English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Robusto

00:28

@BraddSzonye "The practical solipsist needs a language to formulate his or her thoughts about solipsism. Language is an essential tool to communicate with other minds. Why does a solipsist need to communicate with other minds when, to the solipsist, those "other minds" don't exist? So why does a solipsist universe need a language?"

Mitch

00:38

@BraddSzonye It's not necessary that every question has an answer.

There doesn't seem to be one particular term just for this concept. (if you look at a list of cognitive biases.)

Bradd Szonye

@Mitch I know, it just bugs me when a question starts collecting answers that really aren't what the OP was asking for.

Although on a second look, about half of the answers are decent.

Mitch

Well, they're trying. Throwing it up against a wall and hoping it sticks.

Bradd Szonye

But when the OP says, “No, I'm not talking about a disorder,” and people answer with stuff like “delusion,” it's irritating.

Mitch

It's in the same ballpark as how annoying it is when people give hypernyms or hyponyms for the thing asked. Like nails on a blackboard.

Bradd Szonye

Heh yeah, I understand. I'm the same way when people answer noun requests with adjectives &c.

Mitch

00:58

@BraddSzonye how's this...

If you check the list of cognitive biases on wikipedia, and look at the details, you'll notice that almost all such biases are variations on errors caused by the idiosyncracy of personal experience. THat is, they're -all- biases of the individual being special. There is one by name though the bias blind spot which is unfortunately a meta-bias that oneself doesn't have the biases that others do. So close but no cigar. — Mitch 22 secs ago

Bradd Szonye

01:22

@Mitch Interesting. Maybe that page could be useful to the OP though.

It looks like it might be specific kind of attentional bias, although that is probably not specific enough.

tchrist

05:48

all over

2

skullpatrol

My deepest condolences.

MετάEd

@tchrist Ok. I've had you on my mind.

EnglishMaster

06:09

I just received my TOEIC score

Almost full mark =) But whatever. I'm going to study for IELTS!! =D

skullpatrol

What do those acronyms stand for?

EnglishMaster

Do you mean LC and RC?

I think they mean "Listening Comprehension" and "Reading Comprehension"

Johan Larsson

06:31

@tchrist My condolences.

I remember when my grandfather died, we felt relieved when the final days of struggle ended and he found peace.

tchrist

07:30

Thank you.

Just numb right now. Doing all Those Things one does Now,

Knew I should have done the obit first. Just couldn't do it.

Matt Эллен

My condolences, tchrist.

skullpatrol

@tchrist You may find some ideas here

tchrist

08:06

Thank you.

skullpatrol

I have never found, or will find, any words...

...the hurt is just too deep.

c c

09:47

Cerberus

Very nice!

Some of those sound less credible, though...

skullpatrol

A blessing of unicorns?

c c

> I have just come accross a large flock of goats

skullpatrol

But unicorns don't exist.

Cerberus

@skullpatrol Yeah like that.

Or "a memory of elephants"?

c c

09:56

an hallucination of yetis :)

a patrol of skulls

skullpatrol

:D

Cerberus

Haha.

c c

a coalition of cheetah

Cheetah

The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is a large feline (family Felidae, subfamily Felinae) inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East. It is the only extant member of the genus Acinonyx. The cheetah can run faster than any other land animal— as fast as in short bursts covering distances up to , and has the ability to accelerate from 0 to in three seconds. This cat is also notable for modifications in the species' paws. It is one of the few felids with semi-retractable claws. Etymology The word "cheetah" is derived from the Sanskrit word ', meaning "variegated", via the Hindi 'च...

oh didn't know :

is there hyena?

yeah cackle of

Cerberus

What about hyenas?

skullpatrol

a Cerber of us

Cerberus

09:59

Ah.

Yay!

A French gay wedding.

c c

a cerebral of cerberuses

Cerberus

Yay!

c c

ok brb working on pace of asses

Wild ass

Wild ass may refer to: *African Wild Ass *Kiang (Asiatic wild ass) *Onager (Asiatic wild ass) *Yukon Wild Horse is sometimes called the Yukon Wild Ass. *Indian Wild Ass

Cerberus

10:17

Very wild.

RegDwigнt

Ah yes, Daniel Brühl finally gets to play a grownup.

As he himself was happy to point out.

Cerberus

Who?

RegDwigнt

The guy in your image. On the right.

