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00:02
9
Q: How do you pronounce "xth"?

hipaI'm wondering how do you pronounce letters when used in place of ordinal numbers. Examples: The xth root of five. Two to the yth power. The ith odd number. The jth item on the queue. I know how to pronounce nth, i.e. /ɛnθ/, but I don't think that I can do the same with x, y or other letters ...

This reminds me. Native English speakers can't pronounce three consonants in a row. Native Russian speakers can't pronounce three vowels in a row.
00:16
@NickAlexeev strengths
twelfths
scream
handcraftsmanship
Entscheidungsproblem :)
00:41
cthonic
thickly
weltschmerz
@tchrist Try zashchishchayushchiesya [защищающиeся].
I don't see more than three consonants in a row there. I assume that sh and ch are digraphs.
01:29
@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 Grats on the WS, KC-er.
01:41
YEAAAHHHH BUDD--erm, thank you.
BBL dinner
 
3 hours later…
05:00
@Pickett Yes.
06:16
@tchrist actually shch is more of a tetragraph, from what I understand (it's spelled with the single Russian letter щ)
 
3 hours later…
09:07
[ SmokeDetector ] Few unique characters in answer, repeating words in answer: Yoga (proper-case) or yoga (lowercase)? by GeeJuZ on english.stackexchange.com
09:57
How is titly titly tall pronounced?
title as in giggle, or what?
Never mind, problem solved.
 
1 hour later…
11:06
@Robusto "Looking for a single word, phrase, sentence, or novel to express the amount of sex I have not been getting due to programming too much"
Which reminds me: it's now official, the developers of Firefox are criminally retarded misanthropes.
@RegDwigнt porn
First they pestered me, for weeks, with messages "it looks like Firefox is fucking slow". Which, on the one hand, is common knowledge to everyone except Firefox developers, so I was like "duh". While on the other hand, it wasn't any slower than usual. They just randomly picked a moment to complain about their general ineptitude.
I’m sorry that you are a Firefox dev that they get to bitch at you about this.
Then I finally clicked that button "restart Firefox", and it changed nothing. Well, it did restart Firefox, but nothing else. It was still as slow as a Firefox, but not slower than usual. And it still didn't stop them from starting to tell me "Firefox is fucking slow" all over again a couple hours later.
So basically I've been ignoring that message ever since. Especially since I close the browser before leaving work every day anyway, so it gets a fresh restart more often than Miley Cyrus gets fresh undies.
I run both Chrome and Safari for weeks on end.
I run Firefox only when I specifically need it.
11:15
But today I was so infuriated at that hideous message with the hideous button. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention: both the message and the button are hideous beyond belief; it is simply incredible how much they look like shit. So anyway, I clicked the button again, to restart the darn thing.
And this is the wording I was subsequently exposed to:
> Success! Your add-ons and customizations have been removed and your browser settings have been restored to their defaults.
Now, I had no add-ons or customizations or anything. But that is so beyond the point.
So they tell me "we are too fucking slow" even though they are no slower than usual, "should we fix it?" And then they delete everything, or in my case nothing at all, and call that a success.
This is retarded on more levels than there are levels.
Oh yeah, and did I mention their messages and buttons are hideous beyond belief?
I refuse to watch videos that can't spell vodka.
And no, don't tell me it's the Polish spelling. Because guess what, I refuse Poles as well.
I want a score of close-votes every twelve hours, not every twenty-four.
Meh. Closing questions is so 2014.
-1
Q: It is the entity "couple" a singular or plural subject?

Rafa RomeroWhen we speak about two people separately, the subject is undoubtedly singular: John and Mary go to the cinema But what happens when we are talking about two people as a couple? The couple [goes/go] to the cinema Is it "couple" a singular entity or plural entity? We should use third p...

