English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

KitFox

00:04

@BESW well, that's a fine rabbit hole you've sent me down.

BESW

@KitFox You're welcome, it was my pleasure.

KitFox

Have you been here all day?

BESW

I slept for a bit.

I'm self-employed and work out of the house so I can help take care of my father, and I'm on the other side of the world.

KitFox

The inside? Intriguing.

BESW

Guam.

KitFox

00:07

Oh. That's slightly less intriguing.

Maybe you know my boss.

Everyone in Guam knows everyone else, right?

BESW

Naturally.

All 160,000 of us.

KitFox

Yeah, like the Canadians.

BESW

In seriousness, it's hard to go to the store without seeing someone you know, and the process of two strangers figuring out how they're connected to each other is almost formalized.

KitFox

I live in a rural area, and it is very similar.

tchrist

@MετάEd Being There

KitFox

00:18

And now I'm off to watch the TV. Night!

BESW

ttfn

KitFox

Tigger. bounce

WendiKidd

@KitFox I got a migration flag to send this question your way. You want it?

0

Q: Why are these present perfect?

From you have I been [A] absent in the spring, When proud-pied April dress'd in all his trim Hath put [A’] a spirit of youth in every thing That heavy Saturn laugh'd and leap'd [B] with him. Yet nor the lays of birds nor the sweet smell Of different flowers in odor and in hue Could mak...

tense

Whoops. Just noticed you said you were leaving! I shall poke Mr. @Reg then. :)

TRiG

Ever seen this writing style?

Robusto

@TRiG Got milk?

Cerberus

00:32

@TRiG Journal style.

Also used in novels.

Robusto

And chats.

Cerberus

And very casual texts.

Jinx.

WendiKidd

@TRiG Occasionally in chat situations, yes; I'll say things like "have to go now" or "am almost there". But not when writing long paragraphs like that! If you intentionally did it while writing an entire essay I think it would get annoying, haha

TRiG

@WendiKidd Heh. I said almost exactly the same over there.

WendiKidd

CEEEERB. <3

Robusto

00:33

Never bothered me, dropping subjects.

WendiKidd

@Robusto Doesn't bother me a line at a time, but I think it would get old pretty quick if an entire book was written that way, for instance.

Cerberus

Entries in a dog's journal:

8:00 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE!

9:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVORITE!

9:40 am - OH BOY! A WALK! MY FAVORITE!

10:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVORITE!

11:30 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE!

12:00 noon - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVORITE!

1:00 PM - OH BOY! THE YARD! MY FAVORITE!

1:30 PM - ooooooo. bath. bummer.

4:00 PM - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVORITE!

5:00 PM - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE!

5:30 PM - OH BOY! MOM! MY FAVORITE!

3

Robusto

I think you mean CERRRRB. CEEEERB is too weird.

Cerberus

Entries in a cat's journal:

DAY 752 - My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am forced to eat dry cereal. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope of escape, and the mild satisfaction I get from ruining the occasional piece of furniture. Tomorrow I may eat another house plant.

DAY 761 - Today my attempt to kill my captors by weaving around their feet while they were walking almost succeeded, must try this at the top of the stairs. In an attempt to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induced …

3

Robusto

@WendiKidd Well, Elmore Leonard made a career out of it.

Cerberus

00:34

@WendiKidd Agree.

TRiG

@WendiKidd It could be an interesting experimental style for a first-person novel.

WendiKidd

@Cerberus bwahahahaha

Cerberus

(You can see the cat dropping subjects in typical journal-writing style here and there.)

Robusto

@Cerberus My cats try to trip me as I walk down the stairs.

Cerberus

@Robusto See?

Robusto

00:35

i no rite

BESW

I see no difference between that and any other form of implied subject, like "Take out the trash, please."

TRiG

> Must learn what this is and how to use it to my advantage.

Cerberus

@BESW That's an imperative. It is standard for imperatives to have no subject expressed.

Robusto

Hot in here, yeah?

Cerberus

@TRiG Zactly.

BESW

00:36

Provided the implied subject is clear, there is no problem.

