English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

13:00

@Cerberus @Kit morning

Cerberus

Hi!

KitFox

Hi @MrShiny!

Fancy meeting you here.

Robusto

Hola.

KitFox

Seems like we were talking about books not five minutes ago.

Hi @Robusto!

Robusto

How'd your negative transfer go, @Kit?

KitFox

13:02

It's going, but slowly.

Cerberus

I'm looking at a map of my country displaying male/female ratio at an extraordinarily detailed scale: one dot (can be zoomed in through Google Maps) represents 38 people!

KitFox

I finished archiving most of the home movies, so I'll probably transfer the tapes next.

I'm doing negatives in between.

Cerberus

Well done.

Robusto

@Cerberus Are you now trying to connect the dots?

Cerberus

@Robusto I am; turns out Amsterdam is one of a few cities with more men.

Surprise, surprise.

The other cities all have more women, except Delft, which is mainly one big technical university.

Blue is men, yellow is women.

Robusto

13:05

What is the purpose of the exercise?

Cerberus

There is none.

This is income. You can nicely see the semi-circle of the 17th-century canals.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@KitFox Haha, after you left the chat I read a review of the Wheel of Time books that totally tore them apart. Sadly I have to agree with a lot of what was written, except that despite their flaws I really, really liked them. So maybe I have no taste. But irregardless: the last book comes out in a year.

Cerberus

The Wheel of Time is praised by most fantasy fans I know.

So take heart: you have taste—as far as taste goes with fantasy, hehe. I do enjoy it myself, although I have never read the Wheel of Time.

KitFox

@MrShinyandNew安宇 "irregardless"?!? Oh dear.

Cerberus

Oh, God. I didn't even see it.

Turns out I'm not that much of a peeving prescriptivist.

KitFox

13:10

quietly makes notes in tome of judgment

RegDwight Ѭſ道

0

Q: Yet another who / whom query (sorry!)

Could someone please enlighten me as to which of the following is correct: 1) "Determine whom is travelling to whom?" 2) "Determine who is travelling to whom?" 3) "Determine whom is travelling to who?" if neither party is the subject. Sorry if it's an obvious one - I'm a programmer, not a lin...

whom

Can we please kill this with fire?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@KitFox teehee I did that on porpoise.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

39

Q: What's the rule for using "who" or "whom"?

I can never figure out whether I should use "who" and "whom". Most people use "who" for both colloquially, but that's not correct. What's the rule for using "who" or "whom"?

pronouns confusables object

KitFox

Thanks, I was just looking for that.

Robusto

@RegDwightѬſ道 I voted to close, and it shows up closed in the questions list, but when I click on that link it looks open with but a single close vote.

Ah, now it's caught up. Must have been a caching issue. But a strange one. Doesn't usually take that long.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

13:16

@Cerberus It's praised by a lot of fans but also not-praised by a lot of fans. It has a quite significant flaw in that the story drags a lot in the middle part of the series and the author is quite long-winded at times. But I still like the story a lot and hence recommend it.

Cerberus

Ah OK. What are its main strengths, to you?

KitFox

@Robusto Probably my fault. I was editing the "possible duplicate" comment, instead of starting a new one.

Robusto

Whatever you do, don't start The Song of Ice and Fire series. Interesting? Yes. Engrossing? Yes. But way the fuck too long. Also the narrative is too chopped up and desultory.

I see FF can't let go of my "Is Python a snake or a programming language?" meta question title. I feel I have wounded his psyche deeply with that single act.

Cerberus

Oh, I hate that. With lots of cliff-hangers followed by a chapter about another character?

Usually not enough to spoil a book, though.

Robusto

@Cerberus Yes. And there are so many characters and it can be so long between chapters about each one that sometimes you forget which character the new chapter is about, or what he/she means to the plot. And then the author changes the character's name if a character is trying to be incognito, so you lose all connection with the original. There are currently five books in the series, each about 800 pages long, and you can go an entire book without mention of several characters!

And here I thought keeping up with the characters in Dr. Zhivago was hard, what with all the nicknames and patronymics and what have you.

Cerberus

13:26

Oh, that is very annoying.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

WHAT?! Ice and Fire is the best! Well, the first three volumes are awesome. The last two drag a bit.

Ice and Fire's main strengths in the first 3 volumes were that the author was very succinct and he left unsaid quite a bit of detail. He seems to have forgotten to do that in the last 2 volumes.

Wheel of Time's main strengths ... hm. I really enjoy the level of detail in the world-building. I think the setting is probably it's main strength.

KitFox

Agh! "its"!

@MrShiny You are making me crazy this morning.

<— needs moar coffe

Robusto

Gotta motor. Laterz.

user19161

@Robusto The title did not wound me but I have to say I don't understand the question from the title alone.

user19161

@Mahnax Enjoy your skiing!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

13:41

@KitFox whoops that one was an honest mistake

KitFox

it's mane strenth

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

brb, restarting to apply windows updates, so that my computer doesn't become like Cerb's

KitFox

Apparently, I am sensitive today.

