English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

barlop

00:45

How can God be a proper noun?!

It's not a name, it's more like a role or job description for a specific person

Cerberus

@barlop Well, when it refers to a specific god, isn't that proper?

barlop

I don't know

Maybe!

Cerberus

You could say that's why it is capitalised, when it refers to a specific person.

barlop

makes sense, thanks

Cerberus

Note also how the word lacks an article.

Which is typical of proper nouns that indicate people.

Robusto

00:57

It is a name, like the name Fred or Cerberus.

Cerberus

> Now that the Taliban are back, "it's going to be very, very tough", Nehan predicts. "Many people will lose their lives. But I am convinced of the perseverance of the Afghan people. When the Taliban introduced their strict Sharia law in the 1990s, many Afghans did not resign themselves to it. They started secret schools in their basements, and under their burkas women were secretly on their way to the beauty salon.

"Now that there is so much more prosperity and awareness, people will not accept the Taliban. They can come and terrorise us, and kill women's rights activists and journalists …

A female former minister living in Kabul.

Let's hope it will be true.

Robusto

01:30

@Cerberus Let's not kid ourselves. It's going to be awful.

Osama (2003) - Trailer

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Cerberus

Is that different from "very, very tough"?

Robusto

I think so.

A college exam can be very, very tough without it stoning you to death in a public square.

tchrist

02:34

@Cerberus It's somma kinda AAVE eye-dialect spelling for fifty.

S.M.T

04:55

@Robusto Is it like the life’s of people under the rule of osama .. ?

M.A.R.

07:48

@Robusto Personally I think even if Taliban stays in power for a long time, they'd stop stoning people to death very soon. (Not downplaying what Afghans are gonna go through, of course)

@Robusto Cerb is Scooby Doo?

8 hours ago, by Cerberus

I'll believe it.

CowperKettle

08:09

> In Iran, the most popular ice cream-like treat is faludeh (also called paloodeh, paludeh or fālūdhaj), which contains vermicelli noodles, sugar syrup and rose water.

Really? Noodles with ice-cream? OMG

M.A.R.

09:04

@CowperKettle Yeah, and it's so damn delicious!

Isn't it common elsewhere?

@CowperKettle with sugar syrup, rose water and lime juice. Very important!

You want a little of sour in the sea of sweetness, so you appreciate both more.

CowperKettle

11:04

@M.A.R. Haha, no ))

Another record-high temperature in Yekaterinburg, hotter than the previous record set in the 1930s e1.ru/text/summer/2021/08/21/70091489

This summer has seen several temp records beaten here.

Scientists expect tomorrow to be the hottest 22nd August in Yekaterinburg in the recorded history, which is about 150 years.

CowperKettle

11:16

CowperKettle

11:33

"Little pinecone, why do you drink?
To forget."

Cerberus

11:58

@CowperKettle Ouch, that's hot.

S.M.T

12:20

@Cerberus I have even witnessed 40degree C as a normal temp once a year in india

For like few weeks.

@CowperKettle Quite common in india too. One of my favorite

@Cerberus North of india witnesses all kind of extreme temperatures. Cold,hot.

indiatoday.in/world/story/…

Some good news

Resistance forces captured 3 provinces

Cerberus

@S.M.T Not provinces, just districts.

S.M.T

12:50

@Cerberus oh ok.

@CowperKettle Indian version is Falooda

Cerberus

With foreign support, maybe the resistance could be built out.

Curio

@Mitch Thanks!

Cerberus

Although it would be yet another case of supplying weapons to Afghan splinter groups...

Robusto

@M.A.R. Ruh-roh!

Curio

There's something on the ground and the user can collect it. Which is the best way to describe this action? Collect, pick up, take up,...?

Cerberus

13:04

Pick up if it's just the physical action.

Collect if he intends to keep it or something.

Curio

What about a sword? Or a coin?

user178758

Pick up.

12 mins ago, by Cerberus

Pick up if it's just the physical action.

