English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

01:19

@MετάEd!

Robusto

01:34

Aug 22 at 13:09, by Robusto

Samsung 32" WQHD LED Monitor (S32D850T)

????

SAMSUNG SD850 S32D850T 32 inch WQHD 2560x1440 VA Panel HDMI DVI Display port 32" Monitor

Arrived today!

And it is awesome!

2560x1440 is great

tchrist

01:45

@MετάEd Whoa, long time no see.

Robusto

Rite of Spring - Joffrey Ballet 1987

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cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

02:17

@Robusto ha!

Rigor

02:35

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL!!!

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Got some.

Rigor

Whatcha gonna do when raider nation comes lookin for you?

:D

Thriller End Laugh

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MετάEd

04:02

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 @tchrist Rumors of my return are greatly exaggerated.

tchrist

hihi

Since you left, we’ve had a bloody coup and overthrown the zombies.

Wait, no, that didn't happen.

MετάEd

Howdy.

tchrist

Thanks for running the queues.

How are you doing?

ELL is graduating. Kinda.

MετάEd

My wife lost a son about eleven months ago. Everything is different.

tchrist

I am so sorry.

There are no words.

MετάEd

04:12

You're right ... It takes lots of patience mainly.

tchrist

Some people never recover.

Others take a long time, and are never the same.

MετάEd

04:51

Yes. We have had the privilege of meeting with others in the club. It generally takes five or six years to arrive at a new "normal", but it's never the same as before

tchrist

That sounds more . . . possible . . . that the traditional “year and a day”.

I lost three very close family in quick succession, plus several others close to me. I’m not quite right yet and it’s now going on five years. I don't know whether I ever will be.

Although the last pair is just now coming up on two years. Too close.

MετάEd

That sounds terrible.

tchrist

I last week realized I have developed an immediate terror reaction in which I always think everything will turn out the worst possible way possible, insanely horrible ways. It paralyzes me. I will probably have to do something about it. I was also broken into and robbed this summer, which hasn't helped.

MετάEd

05:19

Usually the insanely worst thing does not happen. Sometimes it does. After that it's easy to imagine. I know.

tchrist

The nightmares never seem to end.

I mean that literally. It isn't every day, but seldom does a week go by without any. Sometimes it is several in a week. Those are not good weeks.

MετάEd

I have been spared that. My wife and her adult daughter are the ones we worry about.

tchrist

I am sorry I have no advice for seeing this through. I'm trapped in it myself.

MετάEd

Sleep aids help.

tchrist

I need to sleep more. I have a long-term average of barely six and half hours. It is a problem. I took some simple sleep aids a bit ago. Today was my first day off in a year.

MετάEd

05:30

I can say Ambien helps her a lot at night.

tchrist

I just take diphenhydramine.

Need to go to bed earlier. It's the only way.

I cannot sleep after it starts to get light out, no matter what.

Ed, it was good to hear from you again. I am going to go to bed now. I have two young cats waiting for me there. It's the only thing that keeps me going sometimes, but it really does help. I hope you and yours come to no worse harm, and see this through. Somehow.

RegDwigнt

08:47

> uk english and I want to know if practise should replace practice,in this particular sentence

Holy crap, someone knows UK English in person! What a lucker.

Robusto

10:51

@RegDwigнt I thought his nickname was Barrie.

RegDwigнt

Right on, that's his first name, his last name, and his everything name.

Na toll, jetzt hab ich diesen Ohrwurm.

Robusto

Welchen?

RegDwigнt

You Are The First, My Last, My Everything (Barry White)

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Robusto

Barrie Weiß?

RegDwigнt

Apparently Jack Black and Barry White got confused at birth.

Robusto

10:59

Not to mention Jack White.

Is he the love child of those two?

RegDwigнt

Good question.

Also, how come a black label is suddenly not racist when applied to bottles?

Robusto

I've never had Johnnie Walker African-American Label. Is it good?

RegDwigнt

Well. It ain't Jim Beam.

Robusto

I don't drink that swill.

RegDwigнt

Yeah, Bud Lime all the way.