So tired of those.
11:37
The couple in your example is a) clearly singular, b) clearly not the subject of the sentence. The subject of the second sentence is they, which is plural by definition. Also: "I saw a person in the park. They were sitting on a bench." By your logic, person is plural, too. Except we all know it isn't. In short: this does not answer the question at hand, or even so much as address it, and the question it does answer it answers incorrectly. −1. — RegDwigнt ♦ 9 secs ago
It’s all like that most of the time.
@RegDwigнt "If this doesn't fix your issue, learn more about what you can do?" That sounds dangerously close to an entrée into "You can go fuck yourself."
@Robusto the worst part is, if you do go fuck yourself, that still doesn't help. Not with Firefox anyway.
12:32
I guess that depends on how self-fuckable you are.
12:43
@Robusto That depends on the sale price.
It's 90001 and $3000, respectively.
What is the difference between happy and happier?
I was happy this morning vs. I was happier this morning
Does the latter imply that I was crying when he laughed
Please do classify my question as SWR
Much obliged
is confused
No comparison.
Is this a genuine question or a persiflage of the one on the main site?
12:53
@RegDwigнt Genau
a or b is a when a is true and b otherwise
Right
Then b
@tchrist That is true of happy, but happier is the comparative form. So there would have to be a comparison.
@Gigili Your sifflement is especially insusurrational today, now isn’t it?
@Robusto Comparatives pale in comparison.
13:00
@tchrist You must whisper when you say that.
shhhhh
That's not a whisper, that's a snake sound.
Said the semper-slithering serpent.
What's Dresden to do with this?
@RegDwigнt ssssssssss is a snake sound.
Said some sibilant serpent.
0
Q: Word for "crawl upward"?

janoChenI thought of the word "climb" but I think climbing is a vertical movement. Like, you climb a mountain, or a tree. I knelt down on the log and stayed like that, as though preparing to do push-ups. Finally, taking a deep breath, I began to [...]. In this case, the log is bending upwards. Ma...

Again.
We are becoming thesaurus-monkeys for this dude.
13:13
He’s writing a book.
So much for writing what you know.
@Robusto but the serpent is from Edinburgh.
@tchrist Hehe, yeah. And when his book resonates with the 4chan crowd and becomes a best-seller, won't that just slap the taste right out of our mouths?
There's a taste in there?
In mine. I always keep something tasty to put in there.
Cloves, for example, are quite tasty and zero calories.
I think we need a "premium member" program for people like jano who ask questions every frickin' day.
Cloverfield had zero calories alright, but no taste to speak of.
13:17
Once you exceed, say, a 10-question limit on they're $100 each.
Or maybe they cost you 200 rep points or something.
So you need at least 200 to ask those.
I'll just check with the boys down at the HQ, they've got four more community managers working on the case.
Ugh, what's that smell?
Mr Lebowski is prepared to make a generous offer to you.
Yes, probably a vagrant slept on the site. Or maybe just used it as a toilet and moved on.
Donny, please.
13:21
0
Q: A Quote from Eliza Doolittle

blackenedWhat does “The jump in trump falls mainly on the plump.” mean? (Supposedly it is from Eliza Doolittle. Whether it is this Eliza Doolittle, I have no idea.

