English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

KitSox

21:00

brickset.com/detail/?Set=10663-1

RegDwigнt

Why the heck do I keep misspelling LEGO today.

MrHen

@terdon Assuming we are talking about your garden variety Christian, beliefs about hell is typically a great place to start.

terdon

@MrHen Ah, internal inconsistencies, yes, always a good one :)

David M

My son is a bit hard to keep focused (he's 5 and has a few learning disabilities - nothing major). I'm trying to get his twin sister interested, too. But, she doesn't like the small pieces. I think it would be good for her fine motor control, though.

RegDwigнt

So anyway. They have those sets out every year, "my first harbor" or "my first fire station" or "my first castle" or "my first princess farm" or what have you. Plus the Creator 3-in-1 thingamajigs. These are always an excellent choice and very modestly priced, too.

MrHen

21:01

I also like talking about Age of the Earth from the perspective of why scientists should be allowed to make claims about how old the earth is.

@terdon Mostly due to the fact that their scripture says almost nothing about hell.

David M

@RegDwigнt Many thanks!

RegDwigнt

NP

David M

I'll hop on Amazon later!

MrHen

Most mainstream beliefs about hell are from fiction and a surprising number of Christians don't realize that.

David M

OK, speaking of those kids. Gotta go.

See everyone later.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

21:02

@RegDwigнt I can't say enough nice things about Creator. But for 5-year-olds they are a bit challenging.

MrHen

(Obviously, aside from the obvious jab of the Bible being fiction.)

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@DavidM Get a box of basic bricks then.

David M

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 He did about 1/2 the work on the eagle.

MrHen

But the other nice trick about discussing hell is that you can get 5 different opinions from a group of 3 people. So you don't even need to do much arguing; they'll do it for you.

David M

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 She has duplo, but I want her to handle the small bits to get her coordination to improve.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

21:03

!!lego 31004

KitSox

brickset.com/detail/?Set=31004-1

terdon

@MrHen And then sit back and chuckle? Good one.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@DavidM that eagle?

RegDwigнt

That's a pretty straightforward build and stunningly gorgeous.

David M

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Yes! It was awesome.

MrHen

21:04

@terdon I'll interject and just ask them why they believe what they do and let the others tell them why that isn't a good enough reason.

David M

My son got a lot of it. More than I expected.

RegDwigнt

Though I finally dethroned it from atop my Tower Bridge.

MrHen

It's kind of amusing.

David M

He had trouble with the non-articulating bits like the white round circles.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

if he can handle that, then most creator kits should be fine, and city, super heroes, etc, should be fine too.

RegDwigнt

21:04

Yeah.

But there's always those five-buck minisets, too.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

But you can't go wrong with basic bricks either.

RegDwigнt

!!lego 31015

David M

Thanks guys! I think I'm going to spend a crapload on legos this evening.

KitSox

brickset.com/detail/?Set=31015-1

David M

@RegDwigнt That's really cool!

OK, going for real this time.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

21:06

@DavidM no problem. as you can tell from our tame bot, we talk about lego a lot here.

cya

RegDwigнt

And it's 60 pieces for five bucks, probably only three or four on amazon, and it's a 3-in-1, too.

OK, see everyone around.

Actually I should be going, too.

Jasper Loy

Off to the showermobile, lol.

RegDwigнt

Got but two hours worth of sleep last night and been meaning to go to bed pronto the whole day long.

Stack Exchange

Limerick Machine: A mouse who had scampered down stairs Took the owner unawares They made a shrill scream Departed …

posted on March 26, 2014 by sgdi

A mouse who had scampered down stairs Took the owner unawares They made a shrill scream Departed the scene And the mouse scampered on without cares

terdon

@StackExchange Who coded the limerick machine?

Cerberus

21:08

@RegDwigнt Any news?

Apart from new 2048 scores.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@terdon The limerick machine is @MattЭллен, and his limeric blog is one of this room's RSS feeds

MrHen

@Cerberus So... getting 2048 seems common enough. Are people just comparing the actual scores in the game?

terdon

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Thanks. Good work @MattЭллен some of the ones I've read actually made me laugh out loud.

MrHen

Aw, someone dovnvoted my 'nu-' question and voted to close as opinion based.

Perhaps I wasn't being clear...

Mitch

@MrHen link?

MrHen

21:22

0

Q: Origin and usage of "nu-" (e.g. nu-metal)

Not every dictionary I checked has "nu-" but here are a few examples: nu- dictionary.com — indicating an updated or modern version of something: nu-metal music Bing — new: new, or modern Google — respelling of ‘new,’ used esp. in names of new or revived genres of popular music....

Mitch

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 It's not that far. No visa payment. Is it just the cost of driving and meals?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Mitch Driving to the US form here is at least 200km. Not worth it to save $15 on a box of Lego.

