English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Cerberus

00:04

Now you do!

Johan Larsson

what did you remove? :)

Cerberus

That.

Johan Larsson

missed it again

(watching a tutorial)

Cerberus

Haha.

@JohanLarsson There.

It's not super interesting.

My relative.

Johan Larsson

ok got it this time

terdon

00:18

:17858793 So, we now know your name presumably. Else you wouldn't be so anxious ti delete it ;)

Cerberus

@terdon Well, no.

terdon

Ha! Now I can stalk you. Yes!

Cerberus

Yay!

We shall have fun.

terdon

:)

Cerberus

But it will still be far easier to find me through the link in my profile...

terdon

00:22

Where's the fun in that?

Hang on, I remember visiting that and it was actually your page. Did you change the link or have you been hijacked?

Cerberus

My friend somehow let the domain expire.

Which is rather a shame.

The site is still on his university space and visible.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt Do Russians turn down their mouths like that?

@Cerberus I never knew there was a Schwedisch-Brandenburgischer Krieg.

Cerberus

Well, the Swedes had to fight people to conquer and maintain their German possessions...

Robusto

00:38

Them pesky Swedes.

And look at 'em now. They're all doing C++ instead of fighting.

Cerberus

They are indeed.

Robusto

Where's the honor in that?

Cerberus

But how dare you forget the most important war of north-western Brandenburg in all of the 1670s!!

Robusto

@Cerberus Refresh my memory.

@JohanLarsson I'd be more impressed if it was, like, a bodybuilder who was doing the bending.

Cerberus

01:08

@Robusto Well, I know its name. From the article.

Ice Boy

08:56

London is calling Da raiders

hey

09:11

►

Ice Boy

who wants to do that?

and why?

hey

Complain have come that Iphone bends when it is in pocket.

Ice Boy

it's like buying a brand new car and driving it a wall

hey

So he just tested that

Ice Boy

don't keep it in your pocket without a case

Ice Boy

09:31

Matt Эллен

I see, that must have been just after God invented the integers

Ice Boy

09:47

yes, as a mathematician once said

all else is the work of man

and Satan

Will Hunting

10:05

Today I saw a card that said "Expect Miracles". This is a sign that miracles are about to happen in my life...

Ice Boy

"Expect the unexpected." Is this a sign that the unexpected is about to happen in your life?

Will Hunting

@IceBoy Yes.

hey

@WillHunting Ohhh. Do you belive in all this stuff?

Will Hunting

@hey Maybe.

Ice Boy

@WillHunting Have you had your second appointment yet?

Will Hunting

10:10

@IceBoy No, I am still thinking if I should go.

Ice Boy

@WillHunting did you discuss your medications yet?

Will Hunting

@IceBoy He said I should not go off them but I think I should, so I am also thinking if I should cancel my next appointment.

Ice Boy

@WillHunting can you look for a second opinion?

Will Hunting

I will think carefully before deciding, thanks.

Ice Boy

a second or third opinion is good for comparison's sake

finding the right doctor is a difficult task

Will Hunting

10:16

@IceBoy My psychologist looks like the man in your picture, lol.

Ice Boy

lol

find someone who can help you

it's tough to do it alone

Will Hunting

I will start some running next month.

Ice Boy

that should help

Will Hunting

I pray that Kit will return to this chat.

hey

I don't know too much about all these stuff, but whenever i required psychologist instead of going to some professionals i go to my favourite teacher.

She always help me.

Ice Boy

10:22

how old are you?

Will Hunting

A teen probably.

I have not gone to my favourite shopping centre for a month, lol.

Ice Boy

have your books arrived?

Will Hunting

Two volumes of Marsden have arrived. Waiting for the last one.

Ice Boy

enough to get started :-)

Will Hunting

The books are larger than the usual size.

And they were printed this month, lol.

@IceBoy Look! @IceGirl is here, lol.

5

Ice Girl

10:30

Hi all

hey

Hello

Ice Girl

@WillHunting you changed your name

MickLH

Greetings

Ice Girl

:)

Will Hunting

@IceGirl Indeed.

Ice Girl

10:32

Why?

change it?

Will Hunting

For fun.

Ice Girl

:D

user08742

10:43

Hi

Ice Boy

Hi

Ice Boy

11:06

@MattЭллен Wembley Stadium tickets look expensive for the match on Sunday.

Is the game going to be on local TV?

Miami remain one of the NFL’s best supported teams in the UK, with a fervent fanbase dating back to the halcyon days of the 1980s, Marino and the league being shown on Sunday teatimes on Channel 4.

