English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Cerberus

00:00

My Firefox didn't like it at all. I used Bartab with it: that extension only loads a tab when you go to it, and unloads it after a period of time.

bracho monacho

I'm using Google Chrome at the moment, having given up a short time ago on both Internet Exploder and Firefox. I think SE hates me – the sites keep freezing my browser, and I get the message that the pages have become unresponsive.

Maybe I've been slowbanned =P

Cerberus

SE can be a bit buggy sometimes... but I don't think it has ever frozen my browser!

But if it works better on Chrome for you, that might be because Chrome handles Javascript faster (so they say) if your computer is a bit old.

bracho monacho

The browser does unfreeze after a little while... The only time I have SE crash is if I'm looking at it on my Nokia E5, and accidentally hover over the drop-down StackExchange or user profile menu.

I would buy a new laptop, if not for the fact that everybody is telling me I'll be out of a job in less than 2 years, on account of the stupid Carbon Tax.

Cerberus

00:23

Oh that sucks....

I thought that tax was revoked? At least it was in Europe, I think?

@brachomonacho Was this freezing particularly bad in comments? I had that (made typing unworkable), but SE fixed that, and now I can happily type comments on this old PC.

bracho monacho

I never really noticed it with comments in particular... (Perhaps I signed up to SE after the bug had been fixed.) Though now that you mention it, I do often encounter freezing of the browser while typing an answer. I usually just finish typing the sentence that I was in the middle of, and switch to another tab; by the time I check back, the page is unfrozen and the rest of my sentence has appeared.

@Cerberus In Australia, it looks like the carbon tax is going to go through – never mind the fact that in my region alone, destruction of the steel industry would mean probably 30K people out of a job.

Cerberus

Hmm it was never very bad in answers for me, just in comments. Answers were just a bit slow, but not too bad. They fixed that comment thing a few weeks ago.

@brachomonacho Oh, the carbon tax is on all CO2! Here is was only on air planes.

Kit

@Cerberus Welcome home, pooch!

Cerberus

00:38

Kitty kitty! Come to papa for a stroke and a hug!

What woes have befallen us!

Is this website on the verge of collapse?

At least we got you in the Faction in exchange.

bracho monacho

Yep, and off the top of my head, the industries it affects the most are the electricity sector, the cement industry, and the steel industry.

With regard to the steel industry, the thing that is so detrimental about Australia leading the way with the carbon tax is that the steel company I work for already has a hard time competing with overseas companies that produce at lower cost. Add a levy that is not imposed on overseas products, and that's us gone forever from Australia. (Unless the rumours are true, and there's an Indian steelmaker eyeing us off.)

Kit

@Cerberus SSSHH! Not here. Only in the secret boys' room (where I pretend to be a boy).

@Cerberus No. Yes. Maybe. I don't know. I've been doing a lot of yipping and telling people I love them.

I did a stack of editing the on Friday, mostly Joe Blow's accepted answers.

Cerberus

@brachomonacho Yeah I can see a lot of problems with this carbon tax. On the one hand, you do not want to put your own industry at a disadvantage, which is probably cleaner than Chinese/Indian competitors already; on the other, you have to start somewhere. I don't know what to think. It sucks for you anyway.

At least the government should have a workable suggestion how the industry could cut back on CO2 while staying competitive, or, as an alternative, some plan about how the economy would survive without those industries, etc.

@Kit Oh, how did you edit them?

By the way, was he warned before his suspension/ban?

Kit

I finally got rid of that irritating "I hope that helps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" that had been driving me crazy. That guy has got to rein in the exclamation points.

@Cerberus Not sure.

Cerberus

@Kit Oh, right, those were bad.

Kit

00:44

14

A: Why do we use the phrase 'Across the pond'?

I feel that the aspect "the world is smaller now" is really not that relevant, and indeed the phrase is too old for that to be the case. Rather, it's an example of typical understated, dry English humour. I'm afraid I don't know about earliest usage although PHenry mentioned it could have been u...

bracho monacho

@Kit Could have been worse; he could have written: "I hope that helps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lolololololol!!!!!!"

Kit

3

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...

