English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Kit

5:00 PM

@aedia blush Thanks.

Jez

weird.

you've edited his answer to basically give your own answer

Kit

@Jez What? No. That's not the answer I would have given.

I just pruned all the garbage out of his and found that nice gem underneath.

aedia

Finally. Coffee and food. This is marvelous.

Sometimes they don't let me out of my pen to eat and such, it seems.

Kit

5:17 PM

2

A: Word for sensors that collect the same data in two different ways

Domain is often used in precisely the situation you describe. So you could call it a dual-domain system or you could also use "multi-domain system." I also personally like milieu basically meaning the same, but even broader. I would say that a different milieu can be whole different para...

Here's another massive pruning. I don't feel as good about this one, but still got rid of that "I hope that helps!!!!!!!!!!!!" that has been haunting me.

Rhodri

Meh. The problem with the answer is that the question is misconceived.

RegDwight

@GraceNote Well, they don't call it "paradigm shift" for no reason.

aedia

@Kit ROFLCOPTER on definition 1 of redundant.

Jez

►

Kit

@aedia I assure you that my selection of the link was completely judicious.

aedia

5:21 PM

@Kit One-char typo on sSince in the end. Though I rather like it.

Rhodri

@Kit In the examples given, the sensors are neither collecting the same data nor the same features.

RegDwight

@Jez I remember seeing that occasionally, but I haven't been writing down the browsers, OSes, and time stamps.

Kit

@Rhodri I know. That is part of the problem with feeling good about my edits.

aedia

ssssSince what you're trying to say doesn't make any sense anyway, have this instead!

Jez

IT'S WITH WHOM I LIVE!!!

:-)

Kit

5:24 PM

ROFLMAO.

@Jez You know me too well.

RegDwight

@Jez Translation questions are the cancer of GLU, if you ask me.

Kit

I have done sweet dick all today.

simchona

good morning all

Kit

At least I got some edits done on EL&U.

simchona

[its 7.30am here.]

Martha

5:26 PM

Actually, the problem with your edits, @Kit, is that I desperately want to give you rep for them, but I can't - upvoting will just increase JB's recalculated rep when his incarceration ends.

Jez

@RegDwight cancer in what regard?

Kit

@Martha Well, maybe I should post them over on Writers, and you can upvote me there.

@Jez The bad kind of cancer.

giggle

RegDwight

@Jez They have the highest chance of being godawful.

Kit

Oh, I'm punchy on Fridays.

@Martha And he'll probably rollback all my edits as well.

Then you will have upvoted crap answers.

RegDwight

"I am translating this poem from English. Here's what I have this far:" followed by some incredible, completely ungrammatical trash, that makes Google Translate seem professional.

Rhodri

5:28 PM

@Martha That's my problem with doing major edits, too. In a very fundamental way the answer is no longer JB's, but he'll still get the credit for it.

Matt Ellen

It would seem that the reputation system discourages editing, which is bad, becaue it's a major part of the SE ethos

aedia

@Jez In like, the regard of over a hundred subtly different kinds of abnormalities multiplying out of control, none of which can be treated in the same manner?

Kit

@Rhodri Yes, but if I don't edit them, then others will see garbage answers, and accepted garbage answers at that.

@Rhodri Besides, I tried very hard to keep the spirit of his answer the same.

aedia

Cancer is delicious for metaphors.

Kit

4

A: Shakespearean discovery of the modern mind

It is essentially a reference to Harold Bloom's influential book Shakespeare and the Invention of the Human. Bloom's wildly audacious book posits that Shakespeare invented the modern milieu of existence. The only book I know as audacious as this — and somewhat similar — is Julian Jayne's The Or...

Why is this open?

Seems off-topic.

More philosophy-ish.

simchona

5:31 PM

A quick question, since I've only been on english.SE a few days...

is this question on-topic?

1

Q: Greeting one's advisor in email

In the United States, I was wondering what are some good ways to greet one's advisor (for example, an academic advisor of a graduate student) at the beginning of an email. For example, when asking an advisor for some help: Dear Prof. Hansen, How are you? (or) Happy summer's time! (or) H...

Kit

@simchona Greetings and salutations.

I had thought it was a dupe, but couldn't find a match.

waiwai933

4

Q: Is asking a question about the politeness of a phrase on-topic?

I'm looking at the FAQs and I'm trying to see if this has already been answered...Can't find it anywhere. Is asking if a phrase is polite on topic? Wouldn't subjects like this be too subjective to personal opinion on what's polite and what's not polite?

discussion on-topic-off-topic

Rhodri

Jun 29 at 12:59, by Robusto

"Praises of the unworthy are felt by ardent minds as robberies of the deserving." — Coleridge

simchona

But is writing emails for people on-topic? I guess that's where I got confused

Kit

@simchona It's not about writing an email, it's about an appropriate formal email salutation.

