English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

RegDwight Ѭſ道

00:24

0

Q: Can I say commentable and categorizable?

Can I say commentable and categorizable? Or what are alternatives to use one word to say that something is able to leave comments on it or could be categorized?

grammar

Seriously, there should be a rep threshold for using the grammar tag.

Mahnax

Yes. Like 1000.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Also, there should be a name for the construction "something is able to leave comments on it". I submit "cute passive".

Mahnax

Heh. Mm, dinner.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Yeah. Mm, sleep.

kiamlaluno

Yep. Mm, nothing.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck would chuck wood?

kiamlaluno

00:49

@RegDwight It would have been nicer to say, "Dear next person who answers to a question about a versus an: I will hit you with a giant N."

Well, it could be nicer to force that person to end all the words with an n: "Ien amen readyn ton gon."

Woulden youn liken ton swingen on an starn, carrien moonbeamen homen in an jarn…

Ach!

Oren woulden youn rathern been an mulen?

Mahnax

@kiamlaluno Haha, nice one.

kiamlaluno

:-)

Mahnax

>(^-^)<

kiamlaluno

\(^!^)/

Nein! Nein!

Ya, ya!

Mahnax

No, it's Ja, ja!

kiamlaluno

00:58

@Mahnax Is that yes in German?

Mahnax

@kiamlaluno I think so.

Yeah, it is.

kiamlaluno

@Mahnax Well, it's not my invention. JA is famous for his, "Dear next user who reports a pluralization bug; I will come to your home with a giant S." (It is something like that.)

Mahnax

@kiamlaluno Actually, I think I saw that somewhere.

kiamlaluno

I guess I confuse it with the spanish jaja, and for that I try to write it with a y.

32

A: The Many Memes of Meta

Meme: Pluralization Bug Originator: Jeff Atwood Cultural Height: Ongoing First Seen: Here Background: Originally seen on Twitter here, Jeff made his feelings clear about users posting pluralization bugs by saying Dear Next Person Who Opens a Pluralization 'Bug', I will personally come to ...

Daniel δ

01:43

@Will Hunting: What in the world are you doing with your name?

I like the name Jasper!

Mahnax

@Daniel Hello there!

Daniel δ

@Mahnax Hi!

What's @Will (Jasper) doing?

kiamlaluno

Who is Will Hunting?

Mahnax

@kiamlaluno Jasper Loy.

@Danielδ How's it going?

@Danielδ Apparently he's changing his name to a movie character each month now.

Daniel δ

but his picture is wrong?

kiamlaluno

01:46

@Mahnax Oh. Now he starts changing the username too, after keeping to change his avatar too.

Mahnax

@Danielδ It's just a generic Gravatar, last time I checked. He switches at least once every two days now.

@kiamlaluno Yeah.

Robusto

03:13

@RegDwightѬſ道 — I think a qualified answer to that question would be: "You? Yes, you can say those things." And leave it at that.

Cerberus

Hai.

kiamlaluno

What does 7-11 mean in "he saw a woman being abused outside a 7-11."

Robusto

A 7-11 is a convenience store.

7-Eleven

7-Eleven is part of an international chain of convenience stores, operating under Seven-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd, which in turn is owned by Seven & I Holdings Co. of Japan. 7-Eleven, primarily operating as a franchise, is the world's largest operator, franchisor and licensor of convenience stores, with more than 39,000 outlets, surpassing the previous record-holder McDonald's Corporation in 2007 by approximately 1,000 retail stores. The US subsidiary of the Japanese firm has its headquarters in the One Arts Plaza building in downtown Dallas, Texas. Its stores are located in 16 countries, ...

user19161

Jinx. I logged in just to answer kiam.

Robusto

They are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Which made George Carlin wonder why they bothered to have locks on the doors.

@WillHunting — It's not a jinx unless you give the same answer, not the intention of the same answer.

kiamlaluno

03:27

@Robusto Oh. I don't know why, but I was thinking of some police code.

Robusto

@Cerberus — Did you see my comment to you?

user19161

@kiamlaluno You have not entered a 7-11 before I guess?

kiamlaluno

I have seen many 7-Eleven's, but I have never entered in one of them.

user19161

Apparently it's not much found on your continent I just discovered.

user19161

Maybe you have other numbers there, not 7 and 11.

kiamlaluno

03:31

I did enter to Stop & Shop, Waldbaum's, CVS, USPS, and some other shops I don't recall, right now.

