage (verb) by Jake Syd on english.SE

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Link at end of answer, potentially bad keyword in answer, potentially problematic ns configuration in answer (62): "going to" definition, does it imply intent? by Jake Syd on english.SE

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad ns for domain in body, pattern-matching website in body, potentially bad keyword in body (195): What is Joboutsourceindia? by Job Outsource India on english.SE

but being busy can be reason for hunger.

I am just too busy to forage so often.

So the spell checker just broke the record for suggesting to change "easily" to "early"

@M.A.R. Yeah, I consider myself lucky man

Insert a comma

@M.A.R. I wish I could see my spam box as you saw the transcript, ignoring all those enlarged images where some of them are repetitive and sticking to one line of text

> Worker responsibilities: The worker attends trainings required by the corporate Pharmacovigilance Department.

I feel that the translator misused the word required and I should change it to assigned

Am I right?

@CowperKettle It depends on the original being translated. If the classes are assigned then that implies they are required.

Also 'trainings' sounds like awful managementese. The usual way to say it is 'The worker attends training' (it's a mass noun). If it must be plural then use something like 'classes'.

@Mitch Ah! So required does not sound out of place. I'll edit it back.

Thank you!

@Gigili Oh! I have that user on ignore, and sometimes I have to un-ignore to see what people are talking about. TBH I've yet to find a reason to regret my decision

@Mitch Possibly they mean "training sessions" there, in which case they should say that. But I agree, simple training is preferable.

@M.A.R. Yes, that's what I find annoying about the ignore feature. Once I mentioned it and like my many other valuable comments it got lost in between other comments.

Imagine you have someone ingnored, then you enter the room and all other users are talking to the ignored user, then you have no choice but to remove them from your ignore list

@Gigili Well it depends. If I ignore, say, @Mitch, I would miss all the amazing jokes he says

@Gigili IMO, that's a small price to pay for eliminating a persistent annoyance.

@M.A.R. Yeah, we're all aware that Mitch is your favorite user here

@Robusto That's an interesting point of view.

But I still think the feature is useless when you have to rethink your initial decision of ignoring someone

@Gigili I'm not doing favoritism

It does that all by itself

What's not to like about @Mitch? He's funny, he's . . . uh, he's funny

I don't often use the feature. But this conversation reminded me that I could use it for that particular purpose, and I do feel much better now.

Also, at my age you have learned to separate time-wasting practices you enjoy from things that waste your time without providing enjoyment.

@Robusto Didn't work for me, and I felt even worse.

@Robusto Well, waste of time cannot be enjoyable?

@M.A.R. Noted.

@Gigili You should reread my statement.

Haha, I was sure I got it wrong! I read it twice actually

"time-wasting practices you enjoy" is the operative clause there.

time-wasting practices you enjoy vs. things that waste your time without providing enjoyment

Correct.

Both clauses are talking about time-wasting tasks or practices

Also correct.

I was born confused about everything. But now I've learned to ignore most of that. This, I am told, is what you call wisdom.

But wisdom is no substitute for the ability to commit youthful indiscretions.

takes note

So, there are thing you describe as time-wasting practices but you enjoy doing them

Yes.

Drinking my morning coffee and perusing the Web, including this chat, is pleasurable to a degree.

And time-wasting practices that are not enjoyable

Too many to name.

My question is, how could you enjoy it when you know you are wasting your time?

Because opportunities to do things that don't waste your time are not always available.

Even cycling, which I enjoy a great deal, wastes time even though it provides many benefits.

But if you enjoy something, I suppose that time is not really wasted.

"There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval." —George Santayana

Example. This made me laugh, so ... not a waste.

@Gigili No one is acting productively towards their goals in life all the time, are they?

You either have to be worried and self-conscious about every bloody minute spent in the bathroom or in an elevator or taking extra time enjoying a hamburger, or you don't

@Robusto That was great in a nostalgic kind of way.

I don't remember anyone that's been like the former

@Robusto That contradicts the fact that they're called time-wasting practices

@Gigili This is an argument about semantics. I think the Santayana quote covers my perception of what "time-wasting" means pretty well.

@M.A.R. Not to that extent, but when you have to choose between reading a book and playing a game, you could never go for playing a game because it definitely lies in the time-wasting group tasks

Well, I do both

Well, you could spend the time on reading another book instead of playing game

It's definitely related to how much you do it too. If I play for some time and then see the clock showing an hour later, I'd be a bit disconcerted

@Gigili Looking back on my life I think the very best things I've done—the most non-time-wasting things possible—have been to bring laughter or understanding to others, especially to children.

