English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

> The IJ (pronounced [ɛi̯]; sometimes shown on old maps as "Y" or "Ye") is a lake, formerly a bay, in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is known for being Amsterdam's waterfront. Sometimes it is wrongly considered a river. I

Robusto

In Chicago there is The El.

Cerberus

Bah, lake or bay sounds wrong.

Robusto

Cerberus

1:14 AM

That's nice, it's up in the air.

Robusto

That's why it's called the El. For elevated.

In Boston the same deal is called the T.

In Paris it's the Metro. Also in D.C. And I think Montreal and Toronto as well.

In London, the Tube.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Robusto Montreal: Metro. Toronto: Subway.

Cerberus

Ahh.

Robusto

See? I knew we could cool off the chat by discussing light rail transportation.

Cerberus

London, the Tube?

Mahnax

1:16 AM

In Edmonton we have the LRT.

Cerberus

I thought they simply said Underground.

Robusto

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 NYC has the subway too, even when it's elevated.

Cerberus

A metro is normally underground.

Robusto

The Tube

The Tube may refer to: *The London Underground *"The Tube", slang for television, from the term cathode ray tube *The Tube (2003 TV series), an ITV/Sky programme featuring the work of staff on the London Underground *The Tube (2012 TV series), a BBC documentary about those who work and travel on the London Underground *The Tube (TV series), a former Channel 4 (UK) music programme *The Tube (radio series), a Channel 4 Radio series *The Tube Music Network, a US defunct music video channel *The Port Authority Trans-Hudson railroad linking New Jersey and New York, USA *The series of tubes analo...

Cerberus

Right.

Mahnax

1:17 AM

Calgary has the C-train.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Robusto We have an elevated train, called the "Scarborough Rapid Transit", or SRT

Robusto

@Mahnax But those only run in the C-section, right?

Cerberus

(I think in most cities where they have an underground metro that also goes above ground, the whole is called "the metro". But a train that never goes underground is never called a metro, right?)

Robusto

That's a parturition joke, btw.

Mahnax

@Robusto Eww.

Robusto

1:18 AM

In SF it's called BART. As in Simpson.

Mahnax

@Robusto Better than a micturition joke.

Robusto

Did you mean micturation?

Cerberus

Apparently, both exist...

Mahnax

Nope.

Robusto

Micronutrition?

Mahnax

1:19 AM

thefreedictionary.com/micturition

user116848

Guys can I ask something?

Robusto

►

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Arrowfar that IS asking something.

user116848

How do I leave a comment to a specific person on the main site. I mean like this: "@name" or I have give some spaces here and there e.g. "@ name".
Second How do I tell any specific person to come to chat here?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Arrowfar You can use @name to reply to people but it only works in certain places.

Like, an answer where they've already commented.

user116848

1:24 AM

I see

user116848

And 'chatting'?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I'm not sure

There's a way to start a chat room "with" a user. That creates a chat room and... I'm not sure what else. You do that from the chat-user's user page.

user116848

Yeah...

user61230

@Arrowfar See this meta post for the gritty details about @-replies. They work intuitively for the most part, though.

user116848

@Emrakul Oh! sure

Mitch

1:35 AM

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I haven't seen it either, I'm just giving second hand reports. and the trailer keeps saying awesome over and over and over again.

Cerberus

Haha.

A Lego film.

Why the brick not?

Mitch

@Cerberus depends on the appointment. Totally appropriate for your urologist.

Cerberus

Hah.

It was not her urologist!

Do women even have those?

I suppose they do.

medica

@Mahnax - Did you just get a ping?

Mitch

Same specialty, genito-urinary. maybe that's for dudes though. but a gynecologist is just genito.

Mahnax

1:44 AM

@medica Yes.

Cerberus

@Mitch Why don't we have an andrologist?

I need to see my andrologist.

medica

@Mahnax good. I didn't know if you were getting the pings from election chat. Just making sure I was not leaving you out by mistake.