. . .
Can't we find a way to get rid of crap like this?
We can. But we won't do it for free.
I think that comes under your job description. And you are already being amply compensated for your job description and level in the organization.
I'm sorry your stepmother is a nympho.
Nothing is fucked here, Dude. Nothing is fucked. They're a bunch of fucking amateurs!
Someone on the Duolingo site corrected my quotes so that he said, "Why don't you . . . became he said, " Why don't you . . . I changed it back, and he obstinately "corrected" it again.
Is that a feature of some language, that the quotes are separated from the quoted matter by a space?
French.
13:27
Or is it just garden-variety ignorance?
It should be a thin space, however. Also, French quotes. These are no French quotes.
@RegDwigнt Well, that would explain the obstinacy.
Guillemets (/ˈɡɪləmɛt/, or /ɡiːəˈmeɪ/; French: [ɡijmɛ]), also called angle quotes, Latin quotation marks, or French quotation marks, are polylines pointed like arrows (« or »), sometimes forming a complementary set of punctuation marks used as a form of quotation mark. The symbol at either end—double « and » or single ‹ and ›—is a guillemet. They are used in a number of languages to indicate speech. They resemble the symbols for lesser than (<), greater than (>), as well as rewind and fast forward on various media players, such as VCRs, DVD players, and MP3 players. == Etymology == The word is...
Yeah, they use those in German too.
Swiss German.
13:29
Sometimes.
Not German German.
I've seen them. Also the weird German upside-down quotes.
Also Russian. And the other pseudo-Russian languages.
@Robusto yeah, ldquo and rdquo become bdquo and ldquo.
Russian is the original pseudo-Russian language.
Or Prussian for short.
13:30
No more coffee for you.
You mean no less coffee.
I mean no more or no less, more or less.
I've had like zero coffee in my entire life.
Nothing is more or less than zero.
-- Pierre Fermat
That's your problem right there. You can point to it.
I can point to many things. For $3000.
Yes we've been there.
Elvis Costello is less than zero.
This is like deja vu all over again.
@RegDwigнt Hey, you brought it up, motherfucker.
Sep 24 at 13:34, by RegDwigнt
Too Low for Zero, released in 1983, was the twenty-second official album release for Elton John. It was his most critically acclaimed disc of the 1980s, earning Platinum certification by the RIAA. It produced several huge international singles, each accompanied by successful MTV music videos, and it spent over a year on the Billboard album chart. == BackgroundEdit == For the first time since Blue Moves in 1976, all lyrics were written by Bernie Taupin, who has continued in this role to the present day. At the insistence of Taupin, John decided to go back to basics and returned to working ...
Sep 24 at 13:36, by RegDwigнt
Suck that, Elvis.
@Robusto I didn't. It was Pierre Fermat.
13:33
Oct 29 at 19:34, by Robusto
You don't start nothin', won't be nothin'.
Clearly you can't read again. Or still. Whichever comes first.
Mar 7 '11 at 18:22, by Robusto
Who reads your shit?
Mar 7 '11 at 20:49, by Robusto
It's not like CCCP will take over Holland soon.
Them was good badinages, Walter.
@Robusto One plane at a time.
You can't even spell swamp right.
I can. You know my usual rate.
13:39
15 mins ago, by Robusto
I think that comes under your job description. And you are already being amply compensated for your job description and level in the organization.
@tchrist In wha wha?
insusurrational?
What's that mean?
It means Tom was having you on. Playing word games.
Just look at all the sibilance that follows.
It was, like, sibilant rivalry.
Also look up sussurrus in the dictionary.
Tom just got confused and took the wrong unicodes in incorrect order. Cut him some slack.
You gotta cut your own slack around here.
Who is Tom?
13:42
The mouse. I think.
Matt Groening explained it seventy times but I keep forgetting.
Matt Groening doesn't explain things to you
He has a secretary, hired through a temporary agency, for that matter
You seem to know a helluva lot about the functionings of his life. Are you a professional stalker?
I do it for fun
The source era apprentice.
@Gigili tchrist is Tom.
crl
crl
14:10
Tom jesus Christ
does the verb 'solve' and a 'solvent' have any common point? or they are false friends
@crl It should be easy to find a solution to that problem.
But no, they would not be related in normal speech, except etymologically.
0
Q: I don´t know him yet - I haven´t known him yet

user142410According to my teacher I can say: I don´t know him yet. However I should not ever say: I haven´t known him yet. My question is whether I can say these three sentences: I haven´t know him yet that long,I have known him for two years and I have known a lot of people not speaking English v...

Better for ELL, no?
0
Q: After Twenty Years

Dhruva MehrotraOnly a man who have read the story " After Twenty Years"-by O.Henry can understand my question. In it there is a paragraph "Bless my heart!" exclaimed the new arrival, grasping both the other's hands with his own. "It's Bob, sure as fate. I was certain I'd find you here if you were still...

And the hits just keep on coming!
14:28
@RegDwigнt, @MattE.Эллен: How about sending the "I don't know him yet" question to ELL?
 
