English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room - 2012-02-15 (page 3 of 5)

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1:00 PM

Or the possibility of having sex with a hot chick if they know the right thing to say.

Which is essentially the same thing.

yeah, well, my favourite technique for deconversion is getting to know the religious person in question and making it happen as if the religion-vs-atheism topic comes up naturally in private conversation between us

Then you kill them?

and then doing that social sort of thing, except that i use arguments too (because it's still a private debate)

And say "That's natural selection, bitches!"

good idea!

1:01 PM

Like putting a dead rat near the rathole, to intimidate the others.

Oh dear. Now we shall never win Mahnax to the Light Side.

Anyway, if someone learns about evolution, in a real way and not a "oh here is a 30 second spiel about science" kind of way, and still believes in creationism, there is nothing more that can be done. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink.

You can teach a man to fish, but you cannot make him think.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Kitḫ As Dogbert once said: "You can lead a horse to water, but by then you'd be tired and you'd smell like a horse."

Indeed. I rather like smelling of horse though.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Kitḫ And I rather like debating with Creationists even when it makes no sense.

Apparently @Reg has no sympathy for people who "chated" on someone and whose sibling majored in "mathmathetic" ...

Sibling? No, the sibling of the person she chated on. Pay attenshun!

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Yeah, I'm there with you.

1:11 PM

@Kitḫ in no rite

RegDwight Ѭſ道

@Robusto you misspelled smythapy.

@MrShinyandNew安宇 But I try very hard not to scratch that itch.

@RegDwightѬſ道 ur an mene man closen sum1s qeston liek taht.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Kitḫ Yeah I have to hold myself back sometimes. Especially in this room.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

@Robusto I can reopen it and close it differently.

1:14 PM

But you know, touch up the spelling, add a few commas, and I'm sure the OP has an instant best-seller and possible Pulitzer Prize on her hands.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Speaking in my official capacity as a Pulitzer Prize winner, Mr. Ddalki, your essay sucks.

@RegDwightѬſ道 Hey, you're harshing that poor dumb bastard's mellow. But I guess that's what you trained for.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Speaking of Ddalkis, didn't Dr. Who eradicate those guys? I don't remember exactly.

user19161

@RegDwightѬſ道 That is new to me.

1:18 PM

@Robusto Actually, technically Rose wiped them out of existence when she absorbed the Time Vortex from the TARDIS.

I mean, or I think someone told me that, whatever that means.

Rose. She gets all the credit. Like, for everything.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Wut iz that retardis u talkin bout?

Rose Marion Tyler is a fictional character portrayed by Billie Piper in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was created by series producer Russell T Davies. With the revival of Doctor Who in 2005, Rose was introduced in the eponymous series one premiere as a new companion of series protagonist the Doctor, in his ninth and later tenth incarnations. The companion character, intended to act as an audience surrogate, was key in the first series more so than any other to introduce new viewers to Doctor Who, which had not aired regularly since 1989. The ser...

RegDwight Ѭſ道

I can see why she gets all the credit.

user19161

@RegDwightѬſ道 Now I know you got your Pulitzer by writing like that.

1:19 PM

I can neither confirm nor deny engaging in any sort of regular viewing activity of any Doctor Who television series.

user image

Her famous jiu-jitsu move.

Oh stop.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

When did Pete Townshend get a PhD?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I worked with Pete Townshend. And Elton Zhang (Say it out loud).

@Kitḫ Hey, you brought up the topic.

1:21 PM

You're killing me.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Ah so that's what it's called now, "topic".

user image

Something mental. Like, who wouldn't expect that.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Heavy mental or no mental at all. Wimps and posers, leave the hall.

Seriously, it was well past time Dr. Who branched off into a little fan service. I'm just saying.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

You misspelled ファンサービス.

user19161

1:24 PM

@MrShinyandNew安宇 I just said it out loud.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

I would like to congratulate Jasper on his Deed of the Day.

claps

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@JasperLoy Good! Did you get the joke?

user19161

@Robusto Jiu-jitsu involves biting a finger?

