English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

medica

00:02

Hi all.

do you feel like closing an inappropriate question?

@Cerberus

@Robusto?

Robusto

@medica Que?

medica

0

Q: What do you call a person who asks lots of "What do you call a person who ___" questions?

Is there an English word or expression for someone who spends an inordinate amount of time wondering, and asking others, what to call other people who ________? The particular ________ is unimportant, of course. There must be a word for such people, and it's driving me mad that I can't seem to...

This is so annoying

these requests are getting out of hand lately

Cerberus

Haha I like the question.

Sorry.

Anonymous

Is it an intentional parody of single word requests? :-)

Cerberus

It is.

medica

00:04

@Cerberus can you think of an answer?

Robusto

10 hours ago, by Robusto

0

Q: What do you call someone who asks lots of questions about what to call people in a thinly veiled attempt to blame others for ones own shortcomings?

One word. Someone who asks a lot of questions in order to expand his vocabulary related to certain patterns of human behaviour, especially those of a malicious nature.

word-choice single-word-requests

Is this becoming a meme or something?

Cerberus

@medica No, I hate SWRs.

medica

I agree it's a parody

Robusto

0

Q: What do you call someone who asks lots of questions about what to call people in a thinly veiled attempt to blame others for ones own shortcomings?

One word. Someone who asks a lot of questions in order to expand his vocabulary related to certain patterns of human behaviour, especially those of a malicious nature.

word-choice single-word-requests

medica

but is this something we should encourage??

Robusto

00:05

God, no.

Ummm . . . you. — Robusto 10 hours ago

medica

Can we close it down?

Robusto

I voted.

medica

Yes, I saw that! That's why I cane here

and I liked that answer.

Anonymous

@medica I voted too, using my newfound voting powers. Hooray!

medica

Thank you kindly, both of you. I don't usually petition to close an answer, but it's out of hand.

I appreciate the response.

Robusto

00:07

Well, that explains three of the votes. @Cerberus could cast the fourth, if he's of a mind to.

medica

@Cerberus - if you have an answer, please provide before closure. ')

Again, thanks.

Cerberus

Tsk.

medica

@Cerberus what... you may have more wisdom than I. Why do you tsk?

Robusto

That was the middle head. It can be contrary.

medica

@Robusto haha

Cerberus

00:09

It can indeed.

medica

Sorry, that was meant for @Cerberus

Cerberus

You tried to induce me to post a SWR answer, how dare you!

medica

@Cerberus ')

Cerberus

By the way, did you know you can edit your lines?

medica

@Cerberus It must come in handy to be able to blame one of your heads for things...

No, how?

Cerberus

00:11

In an empty text box, press the Up key.

Well done!

medica

Only goes so far up. what's the time limit?

Cerberus

They should tell people these things.

2 minutes.

medica

ah!

Cerberus

What else...

medica

I shall try to remember within two minutes

Cerberus

00:12

If you press the little grey arrow, it takes you back to whichever line that was a reply to.

medica

@Cerberus ? what else should I be told, or what else do I... grey arrow?

Cerberus

What else should you be told.

You see the little grey arrow next to the dark grey "Cerberus" in your last line?

medica

Oh! OK, that I learned a few visits ago, Kit told me that one.

Cerberus

Ah OK, good.

medica

I am extremely low-tech-knowledge

:(

I grew up long before computers were born

Cerberus

00:14

Chat also automatically obfuscates your SE password if you type it into chat and press enter.

(Joke!)

medica

@Cerberus :-) Tell me lies, I'll try it!

Cerberus

Hehe.

I didn't know computer were born, though.

Did it hurt?

medica

apparently quite a bit

they weren't small back then

Cerberus

Ouch.

Mainframes?

medica

indeed

big as rooms

Cerberus

00:16

Who bore them?

medica

Luckily, gargantuans

Cerberus

Great.

medica

very large ones

very tech savvy

Cerberus

Very large gargantuans, even.

medica

yes. Larger than the Titans

Cerberus

00:17

Do you think there will be as many computer girls as there are guys, in the future?

Poor Titans, they will not like that.

medica

yes, thank heavens

Cerberus

OK.

medica

my dughters are as handy as my sons

but I am in the dust

and my husband is even worde than I am.

He can't even open a new tab in a window.

Cerberus

Haha.

medica

and he has a very very nice computer

Cerberus

00:19

I don't think my mother could, either.

medica

like 3000$

and all he does with it is e-mail!

Cerberus

That is outrageous for a computer...400 should be enough.

medica

I know!

Cerberus

Scratch that, 100.

Anonymous

This computer cost about $800.

medica

00:19

Especially for email!!!