Daniel Brühl

Daniel César Martín Brühl González Domingo (; born 16 June 1978) is a German actor. He began his work at a young age in a German soap opera called Forbidden Love in 1995. In 2003, his starring role in German tragicomedy film Good Bye, Lenin! received wider recognition and critical acclaim which garnered him the European Film Award for Best Actor and the German Film Award for Best Actor. Brühl has worked in many countries both Europe and America and in several languages. He starred in many European films like The Edukators, Ladies in Lavender, Joyeux Noël and Salvador (Puig Antich). He i...

@Rob will know him from Inglourious Basterds.

Cerberus

The guy in my image has no face...

Oh, the guy who played in Goodbye, Lenin? That was a nice film.

I love how Wikipedia photo's are always the most horrible ones in existence on the Internet.

Awful flash lighting and shiny skin, greasy hair.

RegDwigнt

Wikipedia photo's what are always the most horrible?

Jez

10:35

3

Q: IE11 flexbox preventing text wrapping?

I am developing a site which displays OK in the latest versions of Firefox/SeaMonkey/Chrome, but interestingly in IE11 there is a rendering problem: http://devel.gooeysoftware.com/mozaddons/switching.php If you load this in IE11, the "Switching from Firefox to SeaMonkey" menu item along the left...

relatively unsatisfactory SO answers...

despite a bounty

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt Ugh, I was typing in Dutch.

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus yeah I know Dutch is awful, I feel your pain.

Matt Эллен

ananas

RegDwigнt

> In my opinion, 'the' is a definite article.

People and their opinions. Sheesh.

In my opinion, "the" is a coal chute.

Cerberus

At least it has lost most of its cases.

RegDwigнt

10:47

It did get to keep its light blue suitcase.

Cerberus

After which prepositions?

Matt Эллен

upon

Cerberus

Upon.

RegDwigнt

UPON.

Cerberus

Oh, UPON.

Matt Эллен

10:49

lol

RegDwigнt

Yes, the United Porn Organization of Nations.

Cerberus

Uporn?

Jinx,

Matt Эллен

UpRon

Cerberus

Okay, Uwin.

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus Uporn is the United Porn Organization of Rancid Nations. Not the same thing at all.

Matt Эллен

10:54

upon light blue suitcase mountains

it's a shame that articles have lost the Escher staircase

RegDwigнt

@MattЭллен Yeah, that's a nice A-ha song.

@MattЭллен they didn't lose the Escher, they only hid it. Underneath itself.

Matt Эллен

cunning. I wouldn't have expected that

RegDwigнt

That was the plan.

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt Are rancid nations not the same as other nations?

RegDwigнt

Yes, except they conveniently begin with an R.

Upoon is too close to Upoop. Which is the Ugly Poor Organization of Other People.

@Andrew Leach It is also spelled incorrectly. The word is 'accrual'. As I am a qualified Chartered Management Accountant I am quite happy to provide a thorough technical answer, but I will await your prompting before doing that. — WS2 55 mins ago

People charter accountants now? No wonder the economy's bonkers.

Matt Эллен

11:07

oh yes. being a chartered accounted is important in the UK. Important for accountants, anyway

You need to charter them so they can navigate you from red to black

RegDwigнt

From Russia to Africa?

I'm confused.

Matt Эллен

Keep out of the black and in the red. There's nothing in this for two in a bed.

RegDwigнt

I, uh, erm.

Dec 25 '12 at 14:24, by RegDwighт

Here comes a candle to light you to bed, and here comes a chopper to chop off your head!

Matt Эллен

Have a look at what you coulda won

RegDwigнt

Next time tell me in advance we're doing nursery rhymes.

@MattЭллен I will have a look for one trillion dollars. The look will be at the one trillion dollars, too.

Matt Эллен

11:11

It was a speed boat!

RegDwigнt

Unless there's one trillion dollars inside I'm not looking.

Matt Эллен

:D

> Jim Bowen once described Bullseye as "the second-best darts-based game show on television". There are no others.

RegDwigнt

So it's literally second-to-none.

At last the expression makes sense.

Matt Эллен

lol

RegDwigнt

11:29

How's that for carousel horses.

Matt Эллен

11:57

banging

Cerberus

Haha.

By the way, did you know what a huge dick the formerly exiled King of Italy is?

If Wikipedia is to be believed, he is a murderer, uncivilised, and corrupt.

Not necessarily in that order.

RegDwigнt

How is that different from every king ever?

Cerberus

It is different as in most Kings are better, especially modern Kings.

Like our King. He's not fantastic, but he is no murderer.

RegDwigнt

Modern Kings. Please ping @Robusto on that one. I want to watch him laugh into your face.

Matt Эллен

Yet

Cerberus

12:00

What?

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus or he is a murderer and a liar. That's not better, that's worse.

Cerberus

No, he's not.

He is not insane, unlike the Italian King.

