English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

MickLH

5:00 PM

sweeeeeet lol Guinness book kinda day!

meer2kat

hahaahah!

the bot is so dang mean

e-iste-tia-istically

Anonymous

@meer2kat I think they left out a word

meer2kat

@snailboat nah i done goofed

@snailboat i typed hang ll instead of hang l

Matt Эллен

5:21 PM

►

bemusing

Damkerng T.

@MickLH I have 2000+ unread emails (I don't delete those spam ones), and I would smile that wide if I got just one real letter!

Oh, Poo!

Mitch

@meer2kat Do you see the little curved arrow next to this text? It takes you back to what I am referring to in 'reply to this message'. It allows you to see the context of the response. So if you follow all these all the way back you'll get to your comment this morning about 'Gooood morrrrrning!'. And that should hopefully explain all these (not particularly interesting) responses.

Matt Эллен

lol

Mitch

@Cerberus Holy crap. I would never have guessed. Russia maybe. reconsiders trip to Poland

realizes that .06 murders per 1000 is not so bad overall

decides to play golf in a thunderstorm

Matt Эллен

but that ruins a perfectly good walk in a thunderstorm

Mitch

5:31 PM

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 You mean you have all my stolen guns? I'd come and get them myself but it's so cold.

@MattЭллен zing!

I know! said standing near a tree

It's not the lighting that'll kill you it's the...wait... it is the lighting that kills you.

I thought Kit said to stop talking about something. Have we changed the subject to poop yet?

KitFox

Lightning doesn't kill people; people kill people.

Anonymous

Well, people named Lightning might.

KitFox

You can pry my lightning from my cold, dead hands.

Matt Эллен

@Mitch see the above video

Mitch

@snailboat That's a heavy load to carry.

Sorry, I was thinking of poop.

RegDwigнt

5:38 PM

@Robusto well. Here's a hint: it's not Reg.

KitFox

Not it.

Wow. I think that means the rest of you are all it.

Matt Эллен

It's not me. Reg asked me not to

Mitch

@KitFox He who denied it supplied it... er, she... uh.. they.

oerkelens

He said "bite me"?

RegDwigнt

What? Who? I asked people things?

I am actually watching my very first Dr. Who episode.

Anonymous

5:40 PM

@RegDwigнt I've seen that show!

RegDwigнt

Well okay, I'm not wathing it. I watched the first ten minutes and got bored, which is the longest I have ever managed.

But I did put it on record, in case I want to resume later.

Mitch

@RegDwigнt My condolences.

RegDwigнt

That never happened before.

Anonymous

Oh, you're all Doctor Who haters.

Matt Эллен

just Reg

Anonymous

5:40 PM

I watched a couple seasons of it.

RegDwigнt

@Mitch nah, it's not that bad. I tried watching it before, it sucked so much I am confident it's not taking me anywhere this time, either.

KitFox

Which one?

Mitch

@snailboat No, Doctor Who snorrrrrrreeeee

Alraxite

I tried starting watching it from the first season of the reboot.

RegDwigнt

@MattЭллен I am not a hater. I am a genuine tryer but failor.

KitFox

5:41 PM

Skip the first season of the new series.

Mitch

I started watching it from the snooooooorrrre

Anonymous

@Mitch Ah, Doctor Who discussing narcoleptics

RegDwigнt

Whatcha mean, new series. It's been going on since the fifties.

KitFox

Skip all the episodes with Rose in them.

RegDwigнt

@Mitch hey I've seen that one!

Matt Эллен

5:42 PM

@RegDwigнt I apologise

Mitch

I saw the movie. Does that count?

RegDwigнt

@KitFox who the hell is rose.

Anonymous

I saw the um, number of doctors. The four doctors? Five? I'm not sure.

RegDwigнt

@Mitch there's a movie?

I honestly did not know.

KitFox

@RegDwigнt That is as it should be.

Anonymous

5:42 PM

One of them was the stock footage doctor, I believe.

Mitch

@KitFox Which one is that? With Eccleston? What's wrong with them? Her?