Martha

5:34 PM

@simchona I'd say "no", and I thought I'd voted to that effect already, but apparently not.

simchona

@Kit Ok, thanks. I think I see the distinction

@Martha I'm not high enough to vote, but I was afraid of flagging it inappropriately

Rhodri

@Kit It's NARQ, surely. If it was asking "Is this greeting suitable for using with my advisor" it would be fine, but as it stands it's open-ended.

Kit

@simchona That's not to say that it's on-topic as it is written though.

Matt Ellen

@Rhodri alas; life isn't fair

Martha

@Rhodri What you said.

Kit

5:35 PM

@Rhodri Yes, that's what I was typing.

Rhodri

It's exactly the distinction between OghmaOsiris's meta-question and main-question that he didn't grok.

Kit

I agree. Does someone want to post a nice comment explaining that? Not It!

simchona

Nose goes.

not it

aedia

not it not it

Kit

@Rhodri @Martha @MattEllen Don't you guys know how this works?

aedia

5:37 PM

What are we not-it-ing?

Kit

1 min ago, by Kit

I agree. Does someone want to post a nice comment explaining that? Not It!

Matt Ellen

sometimes I like to waitit out

Martha

@Kit I'm writing a comment, hush.

Kit

Oh. I guess Martha's It.

Matt Ellen

If no one steps up, I'll do it

Rhodri

5:38 PM

yesterday, by psmears

And indeed this is one of the things that makes me very hesitant to get involved (yet) in any sort of cleanup or improvement effort - part of me feels that if we do, Jeff will take that as justification that he was right to do what he did. And if that's how he feels, then I don't want to be on his site - these last few days have been the opposite of enjoyable, and if it's liable to happen again at any moment then... once bitten, twice shy.

Kit

@Rhodri Sorry, hon, I knew that. I keep forgetting. Glad you're here though.

Rhodri

@Kit I'm probably being confusing by sitting here opining merrily. Sorry.

I still don't see any point in wall-papering while the elephant's still in the corner.

Matt Ellen

@Rhodri confusion's the last thing this room needs ;-)

Kit

@Rhodri Me, I'm having a pre-menstrual hormone surge that is driving me to pick up litter.

RegDwight

@Rhodri On the plus site, we do have fennecs and viscachas and even unicorns, too.

Rhodri

5:40 PM

@MattEllen We don't call it The Incomprehensible Room for nothing, you know.

Kit

@RegDwight Fennecs and viscachas and unicorns...Oh my!

aedia

@Kit Wait, me too! We're not supposed to get synchronized over the internet, last I checked.

simchona

@aedia I hate to add a "me too"...but me too

Kit

@aedia @simchona It's the moon that synchronizes us, don't worry.

RegDwight

@Rhodri Wait, we call it that? I thought it was only applied to us by outsiders without sufficient command of at least trentileven languages, like, um, @MichaelMyers et al.

Matt Ellen

5:41 PM

@Kit you're both on the moon?!

simchona

@MattEllen over it, actually

Kit

@MattEllen Shooting it, actually.

Martha

@Kit I saw it as my chance to Become Somebody. (Although you went and ruined my chance by using "someone" instead of "somebody".)

Matt Ellen

:-D

Kit

@Martha Nice. And lovely words, too.

Martha

5:43 PM

@simchona uh... dunno how to say this, but, um, me four.

RegDwight

9

Q: "Somebody" vs "someone", "anybody" vs "anyone"

Are there any subtle differences between "somebody" and "someone", or can they be used completely interchangeably? Similarly, can you imagine a situation in which you would prefer "anybody" to "anyone" or vice versa?

word-choice synonyms pronouns

Michael Myers

As usual, I don't understand what's going on in here.

simchona

@Martha english.SE does some weird things...

Martha

@MichaelMyers You're not supposed to understand. It's the incomprehensible room, not the comprehensible one.

Michael Myers

Some rooms you can join and get up to speed by reading the last 15 minutes of the transcript. Here you have to go back to December.

2

Kit

5:44 PM

So plan of attack—should I keep focusing on JB, now that I've covered his accepted answers (by moving on to the unaccepted ones) or start on a different user's (maybe H&B) accepted answers?

@MichaelMyers August.

☺

RegDwight

@Martha That is even doubly correct since it was @MichaelMyers who first called this room that.

simchona

Who is JB?

I know H&B

RegDwight

@MichaelMyers What if it is December?

Kit

4 mins ago, by Kit

@aedia @simchona It's the moon that synchronizes us, don't worry.

Martha

@simchona Joe Blow

simchona

5:46 PM

@Martha And why do his answers need editing?