> Arming himself with a rifle, he attempted to board the yacht. He shot at a passenger he had awakened; the shot missed the passenger but mortally wounded Dirk Hamer (the nineteen-year-old son of Ryke Geerd Hamer), a passenger sleeping on the deck of another adjacent yacht. The prince admitted civil liability for the death in a letter dated 28 August 1978.[12] Dirk Hamer died of his wounds on 7 December 1978, and Vittorio Emanuele was arrested.

RegDwigнt

Yours is a certified idiot, though. Certified by his own wife.

Cerberus

> On 11 October 1989, Vittorio Emanuele was indicted on charges of fatal wounding and offensive-weapon possession. But on 18 November 1991, after thirteen years of legal proceedings, the Paris Assize Court acquitted him of the fatal wounding and unintentional homicide charges, finding him guilty only of unauthorised possession of an M1 Garand rifle.[12] He received a six month suspended prison sentence.[13]

When incarcerated in June 2006, on unconnected charges of corruption (see below, "Arrest and imprisonment"), Vittorio Emanuele was recorded admitting that "I was in the wrong, [...] but…

@RegDwigнt He's not an idiot, he's just mediocre, like most people.

Matt Эллен

3...2...1...

RegDwigнt

12:02

So everyone's a king now, eh.

Cerberus

> He also described, in a phone call, the magistrates investigating him about the corruption charges as "penniless, envious turds whose wives are probably cuckolding them while they keep track of me."

> Vittorio Emanuele also said in recent years that the anti-Semitic laws passed under Mussolini's regime were "not that terrible".

Those are laws signed by his own grandfather.

Even Berlusconi is an angel compared to VE IV.

> In 2007, Vittorio Emanuele and his son Emanuele Filiberto requested formally that the State of Italy pay financial damages of 260 million Euros and initiate full restitution of all properties and belongings that had been confiscated from the royal house after the abdication. The financial damages claim is based on having suffered moral injustice during the exile. The government of Italy has rejected the request and, in response, indicated that it may seek damages for historic grievances.

One would almost become a republican.

Enes Kuray

hello! i am not english and i desing a web site and i am looking for a name of site. on this web site, user will can share his ideas about computer and techology. what name should be?

Cerberus

Hi!

That is a very, very broad category.

So the general concept is a computer forum?

(I think technology in this case overlaps with computers almost entirely?)

Enes Kuray

no, lets think i am a man who do not know any programming lang. but i have computer program idea.

Cerberus

So the site is mainly about your own computer program?

Does the program have a name yet?

Enes Kuray

12:08

program ideas could be share on this website

Cerberus

Oh, so "a man" is not you specifically.

Enes Kuray

yes :)

Cerberus

Do you like Star Trek?

Enes Kuray

yes i like

Cerberus

How about Mind-Meld?

It is what Vulcans do, you know?

Computer people will like the Star Trek reference.

Vulcan (Star Trek)

Vulcans are an extraterrestrial humanoid species in the Star Trek franchise who originate from the planet Vulcan. In the various Star Trek television series and movies, they are noted for their attempt to live by reason and logic with no interference from emotion. They were the first extraterrestrial species in the Star Trek universe to observe First Contact protocol with Humans. They gave massive assistance to a devastated post–World War III Earth, enabling the planet to eliminate poverty, disease, and suffering within a single century. For this reason, Humans even in the 24th centu...

Enes Kuray

12:11

mindmeld.com net me .. solded. onliy info.me

i need a unused name or word changing

Cerberus

Mind-meld.com?

Matt Эллен

mindme.lt?

Cerberus

Ugh.

@MattЭллен Sorry, I'm not a fan of this recent fad.

Matt Эллен

oh! look at the TLD snob!

Enes Kuray

biz info us not selded

com net sold

Cerberus

12:14

@MattЭллен sniffs

.info is OK?

Enes Kuray

mind-meld.info ?

Matt Эллен

that sounds good

Cerberus

Yeah, good luck!

Matt Эллен

cerber.us

you could have that one!

Cerberus

How dare you!!

Matt Эллен

12:18

:D

Cerberus

Isn't cerberu.nl easier to pronounce?

Enes Kuray

but i think it is hardto remember

Cerberus

I don't find it hard to remember. But it's up to you.

Enes Kuray

okay i will buy it

Cerberus

Good luck!

> Dutch Telcos Used Customer Metadata, Retained To Fight Terrorism, For Everyday Marketing Purposes

Gosh, I am shocked.

Telcos suck.

Matt Эллен

12:23

yup

KitFox

Hellos

RegDwigнt

Well good job reopening an off-topic question, guys. Why do I even bother.