Oh right! Updates...

user19161

@MrShinyandNew安宇 It could just be finger habits.

Cerberus

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Hey, at least I don't have to wait for anything or restart or all that stuff!

user19161

13:45

@Cerberus It's not a long wait usually and you can always go and make tea in the mean time.

Cerberus

Even regularly restoring a clone (if you're scared of viruses) is quicker than waiting for updates to install, so it is really a bad investment of your time.

user19161

@KitFox Now you have caught my habit of correcting spellings too.

Cerberus

@JasperLoy But I don't have to wait at all!

Or do anything!

Yay!

I am a free man!

user19161

@RegDwightѬſ道 I still prefer to use whom even in the cases who is permissible.

Cerberus

"In the cases"...wouldn't "where" be better?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

13:47

@Cerberus How is regularly losing any changes I've made faster than applying updates? I'm already done

Cerberus

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Which changes? Only those to the OS. But why change it? I mean, occasionally a program requires registry changes or drivers, sure, then you need to reinstall those. But most programs work fine as long you you keep your profile folder.

Of course I have many versions of clones: the one I would restore to is the one in which all my important programs are all pre-installed.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus You are over-complicating your life in order to work around a non-problem.

Cerberus

Cloning really is the best thing.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I restart my windows PC once a month or so.

Cerberus

But my life is very simple! I just don't do anything!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

13:52

It takes about 90 seconds.

user19161

Even restarting just takes a while.

Cerberus

I used to restart about once a week.

But then I calculated how much energy that cost.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus You don't have updates, though. And your work-around for having an insecure OS is to keep a "believed-good" clone lying around so that you can restore it whenever you want.

Cerberus

Yup.

If I have to believe my power meter, my computer alone costs € 20 a month if I leave it on 24/7.

So if I can save half of that by turning it off when I'm not using it, that's worth it to me.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus So in order to avoid 90s of restarting every month, you have to set up VMs, clone them, keep clones around, re-install apps and drivers and stuff that changes whenever you've restored to a clone, etc.

user19161

13:55

@Cerberus The energy you spent in calculating that is probably more than the energy being calculated.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus Wait... you turn off your computer?

So just install the updates before turning it off?

Windows can do that automatically

user19161

@MrShinyandNew安宇 But you still have to flick the power switch.

Cerberus

@MrShinyandNew安宇 I don't need no VMs. I just double-click Paragon and have it create or restore a clone. During creation I can just keep doing whatever I'm doing. Takes five minutes.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@JasperLoy what does that have to do with the price of tea in china?

@Cerberus that's still harder than NOT cloning your computer

Cerberus

@MrShinyandNew安宇 I restart a lot when I'm busy installing something or getting something to work. I would have to be bothered with updates at that moment.

user19161

13:58

@MrShinyandNew安宇 I never made a clone. But I have all my data outside. I can always reinstall.

Cerberus

@MrShinyandNew安宇 But it gives me a 100 % guarantee that I can restore my computer to a perfect state.

It's really great.

If somehow something happens on your computer that you don't like, such as when a program changes something that you can't readily pinpoint, you are totally immune! That is fucking great.

You don't even need to bother with trying out programs in virtual machines.

user19161

@Cerberus Oh yeah, not only does an elephant not want to be dropped onto a durian, it also does not want a durian to be dropped onto it!

RegDwight Ѭſ道

0

Q: Is the correct English pissflaps or piss-flaps

Is the correct English pissflaps or piss-flaps in this poem http://www.scribd.com/doc/32943004/Aghani-Al-Kus-erotic-poetry

grammar

Gotta run. Laters.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@RegDwightѬſ道 again?

user19161

I thought that was the old question at first.

Cerberus

14:02

@JasperLoy Then it should catch the durian and throw it back.

user19161

@Cerberus Even catching it with the trunk would be painful.

Cerberus

Then it should wear a trunksleeve.

user19161

But I am not sure if a porcupine would find a durian painful.

user19161

The durian might find the porcupine painful.

Cerberus

Perhaps, but the stench alone...

KitFox

14:06

Hmm, I'm thinking homefries sounds good this morning.

BRB

user19161

@KitFox You changed again.

KitFox

14:17

@JasperLoy Yeah, I think this one might be too small though.

Or maybe I should just talk even more.

So my image gets big!

I could just prattle on and on

So I have many lines of chat,

Then my icon will be HUGE!

Maybe even OVER 9000!!!

Cerberus

This must be an enormous effort for you!

KitFox

Nah. This isn't going to work. Too bad, because it is a cute picture.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

So. Who wants to answer anne's meta question?

KitFox

Post it.

Please.

@Cerberus Makes me feel like my mother.

Cerberus

It's OK. Some people are just talkers others aren't.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

14:24

0

Q: why do you keep closing this question about pissflaps or piss-flaps-What are you afriad of

why do you keep closing this question about pissflaps or piss-flaps http://www.scribd.com/doc/32943004/Aghani-Al-Kus-erotic-poetry

discussion

I am tempted to answer "why do you keep posting it", and leave it at that.