Mitch

@Cerberus There's a mothers day and a fathers day, why isn't there a children's day?

Mahnax

@medica You've spelled my name Manhax several times, which might be the problem.

Cerberus

@Mitch You can guess what my mother used to answer...

medica

1:46 AM

That's my dyslexia!!!

Cerberus

@Mahnax Hacker. That man hax everything.

Mitch

@Cerberus She used to answer ' All doctors are andrologists'

Mahnax

Ah yes, in your most recent ping you have misspelled it.

Cerberus

No, every day is children's day!

medica

@Mahnax I am so sorry! I really do have dyslexia; it's one of the reasons I type so slowly.

Mahnax

1:47 AM

@medica That's OK!

medica

Ok, now that I've seen it properly, I will not make the mistake again.

(so embarassed...)

Mitch

@Cerberus And in the same way that everyday is children's day, most all physician's are physician's for men. only special ones are physician's for women.

I exaggerate. Most research used to be with adult males. It's getting better.

Cerberus

@Mitch What's up with the greengrocer's apostrophe? I don't get the joke...

medica

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Thanks. Truly.

Mitch

@Cerberus I'm having troubles with that lately. I can't seem to stop using extras.

tchrist

1:53 AM

 Rank      ID Name                           Reps  N  Bronze   Silver     Gold
 ===================================================================================
   1.    3119 Yoichi Oishi ♢                21468 567 Curious Inquisitive Socratic
   2.     305 Brian Hooper                  19811 109 Curious Inquisitive Socratic
   3.    4763 Uticensis                     10183  76 Curious Inquisitive
   4.   17953 Noah                           7867  71 Curious Inquisitive
   5.   10041 Daniel                        34832  68 Curious Inquisitive

Cerberus

@Mitch Extrapostrophes?

@tchrist What's N?

Mitch

Yeah. I'm using them up now I will have to not use lots of them soon.

Cerberus

Are they also subtracted from your supply of commas?

tchrist

@Cerberus N = has a positive record of questions and asked good questions on N separate days

Cerberus

Huh?

I don't understand.

So this is about asking questions?

tchrist

1:58 AM

Yes.

   1.    3119 Yoichi Oishi ♢                21468 567 Curious Inquisitive Socratic
  15.    6006 MrHen ♢                       22264  44 Curious Inquisitive
  18.    8360 KitFox ♦                      18359  33 Curious Inquisitive
  28.     300 RegDwigнt ♦                   58211  23 Curious
  31.    3559 Matt Эллен ♢                  19454  21 Curious
  43.   11550 Mahnax ♢                       7536  17 Curious
  55.     100 waiwai933 ♦                    9307   9 Curious
  62.      39 nohat ♦                       40985   6 Curious

24

Q: Asking days badges

A couple of months ago, I suggested a set of badges for asking questions. The responses were... mixed. The top answer can be summarized: In practice, all this would do is encourage people to ask yet more stupid, worthless questions and we have quite enough of that as it is. We believe that ...

Cerberus

Surely Yoichi hasn't asked 567 questions...

tchrist

No.

medica

Does anyone know if I can vote on one user's questions (as I'm looking at that specific user's contributions) without setting off the vote autorespond to reverse my upvotes? (that's an awkwars phrasing. sorry)

tchrist

He has that many days when he had a positive record of questions and asked good questions.

@Cerberus He has only asked 771 questions. But only 567 days qualified, for whatever reason.

Cerberus

What is "a positive record of questions", and what are "good questions"?

771 questions? Wow.

@medica You can't...but why would you? Just vote up when you chance upon his questions, instead of serial up-voting.

tchrist

2:04 AM

5 mins ago, by tchrist

24

Q: Asking days badges

A couple of months ago, I suggested a set of badges for asking questions. The responses were... mixed. The top answer can be summarized: In practice, all this would do is encourage people to ask yet more stupid, worthless questions and we have quite enough of that as it is. We believe that ...

feature-request questions badges badge-request

medica

Well, that's the thing. He made a statement and I'm looking over all of his questions. Some are really good and I'd like to upvote them as I see them without setting off the autoregulator (or whatever it is(. So the answer is no. Correct?

