English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

4:00 PM

Which is almost as cold here as it would be there

Two days ago another friend of my family died. He was 78, a man who worked with electronics. He designed a metal detector frame, for instance, and some other elecronic things that are too complex for my understanding. He repaired my pc monitor 15 years ago. Was a very active person, hiked each summer, even went to mountains in the north of the Urals.

He spent two weeks on life support with covid.

tchrist

−29℉ = −34℃

@CowperKettle I'm very sorry to hear that. My condolences to his family and to yours.

And yet they're predicting 60 degrees here later today.

There's a lot of packed ice yet on the streets, and a trifle of snow in the shadowlands.

Tim

@tchrist What is that?

tchrist

@Tim That is what!

Tim

Any one knows that is this

19 mins ago, by tchrist

Communities-of-color                       = Fence-line communities
Fence-line communities                     = Brown, black, native american, poor whites
Brown, black, native american, poor whites = Non-european and/or non-rich
Non-european and/or non-rich               = Andorians
Andorians                                  = Disadvantaged persons
Disadvantaged persons                      = Disadvantageds
Disadvantageds                             = Persons of high disadvantageousness
Persons of high disadvantageousness        = HDAV commununities

Is this some CFG?

tchrist

4:07 PM

This is any that knows one.

It's a gnomic oraculation.

Mitch

@tchrist Oh...you should add gnomes to that list.

M.A.R.

@Tim What does HDAV stand for? First time I'm hearing it

Mitch

But Andorians? Eff those guys. You gotta have a cut off somewhere.

Matt E. Эллен

@M.A.R. High Disadvantageous

Mitch

@M.A.R. Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning

tchrist

4:13 PM

@Mitch Why are you so antiantennary?

Matt E. Эллен

I believe it is a nonce word, for the joke

Mitch

@MattE.Эллен Jinx!

Matt E. Эллен

@Mitch hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Mitch

@tchrist Oh yeah. When people say "I'm OK with whatever, white, black, yellow, green or heck even purple!", note which one they leave out.

M.A.R.

@Mitch In winter? No thanks

Except maybe heating

Mitch

4:14 PM

Gotta draw the line somewhere. It stops before blue.

M.A.R.

But if you turn up the temperature, you'd feel hot, then turn it down, and then catch a cold

Mitch

Krishna out.

Cyanotics ... out.

Andorians.... eff those guys... they're out.

@M.A.R. It covers all types.

@M.A.R. and that's science!

HVAC science that is

tchrist

@Mitch There the Light-elves and the Deep-elves and the Sea-elves went and lived for ages, and grew fairer and wiser and more learned, and invented their magic and their cunning craft in the making of beautiful and marvellous things, before some came back into the Wide World.

Mitch

and then there are the Blue Elves.

Matt E. Эллен

VAC - Valve Anti-Cheating system

Mitch

4:16 PM

Notice what's special about the Blue Elves?

No one talks about them

at all

point proved.

Matt E. Эллен

I can't believe you brought them up

Mitch

@MattE.Эллен oh

uh

tchrist

@Mitch Ñoldi seauton.

Mitch

dammit

Tim

Since no one shows interests in serious discussion, let us talk about whatever we want

Mitch

4:18 PM

I sense a disturbance in the force

probably a bunch Blue Elves talking.

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle No it's just this irritated skin

@Mitch Navi

Matt E. Эллен

@Tim was there a serious topic you had in mind?

Mitch

@M.A.R. Oh yeah.. those guys? eff them.

M.A.R.

Meanwhile, Avatar 2 was to come into cinemas at 2018

Mitch

@M.A.R. wha??

has it been completed and just sitting on the shelf?

M.A.R.

4:20 PM

@Mitch They just kinda pressed the cheat code and they won

Faheem Mitha

@CowperKettle sorry for your loss.

M.A.R.

It was supposed to be an easy fight

Extracting some juice from a tree to cure cancer and stuff

tchrist

@Tim Sirius discussion is hard to come by when the Dog Star of summer is at its holiday nadir in the Antipodes.

M.A.R.

@Mitch I

dunno

Mitch

which plot are we talking about? season 1?

Matt E. Эллен

4:20 PM

@CowperKettle Sorry to hear that.

M.A.R.

@Mitch No the movie

Mitch

@tchrist so you're saying it's dog days down under?

Faheem Mitha

Can someone tell me why I always see palm trees in depictions of Southern CA in general, and LA in particular? Do they have a lot of palm trees there?

