English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Jez

16:00

i should just pray for manna

Kit

@JSBangs You are also on a crazy editing spree this morning.

psmears

@JSBangs Here goes:

JSBangs

@Kit the tags, i must fix them

psmears

0

A: Are questions about ununderstood English-language jokes on-topic?

I totally agree with Jeff that The quality of the questions and answers is paramount. Joke questions pose a real danger, because (a) everyone likes them, and (b) they can easily end up trivialising the site. However, I can't help but think the policy in the FAQ at time of writing is overly re...

Jez

►

geez that makes me sweat to watch

Jeff Parker

16:03

@psmears My hat is off to you. A very well worded argument.

JSBangs

@psmears excellent answer. +1

psmears

@JeffParker Thank you! Comments welcome, here or on the question.

Kit

@Jez What the hell is wrong with you?

Jez

hey it was on my youtube front page

Jeff Parker

@psmears I think the only comment I can add would generally be +1 ... +2 if I could, but since I can't, +1 will have to do.

psmears

16:05

@JeffParker You're very kind!

Kit

@Jez I shudder to think why.

Kosmonaut

@psmears Great answer.

Robusto

0

Q: Is there a more eloquent word for a zigzag?

The title pretty much says it all. Is there a more eloquent word for a zigzag?

Sounds like Gen Ref to me. Or GAFTOD.

Rhodri

@Robusto I've told it to GRoff

JSBangs

@Robusto what's the OD there?

Kit

16:09

@psmears I like it too, but I'd remove the pineapple reference.

Kosmonaut

@JSBangs or dictionary

Mr. Disappointment

It would seem that someone gave a monkey* a computer, and after bashing at the keyboard long and hard enough, he actually managed to send a single email**; since there was no discipline for all the wrongdoing, but “Good monkey! Have Banana!” for ‘correctness’***, the monkey began to imitate his own actions, eventually, given the nature of randomness and the monkey’s articulation (but subdued by his own intellectual inferiority), he managed to begin sending 1 in 10 emails correctly**** - out of such sheer chaos was born what we now know to be a ‘mailer’*****.

Kit

@MrDisappointment I remember that.

Mr. Disappointment

@RegDwight Now, much more fun than messing with DCs!

psmears

@Kit Really? It's somewhat incidental to the answer, I suppose; do you feel it distracts to much?

Kit

16:11

Or maybe I don't.

Mr. Disappointment

@Kit You do? I just typed it in an email to a colleague..

Kit

@psmears Kind of an inside reference, which is something that you probably ought to avoid in this answer.

Robusto

Mar 22 at 12:55, by Robusto

GAFT = Get A Frickin' Thesaurus ... except without the euphemism.

Kit

@MrDisappointment No, I was thinking of something much ruder, that was a comment on an answer a while back.

@Robusto Is "Frickin'" a euphemism?

Or "Thesaurus?"

Robusto

@Kit — Hey, don't remove my pineapple reference!

Mr. Disappointment

16:13

@Kit Thought there would be a simple explanation - but I get awful anxious when I think someone is that close to my mind!

@Kit Depends on the context; not necessarily in hotel rooms with world leaders, no.

Kit

@Robusto I'm just thinking that "exclusion from the chat clique" is something we should avoid emphasizing in this discussion.

drm65

@Kit: Yes. I am an editor-at-heart, but I wish the "active" page wouldn't show all my edits... Oh well. I am mostly going through and methodically removing "thanks", taglines, etc. as well as improving grammar and word flow. I edit a lot of things - not just on SE.

Sorry for coming in w/o warning like that

But only now have I noticed your comment of ~25 mins ago

Kit

@drm65 I was picking up what you were putting down. No problem.

Looks like my server is back online. That means I am back to shirking work!

drm65

And I will confess that my eye is on Copy Editor... please don't kill me.

JSBangs

ok, i just got the number of sentence questions under 100. i'm stopping for the day

@drm65 no need to apologize.

Rhodri

16:18

@drm65 If we killed you, we'd have to kill @JSBangs too, and that would be bad ;-)

drm65

Why does it say "279" under my avatar in this chatroom?

Kit

@drm65 That's your total rep.