Cerberus

I love it!

@snailboat This one too, in 2008.

medica

Mine is about $3K

Cerberus

Why?

medica

but I do photoediting

Cerberus

Even then, that is a lot of money.

medica

00:20

and I need the space and speed

yeah, I know, but I've never had a PC

when I bought our first computer, I bought a Performa

Cerberus

I seriously wonder whether your wouldn't be almost as fast on a $1200 computer...

medica

because it was advertised as plug it in and start.

Cerberus

Never heard of it.

medica

Mac

Apple product for morons

and it worked, because I was a moron.

I plugged it in, and voila, it was intuitive

Anonymous

Aw, harsh! Although I personally didn't get a mac until OS X came out, because I didn't really like the older System Whatever software.

medica

00:22

so I never had to learn much to operate a computer

Cerberus

@medica You forgot "are".

And to pluralise product.

Anonymous

Aw, I was too late!

Cerberus

Ding!

medica

@Cerberus Haha! I may seem like a moron

but secretely, I'm not.

Cerberus

Like my mother?

medica

00:24

Probably

Cerberus

Sorry, I had to star those lines.

My mother now hates everything remotely related to technology.

medica

oh, no...

Anonymous

Hah! I've deprived you of your star.

Cerberus

Even though she wrote her thesis on computers in the sixties.

medica

I don't have a cell phone... (blushes furiously)

Cerberus

00:24

@snailboat Aww why!!

medica

:-)

Cerberus

@medica Great!

I, too, have some friends without smart phones. But not without cell phones.

medica

I'm... I don't like technology.

Cerberus

Even the most archaic person I know now has a cell phone.

medica

But I think I'm going to get one.

Cerberus

00:26

Aww you shouldn't!

medica

not me. I don't have one.

Cerberus

Note that my mother never uses her smartphone, and she cannot be reached on it.

Nor does she remember how it works.

medica

I don't know why I should get one, (lol about your mom)

that would be me, exactly.

Cerberus

She thought it was broken, because she was unable to pick up a call, which involved swiping.

Anonymous

If you did have a cell phone, would it be an Apple phone?

medica

00:27

But I've come around on computers... lolol

Cerberus

Nooooo!

Apple means you throw away hundreds of euros for the same functionality.

medica

I don't know, but it would be a smart phone

Cerberus

Sorry.

medica

I know, I know.

you are right, of course.

Cerberus

I'm sure your smartness would emanate into (onto?) your phone.

If you want to buy a smartphone, I recommend the Moto G for excellent quality:price ratio.

medica

00:28

But the other night, I had to go to the hospital myself as a patient, and I brought my laptop with me to the ED

I looked like an idiot

Cerberus

ED?

medica

camped out for the duration

Emergency department

Cerberus

Camped out?

Oh...was it something serious?

medica

as a patient

Anonymous

I would bring my phone, but also a book.

Cerberus

00:29

Same. And my charger.

medica

well, I thought about a book

but ended up with my laptop.

that's when I decided I might get a smartphone.

Cerberus

I don't think it's silly to be sitting using your laptop in the ED while you're waiting.

medica

No, it turned out to be nothing major.

Cerberus

But, yes, I'd recommend a smart phone.

Oh, good.

medica

yes, I agree.

I also like that the have cameras

good ones now too

I'm more likely to take a photograph if I don't have to lug out my equipment.

Anonymous

00:32

Yeah! They're not like professional cameras, but they're a zillion times nicer than phone cameras used to be.

Anonymous

The most irritating part is not having manual focus.

medica

Yes, some of them are incredible!

Yes

But for run of the mill stuff, they're great!

And for the rest, my camera will do.

Anonymous

I've taken almost all of my recent snail pictures on my iPhone :-)

medica

Oh, really?

how close can you get?

Anonymous

medica

00:34

Those are tiny snails!

I'd use a macro on those.

Anonymous

Those are little half-centimeter baby snails. That's about as much detail as the iPhone seems to be able to get on them

medica

@snailboat Do you keep snails?

Anonymous

@medica Yes I do :-)

medica

oh, so cute!!!

I'm fascinated!

You breed them as well?

Anonymous

Only a little bit. The world doesn't really need too many more Helix aspersa. It's got a lot of them already :-)

medica

00:37

@snailboat do you do so for the shells?

Anonymous

But my snails did have babies.

Anonymous

@medica I just think snails are cute, and I like to watch them as they snail about.

medica

aww... I think that must have been exciting.

@snailboat There are some truly wondrous snails

I like their "eyes"

now I am going to make a fool of myself because I don't know the real terminology.

The four projections, what are they called?