Cerberus

@tchrist Oh...

tchrist

> In order to award badges, we need to define our terms:

=== positive record of questions

(total questions - negative questions - closed - deleted)/total questions >= 0.5

I'll be honest, this formula was a mistake I made constructing the query. It triple counts a question that is downvoted, closed, and deleted. If you ask one that hits that trifecta, you'll need to ask three better questions to dig yourself out. My own record of asking:

(44 - 0 - 12 - 12)/44 = 0.4545...

My public record looks a lot better; I had a bunch of questions from the beta period that have been subsequently (and…

Cerberus

@medica Yes, the answer is no.

medica

:( Ok, thanks, Cerb.

Cerberus

2:06 AM

Of course you can try...

medica

yes. and when they disappear, will he ever be bummed! ;) Better to just check it out, see if he's gotten a bad reception. Thanks again, tho.

tchrist

The ranking is very different by reps.

Curious the curious and incurious.

Cerberus

Most of us don't ask many questions.

tchrist

 Rank      ID Name                           Reps  N  Bronze   Silver     Gold
 ===================================================================================
     1.   12952 Barrie England               104265   3
     2.    2303 Robusto                       89611  28 Curious
     3.    2637 FumbleFingers                 78103  63 Curious Inquisitive
     4.     300 RegDwigнt ♦                   58211  23 Curious
     5.    2085 tchrist                       50161  17 Curious
     6.   11433 jwpat7                        48950  25 Curious

Cerberus

Why am I always no. 13?

Poor Kosmonaut and I aren't even Curious.

Mitch

2:17 AM

Ask two more questions!

medica

are we down again or is that just me?

crap, we're down again.

Cerberus

2:31 AM

I don't think I will be able to beat JSB with two questions.

Site is up for me.

medica

@tchrist - I just came across the most random comment from you. :)
"Seek for the Sword that was broken: / In Imladris it dwells; / There shall be counsels taken. / Stronger than Morgûl-spells." I cannot for the life of me figure out what this has to do with computer illiteracy! Much obliged if you tell me! :-)

@Cerberus Hi, Cerb.

tchrist

@medica Links would be better.

medica

6

Q: Is there a word for "people who are computer illiterate"?

Just as there is "computerate" to describe those who show familiarity with, and ability to use computers, is there a word to describe the opposite, those who are computer illiterate? The word I'm looking for includes both those who have access to computers but, for some reason, choose to keep aw...

single-word-requests nouns adjectives

tchrist

0

Q: How curious are you? — or — Tallied ELU Asking Day Badges Proposal Results

How we fare in the new badge proposal In Asking days badges, there is a proposal to award to create a new trio of badges for asking questions. It revolves around the number of separate days that a user has a positive record of questions and asked good questions on that day. See the link for ...

discussion feature-request badges asking-questions

medica

@tchrist This is unrelated to the answer, I presume?

tchrist

2:42 AM

I don't think we seek "for" something. I've never used a preposition after seek. — Luis Jun 7 at 16:21

medica

ahhhh... of course.

tchrist

@Luis Seek for the Sword that was broken: / In Imladris it dwells; / There shall be counsels taken. / Stronger than Morgûl-spells. — tchrist Jun 14 at 19:12

medica

yep

I see it now.

tchrist

This is why it is better to use the correct links.

It would have saved a lot of time.

medica

:(

I'm sorry

how are you tonight?

tchrist

2:52 AM

k

medica

@tchrist Does it concern you that a lot of mediocre questions have a +1 or +2?

tchrist

0

A: Asking days badges

I ran the current criteria against the top 124 users on English Language & Users by reputation, and discovered that this would produce 2 golds, 20 silvers, and 75 bronzes. Here’s the table sorted on N, Reps as described in the original posting: Rank ID Name Re...