Curio

Thanks

user178758

np

:-)

barlop

13:31

I can see that God is considered to be a proper noun when "the" is dropped from it. I guess one can say it functions as a name.. some may say it's a name. But would you agree it's not a personal name? For example in the bible YHWH is his personal name. A similar example would be if somebody says "Mother will get the dishes".I don't know if you'd consider Mother there to be a name? Would you consider it a title? Though it's not a prefix like nobody says Mother Margaret (unless she were a nun).

Cerberus

@Curio I'd say the type of object is usually not important.

@barlop I'm not sure what the role of titles is in parts of speech.

But I think I would consider mother a proper noun in that context.

It's perhaps somewhere in between common noun and proper noun.

barlop

would you agree it's not a personal name?

wait a minute.. you're talking about "common name" and "proper name".. those are very very strange terms.. I was talking about common nouns and proper nouns!!

It is a proper noun I think

but I wouldn't apply the words common and proper to the word name!!

user178758

Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet?

Cerberus

@barlop Oh, oops, I meant nouns, sorry.

Such short words.

Robusto

@user178758 No rosa sin espina.

user178758

13:41

> The reference is often used to imply that the names of things do not affect what they really are.

Cerberus

Indeed, names and things are different.

user178758

Numerals name numbers.

Robusto

I become number by the minute.

user178758

God names a deity.

Robusto

The personification of the deity is what becomes the proper noun. Jupiter, Vishnu, Odin, Allah—and in the Christian mythos (in English), God.

"In Greek mythology, Zeus is a god."

I almost had @Cerb spitting from three heads at once.

Cerberus

13:50

I'm not clicking that message history!

Robusto

A wise policy.

CowperKettle

17:26

Journalists are trying to stage a protest in Moscow. As soon as a journalist takes a stand with a picket sign, a policeman comes and takes them away. Some managed to stand for several seconds, barely enough to be photographed.

This guy only stood for several seconds

The sign says "Free Journalism, and not the thing that we have now".

Then the police led him out, to be questioned and for protocol to be filled out to register some made-up violation of law and order.

CowperKettle

17:50

They made a mascot of traditional Tula Gingerbread for the security services.

It's cringy.

Tula pryanik

Tula pryanik (Russian: тульский пряник, tulskiy pryanik) is a famous type of imprinted Russian pryanik from the city of Tula. Usually, Tula pryanik looks like a rectangular tile or a flat figure. Making stamped pryanik is considered an art form. The imprints could include different patterns, symbols, images of the Tula Kremlin, names, congratulations.The cooking of the Tula pryanik starts with preparation of the dough. The dough is made from rye flour, honey, eggs, water and spices. Next the dough is cut into pieces and rolled out. Each piece is placed on a special board with a carved pattern to...

It's not really gingerbread, but a kind of sweetbread that uses honey as part of the dough

Mitch

@user178758 the Word was God.

The Trashmen - Surfin Bird - Bird is the Word 1963 (RE-MASTERED) (ALT End Video) (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

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@Cerberus I looked. Good call, you don't want to see that.

@Robusto Jupiter? Check. Vishnu? Sure. Allah? Of course. He's literally great. But Odin? pfft

CowperKettle

18:25

> Could a "pancoronavirus" vaccine protect us against another pandemic? Scientists are looking for ways to immunize people against many coronaviruses. Several strategies focus on the surface protein common to all members of the viral family. sciencemag.org/news/2021/04/…

CowperKettle

18:36

Student Pilot Loses Engine | Cockpit View + ATC | by Brian Parsley

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Cool landing.

It's beyond me how one can perform this.

And on the rusting bars these words appear:
"My name is Donald Trump, the greatest prez,
Look at my wall, brown people, and despair"

All that remains - a picture of decay.
The sagging structure, torn by rain and air,
Like Donald's legacy, is withering away.

Cerberus

18:53

Is that really his 'wall'?

Maybe he should take lessons from the Israelis.

Robusto

@CowperKettle If you're a pilot, you know how to make a dead-stick landing. It's one of those emergency procedures you train for.

@CowperKettle Donny-mandias?

@Mitch You're just a reactionary. Allfather Odin will see you hanged.

Mitch

19:24

@Robusto All he's got is lightning. And the Marvel movies.

I mean as a legacy... I don't know.

