English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Mitch

15:00

@Cerberus The boring ones are the best. Best with tea and cucumber sandwiches that is.

@Cerberus Casuistry! Nero hater! That's a lie made up to discredit Nero. Also, Caligula not such a bad guy. He was kidding with the horse thing.

@Robusto Would it help if I said that I don't give a rat's ass about your weekend? Even if I did actually care?

Robusto

I didn't try to bore you with my weekend.

Mitch

I'm bored already with my weekstart

quick poll what is the first day of the week?

nope, you're wrong.

Cerberus

15:18

@Mitch Well, I don't find orations boring that others might.

@Mitch Was Nero also kidding when he had his mother killed?

Robusto

El fin de semana ha terminado.

Mitch

@Cerberus No, but he also didn't mean it. She was eating peas with a knife and as you well know that is unlucky. A trivial slip but with dire consequences.

Robusto

@Mitch Safer than eating peas with a hand grenade.

Mitch

Killing the entire tribe of Sequanes, now that he did on purpose. But it was the thing to do back then, you know. Everyone did it who could. I'm not saying I condone such measures. But we can hardly hold him to our standards.

@Robusto quite a mouthful.

also ungainly. where do the peas go?

Robusto

Not the easiest utensil to use, I'll admit. But then I'm not the one who brought up the subject of eating peas with a dangerous implement.

Matt E. Эллен

15:23

@Mitch the day after the last day of the week

Mitch

@Cerberus But Seneca, what a jerk.

@Robusto again a poor habit of the past that we nowadays intelligently avoid, like kiting checks or buying coffee at Starbucks

@MattE.Эллен You almost had me there. I want names. This isn't East Germany. Nothing will happen to them. Nothing bad. Nothing terribly bad.

Robusto

Crap, four cups of coffee and I'm still falling asleep at my desk.

Matt E. Эллен

@Mitch I ain't no snitch. You want names? You go find them yourself!

Robusto

What, is the subcontinent on holiday? We've had like four questions all day on the site.

Mitch

@Robusto I bet its the first day of the week there

Robusto

15:31

Se termina al fin de semana.

Mitch

@Robusto There are so many, they should list the days that are not holidays

But today is not one of them.

school is out?

Robusto

@Mitch Add all the sick days and I guess that's the year.

Mitch

:22741840, Oh I have their names. I just want you to see how you're involved. No worries.I bet you don't like Monday's either. arches eyebrow

@Robusto Nice. Makes time sheets easier, you just mark the coupe hours you do work.

Robusto

David Bowie All The Madmen

►

0

Q: Technically, "a handful of rice" is "the amount of rice that fills up just 1 palm of a hand or 2 palms of both hands"?

If we say "we only have a handful of rice", then technically, "we only have the amount of rice that fills up just 1 palm of a hand or 2 palms of both hands"? Is there anyone saying "technically, we only have 2 handfuls of rice"?

0

Q: Can you clarify How to use the word "technically" that has the meaning of "strictly speaking"?

I heard a lot of native English speakers use the word "technically" that has the meaning of "strictly speaking". Search on internet, "technically" means "according to the facts or exact meaning of something" https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=define%3Ate...

meaning word-usage

Someone is obsessed with the word technically.

Mitch

@Robusto I don't get it. Such a troubled young man. He should get a job.

Robusto

15:46

Last time I checked he was the richest man in rock music.

Matt E. Эллен

better than being the richest rock in man music

Robusto

Actually, I suppose my information is dated. A search reveals he isn't even in the top 20 now. But I doubt the veracity of the list I just read.

Mitch

@MattE.Эллен You don't know that. I doubt you've tried it. especially since you claim to not know either Sunday or Monday.

Matt E. Эллен

@Mitch My socks say Monday. I know Monday

Mitch

@Robusto From that information I now know exactly when you last checked. Also the age's of Cheryl's friends and the color of that goddam bear.

Robusto

15:51

Elementary, my dear Bunbury.

Mitch

@MattE.Эллен You should get new socks if they've reached the evolutionary stage of being able to talk.

Either that or our socks should have a playdate. I can't keep them occupied on my feet all day. I have dishes to do.

Matt E. Эллен

@Mitch but the fur lining is so comfy

Mitch

@MattE.Эллен well lah tee effing dah. I bet you have places for each toe and an espresso machine for after lunch.

(I don't care for espresso but it's the idea of it that sounds so nice)

espresso making sounds

Matt E. Эллен

my espresso machine only makes hot chocolate espresso.

Mitch

wait.. I dont know anything about coffee. is that cappuccino when you make the sounds?

Matt E. Эллен

15:54

(I don't have one, I don't like coffee)

Mitch

@MattE.Эллен Mmm... nice. I'll be over right away!

Matt E. Эллен

@Mitch they must all make sounds

Mitch

@MattE.Эллен Must they?

kind of a heavy promise to make.

Matt E. Эллен

@Mitch well, laws of physics and all that. I bet stars hum.

Mitch

@MattE.Эллен I get it. puts ear to star. Ow.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

16:02

In space, no one can hear you hum.

In the space station, the other astronauts can. And they get annoyed because you never stop. "It's physics!" you protest, as they shove you out the airlock.

Robusto

@MattE.Эллен Black holes do. 52 octaves below middle C, in fact.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Robusto But is it a C note?

Cuz that would be quite the coincidence

Robusto

Dunno.

74

Q: How can a black hole produce sound?