Cerberus

@Kit I know one boy, for one, who is terribly glad that another, slightly androgynous boy has joined!

Kit

Judge for yourself..

@Cerberus Who?

Those were the two biggest edits.

Man, it felt good to mow that lawn, so to speak.

Cerberus

@Kit The other boy wished to be unmentioned and made this clear by "SHHH"...

Kit

00:47

@Cerberus Oh. Right! A winks as good as a nod to a blind man, eh?

Cerberus

@Kit Wow. I had absolutely NO idea his answers were so freaking absurd. How you even mustered the courage to read that in the first place!

Kit

@Cerberus I was compelled. I used to do copyediting. It's a blessing and a curse.

The "across the pond" one was actually a pretty good, if horribly disorganized answer.

The sensors one is just a travesty.

Cerberus

@Kit Well, this explains his suspension utterly and completely.

Kit

@Cerberus Um, nope? He was suspended for being belligerent and rude.

Cerberus

Oh...

Kit

00:49

That does explain this though

yesterday, by aedia

All praise Kit for editing! You know? I'm sure her solution is right!!!!

Cerberus

I think he operated in the subfield of ELU that failed to grasp my interest at all, such as SWR (I never read any of those).

Kit

He doesn't really have a good grasp of subtlety in meaning, if you get my gist.

Funny that I dropped the n't in that sentence. ^

Cerberus

Heh I hardly remember this guy, except Alain's former hypothesis that Joe and Ham were one.

@Kit Hah I was wondering what subtles jokes you were making with that...

Kit

I think that was my hypothesis. Briefly. Before everyone else pointed out that it made no sense.

Cerberus

Oh. I actually discussed that with Alain. But in the end we agreed that it was probably not the same guy.

Kit

00:54

Similarly inaccurate, but H&B is not nearly as aggressive.

bracho monacho

@Cerberus Unfortunately, our government doesn't seem to plan at all... They were going to introduce a mining 'super tax' to drive off the industry in Australia without any care for what it would do to our economy, and how many residents of outback towns would be driven into poverty.

Cerberus

@brachomonacho Yeah most people just aren't that smart. Let's keep it at that...

bracho monacho

Oh wow, I didn't know that reputation goes to 1 when you get banned.

Kit

@brachomonacho Just temporarily. It comes back after the suspension.

bracho monacho

01:17

@Kit I can't believe someone who would compose an answer like that could have the gall to put down other users for not being "native" speakers of English... (I can recall him being particularly nasty to Jasper Loy, one time).

Kit

@brachomonacho I figure he must be making up for some sort of underendowment.

If you know what I mean.

Cerberus

Haha.

Possibly so.

I must be off to bed.

@brachomonacho Good luck with your carbon!

bracho monacho

@Kit Yes, I would tend to agree there.

@Cerberus Thanks, and good night!

@Kit: By the way, what does "orthographic edits" mean?

Kit

@brachomonacho Punctuation, capitalization, spelling, etc.

At least, I think that's what it means. That's what I've meant it to mean.

Did I edit something of yours like that?

Orthography

The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system (script) to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography. Orthography is distinct from typography. Etymology Orthography in English comes from orthographie (French, 13c.), from Latin: orthographia, from Greek ὀρθός orthós, "correct", and γράφειν gráphein, "to write". Overview While "orthography" colloquially is often used synonymously with spelling, spelling is only part ...

bracho monacho

Not that I know of; I read it in the title/heading of the primary edit to the sensors response (english.stackexchange.com/posts/29918/revisions).

Kit

01:23

33 secs ago, by Kit

14 secs ago, by Kit

Is there an echo in here?

bracho monacho

Yep, browser double-posted. (I've just deleted it)

Kit

:-)

bracho monacho

@Kit Oh, I see... I've got no idea what so many terms describing language and literature mean, having never even being taught what simple terms like noun and verb mean.

I hope you will forgive my ignorance.

Kit

Don't be silly. I've only just learned it myself. That's why I keep using it. It's precise and I like to practice.

Gotta go! Good night!

bracho monacho

'Night!

bracho monacho

07:35

@Kit: I forgot to ask... Does your avatar feature some sort of fox?

