English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

His work in research and teaching have been ... His works in research and teaching have been... His work in research and teaching has been ... If I want to express many pieces of his work, not just one piece of work, which one above is correct or better?

Anyone want to help sort the problem out (before it could go worse)?

skullpatrol

12:41 PM

@cornbreadninja Ouch! :(

Sorry @Cerberus I know absolutely nothing about neurochemistry.

Cerberus

1:13 PM

Hi.

skullpatrol

1:34 PM

Hello.

Cerberus

How're things?

skullpatrol

Fine thanks, how about you?

Cerberus

That's good to hear.

Stack Exchange

Limerick Machine: Keep it the right way up

posted on January 05, 2014 by sgdi

There once was a serious frown That frowned its way all about town The frown was displeased As once it was seized Someone tried to turn it upside down

Ste

2:01 PM

Hello all. I'm on a train again.

No hats to find this time.

RegDwigнt

3:16 PM

Wow, the Winter Bash roundup is boring beyond all belief.

Blog - Stack Exchange: Winter Bash 2013 Wrap-Up

Abby T. Miller on January 03, 2014

Another holiday season has drawn to a close. We’ve had three glorious weeks with our beloved hats. Now as we pack away the tinsel and the party horns, it’s time to put the hats back in their boxes for another year. Before we move on to 2014 with our bare heads (and our full hearts), let’s take a few moments to reminisce.

76,586 users from all over the network earned 214,172 hats this year – that’s just about twice the number of hats they earned last year. 95 sites opted to participate in Winter Bash, which is more than the total number of sites that simply existed during last year’s event. …

They only mention the top two users and list nine run-of-the-mill gravatars and that's it.

Ste

Very poor. You should have had a mention for starters...

RegDwigнt

3:34 PM

Haha yeah I wouldn't mind, especially after this buildup:

> And finally, we need to send a special shout-out to the top hat earner across the entire Stack Exchange network. This user earned a whopping...

But yeah. No. I actually would like to see some juicy stats. Heck, it barely mentions how many users/sites participated, and how many hats were earned. These are pretty much the only numbers in the entire article.

Or the top ten of sites.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@skullpatrol -_-

RegDwigнt

Or which sites were most active by some other criteria. I saw some sites towards the bottom that had absolutely crazy top 20, starting at 15 hats. And I saw some sites towards the top where the top 20 started with a mere 4 hats, so their only leverage was age/number of passive users.

I'd also like to see on which day the most hats were earned. Was it Christmas/NYD due to the special hats? Or was it the very first day due to all the Old Hats?

The list goes on, but you get the idea. They have a ton of interesting info, and they only publish the top two users, which is the only info absolutely everyone already has.

I am disappoint.

Ste

I agree with all of your points.

RegDwigнt

Anyway.

What I really wanted to say: imagine Don Draper had surfaced earlier. Think of all the spam on all the threads on all the sites.

They'd have literally spammed their entire network with rubbish cross-promotion ads.

Six upvotes? We found out it was trivial to get forty-six.

Ste

True. Did I tell you that Shog came back to me at 8 minutes past midnight about Eureka? I would have been number 1!

RegDwigнt

3:46 PM

Why did you even bother with that one. It was always a huge letdown by design.

Sec, installing Unity...

Ste

Yeah, I agree - but I wanted the full set (excluding the mod hat).

Robusto

It just occurred to me how the synonyms "middle" and "central" can have such contradictory connotations. The latter more often means something positive: centrally located, central heating, the central tenet of sth., etc. While "middle" gives us middle-class, middle-of-the-road, middling, middle school, etc.

Even the noun synonym, center, is more positive: center of attention, center stage, the center of the universe, et al.

tchrist

4:06 PM

Miðgarðr

Mittilagart

Middangeard

Middle Earth.

Ste

Middlesbrough. Urghh.

Robusto

@tchrist Yeah, I thought of that one, as well as Mediterranean and China's "Middle Kingdom" . . .

tchrist

Those are all middle as central.

RegDwigнt

tchrist

How special.

The Midlands, the Mideast, the Midwest, Midsummer, middling, middle age, Bette Midler.

Although I suppose Midwinter is closer today.

Robusto

4:15 PM

Midshipman.

Ste

Mid-life crisis.

Mitch

midi-skirt

fair to middlin'

RegDwigнt

Midwife.

Mitch

I know! Center-wife is much better.

RegDwigнt

Mean wife.

tchrist

4:16 PM

Middle of the road.