@WillHunting Yeah, but Long Island is not in my continent.

@WillHunting As far as I recall, there aren't Italian shops with such name.

user19161

@kiamlaluno Though there are games with number names, like Uno!

kiamlaluno

@WillHunting I have never heard of it.

user19161

Uno (card game)

Uno (; from Italian and Spanish for 'one') is a card game played with a specially printed deck (see Mau Mau for an almost identical game played with normal playing cards). The game was originally developed in 1971 by Merle Robbins in Reading, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. It has been a Mattel product since 1992. The game's general principles put it into the Crazy Eights family of card games. Official rules The deck consists of a total of 108 cards of four colors: red, green, blue, and yellow. The ranks in each color are 0-9, with two of each number per color, except 0 which only appears...

user19161

It's the only card game whose cards I think are beautiful.

user19161

I love the plain distinct colours.

kiamlaluno

03:35

@WillHunting Ohio is still not in my continent. :-)

Robusto

@WillHunting Then you should have a look at Hanafuda.

Hanafuda

are playing cards of Japanese origin that are used to play a number of games. The name literally translates as "flower cards". The name also refers to games played with those cards. History Since its early years, refined card games were played in Japan by the nobility, and they were not commonly played by the lower classes nor used for gambling. This changed, however, in 1549, the 18th year of Tenbun, when a missionary Francis Xavier landed in the country. The crew of his ship had carried a set of 48 Portuguese Hombre playing cards from Europe, and eventually card games became popular w...

user19161

@Robusto Very nice too!

kiamlaluno

I prefer Ciccia and Scopa.

user19161

Scopa

Scopa is an Italian card game, and one of the two major national card games in Italy. It is also popular in Brazil, brought in by Italian immigrants, mostly in the Scopa di Quindici variation. It is played with a standard Italian 40-card deck, mostly between two players or four in two partnerships, but it can also be played by 3, 5, or 6 players. The name is an Italian noun meaning "broom", since taking a scopa means "to sweep" all the cards from the table. Watching a game of scopa can be a highly entertaining activity, since games traditionally involve lively, colorful, and somewhat str...

Robusto

user19161

03:39

@Danielδ I like Daniel and drm too!

kiamlaluno

@WillHunting My playing cards are shown in the second row, in that picture.

user19161

@Danielδ It's a character I identify with.

Robusto

Interestingly, the name of the Japanese criminal organization known as yakuza (やくざ) is derived from the zero-score hand of that game. It literally means 8-9-3. Your lesson on Asian culture for the day.

kiamlaluno

Whoops, no. Those are cards from the same deck.

Robusto

And here's your pop quiz question: What do sushi and the sandwich have in common, other than that they are both things that are eaten?

kiamlaluno

03:42

They jump in your mouth.

user19161

@Robusto Thanks. But I have heard of the yakuzas too. I love watching Japanese dramas.

Robusto

Everyone's heard of the yakuza (no plural). But had you heard of the fact I mentioned about their name?

@kiamlaluno Nope.

user19161

@Robusto They are both eaten with the hand.

Robusto

@WillHunting Getting warmer.

user19161

@Robusto No, so that's new.

kiamlaluno

03:44

I like both.

Cerberus

@Robusto Yes, I saw it! But I didn't quite understand the context...

Robusto

They were both invented by gamblers who didn't want to stop playing cards long enough to eat a proper meal, but didn't want to get their cards greasy or sticky.

user19161

@Robusto I remember the Earl of Sandwich.

user19161

@Mahnax Yes it's the generic one, which you can't seem to change to another generic one.

user19161

@kiamlaluno The mouth jumps on them rather.

kiamlaluno

03:47

@WillHunting That is in the rest of the world.

user19161

@kiamlaluno Now I am getting worried.

kiamlaluno

Actually, I just remembered I don't know how to play Scopa.

Robusto

Here endeth the lesson. Night all.

user19161

I just remembered I forgot how to play Uno.

user19161

@Robusto Goodnight.

kiamlaluno

03:52

These are my playing cards.

They left out the 8, 9, and 10 cards, though.

user19161

@kiamlaluno Nice, but the last time I played a card game was a decade ago.

kiamlaluno

I played more recently.

It's a shame they don't have an article about Ciccia. (I start wondering if there is an Italian name for that card game.)

