@tchrist Why did Community delete this question as "spam or offensive"?

@StoneyB Cuz we’re “workin’ on a problem”.

Or a science experiment.

Not at liberty to say more.

@tchrist I will retreat into a discreet silence then.

All will be, if not well, perhaps we hope better.

@tchrist It came back, transmuted into the past tense: english.stackexchange.com/questions/362105/…

@WillHunting So how does it look side by side, next to the American Heritage Dictionary?

@sumelic I see. Thanks.

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Repeating characters in answer: Difference between "civic rights" and "civil rights" by Bob on english.stackexchange.com

You guys keep on the ball for prowlers. I'm off to bed.

I've been thinking about the word 'openness' tonight. Would you guys say that a willingness to share information is one of the connotations of this word?

(There are many senses of 'openness', but I'm talking about the attitude that people take in their relations with others.)

In relationships, it can be about sharing feelings.

@tchrist That's good to know.

@WillHunting I did check some dictionaries (m-w, Collins, Wiktionary) and it was a little hard to find that connotation which I was looking for — a willingness to share information.

Could it also be about sharing what's new in your life?

@WillHunting Thanks for the recommendations!

@WillHunting Good to know.

@WillHunting No, I was born and raised in the US, and I don't have any Turkish descent. I just went there because I was interested in seeing Turkey.

That's funny.

@SmokeDetector I deleted these since the offending messages have been flagged to oblivion but the user should probably be deleted as well. Pinging the European mod because time zones. @MattE.Эллен

Same goes for this one

@terdon ta

o/

ευχαριστώ

Impressive!

And παρακαλώ!

:)

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Few unique characters in body, no whitespace in body, repeating characters in body, repeating characters in title: worksssssssssssssssssssssssss by Tanu on english.stackexchange.com

@WillHunting 'flipping through' is common for any book-like thing, not reading strictly but looking at pages desultory...ly.

'flicking through' is not really a thing. 'flicking' is a finger action, that one may well use to turn pages of a book and you may well use flicking while flipping through a book, but that's not called 'flicking through'.

@ktm5124 Dictionaries don't have every possible metaphorical use mentioned in them. Words can be used for all sorts of purposes that work perfectly well, but the lexicographers haven't (or don't need to) record that usage.

Surely 'openness' can be used for 'willingness to share information'. But that doesn't mean that usage must be an alternate dictionary entry.

@snailplane haha don't let facts get in the way of my opinions.

I would call that a mondegreen usage.

er... eggcorn

ie a mistake.

a common mistake.

google books says that currently flipping through is way more common, but prior to 1940 roughly the same frequency (and looking at examples in mostly the same contexts, reading and going through pages quickly).

So why were all those people before 1940 totally insane?

or 1/2 of them?

some kind of brain infection?

childhood trauma?

That's flipping crazy

lots of metaphors about light and arrows, not as much about pages

@WillHunting OMG ... that just happened to me too. One important fact: the battery had totally drained, and I was starting up with it plugged in.

@WillHunting Yeah, that guy is illiterate.

@WillHunting I think japanese wants every consonant to be followed by a vowel. and no consonant clusters.

@WillHunting I will totally do that. maybe not carbonara though. probably ramen. or other noodles. and some other food.

the whole point to traveling is to eat other food.

@WillHunting so even if mergers or splits don't happen, something good will come out of it, like people not being jerks on ELU.

@WillHunting looks around

☕

@snailplane Title of the first installment of the next Jason Bourne series: Coda Constraint

@WillHunting I have no idea. Isn't that the edition from the 60's?

I don't see anyone buying dictionaries because I am not in a book store.

I had a MW 3rd but it was ruined when my basement was flooded.

I also lost a reproduction of the 1st Encyclopedia Britannica. Easily replaceable but still.

@WillHunting I am very satisfied with my Compact Eye-poppingingly Small-Fonted OED

I use it maybe once a year.

SOmetimes I use the magnifying glass for helping see to get out splinters.

@WillHunting maybe the modern reproduction is out of print, I haven't looked lately.