@RegDwightѬſ道違う。

user19161

1:25 PM

@MrShinyandNew安宇 No, I am bad at jokes.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@JasperLoy Zhang sounds a bit like "John".

@JasperLoy Whatever it takes. That move is particularly devastating in close, one-on-one encounters.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

@JasperLoy You don't have to be good at jokes. You have to be good at getting them.

user19161

@RegDwightѬſ道 But I am good at making jokes, though nobody finds them funny.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

1:27 PM

@Robusto Contrary to popular belief it is more beneficial to use one of the enemy's fingers for biting.

@Kitḫ Why is Ewan McGregor making out with Amy Adams?

shh You're harshing on my mellow.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

11 mins ago, by RegDwight Ѭſ道

Yes, that.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

@JasperLoy you might wish to look up "good" in a dictionary of your choice.

Oh, right. WMT. Should I be fighting someone?

1:29 PM

@Kitḫ Nice use of Franz Ferdinand.

@Kitḫ No preposition required.

@Robusto Agreed. It's one of my favorite pornos featuring The Doctor.

@Robusto Sorry, man, I'm too young for that shit.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

@Kitḫ spend half a bar on whoever you wish if you wish. Then regen for next war.

@Kitḫ You'll grow into it.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

That video is not available in my country. Because of Schwanz Ferdinand.

@RegDwightѬſ道 Now, now. We've gone over this. No videos are available in your country, which is Lower Elbonia or something, and since you are unwilling to move to a DRM-free country we have no sympathy for your plight.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

1:33 PM

My country is DRM-free, and that's precisely the problem.

Mind = assploded. And commuting. Laterz.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Ain't got no fascist RIAA round here.

user19161

@RegDwightѬſ道 I try to follow all instructions given in this room.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Here is your medal.

user19161

@Kitḫ Hmm, but how does biology clearly contradict creationism?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

1:36 PM

@JasperLoy You have answered your question yourself.

It contradicts it clearly, that's how.

user19161

@RegDwightѬſ道 Lame.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

@JasperLoy that's how God has created me.

user19161

Not that I believe in creationism but I think it is a possibility. And it is also possible that God created evolution too.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

That's not creationism.

user19161

:"Creationism" can also refer to creation myths, or to a concept about the origin of the soul. For the movement in Spanish literature, see Creacionismo. Creationism is the religious belief Also: Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0313321221 that humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic God. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis creation narrative. At this time those holding that species had been separately cr...

user19161

1:38 PM

But this is just a discussion as usual, no argument or debate.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

3 hours ago, by RegDwight Ѭſ道

No creationism in this chat.

Next you'll say we can't discuss the imminent invasion of the ZOG army.

Bigot.

:D

RegDwight Ѭſ道

We can't discuss the imminent invasion of the ZOG army.

user19161

But currently I am not a creationist.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

You can't become a creationist. Much like you can't learn to be lesbian.

user19161

1:41 PM

Beliefs change over time, like our thoughts and feelings and perspectives.

user19161

Of course much of it is dependent on our life experiences.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Am I on The Hour of Power or what?

user19161

No, I don't think much of those TV shows or whatever.

You don't have to believe in science, because science believes in YOU!

RegDwight Ѭſ道

In Soviet Russia, yes.

user19161

1:42 PM

Are we in Soviet Russia.

user19161

Jinx.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Yawn.

I ain't handing over cokes to people who are slow like that.

user19161

I am just saying, science is overrated.

shrug

user19161

Science does not contradict religion as much as it may seem.

1:43 PM

Science is overrated for people who don't like to think.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

@JasperLoy Science is not overrated by creationists, though.

At best, it's rated R.

user19161

Only seeing pencil marks in this room is overrated.

And science doesn't contradict religion. They are two completely different ways of understanding the world.

Science = thinking about stuff. Religion = accepting on faith.

user19161

I have a feeling Mr Shiny will get all worked up on this creationism talk soon.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

@KitFox The latter is not understanding, though.

1:45 PM

Fair enough.

It is the method used for coming to understanding.

Is that more satisfactory for you?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

More like coming to inner peace.

And outer wars.

So like: "How do I get my libido back?"