TRiG

@BESW That does have an implied subject, I suppose, but, given that it's an imperative, there's actually no way to include the subject, supposing you wanted to.

Cerberus

It's casual with non-imperatives.

Robusto

@TRiG Get out! No way!

BESW

Aye, but the point stands: in some cases the subject is clear without being explicit, and sometimes it is even awkward to make it explicit.

WendiKidd

@TRiG Hm? Sure there is. "I must learn..." "You must learn..." "We must learn..."

BESW

00:39

Indeed, we have an entire set of such cases in which this is standardized.

Cerberus

@BESW I suppose, but...what were you trying to prove or support?

RegDwighт

-1

A: What is the meaning and etymology of "ruthless?"

"R" denotes a moving out and away from an original source. "U" comes into play as the movement away from the source softens and transforms the original place, allowing for a shift in the observed truth. As this occurs, the ability to act from another source allows for a shift in the point of orig...

wut

Cerberus

@WendiKidd Those aren't true imperatives.

WendiKidd

@RegDwighт o.O

TRiG

@WendiKidd Er. That's a different form.

@RegDwighт That is ... kind of awesome.

Cerberus

00:40

@RegDwighт Too weird for spam, I think.

tchrist

@RegDwighт Wait till he does Karlsruhe.

BESW

Just that I feel the issue is one of clarity rather than form. (And overuse of any particular grammatic device becomes grating.)

TRiG

Of course, Nancy Blackett was so named because pirates are ruthless.

RegDwighт

@tchrist you mean he's Rocco Siffredi?

WendiKidd

@RegDwighт you want this question? I was asked to check with you guys. :)

0

Q: Why are these present perfect?

From you have I been [A] absent in the spring, When proud-pied April dress'd in all his trim Hath put [A’] a spirit of youth in every thing That heavy Saturn laugh'd and leap'd [B] with him. Yet nor the lays of birds nor the sweet smell Of different flowers in odor and in hue Could mak...

tense

tchrist

00:42

meh

RegDwighт

I dunno.

WendiKidd

@tchrist Hey, just doing what I'm asked ;)

RegDwighт

For all I care, the answer is "because it's poetry".

WendiKidd

haha

RegDwighт

Well, I'm serious.

WendiKidd

00:44

No I know. That's fine, just following through on the request. I'm not sure how I feel about lyric/poem interpretation questions, but since Stoney specifically asked I figured I'd check!

tchrist

@RegDwighт The collocation of Karlsruhe with Rocco Siffredi leads somewhere I did not need to go.

I don’t even understand the question.

RegDwighт

@WendiKidd well, Stoney is Samuel L Johnson.

You have to be careful with Johnsons. They have weird requests.

tchrist

@WendiKidd Those aren’t imperatives!

BESW

@WendiKidd Reminds me of scifi.se's struggle with questions that are best answered "because of the narrative and economical imperatives imposed by the medium and the context of its creation."

RegDwighт

@tchrist Rocco Siffredi, which is this guy here for those who don't know,

Rocco Siffredi

Rocco Siffredi (born Rocco Antonio Tano, 4 May 1964, in Ortona, Abruzzo) is the stage name of an Italian pornographic actor, director and producer of pornographic movies who is known for his rough sex scenes. As of October 2011, he has starred in more than 450 pornographic films. Rocco took his stage name from the character "Roch Siffredi" played by Alain Delon in the French gangster film Borsalino (1970). He is also known as the "Italian Stallion". Porn career Siffredi met porn actor Gabriel Pontelo in a French sex club in 1984. The actor introduced Siffredi to producer Marc Dorcel an...

tchrist

00:47

You know, I don’t think they meant “performed anal sex” in quite the way I was thinking.

RegDwighт

used to star in movies by the title "Rocco does Prague" or "Rocco does Poland", or what have you.

WendiKidd

@tchrist I misunderstood the statement. All I got was "you can't add a subject to the beginning of this sentence." I'm tired, forgive me :)

RegDwighт

I'm sure he did Karslsruhe at some point.

How could he not.

tchrist

Google Karlsruhe with Rocco Siffred.

