English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Cerberus

03:01

@Jasper Oh! phew

@aediaλ How long do you think until the Beta starts? (I know you don't know this any better than I do, just blurting out questions because I'm in an enthusiastic mood.)

aedia λ

@Cerberus We got announced on Linguist List! I bet that did it.

Sonic The Hedgehog

I answered another of my answers here on Christianity; So far none of my answers have negative #. I just answered another one. Look at my answer and also look at my profile plz.

0

A: Did the Church Fathers advocate celibacy?

If you look close enough, there is enough verses in bible that says that celibacy is spiritualy higher then being married. Let us look at 1Corinthians 7:8-9 8 Now for those who are not married and for the widows I say this: It is good for them to stay unmarried as I am.9 But if they cannot co...

aedia λ

@Cerberus I dunno. It's my first Beta!

I hope soon!

Cerberus

@aediaλ Oooh nice!

> Using real names reminds everybody that they are corresponding with real people, and it demonstrates a certain level of personal investment in your MathOverflow identity. If you use a pseudonym and you get into some kind of trouble (e.g. fights in comment threads or spammy-looking posts), the moderators are much less likely to give you the benefit of the doubt."

simchona

@SonicTheHedgehog Since this is your submitted answer, may I correct it slightly?

Cerberus

03:04

This sounds silly.

Sonic The Hedgehog

@sim just edit it.

aedia λ

@Cerberus It does.

simchona

@SonicTheHedgehog Done. If they accept it, please take a look

Sonic The Hedgehog

@sim k, thanks.

aedia λ

I have gone to way more personal effort to create my pseudonymous identity than my real one. I didn't even name myself in real life. What kind of commitment does that show, huh?

simchona

03:08

@SonicTheHedgehog You're welcome.

Sonic The Hedgehog

@aedia then you should fully go into internet, or until you die.

simchona

@SonicTheHedgehog Huh?

Cerberus

@aediaλ Good point.

@SonicTheHedgehog Couldn't she just have her brain copied digitally and sent to SE?

Sonic The Hedgehog

like, creat youself in internet, sync it with your mind, then you die, and then you go into internet, balh blah blah... Great, now I am making Yugioh reference....

@Cerb exactly my point.

Cerberus

OK.

user19161

03:11

@simchona Ah, I didn't know you are on that one as well. Perhaps I should join too.

simchona

@Jasper To be honest, I joined to make the edits

user19161

@simchona For dear Sonic?

simchona

@Jasper Yup

user19161

@simchona That's nice of you.

aedia λ

@SonicTheHedgehog Oh, you would love Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom.

Sonic The Hedgehog

03:12

@sim Well, least I could count on you to correct my spellings even if there is some kind of moron who tires to take over universe. :)

aedia λ

In the story, it's possible to back up your mind electronically.

simchona

@SonicTheHedgehog You forgot an article again

user19161

@SonicTheHedgehog You can count on me too.

simchona

"take over the universe"

user19161

@SonicTheHedgehog tries

user19161

03:14

In fact @sonic, I think I corrected more of your spellings than @sim.

Sonic The Hedgehog

@aedia nah, had enough of digital copiing from Yugioh. Turn on you TV at sat to pix 11, I forgot what time, but it consists of Kaiba being dueled by his step brother who had his mind digitaly sent into cyberspace before he died. Crazy...

user19161

I'm sorry you felt that you couldn't count on me. :-(

Sonic The Hedgehog

@Jasper well, you would too be busy cracking british black humor to do that.

user19161

@SonicTheHedgehog I wouldn't do that. No interest in humour, and also not a British.

simchona

@Jasper You're adding an article too many

Sonic The Hedgehog

03:17

@Jasper then why did you say:

1 hour ago, by Jasper

Ooh, I just got an email saying I have won a million pounds...

@theta yo.

I changed my name too.

user19161

@simchona Thank you Sim.

Theta30

@SonicTheHedgehog I expected sonic but ..hedgehog?You must like them

Sonic The Hedgehog

@theta come on, you must know sonic the hedgehog.

simchona

@SonicTheHedgehog Sonic the Hedgehog

Theta30

@SonicTheHedgehog i was reading today a wikipedia article about sea urchins, they look like hedgehogs

Sonic The Hedgehog

03:20

He is so famous that some kind of hedgehog part was named sonic hedgehog.

simchona

@SonicTheHedgehog capitalize your own name!

user19161

@simchona Now we are correcting capitalisation too?

simchona

@Jasper It's a name. It's even his name

Sonic The Hedgehog

@sim I'd like to humble my-self, thank you very much...

Like JSB.

simchona

@SonicTheHedgehog honey, you're important. You can use capitals

Sonic The Hedgehog

03:21

@sim I'm flattered. Never heard anyone say THAT at school...

user19161

@simchona But you don't use it yourself.

simchona

@Jasper I don't write my own name

user19161

@simchona Hmm OK, though it is more your real name than it is his.

user19161

After all, you bring happiness.

Sonic The Hedgehog

We are the world(we ar the world)

We are the childeren(We are the childeren)

simchona

03:25

@Jasper Twice over, according to two of my names

@SonicTheHedgehog Please don't spam lyrics

Sonic The Hedgehog

We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

@sim heheh...

user19161

@SonicTheHedgehog are

user19161

@SonicTheHedgehog children

Sonic The Hedgehog

myfunnyworld.net/funny-pictures/black-humor-1.html

here is some black humor..

user19161

@simchona Yes I just discovered from Wikipedia. Not many people here have that name. It's very rare.

Cerberus

03:32

@SonicTheHedgehog Pretty funny.

Sonic The Hedgehog

Yep.

This one cracks me up.