Benjamin

09:10

Hi -- is it possible to ask a question about editing in this Q&A?

I'm working on an essay and keep wondering in which order i should place punctuation, quotes and footnotes. I tend to put the them in the following order quote-punctuation-footnote. Although i'v seen the punctuation-quote-footnote order too elsewhere.

What do you think is proper? (I'm using the Chicago Style for my essay, but I don't have access to the full reference guide, only what they provide online).

eg: "blabla".²
eg: "blabla."²

Vitaly

@Benjamin — Do you think it would be on-topic for Writers StackExchange?

Though we do have quite a few punctuation-related questions…

@RegDwight to the rescue!

RegDwight

I am looking for that one similar question as we speak.

Vitaly

Great!

Benjamin

ha, i didn't know the Writers SE

RegDwight

1

Q: Where does the period go in an MLA in-text citation?

I've always been confused when citing like: "The windows misted over from the heat and the smoke inside.” (Hemingway 1) Does the period go inside the quotes (as above)? Or after the citation (as below)? "The windows misted over from the heat and the smoke inside” (Hemingway 1).

So we do have this. I'm not seeing any close votes. But I've been burned before, so I cannot guarantee that @Benjamin's question will be deemed on-topic.

Actually, there's more.

5

Q: Footnote marks at end of a sentence.

I find it common in my writing to end up a sentence with a footnote reference mark. Should the footnote mark come before the stop or after it? ... this is some text1. ... this is some text.1

writing writing-style

Benjamin

09:27

Thanks, i guess the second's answering my question.

RegDwight

Oh. In that case... grats! )))

And thanks for asking.

Benjamin

oh actually, it may not answer it.

:)

RegDwight

Well, that's kinda what I figured.

It kind of half answers it.

Benjamin

the punctuation with regard to the quote is still in question

RegDwight

In that case, if you go ahead and post a question, you might wish to add a link to that/those other question(s) saying "I've seen these, but they don't really help me because they don't address X".

Have your bases covered right from the start.

Oh, and stupid me is too late, has to run. TTYL.

Vitaly

09:31

Later @Reg.

Benjamin

In the Chicago Style, when quoting in a footnote, it is recommended that article titles and source should be written like this:
Author, "article title," in Book .... etc
as you can see, the comma precedes the quote. Although i can accept that for a footnote, i find it odd in the text itself.

yes i'm going to post that

0

Q: Punctuation-Quote or Quote-Punctuation?

I'm writing a document using the Chicago Manual of Syle. I have not access to the full guide, only to what's provided on-line. Now I wondering as to whether, in the main text itself, I should use the punctuation-quote or quote-punctuation sequence. For example: "Blabla," more blabla. and ...

citations quotes footnotes

RegDwight

10:11

@Kit, are you around?

Ping me when you're here, I have a present for you.

FallenAngelEyes

13:23

Hello EL&U chat! I was wondering if @Cerberus frequented the chat here. :)

RegDwight

13:36

@FallenAngelEyes He will be here in a second.

Cerberus

Greetings!

@FallenAngelEyes How may I be of service?

I see you are Dutch! Very good.

FallenAngelEyes

13:52

@Cerberus Apologies, didn't hear the beep notification. And I'm not Dutch, actually, I'm an American who is learning Dutch, which is one of the reasons I wanted to ping you. :)

I didn't want to have an extended discussion in comments, as I felt it wouldn't be appropriate on the site, given its focus on, well, English. But I was curious about the example you gave between ijskast vs. koelkast and meteen vs. gelijk and where I could perhaps read more information on this?

As someone who is currently planning on attending university, where I will have to speak/read an academic level of Dutch, I was wondering what kind of resources there were on the differences in nuance of the examples you listed and what kind of relevance they would have on my education.

RegDwight

Hm, the dog fell asleep. That's new. I thought at least one head would stay up at all times.

No worries though, he will respond sooner or later.

FallenAngelEyes

@RegDwight Thanks for allowing me this indulgence. I realize it's a bit of a tumultuous time for the site at the moment. :( I popped onto the site the other day to check it out some more and read up on the current Meta ah... issues.

