English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

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Cerberus

16:02

@M.A.R. They were now separated by a space; but the ping might not have worked if there had been no space?

M.A.R.

@Cerberus The ping would've worked if there was no space.

Cerberus

Oh OK, sure?

M.A.R.

See, @Cerberus pings you. @Cerb does as well. @Cerby, however, does not. Neither does @Cerberush.

There are a few exceptions.

@Cerb? prolly pings you

It does!

@Cerberus's and @Cerberus? both ping you, so does @Cerb.

However, @Cerb... doesn't ping you.

Sorry for the pings

user227867

Ping, ping, ping!

M.A.R.

TL;DR; punctuation marks are exceptions to the ''@name must be followed by a space to ping'' rule @Cerb.

Cerberus

16:09

Ah, interesting!

How odd, then, that ... doesn't ping.

How about @Cerberus...?

M.A.R.

@Cerberus Doesn't ping

Cerberus

16:27

That seems like a strange exception to your rule, then?

user227867

Woof!

M.A.R.

@Cerberus It's because it's three chars, not one.

user227867

Today there was a shop assistant that was so friendly that I was scared to stay in the shop.

Cerberus

So how about @Cerberus??

Does that work?

M.A.R.

@Cerberus??

Oh, that is two. Maybe @Cerberus???

Weird. Question marks can overflow.

user227867

16:39

@M.A.R. I got a copy of the Quran translated by Muhammad Abdel Haleem.

Cerberus

@M.A.R. Yay, that works.

Weird indeed.

@JasperLoy Too friendly, as in too helpful?

M.A.R.

Hehe, probably because most internet slackers use an army of question marks to make sure they get answered

Cerberus

That is indeed annoying, however well meant.

M.A.R.

@JasperLoy Yay. Don't know him

Cerberus

Yes @M.A.R.!!!

M.A.R.

16:40

in The Periodic Table, Oct 10 at 14:07, by Jan

@DHMO The number of question marks is inversely proportional to the question's perceived seriosity.

user227867

@Cerberus Just kept smiling and calling me sir, a little too much for my comfort. Also, she was quite pretty, to the point where I wanted to ask her for her phone number, lol.

M.A.R.

@JasperLoy Are you sure she wasn't Indian, sir?

user227867

@M.A.R. She was not Indian, sir.

M.A.R.

Too bad, sir.

Dear Jasper

user227867

My mum had a company annual dinner tonight, so still not back. Almost 1 AM here.

M.A.R.

16:42

OK gotta get some studying done. Cya all

Cerberus

@M.A.R. Not true!!!oneone

terdon

user227867

Do you think Hillary will be voted President on Dec 19?

terdon

> Multiple exclamation marks,' he went on, shaking his head, 'are a sure sign of a diseased mind.'

user227867

I recently learnt that Russia seems extremely conservative in some ways.

user227867

16:46

I guess Russia is not exactly part of the West but part of the East.

Cerberus

@terdon Lies!!!111oneone

terdon

Thanks for proving the point. Apparently, your Mor0n Sc0re® is off the charts.

user227867

Poof!

Cerberus

17:11

By the way, and this may interest you: many people in Europe now see Germany as a bastion of reason and leadership.

If we didn't have the EU now, it would not have been unthinkable for several European countries to become vassals of Germany now.

With popular support.

Except Greece, probably...

Things will no doubt change a bit next year, when the far right will become a major party in Germany for the first time since 1945.

terdon

17:37

@Cerberus Heh, yeah, that's putting it mildly. Although the argument can be made, and some are making it, that Greece has already become one.

Cerberus

17:58

@terdon Haha.

True, true.

3 hours later…

Steve DL

20:49

Hi everyone, a quick question in a hurry. Writing an academic paper, I want to say that something is "sorely needed" or "direly needed" as opposed to simply "necessary". Given the academic context and thus the international readership, would you recommend using or avoiding such terms, which require a more advanced command of English?

suməlic

21:23

@SteveDL I don't know what would be best. To me, "direly needed" sounds a bit odd; I wouldn't use that. (People do commonly say "in dire need of".) "Sorely needed" is fine though, and I don't think it would be too hard to understand.

Or maybe "direly needed" is not exactly odd, but it's definitely less common than "sorely needed" or "necessary."

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Few unique characters in answer, repeating words in answer: What do I do to a door knob to open the door? by Made on english.stackexchange.com

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Repeating words in answer: What do I do to a door knob to open the door? by Made on english.stackexchange.com

tchrist

@Mitch @Helmar @suməlic Seriously guys?

A: Reasons for dupe-close on question with the tag question-tag?

I cannot speak for the other three closers’ reasons for closing it as a duplicate, but my own reason was a simple one: because it is a duplicate. Specifically, the original question asks what the question tag is for: They had to go home, ______? While the duplicate question asks what the que...