English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

18:00

@Kitḫ For a long time I thought there was actually a state called new england

N3buchadnezzar

It could have been (New `empshire)...

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus like you have more important things to do

Cerberus

How many are there: 80 million?

Kitḫ

@Cerberus Not actually. We're not that many. Except for Boston.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus oh, I mean the EL&U chat NE'ers

Cerberus

18:00

Ah!

@MrShinyandNew安宇 How many do we have?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

it's rather challenging to stalk an entire population. Or not, depending on how you define your success criteria.

Kitḫ

@Cerberus 14,444,865 (2010 est.)

Cerberus

@Kitḫ Really? Hmm I can never remember how far south NE extends.

@Kitḫ Oh! Then you're about our size.

I had no idea.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus I can think of three off-hand

kiamlaluno

Well, Washington D.C. is already at south.

Kitḫ

18:01

@Cerberus Oh FFS. Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, MassiveTwoShits, Connecticut, Rhode Island.

Cerberus

Maybe JSB?

@Kitḫ Ah, I see... consults map

Kitḫ

@Cerberus No, he's midwest. Maybe Nebraska.

kiamlaluno

(I hope Massachusetts doesn't rhyme with Massivetwoshits.)

Kitḫ

@MrShinyandNew安宇 I can only think of one other off the top of my head.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@kiamlaluno it does

Kitḫ

18:03

@MrShinyandNew安宇 If you pronounce it like a New Englander.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Kitḫ One is a visitor while in university I think. Unless i'm mistake about where she goes.

Kitḫ

We also call them "Massholes."

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Hmm, OK.

kiamlaluno

I prefer "them, with a red line city."

Cerberus

Hmm I think NE would be my favourite part of the continent.

Kitḫ

@kiamlaluno I don't get it.

Cerberus

18:04

Together with NY.

Kitḫ

Well, we are pretty awesome.

kiamlaluno

@Kitḫ At Boston there is a red line joining some historical places.

Kitḫ

We're the smartest and most industrialized.

@kiamlaluno You mean the T's red line?

Cerberus

I'd probably feel at home culturally.

Kitḫ

Well, also the fattest and most inbred.

Cerberus

18:06

Oh!

kiamlaluno

If I recall, there is the "Constitution," right on Boston bay.

Cerberus

Hmm.

Kitḫ

giggle

Cerberus

How about religion?

Kitḫ

Nah, we don't much bother with that.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

18:06

@Kitḫ and here I thought New York was part of New England. I learned something new today.

Kitḫ

Not like in the South anyway.

Cerberus

But your Puritan ancestors?

Kitḫ

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Lots of people who don't live here think that.

Cerberus

And I just realized Boston is smaller than Amsterdam.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Kitḫ I guess I always assumed it was the first 13 colonies

Kitḫ

18:07

@Cerberus Well, you can still use churches as landmarks when giving directions. Also, nobody invites you to Saturday BBQ at their church to meet folks.

@MrShinyandNew安宇 No, no, no!

kiamlaluno

@Kitḫ The Freedom Trail.

aedia λ

Mid-Atlantic states

{| class="infobox" border="1" cellpadding="4" style="width: 300px; border-collapse:collapse; font-size: 95%;" |- |+ style="font-size: larger;" | Mid-Atlantic Region |- | colspan="2" align="center" style="background: #fff;" | |- ! colspan=2 | Regional statistics |- |Composition | Delaware Maryland New Jersey New York Pennsylvania District of Columbia Virginia West Virginia |- style="vertical-align: bottom;" | Area - Total | 191,308.5 sq mi (495,486.74 km²) |- style="vertical-align: bottom;" | Population- Total- Density | 57,303,316 (2008 est.)299.53/sq mi (116/km²) |- |Largest c...

Kitḫ

Hey @Matt, did you notice that I stopped thinking you were Californian once you changed your avatar? I just realized this.