1 hour later…
15:44
the example address is wrong. They don't even mention Bag End.
@crl they are cognate. the mathematical 'to solve' is a dead metaphor for 'dissolving a problem.
@MattE.Эллен WTH is 'Hobbit Hutch'? Amateurs.
@Mitch I know, right!
Is 'OX1 1DJ' the post code for an actual place or gibberish?
@Mitch it's the central library
??
15:47
or that area of Oxford centre in general
oh... of oxford university.
no, Oxford Council
it's the city's library, not the university's
'Oxford university' sounds OK but it is alwaus jarring to see 'Cambridge University' (unless it is Cambridge university press).
I know, geek-world problems.
@MattE.Эллен Which is better? I bet you can't check out movies from the university library
@Mitch :D true. Ancient manuscripts on the other hand. Or most academic journals
@MattE.Эллен Literally the ivory tower. There is a tower made of ivory or at least ivory colored there right?
Isn't Hobbiton or at worst the Shire supposed to be Shropshire?
15:53
@Mitch I suppose you might describe the top of the Sheldonian that way
@Mitch No, it's meant to be Oxfordshire, AFAIK
@MattE.Эллен The Bodleian Library belongs to the city, not the university?
That's so racist. So he's calling everyone from devon a bunch of Dwarves.
@Robusto The Central Library isn't the Bodleian. They're both in the city centre, though
0
Q: Altitude and how it affects climate

Elliewhat is altitude? How does it affect climate? I need to explain to my teacher what is elevation,altitude,and how they affect climate. I have tried the resources that she gave me but i have little information yet. Can you help me?