3

2

RegDwighт

[NSFW]

tchrist

00:48

1

“Performed anal sex” sounds like some sort of grand Houdini act in the circus’s big tent, with bright lights and lots and lots of paying spectators.

TRiG

@tchrist I get the choice of three videos: gay | german | german.

tchrist

Ja, und?

TRiG

@tchrist I would see those labels as orthogonal.

tchrist

I got Lesbian Doctor, German Feet, Lesbian Gyno.

I don’t why it think I’m a lesbian.

RegDwighт

You no speaky english?

tchrist

00:51

Is that how you can tell?

RegDwighт

Note to self: Rocco Siffredi makes tchrist forget English.

tchrist

I’m having cause-and-effect fugue.

RegDwighт

Huhuh, you said fugue.

Anyway I have to leave you now as I must eat soup.

Toddles.

tchrist

@RegDwighт That’s because ricercar is offensive to Orientals.

Cerberus

I'm part oriental!

How dare you call me a ricecart!

Or oriental!

WendiKidd

00:55

You've all lost me at this point.

tchrist

@WendiKidd Ask @Rob, I’m sure he’d be glad to explain it.

Robusto

Huh?

tchrist

We hopskotch a lot here. Lovely Wendikit’s not used to connecting the dots.

Cerberus

She is lovely.

tchrist

> Halliburton Co has agreed to plead guilty to destroying evidence related to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Thursday. The government said Halliburton's guilty plea is the third by a company over the spill and requires the world's second-largest oilfield services company to pay a maximum $200,000 statutory fine.

You know, that seems nearly inconsequentially low a figure.

Why don’t people go to jail?

Can’t they sent Halliburton Co. to jail?

> Halliburton also agreed to three years of probation and to continue cooperating with the criminal probe into the April 20, 2010, explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. Court approval is required. Houston-based Halliburton also made a separate, voluntary $55 million payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Justice Department said.

In order for exactly which persons to get out of a jail sentence?

Robusto

01:03

@tchrist That's less than if we all got together and decided to fine you a nickel.

tchrist

“Separate, voluntary $55 million payment”.

It’s a fucking misdemeanor is the problem.

TRiG

@tchrist Can we send First National Bank to jail too?

Cerberus

Yes, they really should try the person(s) responsible for that decisions. Only then can you truly deter them and others from doing it again.

@TRiG Yes, banks, please!

Robusto

Yeah. Corporations are people, according to the Supreme Court. But how come those "people" never go to jail?

tchrist

With friends like Dick Cheney, who needs courts?

Pretty sure a misdemeanor conviction can carry jail time.

Robusto

01:06

@tchrist Yeah, but can Dick Cheney ever truly be your friend? I mean, can a caterpillar ever have a spider for a friend?

tchrist

But he offered to let me hang from his web while I pupate! It looked so comfy!

Robusto

That's the mistake a lot of caterpillars make.

tchrist

Name that quote: “You’d be surprised how many kings are really just queens with a mustache.”

Or rather, movie it’s from.

Or who delivered it.

►

Not what you’d expect, eh?

Robusto

From Danny kaye?

tchrist

Yup.

Robusto

01:19

I'm pretty sure I've heard the song.

tchrist

Yeah. It’s of course from Hans Christians Andersen.

He was knighted in Denmark for that role.

►

I don’t know if I was five when I first saw the movie. I thought it was the most wonderful thing in the world.

I think I’ve loved anything he was ever in.

His verbal acrobatics are awesome.

He was always so full of energy and cheer. And he had a lovely voice. And, apparently, a genuinely kind disposition.

> The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true!

►

It’s from there.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

01:37

Can I assume that if a hotel room has an in-suite jacuzzi tub thing that said tub thing seats two or more?

Robusto

I would ask.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Okay.

Robusto

What, are you looking to par-tay with the Chiefs' offensive line?

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

01:50

@Robusto ha!

It seats two.

Robusto

Sweet. I mean suite.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

I'm finally using my AAA discount for something.

