English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Mitch

00:00

@MετάEd looks over shoulder OMG...How did you know?

MετάEd

eyebrow wave

Mitch

@Cerberus RP didn't become non-rhotic until 18th/19th C, right?

Cerberus

I think around that time, yes?

Mitch

I don't know when the upper-crust Southern US accent became non-rhotic (though that is foreign to me, the Southern accent I've heard has always been aggressively rhotic

Cerberus

That I do not know.

Mitch

00:28

and for all you pedants out there... )

Cerberus

Waaah.

closes eyes

Tonepoet

00:50

@Mitch Don't dole out what you can't take, fellow teacher!

Kit Z. Fox

01:22

So here's something I find strange. The Navy is issuing new uniforms, and there's not a ton of reaction except for eye-rolling because I guess there's not much point to 'aquaflage' when you're on a damn boat in the ocean. And one guy made a comment about how they seem to change the uniforms a lot but that's really probably because they just a few months ago switched the women's headgear so they wear covers same as the men now.

But if you read the reg, here's the interesting bullet point sandwiched in the middle of everything:

> Commands may now authorize the wear of a "Don't Tread on Me" and Reverse U.S. Flag patches on NWU Type II and Type III.

Really? Well I find that rather interesting.

And I am rather surprised no one has remarked on it.

Tonepoet

01:41

That's because it's mostly unremarkable. The words have a militaristic significance in american history to them dating back to at least 1775.

By means of comparison, The Declaration of Independence was "ratified" in 1776.

What is remarkable is that they would waste money on aquaflage. I mean if anything, you'd just want to use urban camouflage on an aircraft carrier because the top looks like a metropolitan road.

Mitch

02:48

@Tonepoet I am notorious, in my own mind, for haphazardly closing off parens.

@KitZ.Fox I don't get it. What's special about it?

tchrist

@Mitch )

Tonepoet

03:07

Since every closing parenthesis deserves an opening one, |-|1 7(P\157

Lawrence

03:43

@Tonepoet Good point. There's no new content on undeletion.

SmokeDetector

04:21

[ SmokeDetector ] Few unique characters in answer: Is there a word or phrase to describe a person who doesn't want to engage in serious conversation with you? by user189862 on english.stackexchange.com …

[ SmokeDetector ] Bad keyword in answer: Can a person happen? Is "Zodanga happened" correct? by Doodads on english.stackexchange.com …

user61230

Pops in.

user61230

Is the verb form of fallacy, as in "to make a fallacy," fallace? Says this out loud.

user61230

Pops out.

SmokeDetector

04:52

[ SmokeDetector ] Few unique characters in answer, blacklisted user: Is there a word or phrase to describe a person who doesn't want to engage in serious conversation with you? by user189862 on english.stackexchange.com …

SmokeDetector

05:37

[ SmokeDetector ] Blacklisted user: Is there a word or phrase to describe a person who doesn't want to engage in serious conversation with you? by user189862 on english.stackexchange.com …

SmokeDetector

05:59

[ SmokeDetector ] Offensive body detected, offensive title detected: Popular usage of 'cunt' as a reference to a mate by FiringSquadWitness on english.stackexchange.com …

[ SmokeDetector ] Offensive body detected: Popular usage of 'c*nt' as a reference to a mate by FiringSquadWitness on english.stackexchange.com …

Matt E. Эллен

09:21

@Mitch something to do with rattle snakes? I don't understand, myself

Matt E. Эллен

09:45

For the record, I'm perfectly happy with having stuff I wrote from my website (or from here) posted elsewhere, provided no serious liberties are taken and the original is linked. — John Lawler 16 hours ago

storing it in this record, because I'm deleting the comments

tchrist

10:50

@MattE.Эллен Thanks.

tchrist

11:30

So many negatives, so little time.

I look on the bright side: now I get to make recommendations in the review queue again. :)

tchrist

11:43

1

Q: Description word between new and old?

I am trying to create a scale of descriptive words. I have new content being described as "fresh" thinking of describing old content just as "old" unless you have any other suggestions. My issue is what to describe content that is neither new or old. Looking for one word.