Cerberus

I knew that one.

This isn't very funny, just cute.

Sonic The Hedgehog

Dear Yahoo,
Idk, I have never seen anyone say, "Lets Yahoo It!"

simchona

@SonicTheHedgehog That's because Yahoo! was created as a portal to keep you in their own website, rather than directing you on

Sonic The Hedgehog

@sim Dear people of the world,
I don't mean to sound slutty, but use me whenever you want.
Truly yours,
grammar.

Dear reader,
Please do me right now, on the kitchine table, on the desk, on the couch, hell, even do me in front of TV, jsut do me like you have never done me before.
Sincerely,
Your Homework.

I don;t get the last one.

simchona

03:42

@SonicTheHedgehog *kitchen

*just

And I'm not explaining it

Sonic The Hedgehog

What other meaing does "do" have?

user19161

@SonicTheHedgehog meaning

simchona

@SonicTheHedgehog You're too young

user19161

@SonicTheHedgehog "Do someone" can also mean have sex with someone.

user19161

@simchona It's OK.

Sonic The Hedgehog

03:44

Dear Voldemort,
So they screwed up your nose too?
Sincerely,
Michael Jackson.

@Jasper ...ok...

user19161

@SonicTheHedgehog Wow, now we have ellipses before and after.

Cerberus

Gah not again.

Sonic The Hedgehog

Dear school,

I thought it was a nice touch when I saw that every tiny plastic american flag you handed out at the assembly had the words "Made in China" inked onto the stick.

Sincerely, Made in Irony.

Cerberus

They are having their priorities mixed up.

Sonic The Hedgehog

Dear Waldo,

Please return my invisibility cloak ASAP.

Sincerely, H. Potter

Dear Edward Cullen,

Avada Kedavra!

Sincerely, Tom Riddle

user19161

03:58

I just realised Kit changed her avatar.

user19161

Dear Sonic, please stop spamming. :-)

user19161

Breaking Dawn will be out later this year, yay!

user19161

@SonicTheHedgehog I've given up on the Harry Potter movies. Too many and I don't feel the continuity.

user19161

@SonicTheHedgehog I only know abacadabra.

Sonic The Hedgehog

Dear Voldemort,

A couple of lies would take care of that.

Sincerely, Pinocchio

simchona

04:10

@SonicTheHedgehog Please stop spamming

Sonic The Hedgehog

going to sleep... meh.

bye, seeya.

user19161

@SonicTheHedgehog Night!

Sonic The Hedgehog

Chaos Control

user19161

@sim Aren't you going to sleep too, or still busy with homework?

Cerberus

5

Q: Using "that" and "this" interchangeably

Learning and using English I'm always confused about what word to use for referring to things that have been described by me a few sentences earlier: "that" or "this". Confusion comes from the fact that only the equivalent of "this" is always used in my native language for such referring. But I...

Do the second and third examples in this question sound like written by a native speaker?

Not to my ear.

The first example is just a sloppy/casual native speaker.

simchona

04:13

@Jasper This is college. We don't sleep.

user19161

@simchona I see. I used to run on campus after midnight too.

simchona

I'm not sure how to explain this, except that it's to

0

Q: "To" instead of "Of"

I've been checking a grammar book in which I saw this sentence that looks weird to me: Kyle gave Loren the keys to his new car. I would have hoped to see "of" instead of "to" but it must be correct since it was the sample sentence. Kyle gave Loren the keys of his new car. Can someone...

grammar

Cerberus

Both could be correct semantically / if you look at common patterns; but to happens to be the idiomatic preposition of choice here.

simchona

I think it's not of because that would imply that they belong to the car

Cerberus

Nah.

I mean, they belong to the car in that they are closely related to the car, just as this plug here belongs to my phone.

user19161

04:23

@simchona That's just the way it is sometimes. Just like we say solution to a problem instead of solution for a problem.

Cerberus

Either way, you could theoretically use of, just as in the lid of the teapot.

simchona

How does one put 'that's how English is' in an answer?

Cerberus

It is idiomatic.

simchona

I leave it to you.

user19161

@simchona I thought you liked ngrams? I'm not sure how relevant those are though.

Cerberus

04:24

Nah you do it.

I have to go to bed.

user19161

@Cerberus Enjoy your sleep!

simchona

Cerberus

Thanks!

You too!

user19161

@simchona That is a weird trend.

simchona

@Jasper I can't answer the person. Just provide a "you would be right 200 years ago"

Cerberus

04:26

@simchona Be sure to always check ca. 5 Google Books hits for anything you check on Ngrams, because it can be very quirky...

simchona

@Cerberus I'm seeing things like "keys of the heavens"

Cerberus

@simchona Right, that would seem to show that it's rather old fashioned, right?

simchona

@Cerberus So both are right, but one fell out of favor?

Cerberus

That what it looks like, yes.

I'm always a bit suspicious of Ngrams, but OK.

You could also search for "keys to his car".

Well, I'm really off.

Bye!

user19161

Hello @brave. Sim just gave you an answer on the main site.

Braveyard

04:38

I saw it, thanks @Jasper

I was right 200 years before said @simchona

simchona

@Braveyard Sorry it's sort of a non-answer, but it seems to be "just one of those things" in English

Usage shifts over time, and in this case your instincts matched what was a common usage

Braveyard

you are right @simchona but your answer is really elaborative, thanks for making effort on it.

user19161

I am wondering if "keys of" could also mean sth else: keys in that place but not necessarily keys to open that place.

Braveyard

Thanks everyone, I need to go, gotta go to work tomorrow :)

user19161

So "keys to" is actually more descriptive to me as it suggests the use of the keys for opening the place intuitively, more so than "keys of".

user19161