MrHen

@Mitch I'm not sure I understand your comment. Isn't that more or less how all language works?

Cerberus

@MrHen Yes, I believe they are.

I have only played the game once myself.

MrHen

@Cerberus Ah, okay

Mitch

21:26

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 But Niagara Falls, the casinos, the lack of Tim Hortons's

MrHen

Someone introduced me to CookieClicker which was... interesting.

Cerberus

What's that?

MrHen

@Cerberus orteil.dashnet.org/cookieclicker

terdon

@Cerberus you don't want to know...

MrHen

It's another time waster game.

Cerberus

21:28

You guys recommend it?

MrHen

It's basically an optimized builder/upgrade game.

@Cerberus You'll "get" it within a few minutes and decide if you care

But it isn't hard or challenging. It's just time consuming.

Cerberus

Is it fun?

MrHen

I found it more interesting to solve the math of the game, actually

@Cerberus For some people, yes. I don't know if you'd find it fun.

It wasn't my cup of tea.

But I appreciated what it was doing.

And how well it did it.

Cerberus

Hmm...

MrHen

@Cerberus Some people get strangely addicted to it. :/

terdon

21:30

Yeah, it was fun for the first few minutes but after a while there was not much to do

Mitch

@MrHen I think names are part of a language. In English it is Mary, but in Irish Moira, and Arabic Maryam. For the post in question, he's not asking about something like that, he's asking about a cultural artifact that is consciously chosen (hyphenating names), where there is no language specific process going on.

MrHen

@terdon Right. I found it more entertaining to write a script to autoclick and autobuy

@Mitch I was talking about your comment on the 'nu-' question.

Cerberus

@terdon Oh, God. This is like the opposite of everything I ever liked in games.

I cannot play this, sorry!

terdon

Never said you should :) I don't find it particularly entertaining either.

Mitch

@MrHen Oh.

MrHen

21:33

@Cerberus Haha, funny. Like I said, it was... interesting.

@Mitch Er, your first comment. Not the Yiddish one.

Cerberus

I quit before seeing anything I would describe as "interesting".

MrHen

@Cerberus The building/upgrade mechanics are more interesting. You don't have to keep clicking after a bit.

Cerberus

@terdon Good. Have you ever played the hyped frog game?

terdon

lalalalala, don't want to know about it lalalla

Cerberus

I do not recommend it.

terdon

21:34

Please, I waste too much time already :) I'm a sucker for these things.

Cerberus

It is like this cookie game, I think.

MrHen

@Cerberus But I find it more interesting from the game design aspect. Some people really get into it so it has something behind it worth studying.

Mitch

'nu-' is a thing because people make up stuff and other people copy them. — Mitch 11 mins ago

MrHen

@Mitch Yeah, that one. Isn't that how language in general works?

Cerberus

A kind of old-school action game that supposedly acquires some depth after a while. But the basic mechanics were just too boring for me, timed clicking on things.

aedia λ

21:35

strongly resisting the urge to play more 2048

Mitch

No, people hardly ever make stuff up on purpose. They just speak quickly slur, over generalize, elide unstressed things etc.

skullpatrol

2048=addiction

Mitch

It's the same error as thinking that spelling is language.

MrHen

@Mitch Right; but in terms of neologisms... you are saying they are just made up?

@Mitch What is the same error?

Mitch

@MrHen well, by definition yes. 'iPhone' is just made up. that's not language creation, it's just culture. (also, to kill two birds with one stone, the lower case thing is just spelling, not a language thing). And people copying that, calling a coffee make with a computer screen an 'iBarrista' is just copying that culture. If we were to start using 'i-' as a prefix for any fancy hitech device, then maybe it'd be natural language.

skullpatrol

21:46

Doesn't this "i" stand for some kind of meaning?

MrHen

@Mitch Right. So "nu-" has made its way into a few dictionaries. I was curious about its origin.

@skullpatrol internet, presumably

I'm not sure if that was ever confirmed.

> Ken says that the "i" stands for "Internet".

IMac

The iMac is a range of all-in-one Macintosh desktop computers designed and built by Apple Inc. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its introduction in 1998-08 (shipped; intro 1998-05), and has evolved through six distinct forms. In its original form, the iMac G3 had a gum-drop or egg-shaped look, with a CRT monitor, mainly enclosed by a colored, translucent plastic case, which was refreshed early on with a sleeker design notable for its slot-loaded optical drive. The second major revision, the iMac G4, moved the design to a hemispherical base con...

skullpatrol

!!google iBarrista

KitSox

@skullpatrol The Gods of Wikipedia did not bless us

Cerberus

@Mitch I think this distinction between natural and unnatural language is ultimately artificial.