I wonder how many words fall between new and old.

RegDwigнt

Seven.

tchrist

> nib nil nip nod non nor not now nub nut oaf oak oar oat obi oic

ola

:)

oil!

RegDwigнt

Was ist das.

Lawrence

@tchrist In that game, just one: and.

:P

RegDwigнt

I don't get the rules.

tchrist

11:50

mac(tchrist)% perl -E 'say for new..old' | fmt
new nex ney nez nfa nfb nfc nfd nfe nff nfg nfh nfi nfj nfk nfl nfm
nfn nfo nfp nfq nfr nfs nft nfu nfv nfw nfx nfy nfz nga ngb ngc ngd
nge ngf ngg ngh ngi ngj ngk ngl ngm ngn ngo ngp ngq ngr ngs ngt ngu
ngv ngw ngx ngy ngz nha nhb nhc nhd nhe nhf nhg nhh nhi nhj nhk nhl
nhm nhn nho nhp nhq nhr nhs nht nhu nhv nhw nhx nhy nhz nia nib nic
nid nie nif nig nih nii nij nik nil nim nin nio nip niq nir nis nit
niu niv niw nix niy niz nja njb njc njd nje njf njg njh nji njj njk

I'm not cheating by looking them each up, just guessing.

RegDwigнt

I don't get the rules.

Lawrence

@RegDwigнt Between the words new and old (the ones in italics), there's literally just one word.

It's messing with the original question.

tchrist

But and isn't very descriptive.

RegDwigнt

@Lawrence yes, yes, I got your rules alright.

I'm not getting Tom's.

Apr 16 '11 at 22:10, by RegDwight

That's a reference only @Vitaly will fully appreciate. There's a Russian children's verse that goes, "A and B sat on the chimney top. A fell down, B disappeared, who's left?"

tchrist

If you keep adding one to each character on the right, with carry, you describe a sequence "new" .. "old".

RegDwigнt

11:52

Hm.

Lawrence

@tchrist Descriptive wasn't a listed requirement. Besides, it's more descriptive than njk, for example :) .

tchrist

The question is which things in that sequence are "real" words.

RegDwigнt

That's a very roundabout way about it.

Me, I thought we'd be playing the usual word-chain thing.

Lawrence

@RegDwigнt Actually, from a programming perspective, it's probably the most straightforward way.

RegDwigнt

New-net-set-sex-.... till we arrive at -old.

tchrist

11:53

I want ogo to be a word.

RegDwigнt

@Lawrence I am a programmer and "straightforward" is not a word I've heard before.

tchrist

Oh right, the Lebensraum distance.

Er, Levenshtein.

RegDwigнt

Nov 27 '12 at 19:44, by RegDwighт

Well, one has the Levenshtein distance of one, the other of one. So the choice is clear.

tchrist

Why is there an "h" there?

RegDwigнt

Where? In the Lebensraum?

Cuz Fugen-S.

Fugenlaut

Fugenlaute werden in der deutschen Sprache bei Wortzusammensetzungen (Kompositionen) sowie Ableitungen (Derivationen) an den Nahtstellen (Fugen) der ursprünglich eigenständigen Wörter eingefügt bzw. können dort eingefügt werden. Weitere Bezeichnungen für „Fugenlaut“ sind Fugenelement, Fugenzeichen, Fugenmorphem, Kompositionsfuge, Fusem, Inter- oder Infix und Epenthese. Diese Vielzahl an Termini zeigt an, dass Fugen in der Sprachwissenschaft unterschiedlich bewertet werden. == Abgrenzung == Fugenelemente können bei diachronischer Betrachtung mit Flexionsendungen aus dem Plural (Mehrzahl) oder Genitiv…

tchrist

11:55

Nein, sondern in dem Levenshtein.

RegDwigнt

Well you said S at first.

tchrist

I was getting there.

RegDwigнt

Shtop confushing people.

tchrist

SHTAP

RegDwigнt

Anyway, the answer to that is because Levenshtein is obviously a Scottish name duh.

tchrist

11:56

Because if it's not Scottish, it's crap.