John Oliver Drinks Bud Lite Lime ,Comes True On His Words

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Robusto

11:03

My go-to scotch these days is Bowmore Darkest.

RegDwigнt

Bow more. More, I said.

Robusto

0

Q: Articles. Not sure about the last one. A or The? No context

Legs covered with chupa chups sores are pestling a duvet in a test-tube.

articles

Another of your Russian friends?

Rigor

Nuke the commie!

Robusto

Dem Russkies alluz haz problemz with the articles.

@Rigor Quit changing your name. It's neurotic.

RegDwigнt

The Russkies have no the problems with the articles. A Russkies only have a problems with a articles.

Robusto

11:10

I knew you would latch onto that.

RegDwigнt

I knew you would know. I then knew you would then forget.

Robusto

But did you know I wouldn't give a flying fuck in a rolling doughnut either way?

Rigor

Article particle nuke 'em

RegDwigнt

I knew 79% of it.

Robusto

Practice harder and come back when you know the whole song.

RegDwigнt

11:11

I can't help but notice that Rigor has "Igor" in his name and doth protest commies too much.

Headsup, KGB in da haus.

Robusto

King George of Britain?

Rigor

};-)

Robusto

I gore Igor.

RegDwigнt

Washington DC's new State Song, John Oliver

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Robusto

Sounds like someone's been catching up on HBO repeats.

Rigor

11:14

+YouTube

RegDwigнt

Not really, I just had the tab still open.

Robusto

End of da month I'm outta here. Not virtual here, actual here.

RegDwigнt

I have now closed it and shall draw inspiration from the David Hasselhoff one.

Rigor

The KGB is keepin' tabs on you?

RegDwigнt

Well. You are here.

Robusto

11:17

Looks like Keith Richards is running his mouth again.

RegDwigнt

Wow, he still looks like 40. This man will never age.

Rigor

@Robusto Are you planning to move?

Robusto

In what sense?

Rigor

Outta here.

RegDwigнt

Mr Treebusto treats jobs like women.

Robusto

11:20

@Rigor I'm not moving to another job, if that's what you mean. We will be moving to another part of the country eventually, however.

RegDwigнt

Illinois Central, Sunday morning rail.

Robusto

No IC.

RegDwigнt

NOU C LA

Rigor

You'll have to jump off that patriot band wagon :P

Robusto

Who, me?

RegDwigнt

11:25

Cause I'm proud to be a Chuvash, where at least I know I'm free.

Robusto

I know nothing of Chuvash.

RegDwigнt

I choo-choo-choose Vash.

Rigor

You Talking To Me? - Taxi Driver 1976 in HD

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RegDwigнt

Holy shit, they had movies in color in 1976?

Rigor

^

Robusto

11:27

@Rigor The Pats will finish ahead of your team this year and for the foreseeable future. Keep that in mind as the Raiders fail to make the playoffs again this year.

RegDwigнt

Have a Pat on your back.

Rigor

They had a bicentennial too :-)

RegDwigнt

So did Robin Williams, and look what happened to him.

Robusto

@Rigor Also, did your team ever think about getting modern-era football helmets? The one you're wearing looks like it was new in the '50s.

Rigor

Excuse me?

RegDwigнt

11:31

Yeah, also modern-era deflated footballs. Highly recommended. Four wins guaranteed.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt That can only be construed as a long-overdue apology for Mrs. Doubtfire.

Rigor

That is the original rugby helmet

Excuse me?

Robusto

@RegDwigнt Shows how little you know about football, American style.

RegDwigнt

Mrs Doubtfire has nothing on Bicentennial Man.

@Robusto you misspelled "much".

Rigor

Get ready the World Cup is coming.

Robusto

11:32

So is winter, but you don't see me going around crowing about it.

Rigor

Sept 18-October 31

RegDwigнt

I am the only man in the other hemisphere who knows what "football, American style" is.

You can look it up. They have a Wiki article on that.

Robusto

But I would have to look up the Wiki article first. How many lookups do I have to do before I achieve enlightment in this tawdry matter?