@medica Number-crunching.

medica

I like the suggestion

tchrist

@medica Compared with what?

medica

It would be a fun reason to ask good questions

@tchrist compared with? Those answers with 0?

@tchrist Or do you mean, how are you, compared to..?

tchrist

2:54 AM

That’s a devil of post title, though, that’s for sure. Notice the nesting in the second half.

@medica Compared with other things that concern me.

medica

ah.

Cerberus

Haha.

medica

You have a lot of concerns now?

Hi, cerb. :)

Cerberus

Hi.

Hmm I wonder what Lorin and Randy look like to-day.

medica

@Cerberus Lorin looks beautiful, and Randy looks majestic, I am just guessing. Maybe we'll be treated to a pic or two?

Cerberus

2:57 AM

Yes, otherwise, we can't be sure.

medica

(Is that how you get him to post pictures of the pretty ones?! :D)

Cerberus

One tries.

medica

(that looks like a double-chin: :D))

Cerberus

I even added an extra hyphen.

Eek!

medica

Jabba the hutt!

:C)))

user116848

2:59 AM

Hey :) Can I ask here on ELU how you guys know each others real name?

medica

I don't know Cerb's real name...

tchrist

@Cerberus I took no pix today but I posted some a few days ago. Randy bagged some squab for dinner, alas.

medica

@tchrist seriously?

user116848

May be because some of you are moderators and stuff?

medica

@Arrowfar Nah. Some people have it in their profiles, some people are friends and know each other on a first name basis.

Cerberus

3:01 AM

@tchrist Oh, it happens. As you said, what can we do about it? Wild animals eat each other too.

tchrist

Jun 20 at 16:42, by tchrist

Aug 13 '12 at 1:59, by tchrist

I really do usually just say what I mean without a great deal of metaphor.

Cerberus

@Arrowfar I only know the first names of a few people here, and I don't normally give my own name.

tchrist

Jun 20 at 16:42, by tchrist

@JohanLarsson Just because I say what I mean does not mean that others always know what I mean to say.

user116848

So I can't seem to understand the use of "that that". Any example to elaborate it?

medica

@tchrist ok. sorry. Are you angry with me?

tchrist

3:02 AM

No.

medica

@tchrist disappointed?

Cerberus

@tchrist Perhaps not metaphor, but certainly a large number of other figures of speech.

tchrist

@Cerberus shhhh

@medica Do you know what it means for a person to be considered high maintenance?

medica

@tchrist yes.

user116848

@tchrist like celebrities

user116848

3:05 AM

So did any of you see my question above?

medica

@Arrowfar I couldn't believe that that was the reason he was selling his car.

@tchrist ok.

Cerberus

@Arrowfar It is not a special construction: sometimes two different constructions that happen to both use that occur next to each other.

medica

@tchrist - may I ask why you are posting meta question links in the election chat?

user116848

@Cerberus Can you simplify what you mean by "sometimes two different constructions that happen to both use that occur next to each other."

medica

@Arrowfar "I can't believe that." , "That's the reason he sold his car?"

Cerberus

3:14 AM

@tchrist Novistine illi iam centum milia paginas esse?

(Not even sure I have the use of centum milia right...)

@Arrowfar What Medica says.

user116848

Yah

Cerberus

The result would be I can't believe that that's the reason he sold his car.

tchrist

in EL&U 2014 Election, 20 mins ago, by tchrist

 Rank      ID Name                           Reps  N  Bronze   Silver     Gold
 ===================================================================================
   1.    3119 Yoichi Oishi ♢                21468 567 Curious Inquisitive Socratic
  15.    6006 MrHen ♢                       22264  44 Curious Inquisitive
  18.    8360 KitFox ♦                      18359  33 Curious Inquisitive
  28.     300 RegDwigнt ♦                   58211  23 Curious
  31.    3559 Matt Эллен ♢                  19454  21 Curious

Hm.

