English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

M.A.R.

00:46

@Robusto as I've said before, in the early months after the 1979 revolution, the army was disbanded. Various paramilitary groups were vying for power in different regions, and Saddam was baring his teeth, so Khomeini created a new force called Basij-e mostaz'afan (lit. The mobilization of the oppressed) to rebuild damaged infrastructure, snuff out all the little rebellions, and to serve as at least a temporary substitute for an army.

So it's more like a paramilitary group that's so expansive it covers all sorts of political and cultural purposes. It's often shortened to Basij, and its members are basijis. These days they serve as sort of a reserve, crushing protests and making people confess to things.

It's also nowadays used pejoratively to refer to a supporter of the current Islamic regime, whether or not they are a member of the basij.

It used to be a 'youth guard', I suppose. Now it's a huge organization that resembles the huge companies of the colonialism era that built infrastructure, educated the masses, got huge tax cuts and benefits, and had enough military power to overthrow the local government. Some of their most prominent activities in these decades has been to recruit children and such. They used to build mosques and clinics in remote areas. Well, it's voluntary work, some good people did some good things with it

An organization with millions of members was bound to be very heterogeneous. I'm rather sure nowadays they and support for the regime in general are much less popular

Truth be told, the bulk of the population is ambivalent about hijab or the murder of Amini. What's certain though is that with every episode of protests, the lie that "they're all just looters with nothing useful to say" erodes quite a bit. The state TV never acknowledged the protesters were anything but foreign agents a decade ago. They have changed their lines quite a bit, and are forced to back off a bit.

Cerberus

01:12

@M.A.R. What you are describing sounds similar to the Revolutionary Guard?

CowperKettle

02:17

> God graunt hem heuen-blis to mede
Þat herken to mi romaunce rede
Al of a gentil kniȝt;
Þe best bodi he was at nede
Þat euer miȝt bistriden stede
& freest founde in fiȝt.

What is bodi?

auchinleck.nls.uk/mss/guy_st.html

Cerberus

@CowperKettle Not body?

What is mede?

CowperKettle

@Cerberus I think that mede is liquor

Like Russian myod

Cerberus

Ah, that.

I thought it had to be a verb.

CowperKettle

ah.. then.. "made"?

Cerberus

No, you may very well be right.

I just wasn't thinking of the drink, also because it didn't make especial sense to me.

But then I don't know Middle English.

CowperKettle

02:22

> Balder bern was non in bi,
His name was hoten sir Gij

He was not bi, but yet he was hoten.

Robusto

@CowperKettle rede is counsel or advice, which would make sense there.

Cerberus

Yes.

@CowperKettle I don't know what be is here, something like by?

But hoten must be "be named".

Robusto

Yes, cognate to heissen, the past participle.

Cerberus

Dutch heten.

Robusto

Closer still.

In OE the pp simple present hiht, if I remember correctly.

Cerberus

02:28

ME is so much more readable.

Still not very much so, though...

Robusto

OE is farther from Modern English than Dutch is, I think.

Cerberus

I shouldn't be surprised!

Mitch

Basij

The Basij (Persian: بسيج, lit. "The Mobilization"), Niru-ye Moghāvemat-e Basij (Persian: نیروی مقاومت بسیج, "Resistance Mobilization Force"), full name Sâzmân-e Basij-e Mostaz'afin (Persian: سازمان بسیج مستضعفین, "The Organization for Mobilization of the Oppressed"), is one of the five forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The force is named Basij; an individual member is called basiji in the Persian language. As of July 2019, Gholamreza Soleimani is the commander of the Basij. A paramilitary volunteer militia established in Iran in 1979 by order of Ayatollah Khomeini, leader...

it is sort of part of administratively the Revolutionary Guard. (ie not the army, but a special branch of the government that is military but not the army). In the news, when they refer to the 'morality police' it's the Basiji they're referring to.

They do a lot more than just arrest women for showing too much hair.

I hate to draw the comparison because it is a bit extreme, but they're -sort of-, very distantly, analogous to the Nazi SS. The Basiji are not part of the army (the Wehrmacht), and are sort of connect to the Supreme leader (the current Ayatollah), sort of like a dictators personal army.

The rumor I've heard is that Khamenei is super sick and might die soon (but who knows what 'soon' means), and the Basiji are super loyal to the person Khamenei, which (the rumor reasoning goes) the Basiji won't be as supportive of the next ayatollah, whoever that might be, even his son (which I've been told is a possibility among a few). But, usual disclaimer, this is only what I've heard.

