English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Mitch

16:00

Covered in an enigma

KitFox

I'm debating just hanging up on this guy while I'm on hold.

RegDwigнt

With whom are you debating it?

Johan Larsson

I heard a prank call where they called a bank or something and placed the bank in a queue when they replied. Think it was somewhat funny. It was in Swedish though.

RegDwigнt

Of course it was funny, it was in Swedish!

It'd be funnier still in Danish though, I'll give you that.

KitFox

mmm, danish.

Ste

16:04

There was a funny prank call over here where they called a Chinese takeaway then connected them with another takeaway after they asked them to repeat the order...

RegDwigнt

Mr. Peanut Monopoly MmmDanish.

I must be off to the showermobile. The hard labor of collecting hats has finally made me stink.

Lators.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I think this answer might reach a gold badge!

54

A: Idiom or word for a very crowded place

If it is extremely crowded, you can say "packed like sardines in a can" or just "packed like sardines" or "packed." This comes from the way sardines are tightly packed into cans when canned for eating:

As usual, I get super-high points for shitty answers to easy questions and mediocre points to everything else.

KitFox

16:24

I am so confused by the amount of money I just received and also my new retirement group being all stupid.

Ste

YEEHAW! I finally got my tumbleweed hat!

KitFox

Hooray!

Ste

3 views in a week! Haha!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@KitFox I hate it when paycheques are confusing.

MετάEd

No, no, not paycheques. You're thinking of a wood floor.

KitFox

16:37

Certainly not parquet, just too much money.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

no, no, not overpaid. you're thinking of what you drive over to cross the train-tracks.

RegDwigнt

That's about it.

Marthaª

I thought you were showering?

(Or maybe in your part of the world, you need festive glasses to take a shower?)

Jasper Loy

It's 2014 here already.

RegDwigнt

@Marthaª in my part of the world, showers don't take forever!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

16:40

How come I haven't earned "First!" yet

RegDwigнt

Because you have to wait a minute.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

my chat was starred 26 minutes ago

RegDwigнt

No, I starred it this very minute.

KitFox

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 uh...

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

oh. I see

KitFox

16:43

Cats are chasin geach other in and out of my bedroom door.

Marthaª

@JasperLoy, you need to stop and wait for the rest of us.

@KitFox Geach? Is this a new word?

Jasper Loy

@Marthaª Also, chasin, lol.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Yay for hats

Marthaª

Well, "chasin'" (note the apostrophe) is a slangy/dialectal way to say "chasing", so it's OK. Sorta.

MετάEd

No.

KitSox

16:48

Chasing Cars

}} "Chasing Cars" is the second single from Snow Patrol's fourth album, Eyes Open. It was recorded in 2005 and released on 6 June 2006 in the US and 24 July 2006 in the UK as the album's second single. The song gained significant popularity in the US after being featured in the second season finale of the popular medical drama Grey's Anatomy. It became notable as one of the songs that revealed the impact of legal downloads on single sales in the UK, selling consistently for years after its release. The song is Snow Patrol's biggest-selling single to date, ending 2006 as the UK's 14th b...

MετάEd

Kasin

Kasin (, also Romanized as Kāsīn; also known as Chasin) is a village in Ozomdel-e Jonubi Rural District, in the Central District of Varzaqan County, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 1,917, in 430 families. References

RegDwigнt

Oh @KitFox! It was hard, but I finally came up with five useful comments for the ELL meta.

Gilles

17:02

quiet day, nobody's killing spam

not that other sites are being any quicker about it

Damkerng T.

Happy New Year 2014 from Bangkok!

Ste

@Gilles I removed the link and I flagged. I think that's as much as I can do.

KitFox

I destroyed it. Thanks, that felt delicious.

MετάEd

@KitFox No, no, not parquet, you're thinking of that game we used to play when we were kids.

KitFox

Parcheesi?

I've got piles of comments to wade through.

