English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

tchrist

00:28

@Mitch A Cornish Hen is smaller than a duck.

tchrist

01:00

They’re also easier to catch than a duck. In years of plenty, all the Cornish hens stampede off Land’s End, so all you have to do is put a net off the point and you’ll hit your annual bag limit in about 5 minutes.

Robusto

10:11

@JohanLarsson Yeah. What do the Finns have to be thankful for, anyway?

Robusto

10:23

@JohanLarsson Clearly that is a pig, not a duck. So the caption should read "pig typing."

skullpatrol

10:40

is now in public beta

LWTBP

10:59

Hey, Guys. Should "pretty lady" have capitalisation in the following as it's a direct address and possibly used in place of a proper noun?

He said, "O pretty lady, blah blah."

LWTBP

11:10

Hello? Anyone?

skullpatrol

Sure.

LWTBP

Hi, @skullpatrol . Please help.

I mostly think it should be lowercase.

skullpatrol

Capitalize a title.

LWTBP

Yea. But in the following example? The boy said, "Mother, I need some food."

The boy said, "Dear Mother, I need some food."

skullpatrol

Mother is her title.

LWTBP

11:14

So... how do I treat pretty lady?

Or how do I treat lady?

skullpatrol

Is it part of her title?

LWTBP

It's being used as a respectful word to a stranger, not a nobility.

skullpatrol

Then lower case is appropriate.

LWTBP

like: "Excuse me, lady," he said. "I need to go."

skullpatrol

Got it?

LWTBP

11:18

how is "dad" a title in direct speech? It's usually capitalised when addressing the father

skullpatrol

Title<---capitalize

LWTBP

I still can't get my head around personal relationships actually. I understand Uncle, Aunt, Mother, Father... but not Mom, Dad, Aunty.

skullpatrol

Mom is an abbreviation for Mother

LWTBP

What would you do in: He said, "Let's go, boys."

OR, He said, "Let's go, Boys."

"Let's go, friend."?

"Friend" would be a title, wouldn't it?

skullpatrol

It depends on the context.

Are you using the word as a title?

LWTBP

11:23

I don't understand.

It would be speech between two common friends.

skullpatrol

Speech is different than written words. You can't "see" capitalized when you talk to a person, right?

Robusto

-1

Q: How to Write a Presentable Report

It’s a Very Important to improve your reputation as well as your grades in organization or may in professional & academic Career, so when writing a report about your work and study, then must use its proper format & great sound words or need help with report writing then take it by professional, ...

writing

Spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam . . .

LWTBP

right.. but I am talking about writing the speech in direct speech.

I wasn't talkinga bout speech as in spoken. :P

Yes @Robusto

Robusto

@skullpatrol You can if they've enabled closed captioning.

LWTBP

11:46

Thank you.

Mitch

@tchrist I'm talking about the Plymouth hens, not Cornish

@tchrist I think you're making that up. Everyone knows there's no bag limit in Cornwall.

Cerberus

12:48

Morning.

Matt Эллен

13:13

hello

Mitch

Hi

user116848

Hiya!

VarunAgw

13:30

When two peoples are free and online and they are talking with each-other in written form it is called chatting. But when both peoples are not free at the same time and are replying afte some time (few minutes to hours) it is called texting.

Am I right? Or should I use some different words?

user116848

I think texting is only relevant to cell phones.

user116848

Here we call it chat even if we reply to them late.

Mitch

Mostly yes. But we're doing both here (online at same time and sometimes hours later). But this is called 'chatting'. And if you're doing it on your phone it is texting (or is it IM'ing?).

VarunAgw

I want to differentiate between instant and after some time. Are there some words that you are aware of that I can I use in this case?

What about chatting and messaging?

tchrist

Epistolary novels.

Mitch

13:44

Your use of chatting and texting is fine. But it's more about browser based vs phone

tchrist

14:00

Message in a bottle.

When’s the last time you ever spindled something that you did not also fold or mutilate it?

tchrist

14:14

This is close to Not An Answer, but it prodded me into investigating how the poster could have come across that oddity, and I think I learned why:

0

A: Is a schwa ever stressed?

What about word because? Especially it's weak form. According to Collin's, Cambridge, Oxford dictionary it's /bɪˈkəz/.

Jasper Loy

15:44

@matt Boo! How is your weekend?

Matt Эллен

It was OK, thanks. How was yours?