If the discussion's too off-topic for the chat, I have no problem taking it elsewhere. :) There's just no way to contact users by PM or anything on SE, so I figured this was my only chance to poke @Cerberus without making an off-topic tangent on the question.

RegDwight

14:09

@FallenAngelEyes This discussion is perfectly on-topic here.

We discuss all kinds of languages in all kinds of languages all the time.

It's just that Sundays are slow.

FallenAngelEyes

Oh, okay, great. :) Perhaps I shall pop in more often then. :D

RegDwight

And it doesn't help that Cerberus only just returned from a longish journey, so he might be unpacking his suitcases or something.

FallenAngelEyes

Ah, jetlag...

Cerberus

Oops.

@FallenAngelEyes I don't think you will need to know about U and non-U Dutch at university. Of course, you might make a slightly better impression on the few who are aware of the distinction (depends on your field, but that would be about 2 % or fewer on average); but no-one in his right mind would think less of you if you used non-U words, especially not because you are a foreigner!

FallenAngelEyes

@Cerberus Gotcha! Nevertheless, would you happen to know of where I could read up on it? I plan on going to Leiden Universiteit to follow their linguistics program, so independent of its direct relevance, I'm still really curious about it. :)

Cerberus

14:17

If you are interested in the subject, you might want to read Agnies Pauw van Wieldrecht's Het Dialect van de Adel. However, that book is not up to date, nor is it written by a scientist: it is just her memoirs, she is an amateur. I am not aware of any scientific books or articles on U v. non-U in Dutch: it is usually not talked about.

FallenAngelEyes

Thanks much!

Incidentally, this site is practically as bad as tvtropes for me. I get lost in it for hours clicking on links.

Cerberus

If you want, I could give you a few more U v. non-U pairs.

@FallenAngelEyes Yeah, that is what Stackexchange does to one!

FallenAngelEyes

@Cerberus Please. :) I'll have to ask my father-in-law about this as well, as he went to university to teach Dutch.

Cerberus

Okay, the top words/expressions that should be avoided:

1. toilet (wc, or "handen wassen", "neus poeieren")

2. eet smakelijk / smakelijk eten (just lift your glasses, or someone might make a very short speech)

3. koelkast (ijskast)

4. "gelijk" instead of "meteen": "gelijk" is fine in other senses.

5. vaatwasser (afwasmachine)

6. wijntje (glas wijn)

7. jeuk (kriebel)

8. bestek (zilver if you have it, or just couverts, or messen en vorken); this one is becoming a bit old fashioned

9. fruit (vruchten), becoming old fashioned as well

There are hundreds more, many quite similar to non-U in English.

FallenAngelEyes

So "Ik ging gelijk naar de toilet nadat ik de bestek in de vaatwasser heb gezet" would be... bad. ;)

Hm, I always thought the fruit/vruchten thing was less U/non-U and more semantics-related.

Interesting.

Cerberus

14:28

@FallenAngelEyes It would make my mother cringe. And it would be "het bestek", hehe.

Kit

@RegDwight Ooo! Presents! What'd you get me?

@brachomonacho Yes, it's a fennec fox.

Cerberus

And I think it is "het toilet", but I don't use the word, so I wouldn't know!

FallenAngelEyes

@Cerberus Agh, again foiled by lidwoorden!

Cerberus

@FallenAngelEyes It is, for those who use both words. Not so in U Dutch.

Yeah, lidwoorden suck.

@Kit Hi foxy!

Kit

@Cerberus woof

Cerberus

14:31

Note that U Dutch is not extremely uniform: you will hear different words depreciated by different U people. But about many words there is more or less consensus. It is much the same as in English. I believe toilet is depreciated in all European languages.

FallenAngelEyes

Ah, okay. I'll definitely have to read more on this. Thank you very much!

Cerberus

A pleasure! You might learn more from English literature on the subject, by the way. It is more extensive, I believe.

FallenAngelEyes

Hm, I guess this is related to the way my boyfriend says he can roughly tell if someone went to Gymnasium or not by their word choice and sentence structure.