Marthaª

17:08

Random question for y'all: how would you say something like "If you [take down your Christmas decorations before the new year], you're Doing It Wrong(TM)"? Specifically, the capitalized/facetiously trademarked part.

MετάEd

@KitFox No, no, not parcheesi. You're thinking of that hippy spice.

How about: You’re Doing It Wrong™

Marthaª

No, how would you say that out loud?

(Bonus points for how to say it out loud to someone who can't look at you because she's driving.)

Or should I just go ahead and post this as a question?

blasteralfred Ψ

Hi, somebody help me to make a quote better? I am a beginner here. One moderator told me that the question is better taken to our chat, and is off-topic on the main site.

RegDwigнt

@Marthaª Oh I can think of a number of things. But they would be even less polite than what you've got.

Gilles

@Marthaª “this just isn't done, Mabel”?

RegDwigнt

17:14

@blasteralfredΨ go ahead and post it here.

Gilles

(or whatever passes for an old-fashioned high-society first name)

blasteralfred Ψ

here is the question english.stackexchange.com/questions/144022/…

thanks @RegDwigнt

RegDwigнt

@blasteralfredΨ well for starters, "ahead in front" is saying the same thing twice. Just "ahead" is enough.

Gilles

@MετάEd dammit, I can do ordinary English just fine, I can even make puns, but understanding puns is hard

RegDwigнt

Then, "memories of happiness, sorrow, sweet, bitter" doesn't work, because the first two are nouns, but the last two adjectives.

Marthaª

17:15

I have no problem with coming off impolite. Though perhaps I should clarify: I'm not telling this person that she is doing it wrong, I'm say that other people - who take down their decorations before the holiday is over - are doing it wrong.

RegDwigнt

Make that sweetness and bitterness, for example.

KitFox

@Marthaª With air quotes or emphasis or by adding tee em to the end.

RegDwigнt

Or whatever the word for sweetness is?

Someone help me out.

blasteralfred Ψ

:(

my bad english ;)

KitFox

What kind of sweetness?

Gilles

17:16

@RegDwigнt sweetness?

RegDwigнt

Then of course there's the punctuation. I already mentioned the ellipsis, which should be three dots, and the capitalization after commas, which as @Marthaª would say is Doing It Wrong(TM).

blasteralfred Ψ

@KitFox used to indicate sweet memories

RegDwigнt

But what I didn't mention is that your apostrophe isn't.

That's some weird inverted comma or something. I can't even quite see it clearly.

Anyway, an apostrophe is this thing: '.

blasteralfred Ψ

@RegDwigнt got it

KitFox

Oh. Um. Let's look afresh.

RegDwigнt

17:18

Now, all that being said, grammatically, which was your original question, you seem to be fine.

blasteralfred Ψ

@KitFox agreed

RegDwigнt

But perhaps someone else will mention something else.

0

Q: How can I improve this sentence?

I have the following quote: Whatever it is, memories of happiness, sorrow, sweet, bitter.... I ‘m leaving it all behind. I have a road ahead in front, and miles to go before the sunset. lt is New Year's Day, My name is [Some Name], And l am still moving ahead.. Is this grammaticall...

Oh, and BTW, it's been fixed now, but you don't "improve the sentence better". You can either "make it better" or just "improve it".

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@RegDwigнt What if you improve it, but then I improve it better than you?

blasteralfred Ψ

@RegDwigнt yea i mean, improve

KitFox

Whatever it is, memories of happiness, sorrow, sweet, bitter.... I ‘m leaving it all behind. I have a road ahead in front, and miles to go before the sunset.

lt is New Year's Day, My name is [Some Name], And l am still moving ahead...

So, what have you changed so far?

RegDwigнt

17:20

@blasteralfredΨ as an aside, you can inline your question (what I just did) by posting the link, and only the link, to it on a separate line. Also, you can quote from it by copypasting and adding a "> " in front. Like this:

blasteralfred Ψ

@RegDwigнt agree with @KitFox ?