RegDwigнt

It's no easy endeavor fo sho, but I promise you winter won't have arrived by the time you're finished. Much less dragons.

There might be a bloody wedding, though.

Robusto

You need to be sure about such things. What I pointed out was a worse problem than the one you're asking about. — Robusto 10 secs ago

You're welcome.

RegDwigнt

11:36

Man. What a downer you are. Always pointing out worse problems.

How about pointing out a unicorn, you heartless creature.

Robusto

I learned it from you.

Rigor

Worser

RegDwigнt

@Robusto As I said. Heartless creature.

Robusto

@Rigor It's pronounced Worcester.

Rigor

Sauce?

Robusto

11:37

@RegDwigнt Крокодил бессердечным существом.

RegDwigнt

So when you're near me, darling can't you hear me? S, au, ce.

Robusto

Let's hope Google Translate doesn't screw the pooch this time around.

Rigor

:D

RegDwigнt

@Robusto nice to see Google Translate now uses Yahoo Serbian search.

Robusto

I wouldn't know.

RegDwigнt

11:39

It says "crocodile instrumentalis case of heartless essence".

Robusto

But if it's an accurate translation, Russian wins the "fewest words necessary" award. Spanish needs 7: El cocodrilo es una criatura sin corazón.

Same number of letters, probably.

Rigor

Selective translation

RegDwigнt

Oh, you're trying to say "крокодил — бессердечное существо".

Don't need instrumentalis for that.

Robusto

I don't need anything for that. I didn't say it, GT did.

RegDwigнt

And of course Russian wins that award. It always does. What with never using articles or verbs.

"There's a car in the street" = "In street car".

Instant win.

Robusto

11:42

Russian doesn't use dummy subjects, either.

RegDwigнt

"I am a robot" = "I robot".

Robusto

How about "It will be raining tomorrow"?

RegDwigнt

"Tomorrow rain".

Robusto

Russian reads like newspaper headlines

Rigor

"It is what it is"?

RegDwigнt

11:44

@Robusto Yes, and that's the thing. You use that same language all over the place, and it works for you as well, but nobody's noticing until Robusto points it out.

@Rigor that's an idiom and so does not translate literally.

You'll have to use an equivalent idiom, which in this case happens to be longer.

Rigor

Interesting...

Robusto

@RegDwigнt Does it involve snow?

RegDwigнt

No, only Baba Yagas.

And Nightingale the Robber.

Rigor

A snowball's chance in hell?

RegDwigнt

And Koschei the Deathless.

@Rigor no equivalent I can think of, but then again why should I. You want to learn Russian, start with, I dunno, the days of the week.

When I first came to America, I learned the word Thursday. And that's how I earned my first dollar. Now I'm running for President.

Rigor

11:52

Does your calendar week start on Monday?

RegDwigнt

Everyone's calendar week starts on Monday. Every last human's.

If your calendar week starts on any other day, you will never be able to upload a virus to an alien mothership using a Mac.

Rigor

Some calendars start on Sunday.

RegDwigнt

Some calendars start on Thursday.

Some calendars start on Kbradilovkarg.

But we are talking humans here.

The Maya calendar does not even start, it only ends. And look what happened to them.

Rigor

No, we're talking about a mere convention.

Here.

RegDwigнt

No, you are talking about a mere convention.

I am talking about the mere convention.

And the mere convention is clearly Monday.

Next up you'll tell me that Fahrenheit is a thing. Sheesh.

Rigor

11:57

nvm

Robusto

The Date object in JavaScript thinks Sunday is the first day (day 0).

RegDwigнt

What's Nirvana to do with this.

@Robusto yeah for the same reason programmers think you begin counting at 0.

Robusto

Because you do.

0

Q: Express gratitude

I am writing Acknowledgments for a computer science internship report, during my internship, I always felt my tutor was trying to teach me and train me, he wanted me to learn things more than to show results and never put pressure on me to finish my project. I really want to thank him for that, ...

phrase-requests gratitude

As opposed to implied gratitude? Or local gratitude? or slow gratitude?