Wait, but that doesn't make sense.

drm65

Not at all

aedia

I think it's parent user total rep, but it's confusing

drm65

@Kit: I"m capped at 3154 today on EL&U

3156 rather

Kit

16:21

It shows as your rep for the Board and Card game site though.

drm65

Oh, there.

Why does my BCG rep show on ELU chat?

Kit

But mine is my total rep across all sites...

Huh.

Jez

yeah it should total all @drm65 linked accounts

JSBangs

maybe there's a problem w/ his account?

drm65

Flair shows 3.5K

So that can't be the problem

Kit

16:24

@Jez Oh well maybe that's it. Are your accounts linked @drm65?

drm65

@kit They should be

Kit

Does anyone feel like writing a nice note on this one?

Jez

@Kit no, i dont know why it's showing 279. it should be 4000+

Kit

-1

Q: How to politely ask for a Payment for the Research Done(Freelancing)

Let us say that I am talking with a client about a potential project and that I have done some research on the project as well. Let us say that the project will require considerable research in the future as well. Since we haven't agreed on the project, I'm not sure if I will get paid. How do I p...

politeness

drm65

@Kit: 7039

Ok, please endure another newbie: why does my avatar appear larger on my first comment here today?

Jez

16:27

@drm65 it gets bigger as your text gets longer

JSBangs

@drm65 the avatar auto-embiggens if you have multiple consecutive messages

drm65

Wow!

Jez

embiggen :-)

drm65

I see.

:-)

Rhodri

See above for a convenient example :-)

drm65

16:27

Yes.

Rhodri

Today's xkcd:

drm65

But about the rep thing: even if my accounts weren't linked, it should still show 3.1K from ELU, not 279 from BCG

Kit

@Rhodri Love it!

drm65

@Rhodri Where did I see that before?

Meta?

JSBangs

@drm65 it was on Language Log today

Rhodri

16:31

@JSBangs Ah. I should have expected that.

@Kit It did make my pendantic little fanfic writer's heart flutter :-)

Kit

@Rhodri You write Strunk/White fan fiction?

Rhodri

@Kit Dear sweet God, no!

Though now you mention it.... no. Just no.

Kit

@Rhodri Now I's confused.

Rhodri

I write fanfiction, just not S/W

Kit

@Rhodri So spill it. Which? What?

JSBangs

16:33

> White leaned in and whispered into Strunk's ear, "You know how much I love it when you omit unnecessary words."

> Their lips touched. "When I'm with you, baby, all words are unnecessary."

Kit

@JSBangs Strunk slapped White, and said "You misplaced your period, whore."

Rhodri

@JSBangs: My eyes, my eyes!

JSBangs

@Kit fixed. but maybe that was part of the humor, neh?

Kit

@JSBangs Well, now my joke makes no sense.

JSBangs

@Kit people will reconstruct it from context

Rhodri

16:36

@Kit Mostly I write in really obscure fandoms, in a desperate attempt not to be noticed.

Kit

I am embarrassed once again today; I didn't realize that White of Strunk & White was that White, one of my favorite children's authors.

2

What the —? Why can't my brain make sense of "children's author?" What's wrong there?

@Rhodri Ah. Asterix chez les bichons and such?

Rhodri

Oh, more obscure than that. I cut my metaphorical teeth on the 90s revamp of The Professionals that nobody has ever heard of.

JSBangs

@Rhodri but what fandom could possibly be more obscure than Strunk/White?

Kit

@Rhodri Say it ain't so.

Rhodri

"It ain't so."

I live to serve

Kit

16:43

Why is it the ones who live to serve never seem to be serving me?

JSBangs

-2

Q: Launch of school's magazine.

Is it grammatically correct to say "launch of school's magazine" or "launching of school's magazine"?

grammaticality expressions

this is currently the top question on the Active page, and the OP doesn't seem to be showing up to make it any less terrible. close votes, anyone?

aedia

@Kit Never fear, I'll be the Gabrielle to your Xena.

Rhodri

@aedia The annoying, mouthy one?

Kit

@JSBangs Oh yeah. That user. Voted.

@aedia Mmm. Be careful now...

aedia

@Rhodri I believe you mean the persuasive bard who spreads word of Xena's fabulous exploits. And the one who features prominently in some slash fiction that I would know nothing about.