Heidel Ber Gensis

RegDwigнt

Yes, no true Scotsman is crap.

Heidel Ber Gensis

guys, what would u call that digit button... a button? a wheel?

tchrist

Hm.

RegDwigнt

I think Mr Levenstein simply didn't like people mispronouncing his name as steen.

Like who the fuck is Ayn Steen? Ayn Rand's evil twin?

It's Eyn Shteyn FFS.

tchrist

11:57

@HeidelBerGensis I would be hard-pressed to come up with an instantly intelligible term. Little number rollover dial wheel?

Heidel Ber Gensis

@tchrist seriously man.. that's a book, not a word.. :/

RegDwigнt

It's a wheel alright. Why you need to be more specific?

tchrist

@RegDwigнt Gurlfrenzied.

@HeidelBerGensis I do that.

Heidel Ber Gensis

i'll go for a digit wheel.. perhaps it will do :)

RegDwigнt

Just write it in German. Nummernwählrollrad.

tchrist

11:59

It should, if it's small and doesn't fight too much.

RegDwigнt

I bet it's just Zahlrad in German.

Or Zahlenrad, rather.

tchrist

Number dial?

RegDwigнt

Well it's a Zahlenschloß, that much is sure.

No idea what the terminus for the wheel is.

Heidel Ber Gensis

i liked the german version ;)

RegDwigнt

Could be anything, actually.

Heidel Ber Gensis

12:01

so, a digit wheel will work?

tchrist

Zahlenwählen?

@HeidelBerGensis sure

Heidel Ber Gensis

thanks guys

RegDwigнt

Don't reinvent the digit wheel.

A decade ago or so BMW, or Mercedes, or some such, won an award for their user manuals upon re-writing them in normal everyday language.

tchrist

Instead of German?

RegDwigнt

One example being, they went and put in "Blinker", which is what everyone actually says, where previously it kept saying "Fahrtrichtungsanzeiger" ("driving-direction-notificator"), which is the technical term not even technicians use.

@tchrist instantrimshot.com

tchrist

12:06

Is the Dvergatal from the Völuspá something like the Zwergezahl?

RegDwigнt

Bless you.

tchrist

bows

RegDwigнt

Taal is Dutch for language, and dver is Slavic for door. And ga is Japanese for emphasis.

So I should guess Dvergatal is an emphatic door language.

tchrist

> Dvergatal, altnordisch für ‚Zwergenzählung', nennt man innerhalb der Lieder-Edda die sieben Strophen der Völuspá

Man they do quote bad.

RegDwigнt

I did say bless you.

Who the f is Lieder-Edda? Dieter Bohlen?

Modern Talking - Cheri Cheri Lady (Official Video)

►

tchrist

12:09

That would be the Elder Edda, presumably.

Dvergatal

Dvergatal, altnordisch für ‚Zwergenzählung‘, nennt man innerhalb der Lieder-Edda die sieben Strophen der Völuspá (10–16), in der etwa siebzig Zwergennamen aneinandergereiht sind. == Stellung in der Völuspá, Überlieferung und Alter == Die Völuspá ist ein Lied der Lieder-Edda, das westnordische Mythen vom Schöpfungsverlauf umfasst, die von der Entstehung bis zum Ende der Schöpfung reichen. Das Dvergatal schließt darin an den Schöpfungsmythos von der Entstehung der Zwerge an und steht vor dem Schöpfungsmythos der Menschen. Innerhalb der Völuspá ist das Dvergatal dabei eine eigenständige Erzähleinheit…

averts eyes

RegDwigнt

Well yes Zwergezahl then.

That's where you get the English teller from.

I still think an emphatic door language would make more sense.

tchrist

And we thought "And you know Dasher and Dancer and Donner and Blitzen" was bad enough.

RegDwigнt

Cheri cheri lady, living in devotion.

tchrist

The Count would like to tell you a tall tale of his tally.

RegDwigнt

May 17 at 14:21, by RegDwigнt

The Count Censored

►

caub

12:36

Is there a laptop unicode character?