Mahnax

@WillHunting Yep.

Mahnax

04:39

►

Saeed Amiri

10:33

Hi all

I want to improve my En-writing and reading

can I chat here with someone to tell me my mistakes?

Also is there anybody knows about good practice in this area?

In fact I want improve my scientific writing

RegDwight Ѭſ道

10:58

0

Q: Differences in pronouncing the indefinite article

In most cases, the indefinite article a is pronounced very short, like the a in align. But in my time in the US, I often heard someone pronounce it stronger, like the a in angel. Is this used just for emphasizing the following word or has it some other meaning?

pronunciation articles

I could swear this is a dupe of a dupe, but I can't find the original for the life of me.

Matt Эллен

11:15

I guess this fell off the radar last time a v an came up:

1

Q: A/An question: 'a humanitarian' or 'an humanitarian'?

What's the proper wording here, neither one sounds right to me: "Chevra, an humanitarian organization..." or "Chevra, a humanitarian organization..." My instinct says it follows the same rule as "an hour", but the 'h' sound is more pronounced in 'humanitarian', so I'm unsure.

word-choice

@RegDwightѬſ道 I am looking, only found this so far:

1

Q: Pronouncing "A": "ai" vs. "ah"

There are words where we say A as Ai, and say A as Ah. First I thought there were some sentences where it sounds better then the other. However, when Koreans say Amen they say it as "Ah-men", and I keep hearing Americans say it as "Ai-men". What is the reason for this?

pronunciation

maybe this is it:

3

Q: pronunciation of "a"

I'm really confused about the pronunciation of "a" letter. Why is there a difference when it is used in a sentence and when "a" is single? when it is single, we read it like dwelling on it, like /eɪ/. On the contrary, in a sentence, it sounds interruptedly. What's the reason?

pronunciation

user19161

11:40

@SaeedAmiri I will tell you your mistakes, more so than you may want.

user19161

@SaeedAmiri You should use want to here, and you omitted a period at the end.

user19161

0

Q: Term for a powerful personal computer?

What term would an enthusiast use to describe a powerful, tripped-out personal computer, the kind he might custom-build in his garage and overclock to the max? The usual reference sources are failing me here, as I'm looking for a slang/jargon term. The closest I've found is rig (as in "gaming ...

single-word-requests slang jargon

user19161

Not a real question.

Matt Эллен

@WillHunting What makes it NARQ?

seems off topic, though

or is computer hardware jargon on topic?

user19161

@MattЭллен What does he mean by powerful, tripped out and overclocked?

Matt Эллен

11:46

powerfull - lots of processing power and ram, probably a big PSU

tripped out - and earcorn for ticked out, meaning lots of extra features to make it seem flashy

user19161

@MattЭллен Still too arbitrary, just like marshmallows are an arbitrary substitute to coffee in the movie.

user19161

@MattЭллен You may vote otherwise.

Matt Эллен

overclocked - the CPU has had its multipliers increased beyond stock

user19161

@MattЭллен If he described it to such an extent, I would close as too localized.

Matt Эллен

@WillHunting I am thinking the same

done

user19161

11:49

@MattЭллен Good thinking!

Matt Эллен

thanks :)

RegDwight Ѭſ道

3

Q: What does Hallelujah means in Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah song?

Rufus Wainwright's Cover of Hallelujah The literal meaning of hallelujah is "Praise Yah", however the song uses it in different ways and I have always wondered what it really means in the song. The baffled king composing Hallelujah And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah It's a c...

meaning-in-context lyrics

Um. Three upvotes, only one vote to close? Am I missing something?

Matt Эллен

It seems on topic to me - meaning in context

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Song interpretations are off-topic.

Matt Эллен

because they are songs?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

11:56

Because they are poetry, yes. We are not a book discussion club.

Matt Эллен

okidoky

RegDwight Ѭſ道

There used to be a Song Meanings proposal on Area 51. I don't think it took off.

Matt Эллен

:D

I can imagine the flame wars

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Yeah.

Took the Chevy to the Levy but the Levy was dry.

Matt Эллен

But my friend, Levy, drinks alcohol. I've seen him. The words are a contradiction of truth!

also, why do they pronounce his name wrong?

gah!

RegDwight Ѭſ道

12:03

Oh, and this is a dupe, too:

0

Q: Usage of to and commas

"This group’s main duties are to carry out information systems audits in Colombian banks and to make research and develop new regulations on information technologies and systems in the banking sector." Should I put a "to" behind "develop". Or are any other commas needed?

punctuation writing comma

But of course I can't find the original.