KitSox

@skullpatrol facebook.com/public/Puro-Parkin-Ibarrista ; web.stagram.com/n/ibarrista ; iphoneogram.com/u/560509549

Cerberus

21:52

And we have had things starting with i since forever.

skullpatrol

But artificial means unnatural, so you're saying unnatural is unnatural @cerb

Cerberus

@skullpatrol Yeah the pun was supposed to confuse Mitch for a while.

skullpatrol

Nice try :D

Cerberus

Try?

I don't see him typing!

He is hopelessly entangled.

skullpatrol

How do you see someone typing?

"Last seen"? @cerb

Mitch

22:03

@Cerberus It's still working.

@skullpatrol He's seeing me not typing.

Cerberus

@skullpatrol One normally sees chat lines appear in chat when Mitch is typing, eventually. Like now.

Mitch

Crap, Now he can't do that.

Cerberus

Yeah.

Jasper Loy

I see who is typing with my X-ray eyes.

Mitch

@Cerberus I'm still trying to figure that out.

I think you're a robot.

Jasper Loy

22:05

We're all robots controlled by destiny, lol.

Cerberus

One with a clever artificial intelligence, then.

Jasper Loy

If everything is predetermined, where art free will?

Cerberus

Art is the thou form.

skullpatrol

Nothing is for free

Jasper Loy

I was trying to show off my English, lol.

Cerberus

22:06

Nice try.

skullpatrol

:D

Mitch

@MrHen I think there are native organic things, and in distinction I think there are made-up things (and also legitimate errors) that some people repeat often enough to catch on to become real things. And also random uninformed people add things to wiktionary et al. There is some room for authority.

@JasperLoy modestly covers hands with a lead apron

Jasper Loy

@Mitch Geezis, what are you doing with your hands? LOL.

Mitch

@JasperLoy hiding them from all the X-rays shooting out of your head!

Jasper Loy

@Mitch Did you see my question on math meta?

Mitch

22:10

looking now. the one about downvoting?

Jasper Loy

@Mitch Yes. It got 8 downvotes, lol.

skullpatrol

This obsession with the principle of reputation @Jasper you are showing is not healthy and can only hurt your chances of getting well soon my friend.

Jasper Loy

@skullpatrol No, I am not obsessed with it. Don't worry.

MrHen

@Mitch That's why I quoted three different dictionaries. :P

But I guess I see your point.

Mitch

@JasperLoy yep, I agree, way too few downvotes to be considered serial. I think the downvotes for the meta question are for making a big deal (a meta question about your own account) out of something that is probably not the case and doesn't affect anybody else.

Jasper Loy

22:13

@Mitch Hmm OK.

skullpatrol

Listen to mitch

Jasper Loy

I have an interesting habit I will now describe.

I drink lots of water one hour before sleeping, and then don't drink anymore, and then go and pee just before sleeping, lol.

skullpatrol

Sorting out good advice from bad can help you out a lot @Jasper

Jasper Loy

@skullpatrol OK OK.

Mitch

@MrHen Collins (I think the only real source I could find for google or Bing) is somewhat trustworthy, but wiktionary, no.

Jasper Loy

22:17

@Mitch By the way, I have no idea who write wiktionary.

MW Collegiate doesn't use IPA, but MW learners does.

I killed a lizard yesterday.

I try to deal a quick blow so they don't feel pain.

skullpatrol

Like you just did to me? @Jasper

Jasper Loy

@skullpatrol I said OK OK, what's wrong with that?

Cerberus

Haha.

Why did you kill it?

Was it bothering you?

Jasper Loy

@Cerberus I usually kill lizards in the house, but not spiders. Lizards are too big and they crawl around too much.

skullpatrol

Don't worry I will not bother you anymore @jasper

Jasper Loy

22:24

@skullpatrol Aww, come on.

Cerberus

@JasperLoy Do they poop in the house?

Jasper Loy

@Cerberus Yes.

Bradd Szonye

0

A: Is the history/etymology of names appropriate?

English proper names follow most of the same rules and customs as other English words, and they're subject to the same evolutionary forces. They’re clearly different from names in other languages: John Paul II is distinctly English whereas Ioannes Paulus II and Jan Paweł II are not. They follow E...

I posted a dissenting opinion on the proper names meta post, in case anyone wants to (dis)agree with me.

I also voted to reopen the questions that KitFox closed, because even if they are ultimately off-topic, I think it was hasty to close them before reaching a consensus on the meta question.

And I edited this one to make it a little better (because it was kind of a crap question besides being about proper names):

3

Q: Etymology of the name "Stimpson"

An Irish-Canadian poet told me that my last name, Stimpson, comes from glimpse. What is the actual etymology of the proper name and the common noun? Are they related? When did they first appear in the English language?

etymology surnames

This one I think is just a cool question that deserves a better answer:

8

Q: What is the origin of surnames based on color?