📓 is the ancestor of them

💻 k thanks

Lawrence

13:18

@RegDwigнt Brute force, then.

tchrist

13:46

@Lawrence L’attaque!

Lawrence

@tchrist Um, gesundheit?

Laure

14:23

@Araucaria Great answer and great answers in comments. Really enjoyed reading all of it. Can't agree more.

Shafizadeh

15:28

Can please somebody explain me what "front end" means? is it related to the job? I really cannot figure its concept out ..

TIPS

Front-end web development

Front-end web development, also known as client-side development is the practice of producing HTML, CSS and JavaScript for a website or web application so that a user can see and interact with them directly. The challenge associated with front end development is that the tools and techniques used to create the front end of a website change constantly and so the developer needs to constantly be aware of how the field is developing. The objective of designing a site is to ensure that when the users open up the site they see the information in a format that is easy to read and relevant. This is further...

TL;DR; developing stuff users with deal with directly.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

15:52

@Shafizadeh Web sites have traditionally had two components: the HTML, CSS, JS, images, video, etc, that is served to the browser, and the web-server-side logic that generates it, accepts incoming data, handles authorizations, etc.

The first part that reaches the browser is "front-end", the other part is "back-end"

Computer people love to stratify things into "tiers" and assign roles and responsibilities that way.

Cerberus

And not always unreasonably so.

Shafizadeh

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 great explanation .. I got it completely .. thanks

@TIPS thx for the link

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus oh, no, it's usually very reasonable

sometimes they go too far

like the osi seven-layer ~~burrito~~ network model

Cerberus

Sounds delicious.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

physical layer, data link layer, network layer, transport layer, session layer, presentation layer, application layer

TIPS

15:58

@Shafizadeh thx for the thx

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

In practice the number of layers and the implementation of the things in those layers is usually not how the standard says it should be.

TIPS

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Yum

barlop

what's the name for the word that follows something like "the beginning of"?

can you say the next thing is the subject?

TIPS

I'm having a traditional lunch which is basically meat, potato, onion and vegetables.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@barlop I don't think that's the right term.

TIPS

16:00

@barlop No, what's your reasoning for this?

barlop

I don't have any.

Just what's the term for the word that follows?

TIPS

It would be a complement of "of".

barlop

ok, thanks

TIPS

The "of-phrase" is itself a complement of "the beginning".

The whole thing is a noun phrase.

Cerberus

The object of the preposition of.

TIPS

16:01

'Hey, what are those futuristic goggles for, anyway?' 'Oh, this is just a broken Google Glass. It was 2010's night at the club.'

Cerberus

Object (grammar)

Traditional grammar defines the object in a sentence as the entity that is acted upon by the subject. There is thus a primary distinction between subjects and objects that is understood in terms of the action expressed by the verb, e.g. Tom studies grammar - Tom is the subject and grammar is the object. Traditional theories of sentence structure divide the simple sentence into a subject and a predicate, whereby the object is taken to be part of the predicate. Many modern theories of grammar (e.g. dependency grammars), in contrast, take the object to be a verb argument like the subject, the difference...

TIPS

Oh, O. Right

And the head of the noun phrase is "beginning" @barlop, and it may be the subject of your sentence, depending on how your sentence is phrased.

Mitch

@Cerberus that's so objectifying

@TIPS which vegetables? and is the onion cooked?

TIPS

@Mitch The onion's cooked or sometimes fried, and the vegetables vary from even house to house. Today there weren't any vegetables but there was tomato.

But only to-mah-to, not tomayto.

-13

Q: Can we remove the following from "off-topic" for english?

The help page states that the following is "off-topic" for english.stackoverflow.com: Criticism, discussion, and analysis of English literature With Literature now gone, I think that we should allow this type of question in english.stackoverflow.com, in the same way (in the U.S.) English lit...

discussion feature-request

Mitch

16:32

@TIPS mmm... fried onions

TIPS

Now I'm hungry again @Mitch.

Dammit

Rejlan Givens

evening

Good evening

TIPS

Evening

More like night

@Mitch what are the chances that I enter a chat and say "night!" and people misunderstand it to mean I'm going to sleep?