Jasper Loy

I spent mine thinking about many things, as usual. Anyway, five more weeks to the new year. I must prepare myself mentally to start studying soon.

Matt Эллен

good, good

Jasper Loy

One problem I have with the Oxford dictionaries is that many of them omit IPA for many of the words, whether English or other languages.

I don't think it takes up much more space to include IPA of all entries, even the simple ones.

I am now looking at the Langenscheidt ones for French and German, which seem to have IPA for every entry.

Johan Larsson

@Robusto nope, that is js, you will see it when you console.log() it

Robusto

15:54

@JohanLarsson You're so inflexible.

Johan Larsson

show the removed, I missed it

I can't see removed stuff cos not an owner

Jasper Loy

The (removed) in this case probably is something written wrongly.

Robusto

just a mistake

Johan Larsson

nah, it is Rob remember. He does not make mistakes.

Jasper Loy

Nah, everyone makes mistakes, even God.

Johan Larsson

16:05

även solen har sina fläckar

even the sun has its spots

Matt Эллен

every rose has its thorn

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

And every cowboy sings a sad, sad song.

Matt Эллен

:D

Kabir

16:19

Hi Everyone

I have come across the statement where the statement says "I have met with an accident". Is this statement grammatical?

Matt Эллен

yes

Kabir

I have never seen american saying this... They rather say "I had an accident".

Matt Эллен

@Kabir met with an accident

Robusto

@JohanLarsson It was a mistake to give you that impression.

Johan Larsson

:)

Kabir

16:23

So you guys are saying that "met with an accident is correct" Correct?

Matt Эллен

I am saying that

Robusto

I met with an accident over drinks the other day.

She was really forgiving.

►

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 ^

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Kabir Things can be correct and still infrequently-said.

ngram

Robusto

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Boo.

Jasper Loy

@Robusto That's one of my favourite words, lol.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

16:34

@Robusto -urns

Robusto

@JasperLoy I thought marijuana was illegal in your country.

Jasper Loy

@Robusto That's a very deep joke, but maybe I get it, lol.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Robusto I fixed my piano pedal problem. As I suspected, the base of the pedal board was not quite reaching the hardwood floor; when I pressed on the pedal it flexed down a bit and touched. For some reason, the rubber feet of the piano are very tacky, and so when you lift them up they make a sticky tearing sound. I just put a small piece of cloth under the pedal section and now it works perfectly.

Robusto

boo used to be another term for pot, herb, weed, smoke, bud, etc.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Sweet.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

now if only I could fix my "I'm not that good at music" problem :p

Matt Эллен

16:37

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 loops.

Robusto

From the Department of Overamplification: Is it wrong to have pet names for your pets?

Cerberus

Perhaps, but we all have them.

Robusto

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 That is fixable, but only with lots of practice. What I mean is, there is no cloth you can put under yourself to solve that one.

Matt Эллен

what's our pet name for Cerb?

Robusto

Doggy.

@Cerberus does it doggy style.

Cerberus

16:39

Shh.

Robusto

How else?

Cerberus

I need no pet name.

Robusto

This isn't rocket surgery.

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus but you're our pet :D

Cerberus

Am not!

I have no master but Hades.

Robusto

16:41

Meh, I agreed to interview at a former manager's company. I am not up for that today.

Matt Эллен

did Hades have any children?

Cerberus

Hmm.

So you are looking to change jobs again?

@MattЭллен I...don't know, I can't think of any. Probably not?

Matt Эллен

oh well

Cerberus

He did have a child-wife.

Robusto

@MattЭллен Sooner or later he gets all the children, mostly after they've gotten older.

Matt Эллен

16:42

@Cerberus but she was not his child?

Robusto

@Cerberus Not looking to. In fact, I probably won't. It just feels like too much trouble. I am more likely to retire, in fact.

Cerberus

@MattЭллен She was not.

@Robusto Then why go to the interview?

Robusto

Well, you know, these Greek gods are always screwing their sisters and mothers and children and whatnot.

@Cerberus Because this guy was decent to me and he asked.

And who knows? I could get lucky. But it would have to be really lucky, and obviously so.

Mitch

@MattЭллен Macaria, Melinoe and Zagreus

Robusto

I've been telling myself I'm tired of dealing with fuck-ups. Then myself answers: "Are there any other kind?" And I have to say no.

Cerberus

16:45

Hmm.

@Mitch Hmmm apparently.