Mitch

leave out the middle-man

RegDwigнt

Timidity.

Mitch

middle of nowhere

tchrist

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
Mi ritrovai per una selva oscura
Ché la diritta via era smarrita.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Mitch

Kay Middleton.

I win!

Ste

4:20 PM

Pippa Middleton's arse

!!wiki Pippa Middleton's arse

Mitch

wiki? Are you there?

Ste

!!wiki Pippa Middleton

:o(

tchrist

She hears you not.

Probably frozen.

Ste

huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/17/…

Mitch

"[Pippa] Middleton began receiving media attention with her appearance at her sister's wedding to Prince William, and has continued to do so for her fashion sense and personal relationships."

"continued to do so for her...personal relationships."? You can do that. checks rule book

RegDwigнt

4:24 PM

Pippa is a toad. From Suriname.

Mitch

Wow. The rule book doesn't say you you_can't_. And there's a meta rule book that says that if there's no rule for it you can do it.

There's also another meta rule book that says you can't do it if there's no rule.

RegDwigнt

There is also Neo who says there is no books.

Mitch

searching for meta meta rule book

@RegDwigнt That's funny, she doesn't look like she's from Suriname.

tchrist

Matamata

Matamata is a rural Waikato town in New Zealand with a population of around 12,000 (6,000 in rural areas, 6,000 in the township). It is located near the base of the Kaimai Ranges, and is a thriving farming area known for Thoroughbred horse breeding and training pursuits. It is part of the Matamata-Piako District, which takes in the surrounding rural areas as well as Morrinsville and Te Aroha. State Highway 27 and the Kinleith Branch railway run through the town. A nearby farm was the location for the Hobbiton set in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy. The New Zealand gove...

Mitch

What do they have to say about rules? Whatever it is I'll follow it.

tchrist

4:31 PM

> Association football Matamata is home to Matamata Swifts who compete in the Lotto Sport Italia NRFL Division 1A.

I think that means you have to play by Association Rules, although that Italia thing suggests that cheating might be tolerated.

Damkerng T.

5:11 PM

►

Goodbye Pork Pie Hat

And goodbye my hats...

tchrist

5:54 PM

> The Gaelic form of “Troy” is “Troightheach”.

And is probably pronounced the same way, too. :)

@Ste Aw, I’m so sorry to hear that.

@RegDwigнt Yes, yes, yes, 500 times yes. Here’s a hope-glimmer for you to do with what you will: if you read the current comment-set to that blog post, it appears that its author is at least potentially amenable to updating it with additional data/info, insofar as this has occurred at least once so far. So you just might possibly ask nicely enough, and specifically enough, to get something for your trouble.

Jasper Loy

7:11 PM

This chat is dead.

kalina

it was, but you broke the silence

now you must die

Jasper Loy

I see you are lurking in this chat...

kalina

you call it lurking

I call it... well, lurking, I guess

Jasper Loy

So I am bored, tell me something interesting...

kalina

cake

delicious, moist, cake

is delicious, and moist

Jasper Loy

7:13 PM

And is cake.

kalina

and is cake

which is moist, and delicious

Jasper Loy

I now know that you are crazy as you said, lol.

kalina

nooo, everybody else are the strange ones

I am normal

Jasper Loy

My favourite cake is tiramisu, you?

kalina

I have no favourite

all cake is delicious

choosing one over another would just be wrong

Jasper Loy

7:16 PM

My favourite colour is steelblue, what you are seeing.

kalina

my favourite colour is not steel blue

we are so different

Jasper Loy

Kalina sounds like Kalima, what they said in that Indiana Jones movie where they dug out the heart, lol.

They said Kalima, Kalima, Kalima, and the heart came out. So scary!

kalina

I have never seen that movie so don't know what you're talking about!

Jasper Loy

That movie is Temple of Doom.

KitFox

7:33 PM

Kali, not Kalima.

@tchrist Looks like she left all her rooms.

Damkerng T.

Any pianist here?

KitFox

@Reg is one.

Damkerng T.

Oh, that's good.

So I can leave a question for him. :)

KitFox

@Rob is a flutist, but he might play piano too. I can't remember.

Damkerng T.

@RegDwigнt What kind of action would you call when a pianist play octaves with both hands?

Jasper Loy

7:40 PM

@KitFox I thought it was flautist, hmm.

KitFox

!!define flutist

KitSox

@KitFox flutist One who plays the flute.