Rejlan Givens

Hey TIPS

potato tomato or what you call it

:)

Tips I need a little help quickly

TIPS

I need to help you quickly

Rejlan Givens

16:45

I've come across this sentence which is part of official procedures and is written by a native speaker

TIPS

Oh. Thank God it's not proofreading

Rejlan Givens

here is one of the duties listed

Perform assessment and coordinate weather forecast officeemergency
closing procedures

I don't understand what it means

again, it is written by a native english speaker in an official document

weather forecast office emergency closing procedures

that is all one and the same phrase, and I don't understand what it means

TIPS

@RejlanGivens Well, do you know what "emergency closing procedures" means?

Rejlan Givens

That's my question, and I'll be generous and allow anyone to participate in answering it

no TIPS

TIPS

Have you checked the individual meaning of words in a dictionary?

I need to understand what level your problem is at.

Rejlan Givens

16:49

Tips, you can take it for granted that i know the individual meanings of those words

well the level is the phrase "weather forecast office emergency closing procedures"

the whole part before the work "procedures" is supposed to modify it's meaning

it is supposed to say about what kind of procedures are being referred to

how i understand it, there is a sort of procedures that weather forecast office has in place in case of emergencies

that is my understanding of it, but it still doesn't make sense

TIPS

It's the closing procedures that will be used in emergency situations. These procedures are for the "weather forecast office".

Rejlan Givens

yes but can you tell me if "closing procedures" entails some established procedures, and what kind of procedures would a weather forecast office have in place for closing what in cases of emergencies

TIPS

@RejlanGivens I can't tell that without further context, but it's got to be the normal stuff you do if the building is on fire.

Rejlan Givens

I hope linking is allowed here, here's the link for the document ci.berkeley.ca.us/uploadedFiles/Planning_and_Development/…

If you have a spare second to take a look at it tips please

TIPS

iCANN.pdf

This must be Apple's next product.

Rejlan Givens

16:55

hope they make the brochure clearer than that

Can you tell me TIPS, what did you mean by "these procedures are for the weather forecast office", did you mean that this office has adopted those procedures?

TIPS

@RejlanGivens No, they will be acted upon in that office.

@RejlanGivens 670 pages. Which page should I be looking at?

Rejlan Givens

aaahhhh

sorry, page 244 bottom of the page

still unclear

but I understand you're saying that the weather forecast office will act upon emergency closing procedures provided to them by the person who is responsible for delivering those procedures to them

TIPS

Yah

Now you have another question. That what those closing procedures are.

Rejlan Givens

can I ask just one more about this one Tips

TIPS

There isn't much semantics left to that phrase that you don't understand.

M-J

17:02

Hello everybody.

Rejlan Givens

hello M-J

M-J

Somewhere I was reading someone's story who had been slapped in back of his neck very strongly and he had pain and was afraid of getting paralyzed.
After reading his whole conversation with a doctor, a small question popped into my head. They were both saying it *slap in back of neck or slap to the back of neck*.
Can't we simply say it "A slap on the neck" without "back"?
Like: He slapped his kid on his neck!
(It's a really harsh thing to do, though)

Rejlan Givens

there is, because I don't know what sort of action is supposed to be performed by the forecast office

TIPS

@M-J That would at best be ambiguous. If someone tells me they were hit on the neck, I would imagine it wasn't back, but front.

@RejlanGivens Closing the office?

Rejlan Givens

I'm not sure TIPS and I'm not sure whether I'm not sure correctly described my state of confusion about this

TIPS

17:05

What we know is that they'll close something in the case of an emergency.

Rejlan Givens

the office?

TIPS

Since I'm not with this coordinating emergency stuff, I can only guess.

Rejlan Givens

will close something?

M-J

@TIPS Uh-huh, so should we say this "He slapped his kid on the back of his neck"?

TIPS

@RejlanGivens No, the person will.

@M-J I guess so.

Rejlan Givens

17:06

Thank you very much TIPS, it is much clearer than it was

M-J

@TIPS Thanks for your help.