KitFox

@snailboat The was a three and a five.

@Mitch With Eccleston. Yes. Annoying. Annoying.

RegDwigнt

@KitFox nonono, there is a very annoying woman person in this episode. Several, actually. Just not sure what her name is.

Anonymous

And I saw one that was about a hotel or some sort of building.

Anonymous

I was young and I don't remember details.

Mitch

5:43 PM

She was annoying or was it by chance that the series was annoying when she was in it?

KitFox

@RegDwigнt Is she blonde and dumb?

RegDwigнt

@snailboat this one has a building in it, too. And time travel.

Anonymous

@RegDwigнt I like some television shows with buildings in them.

RegDwigнt

@KitFox dunno, but she is pregnant in one reality and unpregnant in another and can't make her friggin mind up which one is real.

@snailboat hey cool we should totally be friends.

KitFox

Amy Pond?

Alraxite

5:44 PM

The first season felt like a kids' show.

Anonymous

@RegDwigнt You have ten fingers!? I have ten fingers!!

RegDwigнt

@KitFox I do not know.

Mitch

@snailboat buildings are overrated. a flat plain with knee-high grass is recommended for maximum plot exposition quality

Alraxite

Well, I didn't watch the whole of it.

Matt Эллен

@KitFox sounds like it

Mitch

5:45 PM

@RegDwigнt What? That's this reality.

KitFox

How do you not know if she's blonde and dumb?

RegDwigнt

@KitFox because that's how little I care about OH LOOK A DOGGY!

Matt Эллен

but that seems like you're watching the penultimate episode

Mitch

@Alraxite s/first season/entire 40 year long snorefest/

RegDwigнt

Also, I don't just go around calling random women dumb. Or blonde.

KitFox

5:45 PM

@MattЭллен No, there's that one...

Matt Эллен

@KitFox with multiple doctori?

KitFox

With the schoolyard and the people keep disappearing...

@MattЭллен Oh, I missed that there were—what!?

nonononono lalalalalalala

RegDwigнt

I can hear you.

KitFox

And anyway I like The Doctor a lot.

So nyah.

RegDwigнt

You like things with bow ties.

Mitch

5:47 PM

@KitFox well, the one redeeming quality about the snore episodes was...

Billie Piper

| children = 2 }} Billie Paul Piper (born Leian Paul Piper; 22 September 1982), is a British singer and actress. Born and raised in Swindon, Wiltshire, she made her entertainment debut in Scratchy & Co. (1998), and at the age of fifteen signed a recording contract and released her debut single "Because We Want To", which debuted at number one in the UK, making Piper the youngest artist ever to debut at number one. The single was followed by Piper's album Honey to the B (1998), which was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) and platin...

Is that her?

RegDwigнt

And Billie Piper at the gates of dawn.

Born Lesbian Paul Piper.

Mitch

See BilliePiper play?

RegDwigнt

I am a bit worried right now.

Mitch

@RegDwigнt good marketing move, replace one incomprehensibility with another deliberate one.

@RegDwigнt You should be. I hear the sky is falling.

RegDwigнt

Seriously, Billie Paul? Sorry, that's a bloke.

Mitch

5:50 PM

@RegDwigнt please, no pics.

RegDwigнt

Yeah no shit.

Well Ima let me supper and evening news.

Au ruguay.

KitFox

@Mitch Redeeming in the sense of ick?

oerkelens

What is wrong with Billie Piper?

Mitch

Yeah, what is wrong with Billie Piper?

KitFox

Nothing.

Mitch

5:57 PM

Ooooh.... burn.

KitFox

Only that I am deeply insulted that The Doctor would choose her over someone like me.

But he and I have always differed in our preferences like that.

With the notable exception of Madame Bovary.

Mitch

Tell me more about your family.

KitFox

And also Romana. I liked her too.

Mitch

?? Who is Romana?

And Madame Bovary was in a book. And she did not make 'wise' decisions. Or was that Anna Karenina?

But really, why aren't we blaming Vronsky and .. and.. whoever the dude was in Madame Bovary.