Cerberus

@Kitḫ 1. OK that's good, we have that too. I live by the Old Church. 2. WTF!?

aedia λ

We had to memorize the difference between New England and the Mid-Atlantic region in school.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

18:09

@Kitḫ We don't really learn american history in canadian schools; there's an elective history course in high school but I didn't take it.

Kitḫ

@Cerberus In the South, this is how people get to know you. And there is a church on every street corner and some in between.

aedia λ

At one point we learned other regions, too, but who cares about those other parts.

Kitḫ

There is a funny joke about Southern churches...

kiamlaluno

I was the only one who went from Quincy Market to the Aquarium using two metropolitan lines.

Matt Эллен

@Kitḫ I wasn't aware when you were thinking I was Californian :) But I suppose my avatar doesn't look very Californian

kiamlaluno

18:10

All I had to do was crossing a street.

Cerberus

@Kitḫ Churches and BBQs are two things I dislike, but I would never picture them together! Perhaps that's because the religious here are very traditional: that's different.

Kitḫ

A guy is rescued from the island he has been stranded on for several years. As his rescuers are rowing him to their boat, he points out the house he built for himself, and the church he constructed so he could go to service on Sunday. The rescuers ask "What's that building down the way?" He replies "Oh, that's the church I used to go to."

@Cerberus BBQ is very common in the South. By which they mean "barbecued pork," mind you. Also, pig pickins are like the regular big party summer weekend thing.

kiamlaluno

(Talking of avatars, I wonder what mine would suggest, about the place where I live.)

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Kitḫ it's so true and it's both funny and sad at the same time.

Kitḫ

The South and I just did not get along.

I can't believe I lived there as long as I did.

Cerberus

18:14

@Kitḫ Haha, I see. So people often switch churches because they are unhappy about doctrine or feuds?

Kitḫ

@Cerberus At the drop of a hat.

Cerberus

@Kitḫ That sounds awful.

Kitḫ

@Cerberus Yep.

Big roasted whole pigs that people just pull chunks of meat—oh God, it makes me want to barf...

blaarrggg

Cerberus

@Kitḫ Funny. The religious Protestants here often spit off from their old sect and found a new, even-more-marginal sect to glower from.

@Kitḫ But why did you live there?

I hate barbecues, I hate most pork.

I like bacon, though...

Hmm...

But my fridge is loaded with good food already.

Kitḫ

I like pulled pork sandwiches, though. I just don't want to be the one pulling it.

@Cerberus I was in school.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

18:17

Yeah, Kit, your description is making me hungry actually

Cerberus

School as in high school, or university?

Kitḫ

University and grad school.

Cerberus

Oh.

Kitḫ

Seven years in total, I think.

Cerberus

I feel very provincial, but I would never ever move to a region I didn't like.

Well, maybe for a few months if I had to.

Kitḫ

18:19

I just kind of happened that way.

And I didn't really notice how different it was until much later.

Cerberus

Hmm.

I suppose if your friends there are all from the same university...

Then you can avoid the locals.

Kitḫ

University was just my senior year, so I didn't really know anyone.

Grad school were people from all over, and my advisor was from Connecticut, so practically a neighbor.

But then after I dumped my asshole ex-, I started dating the locals and mingling.

Then one day, when I was home visiting my parents, I suddenly realized that I was not myself when I was in the South.

I was passing for god-fearing proper straight girl.

With a tinge of redneck.

Cerberus

►

Kitḫ

Ah yes. The local shop.

Cerberus

@Kitḫ Ouch.

That's not very local of you.

You should just stay in NE.

South, bad.

Kitḫ

18:28

It is a bit consterning that it took me so long to notice.

Cerberus

You just weren't in touch with your locality.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Kitḫ Sometimes you need a change of perspective to see what's right in front of you.

Kitḫ

Indeed.

I think it is probably for the best that I was not so self-possessed at the time.

Life would have been far more difficult if I had decided to fight those battles.

Cerberus

Does being self possessed mean that one has to be confrontational?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Kitḫ what could you possibly have to fight with against the whole south? :)

Kitḫ

18:33

@Cerberus No. But it would have meant being who I am, which I'm sure Southerners couldn't take.