Robusto

Anti-aircraft warfare

NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be used to protect naval, ground and air forces wherever they are. However, for most countries the main effort has tended to be 'homeland defence'. NATO refers to airborne air defence as counter-air and naval air defence as anti-aircraft warfare. Missile defence is an extension of air defence as are initiatives to adapt air defence to t...

This is the real Triple-A.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

What was it I used to see on planes and stuff in the background of Bugs Bunny?

Robusto

I dunno. Can you describe it?

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

02:01

Probably letters, like AAF.

Or that circle-star thing.

Robusto

This?

Or this?

Mahnax

Good evening.

in Toronto

Robusto

Maybe this?

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@Robusto I think probably the first one.

@Mahnax it's evening here, too. :P

Robusto

I think that's contemporaneous with the bulk of the Looney Tunes oeuvre.

Mahnax

02:07

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 Well, I just got off the plane. Nine hours in the air, and eight loafing around in an airport prior to that.

So I don't really have a good idea of what time it is anywhere.

Or of anything, really.

I'm all groggy.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Oh dear!

Mahnax

awaits food

I keep thinking in Finnglish.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

tears piece off of self

Mahnax

I almost typed "awaits ruoka".

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

What's ruoka?

tchrist

03:13

I just found myself looking for the up-arrow button on a blue Protection banner. :)

Stack Exchange

Unicorn Daily: cause i love you!

posted on July 26, 2013

cause i love you!

tchrist

Lame.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@tchrist ?

Oh noes, my pin expired!

tchrist

10

Q: How to use "you know"

For a non-native speaker like me, I am always wondering how to use you know correctly, as in the following sentence: Alright, well, for example, like on Saturdays, y’know, what I liked to do was probably what any, y’know, little boy used to do. I liked to go out, play with my frien...

expressions american-english british-english filler-words

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

You should ask for one.

Cerberus

03:27

@tchrist Not.

tchrist

Like your mother always said: stop making that funny face or you might get stuck that way.

Cerberus

?

tchrist

Don’t ever mimic talking like a dolt lest the effect become permanent.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт An crowd-funded alternative to GEMA: techdirt.com/articles/20130723/01535623897/…

You think that could work?

tchrist

If you introduce all those asquerous verbal ticks by intent, you will forever damage you ability to speak normally.

Cerberus

03:32

A what?

tchrist

What part did you not understand?

This is all in reference to the boxed question above.

> . . . new cocktail that uses vodka from Boulder’s J&L Distilling, muddled cucumber, ginger and basil simple syrup, soda and, of course, jalapeño.

You know, I’m not sure that sounds all that tasty.

It sounds more like a punishment than a reward.

Cerberus

Odd at the very least.

Why do people insist on inventing words like hyporesponsivity and unihemispheric?

So stupid.

tchrist

Perhaps spaces are too expensive.

Cerberus

?

They're hybrids.

tchrist

That isn’t the problem.

Cerberus

03:41

Yes it is.

tchrist

Whatever.

Would you see homosexuality banned?

Being the unnatural hybrid that it is.

Low responsiveness and single hemisphered (or maybe just spherical) are to be infinitely preferred, but ritually impure miscegenation does not account for any of that.

Cerberus

Yes, homosexuality is ugly, but that ship has sailed.

tchrist

Yeah, we’ve all seen Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

You could use mirror-biased instead.

Cerberus

Parisexuality is probably better.

tchrist

Yeah, but what if there are three? :)

And the French would object.

Or Helen would.

Oh wait, that doesn’t matter: the French always object.

Cerberus

03:49

What?

@tchrist You mean "maybe just hemispheric(al)".

tchrist

Do you just not have a funny bone?

Cerberus

I just have no idea what you are talking about.

tchrist

Precisely.

Sudhir

04:05

Hi @Cerberus

Its block of flats or sets of flats?

Cerberus

A block of flats is a common expression.

Sets of flats is not: what does it mean?

Sudhir

I'm not sure.

One question was like that

I wanted to have a ____ of flats on rental basis.
A. Block
b. Pack
c. Set
d. Suite

What'd come here?

Cerberus

Are you it was spelled and worded exactly like that?

tchrist

@Cerberus A set of flats is a key signature.

Cerberus

But sets?