Matt Эллен

@Mitch but only the step father

Zeus was the "biological" father

Mitch

Apparently it's complicated. Zeus seems to have been 'with' Persephone for some of them

jinx

Johan Larsson

Dec 30 '13 at 1:33, by Johan Larsson

ok poodle

Mitch

Zeus really gets around.

Matt Эллен

@JohanLarsson :D That's what we'll call @Cerb

Mitch

16:50

Hey @Poodle, how you like me now?

Cerberus

Silence!!

By the way, it appears the Big Satan and its little sidekick Britain have constructed a huge virus to infect the Belgian telephone companies, the European Parliament, and thousands or hundreds of thousands of companies in Europe.

Are America and England truly our greatest enemy?

Matt Эллен

why did they do that?

Cerberus

They have also put this horrible virus on the computers of European professors of cryptography.

I don't know, because they hate us? Because they are the enemy?

It's what enemies do.

Mitch

@Cerberus What do you mean 'we', Poodle.

Cerberus

Europe.

We have much less to fear from Russia.

And China is mainly our friend.

Mitch

16:56

And the UK is part of Europe. QEND.

Cerberus

Apparently not.

Or it would be treason, even worse.

Mitch

@Cerberus I wouldn't go that far.

Cerberus

Why not?

China does us little or no harm.

Mitch

how huge is huge?

Cerberus

They do not attack us.

Matt Эллен

16:57

that doesn't make it our friend

Mitch

@Cerberus But they're not your friend.

jinx!!

Cerberus

We can cooperate very well with China.

Mitch

again!!

Cerberus

We profit from them, and they from us. Our interests are mostly aligned.

Mitch

non sequitur.

Matt Эллен

16:58

but if we asked for help moving house, would they turn up?

Mitch

if fried chicken were on offer.

a friend is someone who helps move. a real friend is someone who helps move a body.

Cerberus

@MattЭллен Sure, they would.

@Mitch Why?

Mitch

The US is not evil. The UK is not evil. They just don't care. Or worse, not caring doesn't even come into it.

Cerberus

Countries are no people.

@Mitch They are pretty evil to us.

We hate what their do to the world. Our governments do some of the same stuff too, alas, but they are by far the worst.

And we do not attack them!

I don't think the American government realises how the mood has turned against them in Europe.

The British government does know, but they don't care.

Mitch

Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.

Cerberus

17:04

Oh, no, this attack is very competent.

And deliberate.

Targeting a professor of cryptography!

Mitch

OK fine. But then it is the malice of those individuals who perpetrated it.

Do you have a news link?

Cerberus

And it's very interesting how Anglo-Saxon news sources do not mention the attack on the European Parliament at all, not the attack on the professor. At least I can't find anything about it when I Google in English, even though major Dutch sources report it.

tweakers.net/nieuws/99847/…

In Dutch.

@Mitch wired.com/2014/11/mysteries-of-the-malware-regin

Wired has it.

I couldn't find it because it doesn't mention the European Parliament specifically (just systems linked to that of the European Commission, probably including that of Parliament).

Mitch

@Cerberus well, yeah, of course. The American version of the virus (notice how the research showed the virus does not appear on US machines) removes all such news references.

Cerberus

Haha, unlikely.

Mitch

I happen to know that because sxesze mk jmwe m,we jm fmsd545454545454545454545454545454545454545454545454545454545454

Cerberus

17:11

Those bits were probably just less newsworthy across the pond.

@Mitch Ah, you typed your password again? I still see only asterisks.

@Mitch By the way, of course China spies on us too.

But I don't mind as much, because they're supposed to be our opponents. We do not trust them, so let them try and spy on us.

But we used to trust the Brits and the Americans.

That makes it so nefarious.

And what is the absolute worst about it is that our own secret services are probably helping them.

They would never help China.

Mitch

@Cerberus That's where I would go. Everybody will be trying to spy on everybody, even one's friends. Diplomatically, the US and Europe (I include the UK, but not Russia) are more likely to cooperate than either with Russia or China. I call that 'friends'

Cerberus

17:28

@Mitch Well, do European countries install large viruses on American or British government computers?

Mitch

@Cerberus Nope, those funny characters are when the commandos crashed through the windows. There were some shenanigans with them (a keyboard makes a pretty good weapon if you know where to hold it). Uh oh, I thought all of them had been 'neutralized' I have to 'subdue' a last one. Back in a sec.

Cerberus

Oh, I am glad you whacked them out.

