English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

12:15 AM

11

Q: Single term for "elephants going berserk"

Is there any single term for "Elephants going berserk"? Can we say that the elephant got wild and started destroying whatever is in its path? Is there any term for that? Hope you understand my question...

single-word-requests

Who knew that there actually is a specific term for elephants going berserk.

Johan Larsson

Would rampage be a fit?

Bradd Szonye

Yes, and that's the top-voted answer.

But apparently there's also a specific word for this (musth) which is essentially Vulcan mating rage (for elephants)

We get so many questions that make me think, You can't seriously expect English to have a word for this specific thing. And this was one of them. Until I saw that it does.

Johan Larsson

nice

Bradd Szonye

Darnit, I can't find a question that I actually want to answer.

I always feel bad when I have a negative-reputation day because I've found stuff to downvote but nothing good to answer.

tchrist

I reached the same conclusion an hour or so ago.

Bradd Szonye

12:27 AM

There are a few good questions today, but the already have good answers.

tchrist

> Whether a person considers himself English first or British first is a powerful predictor of class, race and political persuasion.

tchrist

12:46 AM

> It has been said many times, but the fact remains that anything users share over the internet will inevitably be bought and sold and, sooner or later, used against them in some way. That is the price people tacitly accept for the convenience of using popular web services free of charge.

> The corollary, of course, is that if individuals are not paying for some online product, they are the product.

Ouch.

From Pay up, or shut up.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

1:44 AM

@tchrist what of reflectional-morphology?

reflections of / the way words used to be

@tchrist Oh, but I did!

@tchrist is that the one that, if incorrectly prepared, can kill you? Or is that puffer fish?

Sorry to have pung you thrice.

tchrist

It’s ok.

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 I don’t believe so.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Fugu

is the Japanese word for pufferfish and the dish prepared from it, normally species of genus Takifugu, Lagocephalus, or Sphoeroides, or porcupinefish of the genus Diodon. Fugu can be lethally poisonous due to its tetrodotoxin; therefore, it must be carefully prepared to remove toxic parts and to avoid contaminating the meat. The restaurant preparation of fugu is strictly controlled by law in Japan and several other countries, and only chefs who have qualified through rigorous training are allowed to deal with the fish. Domestic preparation occasionally leads to accidental death. Fugu i...

> A dish of fugu can easily cost ¥5,000 (approx. US$50), but it can be found for as little as ¥2,000 (approx. US$20), and a full-course fugu meal (usually eight servings) can cost ¥10,000–20,000 (approx. US$100–200) or more.

Not a time to skimp.

tchrist

Right.

@TRiG Tell me about it! Look at my first sentence:

1

A: What is the difference between "better yet" and " better still"?

In the most common case, they are completely indistinguishable, and indeed are used with equal frequency as I show below. That said, certainly there can be plenty of difference in certain rescue readings given enough context, but these are differences of the sort that that Google N-gram is usel...

I guess I could skip the first one if I had to. And the second one annoys people because it is not a new clause, so I might be coercible into a dash instead.

user = (dash) tchrist;

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

2:07 AM

Gotta catch 'em all!

Oh, that's Ash.

@Rob @Reg I stopped watching a few seasons ago, but you may enjoy this.

Bradd Szonye

-1

A: What is the word for the high-pitched "sex sound" a woman makes?

[high-pitched sex sound a woman makes] = YELL "It is so cute when she YELLS while she is fighting." She should understand since it's the topic of your conversation. "I find her YELLS intense when she plays tennis." "Don't YELL, your parents could hear us" @Szonye - give me ONE instance in wh...

Am I being oversensitive or is SurvMach being combative?

Not sure how I should respond to that comment. Like, no need to call me out dude? Just saying that your answer doesn't work for me.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@BraddSzonye yeah, that was unpleasant.

Bradd Szonye

Later all! Have a happy Friday. :)

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

You too!

Mahnax

Where's Cerb? I need to disappoint him.

2

@Cerb Oi!