Cerberus

Heh. That may be somewhat related. But frankly I'd like to know what his score would be! I went to the Gymnasium but, it would be by no means easy for me to classify strangers along that line. If I could steer the conversation in certain directions, then it'd be easy enough. But from a recording?

FallenAngelEyes

14:48

Yeah, he said it's not very easy, but he can usually get a general feel when talking with someone.

I have to head out now, but thanks again for the information. :) I'll have to stop by here more often!

Cerberus

@FallenAngelEyes Do come back! And have your boyfriend conduct some tests!

RegDwight

I second the "do come back" part.

The other part I might second, too, but I'd have to catch up first.

@Cerberus but what about prachtig?

Cerberus

@RegDwight Heh. It doesn't fall into the scope of U/non-U, but it is over-used by some, leading to occasional criticism.

RegDwight

@Cerberus I have no idea why you drag the U/non-U into it. I just used my chance to mention that word again. You're no fun being made fun of.

Apr 5 at 16:17, by Cerberus

You and your "prachtig"... lose that word!

Cerberus

@RegDwight I'm good at not being fun, ain't I?

RegDwight

15:01

@Cerberus That's what Kosmo was, too, and look where it got him.

meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/1000/…

Jul 12 at 14:47, by Rhodri

@psmears I am so tempted to follow @Kos's comments with "See? Dead."

Cerberus

@RegDwight Ah, that was the thing where it all sort of started. Will read it.

RegDwight

You should read all the comments on that page anyway.

I kinda assumed you had already done that.

Cerberus

@RegDwight I want to, and I don't want to.

RegDwight

Understandable. Again, I assumed you had read at least that far before saying that you didn't want to read further.

And it's kinda a mess anyway, because the thread is months old, and Jeff hijacked it, so it's kinda hard to figure out which comment came after which answer, you'd have to constantly look at timestamps.

z7sg

15:26

is prächtig U or non-U Dzsömann?

RegDwight

Prächtig is a bit old-fashioned, but other than that absolutely neutral, IMHO.

Cerberus

"Dzsömann"?

RegDwight

On a second thought, I'm no longer so sure.

Cerberus

@RegDwight Understandable.

RegDwight

@Cerberus That's the Hungarian spelling.

Cerberus

15:34

Of whom—Schumann?

RegDwight

No, Bartók.

Cerberus

Right, yes, evidently so.

Grace Note

Ooh, so this is the legendary Cerberus that I've so heard tales of?

RegDwight

See, as soon as we so much as mention meta, Grace shows up. Even if the whole day we were talking about everything but.

Grace Note

Actually, I showed up because Cerberus was here

z7sg

15:38

I just checked out the wikipedia entry for Cerberus and found this:

Notice anything wrong in this photograph?

Grace Note

Seems to only have 2 heads

RegDwight

@z7sg Very little Cerberus and very lots of everything else?

Mar 2 at 10:33, by RegDwight

"The most notable difference is the number of its heads: Most sources describe or depict three heads; others show it with two or even just one; a smaller number of sources show a variable number, sometimes as many as 50."

z7sg

@RegDwight Cerberus with one head is just a dog.

Cerberus

@GraceNote Such an honour! What did I do to deserve that?

RegDwight

@z7sg I would like to see you tell that to Cerberus himself.

Grace Note

15:40

@RegDwight Figures. I shuffle off Greek Mythology for 18 years and they go and decide there's different interpretations!

z7sg

Also, how can a @Cerberus have a variable number of heads?

Grace Note

@Cerberus You got mentioned roughly every other hour, the other day.

RegDwight

@z7sg It ain't called mythology for no reason.

Cerberus

There always are! A great many elements of Greek myths that we consider fixed were in fact different in different authors and different versions of folk tales.

Grace Note

So I got the munchy-curiosities to see how awesome you are.

RegDwight

15:41

This is like people attacking religious beliefs. Well, d'oh. Guess why they are called beliefs and not facts!

@GraceNote Then scroll up and read up on non-U Dutch.

Cerberus

@GraceNote That is indeed a great honour. But it is just my frequent presence in this room that I have to thank for that.