KitFox

What? Where?

Cerberus

Great.

RegDwigнt

A NARQ to boot.

Enes Kuray

12:26

what about (another project) leakway.com

tecnology news

etc

Cerberus

@RegDwigt: Why not move it to Linguistics, then? I think everyone will be fine with that. — Cerberus 28 secs ago

RegDwigнt

I am not seeing everybody voting your comment up.

I do see two people voting up D. M. Davidson's, which is nonsense.

Cerberus

Because people don't think it is necessary, like me.

RegDwigнt

It is not necessary to keep an off-topic question closed?

KitFox

Just send it to Ling and be done with it then.

RegDwigнt

12:29

If you can do that, that'd be nice.

I am obviously biased and overruled.

Matt Эллен

Why is it about French? figurine is diminutive of figure in English

RegDwigнt

@MattЭллен not as per the etymology, no.

Cerberus

It is not necessary to move it, I think people will say, but it would be OK.

RegDwigнt

It is diminutive semantically, but not morphologically.

Enes Kuray

@Cerberus leakway.com ? techology news

Cerberus

12:30

Sure, those sound fine.

Matt Эллен

@RegDwigнt OK

Cerberus

-ine, suffix1
-ine, suffix2
-ine, suffix3
-ine, suffix4
-ine, suffix5

KitFox

I wish you wouldn't use "as per".

RegDwigнt

@D.M.Davidson your obvious answer is wrong, though — as demonstrated by OP's very own research. In the English word figurine, there is no suffix -ine. There is no suffix at all. It was not produced in English from the English word figure and the English suffix -ine. It was borrowed as a whole. As a single unit. Just like in the English word sputnik, there is no suffix -nik or prefix s-. The whole word is the root. When we borrowed the word, we didn't borrow the entire Russian morphology with it. — RegDwigнt 4 hours ago

Cerberus

If the OED can haz 5 articles about -ine, why can't we?

Matt Эллен

12:31

@RegDwigнt OIC

RegDwigнt

@KitFox I promise to use less as pers.

KitFox

Why you gotta be like that, and after I was all nice and cleaned up your problem?

RegDwigнt

@KitFox because today's the International Jerk Day.

Ask me again tomorrow, I think it's the International A Little Bit More Nice Day then.

Matt Эллен

does KitSox have a magic 8 ball?

time to go!

Cerberus

Bai!

Hey, disagreement doesn't have to be un-nice. It's just disagreement.

KitFox

12:36

@MattЭллен Yes, I think so.

RegDwigнt

Actually I never used as pers. Until people started complaining how you should not be using them while using them themselves.

Like with passive voice or what have you.

The watchers never watch themselves.

KitFox

!!Do watchers watch themselves?

KitSox

@KitFox Yes!

@KitFox Probably

KitFox

Uhoh

RegDwigнt

!!What the actual?

KitSox

12:38

@RegDwigнt Are you excited? Or did you need help with my workings?

RegDwigнt

I need help with your stockings.

KitFox

Oh. Did I forget to mention that Caprica went on permanent vacation?

RegDwigнt

!!Did Kit?

KitSox

@RegDwigнt Not a chance

@RegDwigнt Absolutely not

RegDwigнt

Well there you have it.

KitFox

12:39

Apparently I've managed to mess up the Magic 8-Ball already.

RegDwigнt

Yes. Pretty apparent here.

It's more like the Magic 16-Ball.

KitFox

Yeah.

RegDwigнt

The Magic Echo-Ball.

Mitch

@skullpatrol What?

KitFox

Dunno how that happened.

RegDwigнt

12:41

@KitFox you installed a bug in your PC. Simply remove it.

KitFox

Good idea.

Cerberus

Hey, which view do you use most in the calendar on your phone?

Some people don't seem to use month view with the names of all appointments visible, which surprises me.

RegDwigнt

I don't use calendars...

Cerberus

Many calendar applications don't show appointments in month view.

OK.

It's really handy, they can beep you when you have to do stuff.

RegDwigнt

Actually I sometimes do to look up what date it is today. Though it's overkill if you have to use a calendar for that.

Funny how funny that sounds.

Cerberus

12:46

"It's 13:53! Time to post incomprehensible comments in EL&U chat! Hurry lest they start without you!"

@RegDwigнt On a paper calendar? On you phone?

RegDwigнt

It's 2:46 here. Has the continental drift begun in Holland?

Cerberus

It's the temporal Doppler effect.

And you're two minutes behind. Very un-German.