Cerberus

02:55

@Mitch Ah, it is good to know that that is what they mean by "the morality police".

In my memory, the Basiji were some general police/paramilitary organisation.

But consisting more of younger people without formal training?

As opposed to the main Revolutionary Guard organisation?

Mitch

@Cerberus something like all that...it's not clear.

Originally during and after the revolution, the Basiji were roaming bands of self-organizing youths that enforced Islamic principles (like the hijab or stopping corrupting western practices like drinking alcohol or playing music (I'm sort of guessing here))

but I'm pretty sure they eventually became organized with leaders and money from the government. So I don't know what their exact administrative status is now except what we know from that wiki article.

Cerberus

@Mitch I thought they were somewhere in between: more organised than in the beginning, but still a place were brash youths could join and beat up citizens while riding on scooters (for you: the big things with petrol engines).

Mitch

@Cerberus That's the impression I get too, some in between quasi-governmental but with questionable control.

1) I thought it was 'inbetween'.

Cerberus

Right.

2)

3)

Anyway.

Mitch

2) I think 'scooter means two things in the US a) a moped or Vespa, a gas powered mini motorcycle or

Cerberus

03:09

3)

Err I mean, 3(

Mitch

b) a 'Razor' (foot powered basically a metal skateboard with a handle above.

Cerberus

We have talked about the scooter!

Though I got the impression from you that it only meant b) to you.

To me, it's a) always.

Mitch

Yes, but I never explicitly said that in the US it is ambiguous and what the two definitions are.

Cerberus

No, indeed!

Mitch

I just did 'defnition scooter' on US google and it basically said what I said but only gave images for the 'skateboard with handles' definiiton.

Cerberus

03:12

Just as you told me.

Mitch

We've repeated many discussions but not said everything.

See! We've had -that- discussion and I hadn't said that before.

Here's a thing we haven't discussed - I heard that because of the summer drought, that the pilings for some older wooden buildings in Amsterdam were drying out and weakening leading to some instability. Have you heard similar?

Cerberus

Yes, that is an issue all over the country.

Mitch

What that sounds like to me is that possibly some of the canals are ... so low that maybe a few you can see the bottom? Is that right?

Cerberus

Low groundwater leaves the piles exposed to air.

@Mitch Noo!

Mitch

@Cerberus Ya gotta ask!

They're probably shallow though right?

Cerberus

03:21

Hmm a bit.

But they are of course not let run free.

Mitch

if the groundwater -in Amsterdam- is shallow, then one could infer that the canals are lower too, right?

@Cerberus I have no idea. DO you mean they are not let run free because they have controlled dams?

Cerberus

They are especially shallow when the dredge boats have left them to their own for too long, when the heaps of dead bicycles almost touch the water's surface.

Mitch

I mean it's in the name.

Cerberus

@Mitch Yes, everything is controlled in this country.

Sluices control the canals.

The water level is not left to chance.

Mitch

@Cerberus That sounds like the cutest eco-apocalypse

@Cerberus but...

Cerberus

03:24

@Mitch I don't think that actually happens, though.

Mitch

is the canal water there -salt water-? You know... ocean water?

Cerberus

Nope.

Mitch

Or is it filled from the river?

Cerberus

The water comes from the rivers and canals leading into the river Amstel, mainly.

Mitch

@Cerberus I mean the city should probably scour the canals for junk like dead bicycles.

Cerberus

03:25

Though it is now no doubt some complex network with feedback loops and whatever that I cannot fathom.

Mitch

@Cerberus so...

Cerberus

@Mitch Whence the dredge boats I spoke of.

@Mitch The water is not brackish.

Mitch

then the Amstel can't be too low. I mean there is the possibility that it could get so low that the canals that it feeds could dry up.

Cerberus

There are pumps all over the country.

Mitch

Or are you saying they'd just close the dams and no water would escape the canals?

Cerberus

03:26

That is what windmills are: they have provided our pumps with energy since the early Middle Ages.

@Mitch I praesume they would just use pumps to create the desired level.

Mitch

@Cerberus Yes, I've heard.

@Cerberus worded like that, it would seem they can't just conjure water out of nowhere.

Cerberus

Well, rivers have never dried up here.

If that ever happens, I'm sure we shall be prepared.

Water from the IJsselmeer might be let in.

But I have never heard of such a scenario.

The rivers were low this summer, but nowhere near empty.

Mitch

@Cerberus The news says 'drought' and also lots of European rivers drying up to the point of being non-navigable so I imagined the canals there lowering considerably too.