RegDwigнt

They thought, hey, there's so much confusion about when to start counting the days, how about we fix it by adding confusion about when to start counting everything else.

Rigor

Not the dreaded zero :O

RegDwigнt

11:59

@Robusto as opposed to Illinois Central Monday Morning Rail gratitude.

Robusto

Why are you carrying on about the Illinois Central? You've never seen it, much less ridden on it.

Rigor

Trolling?

RegDwigнt

@Robusto Little do you know. I was in the fifty-fifth sack of mail.

Robusto

I have, and I don't talk about it a tenth of what you do.

The Illinois Central is what white people who live in Hyde Park take when they want to go to the Loop.

Rigor

Not even a zeroth!

1/0

RegDwigнt

12:01

@Robusto That's because you know how to keep secrets. Because Dubya and the NSA taught you the hard way.

Me, I just instagram my tweets on facebook five times a day.

What could possibly go wrong.

Rigor

You're a face booker?

Robusto

I suspect not.

RegDwigнt

Well, Geocities has been a bit of a letdown as of late.

Robusto

Russian Facebook is constantly getting "retouched." Just look at Joe Stalin's page. He used to have 20 million friends. Now he has none.

RegDwigнt

There's a Russian Facebook?

Or do you mean vkontakte.

Because nobody uses Facebook in Russia. Not even Stalin.

Robusto

12:05

I figured you would translate it into Russian.

Also: joke.

Rigor

What do they use?

Robusto

"In contact" I believe.

RegDwigнt

You can't have 20 million friends even on Russian Google. Two, perhaps. In your entire lifetime.

Search is Yandex, everything else is vk.

Robusto

Thank you for taking everything I say literally and then deconstructing it. You should charge for that service, I would refuse to pay, and then we wouldn't have to go through this over and over.

Rigor

It is what he does best :P

RegDwigнt

12:07

@Robusto I can't be bothered to remember the keyword to search for, but this is where I'd quote you saying "I'm not doing it for you, I'm doing it for everyone else in this room".

Robusto

@RegDwigнt They wouldn't pay either.

RegDwigнt

Actually I do remember the keyword, of course.

I just like to lie occasionally.

Jul 6 at 15:31, by Robusto

It was an amplifying reference for people not as versed in drivel as you and I, not a rebuttal or a chastisement. Lighten up.

Rigor

They call it "reductionalism."

RegDwigнt

Anyway. Facebook sucks. You can't even watch all the movies and listen to all the music on it for free.

You can on vk.

Rigor

Extra, extra get your free reductions here :P

RegDwigнt

12:12

@Robusto also, just eff why eye, I have been charging for that service all along, and so have you not been paying.

My rates are widely publicized.

Robusto

I signed no contract, asked for no service, and ordered nothing of the sort.

RegDwigнt

Exactly. Most excellent exhibit of loser talk.

Donald Trump would have signed twenty contracts by now, and won them all.

Rigor

Literal reductions for a dollar :-)

RegDwigнt

That's why he's your next President and you are not.

I mean, the solution is so laughably easy. Just pay me the three grand every time I ask for it. But no. The economy. The brokenness. La-dee-da.

Rigor

I'd Buy That for a Dollar

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RegDwigнt

12:16

I'd buy Rob's rights to the English language for a dollar. But he just refuses to take my money.

Inconceivable behavior.

Rigor

The Beatles - Can't Buy Me Love (Live)

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RegDwigнt

Love don't cost a thing.

I can buy you seven hundred loves.

Robusto

The Beatles Money (That's What I Want)

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A rebuttal. From the Beatles themselves.

Rigor

Well played @Robusto

RegDwigнt

Help! I need some money.
Help! Not just any money.

Robusto

12:19

Well, they got their money.

RegDwigнt

When I was younger, so much younger than today, I never needed anybody's cash in any way.

Rigor

"Money" - Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey

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Robusto

Pink Floyd - Money (Official Music Video)

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I'll see your Broadway and raise you Pink Floyd.

RegDwigнt

Next up on this channel: ABBA.

Rigor

I fold.