M.A.R.

You just gave me The Last Airbender movie flashbacks

Mitch

@M.A.R. sorry. me too. that was in the plot? curing cancer with the tree goo?

M.A.R.

4:21 PM

@FaheemMitha They look green. Good for advertising

Mitch

@FaheemMitha Yes

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R. I don't find them terribly attractive myself.

Mitch

@M.A.R. My condolences. that was the worst

M.A.R.

@Mitch well no it was just some oil allegory

Mitch

or it had the greatest distance from expectations to reality

tchrist

4:22 PM

@Mitch Down dog and Yogi bear forgot to wear their tights to exercise class this morning.

M.A.R.

@tchrist Al Pacino and Seth Rogen?

tchrist

@FaheemMitha I suppose so, as these things go.

M.A.R.

Now that's a picture I can't get out of my mind

Mitch

@M.A.R. oh. I'm sure Avatar II would explain how unobtanium is also part of the ecosystem giving the tree it's magical powers.

and radioactive glowing

M.A.R.

And soul sync or something like that

Mitch

4:24 PM

@tchrist No Angela Merkin to cover up your George W Bush

tchrist

@FaheemMitha I believe they're used as iconic signatories of some Tahitian-like Paradisium.

Mitch

@M.A.R. A year ago everybody was making fun of the peleton people for their ads. and now we all want a virtual reality peleton

Faheem Mitha

@tchrist I hear LA is not very Tahiti-like.

M.A.R.

Peleton people? Are those like Oompa Loompas?

Mitch

@FaheemMitha well... not a lot. They survive well there, and the city plants and maintains them, and I'm sure there were some along the beaches before people arrived. But mostly I've only seen lots in tv/film when they go to super expensive neighborhoods.

tchrist

4:27 PM

@Mitch Dude nobody wants to see those people en pelotas!

Mitch

@M.A.R. sort of. yes. but, kind not. not really. at all

tchrist

@FaheemMitha No, not especially, but my experiences in the tropics, neo or palaeo, are limited to the Virgin Islands, Hawaii, Far North Queensland, and Brazil.

San Diego feels tropical to us, but you're not on Gilligan's Island, either.

Mitch

@tchrist speaking of which, is there some master word pairing list that shows all the spanish words in all the different Spanish varieties, where a word is taboo or vulgar in one variety but totally unremarkable in another variety.

I need this list.

It's for a thing.

Faheem Mitha

@tchrist @Mitch Thanks for the palm tree perspectives. Mostly they're shown lining long avenues.

tchrist

That would appear to be more of an innumerable list than an enumerable one to me.

Faheem Mitha

4:30 PM

I've personally never seen anything like that in real life.

tchrist

@FaheemMitha Well, they do line the longer avenues there. Also eucalyptus is a common import.

I believe there is only one native palm in California, and it is never the one you see.

Faheem Mitha

@tchrist Oh. Eucalyptus?

tchrist

@FaheemMitha Aye, the trees that detonate in wildfire.

It's how koalas reproduce.

Faheem Mitha

@tchrist Ah. Excuse my ignorance, but are they palm trees?

tchrist

@FaheemMitha No, eucalyptus are myrtles but palms are areca(l)s.

Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including Corymbia, they are commonly known as eucalypts. Plants in the genus Eucalyptus have bark that is either smooth, fibrous, hard or stringy, leaves with oil glands, and sepals and petals that are fused to form a "cap" or operculum over the stamens. The fruit is a woody capsule commonly referred to as a "gumnut". Most species of Eucalyptus are native to Australia, and every state and territory has representative...

Faheem Mitha

4:34 PM

@tchrist Ok.

tchrist

Arecaceae

The Arecaceae are a botanical family of perennial flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm trees. Currently 181 genera with around 2,600 species are known, most of them restricted to tropical and subtropical climates. Most palms are distinguished by their large, compound, evergreen leaves, known as fronds, arranged at the top of an unbranched stem. However, palms exhibit an enormous diversity in physical characteristics and inhabit nearly every...

Faheem Mitha

@tchrist I see.

tchrist

I believe this is the lone native palm:

Washingtonia filifera

Washingtonia filifera, also known as desert fan palm, California fan palm, or California palm, is a flowering plant in the palm family (Arecaceae) native to the far southwestern United States and Baja California. Growing to 15–20 m (49–66 ft) tall by 3–6 m (10–20 ft) broad, it is an evergreen monocot with a tree-like growth habit. It has a sturdy, columnar trunk and waxy, fan-shaped (palmate) leaves. == Names == Other common names include California fan palm and petticoat palm. The specific epithet filifera means "thread-bearing". == Distribution == W. filifera is the only palm native t...

