English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

tchrist

15:01

@Jez Wha?

Jez

@Robusto don't forget the Red Dwarf appearance

@tchrist Hertfordshire

tchrist

No no no no. I know. My family is from there. I just couldn’t believe how dumb that line was.

Jez

maybe "called" should've been "in"

BESW

@Jez Given the context? No, they meant "called."

Matt Эллен

> Jane Austen also enjoys excessively writing about one subject in the story, which can be difficult to sit through to read. But it still shows that Jane is a great author, especially during her time.

Robusto

15:03

If you leave (non-pornographic) books in your car, no one will break in.

Matt Эллен

I have an anti-tiger book.

I've not once been attacked by a tiger while reading it

RegDwighт

If you leave no car around your books, there will be nothing to break in into.

MετάEd

If you leave non-pornographic books in your car, you can use them to provide traction if you get stuck in the snow.

Robusto

@MετάEd Still, sand is probably the better bet. Those pages just get slippery in the snow.

At work we have a shelf of "retired" tech books, which no one will ever read again because they're from like ten years ago. But nobody even makes an effort to recycle them into useful compounds.

And by shelf I mean shelving unit.

Probably 200 books in all.

It's amazing how quickly tech books go out of date.

See if you can guess who these guys are.

Matt Эллен

bill nye and three other people

BESW

15:09

I see the Eleventh Doctor.

Robusto

Two right so far. Cheat sheet

BESW

Guy in black is awfully famliar.

Oh, right. That thing I never watch but the Internet likes.

Robusto

There are many things in heaven and the Internet not dreamt of in your TV listing, Horatio.

> It is generally considered a pretty, romantic book - like a swan on a lake. But much like the swan, it's what happening underneath that's important.

haha. Amazon reviews of Jane Austen are funny.

BESW

@Robusto McTabby does the same thing with the blurbs authors write for their Harry Potter fanfics. She calls them Summary Executions.

RegDwighт

@Robusto hey, I got me correctly.

And Bill Nye is clearly played by Wolfgang Joop.

Robusto

15:18

Haha. His name rhymes with poop.

Neil DeGrass Tyson gets zombied.

FX is like FOX except without the zeroes.

> [Pride and Prejudice] is simply a 19th century British version of the Jerry Springer show.

"Growing Pains" becomes groɪŋ penz in IPA. Interesting.

> I must admit that this is a very well written book: the situations, the characters, the idea. I must also admit, though, that for that very fact, I didn't enjoy the book. The book was a comedy of manners on society and people. Most of the people were irritating, and I couldn't get into it. This is not to say that there is a flaw in Austen's writing. She is a most excellent authoress. I was so annoyed by the well-written characters that I couldn't enjoy them.

That's either a stupid comment or brilliant, understated satire. I can't make up my mind.

BESW

@Robusto Yes?

Matt Эллен

15:36

why-is-word-x-word-x-and-not-word-y

BESW

@MattЭллен [sniff] It's beautiful.

Matt Эллен

if only tags could be that long

Matt Эллен

15:49

chow!

Robusto

ciao for nao!

Cerberus

Morning!

> Kort na de crash vertelde de machinist zelf al dat hij te snel reed. Hij zou 190 kilometer per uur hebben gereden waar hij maar 80 mocht.

Engine driver was driving at 190 km/h where 80 was the maximum.

80 people die.

Robusto

16:04

What's your point?

Mitch

@Cerberus I know! right?

Oh. I thought it mean he was 80 years old.

Really, in NLand, there are no roads long enough to get up to that speed. So I think what was meant is that the driver was -revving- the engine that if it were moving (it was in meutral) it would have been going 190km/h.

And all those people were killed by the mind piercing scream of the engine metal grinding on itself. You know, a cranial explosion by matching its base frequency.

Robusto

@Mitch I think he's talking about a train, not an automobile.

Cerberus

@Mitch Umm this is about a Spanish train accident that happened yesterday.

Robusto

Spanish train accident.

Cerberus

I was shocked at the margin by which the driver exceeded the speed limit.

Robusto

16:18

You think bikes are safer? Dream on..

Speed kills.

For the crashblossom files: Arresting Portraits of Children in Water.

Cerberus

No prison?

And Aaron Swartz was facing 50 years or something?

Driving into pedestrians at 50 km/h is rather serious, I should think.

Well, biking.

Unless there was some reason why he couldn't brake.

Robusto

He could brake. And if he couldn't, he shouldn't have been riding in San Francisco.

There are plenty of these in SF.

If you don't check your brakes when you start driving or cycling, you are a dangerous idiot.

And the guy was running red lights as well. That is a prescription for disaster.

Cerberus

16:34

Wow.

That's like a mountain!

So why was he not punished more severely?

Robusto

He was punished more severely than any other cyclist in the U.S.

@Cerberus That's exactly what it is.