Rejlan Givens

if you insist I can bother you with one more question

:)

TIPS

@RejlanGivens I'm not familiar with that profession, so I can't deduce any further from that. No one unfamiliar can. But if people are familiar, they'll inherently know what's up.

Rejlan Givens

thank you TIPS, I understand

TIPS

Bullet points usually leave out a lot of context if well-written, and people familiar with the topic are able to follow what they say.

Rejlan Givens

17:08

well the other question is strictly about vocabulary, but from the same field

makes sense

TIPS

If it's not technical terminology I might be able to help.

Rejlan Givens

in the same document they make a distinction between Designated Official and Designee

something has to be reported to one or the other

these two terms mean the same to me

in both cases it is a person who was delegated to do something

I don't understand the difference

TIPS

Hmm . . .

They do mean the same.

But perhaps they are nothing more than labels.

I'm getting the feeling "designated official" is superior to "deisgnee" in some way.

Rejlan Givens

as you said, there may be a subtle difference between these terms, to someone who works in the field

but glad to know they generally mean the same

I was thinking the same

designee sounds like someone sub-delegated if that makes sense

TIPS

@RejlanGivens Or they might just be labels introduced just in that context not to repeat certain phrases again and again.

Rejlan Givens

17:11

designated by a designated person

TIPS

What you can do if find those phrases.

Look for definitions.

Rejlan Givens

I've looked everywhere tips

TIPS

Something like "a designee is a guy who . . . "

Rejlan Givens

but couldn't find any useful information

TIPS if you ever need help with your serbo-croatian

TIPS

That means it's as I suspected.

Rejlan Givens

17:12

please make sure you ask me for help

will be glad to help

:)

TIPS

Sure

(ﾉ＾◡＾)ﾉ︵ ┻━┻

Rejlan Givens

no that is not the one

I don't recognize the sequence of symbols

but the last one does look like an upside down table

or a bench

TIPS

@RejlanGivens Yes, it's an internet meme: Table flip

Rejlan Givens

it has some symbolics

?

TIPS

Nah, nowadays the face expression is all that matters.

People on internet need to come up with more creative ways to express smileys.

Rejlan Givens

17:15

:)

TIPS

It was originally just (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻.

Which meant something along the lines of "screw it".

Rejlan Givens

I'm bad at guessing smileys Tips

nooo

you know tips, when I don't understand something I tend to be okay with that

but when I don't understand the answer

It is really frustrating

:)

TIPS

Then you're normal

Rejlan Givens

I don't know

or I'm within my normal range of stupidity

that is fine

kind of you to help me TIPS

that is one less frustration for me

see you soon I hope

byeee for now

TIPS

Cya

M-J

17:26

Hi everybody, Which of these do you prefer to say while someone asks about the purpose of your visit of somewhere:
1_ I'm just dropping by my parents.
2_ I'm just making a short visit of my parents.

Matt E. Эллен

I prefer 1.
with 2 it should be "visit **to** my parents"

M-J

@MattE.Эллен Hi Matt. thanks for the response. Isn't "visit to" special to making a visit to doctors?

by any chance of course.

Matt E. Эллен

people don't usually say "making a visit", but when they do, it has to have a prepositional to added, if they specify where they're going at the end.

M-J

OK. Do you mean "I'm just visiting my parents" is the better case?

Matt E. Эллен

yes. definitely

M-J

17:31

Thanks a lot.

Matt E. Эллен

no probs :)

M-J

:)

Matt E. Эллен

with regards to making ... of, it implies something that doesn't make sense. For example, you can say "I'm making a salad of tomatoes and cucumbers", which means the tomatoes and cucumbers become the salad. So, saying you're "making a visit of your parents" means you taking your parents and turning them into a visit. That's not how visiting works :D.

MετάEd

17:47

Out of votes.

TIPS

18:09

@MετάEd vote-capped?

MετάEd

@TIPS A-yup.

TIPS

Are you working for a badge, or have idiotic queries taken a toll?