Grace Note

@RegDwight I'm just noting how I'm behind the times. On an ancient mythology that is very infrequently, if at all, practiced in modern day.

z7sg

Next thing we know, Cerberus will be claiming he isn't affiliated with Hades.

Grace Note

@RegDwight I get enough Dutch on the Bridge.

RegDwight

Mar 12 at 1:12, by RegDwight

I knew everything about Ancient Greek mythology as a child. Now I remember close to nothing.

Cerberus

15:43

@z7sg Hey don't mention such blasphemy!

Grace Note

@RegDwight Same, same, same

Of course, that was mostly because I shunted Greek Mythos out in order to make room for Norse Mythos!

z7sg

@Cerberus Okay, I'm kinda reassured you take offence to that.

Cerberus

@GraceNote Oh dear... I know even less about that than, well, about anything else!

RegDwight

@GraceNote The Bridge has philosophers and linguists discussing the finer points of the Dutch language? That's so news to me, you have no idea.

Cerberus

@z7sg A pleasure.

What is the Bridge again? A chat room?

Grace Note

15:44

@RegDwight Less philosophers and linguists, more a bunch of Dutch fellows who may, on occasion, break out into Dutch.

z7sg

It's nice to know where you stand at least with the powers of the Underworld even if you can never know where you stand with those fickle Gods.

Grace Note

@Cerberus Gaming's main chat room.

RegDwight

The Bridge

General Arqade Chat. We tried to leave once, but the door lock...

6

This is where you can type insert coin btw

Niccccce. Just killed over 9000 badp.

Cerberus

@GraceNote Ah! I remember reading your profile because I thought you were part of the SE staff, then finding that you were into gaming. I shall have to peek around that room myself!

@RegDwight Badp?

Grace Note

@Cerberus One of my co-mods

RegDwight

15:48

Go type insert coin.

Then you get to shoot the mods.

Gigili

@RegDwight I can type it everywhere, exactly everywhere - but I'm getting no results

Lies!

Cerberus

@z7sg No problem at all. And don't forget to put an obol under your tongue before you die.

Grace Note

@Cerberus I'm flattered by the assumption, though I am a mite curious about how that kind of talk has been increasing in frequency...

Cerberus

@GraceNote Ah... this becomes even more intriguing...

RegDwight

@Gigili you have mistyped it.

Cerberus

15:49

@GraceNote Which kind of talk?

Hi Gigi!

RegDwight

And fixing the typo is not the same as getting it right right away.

Grace Note

@Cerberus Either of my being employed, or that I should be employed, by Stack Exchange.

It's a strange undercurrent that doesn't surface all that often, but it's been strong for the past couple of weeks.

RegDwight

@GraceNote I can help you out if you wish.

Grace should never be employed by StackExchange.

Grace Note

Haha, thanks

RegDwight

Not at all.

Grace Note

15:51

I am in transit from leaving my current position of employment, though.

But it's just to a job that's closer to home.

Gigili

Hey Cerberus!

Cerberus

Perhaps it was just because you were involved in some discussion I read in the transcript, about the present situation.

Grace Note

@Cerberus I am, at heart, a meddler. I have positive interests in heart but I still meddle.

Cerberus

@GraceNote Q: how do you tell what game a certain question is about, if the name of the game isn't in the title?

RegDwight

@GraceNote +1 for Serenity reference.

Grace Note

15:52

@Cerberus Tag -> Title -> Question Body -> Ask in Comments

Cerberus

Ah okay. So it should be in a tag, and the tag is visible in the list of questions.

RegDwight

There are only so many tags you can create.

Grace Note

Most games will only refer to the game by tag. Some use title. If the person is new and doesn't put it in the title, it'll almost certainly be in the question body. And if they do not point it out then, that's when we ask in comments.

z7sg

@Cerberus Yes, well I have a silver King George sixpence, hopefully that will suffice to buy my passage with the ferryman when the time comes.

Grace Note

@RegDwight A slightly longer length limit, or the allowance of Unicode, would greatly improve matters.

RegDwight

15:54

@GraceNote Capitals would be a start.

Apr 8 at 13:41, by RegDwight

Well, we could always go with 8ritish-3nglish.