Kit

16:57

@aedia How can you not love Joxur?

Mr. Disappointment

@JSBangs Gaaarrrrgh! I totally just missed that opportunity.

JSBangs

i only have one vote left today. who should i spend it on?

(yes, this is the sort of day for heavy metal.)

Rhodri

@aedia I think the series writers did quite enough of their own teasing, thank you :-)

Kit

0

Q: What is the proper/formal names for these rooms?

We just moved into a new house with a very unique layout. I'm wondering how to describe some of the rooms using formal definitions. The main floor has an open-air space that is pretty versatile -- it could be a living room, or it could be a dining room, we haven't decided ourselves yet -- and ext...

formality nomenclature

Oh dear.

I don't know where to begin here.

Mr. Disappointment

@Kit Can we close it? Can we? Can we??!

Kit

17:00

@MrDisappointment Easy, pumpkin. I think there might be some salvage here, but I'm not sure what.

Yet.

JSBangs

well, it's really just a set of three single-word-requests

Rhodri

I think what he really needs is a good reference on buildings. I can't think how we could provide that, though.

Mr. Disappointment

:(

Kit

@JSBangs Could be. Or "What's the difference between a great room and an atrium?"

That would be on-topic right? Because I'm writing a comment saying that it would be.

JSBangs

i agree that it would be on-topic

if a little niche, but whatever

aedia

17:06

It's better than a request localized to someone's particular house.

Kit

Well, I ran out of space. You guys want to drop in some comments too?

JSBangs

@Kit, nah, yours looks fine

aedia

17:22

@Kit Yours is good. I don't want to confuse things.

RegDwight

What are you even talking about? I would look it up under your recent activity, but I have two wars going on.

aedia

@RegDwight The rooms chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/1325709#1325709

RegDwight

Kthx.

Rhodri

@Kit I just suggested looking for more specialist sites, but since I don't know any I'm not sure how helpful that would be.

It is just me, or does Tom Au have a habit of pointless gravedigging?

0

A: Is there a non-sexual meaning of "to have a hard-on for someone"?

I believe that there are two somewhat similar expressions to using the term "hard on." Only one of them has a sexual connotation. To BE "hard on" somebody is to be tough or difficult with them. This can come from either a man or a woman. It often refers to "aggression" but has no sexual connotat...

aedia

@Rhodri Gravedigging?

Kit

17:36

@aedia Answering old questions.

@Rhodri And I agree.

aedia

@Kit Ohh. That makes more sense. My initial thought was to interpret it the same as the expression "dig your own grave" and that didn't work at all.

Rhodri

@Kit I know there's a point to gravedigging if you can offer an improved answer, but he doesn't.

trg787

18:16

Guys, let's discuss our life

JSBangs

@trg787 what about it?

trg787

Abt Lenin = a mushroom .... heh

RegDwight

Lenin was a mushroom

Lenin was a mushroom () was a televised hoax by musician Sergey Kuryokhin and reporter Sergey Sholokhov. It was first broadcast on 17 May 1991 on Leningrad Television. The hoax had the form of an interview. In the interview Kuryokhin was telling about his findings that Lenin used to consume a lot of psychedelic mushrooms and eventually turned into a mushroom himself. This absurd idea wasn't presented all at once; instead there was a resemblance of logical chain of reasonings, facts and quotations from various sources. An aura of plausibility was created using manipulation of facts, pseudo...

Robusto

@RegDwight — Another fond belief shot to hell.

RegDwight

You mean you don't believe it?

Robusto

18:31

@RegDwight — Your article calls it a hoax.

RegDwight

But it's a televised hoax. That's like a double negative.

It must be true.

Because it if isn't, then, in Lenin's very own words, WHAT ARE WE TO DO?

What Is to Be Done?

What Is to Be Done? Burning Questions of Our Movement ( Chto delat’?) is a political pamphlet written by the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin in 1901 and published in 1902. Its title is inspired by the novel of the same name by the nineteenth-century Russian revolutionary Nikolai Chernyshevsky. In What Is to Be Done?, Lenin argues that the working class will not spontaneously become political simply by fighting economic battles with employers over wages, working hours and the like. To convert the working class to Marxism, Lenin argues that Marxists should form a political party, or "...