Cerberus

The great rivers were low.

Too low for some very deep and broad ships.

But not nearly so low as to be dry.

Mitch

@Cerberus Well, you are very close to the ocean and super flat so I'd expect water ever lowering there was to be not to the extent of up river.

@Cerberus Yeah it's very easy to not understand any subtlety when you're not 'there'

Cerberus

03:33

@Mitch Not sure what you mean.

Mitch

Like whenever there's some awful weather thing a thousand miles away, relatives will call and ask if everything is OK

Cerberus

The great rivers are very broad.

@Mitch True.

Who was it that was afraid to fly to Europe after the war in Ukraine had broken out?

I remember people saying that.

Mitch

@Cerberus I'm just trying to explain my geomorphological intuition. I don't expect the lower parts of rivers to dry out as much from a drought.

(though irrigation drainoffs from the river can stop water from reaching the sea)

@Cerberus Someone here?

Cerberus

@Mitch Probably not!

@Mitch I suspect the lower parts will usually be more constant than the higher parts?

I think irrigration is done here just by boring into ground water, not rivers.

Or sometimes from rivers, by using pumps and pipes, not really canals.

Generally, the country is built to get rid of water, not spread it.

Though that is now changing a bit, as you say...

Mitch

@Cerberus There's lots more soil (vs bedrock) to maintain water levels closer to average (at least in that area)

Cerberus

03:44

Hmm.

How does that work?

It's 5.45 AM and I'm eating.

Mitch

@Cerberus The examples I'm thinking of are the Amu Darya and the Colorado, both of which are over-used for irrigation. The Aral sea is now a very small lake because of it, and sometimes there is no output to the Bay of California by the Colorado. I'm not sure but the land around the mouths of both those rivers is not very much like northern Europe

@Cerberus Dinner or Breakfast?

OK...gotta bail...cya!

Cerberus

I know about the Colorado.

It was the same 15 years ago.

@Mitch As you say, the rivers of northern Europe are not used to irritate deserts.

@Mitch Supper!

Bye!

M.A.R.

06:09

@Cerberus IRGC is sepah, which is uh, the Islamic reinterpretation of "army"? Not so much paramilitary as perimilitary.

@Mitch I think that's wishful thinking right there. I'm almost sure the next Supreme leader will enjoy almost the same amount of support from people you'd expect would support him

@Mitch yeah, and plenty of governments before the Pahlavis had "mohtaseb"s, special cops that ensured the drunks didn't roam the streets, that sort of thing

@Cerberus well, they're really not Proud Boys. They don't roam the streets displaying batons or guns, which is more because people in general are much less religious than before than anything

@Cerberus that's either very healthy or very unhealthy, nothing in between

CowperKettle

06:53

Vikas

07:11

There is a project where they are making an artificial/ai brain. I read in a book.

CowperKettle

Yes, there are such projects. Blue Brain.

Blue Brain Project

The Blue Brain Project is a Swiss brain research initiative that aims to create a digital reconstruction of the mouse brain. The project was founded in May 2005 by the Brain and Mind Institute of École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland. Its mission is to use biologically-detailed digital reconstructions and simulations of the mammalian brain to identify the fundamental principles of brain structure and function. The project is headed by the founding director Henry Markram—who also launched the European Human Brain Project—and is co-directed by Felix Schürmann, Adriana Salvatore...

Human Brain Project

The Human Brain Project (HBP) is a large ten-year scientific research project, based on exascale supercomputers, that aims to build a collaborative ICT-based scientific research infrastructure to allow researchers across Europe to advance knowledge in the fields of neuroscience, computing, and brain-related medicine.The Project, which started on 1 October 2013, is a European Commission Future and Emerging Technologies Flagship. The HBP is coordinated by the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and is largely funded by the European Union. The project coordination office is in Geneva, Switzerland...

We propose that individuals incorrectly interpret their accuracy in predicting an event as an indication that they understand the event's underlying mechanism or process. We term this illusion prediction-comprehension bias (PCB)

jlliagre

08:14

Wordle 486 5/6

⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟩⬜🟨
🟩⬜⬜🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

CowperKettle

jlliagre

08:56

🌎 Oct 18, 2022 🌍
🔥 4 | Avg. Guesses: 7.27
🟧🟨🟥🟥🟥🟧🟥🟥
🟥🟥🟥🟥🟧🟥🟥🟩 = 16

#globle
Laborious...