RegDwigнt

> Whatever it is, memories of happiness, sorrow, sweet, bitter.... I ‘m leaving it all behind. I have a road ahead in front, and miles to go before the sunset.

lt is New Year's Day, My name is [Some Name], And l am still moving ahead..

@blasteralfredΨ I always agree with KitFox.

5

KitFox

blushes

blasteralfred Ψ

:)

RegDwigнt

But did she actually say something? I think so far she only asked stuff herself.

KitFox

17:21

What did the fox say?

blasteralfred Ψ

oh sorry, my mistake..

RegDwigнt

I'll be AFKish for a moment...

TRiG

This edit was mainly a guess, and I'd like someone to review it, please?

blasteralfred Ψ

guys, i think we may create a fresh one inherited from the original oneay

RegDwigнt

@KitFox what we've got so far is "Whatever it is, memories of happiness, sorrow, sweetness, bitterness... I ‘m leaving it all behind. I have a road ahead, and miles to go before the sunset. lt is New Year's Day, my name is [Some Name], and l am still moving ahead...". You are welcome to hack on it some more.

KitFox

17:23

@blasteralfredΨ Do that. I'll look after I go eat lunch.

RegDwigнt

I for one would add a dash or two.

KitFox

I would kill the ellipses.

RegDwigнt

> Whatever it is, memories of happiness, sorrow, sweetness, bitterness — I ‘m leaving it all behind.

TRiG

@RegDwigнt Nah. You've got a parenthetical there set off with a comma at one end and a dash at the other.

blasteralfred Ψ

@RegDwigнt ok with that

RegDwigнt

17:25

Then of course there's the repetition of "ahead" in close succession. That can be improved.

KitFox

The 'sweetness' and 'bitterness' is a little different, but I think it is kind of nice.

RegDwigнt

@TRiG well not really but I do have the same nagging feeling that it could be better still.

blasteralfred Ψ

@KitFox yes it is

KitFox

I'd do "Whatever it is, memories of happiness or sorrow, sweetness or bitterness — I ‘m leaving it all behind." To emphasize the contrasts.

RegDwigнt

> Whatever it is — memories of happiness, sorrow, sweetness, bitterness —, I ‘m leaving it all behind.

KitFox

17:26

No!

Heathen!

RegDwigнt

Well that's what Trig says.

KitFox

With that rogue comma? Evilness.

TRiG

@RegDwigнt The dash/comma pair is exceedingly old fashioned.

RegDwigнt

I am not married to Trig.

Gilles

@KitFox seconded

RegDwigнt

17:26

@KitFox I am married to that comma, though. It is a perfectly cromulent piece of orthography.

TRiG

Generally, the dash is taken to absorb the comma these days.

RegDwigнt

@TRiG sactly.

Cerberus

@TRiG But it's really nice and consistent.

KitFox

sighs I must have lunch. And decongestant for my ear.

RegDwigнt

@TRiG generally, "thanks" is spelled "tnx" these days. You were saying?

Gilles

17:27

@TRiG but this text does seem to call for old-fashioned language

Cerberus

I use —,.

KitFox

I shall have an fewer chance of a ear infection than.

RegDwigнt

Thank you, treuer Hund!

Cerberus

Always.

TRiG

@Cerberus Oh, I like it too, but I'd hesitate to recommend it.

Gilles

17:27

@RegDwigнt oh? from reading SO I thought it was spelled “help me plz send teh codez !!!!!”

Cerberus

At least you could lead by example!

KitFox

bbl

TRiG

We appear to be a few hats short of a rack. — snailboat Dec 22 at 4:35

RegDwigнt

I always lead by example. I never lead by non-example.

Gilles

@TRiG is that better or worse than being a few bras short of a rack?

Cerberus

17:29

You never lead by command?

blasteralfred Ψ

So i think the first part of quote is almost ready?

RegDwigнt

So tell me @Gilles, we were wondering earlier today in The Tavern whether or not you have given up on getting to 300 hats in total.