Matt Эллен

@IceBoy there's amatch on Sunday? yeah, tickets to big stadiums are exprensive

Ice Boy

@MattЭллен The raiders are playing the Miami Dolphins

Matt Эллен

that's pretty far from home, no?

seems an odd thing to do, but whatever :D

Ice Boy

yep, it is part of some international promotion of the league

Matt Эллен

11:22

I see. Trying to usurp football as the international sport ;)

Ice Boy

2 hours ago, by Ice Boy

London is calling Da raiders

The Clash :D

Football is a clash of helmets.

that's how they get those thick necks that stick out past their ears

plus steroids, of course

Johan Larsson

11:42

How is your rx Matt?

Matt Эллен

11:52

I can't remember what rx is :D

probably not that good

Robusto

Prescription.

Matt Эллен

I'm fairly descriptive

so I guess my prescription isn't that great. Which reminds me: I need to pick up my prescription, later!

Matt Эллен

12:04

@JohanLarsson I haven't used the reactive extensions. I should give it a try one day

0

A: Javascript Array grouping category

// important code var numberToGroupOn = 4; var numb = [5,10,11,6,7,18,1,8,2,1,15,12,4,5,3,4,6,7,15,20]; var srt = numb.sort(function(a, b) { return a - b; }); var groupCount = Math.ceil(srt[srt.length-1] / numberToGroupOn); var grps = {}; for(var i = 1; i <= groupCount; i++) ...

clearly the best answer

Robusto

@MattЭллен Why do you need a custom sort function? return a-b precisely what the native Array.sort() method does?

Matt Эллен

@Robusto nope. array.sort sorts alphabetically

1,10,16...

Robusto

Hmm, I didn't know that.

Matt Эллен

nor did I till I tried to answer the question :D

Robusto

@MattЭллен Nevertheless, you do realize that Array.sort() is destructive, right? In the code you created, numb === srt will be true. The original array will be sorted whether you intended that or not. If you don't want it to be sorted, you should create srt = numb.slice(0) and then sort srt.

Matt Эллен

12:11

@Robusto oh! I didn't know that. thanks.

Robusto

Array methods like .sort() and .reverse() do not return a copy of the array but the altered array itself.

Johan Larsson

mutable ew

Matt Эллен

indeed

Johan Larsson

same as list.Sort() in C#

Matt Эллен

yeah

Robusto

12:39

@MattЭллен That's funny, because I always feed the sort method a custom function for alpha sort, since I always want alpha sorts to be case insensitive.

Cerberus

13:34

Hi.

Mitch

@WillHunting I saw a sign that said "Do not Walk". I took it as a sign. So I ran.

user116848

:-)

Robusto

@Mitch In Singapore you could get caned for that.

Jez

is it just me, or are the long fluorescent lightbulbs less reliable than the CFLs?

half of the ones in this office have died

user116848

Probably China quality

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

14:13

Ugh.

Will Hunting

14:25

@Arrowfar You think goods from China are of poor quality? Hmm, perhaps.

user116848

@WillHunting I was just saying. Sorry pal :-)

user116848

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 howdy ninja! :-)

Will Hunting

@Arrowfar Why sorry? I am not a friend of China. I am in this world, but I am not of this world.

Jez

@Arrowfar what i don't get is why my CFLs at home last 5 years or more

user116848

@WillHunting haha I see. I thought you 'd get offended :-)

Jez

14:28

yet the fluorescents in the office stop working much quicker

user116848

@Jez Yes, I like them too. CFL's.

Will Hunting

@Arrowfar Do you know that I once got flagged for saying "I am in this world, but I am not of this world"? LOL.

user116848

@WillHunting No way! :D

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@Arrowfar howdy ----------------------->

user116848

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 How is it going? :)

Will Hunting

14:33

@Arrowfar It happened in the math room. They also flagged "I am only a banana", LOL.

user116848

@WillHunting Why? Math room seems strict.

Will Hunting

@Arrowfar Nobody knows who the flagger is, usually. Could be anyone logged into chat. You don't need to be in the room to flag.

user116848

I see. That is scary.

user116848

So no one can flag the flagger there I guess.

Will Hunting

The way to flag while not in the room is to log into chat and read the transcript.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

14:40

@Arrowfar Okay. Things are irritating me.

Like source as a verb.

user116848

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 You mean English related things?

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@Arrowfar Yes.

user116848

I see :-)

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Is there a term for the inappropriate use of a question mark at the end of a declarative statement that sort of hints at a question?

Example: "Please read and let me know if you have comments or concerns?"