Godless heathen slut liberal Yank that I am.

Would have exploded their heads.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

You forgot "liberal"

Kitḫ

Fixed.

JSBᾶngs

well, i'm glad we've all found a class of people we can feel superior to: southerners.

Cerberus

But ehm...aren't there some liberal southerners too?

Kitḫ

I couldn't leave it as "Yankee," since we all know that Yankees suck.

@Cerberus No.

Cerberus

18:35

It is the same here. All catholic pigs.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Kitḫ That's probably the worst insult you could call a southerner, "liberal" :)

Kitḫ

@JSBᾶngs I'm glad you feel that way too.

JSBᾶngs

i don't feel superior to southerners. i feel superior to people who feel superior to southerners.

it's the circle of life

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@JSBᾶngs I feel superior to people who feel superior.

Cerberus

@JSBᾶngs But can you understand them at all?

Kitḫ

18:36

@MrShinyandNew安宇 There was a campaign ad the first year I lived there. "John Edwards did blah, blah, blah. That's wrong. That's bad. That's liberal."

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus do you mean, because they have an accent?

JSBᾶngs

@Cerberus do you mean linguistically or culturally?

Kitḫ

@JSBᾶngs Ouch.

Cerberus

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Yes.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Kitḫ wow, and I was exaggerating!

Cerberus

18:37

@JSBᾶngs The former.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus the accent isn't too bad but it can take a bit of practice, depends on how strongly they lay it on.

It's certainly no worse than a thick scottish or irish accent

Kitḫ

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Depends on the area too.

Cerberus

Heh.

JSBᾶngs

@Cerberus southern speech isn't that bad

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Kitḫ so did you say which part of the south you were in?

Cerberus

18:38

Yeah I know.

Kitḫ

But it's the same up here. Lots of people have a hard time understanding the locals.

@MrShinyandNew安宇 I didn't, but you probably could figure out it was NC, given the John Edwards reference.

So practically the North.

Cerberus

I watched a video of a solider in Iraq who was coming out of the closet to his parents on the phone. Their southern accents were barely comprehensible, but it was a cute scene.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Kitḫ ah.. well, I didn't know where Edwards was from.

Kitḫ

@Cerberus Really? That is very surprising.

Cerberus

@Kitḫ His dad was fine with it, but his mother started with Bible quotes. But she did tell him she still loved him, and things turned out well when he came back home later.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

18:41

@Cerberus link, so we can evaluate your listening comprehension? :p

Kitḫ

@Cerberus Even more surprising.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus and this is why I would never come out to my parents on the phone if it could be avoided.

Cerberus

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Hehe, sure. That video is a bit long, though, and the quality of the phone conversation is bad.

Kitḫ

@MrShinyandNew安宇 A lot of times, that's the safest plan.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Kitḫ I dunno. a phone call can go awry so fast.

Cerberus

18:42

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Understandable; but he had already told his girlfriend and didn't want them to find out from someone else.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

But I guess it depends on what I think might go wrong.

@Cerberus that complicates things, a bit. :)

Kitḫ

My neighbor's kid came out to her when I lived there. She freaked, but then he came out to his dad (they were divorced) and he literally beat him out of the house.

Not exactly a safe situation.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Kitḫ yeah.... that's a bad outcome. I suspect that a soldier shouldn't have to worry about that too much.... unless they're unwilling to stand up to their parents, I suppose.

Kitḫ

I suppose.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

sigh what a messed up world we still live in.

Kitḫ

18:44

Doesn't much matter how well trained they are, if their parents try to shoot them though.

Cerberus

@Kitḫ Yikes. How old was he?

►

This is dad.

Kitḫ

@Cerberus 17.

Cerberus

►

This is mom.

Kitḫ

@Cerberus Oh, he's cute.