Michael Myers

in Teachers' Lounge, Apr 28 at 18:11, by RegDwight

Right. Let's just say that you're all like legends or something, and I am not.

in Teachers' Lounge, Apr 28 at 18:12, by Michael Myers

@RegDwight You just think that because you only hang out in the incomprehensible room.

Kit

@simchona He's heavy on the rambling, bolding, and exclamation points.

Michael Myers

I believe that is the first use of the phrase.

RegDwight

in Teachers' Lounge, Feb 24 at 20:44, by Tim Post

Please star this: Kindly, do not move any message from the Teacher's Lounge to another room without asking. There is a reasonable expectation of privacy here.

:PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP\

simchona

@Kit Oh, that would explain @aedia's earlier chat message

Matt Ellen

5:47 PM

@RegDwight Breaking a rule to point out the breaking of a rule

Michael Myers

@MattEllen That's always the best way to break a rule.

RegDwight

@MattEllen That's like recursion or something. Also, litotes.

Kit

@simchona Yes. His word selection is also sometimes questionable, and he can be overly aggressive as well. His answers can be good though. They just need lots of editing.

So

4 mins ago, by Kit

So plan of attack—should I keep focusing on JB, now that I've covered his accepted answers (by moving on to the unaccepted ones) or start on a different user's (maybe H&B) accepted answers?

? Any suggestions?

RegDwight

@Kit It's your life. Your choice what to ~~waste it on~~ spend it on for lots of flowers and cake.

Rhodri

@Kit 3I usually edits his own questions into respectability.

Martha

5:50 PM

I'd say H&B's accepted answers.

Except with H&B, it's not the writing that's the problem, but accuracy.

Rhodri

That was his MO that irked me: post an answer quickly, then edit his as accurate answers came in.

Kit

@Martha And that can't really be helped with editing.

aedia

@Martha Agree; accepted answer accuracy above all.

RegDwight

@Rhodri Well, that issue is still kind of unresolved. We'll see how he fares when he comes back.

Kit

@aedia But I can't ethically edit an accepted answer for accuracy.

aedia

5:51 PM

Accidental alliteration. aaaahonestly.

RegDwight

@Kit I second that.

Kit

LOL

Martha

Maybe the next project needs to be, go through H&B's accepted answers and post the inaccurate ones here so we can all downvote them?

Kit

It's just that JB's answers so desperately needed editing. Now I'm all worked up.

Maybe I should go home and self-flagellate.

@Martha There's an idea.

Also @Reg, I said there was something I might do yesterday after I got through with JB.

Do you remember what it was?

Rhodri

@Martha I was about to suggest that, though it makes me feel all stalkery again.

RegDwight

5:53 PM

@Kit No, I am cerberusated today.

Kit

Oh wait, I remember! Write nice comments on all the closed questions that are missing them.

RegDwight

@Kit Ah, that I remember. Now.

Martha

@Rhodri I'm fine with being stalkery. My only worry would be, would the automatic voting-review-thingy think there's something screwy going on and invalidate our votes?

Grace Note

@Martha How stalkery are you being?

Kit

@Martha Right! Especially since we would be targeting one user.

Matt Ellen

5:55 PM

goddamn computers and their out thinking us again!

Grace Note

If you're all sneaky-shifty-behind-the-lamppost, you should be fine. If you're holding twigs and pretending to be a tree, your votes will probably be invalidated.

RegDwight

It's always better to downvote crap right there right when it happens.

Martha

@GraceNote Dunno yet.

user19161

Any recommendations for a serious grammar treatise? I have read this though. english.stackexchange.com/questions/183/…

aedia

@Kit Hmm. I suppose not. Then I think improvements to the next-best answer (with its author's cooperation) or writing a new one is better?

Grace Note

5:56 PM

Also, Dwig, I've heard the phrase "paradigm shift" in enough contexts where it means completely different things each time so that it's become worth less than a meaningless buzzword.

Michael Myers

@GraceNote That's quite a paradigm shift.

Grace Note

@MichaelMyers Thank you for that demonstration

RegDwight

@GraceNote Wikipedia, me, link, joke, yada-yada.

Martha

@MichaelMyers THWACK!

Matt Ellen

@MichaelMyers I was too late in being witty :(

Grace Note

5:58 PM

@MattEllen If I weren't stuffed, I'd be hungry for a salad now.

Rhodri

@RegDwight Oh, I have. I think 3I has had too many people trust the numbers and believe his unsupported assertions must be correct, so they rarely get negative enough to spot.

Kit

@GraceNote Ha ha, you said you were stuffed, which as I understand it is a very dirty thing to say in Australia.

Rhodri

The sockpuppetry will have helped that perception.

user19161

Is 3i=hb?

Kit

@JasperLoy Yes.

Martha

5:58 PM

@JasperLoy Yes.

Kit