Wrong one.

medica

"I want to believe that." + "That isn't what the doctor meant."

Cerberus

> Stack Overflow and Skeptics look a lot like Parenting

Indeed.

tchrist

3:17 AM

@medica Because that.

Because I wanted to be able to refer to Yoichi as Socratic, of course.

medica

Did you happen to see that I added to the election chat that I believed you were within your rights to campaign for whomever you wanted however you wanted?

tchrist

Because people had been talking about asking questions.

@medica I don’t campaign.

medica

It's a wonderful idea, your idea.

tchrist

And @MrHen would get the silver Inquistitive.

medica

@tchrist But now you dissemble, though you say "I really do usually just say what I mean without a great deal of metaphor."

user116848

3:21 AM

Thanks for answering guys

medica

@Arrowfar :)

tchrist

@medica Casuistry will get you nowhere.

Cerberus

@Arrowfar You understand?

user116848

@Cerberus Yeah to an extent :)

user116848

But it's simple I guess

tchrist

3:23 AM

@Cerberus Deep.

Cerberus

@Arrowfar Heh, yes, it is.

medica

@tchrist You are certainly within your rights to campaign for whomever you want. Why you are calling it something different is not logical to me.

Cerberus

@tchrist Or shallow.

tchrist

I said what I meant, and I did what I said, and if you think it means something it does not, I cannot disprove its irreality to you.

medica

@tchrist or why you would feel the need to call it something different...

tchrist

3:26 AM

Pretending that presenting raw data is campaigning is not a conceit I am willing to grant you.

Cerberus

Are data ever raw?

But it doesn't matter.

tchrist

It’s just what’s in SEDE.

Cerberus

I don't think Yoichi will be elected; do you?

tchrist

What one makes of that is one’s own business.

@Cerberus I do not.

medica

@tchrist Tom, it's just a coincidence that you came up with this wonderful new badge tonight, I get this.

Cerberus

3:27 AM

OK.

tchrist

It is not my badge.

Cerberus

I wonder whether he actually expected to be elected.

medica

@tchrist What will you do if I actually win?

tchrist

It was proposed by the SE staff.

Cerberus

@medica What kind of a question is that?

medica

3:29 AM

@tchrist My apologies. I didn't know that. There isn't a link that I saw.

Cerberus

I think most of us will demurely accept whoever is chosen and not give the matter much thought.

medica

@Cerberus a straightforward one.

Cerberus

It is a bit odd.

medica

@Cerberus that is exactly what I'm hoping.

Cerberus

Good.

medica

3:30 AM

@Cerberus why is it odd? I don't understand the oddity of it.

Cerberus

It is unclear what kind of answer you expect.

medica

If you were in my shoes, on the .... well, campaigning, and you were aware of the fact that there were people who did not want you to win (or whatever), would you not wonder if people would be able to accept you?

especially well respected high rep users?

user116848

@medica Well medica don't worry we accept you

user116848

:)

Cerberus

I might, but I would not ask.

And people would not tell you anyway.

So it just doesn't work.

medica

3:35 AM

Hmm. ok, fair enough.

Cerberus

Besides, who cares who wins anyway?

medica

but I hope you can understand it is a concern of mine if I were to win.

user116848

It is getting election chat now.

Cerberus

The site will run its course as always, and moderating is just a big chore.

@Arrowfar Oops! I'm having boundary issues.

medica

@Cerberus indeed.

Cerberus

3:37 AM

La vie continuera.

medica

@Cerberus but people do care; that is just a fact.

J'espere.

Cerberus

Not that much.

medica

mais ce n'est pas toujour la vie en rose.

Cerberus

Notre site à web, c'est la vie en beige.

user116848

@Cerberus No it's just that whenever I accidentally type anything other than election related in the "election chat" someone say to be careful

Cerberus

3:39 AM

@Arrowfar Haha, I wonder who this "someone" is...

medica

et avec cela, je vous laisse. Bon soir et bonne nuit.