@WillHunting Just looked: amazon.com/Britannica-First-Replica-Set-vol/dp/0852290667/…

new at $140

I use my online library accessible OED for any real questions.

@WillHunting all I see in most dictionaries is how they aren't good enough. basic info that should be there but is not. (frequency, formality, collocations) OED does the best though, but that's the point, it's not that good.

and then some dictionaries I've noticed have been too aggressive at putting metaphorical meanings in when the basic meaning covers it just fine.

I'm hard to please.

@WillHunting I like googling '[word] definition' because it gives a whole bunch of online dictionaries (which are all so different. Then I pick the one that will support my argument and ignore the one that causes my argument to fall apart

@WillHunting Time flies like a banana

@WillHunting Have you?

You're missing out.

No sex. Some minimal implied snogging. You don't want to rile up the teenagers

@snailplane Not even Rogue One? What are you some kind of communist?

sigh

shocked!!

how...how.. how dare you

What is wrong with you people? Have you no shame?

You guys probably believe that Santa is your parents, which is absyrd.

@WillHunting I can see where JC gets his sense of humor.

@snailplane what movies have you liked in the past?

whew

Yes, that is a good one.

who is in that one?

i fear that someone dies at the end

Just like...

oops almost gave it away

'Tuck everlasting' is a movie made out of a book for middle schoolers

the point of the book is that the main characters find out they can't die. and it's sad because everybody around them dies (naturally)

@WillHunting that sounds like the last scene of Romeo and Juliet where all those scenarios happen.

that's how good Shakespeare was.

@WillHunting that already sounds horrible. French fils always end with you feeling sorry for the ones who survive.

I think 'Amélie' is an alternate title

There was a recent movie about a Jewish kid in Germany who gets mistaken for a Nazi and he plays along. When I say recent I mean in the past 30 years.

So it's the opposite of bittersweet

@WillHunting That's a difficult movie to watch.

and too long

the car chase scene was terrible. not funny at all

@WillHunting I recommend Il Vitelloni

but that's also black and white

@snailplane just like my Compact OED

but I enjoy just having it.

sometimes less, sometimes more.

Sometimes don't you find yourself buying a book that you really want to read, and then years later you notice you haven't read it?

I have a stack next to my bed like that.

also, you buy a book and then you go to put it with the rest and you notice you already have a copy

I have not yet bought a third copy unknowingly.

Yet.

@snailplane my aspirational library

@snailplane I know exactly where the lent books are. I hope they enjoyed not reading it and then not returning it.

also, I once asked someone if I could borrow a book. They said 'no, because, (they) don't want to lose it'

You can do that? Refuse?

@snailplane we know what you meant to mean. Frankly I'm not reading words anyway. If see you respond I just guess based on two or three keywords.

My books are like friends. So if I lend a book, it's like this other person has my friend. It makes everyone uncomfortable.

Coincidence?

New Testament or Old? or both?

The Bible is like its own Shakespeare library. Histories, comedies, tragedies

@WillHunting do you have Knuth's "3:16"?

@Mitch "Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a computer. Art is everything else we do."

@WillHunting In "3:16", Knuth takes the 16th verse of the 3rd chapter of every book in the bible and gives (1 page) commentary.

@tchrist That's Ecclesiastes 3:16

@Mitch "Email is a wonderful thing for people whose role in life is to be on top of things. But not for me; my role is to be on the bottom of things. What I do takes long hours of studying and uninterruptible concentration."

Reminded me of:

Perhaps not the most suitable for this website, but I thought you might still be able to give me some advice. I've applied for a fancy internship at a research institute, and in my application I addressed the professor as Dear Professor X. He has now responded to my application and given me the position, and he signed with his first name. In my response to that, do I now address him by his first name even though I've never met him? He's rather important academically and it just feels off.

@user129412 Yes, that is a difficult situation.

Normally, one addresses the other person by his first name if that is what he signed his letter with.

However, we can't be sure that that was this professor's intention, that he is aware of that convention.

Being more formal than would be normal in a certain situation is perhaps not ideal, but it can't do much harm.

So that is what I would do.

Better too formal than too informal.