English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

3:00 PM

@Martha I know. It always reminds me of chem lab, too. Fake banana ester and all that.

@Martha Usually the ones I encounter are light enough that you don't really notice it. Which, to some extent, makes you wonder if it's really having any impact.

RegDwight

@JasperLoy Hm. And thus RegDwight suddenly became very anxious about liking cheese.

I mean, not the actual Reg Dwight, of course.

Matt Ellen

@RegDwight maybe there needs to be a campaign to make you the actual Reg Dwight

z7sg

@RegDwight I don't get it. ?

Kit

0

Q: Comma usage for multiple words

Is it correct to write a,b, or c a,b, and c ? Is the comma used after b correct ?

punctuation

Get it!

(I'm in a meeting.)

user19161

3:04 PM

While on the subject of naturality, I think makeup products should be abolished too. But many girls will disagree.

Matt Ellen

@Kit (a meeting of EL&U?)

Kit

shh No.

Matt Ellen

(sorry)

user19161

@Kit Seems to be a duplicate.

Grace Note

34

Q: Comma before last item in a list

Should I put a comma before last item in list? I would like crackers, cheese and some soda. I would like crackers, cheese, and some soda.

punctuation writing-style comma

Vote away ♪

Mana

3:06 PM

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

Kit

@Matt It is an on-topic question though.

Matt Ellen

Really? OK. It seems more like something you'd get on writers.se, but without anything interesting in it.

RegDwight

@z7sg You said you were working on becoming an object. I pointed out that that would make you subject to being treated like a woman by Jackie Treehorn.

user19161

Voted as duplicate according to Grace's suggestion.

Grace Note

Yay 5 votes ♪

user19161

3:10 PM

@Mana Lalala!

Mana

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ♪

RegDwight

No week without an Oxford comma question.

I can't see them anymore.

z7sg

@RegDwight Aha! Maybe I was confused because coincidentally I am wearing a Jackie Treehorn Productions tshirt today ♪

Matt Ellen

Mostly they come at night, mostly

user19161

Or a Harvard comma, to be fair to the Americans.

z7sg

3:11 PM

But you couldn't possibly know that....

RegDwight

I mean, us having 40+ dupes of it means that we also have 40+ different wordings of it, and people still can't find any of them.

Matt Ellen

@JasperLoy they're not fair to us! Ruining my language with their freedom.

Grace Note

@JasperLoy That implies that Harvard is remotely as good as Oxford

user19161

@GraceNote I like neither. I like Cambridge. Maybe I'll go there in my next life...

Matt Ellen

@GraceNote In international ranking Harvard is higher. Oxford is still better in my heart

Grace Note

3:13 PM

@MattEllen I have a blood feud with Harvard so it's kinda in my heritage to consider it lower no matter what statistics say.

Matt Ellen

@GraceNote Excellent!

user19161

@MattEllen But Cambridge is the best in my heart! And the British are freer than the Americans!

Grace Note

(It's what happens when you are descended from an MIT graduate. You inherit a distaste for Harvard)

Matt Ellen

@JasperLoy Boo to Cambridge! ;-)

z7sg

@JasperLoy The other place. I prefer it though I actually live in Oxford.

Matt Ellen

3:16 PM

university rankings

@z7sg Really? Me too (well, Cowley)

Grace Note

@MattEllen That ranking is suspect if Harvard is capable of being that high on the list

Matt Ellen

@GraceNote indubitably

user19161

Hey, rankings are done by people who know nothing, since those who know something are too busy doing other more important things.

Grace Note

Rank #223. Score of 44.81. I'm totally rocking it there.

user19161

My toilet msg has been starred. Yay!

Rhodri

3:22 PM

@MattEllen Number one. Naturally :-)

user19161

@Rhodri I really wished I could have done math in Cambridge, but that did not happen due to various factors.

RegDwight

0

Q: What’s the meaning of “ ‘Bye, ‘bye “ (apostrophized bye)?

I sometimes see apostrophized words which omit some letters, like C’mon or ‘Course, but I found a little different one. "Will you come and visit me in my bathroom again sometime?" Moaning Myrtle asked mournfully as Harry picked up the Invisibility Cloak. "Er … I’ll try," Harry said, thou...

meaning apostrophe

What shall we do with this one?

Gen ref? Dupe?

Matt Ellen

@Rhodri My alma mata isn't even on the list!

Grace Note

Hm...

It's ultimately a question of what a contracted 'bye means.

That's actually not really covered in the other question, so duplicate doesn't seem accurate.

Matt Ellen

@GraceNote and if they can't figure that out, well then I have little hope for them

RegDwight

3:27 PM

@GraceNote That's why I'm asking. Both close votes so far are as dupe.

user19161

@MattEllen It's OK, like I said, them knows nothing!

RegDwight

I tend to lean towards gen-ref.

Grace Note

@MattEllen Well, it's a bit of a marsh, though. I mean, the short form of "Good bye/Goodbye" is just "Bye", not needing an apostrophe.

RegDwight

"I sometimes see apostrophized words which omit some letters, like C’mon or ‘Course, but I found a little different one."

He actually says, "I see this all the time, and I know what it means, but!"

Grace Note

Yeah. It's not an easy mark at all.

RegDwight

3:30 PM

Well, I gotta commute.