Cerberus

16:50

@Robusto It's still just community service.

Robusto

But he's now a convicted felon. That is a huge deal.

Cerberus

Still, no prison sentence?

Robusto

The consequences convicted felons face in most states include:
Disenfranchisement (which is expressly permitted by the Fourteenth Amendment, as noted by the Supreme Court)
Exclusion from obtaining certain licenses, such as a visa, or professional licenses required in order to legally operate (making some vocations off-limits to felons)
Exclusion from purchase and possession of firearms, ammunition and body armor
Ineligibility for serving on a jury
Ineligibility for government assistance or welfare, including being barred from federally funded housing

In many cases, it would be preferable to serve time for a misdemeanor than to get probation as a felon.

But neither is an attractive alternative, of course.

Anyway, mahlzeit.

Cerberus

@Robusto Wow. That is draconic.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@tchrist that was a good read.

Cerberus

17:02

Why are those things "automatic" punishments, rather than explicitly meted out by a judge?

Your country is so very different from mine.

Matt Эллен

Cerberus

Heh.

Was it Mindy from Puddleton?

Matt Эллен

How did you know?

Cerberus

17:24

Hah!

►

3

Cat friend v. dog friend.

Mitch

@Robusto oh. Oops. Actual tragedy. My misunderstanding.

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus haha

Sudhir

Hi @Cerberus

Good Evening.

Hi @MattЭллен

How do you do?

busy?

Johan Larsson

17:50

@Cerberus fun enough for a star but not really fair to dogs imo.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@RegDwighт instructables.com/id/LEGO-Optical-Illusion-Mosaic

David Wallace

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 Why do you always link to such awesome things?

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@DavidWallace :D

RegDwighт

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 oh yeah, I"ve seen another one a couple weeks back. Don't remember where. But the illusion was even stronger, actually.

David Wallace

My illusion's better than your illusion!

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

17:55

Use Your Illusion I and II

nothin' lasts foreva / even cold november rain

Johan Larsson

Is 'You could be mine' on use you illusion? checked it, yes it is

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

:)

I must nom.

David Wallace

I just nam!

FumbleFingers

@RegDwighт Hi Reg! tchrist recently gave me some clues for identifying our "resident troll" norton, which raises my suspicions about this one on ELL. Can you perhaps check it out?

MετάEd

18:11

@FumbleFingers Doesn't fit the profile.

@FumbleFingers That's not to say, of course, that NS couldn't have changed his M.O.

@FumbleFingers I'd say definitely not. The responses in comment especially don't fit the profile. They're not insane.

RegDwighт

@FumbleFingers I'll have to bounce this right off to @wendikidd, as I do not have mod rights on ELL and cannot check certain things that give him away here on ELU in under a second.

And yeah, @tchrist has been busy.

Johan Larsson

What did the troll do and what did thcrist do?

RegDwighт

The troll did his usual shtick.

So did tchrist, in a way.)))

David Wallace

@FumbleFingers I don't think he's ever been known just to be a numbered user. He always makes up a name.

RegDwighт

That is true.

Matt Эллен

18:26

►

FumbleFingers

Okay, well thanx to all for the feedback

WendiKidd

18:53

@RegDwighт @FumbleFingers Thanks for the tip to that user; right now they aren't doing anything out of the ordinary but I will keep an eye on it! Anything you can tell me about why you suspect the account would be helpful :)

And Reg, you can ping me in the TL if you want to compare identifying info to confirm or deny.

RegDwighт

19:08

Yeah I know. I'm just passing suspicions around, I do not have any info of my own.

Cerberus

19:34

@RegDwighт A responsible citizen would do no less.

Stack Exchange

Limerick Machine: Although the magic roundabout is worse

posted on July 25, 2013 by sgdi

Writing a lim’rick a day Is not as quite taxing as say Wrestling a bear In your underwear Or driving through Swindon’s one way

Adrian Panasiuk

20:21

Hey guys, do you happen to know an abbreviation that means "including", like in "I eat many vegetables, including tomatoes and celery" ?

Robusto

incl.

Adrian Panasiuk

Didn't think of that, thanks!

RegDwighт

20:47

@Cerberus a lazy citizen would do no more.

MετάEd

@Cerberus An authoritarian follower would do it early and often.

FumbleFingers

@WendiKidd 1) Several questions which seem slightly "provocative" to me. 2) therefore the OP may not be exactly a "learner", but he's posted no answers. 3) no space after ">" at the start of "citation" line. 4) No other SO history, but seems to use our markup fluently.

tchrist

21:05

This gives me pause.

-1

Q: how to answer the sentence "how are you going?"

i found the following dialogue somewhere. The answer given is C. I am a little bit confused about it. How are you going, buddy? ________. A little busy, though. The options given for the blank were: A. Not too bad B. Can't be worse C. On my own D. By train I want to know which an...

sentences

Mr Bayes has made his vote.