You are like 20 short.

Cerberus

By the way, if your ear is blocked and you are dizzy, does that mean you have an ear infection?

TRiG

@Gilles I am unfamiliar with bra racks.

Gilles

@RegDwigнt I wasn't counting

RegDwigнt

17:30

@Gilles but we were.

18 hours ago, by RegDwigнt

0.25% of all hats collected so far are belong to me.

TRiG

@Cerberus An ear infection is probably a possibility worthy of examination in that case.

RegDwigнt

18 hours ago, by RegDwigнt

Gilles has all but given up at 0.14%.

18 hours ago, by RegDwigнt

Manish has a measly 0.068%.

TRiG

I started to say something about looking into it, but that seemed to demand a pub which I couldn't come up with.

RegDwigнt

Web Apps is still up for grabs.

They have like three active users and the rest is the long tail.

blasteralfred Ψ

@KitFox is "I have a road ahead in front, and miles to go before the sunset." ok?

RegDwigнt

17:32

No, not "ahead in front" again! )))

blasteralfred Ψ

so "I have a road ahead , and miles to go before the sunset."

TRiG

@blasteralfredΨ And after the miles, you sleep, yes?

Cerberus

@TRiG Thanks, that's what I thought. But I can't really go to a doctor now, and I have to cycle to this party...

blasteralfred Ψ

@TRiG :D he he he.. nice joke though I dnt meant that ;) this s not 4 (or abt) me

Marthaª

@TRiG I love the dash-comma. Sometimes, I go out of my way to construct my sentences so that I can use it.

RegDwigнt

17:35

Yes! Yes! Yes—,!

blasteralfred Ψ

@KitFox u thr?

RegDwigнt

I think she is eating...

But she'll see your ping when she comes back.

blasteralfred Ψ

@RegDwigнt what about "lt is New Year's Day, My name is "SomeName", And l am still moving ahead"

RegDwigнt

Well I have nothing to add to what I said earlier. Fix the capitalization, the rest is fine for all I can tell.

Someone take over from here.

Kit made me hungry.

blasteralfred Ψ

enjoy ur lunch @RegDwigнt

Gilles

17:47

@blasteralfredΨ it's dinner time

blasteralfred Ψ

sorry @Gilles its night 11.20 here

bye guys, I somewhat got an idea.. Catch u later. Bye @KitFox and thanks.. :)

MετάEd

YOU WILL ALL HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Gilles

@MετάEd what if it fails? Is there a warranty?

Mitch

No refunds.

RegDwigнt

wow, you guys are heavy on the downvotes in this stack.. — Mark Redman 2 hours ago

Haha. He says that after posting a subpar answer on a very soft question and receving exactly one downvote.

tchrist

18:03

Trying to think of a good title for the MSO Q in re SD

RegDwigнt

Why is it that the people who've been here the shortest are always the quickest to make their mind up about what this place is like?

@tchrist I was wondering about that. Hard!

Mitch

@KitFox asked and answered

RegDwigнt

Perhaps just lift one of their question titles verbatim?

tchrist

Heh.

RegDwigнt

There's real gems there.

Gilles

18:04

@tchrist SD?

RegDwigнt

Oh he won't tell. Tis a secret.

You will learn very soon!

Gilles

@RegDwigнt because the others haven't made up their mind yet?

RegDwigнt

@Gilles yeah something like that.

MετάEd

@RegDwigнt Something akin to the Dunning-Kruger effect.

Dunning–Kruger effect

The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly rating their ability much higher than is accurate. This bias is attributed to a metacognitive inability of the unskilled to recognize their ineptitude. Actual competence may weaken self-confidence, as competent individuals may falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding. David Dunning and Justin Kruger of Cornell University conclude, "the miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the miscalibration of the highly comp...

RegDwigнt

Yeah.