Vikas

09:11

Wordle 486 5/6

🟨⬛🟨⬛🟩
⬛🟨🟨⬛🟩
⬛⬛🟨🟩🟩
⬛⬛🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Not so easy

CowperKettle

10:36

1939

Northern English word of the day: anyroad

A local of Bobruisk, Belarus, arrested for placing two yellow and blue memorial candles before a local memorial. The police found him by fingerprints.

He got 15 days in jail.

M.A.R.

11:23

Oct 22, 2021 at 16:27, by CowperKettle

It's healthy and tasty.

@CowperKettle aw yiss, someone agrees with my uneducated opinion. He must be right. No double checking needed.

jlliagre

@Vikas Not easy indeed. We often blindly ignore certain letters or combinations because they are unlikely to be present. A single random word is not aware of the statistics, it might well be an outlier.

Robusto

12:05

@Mitch lately it has also come to mean a larger Razor-shaped scooter powered by battery.

#Worldle #270 3/6 (100%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟨➡️
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟨↖️
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉
https://worldle.teuteuf.fr

Vikas

@jlliagre Ah yes. It looked almost unpredictable until you found the last letter. Then it was so obvious.

@Robusto Good.

Robusto

#Worldle #270 3/6 (100%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟨➡️
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟨↖️
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉
⭐
https://worldle.teuteuf.fr

I have no idea what the capital of this flyspeck is.

🌎 Oct 18, 2022 🌍
🔥 48 | Avg. Guesses: 5.78
🟨🟨🟥🟥🟩 = 5

#globle

Wordle 486 4/6

⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜
🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟩⬜🟩🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

CowperKettle

12:59

By Isaak Levitan

Vikas

13:14

What is the purpose of mid term elections in USA? The president remains same but other leaders can be shuffled? And do public vote like main elections or its some internal voting?

or it's*

Robusto

13:33

@Vikas Congress has elections every two years. Representatives serve two-year terms. Senators serve six-year terms, and some of those terms end on the mid-terms.

Vikas

@Robusto So it's basically election for Representatives and Senators?

Robusto

Yes.

Vikas

OK. And public vote for it like the usual four year elections?

Robusto

State offices may or may not have contemporaneous elections.

@Vikas Yes. Typically there is less turnout.

Vikas

Cool thanks!

> China speeding up plans for Taiwan unification, says US state secretary

CowperKettle

13:37

Cab Driver on the BBC

►

> was accidentally interviewed live on BBC News 24, a UK television news station, on Monday 8 May 2006.

> Although he thought the situation was strange, he believed he was about to be interviewed for a job.

> Kewney, still in the waiting area, was shocked when he saw Goma interviewed in his place, though he was not able to hear the audio.

> .. some outlets noted that Goma's prediction that more people would be using the internet to download music and other media they want was largely correct

Vikas

And now we are moving to streaming.

Robusto

@Vikas We are already there.

Mitch

@CowperKettle But what does 'anyroad' or any road' mean in Northern England? I can't make sense of it from that image

Vikas

@Robusto I mean still many people download music. It might get replaced significantly in near future.

Robusto

I have 15,000 tracks on my phone, but I hardly ever listen to them. I listen to Spotify instead. It's just simpler.

Vikas

13:43

Have you got 5G? We are getting it this year end.

Mitch

@Robusto Yes, they are slightly bigger than those kids scooters, but you still step on and off them easily and carry them when you get to your destination.

Robusto

@Vikas 5G is available here. My phone is 3 years old, though, so I'll pick it up next round. My wife's phone is 5G. I don't notice that it's much better than 4G, to be honest.

Vikas

@Robusto Yeah that is the point. I also have my old collection. They have their separate place. Actually, those are my favorite songs and still I stream different songs/music even thought that is not favorite.

@Robusto Some people here say the newer 5G phones might not be good/efficient.

CowperKettle

@Mitch It means "anyway"

Vikas

Also, I guess 5G in India == 4G in USA/UK.

I have a 4G phone so I can't use 5G anyway until it dies.

Any road I'm not sure about pricing. It might be expensive.

Mitch

13:48

@M.A.R. Yes, that sounds likely.

@CowperKettle 👍

CowperKettle

👳‍♂️

Mitch

@CowperKettle Wait... what does -that- mean?

Vikas

Oops.

I was also going to ask a question then I saw this.

Haven't asked in long time.

The reason I think is most my questions got closed. Not downvoted.