Sudhir

04:11

yes

sets of flat?

Cerberus

Are you sure it wasn't on a rental basis?

Sudhir

yes

Cerberus

Then the author is probably not a native speaker, I would say.

Sudhir

okay.

Cerberus

But anyway, you can have "a set of flats", but it will be quite unusual, uncommon. And not something you would rent: it would just mean "a couple of flats".

Sudhir

04:17

I'd also say the same.

Cerberus

A block of flats is a common expression, but it is not something you would rent either.

It means an apartment building.

Sudhir

oh

I continued to smile at/on his threats.

I'm confused.

Cerberus

At.

Sudhir

ok

Cerberus

Smile on means something like..."be favourable". As in fortune smiled upon his enterprise.

It's uncommon.

Sudhir

04:22

This on and upon are used interchangeably?

I've seen at many instances.

@Cerberus: You're master in English.

Also very helpful guy.

Cerberus

@Sudhir Yes, although upon is usually more formal.

Thanks!

> Another possibility is that signal-to-noise ratios may increase through the generalized downscaling of synapses, as synapses mediating firing patterns predictive of postsynaptic activation would “survive” better than random ones

I can barely or only half understand this sentence, though.

Especially synapses mediating firing patterns predictive of postsynaptic activation is cryptic. Perhaps @Kitfox would understand.

Sudhir

It depends on/upon the context.

Cerberus

plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.0060216

The rest of the article is readable enough for a layman such as I.

@Sudhir Both fine.

Sudhir

Okay.

@Cerberus: I've one doubt.

Some words take gerund and some infinitives.

How to deduce that?

Cerberus

In many cases, there is no way to know except by learning this for each word separately.

Alas.

Sudhir

04:31

What trick you use in separating them?

Cerberus

And native speakers are also often confused about this. Some say it must be I aim at solving the problem, while one also hears and reads I aim to solve.

@Sudhir Lots of reading, mainly.

Sudhir

Oh I see.

Cerberus

But I think many text books will have a section where a number of frequent verbs are listed with either gerund or infinitive or both.

Sudhir

Oh

The manager finds it difficult to cope up with her CEO's hectic schedule.

I used this sentence

Is it wrong?

Cope with?

Cerberus

Yes, leave out the "up".

Sudhir

04:41

ok

So it will be sleeping time, I guess.

Cerberus

Haha, yes.

Sudhir

You know I always await for you.

Cerberus

Heh.

Good morning to me, I'm turning in!

Sudhir

What does it mean?

turning in?

Gone?

Cerberus

Going to bed.

@Sudhir dictionary.reference.com/browse/turning+in

Scroll down to where "turn" is used with prepositions.

Sudhir

04:52

Ha ha

Don't sleep today.

Cerberus

Dictionary.com is a good websites, use that to look up words and expressions when there is something you don't know.

Yes, I must sleep.

Read this article about why animals need sleep:

Sudhir

When you wake up?

Cerberus

25 mins ago, by Cerberus

http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.0060216

At 3 pm.

Bye!

Sudhir

3PM your local time?

Cerberus

No, 3PM Martian time.

Bye!

Sudhir

04:56

Bye! Sleep well

Matt Эллен

09:41

proof reading:

0

Q: Can someone please fix the grammar and punctuations in this sentence?

After multiple scientific experimentations, I can safely conclude my hypothesis: ice cream DOES taste better after 1am.

comma semicolon colon

Johan Larsson

did you try the graph?

Matt Эллен

I haven't been able to get it working yet

my boss thinks it'll have the same problem as infragistics because of the way WPF renders lines

Jez

what's the advantage of WPF over win forms again?

Matt Эллен

for some reason I can't get VS 2010 to let me use .NET 4.5

@Jez it's easier

Jez

i don't see how

winforms is piss easy with the VS designer

Matt Эллен

09:47

cool.

I hate the VS designer

it's ugly and horrible to use

I prefer to write markup

also I can easily hook in the data I need

or commands

The only problem WPF gives me is that VS wants to show me the WPF designer when all I want to see is the markup. it really slows down getting to the code. So that's more a problem with VS than WPF

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…