Science says, "Let's explore the physical causes and figure out why it is broken."

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@JasperLoy Science contradicts religion basically all the time. They're fundamentally different thought-systems. The most basic tenet of religion is faith, and faith is anathema to science.

user19161

I am not a creationist but I am a creator. I create words in this room.

Religion says "Stop being a sinner."

RegDwight Ѭſ道

1:47 PM

And all this science I don't understand, it's just my job five days a week.

You're an evolutionary biologist?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

I dunno, you tell me.

user19161

Reg is a Pulitzer winner, he has said.

OMG! You're E.O. Wilson?!

I love your books!

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Everyone keeps saying that. Get original or something.

1:51 PM

I still have my copy of The Diversity of Life from the Genetics and Evolution class I took in college.

Maybe you could autograph it for me.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

I don't autograph books stealed from college. Out of principle.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@JasperLoy Maybe you should read something by Richard Dawkins.

Or Stephen Hawking.

@RegDwightѬſ道 Do you autograph steel booked from college?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Lehnt Lenin grad in Leningrad, stahl Stalin grad Stahl in Stalingrad.

Kith's avatar keeps changing depending on its size. Fascinating.

user19161

@kit has transformed!

user19161

But my avatar is still the winner.

1:55 PM

@RegDwightѬſ道 It'll settle once the acid wears off.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

user image

user19161

I am the blue plane. QED.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

You are the blue underground train.

23 hours ago, by RegDwight Ѭſ道

Gothic Melodic Speed Death Acid.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

2:12 PM

4

Q: When to use "the" before food names

I am new to the English language and I am going to English classes. In the middle of my book, we have a lesson about foods. In this lesson, food names are explained but I do not understand something. We say and write the sandwich or the hamburger. However, when we say and write pizza, coffee, c...

uncountable-nouns food

No votes to close?

@RegDwightѬſ道 Wow, there's $750 on lessons down the drain.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

You wanted to become a lesbian?

@KitFox On behalf of Eliezer Yudkowsky, no more HP:MoR for you!

@JasperLoy No. Science is neither overrated nor underrated. It just is. Unlike religion, it attempts to explain phenomena using evidence and reason. When it has no explanation it is not afraid to say "I don't know," but the thing it doesn't do is make up some magical explanation like "turtles all the way down." Science is unafraid to be ignorant; in fact, it would rather be ignorant than to claim something for which no proof existed.

@Vitaly Hey! I never said that.

2:22 PM

You are a bit forgiven.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

KitFox is an anagram of FitKox.

user19161

@robusto I just realized you not only taught me anaphora and anastrophe, you also taught me anagram. That's very anal.

@JasperLoy It will go down in the annals of something or other. Also, when you're ready we'll move on to the B's.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Ana sagte nicht die Wahrheit, also Ana log dazu.

@Robusto if anything, it will go down in the anannals.

@RegDwightѬſ道 Are those compiled anannually?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

2:26 PM

Anannoyingly.

Ananas.

I guess that makes people in this room who are non-native speakers and creationists ... wait for it ... ananabaptists!

@Robusto thwack!

RegDwight Ѭſ道

I just got an email from Sony Ericsson that they are being taken over by Sony.

There is so much wrong with this world, I don't know where to start.

Ow, ow, ow. Head hurts.

2:30 PM

@RegDwightѬſ道 What, will they now become Sony-Sony Ericsson?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

No, they will become Sony Erics-san.

Or Sony sans-Ericsson.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Oh, clever jokes. When did that start?

@RegDwightѬſ道 Just now. Let the games begin!

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Obviously Jasper doesn't want to be part of that.

Skullpatrol didn't like it either.

2:35 PM

Well, they are the same person, after all.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

We are getting exclusiver and exclusiver by the minute.

@KitFox are they? Is that why Skullpatrol's profile on math does not even exist?

I don't know.

I was joke making.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

You were making a grain of truth.

I am sure I don't know what you mean.

Ahoy, Dread Pirate Ed!