Cerberus

@z7sg I'm afraid the exchange rate beyond the gates is rather... disadvantageous.

RegDwight

Apr 8 at 13:35, by RegDwight

http://www.google.com/search?q=defense+defence+site%3Aenglish.stackexchange.com

Grace Note

@RegDwight I don't think we run into much issue regarding capitals.

RegDwight

Click on that link @Grace, I urge you. Does that look professional?

Grace Note

@RegDwight Oh, this is about the "Tags in front" thingadongdong, isn't it?

RegDwight

15:55

Ayup. What worth is an English-language site that can't spell "American English" correctly?

Grace Note

Our issue is that the likes of [pc], [strategy], and [spoilers] will show up in the front instead of the most relevant tag (which would be the game name).

But I've got a stagnant Meta proposal to address that, anyway.

RegDwight

@GraceNote That sucks too, across all sites.

Cerberus

@RegDwight Horrible indeed. We have capitals because they are useful and beautiful. They should only be thrown out where there is no other option.

Grace Note

From a systemic perspective, forcing no-caps makes sense. It'd be ideal if we could retain no-caps on the mechanical end, but allow for a "standardized" capitalization that is what is shown.

RegDwight

And GLU can't even get umlauts or ligatures.

Because it's just pure ASCII crap.

Grace Note

15:58

(There is a Meta Stack Overflow request for that, though)

@RegDwight Japanese suffers a similar issue. We really need Unicode.

@RegDwight That said, at least we can use ae, oe, and ue for the time being on German for most of the former.

RegDwight

Well, I can also use meri-kurisumasu on J'Lo.

Doesn't mean it's ideal.

Grace Note

Ironically, though, using the above 3 also ruins search for the stuff on German.

RegDwight

And it's not like our search ain't already broken beyond repair.

Grace Note

(Since searching for jäger will search for jager, not jaeger)

RegDwight

2 days ago, by RegDwight

@psmears And we know how fundamentally broken the site search is. Searching for "n*****" returns "Gender neutral pronoun" as the top result.

Grace Note

16:00

There's actually (yet another) relevant Meta Stack Overflow post on the subject of umlauts and how they are rendered/searched

RegDwight

That one I'm not familiar with, methinks. I'm only aware of the stuff on MGLU.

Grace Note

-3

Q: Wrong asciification of name in profile address

When signing up the system has created a profile address for my profile that ends in "bjorn-hohrmann". This rendering of my name is incorrect and offensive. There are some languages that asciify "ö" as "o", several Scandinavian ones for instance, but I am German where the "proper" transliteratio...

support display-names

RegDwight

Well, "offensive" is kinda pushing it. I do understand the downvotes if they were cast because of such exaggeration.

Grace Note

I imagine such as well.

RegDwight

My own name can, and has been, spelled in a hundred different ways.

On more than one occasion I've considered starting collecting them.

But I'm lazy.

Grace Note

16:06

Usually people don't realize there's a J in my name.

RegDwight

Even the name in my passport has changed due to God knows what.

english.stackexchange.com/questions/8797/…

Grace Note

@RegDwight Haven't had that happen, though seeing the anglicizing of my mother's and her sisters' names has been humorous.

@RegDwight I don't know who J. (Y.?) A. Gagarin is.

RegDwight

You must be joking.

He was all over the news just recently.

Cerberus

First man in space?

RegDwight

And I actually linked to a particular comment.

The question is not very relevant to what we were talking about. The comment is. :P

Grace Note

16:09

@RegDwight I read the comment, then I read the context of the comment

RegDwight

Ah.

Grace Note

Also, no, not joking. I'm not exactly on top of a lot of news.

RegDwight

Then, um.

58 secs ago, by Cerberus

First man in space?

Grace Note

I'm aware that it's bitten me very hard.

RegDwight

This has been making news for 50 years now.

Grace Note

16:10

@RegDwight Ah, I see.

@RegDwight I didn't know what Chernobyl was until about 3 years ago.

RegDwight

That's an impressive rock you're living under.

Grace Note

That's digging the hole I'm in deeper, I'm aware, but just to give better context that... I do indeed live under a rock.