You can't beat pink Floyd

RegDwigнt

12:23

Who I should add made more money off their money songs than Liza and Floyd combined.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt No. I refuse to let this chatroom be turned into an ABBAtoire.

RegDwigнt

Not to mention the Beatles, who don't even own their business, but are a subsidiary of Michael Jackson, who is friggin dead.

Robusto

i'm all right jack keep your hands offa my stack

Rigor

You can't top the boys from Cambridge UK

Robusto

> "Well, that is a gotcha question, though," he said. "I mean, you know, when you’re asking me about who’s running this, this this, that’s not, that is not, I will be so good at the military, your head will spin."

Guess who said that.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

12:34

Sounds like Trump

Robusto

ding

The giveaway was ending with "I will be so good at the military your head will spin" after evading the sticking point of the question entirely.

Rigor

Spoken like a true casino thug.

I will be so good at strong arm tactics it will make your head spin.

~~casino thug~~ real estate owner

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Robusto yeah that was what gave it away. the rest is just incoherent.

Robusto

Well, incoherence is another of his tells.

Octopus proves smarter than researcher.

crl

12:59

Dang... I had a word, but forgot it, how would you call a car with a distinguishing feature (like cops cars, taxis...), you say it's a ... car

not specialized or distinctive

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I'm not sure I've ever heard of a hypernym for cop cars AND taxis

Rigor

Visual stand out?

crl

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 not just them, I mean any specific group of cars, that you immediately recognize

Robusto

@crl A "marked" car, perhaps?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

yeah, exactly... I can't recall anyone ever using such a word.

Rigor

13:02

Recognizable?

Robusto

Police plainclothes vehicles are called unmarked cars.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Robusto I thought of that, but in my mind that only applies to cop cars

"Go park over there behind the marked car" <- if you meant taxi, I would have no idea

crl

hmm nah, but don't bother, I hope to find it again

Robusto

Well, the things that distinguish taxis and UPS trucks and so forth are called markings.

crl

@Robusto good to know

I'd have said naively paintings

Rigor

13:04

Painted

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Robusto Agreed but I still think marked car is not idiomatic.

Robusto

Feels close to that, though.

@crl That suggests something else entirely. Every car is painted—well, except perhaps a Delorean—but they don't usually have paintings on them.

Rigor

But what about the taxi requirement?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

if you excluded police, fire, ambulances, I'd say "commercial vehicles" would classify most such cars, though it'd still be weird to hear someone say that unless they were formulating a new piece of legislation.

Robusto

@Rigor Just use Uber. Quicker and cheaper.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Still, commercial vehicles don't have to have special markings.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

13:10

@Robusto But the ones that don't aren't easily identifiable anyway.....

Mitch

Madonna - Material Girl [Official Music Video]

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I can't seem to find by St Francis of Assisi about how great it is to just converse with the animals.

> “I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.”

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Mitch I wonder if the author of that sentence thought they were being clever, or if they knew that gruntled was a word once.

Mitch

Everyone thought he was being clever. Wodehouse.

It wasn't a word at the time Wodehouse wrote it.

@Robusto That idiot octopus got half his thumbs in the pictures

Robusto

@Mitch So he's not a great photographter. Yet.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

They just have to show him the photos, feedback is the best teacher

Rigor

13:20

Most teachers say that :-)

Robusto

Feedback teaches us to turn down the guitar amplifiers.

Rigor

Feedback teachers us where to start teaching.

Robusto

0

Q: In or with? Few examples

To grind an acorn in/with a mortar. To juicing an orange in/with a juicer.

prepositions

@RegDwigнt: Your mad Russian is back. This time armed with articles. ^

Mitch

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Shit, then he'll be taking selfies all day long

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

13:39

@Mitch That's the pinnacle of photography

Robusto

Selfies are navel-gazing for the digital age.

Mitch

Navels are selfie-gazing for abdomens

Rigor

The worst are those selfie sticks >8(

crl

13:54

2

Mitch

@crl They so obviously photoshopped out the photobomb of the other pilot giving the finger.

crl

lul

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…