There's Andrew The Hatless.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

18:15

huh, I earned the Boater Hat before I earned the Vox Populi badge

RegDwigнt

I think they may have changed something.

I distinctly remember that I didn't get Boater on ELU right away. But yesterday on two other sites they were awarded instantaneously.

Gilles

By the way @RegDwigнt have you figured out the elusive 10th secret hat?

RegDwigнt

But perhaps I'm imagining it. I am not drunk, after all.

tchrist

I think had best not call it “Who’s minding the house at SD?”.

Gilles

I saw someone with it but I have no idea what triggered it

RegDwigнt

18:16

@Gilles which 10th? I have like three and a half.

Gilles

@RegDwigнt meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/212799/… lists 9 hats

RegDwigнt

@tchrist probably not. I really can't tell what will work.

@Gilles oh right. Have them all.

Gilles

and Shog9 posted 10 riddles

RegDwigнt

Gah, go away with Shoggoth's riddles! Gah!

Them's useless.

Gilles

but I did see another hat in the wild, so there are indeed at least 10 secret hats

RegDwigнt

18:19

For all I can tell, he can't count, either.

@Gilles wut it look like?

I'd love me some Pokémon, but I think that one's a joke.

Gilles

@RegDwigнt like it's missing a hat

and no, it's not Pokemon-themed

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Gilles what, a no-hat hat? nohat should have that hat

RegDwigнt

I think he has. All year round.

tchrist

@RegDwigнt Au contraire!

Well, this is lame for a title, so if you can think of a better one, by all means tell me:

Did SE change its Q&A format to just-another-Internet-forum?

Mitch

18:35

This question appears to be off-topic because it is about Sound Design Stack Exchange. It belongs on Sound Design meta. — Gilles 1 min ago

@Gilles That was supposed to be funny, right?

Ste

I wasn't sure! Haha.

Gilles

@Mitch no, I was serious

This question is solely about SD.SE, it isn't about SE in general

tchrist

You yourself named a different site with the same issue.

Mitch

I thought tchrist's intent was that it was for non SD people to judge. since SD people seem to think it is OK.

tchrist

You cannot ask on SE.meta because that is just the group-hug people.

Cerberus

18:38

@Mitch I love it!

Mitch

Also, one would have to -join- the site to post on their meta, and presumably tchrist would prefer not to do that.

RegDwigнt

@Gilles I very much think it is about SE in general because it demonstrates rather aptly that TPTB have been collectively looking away, and for a long time.

Posting it on Sound Design might only make them look away harder.

tchrist

Suppose you have a public house with the stated policy of no PDAs.

Gilles

@RegDwigнt SD is a fairly recent SE 1.0 migration, so TPTB definitely looked at it

RegDwigнt

And yet it takes but one short visit to the site to realize that something's wrong.

tchrist

18:40

The sign is even posted on the entrance door.

RegDwigнt

@Gilles And BTW, that could be a good answer.

tchrist

And yet when you get there, you see nothing but PDAs everywhere.

Cerberus

All the other sites are just really uptight. — Mitch 41 secs ago

tchrist

Should you break up the necking teenagers to ask them whether it’s actually okay to have public displays of affection in this house despite the notice on the wall? What do you really think they are going to say?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@tchrist In my public house, people leave their ipaqs, Handsprings, Visors, Palmpilots, and Newtons at the door!

RegDwigнt

18:41

@Servy in my capacity as someone who at 500+ hats had no choice but have a thorough look at the top questions of every (participating) SE site in existence, I can vow and swear that Sound Design absolutely does stick out. It is one of a kind. Nothing comes close. — ЯegDwight 4 mins ago

There, That is pretty much all I have to say.

Now it's tchrist who's in the line of fire again.

tchrist

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 You misTLA’d the PDAs!