Faheem Mitha

I've never really lived in CA, but I visited Pasadena briefly. In the winter of 1994/1995, I think it was. I don't recall any palm trees, but they aren't particularly memorable.

Now, if I had met a dragon, I bet I would remember it.

tchrist

> W. filifera is the only palm native to the Western United States and one of the country's largest native palms, exceeded in height only by the Cuban or Florida royal palm.

Tea with the Black Dragon

Tea with the Black Dragon is a 1983 fantasy novel by American writer R. A. MacAvoy. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1983, the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1984, and the Locus Award for best first novel in 1984; it also earned MacAvoy the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. It also found a place in David Pringle's Modern Fantasy: The Hundred Best Novels (1988). == Plot introduction == Martha Macnamara is called west to San Francisco by a message from her daughter Elizabeth, a computer programmer. When she arrives, however, Elizabeth has disappeared. Mayland Long,...

Faheem Mitha

4:41 PM

I wonder if dragons are native to California.

@tchrist I've heard of it. But have not read it.

tchrist

@FaheemMitha I recall having greatly enjoyed it in my youth.

But nothing more.

@FaheemMitha Varanids are not native to the New World, although they have been transplanted to the Americas and are considered invasive pests where they occur.

South Florida has a problem with these.

Faheem Mitha

@tchrist If they breathed fire and flew, I bet they were would be considered bigger pests.

@tchrist There are too many books. If I could clone myself, I'd have one of me just read full-time. With breaks, naturally.

I purchased three books recently. Haven't read any of them. So I can't bring myself to buy any more.

M.A.R.

I'm stuck in the middle of Dune's Book 3

Herbert is getting a bit repetitive. I won't read the other three books

@tchrist Added it to my reading list

-4

Q: Why do oscars hate comedies?

If you want to win the oscar, you can make some drama or thrillers, or anything else. but, make sure you don't make them laugh.

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R. If you want book recommendations, I can give you some.

Though I wouldn't particularly recommend reading more books. There are other things to do.

CowperKettle

Lookalike words of the day: dowry and dower

Andrew Leach

5:00 PM

@CowperKettle Not just lookalike, but intimately related.

CowperKettle

5:31 PM

> Широкая электрифи-
кация южных губер-
ний даст мощный тол-
чок развитию сельско-
го хозяйства.

What do you call it in English typography when words are split in order to make them align better in a line?

> Let me con-
fess that we
two must be
twain.

Like this, with "confess" split.

In Russian, it's perenos (transfer)

Andrew Leach

@CowperKettle It's simply hyphenation, I think. The stretching or condensing of letter- or word-spacing to get straight margins is justification. Reaches for Bringhurst

> Fi-nally is conventionally acceptable line-end hyphenation, but final-ly is not, because it takes too little of the word ahead to the next line.

CowperKettle

Основы стиля в типографике

«Основы стиля в типографике» (англ. The Elements of Typographic Style) — книга канадского типографа, поэта и переводчика Роберта Брингхёрста. Впервые опубликована в 1992 году издательством Hartley & Marks. Название ссылается на «The Elements of Style», классическое руководство по стилю, написанное Уильямом Странком и Элвином Бруксом Уайтом. == Издания == Книга неоднократно переиздавалась: в 1996, 2001 (v2.4), 2002 (v2.5), 2004 (v3.0), 2005 (v3.1), 2008 (v3.2) и 2012 (v4.0) годах. == Отзывы == Книга была высоко оценена Германом Цапфом, отозвавшемся о произведении следующим образом: «Я хочу, чтобы...

@AndrewLeach Thank you! It must be then line-end hyphenation or end-of-line hyphenation

Nice expressions.

Andrew Leach

5:48 PM

Apparently I bought it via Amazon, withdrawn from a college library.

CowperKettle

6:27 PM

> The car-size Perseverance rover, which launched on July 30 of last year, is scheduled to land inside the 28-mile-wide (45 kilometers) Jezero Crater on Feb. 18.

Tim

9:10 PM

Is Qpid a word?

Cerberus

It is now!

Gigili

9:38 PM

@Robusto No! There are a few users in this room that get on my nerves, was directed at them!

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…