KitFox

!!define flautist

KitSox

@KitFox flautist One who plays the flute.

KitFox

qed

Damkerng T.

7:40 PM

(It's a curious question I found in ELL.)

Jasper Loy

!!define qed

KitSox

@JasperLoy My pocket dictionary just isn't good enough for you.

KitFox

@DamkerngT. Playing scales?

Damkerng T.

I think the OP meant striking the same note in four octaves at the same time.

KitFox

I shouldn't try. I really don't know.

Sounds like chording or something.

I play some guitar, but I don't know much music theory.

!!define chording

KitSox

7:42 PM

@KitFox chording Present participle of chord.

KitFox

!!define chord

KitSox

@KitFox chord (music) In music, a combination of any three or more notes sounded simultaneously.

KitFox

Yeah, but that's not really it, I guess.

Damkerng T.

When we strike the same note in two octaves with one hand, they call playing octaves.

My guess is it's still called playing octaves. :)

KitFox

Or maybe playing two octaves.

One for each hand?

Damkerng T.

7:43 PM

Hmm...

:-)

That's interesting.

Anyway, I'm not a pianist. Signing the word hello is challenging enough. (See the photo in my profile.)

KitFox

I see.

ima do the crossword now. bbl

Damkerng T.

Bye.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

9:21 PM

@KitFox it's true.

tchrist

@KitFox Kalima? Aiya Eärendil elenion ancalima!

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

10:08 PM

@Mr.Shiny @RegDwigнt instructables.com/id/Fully-Functional-LEGO-Traffic-Signal-Lamp

skullpatrol

10:28 PM

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 the 49ers are ahead 6-0 already?

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@skullpatrol for some reason, yes

I thought them boys would be frozen solid by now.

skullpatrol

Yep...

...I like this rivalry

RegDwigнt

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 that was meh, but the N64 transformers linked from there were spectacular.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@RegDwigнt jeebus.

RegDwigнt

@DamkerngT. boring. Seriously though, I don't know a name for that. And seriously though, it is boring.

@tchrist yeah no thanks I'll pass.

I mean, more begging? I thought the hat season was over.

Cerberus

10:35 PM

Hi.

Wo?

Hi.

Iie.

Do.

Ist der Bahnhof.

RegDwigнt

Isuto de banufofo?

Cerberus

10:37 PM

Isuto.

RegDwigнt

Meri kurimasu.

Cerberus

("Do ist der Bahnhof" is from a famous Dutch comedy sketch.)

RegDwigнt

Not that famous, it would appear.

Cerberus

No?

RegDwigнt

Well, I don't know it.

And I'm like five villages away.

Cerberus

10:40 PM

I guess you have to really speak Dutch very well to be able to understand and appreciate the sketches. Van Kooten en De Bie are the best Dutch comedians of all time.

RegDwigнt

Imagine how the people of Thailand must feel.

Cerberus

This sketch is about how all Dutchmen (claim they) were in the resistance. These guys tell us about their act of resistance: they once told a German officer "do ist der Bahnhof" while pointing in the wrong direction. And they keep going on and on about it, adding various petit-bourgeois, typically Dutch details.

Heroes.

skullpatrol

@RegDwigнt Well said :D

Ice Girl

10:55 PM

@skullpatrol Hi

skullpatrol

@IceGirl hi

Cerberus

Hmm it seems North America has it rough.

Ice Girl

@skullpatrol Do you have time to answers my questions?

Cerberus

-30 °C?

Salt is no longer working to clear the roads of snow?

skullpatrol

@Cerberus and they are playing football in it

Cerberus

10:57 PM

Are they?

skullpatrol

playoff football

started yesterday

Cerberus

Is that unlike normal football?

RegDwigнt

Precisely. Webster's pre-steampunk notation system is the one that nobody ever understands or learns, because it makes no sense. Therefore it's perfect for an American dictionary. Merriam-Webster has published Kenyon & Knott's Pronouncing Dictionary of American English, with excellent IPA-based phonemic notation, since the 1950s, but they continue to not use it anywhere else, for fear Americans might learn something. It's like the metric system; "not invented here". — John Lawler 52 mins ago

Shit's hilarious.

But I'm logging off for today.

No hats, no fun.

skullpatrol

@Cerberus yes, this is to see who will play for the championship

RegDwigнt

Au reservoir.

skullpatrol

10:59 PM

later

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt It is..."not invented here", as in Dutch (Fahrenheit lived most of his life in Holland, and certainly not in the New World).