That makes me want to punch babies.

brb coffee

Will Hunting

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 Hmm, you should ask on the main site.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

14:48

@WillHunting I thought we already had that question.

Will Hunting

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 If you think so, you can try to find it. I am bad at looking for questions.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

15:27

We have many questions about it, although some are about uptalking instead of this phenomenon.

Ugh.

Will Hunting

16:02

@mahnax How is school?

Mahnax

@WillHunting It's alright, I suppose. Busy and a bit dry.

Will Hunting

@Mahnax I guess the classes will become tougher with each term.

Mahnax

@WillHunting Hopefully.

Right now we're being spoon-fed limits. Spare me.

Will Hunting

I have a question for the Europeans in this room.

Mahnax

looks down at Finland hoodie

Will Hunting

16:05

According to CEFR, what level of proficiency are most native speakers of a language at?

The 6 levels in CEFR are A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2.

Mahnax

C2, I should think.

- Can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read.

- Can summarize information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation.

- Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations.

Will Hunting

@Mahnax Hmm, but not all native speakers can do that...

Mahnax

@WillHunting Most adult native speakers can do that.

At the very least C1, barring a language or learning disability of some nature. That would complicate things.

Will Hunting

@Mahnax OK then. Anyway I must find out if I need to take TOEFL too.

Mahnax

@WillHunting Might be a good credential to have. I'm sure you'd ace it.

Although I have never heard you speak…

Ice Boy

16:13

what does "the most complex situations" mean @mahnax

Will Hunting

I am not sure how I would do in the GRE general paper though. I just took a look at its contents today.

Verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning and analytical writing are the three sections.

I guess it is somewhat like SAT but harder.

Mahnax

@IceBoy Something like a high-level talk on an advanced subject, or a very fast-paced and advanced podcast or radio show, or dealing with complex dialects, I should think.

Mitch

@Robusto Better a cane on the back than a fender on the front.

Ice Boy

Oh, so they like fast talkers?

Like a slick used car salesman.

Will Hunting

I am not sure fast talkers know what they are saying.

Mahnax

16:17

I was thinking that a combination of speed and complexity would result in maximum difficulty.

So not just a used car salesman, but a string theory researcher who talks like one.

Ice Boy

Lol, well said.

Will Hunting

Strings are used to attach buttons to shirts.

That is all there is to string theory, folks.

Mitch

@Mahnax s/talks like one/talks/

ha ha. string theory is dumb.

Mahnax

@Mitch Beg pardon?

Mitch

@Mahnax ha ha. successfully trolled!

Mahnax

16:22

Alrighty. You do you.

Mitch

Yay!

@WillHunting How long is your piece of string?

Ice Boy

Are you a troll in training?

Robusto

►

Stack Exchange

16:43

Limerick Machine: There once was a man called McGrath Whose antics would fill you with wrath He scared all the...

posted on September 26, 2014 by sgdi

There once was a man called McGrath Whose antics would fill you with wrath He scared all the birds Picked up and threw turds And never did once take a bath

Johan Larsson

17:18

@Robusto same vid?

Will Hunting

Wow, there is a speaking section for TOEFL, what if I am lost for words? I don't have that many things to say, lol. I think I will just say lol.

Mitch

17:44

@WillHunting I don't think they make you talk at length on some random topic. They probably have just some oral parts, listen to speech, respond with the right answer in a full sentence. Well, you shoul dlook at the TOEFL docs to make sure.

@Robusto That link tells me: "This video is not available in your country. Sorry about that." I love you, Big Brother!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

18:08

english.stackexchange.com/questions/198477/…

That question is tagged asyndeton. I wonder if that's random?

Ice Boy

Page not found

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

we should put honeypot tags up that trip auto-spam traps

@IceBoy you need to be 10k

Ice Boy

oh

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

It's Indian black-magic spam

Robusto

Hey, I gotta hand it to Apple for making their new iPhones' data encrypted. The gov't is bitching about this because "what if we need to go after legitimate criminals?" To which I say, "You made your bed, now lie in it. If we could be assured you would only ever use it to go after legitimate criminals, no problem. But you can't give us that assurance because you spy on EVERYBODY, not just 'legitimate criminals'."

2

Ice Boy

18:19

well said^

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

18:45

@Robusto Yeah I was thinking the same thing. Sadly it's only a matter of time before they try to make that illegal, or argue that it already is illegal under CALEA or similar.

Robusto

Fuck 'em. And the whores they rode in on.

Ice Boy

Technology will always be ahead of the law.

It's like trying to define "Art."