i....
are they trolling?
16:07
Haven't we heard from Ellie before? I envision this 11-year-old girl trying to get through sixth-grade science by asking about it on ELU.
Well, you horrible monster, can you help her now or what?
I'm a horrible monster, why would I help?
Gosh, nöone asked you. For help or otherwise.
which horrible monster were you addressing?
Why don't you go and swamp some swamps over the swamp of your swamp.
16:11
I might just do that!
@MattE.Эллен I firmly forgot. I do remember it wasn't you, though.
Oh there you go. A monster enters.
Well for all intensive purposes it might of been him.
@Cerberus why so silent, monster?
We are waiting for conversation to be made.
With hot sauce.
Greetings!
Poppygate!
16:20
Quoi?
I only have ravigotte sauce.
That'll do
Oh sorry, is that not how they greet each other in the land of eng?
Well, a quick rundown of the events on Twatter and Fecebook, then.
that building looks a lot like David Cameron
Oh, is that the WWI remembrance thingy?
We were neutral, so we forget.
@Cerberus Yes. It's the Poppygate Day.
Basically Cameron could not be arsed to take a photo with a poppy, so Downing Street shopped one onto him, and of course it took but a couple hours for the Internet to notice the forgery and go ballistic.
Oh aha, now I get it.
@Cerberus yeah only your Queen is German and your entire anthem is about praising a German. But other than that, yeah neutral.
Rule britannia?
16:26
Poland was also largely German. Hey, if they had been there, I'm sure they'd have been neutral too.
Poland was largely everyone's. That's what the word means, Poland. Look it up.
May 7 '11 at 12:55, by Robusto
Everybody has invaded Poland at one time or another.
Quite so.
I don't even know why they still call it Poland. Should be Everyoneland. Or myLand. Or Disneyland.
And wasn't England German as well?
It still is.
16:28
You may now call it Religious Witchhuntland again.
Though part of it is governed by the Scots.
The crazies have returned to power.
@Cerberus What? Are there tickets?
It's a hunt.
@RegDwigнt The Scots would like to have their part back, thank you.
16:29
Have you ever heard of a hunt with tickets?
isnt the poppy thing next week?
@RegDwigнt maybe. I can't control what other people say.
@Mitch The crazy right-wing party has scored an absolute majority in the last elections, last week.
@Cerberus well, they'll have to take it up with Merkel, then. And you know who'll be winning that fight.
@Cerberus unlike Canada
Is she involved in Scotland too?
16:30
No, in England.
Which is partially controlled by Scots.
Can't you read?
@Mitch Indeed, Canada is the only place where we have had good election results, over the past couple of weeks.
Haha lol.
Turkey is bad, but not disastrous.
Could be worse
"Good results". All Canada did was not vote for the candidate who went around strangers' houses urinating in their kitchen sinks.
16:31
progress
That is hardly hard.
@RegDwigнt Good is good.
better can be worse than good
I will leave this here. It's an excellent segment and I highly recommend it.
16:32
Progress that happens in one day is called a revolution, and revolution is followed by restoration.
Meanwhile I'll mute a commie or five.
progress can happen in a pinch if you're adding salt
did you hear the news? We're all gonna die.
@RegDwigнt Why does he assume people don't know there will be an election the next day?
@Cerberus no, good is good. But not bad is not good. It is merely not bad.
someday
16:33
I know it's hard to get, 300 million people in the US don't.
"We didn't vote for McCain, so Obama is good".
@Cerberus His target audience is Americans. Also, I for one didn't, either.
wait...not all revolutions are followed by restoration.
maybe a reactionary movement, but not always successful
I watched it like three days later and was, um, there was an election three days ago?
But I'm out.
The canadian election was all I heard about. and the dying thing. Or was it bacon? Maybe dying from bacon.
@RegDwigнt It is better.
@Mitch Maybe there are exceptions, but...such as when?
Glorious revolution. american revolution. 1848 revolutions. um...boxer rebellion or whatever put Sun yat sen in power?
Oh French revolution... well does Napoleon count?
16:42
The Glorious Revolution, the American Revolution, and the Boxer Rebellion were not true revolutions, but something else.
The last two were mainly about independence.
If anything, the Glorious Revolution was a kind of restoration.
The revolutions of 1848 are many, but I don't think any systems of governments were truly overthrown?
The French Revolution was followed by restoration.
My point was that sudden, radical change in a society usually does not end well.
Like the French Revolution.
16:57
In the Fr rev, it eventually ended up different (the restoration was itself undone).
By labels, the Restoration was James and Charles II and that was ended by William and Mary. not really revolutionary but still.
@Mitch Meh, only much later, and France did not turn out to be more radically reformed in the end than many other European countries.
@Mitch I suppose, but neither was a true revolution like the French revolution, was it?
@Cerberus nope.
so you're saying that most of those things called revolutions really weren't? Or did not last for long?
Right.
you radical
man the barricades
My point was that a sudden overthrow of the entire system usually doesn't work well in societies.
17:07
down with revolutions!
Like the French and the Russian and the Chinese revolutions.
Long live anarchy!
Yeah!
But it is of course arguable.
And it depends on various definitions.
@Cerberus I disagree re france. it went up and down but eventually the monarchy was gone.
Meanwhile, I have to revolve around the neighbourhood, in an effort to exercise.
@Mitch But was it gone thanks to the revolution, or thanks to a later trend?
Several monarchies came after the revolutions.
Now I must run, bye!
17:09
re russia and china, those were certainly revolutions and both without the thermidorean reactions, and they continued for quite a while. in some sense russi had a bloodless revolution in 89 and China, however much its economy has changed, still has its same kind of government since 49