Meh, my translation is funnier. Also, more accurate.

Robusto

@RegDwight — You should have been Lenin.

RegDwight

That is a great title for my autobiography. "I should have been Lenin". I am so stealing it.

Robusto

Royalties.

RegDwight

Not in the Soviet Union.

trg787

18:39

heh... I studied it in the middle school.... But abs can't recall abt it

RegDwight

In the Soviet Union, everything was Fair Use. And everything else was Unfair Use.

Robusto

Stop reminding me.

1

Q: Can 'one' replace an antecedent?

Over at Judaism.SE someone asked a question with the title (1) What is the source for not walking with one's hands behind his back and someone else edited it to read (2) What is the source for not walking with one's hands behind one's back commenting (in the edit summary) "antecedent-...

single-word-requests personal-pronouns

I am so not responding to that.

RegDwight

You mean the question is a joke? :P

Robusto

No. Or if it is, it's not very funny.

RegDwight

Funny or not, jokes must be closed.

Robusto

18:45

Well, do you think you could replace an antecedent? Imagine the pressure.

Jez

you can replace the antecedent with one, or one can replace the antecedent with you.

RegDwight

@Robusto I am replacing Lenin right now.

You're so forgetful.

Kit

@Jez You should definitely jump in with thon.

Jez

thon should be in all respectable dictionaries

RegDwight

@Kit Hopefully as a comment.

Robusto

18:47

@RegDwight — In Soviet Russia Lenin replaces you.

RegDwight

@Robusto You mean he dies in my stead? And then lives on forever? Sounds like a deal.

Rhodri

@RegDwight I don't think it's a joke, but the OP has dramatically missed the point.

Jez

so, food-wise? i went for the supermarket's low-fat garlic bread slices

Robusto

theoatmeal.com/comics/peeing_sitting_down

RegDwight

@Rhodri My calling it a joke was itself a joke.

Jez

18:48

they're a bit dry, but otherwise OK

RegDwight

At least it was supposed to.

@Rhodri But re: missing the point, that should be an answer.

Kit

@Jez Barf. Why bother?

Jez

why not?

RegDwight

Fox not like eat bread.

Jez

ive got the spag bol on simmer now :-)

RegDwight

18:50

Sounds painful.

Doctor, doctor, my spag bol is on simmer.

Robusto

@RegDwight — Lenin didn't really die. Someone told him to get stuffed, and he took it literally.

Kit

"I want tasteless hunks of cardboard, not that icky full-flavored spinach that actually has nutritional value and goes well with bolognese..."

@Robusto Ha!

Jez

no, spinach is bitter and twisted

RegDwight

@Robusto That's what the "lives on forever" part is all about.

Robusto

@RegDwight — OK, so go get stuffed.

RegDwight

18:52

No thank you.

I think we agreed that Lenin will handle that instead.

Rhodri

@RegDwight Actually I'm going to retract. He did his research, and Wikipedia supports the inconsistency.

RegDwight

Fine.

Kit

@Jez Baby spinach is sweet and adorable.

Robusto

►

Jez

ah-ga-ga-ga-gaga

trg787

19:05

intv.ru/view/?film_id=34579

miss 60 sec, then the interview, Kuruokhian at the right

JSBangs

does this have something to do with lenin?

RegDwight

@trg787 Thanks. Watching.

@JSBangs Yes. Scroll a bit up.

Robusto

That's so гей.

►

trg787

19:28

It's sooooooo pity..... my trafic..... I can't watch the link to the end

RegDwight

@trg787 Which link?

Cause the Lenin video has stopped for me, too.

Right when he picked up the phone for the second time.

trg787

mine link, I spent 73 mb of trafic, not too cheap for me

Kit

0

Q: Does "whom" serve any purpose in the English language?

Which is to say, if we were to remove it from the English language and replace it with "who" in all contexts ("who" gains the definitions and parts of speech of 'whom'), would English lose any of its expressive power? Would anything have to be rephrased or rewritten? Can whom provide emphasis on ...

whom expressive-power

This must go.

I don't even know how to comment politely on it.

RegDwight

Serously, what's going on?

6 hours ago, by RegDwight

Have the Gates of Hell been opened?