Cerberus

@Kitḫ That's terrible. But at least he wasn't 12: he could, with pain and effort, take care of himself. I heard a story about a 12-y-o who was kicked out of the house and actually slept under bridges for a while.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

18:46

@Kitḫ true.

Cerberus

@Kitḫ three heads nod

Kitḫ

His accent is pretty OK too.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus how many generations will it take before this sort of thing is no longer a problem? sheesh

Kitḫ

Only one or two more, at most, I think.

@Cerberus I just want to hug him; he's so nervous.

N3buchadnezzar

Kitḫ

18:47

OMG. He immediately switches on his accent when his dad picks up the phone.

Cerberus

@Kitḫ Yeah, his accent is fine. Dad's sounds pretty southern to me, mom's too.

@Kitḫ Hehe yeah. But things turned out well for him, so he'll be OK.

@Kitḫ Wait lemme hear that...

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Kitḫ Still not a very strong accent at all, I barely noticed it

Kitḫ

@Cerberus It's not as thick as his dad's, but he ramps it up.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Kitḫ I wonder to what degree military training helps eliminate accents

Kitḫ

"Will you love me no matter what?" Aww. ((big hug to soldier boy))

I hope my kids will never have that doubt.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

18:50

@Kitḫ me too

Kitḫ

He sounds like a good daddy.

Just surprised, and not sure what to do.

N3buchadnezzar

It would be tough to swallow, if I found out my son were gay

Cerberus

@Kitḫ Hmm yeah, I think I can hear it. But his accent is already a bit southern before that, isn't it?

@Kitḫ Yeah that was cute.

Kitḫ

@Cerberus A little.

Cerberus

@N3buchadnezzar Yeah? What would you do?

Kitḫ

18:53

"It's going to be hard for you. I still love you and I will always love you. You are still my son. I'm proud of you." Good job, Daddy!

N3buchadnezzar

Accept it? There is not much else to do, its not my life nor decicion to make =)

Cerberus

I also love his "this isn't going to change our relationship". It sounds like a phrase from Oprah or something, but it's still sweet.

@N3buchadnezzar Yeah.

N3buchadnezzar

I got really mad a few days ago, when I watched a clip from Opera.

Cerberus

@N3buchadnezzar So what would be most problematic about it for you?

N3buchadnezzar

@Cerberus That my son had to hide it from me =)

Kitḫ

18:56

My husband and I make jokes about our son coming out as straight.

Cerberus

@N3buchadnezzar Oh. Well, he will probably hide anything related to sexuality from you anyway.

Kitḫ

@Cerberus 21 minutes? Hmm.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus um... really? anything?

Cerberus

@Kitḫ If such evil should befall you, I know a camp where you can send him to cure him.

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Maybe not anything: it depends on the child. But lots, for shoa.

Kitḫ

@Cerberus Stay away from my children, filthy pervert!

N3buchadnezzar

18:57

There was an interview with a straight man who played in gay movies, and got fired from his job at subway for his part time job. Although Opera just picked on him for staring in those movies, not caring about him getting fired at al.

Opera is a female dog!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Like, I don't tell my parents about my sex life, but on the other hand, I was pretty open about having a girlfriend. And if I were gay, I'd want to be able to be open about having a boyfriend.

Cerberus

@Kitḫ Yeah it's too long, and I can't understand half of what his mother is saying anything.

JSBᾶngs

are we talking about Oprah, the talk-show host here?

or Opera the web browser?

N3buchadnezzar

Yeah... Oprah, the talk-show hostess

Kitḫ

@Cerberus "I'm gay." "huh?" "I'm gay, Mom." "What?" "MOM, I'M GAY!" ... "oh."

Cerberus

18:58

@Kitḫ What? You aren't...*shudder*...liberal about heterosexuality, are you? I say, let them burn!

@N3buchadnezzar Ohh I think I saw one of those guys on another show. Pretty hilarious.

N3buchadnezzar

What people do in their spare time is their business, wheter it is dongs og donkey kongs. As long as you dont do it at work, there should be no problems..

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