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Robusto Well, encryption has almost always been subject to laws. So I wouldn't be surprised if Apple's move brings the legal hammer down. It could lead up to a decade-long fight.

@IceBoy It isn't necessarily relevant. If the government makes a law making it illegal to sell devices that they can't break open, it won't matter what tech is possible, since you won't be allowed to use it.

David Mulder

20:04

Quick question, is there an official policy whether a question belongs on ELL or here? (With a question of mine I am not sure where to post~)

Matt Эллен

3

A: How do I determine whether a question fits on English Language & Usage or on English Language Learners?

I've mulled this one over for a long time now, and I've realized that the right place to ask not only depends on the nature of the question, but sometimes it depends on the nature of the answer sought. If you'd like someone with a strong background in linguistics to give an explanation that goe...

hopefully that should answer your question

David Mulder

20:20

@MattЭллен Just wondering, shouldn't most single-word-requests be migrated to ELL in that case by most of those standards?

Matt Эллен

@DavidMulder Well, we've had SWRs forever, so there's not really any stopping them now.

You could bring it up on Meta if you'd like us to give it a try :D

Ice Boy

@DavidMulder what kind of single word are you looking for?

David Mulder

@IceBoy Not sure which meaning you mean? O:)

0

Q: Verb for calling a phone only with the intention of letting it ring

Not sure how 'common' this is, but during phone calls I will often agree to call somebody with the sole intention of letting the phone ring so that the other party knows that whatever event we agreed on has occurred. The most common example would be to let them know I have arrived at their place ...

single-word-requests

Ice Boy

@DavidMulder just let it ring

David Mulder

@IceBoy Yeah, that's what I nowadays tend to say "I will call you when I arrive and just let it ring, don't pick up". If I don't explicitly add the last part people tend to always pick up no matter what... which happened today again, so that was why I was wondering :P

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

20:35

> MOORE, OKLA.— A man who had been fired from a food processing plant in an Oklahoma City suburb beheaded a woman with a knife and was attacking another worker when he was shot and wounded by a company official, police said Friday.

> While questioning the suspect's co-workers, investigators learned he had recently started trying to convert several employees to Islam

That sound you just heard was 1M muslims world-wide doing a facepalm

Ice Boy

@DavidMulder or you could make up a code name like "let it ring-away"

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@IceBoy You could make up a code-name or coin a new word, but you'd still need to explain it to everyone.

Ice Boy

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 don't you think "let it ring-away" is self-explanatory?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@IceBoy nope.

no more than "just let it ring"

which is not a single word, but rather a full sentence

If there were a word for this behaviour, you'd say "When I get to your house, I'll pre-ring your phone" and the other person would know that "pre-ring" means "don't answer"

But if you just say "When I get to your house, I'll ring your phone", then most people would just assume they should answer it.

David Mulder

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Oh well, I have scored myself unlimited free international calling, so I am lately instructing a lot of people to just ring my phone when they need me, but both in Dutch and English I have been surprised by how much longer the conversations tend to be to make the agreement than they are with Slovak and Czech friends. And today it went wrong the other way round and I was just s*** it, lets check on here whether there isn't actually a real term for it after all :P .

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

20:42

@DavidMulder Well, as I said in my answer, I'd be surprised to find such a word in North America.

Ice Boy

Is there call display?

David Mulder

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Haha, good thing I just realized you were the person who answered the question. Was about to write the same thing as above to you in a comment as well :P

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Especially since these days there are so many no-fee ways to communicate. Pay per minute? send a text. pay per text? send IM. etc.

The ol' let it ring + callback trick isn't as useful.

David Mulder

21:04

0

Q: Migrate (a lot of) single-word-requests to ELL

So, today I wanted to ask a single-word-request but was unsure whether to go to ELU or ELL. After requesting clarification on the issue on chat I got redirected to this question on meta.ELL.SE, which if applied to ELU would require the migration of a lot of questions. Per Martha's higheset vot...

discussion ell

(That's odd, I changed the title, but seems it's being pulled out of some cache)

Cerberus

23:01

Hello.

Ice Boy

Hi

Cerberus

23:17

Wazzup!

Ice Boy

Not much, how about you pal?

Cerberus

23:42

N'n!

I went to a birthday party with my boyfriend.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I don't know which jurisdiction you're talking about, but I am quite sure this will not happen in most of Europe.

And by the way @Robusto, Android will soon also have encryption by default.

Ice Boy

how many candles were on the cake?

Cerberus

There was no cake.

And I don't know how old the birthday girl is.

What have you been up to?

Ice Boy

math

Cerberus

Fun.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…