I was reading this article from NASA -- it's NASA -- and literally found myself perplexed. The article describes the discovery that black holes emit a "note" that has physical ramifications on the detritus around it. Sept. 9, 2003: Astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have found...

black-holes astrophysics space acoustics

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

> In musical terms, the pitch of the sound generated by the black hole translates into the note of B flat.

But a human would have no chance of hearing it because the note is 57 octaves lower than middle-C.

From BBC news

Weird. B-Flat. I wonder how close it is to an actual B-flat.

Robusto

OK, 57 octaves. I stand corrected.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

16:06

Close enough

Robusto

But since it's a B-flat, I suppose black holes would find it easier to play in a jazz band than in an orchestra.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

We're talking a grand piano at least 12.2 metres in width. However, the depth of the piano (from front to back) would have to be of the order $\text{(length of middle C string}\approx 0.6\,\text{m)}\times 2^{57} \approx 8.6\times10^{16}\,\text{m}\approx 9\,\text{light years}$ in order to accommodate a string of the appropriate length. — Nathaniel Jan 8 '13 at 5:26

> (length of middle C string≈0.6m)×257≈8.6×1016m≈9light years

Mitch

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 listens to others humming Oh wow, I get it now. I'm so sorry.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Hubble accepts nothing but the benjamins

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 good enough for jazz

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 ha ha. I'm late to the party.

9 lt-years. pfft. When I was in grad school we had to make our own musical instruments with strings. Theoretical strings. But we got galaxy wide drums so that was a bonus.

Robusto

Maybe this all relates to string theory somehow.

Mitch

@Robusto OK I'm listening to the whole album now. I had ziggy stardust in high school and that album just means so much to me, but This is the first time ever I've heard "the man who sold the earth" and it just doesn't ... sound like anything to me.

Robusto

16:17

*world

Mitch

@Robusto you'd think that but no. it was more knot theory

Robusto

And what do you mean it doesn't sound like anything?

It sounds like something. That is the law of identity: it sounds like itself.

Mitch

@Robusto ha ha. everything is translated.

@Robusto no what I mean it doesn't sound special to me. all the comments about how great an album it is I don't get. It's not bad I just don't get it. Like the ditch next door i used to play in as a kid. I have fond memories, but you'd probably think, yechh, that's a ditch.

I'm not saying the album is a ditch, I just don't get it.

Robusto

@Mitch It doesn't have the associations of you growing up with it.

Mitch

exactly.

Robusto

16:20

But if you listen to it several times you might get how special it is.

Some of my favorite albums have been produced in the last few years. And some are old that I never heard before. You just have to keep hearing new music, always.

Mitch

or like PF after the wall. people referring to lyrics that just seem ... well... not particularly meaningful.

what is the David Gilmour lyrics people keep referring to, from like 1985?

@Robusto I keep hearing Taylor Swift over and over. Stop. It. Please.

Hip hop is no good anymore all they talk about is how great they are (exactly what they talked about 30 years ago!!)

Robusto

@Mitch I qualified my statement with the word "music," if you'll recall.

Mitch

@Robusto I'm sure she's a nice person and all (wait, all her songs are about herself, but she's no Alanis Morissette)

There's nothing new under the sun! Music is dead! We've discovered anything that's ever going to be discovered.

(actually for formal 'classical' music, it's all intellectual now, so composition has stalled)

Robusto

@Mitch You might as well say sex is dead, since we've discovered about it everything that is ever going to be discovered.

Johan Larsson

so, mono is one/single poly is many. What is part/fraction?

Robusto

16:31

Usually one specifies the fraction: semi-, quarter-, etc.

Johan Larsson

ah ty

Mitch

16:48

@Robusto You might as well say food is dead, because all combinations food recipes have been discovered. I mean Nutella amiright?

Robusto

17:20

@Mitch I was being sarcastic.

skill patrol

When are you not?

;-)

Robusto

When I'm sleeping?

skill patrol

Good answer

Ice Girl

17:50

Hi guys

oerkelens

@IceGirl Hi :)

Ice Girl

:)

How r u? @oerkelens

oerkelens

I'm good :) You?

Ice Girl

Fine tnx ;)

why ELL room deleted?

oerkelens

There's a new one

ELL's Cabin

This is the former main chat room for English Language Learner...

Ice Girl

17:53

wow :)

@oerkelens tnx

oerkelens

I don't know why the old one was closed exactly, but the new one is nice and cosy :)

np :)

Ice Girl

:)

@oerkelens what's up?

oerkelens

Watching TV while keeping half an eye on chat and another half eye on the news regarding the Greek bail-out

Ice Girl

:))))))

oerkelens

Politics, English and cooking... great combination :)

Ice Girl

18:05

yes :)

Good luck :)

oerkelens

Thanks :) Well, it's three hobbies combined.

Ice Girl

hahaha

oerkelens

Although I try to keep politics out of my own kitchen. Don't want my food to organise a revolution :P

Ice Girl

Lol :)

Mitch

19:54

@oerkelens Your eyes must hurt

@oerkelens YOU terrorize the vegetables with your chopping and mincing and then blame the oven when the soufflee falls. The revolution will come... the revolution will come.

@Robusto me too? I know there are new things, but I'm getting old and it is hard to care about them anymore.

Johan Larsson

how old?

Jez

20:29

hey all

Cerberus

21:13

@Mitch You sound like Posh Nosh.

Mitch

23:17

@Cerberus better than Posh Noah who had to of every animal and two of every bling

Robusto

23:36

@Mitch New experiences and new ideas keep you young. If you don't explore the new, your brain atrophies.

ELL's Cabin

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…