OK which Romana? Mary Tamm or Lalla Ward?

KitFox

Lalla.

Well...

Both.

I liked her character.

Mitch

6:04 PM

Character-schmaracter. Which one did you think looks like you?

KitFox

Looks like me?

They both rather look like each other and not much like me.

Jez

gotta love looking at all the ants crawling round a corner of my kitchen

taking the sugary goodness back to their nest... they're crazy about the stuff

shame it will kill their colony over a week or two... muhahahaha

Anonymous

Why is it considered impolite to refer to someone in the third person form during a conversation?

oerkelens

@Mitch I wonder why simON is asking that?

Anonymous

@oerkelens Whatever it is, I didn't catch it :)

oerkelens

6:17 PM

@simON I wasn't talking to you, I was talking about you :)

c c

Is it bad to place though at the end like: "I didn't get an A+, I got the certificate though."

oerkelens

@simON Some people (I daresay most) find that quite rude :)

@cc I would use but or though, not both. They convey the same meaning.

Without the but, I'd use a semicolon instead of a comma though

Anonymous

> I didn't get an A+, though I got the certificate.

c c

@oerkelens let's say with the edited sentence now :) ^

Jez

the annoying thing is, even though the ants are gonna die, the will have eaten through bits of my wall. i can see the grains of breezeblock or whatever they have eaten through on the floor

the little bastards

c c

6:19 PM

@simON so though at the beginning is referable?

oerkelens

@simON That has a different meaning I think

Anonymous

@cc I would say so.

oerkelens

@cc It feels different. Both are grammatical and understandable and good

c c

ok

Anonymous

@cc Personally, I'd use a period instead of a comma. I think some people would call your sentence a "comma splice". "I didn't get an A+. I got the certificate, though."

oerkelens

6:22 PM

I didn't get an A+; I got the certificate, though => Yeah, no high score, but I got what I wanted, didn't I?
I didn't get an A+, though I got the certificate => Well, not the highest score, but I passed.

Anonymous

@oerkelens Why would they find it rude? It seems more logical to say he/she instead of saying "Jack" 10 times :)

oerkelens

Jack is also third person

This "rule"is about people that are present at the conversation

There is nothing, absolutely nothing wrong referring to absent people in the third person. I wouldn't know how else to mention them :)

KitFox

@simON What SimON has to do is go and ask the correct question.

Anonymous

@oerkelens That is what I mean. If Jack is indeed present during the conversation, then naming him each time while referring to him sounds weird or unconventional at the very least.

c c

@snailboat yes, but I don't like too short sentences, above all when they are negative, as if I'd like to quickly counterbalance it :)

Jez

6:31 PM

►

"waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists"

Matt Эллен

That's Alaska for you

oerkelens

@simON When Jack is present, it is considered decent to address him

So you do not say Jack, you do not say he, you talk to him :)

So, how was your day, Jack?

You do not ask Pete: Say Pete, how was Jack's day?

You do not ask Mary: Heard about Jack? How's he doing?

That would make Jack feel his presence is being ignored.

Anonymous

6:59 PM

@cc Ah, I see. I favor shorter sentences. But then, I'm not often accused of having good style.

Anonymous

For one thing, I have a bad habit of sticking commas where they don't go.

Anonymous

Maybe someday I'll break that habit :-)

Johan Larsson

7:13 PM

@Jez did hot chick know Haskell?

Jez

hot chick wasn't asked

Johan Larsson

#MEH

what about dancing?

Mitch

@Jez damn you! one youtube video led to another! I didn't know that Aziz Ansari and Kristen Bell were an item.

Matt Эллен

@Mitch I didn't see it in his wikipedia page. I don't believe it

Johan Larsson

@tchrist photography chat has some activity as of lately

KitFox

7:42 PM

I misread that as pornography chat.

Johan Larsson

almost the same thing

Robusto

8:02 PM

@RegDwigнt You would if you could.

@Jez That's a cheap shot.

I am not responsible for Sarah Palin or any of the other numskulls Sheldon Adelson dangles as a sop to the American idiocracy.