Men still swear more than women, and swearing still peaks in people’s 20s and declines thereafter

At what point is a chat entry indexed by Google? Asking for a friend.

Robusto

@Mitch You're thinking of Thor. Get your mythologies straight.

Mitch

@Robusto Point made. Odin is a throw-away side character in those movies.

Robusto

Read American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

Mitch

Oh and what happens in one of those movies? Odin dies.

What kind of god is -that-?

@Robusto If you've been following the transcript, you'll have seen many instances of where it is obvious that I don't read.

Robusto

All the gods die, especially in Scandinavian mythology.

Mitch

19:28

@Robusto I don't want to say anything disparaging about any particular ethnicity's mythology...

so I'm happy for you to say it for me.

The English? You can't say anything bad about it because -they don't have one-

That's very reminiscent of their cuisine.

Before you make any suggestions, I'll point out preemptively that Fried Mars Bars are Scottish.

Cerberus

...

Mitch

Exactly

Matt E. Эллен

@Mitch I think you're forgetting Lord of The Rings. Specifically invented to be English mythology

Cerberus

Did it work?

Mitch

@MattE.Эллен I didn't forget

And I mean that to sting

Matt E. Эллен

19:41

@Cerberus yes?

I mean who doesn't know about it

@Mitch which I assume is glowing blue in my presence

Mitch

@MattE.Эллен nice

Matt E. Эллен

:D

I think I'm coming off as more serious about my position than I am

The only mythology in England is to do with the importance of pronouncing our place names correctly

oh, and how part of the Thames is called Isis in Oxford.

Cerberus

Why Isis?

Matt E. Эллен

Something to do with Egypt I think

Cerberus

Hmm.

Most unusual.

Matt E. Эллен

19:52

Wikipedia tells me that in the middle ages there was a folk etymology for the Tamesis (what the Thames used to be called), being Thame and Isis

Mitch

@MattE.Эллен wts

Matt E. Эллен

It's a crazy town. People just go and say things and then it becomes a tradition for the next 700 years

Cerberus

Ah, funny.

Such things happen.

It is a rather silly etymology, though.

Matt E. Эллен

Try pronouncing Magdalen in Oxford. It's less predictable than Worcestershire

well, maybe about the same amount of predictable

Cerberus

Maudlin?

That's how I would pronounce it.

Matt E. Эллен

20:00

yes

Cerberus

> Origin of maudlin
1500–10; special use of Maudlin,Middle English Maudelen ≪ Late Latin Magdalēnē<Greek Magdalēnḗ Mary Magdalene, portrayed in art as a weeping penitent

What do you know.

Matt E. Эллен

it's not pronounced like that anywhere else afaik

:-o

Cerberus

Maudlin is just an English variant of Magdalene!

Matt E. Эллен

TIL

Cerberus

20:15

And I.

Mitch

I didn't

Cerberus

You never learn, do you?

Mitch

Were we talking?

I mean if profanity wasn't so ... you know ... Then it wouldn't be profanity any more

Matt E. Эллен

comedians who swear a lot can be a profane gas

2

Cerberus

@Mitch You said you didn't learn today, right?

Mitch

20:32

Is this thing on? Can you hear me?

Cerberus

Matt said, "today I learned".

And I said, "and I".

Then you said, "I didn't".

Robusto

20:49

@Mitch I never disparaged any mythology, unless it is disparaging merely to call it a mythology.

Mitch

20:59

@Cerberus "didn't" is doing a lot of work there.

@Robusto Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you.

Cerberus

@Mitch I think it didn't do much.

Robusto

The Grateful Dead - Touch of Grey (Studio Version)

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Mitch

21:15

@Cerberus sigh

Cerberus

Sorry.

Mitch

The reason I don't read is because how annoying is that to have someone say their thoughts and put those thoughts in your head.

by reading

it's awful

If I want to have thoughts I'll do them myself.

Cerberus

This chat room must be very difficult for you.

Mitch

21:42

@Cerberus Not at all. I don't read anything in chat. If anything I say makes sense that's pure random luck.

Cerberus

22:06

@Mitch Oh, so you are like the average chat bot.

Makes sense.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…