I understand the background of names such as Baker, Carver and Hammer but, what are the origins of names such as Black, Blue, Brown, Green and White? Are they based on some common structure or do they each have their own twisted tale?

etymology names surnames

Cerberus

@JasperLoy OK that's a good reason.

@BraddSzonye +1

Bradd Szonye

Thanks!

I'll be mildly disappointed if the consensus is that names don't belong, although I understand if people go that way.

Cerberus

22:29

@BraddSzonye On the other hand, I have to say the question in question is more at home on Genealogy.se.

Bradd Szonye

Because it's true that names have some of their own finicky rules, and we could reasonably argue that they belong on Genealogy.

Surnames, anyway – given names are even more distinctly English.

Cerberus

Yeah names can be on topic on either site, I'd say.

As long as they aren't closed, I don't care where they go, to be honest.

Bradd Szonye

Mainly I wanted to raise the visibility of the subject so that we have a better chance of getting actual consensus (or divergence) rather than having a few early responders influence policy further.

Cerberus

Good.

MετάEd

23:11

@DavidM I would not say pi has an infinite number of digits -- instead I would say you'll need an infinitely long string of digits if you want to represent it as a string of digits. In and of itself pi doesn't have digits.

Bradd Szonye

I prefer pie with fruit and/or cream filling

MετάEd

Unless you feel you could meaningfully say 2 has an infinite number of digits -- 2.0000000000000000 ... ∞

Which, in the right context, makes perfect sense.

@BraddSzonye pi r square

runs

Bradd Szonye

@MετάEd You'll need an infinite number of digits to represent 2 as 1.99̄

username901345

How do you express "barely openable eyes" in a poetic way?

like you are tired.

Bradd Szonye

@username901345 Depends on what you mean by it – aha.

username901345

23:18

like you can barely open your eyes after a hard day's work

one adjective

Bradd Szonye

Weary? Heavy?

username901345

oh heavy!!

heavy eyelids.

What about...

Hazy eyes.

terdon

Heavy lidded

@username901345 No, hazy means unclear, nebulous

username901345

as a result of a hard day's work your eyes are hazy.

can't see clearly

Damkerng T.

23:33

@MετάEd That's a "π over π"! -- π over π is a transcendental number, I think.

David M

23:48

@MετάEd That was vaguely the point I was making. That numbers are mere representations of concepts.

Robusto

@username901345 Take terdon's advice. Heavy-lidded is perfect. It means one's eyes are closing involuntarily because of fatigue.

KitFox

bleary.

Bleary-eyed.

Not hazy.

Robusto

That's more to do with vision than fatigue.

KitFox

@BraddSzonye Thank you.

Robusto

Also, bleary describes the outward appearance of someone, and could mean they looked drunk or dazed or some other not-tired state.

KitFox

23:52

Yes. I was meaning that bleary is how to describe hazy-eyed, not hazy.

Now I think I'll go play Bioshock.

Robusto

Original or Infinite?

KitFox

Infinite.

I can't remember where I left off.

Somewhere close to the end.

Robusto

I just played through Original again because it's such a good game.

KitFox

Oh, but first, booze.

I did ten hours today, so I earned it.

Robusto

People used to be worth their salt. Now they're worth their booze.

KitFox

23:54

Absolut-ly,

except I don't much like vodka.

Don't tell Reg that though.

I would drink vodka with him.

Robusto

I don't care for it much either.

But it is the alcohol to use if you have to mix drinks, I suppose.

KitFox

Rum and coke is my old standby.

Although I last had a raspberry gimlet.

It was tasty.

David M

0

Q: Origin of pars/partis

Might the Latin source of "part" (participate, party, etc.), --pars, partis-- have originate in early Rome's traumatic encounter with Parthian archers?

etymology latin

Fairly off topic, I think

KitFox

I wouldn't have, but there is a certain protocol to cozening up to bartenders that needs to be followed.

Robusto

The only mixed drink I favor is bourbon with chai tea latte. But that's rare.

Chicks don't have to cozy up to bartenders.

KitFox

23:57

Sure they do.

Robusto

Because?

David M

@Robusto They do, the bartenders are just more responsive to it.

KitFox

For many reasons. All the same reasons men should do so.

Bradd Szonye

@KitFox My pleasure! I love dissenting, I'm a provocateur. ;)

KitFox

So she doesn't water down your drink, so she gives you the good stuff, so she doesn't spit on your olives, so she warns you off the bad regulars, so she doesn't call the cops when you forget to settle your tab at the end of the night.

Robusto

23:59

I find a bluff, hearty manner and a good tip are all I need. And, really, I could leave the manner at home.

KitFox

&c.

David M

@BraddSzonye You're like the tamest provocateur ever . . .

Way too polite!

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…