Mitch

@tchrist I say leave em alone. They have their community, and if they're not following the rules the other ones are, then it's just their community that has to deal with it. It doesn't reflect on others.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@tchrist Don't worry. You will be lent a spare Android phone for the duration of your visit.

tchrist

@Gilles That one’s for you: Should you break up the necking teenagers at the house where the no PDA sign is posted to ask them whether it’s actually okay to have public displays of affection in this house despite the notice on the wall? What do you really think they are going to say? That’s the problem with taking it to the SD.meta — it fails.

Ste

My answer is going to get downvoted to oblivion!

Mitch

18:44

Kids these days. All that snogging and quim and flurb and what have you.

tchrist

@Ste MSO is the tuffest turph in the west.

Mitch

@Ste If it makes you feel any better I read your question but didn't vote even though I agreed with it. Except for baby Jesus crying. I think he would kick baby kittens instead.

MετάEd

@Mitch Quim, eh? I think that's been around rather longer.

tchrist

@MετάEd You certainly cannot call it older than Adam though.

Mitch

oh and 'whatevs' and 'best practices' and 'back in the day'

Ste

18:47

@Mitch I've updated my answer as per your suggestion.

MετάEd

@tchrist If I said that it would surely be tongue in cheek. Or somewhere.

Cerberus

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Noo I feel handicapped without my Ipaq!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus It's spelled iPAQ

tchrist

Please, no PDAs around @Cerb.

Ste

Only three more votes needed meta.english.stackexchange.com/a/4344/20739 So close!

Mitch

18:49

2

Q: Let's get critical: Dec 2013 Site Self-Evaluation

We all love Sound Design Stack Exchange, but there is a whole world of people out there who need answers to their questions and don't even know that this site exists. When they arrive from Google, what will their first impression be? Let's try to look at this site through the eyes of someone who'...

discussion featured site-evaluation

Cerberus

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Oops!

But you misspelled it too...

tchrist

@Mitch Teresting.

Lotta participation.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus yeah. too late to fix it. Also I think Handspring was a company, not a pda. wev.

wow TIL that Plan 9 can run on the iPAQ.

Cerberus

Plan who?

@Ste +1

Ste

@Cerberus - Thank you, kindly. I think most chat-users have voted but I'm confident I can beg for the remaining two at some point in the next three days.

Gilles

18:54

@Cerberus a canal?

Cerberus

Plan a canal?

Why would you plan a canal, instead of just beginning to dig?

ctrl

living being is there such an expression for any living thing?

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus haha you silly Dutch.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Plan 9 from Bell Labs

}} Plan 9 from Bell Labs is a free software distributed operating system. It was developed primarily for research purposes as the successor to Unix by the Computing Sciences Research Center at Bell Labs between the mid-1980s and 2002. Plan 9 continues to be used and developed by operating system researchers and hobbyists. Plan 9 has novel features such as the 9P protocol for accessing local and remote resources as files, union mounts, an improved proc file system, and native unicode support throughout the system. In Plan 9, all system interfaces, including those required for networking a...

Cerberus

@ctrl Organism?

Creature?

RegDwigнt

18:57

@ctrl why of course.

thefreedictionary.com/Living+Beings

ctrl

yes there is, ok

@RegDwigнt because it sounds weird

ing - ing

RegDwigнt

@ctrl actually there's a similar, or identical, word in many languages.

ctrl

être vivant sounds more natural :)

tchrist

@Mitch Robert Cartaino agrees with you on the uptaughtness thing.

RegDwigнt

@ctrl pas à un Anglais.

tchrist

18:58

2

A: Did SE change its Q&A format to just-another-Internet-forum?

The Sound Design site was created outside the Stack Exchange Network by a third party before it was incorporated into the Stack Exchange Network. If you look at the content as a whole, the information being provided there is actually of pretty high quality. That's what we liked about the site. T...

ctrl

los seres vivados

Cerberus

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 So I need that?

Ste

Haha - I got a Chuck Yeager on that, @tchrist

RegDwigнt

@ctrl Lebewesen.

Cerberus

@ctrl We have levend wezen in Dutch, but that may be a loan translation from French.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…