Bradd Szonye

2:22 AM

0

Q: Is there a name for "dissecting a sentence and naming its parts"? (example below)

Such as: The great people of that great nation had been producing the greatest per capita carbon footprint since their industrialization when they realized that the science was right and their practices were unsustainable. I've gone thus far and have some questions. 1-SUBJECT A..The B.....

sentence-structure

SurvMach is being even ruder to Lawler.

Flagged both comments.

OK, leaving for reals now

OK I lied. What the hell? Dude has a persecution complex. He's accusing me of being aggressive somehow.

I don't think he's going to do well here.

Mahnax

Did you see his "answer" to my question?

I'm supposed to be retired.

Bradd Szonye

Yeah, just noticed that.

Flagged that one too. Apologies to any mods who end up dealing with the flag spam.

Mahnax

Gone.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@Mahnax nooooooo

Time for Minecrack.

Mahnax

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 sticks out tongue

Bradd Szonye

2:29 AM

Did he really post a rant against one of my comments as an answer to a completely unrelated question?

boggles

I'd better run before I get pulled into that train wreck some more.

Later!

Mahnax

Bye!

tchrist

2:53 AM

> deterior: Inferior in quality, worse.

> 1839 Bailey Festus (1848) 64/2 — Some of downward and deterior lot.

> Etymology: a. L. dēterior worse, meaner, poorer, compar. of an obs. adj. *dēter, f. dē down.

Now that’s certainly not a word you hear every day of your life.

Ok, now guess what deterration means.

> 1695 Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth i. (1723) 57 — Deterrations, or the Devolution of Earth down upon the Valleys, from the Hills and higher Grounds.

That’s de + terra + ation.

If it were trees, it would be deforestation.

The gnawing out of the land.

I think we would just used erosion these days.

To bring rodents back into it.

tchrist

3:39 AM

►

Very knotty panelists.

EnglishMaster

3:56 AM

lol

Around half of young British people never had a job or study full-time

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2392431/…

And they always protest about "Rich people took our moneY!" "Get out of my country immigrants!"

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Isn't the fornication beautiful?

EnglishMaster

I like how British kids always reserve sometime of day for tea time

I guess they had too much tea time

Johan Larsson

6:44 AM

This is fun if you know Swedish, woman calling radio tech support and leaves a message. She also leaves sanity behind pretty quick.

Stack Exchange

Limerick Machine: You can't help but look

posted on September 28, 2013 by sgdi

A fox was sat down on a rock Deliriously panting in shock The thing it now knew Would frighten you too Some knowledge we shouldn’t unlock

Noah

10:08 AM

Hi

Eeryone

@JohanLarsson I hope she didnt leave herself behind.

Noah

10:23 AM

spent a day on iTUnes trying to convert a book from mp3 into an audio one, didnt work. I am on windows.

Johan Larsson

What does leaving onself behind mean?

Noah

That was just a joke

How are you doing?

@JohanLarsson

Johan Larsson

Fine here in Sweden, how are you sir?

good thing that you ping, I'm a multichatter and reader

Noah

10:43 AM

Cool.

I am single.

:)

How's the weather there?

Johan Larsson

+8 Celsius and grey skies. Autumn will be over soon, then the season I call the black-darkness begins before the snow comes.

Not many know about the black-darkness but it is a distinct season.

Noah

Umm. I might be visiting Sweden in December. Do you think I will need a jacket?

Johan Larsson

It can be very cold, in the north you can be looking at -20 Celsius. In the middle and south with some luck you get snow instead of rain.

November and December is not much fun in Sweden, very dark.

what are you going to do and where are you going?

Noah

11:02 AM

Attend a conference. Stockholm

EnglishMaster

11:32 AM

Guys, what's the difference between in the meantime and meanwhile?

Do I have to foremost indicate the date of actual thing happen?