RegDwight

Kids these days. No idea who Gagarin was, but StackExchange this, and Facebook that...

Apr 18 at 21:40, by RegDwight

That's the plane Gagarin died in.

Discussion with Robusto followed.

Apr 18 at 23:52, by Robusto

@RegDwight — Why was Gagarin flying a MiG-15 in 1968? Surely that model was out of service by then.

Grace Note

@RegDwight In my defense, I don't use Facebook and I'm terribly behind on the net society as well.

@RegDwight Thanks for reminding me of Space Stalin.

z7sg

That's what gaming does to you. The number of people these days that know how to 'forge' exotic materials in minecraft yet if you put them in the wilderness they wouldn't be able to rub two sticks together and make a fire.

RegDwight

16:13

You just have to visit this room from time to time, and you will know everything. Once you're past the "incomprehensible" bit, that is.

Grace Note

@z7sg In my secondary defense, I don't play Minecraft.

RegDwight

Apr 30 at 0:52, by RegDwight

Minecraft is the Justin Bieber of games.

z7sg

@GraceNote OK I have a smidgen more respect for you now.

RegDwight

Speaking of games, I gotta go spend some stamina. Brb.

Grace Note

@z7sg Do I gain or lose it by admitting to a world-conquest plan involving getting the entirety of productive society in the world to be hooked on Minecraft, leaving myself the only remaining productive member of society?

z7sg

16:15

Who is the Justin Bieber of ELU chat? I know it's one of you!

RegDwight

May 23 at 11:25, by Robusto

Yep. @RegDwight is actually Justin Bieber. True story.

I said BRB, gorramit.

z7sg

@GraceNote Are you Markus Persson?

Grace Note

@z7sg Hm... I apparently have an opponent in my plans.

z7sg

@GraceNote OK you don't have first-mover advantage but don't be discouraged! The plan itself is sound/

Grace Note

@z7sg How long have his plans been in motion?

z7sg

16:18

I have to go and do some real-world stuff now - change the headlight bulbs in my car. I can't do that sitting at the computer unfortunately. I think he's been at it for a couple years already @Grace.

Grace Note

@z7sg Guess I am behind, I've only got a rough year under my belt.

Enjoy. I built a swing yesterday, and cleaned the garage this morning. That's pretty productive.

RegDwight

16:49

Hey pips, everyone please take this test. For science!

It's only like two or three minutes.

z7sg

17:37

@RegDwight I got 32,900. What do I win?

RegDwight

I dunno, you're lagging behind Cerberus.

z7sg

He's not even a native speaker.

RegDwight

But you're ahead of me and Vitaly.

He's a philosopher.

in War Metal Tyrant, 22 mins ago, by RegDwight

Those crazy philosophers sure like their crazy books with crazy words in them.

z7sg

I recently learned the word pabulum from this very site, that probably got me a hundred extra word points.

RegDwight

Then we must repeat this experiment a couple years down the line.

And see if you've learned everything in the mean time.

z7sg

17:43

Indeed. It's good actually learning things while answering these questions that some people might consider worthless. I tried to explain to a friend why I was furiously typing and she didn't get it. But I can just say, well I bet you don't know what a williwaw is!

Cerberus

I didn't know pabulum. I knew I had seen the word before and when I read its meaning I remembered...but not before. I was sure it had to have something to do with feeding, from Latin pascor, graze.

I had absolutely no idea what a williwaw was... a fun word.

z7sg

@Cerberus I remembered it from the question "What should I call a bland document?" or something like that. What did you score?

Cerberus

34,400, but the test is biased towards classicists.

If they had used more Germanic words it would have been much more difficult for me.

z7sg

There are common words in every field that are obscure in everyday life. I didn't know sparge either but I guess I would if I were a chemist.

Cerberus

I had never seen it before, but it was clear as a derivation from Latin.

So perhaps I checked my boxes more liberally.

Latinate words get a bit too much weight in such tests.

If only they had included a few common vegetables, I'd have gotten a much lower score...

user19161

17:54

One syllable words are the hardest.

Cerberus

For me too.

The Bridge

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