Here's a start, though:

2

Q: "To do this or do that" OR "To do this or *to* do that"?

I saw on the bottom of an email: To change your email preferences or unsubscribe from certain messages, click here. Is that correct or should it be: To change your email preferences or to unsubscribe from certain messages, click here.

word-choice verbs infinitive

Matt Эллен

12:28

someone's stealing @Robusto's rep?!

I bet it's that guy from Superman 3, siphoning off rounding errors

Saeed Amiri

12:54

@WillHunting, Thank so much, when you are in chat? If we can fix a time to talk it would be nice

Kitḫ

@MattЭллен I thought that was Office Space.

Matt Эллен

@Kitḫ could have been there too

Superman III

| starring = Christopher ReeveRichard PryorJackie CooperMarc McClureAnnette O'TooleAnnie RossPamela StephensonRobert VaughnMargot Kidder | music = Ken ThorneJohn WilliamsGiorgio Moroder | cinematography = Robert Paynter | editing = John Victor-Smith | studio = DovemeadCantharus Productions | director = Richard Lester | producer = Ilya SalkindPierre Spengler | distributor = Warner Bros. | released = | runtime = 125 minutes | country = | language = English | budget = $39,000,000 | gross = $59,950,623 |}...

@Kitḫ SPOILERS Oh, yeah I remember that - they post the cheque under the door and then Milton sets fire to the building

Office Space

Office Space is a 1999 American comedy film satirizing work life in a typical 1990s software company. Written and directed by Mike Judge, it focuses on a handful of individuals fed up with their jobs portrayed by Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston, Gary Cole, David Herman, Ajay Naidu, and Diedrich Bader. The film's sympathetic depiction of ordinary IT workers garnered a cult following within that field, but also addresses themes familiar to white collar employees in general. Shot in Las Colinas and Austin, Texas, Office Space is based on Judge's Milton cartoon series. It was his first ...

Kitḫ

@MattЭллен Wasn't it actually cash? If it was a check, then they could have recovered the funds.

Matt Эллен

@Kitḫ oh, maybe. I don't remember it in detail

it would make more sense if it was cash

Kitḫ

@MattЭллен Wow. I know I saw all of the Superman movies, but I don't remember any of those details.

Matt Эллен

13:08

I think that and when superman reverses time by flying around the Earth are the only details I do remember!

Kitḫ

Oh, that's in 3? I remember that. "It is forbidden...forbidden...forbidden."

Matt Эллен

oh, I don't know which one it's in :D it's in one of them!

maybe the fortress of solitude is in 3

Kitḫ

"It is forbidden...forbidden...forbidden."

404 Forbidden...forbidden...forbidden.

Good morning, @Matt!

♫ If I were a rich man ♪ da dah da dah da dah da da bah dooby do ♫

Anonymous

Hello

Matt Эллен

13:25

Good morning @Kit :) hugs

sorry, I asked physicist how the Higgs boson works. I almost understand

Kitḫ

Hooray!

Matt Эллен

:D

Kitḫ

So now you understand about the spontaneous breaking of electroweak symmetry?

Matt Эллен

no!

Is that involved with the higgs field?

Kitḫ

Yes.

The Higgs mechanism.

Matt Эллен

13:28

ah, well it didn't come up

Kitḫ

It's for the best.

Man, I miss physics. It's too bad I sucked at it.

Matt Эллен

Me too

Kitḫ

My brother, who is a mathematician first and physicist second, assures me that I would have exceeded him in physics ability, had I had the proper professor.

I don't know though. I've always thought "My teacher was crap" was a huge cop-out.

Matt Эллен

it plays a big role

Kitḫ

Then again, I've had so many teachers in my life that at least a small portion of them must have been crap.

Matt Эллен

13:30

at least it did in secondary school for me.

Kitḫ

I try not to think about it too much. I really wanted to be an astrophysicist.

Matt Эллен

I had a crap geography teacher for two years, then a good one for one year. I learned a lot more from the good one

I didn't want to be a geographer, so I don't worry about it

Kitḫ

Was it really a crap teacher though? Or just an average one teaching a hard subject?