Mitch

18:24

@TIPS I'd understand it to mean that you were walking down the street, someone drives by with the window open, throws out some thing that lands at your feet (splat!), and that thing is a 'night'. Then you'd shout out in disgust...

'Night!'

But maybe that's just me.

TIPS

@Mitch Ten in a row.

Actually one, but who cares about a zero?

Mitch

Also, 'Good night!' actually means 'See y'all tomorrow, I'm going to sleep' so the probability is pretty high.

Also, it really weirds other people out if you come back a minute later because you forgot something before you go ahead and everybody is all confused, they don't know whether to ignore you or go through the whole 'g'night' routine all over again

@MattE.Эллен That's not how it works in your country?

You can make a hash of a visit.

Matt E. Эллен

@Mitch In my country parents make a visit of you

Mitch

anxiety triggered

starts cleaning up

stops

Hmm...new pharmaceutical idea... an anti-anxiety medication that induces a feeling of resignation

Didn't our grandparents ever visit our parents, so that our parents know what it's like? Or maybe they know exactly what it's like, and are intentionally charging it forward.

angrily punches telephone keys calling mom

dad answers

TIPS

18:42

Consecutive italic chat messages are representative of chat's humor content.

Mitch

'Hey Dad.' ... 'No nothing, just calling to see how things are going.' ... 'Yep, nothing here either' ... 'Yeah, we totally should'...'OK bye'.

Call with Mom. exactly the same conversation but each ellipses replaced by 100 ellipses.

TIPS

18:54

@Mitch I wanna see a demonstration

Mitch

recording conversation

MετάEd

19:10

@TIPS Just voting on questions either that come up in queue or are new today.

TIPS

@MετάEd OK. Where I come from you don't vote-cap unless the site is flooded or I'm hunting a badge, so . . .

Mitch

19:44

still recording

TIPS

@Mitch Oh, out loud?

Mitch

51 mins ago, by TIPS

@Mitch I wanna see a demonstration

TIPS

@Mitch Was actually referencing twitter.com/chrishallbeck/status/560478957959933953

Mitch

@TIPS Oh. If you think you're trying to make sense at least try by giving the links ahead of time.

TIPS

@Mitch Make sense? MAKE SENSE?

I thought this chat was all about the opposite?

MετάEd

19:55

@TIPS I'm sorry, I'm finding your commentary incomprehensible.

TIPS

@MετάEd Yay

I can finally celebrate my first success at being comprehensibly incomprehensible.

Looks for another subject

BTW, does Docs.SO interest any of y'all?

I've never seen such rapid development from the SE team's side. If only they were half as fast about meta.SE FR's . . .

Mitch

20:12

17 mins ago, by Mitch

@TIPS Oh. If you think you're trying to make sense at least try by giving the links ahead of time.

MετάEd

20:32

@TIPS What is it?

Matt E. Эллен

Stack Overflow documentation project

Mitch

For real?

Documentation is the least rewarding activity of software development

Matt E. Эллен

21:04

well, now you're rewarded with Fake Internet Points™ for doing it!

Mitch

Fake Internet Points?

furiously writes documentation

The best part about documentation is that it doesn't need to compile or be tested

Matt E. Эллен

I'm pretty sure it gets tested. tested in production

Mitch

Both the JIRA and Trello documentation state clearly that all documentation modification requests are authored, curated, and submitted to a process writing to a repository called '/dev/null/'

MετάEd

@MattE.Эллен All right then ... where is it?

@Mitch /dev/null isn't a directory.

Mitch

21:19

@MετάEd yeah uh huh it is

or maybe a file

MετάEd

It's a special file.

Mitch

it's definitely a thing

directories are special files.

the first database

You just don't recognize it with all that makeup

Araucaria

@Laure Hi Laure, thanks for the kind comment. Are you an applied linguist by any chance, Laure? (I think I got that impression from one of your answers somewhere)

Lawrence

22:59

@TIPS That's an interesting meta Q&A. Was there something more you'd like to say on the topic?

Tonepoet

23:14

I don't know about him, but I'd complain about the definition of literature we use. I'd prefer if it was textual criticism instead. =P

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