Mitch

@Cerberus bedrock vs soil, and coastal areas vs upland? It's all a mix of soil created from millions of year of trees plus glacial scraping plus erosion towards river deltas plus loess (wind blown dust over the years creating a layer of soil plus river deposits etc etc etc

@Vikas when I first started it was very frustrating getting a question closed... it took a while to figure out how to ask a non-closable question.

Vikas

@Mitch In my case now I can see one of reasons is I haven't included what I have researched.

@Mitch I know that feel BTW :P

I have many English questions. I have done simple google search and dictionary search but couldn't understand some phrase meanings in books. I should ask on ELL? That would be better? It is more about grammar and sentences and phrase meanings.

Mitch

14:14

@Vikas Depending on the question ELL may be better.

The name ELL is unfortunate because native speakers are often unsure about what is 'right'.

If you're asking "Is X or X' correct?" then ELL is a better fit. If you're asking "What is X?" then more likely ELU (but there's lots of overlap). Both do grammar and punctuation and phrase meanings, but ELL leans toward what is correct, and ELU leans toward what are all the variations.

CowperKettle

@Mitch A head in a turban hat

💃

Mitch

14:27

@CowperKettle And what does -that- mean?

Vikas

@Mitch Looks like a Sikh man.

It actually is. Mobile shows more accurate version.

But why he used is the mystery!

Mitch

@CowperKettle OK flamenco dancer. But what does that mean?

I will start using it without knowing its intention. And change according to who yells at me the loudest.

@Vikas my emoji picker says 'man with recent head surgery'

Robusto

14:56

@M.A.R. They tell us that prescription medications must be discarded after one year. Is that really true? I mean, I know some of them must keep their efficacy long after that seemingly arbitrary expiration date. Are there any that absolutely will perish under that kind of timeframe?

Mitch

@Robusto also they say don't flush them down the toilet or just throw the bottle into the trash, but you should grind them up and mix with cat litter before putting in the trash. You know to stop drug dealers from going through your trash and reselling them.

I mean if it's not used cat litter I don't see what the deal is.

Robusto

@Mitch Yeah, not gonna happen. I generally just flush them. If people are drinking my toilet water, they're not too worried about health anyway.

Mitch

@Robusto You have cats ya know

You don't want them getting high off your drugged up toilet

Robusto

I flush after use.

Mitch

15:15

👍

M.A.R.

@Robusto if this is advice given to you by some healthcare professional, it sounds like it's due to some practical considerations that might be unique to your area, more specifically, how people in your city behave towards doctors or their attitude towards their drugs.

Robusto

@M.A.R. This is what pharmacies put on their pill bottles: a "discard by" date, which is one year after the date fillled.

M.A.R.

The dose and the number of prescribed medications are adjusted to match the duration of therapy. Ideally, you'd either be treated successfully (e.g. getting rid of an infection) or would need to visit the doctor again for a follow-up

@Robusto if this does not match the expiration date of the pills, I'd guess it's more a recommendation then

However, in Iran for example, people rarely show up for a follow-up, maybe because they mistakenly assume good doctors don't need to monitor their patients or something like that. So you might see a doctor prescribe more pills than necessary, because they can't be sure the patient would show up for a follow-up

Furthermore, sometimes the pharmacist or the doctor forgets to mention to discontinue the drug after a period of X weeks or after surgery. Once again, refills are a bit chaotic in Iran, so ideally a pharmacist has to perform "medication reconciliation" to adjust the necessarily pills according to the needs of the patient. A preemptive label to get rid of the drug after a certain date could avoid a lot of these problems

Robusto

15:32

@M.A.R. Well, here's an example: In 2020 I had thyroiditis, which caused my TSH to drop to .007, which caused me to have an insanely high heart rate. When I finally got hooked up with an endocrinologist, she gave me a beta blocker, propanolol, which I used while my thyroid was getting back in gear. I still have lots of those pills left, and I keep them around in case such a thing happens again. Now it's 2.5 years later. Do they have any risk of losing most of their potency?

M.A.R.

Let's see, what else? Well, maybe older patients in your area mix up their pill bottles a lot, so the advice would help avoid some dangerous drug overdoses

@Robusto it's often that, yes. A lot of the API would degrade into inactive compounds after the expiry date. Sometimes very toxic compounds are produced instead, and those expired drugs would be dangerous

Robusto

@M.A.R. Do you know if that's true of propanolol?

M.A.R.

I think it isn't, (i.e. you'd probably get something like half the dose on the label) but let me check

M.A.R.