Arrrr.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

2:42 PM

@KitFox en.wiktionary.org/wiki/there%27s_a_grain_of_truth_in_every_joke

@RegDwightѬſ道 On the advice of counsel, I would like to invoke my Fifth Amendment rights at this time.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

I won't allow that.

No Fifth Amendment rights at this time.

@KitFox You have no rights. S1867 did away with them. If you piss off the president, he can have you arrested and detained indefinitely.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

@Robusto More to the point, he can have you arrested and detained indefinitely if you don't piss him off.

@RegDwightѬſ道 Traurig aber wahr.

2:44 PM

Obama and I are tight. I'm not worried about it.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Famous last words.

@KitFox And of course he will always be president.

@Robusto Ain't no road to the presidency that doesn't go through me.

> helpMessage: This is an interesting one. Its value is the message to display when the user moves the cursor over a question mark icon next to the field label.

Wow, redefine interesting, willya? That's from Liferay documentation about the AlloyUI input tag.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

"helpMessage: redefining interesting since Windows ME!"

2:47 PM

@RegDwightѬſ道 Microsoft is so generous. Think of how much humor they created with Windows ME.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Seven?

No. OVER 9000!!!

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Last time I checked it was seven humor.

Well, you haven't checked since, like, 2002.

Eight. It was eight.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

2:47 PM

@Rob @Vit @Kit new active war

Damn it, I just finished forgetting about the old one.

Bah! I grow bored with active wars and crappy decks.

2:59 PM

Spent. 9-2.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

I started off really bad with LtW. Switched back to Gorelesup for much better results.

2

Q: 'The X-ing of Y' vs just 'X-ing Y' : why are both 'the' and 'of' necessary together?

Take the example of There is very little that a conforming POSIX.1 application can do by catching, ignoring or masking SIGSYS (From the SIGSYS article) This can be rewritten as There is very little that a conforming POSIX.1 application can do by the catching, ignoring or masking of SI...

gerund grammatical-structure

@Matt I liked your question.

@RegDwightѬſ道 I've been playing Da Killah. It is a scary deck to play, because a lot of the time you get to go/no-go decisions quickly, and you could win or lose big depending on the breaks.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

No deck for me, then.

in War Metal Tyrant, Nov 21 '11 at 13:58, by RegDwight Ѭſ道

Heck, I'm even afraid of Super Mario Galaxy and Pikmin at times.

Pikmin can be kind of scary.

I really like that game though.

But the second one was better.

I need some food. BRB.

3:07 PM

@RegDwightѬſ道 4/7 with Gorelesup here.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Luck. I only saw one fear deck. Next time I will probably get five in a row.

Necrogeddon kills fear decks if it comes out early enough. In that respect it is superior to Gorelesup, which is entirely vulnerable to fear.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

0

A: What does it mean by "Revenge is a dish that tastes best when served cold"?

Once, I was severely insulted at a club by a new member. One of the founders came to me and asked, "Do you want me to begin proceedings to expel this person?" To the founder's surprise, my response was, "No, this person is bringing her (well-connected) friends to the join the club. Let's make he...

Am I missing something or is this not an answer?

I am seeing flags.

Sorry, man. It doesn't sound like an answer to me.

It's just an anecdote.

Story time!

3:20 PM

That's why I flagged it, anyway.

I don't recall that line from The Godfather. Most people probably know it from Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. But it was a lift there too.

> Its earliest identified appearance in European literature is in the 1841 French novel Mathilde by Marie Joseph Eugène Sue: la vengeance se mange très-bien froide — there italicized as if quoting a proverbial saying — published in English translation in 1846 as revenge is very good eaten cold.

0

Q: Is timeouts a proper word?

Not sure if this is more of a technical question than an English question but here goes. On sending requests to a server my requests timeout. I.e Response is delayed. I am trying to inform the server owner this way Your server timeouts requests from my computer. But it doesn't quite sou...

How is this not genref?

Is it timeout or time out?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Haha WTH four answers already.

@KitFox that's the point. Noun vs. verb.

Look up timeout in the dictionary and you will find it. That's all Barrie England did, for all the textual embellishment he added to it.