crl
crl
@Mitch ok interesting, thanks
The result of the communist revolutions was lots of destruction and bloodshed. And in the end the ideals of the revolutions failed completely.
go cycle or run before the sun sets
China is now in a phase of restoration, removing what is left of their communist thingies.
A clique is in power, just like before the communist revolution.
crl
crl
too late, it's already night..
17:12
Inequality is huge.
Adios!
I think that is unfair to say that all revolutions have a restoration in the end. it's cheating to say that any change after the revolution is a failure (Or end of the revolutions ideals)
@crl argh!
@Cerberus and sweden still has a monarchy.
@crl did you all change back to standard time already?
crl
crl
but you're right, I feel less stupid and more awaken after going outside a bit
@Mitch yes recently
like last sunday
same here.
US
crl
crl
oh there are shitfing too, I thought we were the only stupid country to do so
it has its benefits i'm sure. an extra hour this last Sunday, but in the spring we lose it again and there is a higher number of corresponding car wrecks and heart attacks)
17:34
@Cerberus We call it the American Revolution or the Revolutionary War. It may not have overthrown the British government everywhere, but it sure accomplished that here.
@crl And the funny thing is, that feeling keeps growing the longer you remain outside and away from work.
17:46
@Mitch Yeah it's like, the revolution is a failure unless nothing ever replaces it or defeats it.
17:57
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Exactly. A dynastic change is like a revolution of sorts. just because there is another dynasty after this one doesn't negate the fact that a change just happened.
@Mitch Hey, even changing your underwear can be a revolution for some people.
@Robusto checks underwear ... Yeah!
@Robusto I don't ever want to change Mitch's underwear
@MattE.Эллен Be like the Dalai Lama. Change comes from within.
@Mitch I keep telling him: I don't have any spare. I need it for the bus
18:02
He hasn't called lately. I guess I'm not hot enough of a chick for him.
You don't try hard enough, I guess.
Maybe I should change my underwear then
Yeah. It's the small things that make the difference.
They're revolting
@Robusto worst words ever to hear from a girl: "It's so cute"
@Robusto Yes, but that is quite different from the French, Russian, or Chinese revolutions, where the entire system was uprooted. You never fought the British on their home turf; I do not claim that independence wars cannot be successful—on the contrary.
18:07
¡Viva la Revolución!
changing underwear to celebrate
Huh... poppies.
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 A revolution never comes out of nowhere. It is part of the Zeitgeist. The ideals of the Revolution had been stirring in France for a century under the Enlightenment. Those ideals were going to become more prominent regardless of any specific events such as the Revolution. I consider a revolution successful if it establishes and holds new ideals into place that would otherwise not have happened as successfully and as long-livedly. If the Zeitgeist already hunkers after more equality and rationality, and if the revolutionary changes are in fact reverted within a couple of de
Look at the revolutions in Libya, Syria, Iraq, Yemen.
All dismal failures, probably.
The revolution in Persia was comparatively successful, but what will happen in Persia in the long term? Will the changes hold?
You could say that the most recent revolution in Iran was a restoration of reactionary style government that overturned the Shah's 'revolution' against the Qajars
Mmm perhaps.
Where the Shah's "revolution" was a foreign-organised coup.
But let's talk about the specific ideals newly introduced by Khamenei (spelling?) and its new power structure.
Fundamentalism and the Revolutionary Guard.
They seem to be holding, although there were giant protests a few years ago that might have toppled the government.
BRB
@Cerberus Well, technically the American colonies were their home turf at the time.
20:12
@Robusto Aha, thanks.
Who is tchrist?
@tchrist is Tom. And Tom is tchrist. I can't put it any plainer than that.
Is it you specifically that can't put it any plainer? or it cannot be put any plainer?
20:30
Right.
Left.
Up.
Down.
21:06
I'm in a video game.
do you need our help to escape?
if you were in the year 6012, would you call it "sixty twelve"?
21:21
@MattE.Эллен I'd call it a miracle.
"In the year twenty-five twenty-five ..."
22:48
@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 Know what you're supposed to do when your whole life is coming true?
23:08
@Robusto What does that even mean?
@MετάEd Was I talking to you?
@Robusto Pretty sure you were broadcasting in a chatroom, so yes. :-)
Well, I hate to disappoint you, but I was replying to a specific message.
So you'll just have to wait and see if @cornbread responds to find out what it means.
23:37
@Robusto I don't think a chatroom works the way you think it works.
You'll just have to wait and see.
@Robusto Yes, I got that.
Then it seems like the chatroom is working the way I think it works.
23:52
Nope.
Also, except as otherwise provided by this subchapter, each person who offers a hazardous material for transportation in a non-bulk packaging must mark the package with the proper shipping name and identification number (preceded by “UN”, “NA” or “ID,” as appropriate) for the material as shown in the Hazardous Materials Table. The identification number marking preceded by “UN”, “NA”, or “ID” as appropriate must be marked in characters at least 12 mm (0.47 inches) high.
@MετάEd That's not an argument. That's merely contradiction.
@Robusto No, it's not.
And I wish to complain about this parrot what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.
And then I wish to complain about type measurements.

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