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus my phone typically has the date in a corner. On a PC, though, I only see the time but not the date. So I have to click on the time, and the giant calendar pops up, which is quite annoying, and I still can't tell the date because every second day is circled in some weird special color for no reason whatsoever, which is doubly annoying.

Cerberus

Ah, yes.

I have the date visible.

What happens when you hover over the clock btw?

Do magical unicorns jump out?

Or a tooltip with the date?

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus I have to wait for the popup, for half an eternity. Clicking is faster.

Cerberus

12:50

Oh.

RegDwigнt

Cerberus

Nothing happens when I click.

RegDwigнt

Though of course it's slower in the end, because again, I can't read that shit.

Cerberus

Uhh what a weird calendar. I don't have that.

RegDwigнt

Just look at that. That's what happens when I click. How am I supposed to parse that?

Cerberus

12:50

Yeah.

RegDwigнt

The weeks don't even begin on Mondays.

Cerberus

And who added those holidays?

RegDwigнt

Oh, those are holidays?

Mitch

@RegDwigнt What? 'figurine' is an English word and the -ine suffix is productive in English. Tnagerine, nectarine, copine, magazine... hm... I think I've made your point.

Cerberus

Or sad days of mourning, I don't know.

You could install a little program to show the date in a tray icon...

RegDwigнt

12:52

This is Linux. I cannot install shit.

KitFox

@RegDwigнt You can configure that for your context, cantcha?

I mean, why you have USAian holidays?

Mitch

@KitFox as per ad astra?

RegDwigнt

@KitFox why would I want to? I am in Germany, and this is a frigging German edition of a German distro. SuSE.

KitFox

eats chocolate

@RegDwigнt hahahaha

RegDwigнt

Yeah.

Exactly that.

KitFox

12:53

Anyway, your day is the circled day.

Mitch

@Cerberus I don't think so...jerk.

Cerberus

@Mitch Muffin.

RegDwigнt

@KitFox but they are all circled. I always have to take a second look which one is circled in round.

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt Why not?

RegDwigнt

And what's with the stoopid colors. Red and green-.

KitFox

12:54

Well, you can change that too, eh?

RegDwigнt

@KitFox yeah, by throwing the machine out of the window. It's not mine though so I can only do that a limited amount of times a month.

Cerberus

But you're in complainy mood, not fixy mood. I get that.

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus I have better things to do with my life than fixing other people's shitty implementations. I have enough of my own.

Mitch

@Cerberus I find month view meaningless all it tells you is if some day has an appointment that's it. For me it's useless because there's something on -everyday-. It says -maybe- that some saturday is free.

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt Uhuh, uhuh.

Mitch

12:55

@Cerberus Mmmm... muffin. I'll bring the coffee.

KitFox

@RegDwigнt Did you set your region when you set it up?

Cerberus

@Mitch Umm I mean with the names of appointments visible on each day of the month.

It is indeed useless without names.

RegDwigнt

@KitFox I did not set it up. I came to work one fine day and my machine had been wiped out and this shit installed on it. I had not even been asked or warned.

Cerberus

So I don't get why people use calendar applications that don't have them.

Mitch

Oh. I've never seen that...I don't expect that there'd be enough room for that on the screen.

KitFox

12:56

@RegDwigнt Ah, well, no wonder you are cranky.

Cerberus

Sure there is.

KitFox

Are you sure you sat down at the right desk?

Cerberus

I even had that on my Windows Mobile phone from 2007.

Mitch

They -had- phones back in 2007 grandpa?

Cerberus

Maybe it can only show a single appointment if your screen is really tiny.

@Mitch Shut up, you brat!

I used that phone until a year ago.

RegDwigнt

12:58

This happens like once every three years, too. For entirely random reasons, people (well, mostly one IT guy) decides that SuSE is shitty, so we get Debian. Then it turns out Debian is shitty, so we must get RedHat. Then it turns out that OMG UBUNTU. Then it turns out that Ubuntu is actually worse than SuSE, so we're back at SuSE again.

Mitch

ha ha grandpa doesn't know how to setup his 20th c. dumb- phone... ha ha ha ha h .. ow stubbed my toe.

RegDwigнt

It's the circle of slow and painful death.

KitFox

wants to put a hole in her head to let the demons out

Cerberus

RegDwigнt

And every single time all the fonts in my GIMP are broken, and all my shortcuts gone, and a shell no longer looks like a shell, and it's impossible to type in Japanese or Russian, and oh I can't get any mail anymore for days on end.

Mitch

12:59

@RegDwigнt MS-DOS 5.0 rocked. None of these 'commands' or 'user-interfaces' or 'usable features'.

Cerberus

Comme ça.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…