Mine is the America of Jefferson, Hamilton, Emerson, Lincoln, Twain. Not Palin, Cain, Jindall, Jingo & Nod.

@RegDwigнt Also, that only narrows it by one. Which I knew anyway.

Jez

@Robusto cheap shot?

Matt Эллен

sambuca

Johan Larsson

have a nice hangover!

Matt Эллен

8:17 PM

I think I'll be waiting a long time for Jez to bring me a sambuca

KitFox

wants to do shots off a cute girl's breasts

Matt Эллен

whoa, I must be tired. I misread that as "wants to shoot off a cute girl's breasts"

I tried to understand

Jez

8:35 PM

@KitFox do em off your own?

Mitch

@MattЭллен You have to go down the rabbit hole that I went down. For example:

Johan Larsson

@KitFox Jez agreed to take dancing lessons and he will post a video of him dancing in chat on Wednesday.

Mitch

What's the point of creating a kangaroo robot though?

Johan Larsson

Festo already made a dragonfly robot

Matt Эллен

@Mitch I'm surprised you have to ask

KitFox

8:46 PM

@JohanLarsson Nice.

Johan Larsson

#turningpoint

Matt Эллен

@Mitch adorable robot kangaroos are clearly what this world needs.

My question to you (and anyone) is how does one use foreland as a verb?

a transitive verb

Mitch

@MattЭллен "The kangaroo robot could easily foreland a punch with Matt as an adversary"

Two questions. One answer.

Matt Эллен

look at this ngram

@Mitch that only raises two more questions: why does foreland as a noun only refer to geographical things? Why would such a cute little thing want to hit me?

Mitch

I used to use that word all the time in the early 90's (the spike in that graph is me)

Matt Эллен

8:51 PM

lol

or at least early yesterday morning

01AM

Johan Larsson

@Mitch marketing

Mitch

@MattЭллен "Across the broad foreland, the robotic kangaroos would pummel their adversaries down to the sea"

Good times.

@MattЭллен I want to see actual instances and that graph is not letting me.

Matt Эллен

@Mitch no, if you use the _THINGS then it doesn't.

Mitch

@JohanLarsson I've never picked up kangaroo robots at the grocery store, except on date night.

Johan Larsson

over my head

Matt Эллен

8:54 PM

there are 194 entries of foreland_verb _noun_ in all the books google knows about

Mitch

@MattЭллен I use things all the time. In fact I live around things. I'd feel a little weird without things.

Matt Эллен

@Mitch you should think about converting to stuff

Mitch

@JohanLarsson "the kangaroo robots flew over Johan's head, on his way to the foreland to see the fights"

Anonymous

Yeah, I wish it were easier to relate Google Books search results to the charts generated by Google Books Ngram Viewer

Mitch

@MattЭллен Dude I am not so orthodox. things, stuff, whatever, it's all the same to me.

Anonymous

8:56 PM

Sometimes it seems difficult to conclude anything from their charts without being able to see the data

Matt Эллен

@Mitch you dare make a spectrum out of my dichotomy?!

Mitch

@MattЭллен and dance on both their graves!

Matt Эллен

looks angrily astounded

Alraxite

9:13 PM

@MattЭллен Can Google really distinguish well enough between when a word is being used a verb and when it is not?

Matt Эллен

@Alraxite they think so. I don't know

Alraxite

@MattЭллен Well, it seems you can get such results for pretty much anything: books.google.com/ngrams/…

Or

books.google.com/ngrams/…

Matt Эллен

yep. there are instructions some where

Google ngrams advanced use

time for bed!

medica

@MattЭллен - Matt, do you have a minute to answer a question?

Johan Larsson

10:01 PM

in Lounge<C++> on Stack Overflow Chat, 1 min ago, by Etienne de Martel

tchrist

-2

A: Opposite of "prediction"

Billy buttmunch is the answer because I'm cool

-3

A: Are "skill set" and "skill sets" both acceptable?

For god sake, don't be a douche, just use the word skills. God, the humanity ...