Cerberus

Bonne nuit.

user116848

@Cerberus Usually medica

Cerberus

I know.

user116848

Sorry medica but its true

user116848

3:39 AM

Oops she gone

Cerberus

She knows.

user116848

And medica yours?

user116848

If you guys don't mind

Cerberus

39 mins ago, by Cerberus

@Arrowfar I only know the first names of a few people here, and I don't normally give my own name.

user116848

@Cerberus touche' :)

Cerberus

3:42 AM

Heh.

It's touché.

user116848

So I removed mine too

user116848

My comment with my original name that is

Cerberus

There is nothing wrong with giving people your name if you want to, though.

user116848

Tomato Tomoto etc

Cerberus

Especially Tomoto.

user116848

3:43 AM

haha

user116848

lol

Cerberus

It sounds...Japanese. I didn't know you were Japanese.

user116848

I am not

Cerberus

I don't believe it!

user116848

You mean Farooq?

Cerberus

3:44 AM

No, your name Tomato Tomoto.

user116848

My eyes are open and wide :)

user116848

Not Japanese lol

Cerberus

user116848

But this is their cartoons :)

Cerberus

Still, your name is Japanese, so you're Japanese.

user116848

3:55 AM

@Cerberus By the way how did you use the 'accent' mark here from the keyboard?

user116848

On the word touche

Cerberus

I use Autohotkey.

user116848

Where I can find it?

Cerberus

I type touche// and it is automatically converted into touché.

user116848

How did you know? Please tell

Cerberus

3:57 AM

autohotkey.com

You need to install the programme and run the script that I wrote:

user116848

Where else do you use this software?

Cerberus

This is the script I use.

user116848

Its like programming

Cerberus

Paste that into a text document and save the document as test.ahk (in UTF-8).

Yes, it is.

user116848

So what will it do for me? I mean by saving it as test.ahk (in UTF-8).

Cerberus

4:03 AM

I've made a file for you. Because I think copying from chat might introduce errors.

dropbox.com/s/opq0js9xxqh79z5/Accents_Arrow.ahk

user116848

Oh! thanks

Cerberus

If you run this script, it will be active on your computer. Whenever you type e//, it will result in é.

user116848

What will this file do?

Cerberus

If you exit/close the script, everything will return to normal.

You need to have Autohotkey installed, from the link above.

After you download my script, you can right-click on the file and pick "edit" from the menu. Then you can verify what's in the script (it is the same as what I pasted in chat).

user116848

So first I must install Autohotkey then this file? Not before?

Cerberus

4:06 AM

Yes, first install Autohotkey.

Otherwise, the script will not run.

user116848

I see

Cerberus

It will say "I don't know what programme to use for this file".

You can change the script at any moment to change the key combinations. If you think e## is more convenient, you can have it do that.

user116848

Its pretty cool stuff

Cerberus

It is! You can do anything with Autohotkey.

I also use it for abbreviations.

When I type oedqq, it automatically becomes Oxford English Dictionary.

It's very easy to set that up.

> :R*:oedqq::Oxford English Dictionary

user116848

So we have to set it up first?

Cerberus

4:10 AM

You have to have Autohotkey installed. And then you have to have :R*:oedqq::Oxford English Dictionary in a text file saved as file.ahk (or any name ending on .ahk).

And you have to double-click the .ahk file to run the script. Then it will work.

(You can also turn any .ahk file into an .exe file, so you don't need to have Autohotkey installed to run it. But I won't advise you to run random .exe files on your computer! Besides, you cannot edit the script when it is converted into .exe.)

user116848

I see

Cerberus

Everyone who uses Autohotkey loves it...

user116848

:)

Cerberus

And it takes only a few minutes to install hehe.

user116848

And is there any accidental launching of script any time? Just asking

Cerberus

4:18 AM