Matt Ellen

I think it is asking what the apostrophe is eliding

RegDwight

Laterz.

Grace Note

The author knows what a contraction is, but the issue is that "bye" on its own doesn't usually need the apostrophe. So it seems almost extraneous, how does 'bye differ from bye?

That's why the author is stumpted despite knowing what an apostrophe usually indicates.

RegDwight

@GraceNote My standard snarky response to that is "Different question is different".

Matt Ellen

totoro knows what a contraction is but not what this contraction expands to

RegDwight

3:32 PM

But anyhoo, I gotta run.

Matt Ellen

cya

Grace Note

@RegDwight Well, I don't think it's a duplicate. At worst, general reference.

Later, Dwig

Matt Ellen

to be honest I don't either

but I also don't care

because that knowledge is superfluous to using it

maybe it's a false contraction

Grace Note

It certainly seems that way.

Matt Ellen

oh actually that's all a irrelevant since I misread

I thought totoro asked "What does the apostrophy in 'bye, 'bye mean?" but the question actually was "What does apostrophized bye, bye mean"

which is just stupid

aedia

3:35 PM

@MattEllen How will we know the difference? It doesn't get stronger and more painful with time?

Matt Ellen

it means bye bye

Grace Note

Perhaps it's just meant to imply that 'bye is simply even curter and swifter than bye when spoken.

(Which, if I were writing, I'd cut out the e)

Matt Ellen

it's gen ref, without a shadow of a doubt

Grace Note

You'll need 3 such votes, or 2 with no additional duplicate votes, to win that reason.

Matt Ellen

@aedia you have to ask the midwife, and they can tell if there is dilation

@GraceNote I can cast 0 votes :D

Grace Note

3:38 PM

Should work on that ♪

Matt Ellen

@aedia: p.s. I made that up and it's probably poppycock

z7sg

@MattEllen We should organize a SE users group meet up.

In the pub.

aedia

@MattEllen Time dilation for sure. This morning is lasting forever.

Grace Note

@aedia You should tab complete it, then.

user19161

@z7sg And only the Brits can go.

Matt Ellen

3:40 PM

@z7sg I went to the SO meet up, there were 3 others there. I guess Oxford SO users are shy!

not a bad idea though. do youknow any other users?

@aedia just remember: somewhere in the world it's 16:42

user19161

@MattEllen It is 2342 here.

z7sg

@MattEllen I never heard about it... I don't know if I would have gone anyway though. First I need to admit I have a problem. It would be like Procrastinators Anonymous.

Matt Ellen

@z7sg I've always put off going to that

@JasperLoy time for bed?

user19161

@MattEllen No, I am nocturnal nowadays.

Matt Ellen

ah! like a badger

user19161

3:45 PM

I usually sleep when reg goes to bed, which is like 0800 here.

z7sg

@MattEllen Yes, always find something less important to do!

Grace Note

That seems like a troublesome schedule

user19161

I think Cerberus is nocturnal too.

user19161

But not as much.

aedia

►

Matt Ellen

3:55 PM

toodles!

aedia

@MattEllen 'Bye, 'bye ;)

F'x

@JasperLoy hi all

so I did try to write a meaningful answer on a question that I think is going to be quite contentious; at least it's not a boobs thingy

7

Q: How did Shakespeare pronounce "hautboys"?

Shakespeare calls for hautboys. How did he pronounce the word, more than 500 years after Hastings (think of it!)? ohBWHA? ohBOYZ? Or what?

pronunciation history

Grace Note

I've never even heard of a hautboy

F'x

@GraceNote oboe

in modern French, it's hautbois

@Fx Ah. So, duck.

4:08 PM

Quite

I think Shakespeare questions tend to attract a lot of views/comments

maybe we should think of something like “how would Shakespeare pronounce dick?” or “how would Shakespeare talk about boobs?”

3

instant-multicollider!

Cerberus

Yay!

And hullo!

Grace Note

Currently your multicollider consists of: "Eleventy", "Warranty/Guarantee", "Passive Present Perfect Continuous", and "Long Live The King!"

Your main competition is this one calling someone an idiot, which has been in the multicollider for 5 days and was at the top for over half that time.

aedia

@Fx "I have the bowdlerized Shakespeare, but I think there are still some innuendos in it. How can I find them?"

@Cerberus Middag!

Cerberus

4:19 PM

@GraceNote The Long Live The King! one only got 68 votes in a day, no biggie.

@aedia Middag!

Grace Note

@Cerberus I don't have too much of an issue to that (or any of them).

I actually like the 3rd one, if only because I didn't know that there was a Passive-voice Present Perfect Continuous

Cerberus

4:36 PM

@GraceNote Hmm yeah... I like the question, but not the tense!

z7sg

4:46 PM

I had to downvote that answer. Some guy telling me and the rest of the English speaking world that we don't know how to speak English. I bet he's a Communist.

Cerberus

5:15 PM

@z7sg Oh, Rimmer's? Yes.

So did I. And I've added a comment.

JSBangs

i upvoted him and think he's essentially correct. but i can see that the rest of the english-speaking world disagrees with my and my crypto-communist sympathies

Cerberus

@JSBangs That is indeed what must be behind it...

By the way, I don't think anyone's saying that his construction is "ungrammatical".

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…