BTW, before I forget: question unclear or not useful = downvote.

trg787

Let's rename this chat room into "Lenin was a mushroom" :)

Mr. Disappointment

19:34

NARQ!

RegDwight

I could, but we are not into spreading truth in this room.

trg787

Or better let's organize a party against capitalistic monsters.....

Mr. Disappointment

Wow, and they didn't even have to create the whom tag.

Kit

@RegDwight They are mounting an assault against our community.

Robusto

"Whom" was a mushroom.

JSBangs

19:39

i couldn't even downvote it. i ran out of votes today

Mr. Disappointment

I love the comment on this question...

0

Q: "They don't use either of them" versus "They don't use any of them"?

Which is more correct, "They don't use either of them" or "They don't use any of them"? I am pretty sure than "any" is more correct, but can I use either "either" ?

word-choice single-word-requests

JSBangs

at least i got to closevote it

Robusto

So are we all gonna wake up one day and say, "Hey, I just realized. There's no freakin' reason at all to have an EL&U.SE"?

RegDwight

For Jeff that day lies in the past, apparently.

Mr. Disappointment

So long as questions keep coming, there's always a reason: we can cast more close-votes!

JSBangs

19:42

@MrDisappointment YES

Robusto

@MrDisappointment — I live for that.

BTW, 4 more days till Da Raptchah.

Jez

Da what?

Kit

@Robusto Not so? Isn't that in October or something?

Mr. Disappointment

@Robusto 11/11/11? That's hokery pokery, I'll have nothing of it!

Jez

ah yes

11/11/11 11:11:11

that'll be fun

Rhodri

19:49

@Robusto I thought that was supposed to be a couple of months ago?

Kit

@Rhodri It got postponed.

@Rhodri Somebody went and changed the requirement again.

You know management, always messing with the spec.

RegDwight

May 23 at 12:51, by RegDwight

Your rapture was all broken.

Robusto

You'll see.

Mr. Disappointment

And I, for one, can foresee that they'll change the parameters yet again.

Robusto

And, for the record, @RegDwight misspelled Raptchah.

Jez

19:50

hmm. how come some people's names are blue, and some black?

RegDwight

@Robusto And you misspelled RedDwight.

Robusto

@Jez Because black is cool.

RegDwight

Blue = can kick you.

Mr. Disappointment

There must be a 'Yo dawg' on rapture, just must.

Something about rapturing your rapture, or something.

Robusto

Rhodri

19:53

@Robusto: Gee, thanks. I was just contemplating what to make for supper.

Robusto

It will all be revealed in 4 days. Not necessarily consecutive days, mind you.

Kit

@Robusto More like "God days." 7 God days = about 3 billion years.

Robusto

@Kit — Nah. Nothing religulous.

Kit

<— not worried about Rapture happening this millenium.

Robusto

But it is a real event, and barring unforeseen adversity, it will happen. In 4 days. Not necessarily consecutive.

And all of your meaningful little lives will remain profoundly unaffected. Oh, and no Christians will be spared. Or harmed in any way.

Jez

19:59

@Kit 7 God days must be more like 14 billion years

Mr. Disappointment

Ya, it doesn't add up, better leave the big-G out of this one.

RegDwight

Notorious big-G?

Kit

@Robusto Yes. Surely. backing away slowly

Robusto

I don't think you can express this in Big-O notation, either.

RegDwight

Try Omega.

Or Pummeller.

Sorry, inside joke.

Kit

20:01

@Robusto Interesting factoid about Big-O notation: ...

RegDwight

You misspelled intere... well, pretty much everything.

Robusto

@RegDwight — Speaking of which, who knew @Cerberus could be weaponized?

Mr. Disappointment

You know, the trouble with factoids...

RegDwight

@Robusto You only just got ~~him~~ it?

Kit

On my daily commutes. TTFN.

Robusto

20:10

@RegDwight — No, I only just got it yesterday.

RegDwight

Good. You will actually need a couple for an achievement.

Mr. Disappointment

@Kit TTYS

Robusto

20:33

TTYL

Jez

20:58

My attention span has become so short in the last few years.

Unless I'm finding something gripping, I have trouble reading past the first couple of paragraphs.