I guess various possibilities are always more appealing

Those that don't cost much

Also, laughter and understanding are two sides of the same coin.

@Robusto Too true

Just finished reading Fahrenheit 451 this morning

It was awesome

@Gigili Except not true enough for many people. ^_^

Why did the fabled students insist it was about censorship though?

It wasn't unless you're a pedant and put two and two together. It was obviously not the focus, I mean

@M.A.R. I fail to see a connection between cost and the discussion

@Robusto Even those who truly believe that might forget it and need reminders from time to time

Life is a lesson you have to learn over and over, but keep forgetting.

@Gigili I didn't mean monetary costs only. A book and a game seem far more appealing since they're different. But people don't always go for different things because they might require patience, persistence, time etc. or they're dangerous activities or . . .

It was a tangential comment anyway. Moving on

And there's only so much you can fit in the brain until it can no longer be usefully recalled later

There are times I really wish I could go back in time and do things differently, that way I could've reached out to my dreams sooner rather than later

There are probably a hundred things I could've done better with my time in my twenties.

> Patients who are not able to swallow a whole tablet, e.g., children, may take the drug in a dispersed form; the tablets are dispersed in water or apple juice.

Can one retain "a" here?

Or should it be without articles?

Either way is acceptable.

Snailplane once told me that we always omit a in "in _ form".

@Robusto That's probably better. I was trying to stick as close to what was given. Translation is hard.

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Link at end of answer, potentially bad ip for hostname in answer, potentially bad keyword in answer, blacklisted user (133): A better word for transforming a software project from start to finish by Comb1s on english.SE

BTW I have all of you on mute. I'm just saying random shit to the wind.

Hm... just like real life.

leans out window and yells random shit

hears sirens and military marching and distant explosions

sounds get louder

sounds stop

knock on the door

not moving a muscle

cat starts meowing and rubbing against closet door where you're hiding

@Gigili imagines a game about reading books, just to prove you wrong

I find it really hard to read books lately.

By lately... um... the last few years.

I still buy books or check them out of a library.

It's just so hard to ... read... a whole paragraph.... one after the other... for a chapter... and then when you come back to it... what happened in the previous chapter again?

Also, no pictures.

At least with text books, there's an attempt to put in graphs and diagrams and something to hang your attention on.

Frankly, all the words are pretty ignorable, except maybe the caption to the picture.

Like Alice in Wonderland. All I need is the picture at the Mad Hatter's tea party and I'm set.

Is whet a claw an unnatural phrase?

@CowperKettle It's not unnatural but it sounds a little too poetic for claws. The usual way to say it is an animal will 'sharpen their claws'. 'Whet' is usually used in 'to whet ones appetite' that is to have a little taste to get you ready for something bigger. But more literally 'you 'whet' a knife' that is sharpen it. And an animal's claws are only poetically like knives.

@Mitch Thank you!

I just tried to compose a poem after a hiatus of more than a year, and wondered at some phrases

@CowperKettle I don't know what she was getting at, but it's not true. It depends on the definition of form. In the statement "Physics is a form of math" it's certainly not true. And if it's not true in one case, it's almost certainly not true in others. Take my word for it, nobody will bat an eye seeing "in a dispersed form"—and looking at that again, I think I'd actually favorite it there over the sans-article version.

At a high level, any language is more complicated than people want to admit. That's why learners rely on silly nostrums that may apply in many, even most cases, but fail resoundingly in others.

Although I have a degree in English "with highest distinction" from a major state university, virtually all the grammar "rules" I have learned have been by listening and reading. I've done this for decades. My ear is the first thing that lets me know if something is right or wrong, and it is right 99.999% of the time. When it's occasionally wrong and flags something that is actually grammatical, it's still wrong because it sounds awkward.

I'm sure the same is true of almost any native speaker of a language.

@CowperKettle And to specifically address "in __ form" let's ask Shakespeare. Specifically, Hamlet:

"What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world. The paragon of animals. And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?"

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword with email in answer, bad phone number in answer, email in answer, pattern-matching email in answer, potentially bad keyword in answer (362): What does "He who sups with the devil should have a long spoon" mean? by DERRICK BRIAN on english.SE