@Reg go huddle with @Wend and tell her what I know you're going to tell her. Pretty please.

Johan Larsson

curious here

tchrist

Secret decoder ring

A secret decoder ring (or secret decoder) is a device which allows one to decode a simple substitution cipher - or to encrypt a message by working in the opposite direction. As inexpensive toys, they have been often used as promotional items by retailers, radio and television programs from the 1930s through to the current day. Decoders, whether badges or rings, are a fun way for children to tap into a common fascination with encryption, ciphers, and secret codes, and are used to send hidden messages back and forth to one another. History Secret decoders are generally circular scales; des...

Cerberus

@MετάEd How can one be authoritarian and a follower?

0

A: What does "Can it!" mean, as used by Alex Chadwick?

I hate to say this, since I prefer decorous language to gutter lingo, but "Can it!" is a shortened and more decorous way to say "Shit can it!" or "Take what you're saying and throw it into the shit can!" because that's all it's worth. It has absolutely nothing to do with food preservation. You...

What do you think, is this true?

tchrist

21:22

@Cerberus Nope.

Cerberus

Okay.

Robusto

@Cerberus I think it's kinda true. I think "shit can" is a vulgar variation of "can" but that the can in question was the trash can. "Shit can it" is just more crude and emphatic.

Cerberus

OK, so why do think it's the trash can?

And do you ever say just "can" for trash can?

I know "can" is used for the john.

MετάEd

21:48

Right-wing authoritarianism

Right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) is a personality and ideological variable studied in political, social, and personality psychology. Right-wing authoritarians are people who have a high degree of willingness to submit to authorities they perceive as established and legitimate, who adhere to societal conventions and norms, and who are hostile and punitive in their attitudes towards people who don't adhere to them. They value uniformity and are in favour of using group authority, including coercion, to achieve it. History The concept of right-wing authoritarianism was introduced in 1981 by ...

@Cerberus Also home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Johan Larsson

ha

puppy pic for balance

RegDwighт

huddles with @WendiKidd to please @tchrist

MετάEd

22:05

@RegDwighт @tchrist likes to watch.

Trivia contest: what movie is that from.

Johan Larsson

the cat gif?

MετάEd

22:19

@JohanLarsson It's not from the cat gif.

Johan Larsson

:)

Cerberus

22:40

@MετάEd Of course I knew what you meant, but I prefer to use authoritarian to mean "dictatorial", not "authoritarianist".

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 Ohhh fear mah banana!

MετάEd

@Cerberus Authoritarian followers is not a contradiction. Authoritarians are those who "have a high degree of willingness to submit to authorities". "Trust the police" is an authoritarian statement even when you are not the police.

Cerberus

I am willing to concede the noun, because it cannot be confused with the basic meaning of the adjective.

But I do not like it when people attach a new meaning to a word that is in an important way the opposite of its basic meaning.

I would call a follower of communism a communist, not a common.

Nor a Leninist a Lenin.

MετάEd

@Cerberus There is a personality disorder more aligned with what you are saying and called "Authoritarian Personality".

Cerberus

I claim that, and I hereby authorise and command you to use the word as I say.

MετάEd

@Cerberus I order you to command and authorize me.

Cerberus

22:55

@MετάEd But you are an authoritarian follower according to your own definition, aren't you?

You can't be both definitions at once.

BESW

Cerberus

inserts left head

Now what happens?

MετάEd

@Cerberus Eh?

Above I am impersonating not an authoritarian follower but an authoritarian personality disorder.

Cerberus

Well, then you can't order me. There can be only one authority, and you're not it, being a follower.

Oh.

The personality-disorder part got through.

BESW

@Cerberus That feels like a false dichotomy; isn't the world full of people in a position of authority over some, but who are themselves answerable to a different authority? Hence the "middle management" reference.

Cerberus

23:06

@BESW Well, yes, but not within the one-dimensional relationship between the follower and the followed.

You're introducing complexities! Authoritarianists like simple world views!

What's next, nuance!?

BESW

Nah, I'm a traditionalist when it comes to ances. These nuances aren't as good as the old ones.

[ducks]

Cerberus

Heh.

I appreciate your reationar(ity? -ism?). It seems compatible with the preluminary* essence of authoritarianism.

*) Before the Enlightenment.

MετάEd

@BESW Yes, those were finance.

BESW

23:36

Ursula Vernon just posted a poem: Wordcount

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@Cerberus we all fear your banana.

Cerberus

And rightly so.

@BESW Haha nice.

BESW

Ursula Vernon is pretty amazing; she's written and illustrated a Hugo-winning graphic novel that is available for free online, and is the author/illustrator of the Dragonbreath series.

She's also the woman who painted the original Lolwut pear.

Cerberus

I think I've heard of that.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…