The French don't even put malware on Merkel's computers, so why do the English?

Mitch

Hm...commandos bounce funny when they hit the pavement.

All that equipment.

Jasper Loy

Oh no, who is spying on me?

Mitch

@Cerberus Not enough chutzpah?

Cerberus

17:31

No, it is because their governments are supposed to be allies.

And perhaps because their governments are less intertwined with business and money than in England and America.

It pays off more to infect people's computers for those countries.

Even though, of course, The Business Association of Europe is a terrible lobbying behemoth...

Mitch

I have a hard time getting worked up about it other than a general 'they're all trying to do it anyway'. Yes, if I were Angela Merkel, I'd be very annoyed (it should be a diplomatic crisis), but I'd still expect it to be happening.

Cerberus

@Mitch How often do you hear about European countries infecting English or American private institutions with malware on a large scale?

Only England and America appear to treat their "allies" that way.

All this is happening while European and American lobbyists are pushing Europe to accept the sovereignty of private tribunals of the World Bank in Washington over European courts, governments, and parliaments.

When China does it, I don't care as much. We're not negotiating with them, they cannot corrupt our governments.

skullpatrol

maybe apple is behind it all

Jasper Loy

17:48

Maybe it is a banana and not an apple.

skullpatrol

they have a nice monopoly with their iOS

and all the apps

please correct me if i'm wrong?

Cerberus

A monopoly?

@skullpatrol How do you mean?

Their market share is small.

Japan has a hopelessly distorted mobile-phone "market" (it hardly finctions like a market), which is why the cost of a smartphone is nit visible to consumers and they get the most expensive one.

The same applies to a somewhat lesser degree to America, and less than that to Europe.

To most of the rest of the world, it applies very little, I believe.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

18:34

@Cerberus I think your i key is stuck

Johan Larsson

20:04

Somewhat interesting show on TV here. A bunch of people have agreed to marry someone they have never seen before.

The matches are made by a team of psychologists etc.

Matt Эллен

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 and @RegDwigнt

►

2

Johan Larsson

the first time they see each other is at the alter. alter | ??

oerkelens

@JohanLarsson That seems a blatant typo for altar...

Johan Larsson

:) too late to edit

I only know some programming words

user116848

@MattЭллен That looks fun! Nice!

Matt Эллен

20:22

it's pretty god

oerkelens

@MattЭллен If you want to address god, to tell them it's pretty, I think you are in the wrong room ;)

Matt Эллен

sorry, I meant gods

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@MattЭллен nice

Cerberus makes an appearance in that video

Matt Эллен

It's poodle!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

In Harry Potter he was named "Fluffy"

Matt Эллен

20:35

:D

oerkelens

@MattЭллен We're all flattered, I'm sure :)

Mitch

20:59

@Cerberus You're not trying hard enough to get your message out.

Your message being hidden spy software on US computers. I get it, you're envious.

Joey zhu

21:15

Hello, everyone. I am a new English learner.

Stack Exchange

21:51

Limerick Machine: How to you know when to stop? When all of these things are such flops Just throw in the towel Hid…

posted on November 24, 2014 by sgdi

How to you know when to stop? When all of these things are such flops Just throw in the towel Hide in a cowl You should have got out at the top

skullpatrol

22:14

Thanks for the correction @Cerberus :-)

Kabir

Hi @skullpatrol

skullpatrol

Hello.

Kabir

I need a favor from you.... Can you correct this statement....My ad was so borderline that it wasn't been able to get approved

or it look grammatical to you.

skullpatrol

My ad was so borderline that it did not get approved.

Or
...it wasn't able to pass the approval process.

Kabir

Great... Thanks

The statement I gave it to you was it ungrammatical?

skullpatrol

22:22

"wasn't been able" doesn't sound right to me

Kabir

Ok

TRiG

22:35

I can learn so much from this site.

26

A: Why are 'student' and 'suspend' not pronounced as written?

The 't' in student is not pronounced like a 'd'. You just think it is because there is a mismatch between the consonants in the Chinese language and the consonants in English. Pinyin uses the letter 'd' for an unaspirated voiceless alveolar stop (represented /t/ in IPA), and the letter 't' for ...

I looked at that question and had no idea what was being asked.

Jasper Loy

22:51

@Kabir My ad was so borderline that it wasn't approved.

Kabir

Thanks Jasper

@JasperLoy does my sentence look ungrammatical to you?

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…