Matt Эллен

I guess I can't know

everyone else had trouble learning from him

I had trouble learning physics, but other people didn't so I can be fairly sure that was me

Kitḫ

Maybe my eldest son will take to astrophysics!

Matt Эллен

13:33

yeah!

user19161

@SaeedAmiri I mean that we can just practise talking if we are both here. And you can just talk to anyone, not only me. Just join in the conversation if you want.

Matt Эллен

@Kitḫ is he into space at the moment?

user19161

@MattЭллен He is definitely in space though.

user19161

@Kitḫ Good idea!

Kitḫ

@MattЭллен He is excited about the moon, and looking at the moon through his new binoculars that he got for Christmas.

> These two items are still incorrect, did you try to fix them and can't?

Frigging users.

Matt Эллен

13:35

@Kitḫ sweet, I love looking at the moon

Kitḫ

I am sort of regretting it. It is very, very cold outside.

Matt Эллен

@Kitḫ do they think about what they are saying?

user19161

It is difficult to understand why the moon looks different on different days and at different places.

user19161

Most of the explanation on the internet is an over-simplification.

Kitḫ

@MattЭллен I'm sure it didn't occur to her that I might never have gotten the message.

Matt Эллен

13:36

@Kitḫ ah. I cycled into work today so I can enjoy the full moon on the ride home. It's relatively warm here (9 C)

Kitḫ

@WillHunting Flashlight and ping pong ball works great.

Matt Эллен

@WillHunting because I ate bits of it, then the sky grew a new one.

user19161

@MattЭллен I used to walk 45 minutes into some military camp every morning during national service.

Matt Эллен

@WillHunting was that fun?

user19161

@MattЭллен Yes, I like walking like Matt 2.

Matt Эллен

13:38

ace. I enjoy cycling in the evening, although cycling in the morning is a bit of a bind

user19161

The model Linda Evangelista said in an ad "Walking is the best exercise for the body".

user19161

I cannot cycle. I tried to learn a few times but never succeeded.

user19161

I am beginning to think I am autistic.

Kitḫ

So Jasper, why did you choose a new name? Turning over a new leaf?

Or excited about math?

user19161

@Kitḫ Not turning over a new leaf. There is nothing to turn over. I did not do any evil deed.

user19161

13:41

@Kitḫ Just identifying with the character in various ways.

Kitḫ

@WillHunting I didn't mean it in terms of "evil" deeds. I meant it as in "taking a fresh look at life."

user19161

@Kitḫ I see. Well, possibly so then.

user19161

@Kitḫ I also think Matt Damon is hot!

Kitḫ

Matt Damon is hot.

And from my neck of the woods, as they say.

user19161

I will see what I want to change into in 30 days.

user19161

13:44

So one can only do rep recalc in 24 hours and change username in 720 hours.

user19161

If I could cycle, perhaps I would cycle instead of walk at the park.

user19161

Walking in the park in the afternoons is dangerous. One may get sunburnt without wanting to get a tan in the first place.

Matt Эллен

best to cover yourself in tiny mirrors, then.

Kitḫ

Tinfoil might be easier.

Matt Эллен

oh! good idea

tinfoil suits for all!

user19161

13:53

Of course where you people are, you may not get sunburnt so easily, or maybe not at all.

user19161

I belong to the group that cannot get dark easily. The tan just fades very quickly.

Matt Эллен

in summer, late spring and early autumn, one is at risk from the sun in the UK. Skin cancer awareness campaigners would go further and say something like "always wear sun tan lotion"

user19161

I once read up on the different lotions available and realized there is a difference between sunscreen and sunblock.

Kitḫ

My husband likes to say that he is Irish white (he's Irish heritage); they don't tan, they burn.

user19161

But manufacturers may not distinguish them on the labels.

Kitḫ

13:57

Jun 27 '11 at 19:07, by aedia

@Kosmonaut "The effectiveness of tin foil hats is disputable [CITATION NEEDED]"

user19161

I also read about a recent study that said that using certain tanners actually increase your risk of getting skin cancer.

Matt Эллен

@Kitḫ oh no! back to the drawing board

user19161

@Kitḫ That was so long ago!

Kitḫ

That was a very funny day.

I miss Kosmo!

user19161

Kosmonaut is probably in a Russian space shuttle.

user19161

13:59

While Cosmonaut would be in an American one.

Matt Эллен

@Kitḫ things seem funnier back then

user19161

But kiamlaluno is returning to chat again.

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…