Such as "I'm taking an exam tomorrow morning, in the meantime I'm going to play some games"?

tchrist

12:01 PM

-1

Q: "1912-3" versus "1912-13"

Numbers between eleven and nineteen are fused rather than separable compounds. eleven, twenty-one, thirty-one, ... twelve, twenty-two, thirty-two, ... and so on ... So, when indicating a span of years, can you correctly write, for example, 1912-3? Or should you write 1912-13 bein...

numbers

-1

Q: "2003-07" versus "2003-7"

Since I see the last two digits repeated for example in "1935-38" or "2013-14" and so on, does this usage involve dates from 2000 to 2009, too?

abbreviations ambiguity time date dash

-1

Q: "1904/6" versus "1904-6"

Since I see both dashes and slashes marking dates, I ask, which one we should prefer? Example, 1904/6 or 1904-6?

abbreviations ambiguity date dash slash

TTToooooo mmmuuuccchhh ddduuupppllliiicccaaatttiiiooonnn ttthhheeerrreee fffooorrr mmmyyy tttaaasssttteeesss...

Johan Larsson

guy wants three answers

goyle

He might be confused

she may

How do you know it's she

tchrist

12:07 PM

She’s just pesky.

Well, she acts like it.

Especially when she calls herself Jennifer.

Noah

Well, she is probably Jhon Michael Pesky

Or Michiele Obama Pesky

tchrist

That’s Ms Pesky to you.

Noah

Maybe.

I gotta jump and get on the bus.

C U

Break a leg!

Oh, no. I still have time

Thougth it was late

tchrist

It’s always later than you think.

Noah

@tchrist Can we use break a leg! as a substitute for good luck every where?

tchrist

12:15 PM

No.

Johan Larsson

You can use break the build when about code.

tchrist

You can’t use it when wishing someone success in their legal case or insurance claim, or hoping they’ll win the lottery.

It’s also a fail when referring to having a medical examination.

> illocution: An act such as ordering, warning, undertaking, performed in saying something. Hence illoˈcutionary a.

Huh! So where else might one stress the adjective?

Noah

@tchrist So if you are having surgery, I could say break a leg!, right>

tchrist

 1  ˈillocutionary
 2  ilˈlocutionary
 3  illoˈcutionary
 4  illocuˈtionary
 5  illocutionˈary
 6  illocutionaˈry

If it’s God Bless You on one end, shouldn’t it be Devil Take the Hindmost on the other? — tchrist Sep 20 at 19:41

Once upon a time it was just crippled, but that one got caught up in the euphemism treadmill of time. — tchrist 2 days ago

Noah

@tchrist What do you mean by "also a fail"?

tchrist

12:25 PM

It also fails

> prolocution: The use of ambiguous language so as to mislead.

Cf. dissembling

Noah

So does it mean we can use it when referring to having a meidcal examination?

tchrist

Or perhaps equivocating, but that’s stretching it.

Noah

Or does it mean the opposite of that?

tchrist

looks around for the ɪʀᴏɴʏ button

Noah

Well, dont waste your time. There's none.

Would be better to use an unequivocal language.

tchrist

12:29 PM

If bright Sunnis were known for their sunny disposition, what sort of disposition might little Shiites be known for?

Noah

There's no such thing.

tchrist

3 mins ago, by tchrist

looks around for the ɪʀᴏɴʏ button

Noah

There's no bright or dark sunnis.

I gotta go before I totally lose my mind

tchrist

Sunny. Sunni. **itty. **iites.

Horse, water. Drink.

Noah

Yeah, a horse drinks water.

But so can a human.

confused

crying

tchrist

12:33 PM

looks for his river

Johan Larsson

12:43 PM

you river was looking for you last week

tchrist

I ran the pump in the sub-basement again last night. We got another half-inch of rain, and I got like 5" in my sub-basement.

RegDwighт

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 you stopped midway through season four? Does not compute.

Johan Larsson

is sub-basement a place where one stores wine and potatoes?

tchrist

yeah

sometimes

it’s like an unfinished dug-out cellar

alas i had stored other things there

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@JohanLarsson is this part of why you have St. Lucia?

Johan Larsson

12:59 PM

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 not sure, I'd have to google it but I would fail doing it :D

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@RegDwighт I watched a few past ABQ.

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