15:51

@Robusto I didn't find any toxic degradation products for propranolol, but I wouldn't recommend taking the tablets if they have expired. Depending on the process used in the manufacture of the pills, and their storage conditions, the container etc., other components of the pill may be contaminated.

Robusto

@M.A.R. Seriously?

M.A.R.

IOW I think it's unlikely anything will happen (just that if the pills are 40 mg per tablet, you'll probably get 20 mg) but I wouldn't take any chances

Robusto

But there is a one-size-fits-all expiration date. My point is that feels more like a lawyer's warning to protect the pharmacy or the doctor, not really to protect the patient.

M.A.R.

@Robusto I don't think I've gotten the full picture. Are these capsules that are filled by the pharmacists? What kind of packaging do they have?

You're right that there's no one-size-fits-all expiration date

Robusto

@M.A.R. They come in a plastic bottle with a child-proof cap, amber translucent plastic, stored in the dark medicine cabinet in the bathroom.

M.A.R.

15:56

And no digitally printed expiry date?

Robusto

Yes, a digitally printed one that is exactly one year after the fill date.

Never mind how long the pills were on the pharmacy shelves before filling.

M.A.R.

Here, the manufacturer prints the production date, expiry date, the batch number, and a couple of other things

Robusto

Yeah, we don't get the production date.

M.A.R.

@Robusto that's weird. I dunno why it works like that

Robusto

Because there are many puzzling things about the way drugs are described and dispensed here.

M.A.R.

15:59

I've never heard any of our instructors rant about inaccurate expiry dates on pill bottles, and they rant about a lot of things. It does sound suspicious, but I can't discard the possibility that it makes some medical sense

Pfizer products that are sold here follow the same prd date/exp date pattern

(As Iranian or other products)

Robusto

Hmm.

Well, I suppose in the event I ever have a similar thing, I'm sure I would give those tablets a try. There are few things that distressed me more than lying in bed with a heart rate around 100 bpm.

Even when I had thyroiditis, half a pill would put me down in the normal range.

M.A.R.

I think propranolol tablets that we sell expire after three years or so. They're in sealed blisters though.

Robusto

Thanks for the info.

M.A.R.

I don't remember seeing any sort of pill in a capped bottle that is supposed to go bad only after the bottle is opened. It's a much different issue with syrups and eye drops, of course: Once you open them, syrups may go bad as soon as a few days, even in the fridge, depending on the drug, and eye drops would have to be discarded after 28 days

I'll still research this a bit more and get back to you if I hear anything more from seasoned pharmacists

Robusto

16:16

@M.A.R. You are most kind.

M.A.R.

16:35

👳‍♂️👍

jlliagre

16:47

La palabra del día #285 4/6

⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜
🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

https://lapalabradeldia.com/
The first time I guess an anagram!

Vikas

@Mitch lolz

Robusto

Nov 4, 2015 at 15:44, by Robusto

anagrams => ars magna => a ram sang

Robusto

17:13

@Mitch: Of your emoji links, one is not available, one is Irish Times, and one is an India local broadcast station? I am comfortable with using the thumbs up to mean what I have always used it to mean: something or other. 👍

Mitch

17:34

@Robusto thanks. fixed

@CowperKettle @Vikas Before I bother meta I should at least try here... if you think it appropriate, please vote to reopen:

0

Q: What up with '👍'?

What's the deal with the :thumbsup: '👍' emoji? As an ideographic representation of a well-known (if not universal gesture). It (the emoji) presumably means in English speaking culture an approval or acknowledgement. "bus late on my way home" "👍" Yet, lately I'm hearing that '👍' can be perc...

Robusto

@Mitch I voted to reopen, just because it was closed by the most censorious among us, but I'm not entirely comfortable conflating the English language in particular with semiotics in general.

Mitch

@Robusto That deserves to be in an answer!

Robusto

Which part?

Mitch

the last part about semiotics and conflating and stuff

Robusto

17:52

Maybe later. I need to run some errands.

Mitch

@Robusto Maybe by then the question will have been reopened?

Robusto

Maybe. I did my part.

But now you owe me a coffee if we ever meet.

Mitch

I think I can handle that

Faheem Mitha

18:18

@Mitch I think treating a simple thumbs up as sarcasm is overloading a simple gesture.

I don't really see how this belongs on an English language site. Are emojis part of English now?

If I was writing Chinese I could include a thumbs-up emoji as well, couldn't I?

Cerberus

> including a period at the end of a sentence is considered a bit authoritarian in chat

@Mitch You have a strange intuition there.

@CowperKettle That is pretty good.

And he is right, of course.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…