I used to read stuff much more thoroughly. :-\

RegDwight

Hm. Did I actually welcome @callithumpian to the 10k club?

Callithumpian, United States

10.8k 10 44

etymology single-word-requests meaning phrases idioms word-choice expressions

aedia

21:37

@Callithumpian, congratulations on your 10k!

RegDwight

Should I dust off that old gift basket?

aedia

@RegDwight Something very odd is happening with your avatar in my view. It keeps disappearing and being replaced with text, but only in some places.

RegDwight

Surely everyone is bored of it at this point.

@aedia Sorry, that's stupid me failing at the Turing test once again. I can't even tell text from images.

aedia

@RegDwight We've had so many exciting new things you could spice it up with, though!

RegDwight

Yeah... I must admit I can remember only one that would be worth it, and very vaguely at that, my head is empty today.

aedia

21:47

Oh, c'mon. They're rife for the picking.

7

Q: "Then" versus "than"

Do you think you are smarter then me? While this question should be using than...I have to wonder if this is a debatable topic within English or is this cut and dry? If this specific instance is indeed cut and dry are there any instances on the usage of then and than that would cause a hot d...

word-choice differences confusables

I love this one

Jez

21:59

wtf?

what am i missing, why did that get +7? it deserves to be below zero

aedia

@Jez I really don't know. I didn't exist then.

RegDwight

Well I am happy to report that I am not one of the seven.

I am one of the 28 who upticked Kosmo, though.

aedia

I think it's funny that it's got "cut and dry" in both the question and an answer, too; that's another thing prescriptivists like to peeve about.

RegDwight

Well, the sis is obviously mimicking the OP.

aedia

And than another answer goes on to peeve about me and I. Hi-larious. Sorry I missed it happening live.

Jez

22:08

Are we getting to the point now where people are just making single word requests for the fun of it?

3

Q: What do you call a number that is a power of 2?

I know there is a term for a number that is the power of 2, such as 8, 32, 128, 4096 -- but it slipped my mind.

single-word-requests terminology

Why does the questioner have a problem with the phrase "power of 2"?

RegDwight

Well, there's an answer saying just that.

Can anyone explain this to me?

15

A: How to convey to someone that food is losing heat?

"Hey, , y'know"

Why is it at 15?

I mean, obviously it got multicollidered.

But there were 15 people who understood it?

Most importantly, what do I do now?

CW it? Delete?

Converting to a comment would be the most appropriate thing to do, but that kills the formatting.

Today is not my day.

aedia

I think it follows as a funnier version of the other, earlier, joke-y answer about temperature gradient.

It does seem like they both should be comments but that would kill it. Hmm.

RegDwight

I mean, in a way, that's not my problem.

Jez

multicollidered?

RegDwight

A comment should be a comment. Properly formatting that in plain text should be the worry of the author.

@Jez The question got in that MultiCollider thingamajig in the upper left corner.

Basically free advertising across all sites.

aedia

22:17

@RegDwight Besides, they only got it from Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…

RegDwight

If I knew how to actually pronounce that / spell it out, I'd go ahead and convert.

Perhaps @Kosmonaut can have a look. Tomorrow.

Me, I suppose I should go to bed.

This has been a long day.

Jez

multicollider?!

i dont see no multicollider

RegDwight

35

Q: Why doesn't the Stack Exchange™ MultiCollider SuperDropdown™ exist on Area 51?

Aside from the "gen-u-wine™" thing I actually want to have the global-inbox enabled in Area 51 (maybe http://stackexchange.com too).

discussion feature-request status-completed area51 stackexchange-button

That's the official name.

Jez

oh the global inbox notification?

aedia

@RegDwight Sleep well!

Jez

22:20

or hot questions

RegDwight

@aedia I sure hope I will... Thank you.

Man, those things Jeff said are just insulting, sorry.

I wish I were heading off to Italy tomorrow rather than in 6 weeks.

But hey, whatever.

Night all.

aedia

Awwh. Don't worry, I will take a stand for pineapples!

@Jez The hot questions part is where things multicollide, I believe.

Kit

23:11

@RegDwight I asked an on-topic, perfectly inane question, just for you. To ease your mind.

aedia

23:24

@Kit Surely you meant to ask an off-topic, perfectly insane question and that one just slipped out.

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…