Not nice.

RegDwigнt

@Robusto you are technically wrong, which is the best kind of wrong.

I can star every single message of mine myself.

There's a loophole in the system.

But I'm not using it.

QED

tchrist

Clever is as clever does.

RegDwigнt

Fun Sally Field, run.

tchrist

10:20 PM

I want burninate swr forever, delete all questions with that tag attached to it, and apply an auto-suspension of three days to anyone trying to use it. ELU is not a personals ad section for Single White Retards.

It just seems that way sometimes.

Cerberus

Greetings.

Mitch

10:47 PM

Hey

Johan Larsson

@tchrist i kinda agree with this one

Mahnax

@Cerberus Hello hello.

tchrist

@JohanLarsson The only thing acceptable there is “Just use the word skills”. The rest is offensive.

Johan Larsson

the last part is unnecessary yes

tchrist

@JohanLarsson So is the first part. Indeed, it is incredibly offensive.

Johan Larsson

11:17 PM

don't be a douche is helpful though! :)

tchrist

@JohanLarsson I think not. The word is asquerous in the extreme. It is disgusting.

Johan Larsson

:D

tchrist

Might as well tell somebody not to be a santorum.

Johan Larsson

11:34 PM

gonna try to sleep for the third time tonight now.

Alraxite

@tchrist What is a santorum?

tchrist

@Alraxite Really?

You don’t know?

Ok, I can tell you.

Alraxite

Um. No.

tchrist

But you will want to unlearn this.

Alraxite

It isn't even in the dictionaries.

But I'm guessing it isn't English then.

I dunno.

Oh wait.

tchrist

11:37 PM

> After Rick Santorum, then a United States senator from Pennsylvania, made comments to a reporter comparing homosexual sex to bestiality and incest in 2003, Savage assailed Santorum in his column. Later, he sponsored a contest that led to the term santorum being used to refer to “the frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes a byproduct of anal sex”.

Alraxite

Right, right. Gotcha!

Just found it.

Cerberus

@Mahnax Ho ho!

Alraxite

I thought I already googled that.

But apparently I only googled asquerous.

And I found your comment on some ELU question explaining what it means.

Cerberus

Asquerous?

Alraxite

But for whatever reason, I didn't look up santorum.

Cerberus

11:40 PM

That sounds like Latin but probably isn't...

Alraxite

@Cerberus english.stackexchange.com/questions/58411/…

How do you make it so that the text of the comment appears in chat?

Cerberus

Remove the @person part?

Alraxite

Oh.

@jwpat7 Asquerous means icky, gross, disgusting, repugnant, repulsive, noisome, nauseating, vomitous — scabby in a suppurating way. It’s from Latin eschara for a scab or scar, from Greek εσχαρα for hearth, brazier, scab. It’s related to the medical term eschar, and of course to the normal word scar, but has much more of a gross-me-out connotation. If you have Spanish-speaking friends, they’ll say ‘¡Me da asco!’ for ‘Ewww, gross!’, which has the same Latin/Greek origin. — tchrist Feb 18 '12 at 23:50

Ah, okay.

Cerberus

Hmm first time I see this word.

Alraxite

Well, only 703 results on Google. So it probably isn't a word in English.

I dunno.

Cerberus

11:47 PM

Right.

books.google.com/ngrams/…

No Ngrams.

OED says no.

Then I don't need to know this.

Alraxite

I wonder where tchrist encountered it then.

Probably one of those 703 results.

Cerberus

Hehe.

He probably created 702 of those results himself...

tchrist

@Cerberus You mean “This is the first time I’ve ever seen this word.” NNS for some reason never use the present perfect there, and we must.

Plus I by no means believe you that you’ve never seen santorum before: santus / santi / santorum. “Of the saints’ ”

Oh wait, you mean asquerous not santorum.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt Technically you are wrong. You limited my answer to an imaginary scope. I know you can star your own posts. But not without putting the mod signature on it. Which would cause you to either face up to self-aggrandizement, or implicate KitFox, the only other mod who ever comes in here. QED

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…