@RegDwightѬſ道 Oh, I see.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

3:33 PM

@Robusto To be fair, at least he looked it up in a dictionary the OP has no access to.

@RegDwightѬſ道 Using a sledgehammer to swat a fly.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Wevs. I looks in Wiktionary, I sees same thing.

So closed.

And BTW, I believe we need to dial back our reverence for the OED. It's a great historical tool, but its citations do not trump all other citations, especially when the latest entry for a usage is c. 1790 and the question regards current usage of a term.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

That's where your imagination comes in. Aka Google Ngrams.

Ah. Imagination. So more like Google Engrams.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

3:41 PM

One day Alejandro González Iñárritu will make a movie about ELU, called 21 Ngrams.

I thought there were more than 9000.

You mean Gordon Ingram?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Flash Gordon Ingram?

Flash Thompson?

Thompson submachine gun?

Tommy Gunn?

Peter Gunn?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

in War Metal Tyrant, Sep 8 '11 at 14:01, by RegDwight Ѭſ道

Emma Thompson.

Peter Gunns and roses.

3:44 PM

Nice one.

Life's not all guns and roses, you know.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

user image

That's Commissioner Gordon to you.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Mar 12 '11 at 2:00, by Robusto

Er will uns zerstören.

Oh, hahaha. I was wondering why there was all this "Are you running an ad-blocker?" crap on Kongregate.

Now this week, it's "Guess what? You can have ad-free Kongregate."

RegDwight Ѭſ道

I got that offer a month ago.

3:55 PM

Theta.

Peter Gunns and Rose Tyler. And the wheel has come full circle.

3 hours ago, by Robusto

user image

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Old.

Still works, however.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

So a cougar?

MILF?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

4:02 PM

Nah, soccer moms don't work, they sit at home.

That's what you think.

Is the creationism gone now?

@simchona It left a stain.

@Robusto Eww.

That's the problem with creationists. They don't clean up after themselves.

4:13 PM

And the denialism of science? Is that gone too?

I dunno. It might be hiding.

If it comes out I'll need to go lurk somewhere else

@Vitaly will protect you.

My hero!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@simchona don't forget the logical contradictions. they're not gone either.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

4:29 PM

0

Q: My friend & a friend of mine

Possible Duplicate: “my friend” vs “a friend of mine” Can I use these two interchangeably? However, I have a feeling that they are different. Here is how I think they are different. "A friend of mine" is used when you for the first time refer to one friend am...

possessive determiners

People are too lazy to search for the exact same title. Sigh.

The more I think about it, the more I am inclined to request on MSO that the Ask Question link disappear from the top of every page and be made available in one place only: the search results page, after the very last result.

I am writing an email to a university to let them know that I won't be able to attend an interview, but don't quite know how to tell them without sounding ungrateful for being invited. Would this makes sense?

'While I am delighted to hear that you have decided to invite me for an interview, I will be unable to attend on the day it is scheduled.'

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Sounds fine to me. Not ungrateful at all.

Alright, thank you.

4:58 PM

@Reg, @Vit, @Kit, @Cer: O'O'O are fighting back. Spent again.

5:37 PM

Some days, I really just hate my workplace.

Lately I've been noticing a lot of speakers that partially nasalise vowels before "r"...any thoughts on this?

Maybe ask in the Linguistics room? There are some fans here, too, but I'm sure they'd really be into it over there.

Also where some speakers laryngealise sentence-final words, others seem to nasalise them. :P

Dunno. It's awfully English-specific.

But I will.

lɪŋˈgwɪstɪks

General discussion for linguistics.stackexchange.com

They'd probably be excited to discuss it.

I can't remember who our linguistics fans are here. @JSB is one.

And @aedia, too!

Hi!

5:51 PM

Hi!

I finished the awful horrible terrible pile of steaming w#&k only to have more show up. But a smaller pile, I hope.

And it doesn't have to be shoveled by yesterday, so that's some relief.

Yay! Boo! Yay!

You got a new picture and name while I was busy!

Um, yeah. I thought I would try something new this morning.

Very foxy.

5:53 PM

sanks

:-)

How are things in colored-spreadsheet-land?

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