Anonymous

I do like snail shells though. When my snails eventually pass away I'll try to preserve their little shells

medica

@snailboat Are your snails all on the small side?

Anonymous

00:40

@medica There are various words. The top two, which have eyes in most land snails, are often called eyestalks. And the two lower ones, which are shorter and do not have eyes, could be called feelers. Some people call all four feelers. People also call them tentacles, although that feels more like a technical term.

Cerberus

@medica Exactly! But don't expect decent pictures of a candlelight supper with any smartphone.

Anonymous

@medica Yes, they're all garden snails. Most big land snails are illegal to keep as pets here in California.

medica

:D

Cerberus

@snailboat I think you can use applications that let you apply manual focus?

And most applications let you tap on a point on the screen to focus on whatever object is there.

Anonymous

People don't want invasive snails like Achatina ("Giant African Land Snails") getting loose and reproducing, so they're illegal.

medica

00:41

@Cerberus that would help tremendously

Anonymous

@Cerberus Not really.

medica

@snailboat Ah, that makes sense

look at the zebra muscle

and the great lakes...

Anonymous

This is my biggest snail:

Anonymous

I'm not sure if you're in the U.S. or are familiar with the size of a U.S. quarter

Anonymous

00:43

A quarter is about 2.4cm in diameter

medica

@snailboat Wow! That's not a tiny snail... wow, she has a nice shell on her (him?) and lovely eyes. ;)

lol, I'm in PA

Anonymous

Ahh :-)

medica

She's got a shell a regular hermit crab would envy...

Anonymous

In comparison, here's a baby:

medica

but not for a while.

Anonymous

00:45

medica

Oh, that is so tiny! How small were they when you first saw them?

Did you notice eggs?

Anonymous

The big snail pictured above hatched in the wild, and I caught him and brought him home when he was around half that size :-) (They're actually hermaphrodites, but it feels weird saying "it" all the time, so I decided that some of them were boys and some were girls arbitrarily. That snail is a boy.)

medica

:-)

Anonymous

medica

I should have known that

Anonymous

00:47

And there are the eggs "he" laid :-)

medica

OH my word!!!

I would have been going crazy

how long did they take to hatch?

Anonymous

About eleven days!

Anonymous

medica

Pretty ... ohh... so cute!!!

Pretty quickly!

Robusto

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇: Can we get a close vote outta you?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

00:49

@Robusto sure

medica

They are really cute.

Anonymous

(-:

Robusto

Click link.

medica

@Robusto You are my new hero. Thank you!

Robusto

And for your treat:

2 hours ago, by Robusto

Special Commemorative His Highness King FAISAL Large 24k Gold IGP Polish Wrist Watch

superbrass.com

Special Commemorative His Highness King FAISAL Large 24k Gold IGP Polish Wrist Watch

medica

00:51

omw...

lol

polish...

Robusto

I think we should all get them.

medica

that's hilarious

Robusto

Wouldn't that mess people up, if we created a meme of King Faisal commemorative watches?

medica

lol

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Robusto only 3 left in stock

Robusto

00:52

Someone would comment on it, maybe snicker a little, and we'd just go "What?"

medica

I think it would be great!

Cerberus

@snailboat At least on Android, you can.

medica

I'm going to work that into my next answer somehow!

Robusto

The King Faisal watch?

medica

@Robusto yes.

Robusto

00:53

Sorry, the "Commemorative His Highness King FAISAL" watch.

Make sure the FAISAL is all caps.

Wasn't he the guy who was killed by his brother or cousin or something?

medica

lolol! My dog is wondering why I'm laughing so loud

I'm definately going to work that into my next answer.

I think so

Robusto

Faisal of Saudi Arabia

Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ( '; April 1906 – 25 March 1975) was King of Saudi Arabia from 1964 to 1975. As king, he is credited with rescuing the country's finances and implementing a policy of modernization and reform, while his main foreign policy themes were pan-Islamism, anti-Communism, and pro-Palestinian nationalism. He successfully stabilized the kingdom's bureaucracy and his reign had significant popularity among Saudis. In 1975, he was assassinated by his nephew Faisal bin Musaid. Early life Faisal bin Abdulaziz was born in Riyadh in April 1906. He is the third son of Sa...

Yes. Well, he abolished slavery in Saudi Arabia, so that's something.

medica

ah, his nephew.

that's apparently a dangerous occupation

Robusto

> Heavy lies the head that wears the crown.

medica

Damocles

exactly

Robusto

00:57

> King Faisal was a Grateful Dead fan and was eulogized by lyricist Robert Hunter in the title track of the 1975 Blues for Allah album.

It gets stranger.

medica

That is strange.

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