Cerberus

What the...

KitFox

0

A: why do you keep closing this question about pissflaps or piss-flaps-What are you afriad of

Because you are a troll who is trolling.

Cerberus

I really don't understand where she gets that from.

KitFox

Is that sufficient?

Cerberus

Haha.

You have just fed it.

KitFox

14:26

Can't help it.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

0

Q: what do we call a person really good at english?

if a person is really good in English language,usage of words,with tremendous vocabulary and knows every thing in English what can we call those persons?

single-word-requests

And the answer is... Jeff Atwood!

KitFox

No, he is beyond simply "really good."

RegDwight Ѭſ道

But beyond simply "really good" covers "really good" as well.

Just because someone's GMAT score is OVER 9001, doesn't mean that it isn't OVER 9000.

user19161

@KitFox That is lacking a unit of measurement.

user19161

But I think someone should give Anne a definite answer on that meta question once and for all.

KitFox

14:32

@RegDwightѬſ道 I voted to close as Not Constructive and left a nice little note.

user19161

@RegDwightѬſ道 We call them Legend.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

0

Q: Is the proper phrase "Be Discovered" or "Get Discovered"?

I am working on a website and I'm having a little difficulty selecting an appropriate message on the signup page. Consider the following sentences: Sign up to Be Discovered. Sign up to Get Discovered. Which of these phrases is more grammatically correct? I assume "Get Discovered" is more...

grammar phrase-requests web-phrase

6

Q: Why is "to get" sometimes used where "to be" could be used?

Why is "to get" sometimes used where "to be" could be used? Examples: "The video got uploaded to the web site." vs. "The video was uploaded to the web site." "He got thrown in the pool." vs. "He was thrown in the pool." "We got caught!" vs. "We were caught!" Is that usage correct?

passive-voice past-participle

With an answer by nohat, no less.

Robusto

@RegDwightѬſ道 Damn! I thought you were going to say "a pedant."

user19161

I was not here. What was the closing reason for piss flap question?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

@JasperLoy The way I remember it, the closing reason was "get a life".

Robusto

14:35

@RegDwightѬſ道 BTW, you don't have to suck up to JA anymore. Besides, isn't masturbation really the sincerest form of flattery?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

How is that a besides?

user19161

@RegDwightѬſ道 No I mean seriously.

Robusto

@RegDwightѬſ道 It didn't sound like you were working it.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

@JasperLoy I undeleted the original question, closed the dupe as a dupe thereof, and deleted both questions.

@Robusto I am working it all the time. And then some.

Robusto

@RegDwightѬſ道 I guess we can be grateful this isn't video chat.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

14:36

Guess again.

user19161

@RegDwightѬſ道 I see. Maybe we should explain to Anne about things.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

@JasperLoy her account previously got deleted. Dunno who did it, but it doesn't go without a message being sent to her.

I am not explaining things to deleted people.

user19161

If I see a question asking about the meaning of piss flaps, I might vote it as general reference maybe.

KitFox

It's not about the meaning.

It's about whether or not to use a hyphen.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

It's about spamming the link.

user19161

14:38

Look up piss, flap and piss flap. It's all over the internet.

user19161

Oh hyphenation.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

She posted a few more questions that were thinly veiled spamae's.

user19161

But sometimes it is hard to figure out someone's real intention.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

You won't figure out her intention by talking to me. :P

KitFox

I don't care about her intention. I care about her action.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

14:40

She has a nice comfy meta post, cuz Im nice like dat. Go greet her there.

KitFox

Couldn't you please just delete that user? He's annoying.

Robusto

@RegDwightѬſ道 You mean this is video chat? I thought you didn't get video in your country.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

And I don't.

Video chat doesn't cut both ways.

user19161

@Robusto Some of the youtube links were available in mine but not in his I remember.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Look, I only said that Rob's guess was wrong. Is all.

His guess being that you can be grateful.

user19161

14:45

@KitFox Hmm but in this case the action itself is just asking about hyphenation.

KitFox

@JasperLoy No, the action is blatant link-spamming.

user19161

But I did not see any of her questions so I am staying out of this.

KitFox

The user admits that the word doesn't exist, also that it is idiomatic English (whatever that is supposed to mean), also that hyphenation is not used.

The user is a troll.

Who can't keep his story straight.

Robusto

@RegDwightѬſ道 Obviously a logical fallacy. In Latin, I believe it is called argumentum ad Robiswrong, and it is among the worst errors in reasoning.

user19161

@KitFox Anne is a woman I believe.

KitFox

14:47

@JasperLoy It is a guy pretending to be a woman, so we will feel less "offended" by the word pissflaps.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

@Robusto every argument about Rob is the worst error. Ever.

KitFox

And it will seem as though he is a poor victim.

Robusto

@JasperLoy You want to believe that about all Annes. Sadly, it is not the case.

user19161

@Robusto Yeah I think I trust people too easily.

KitFox

"I was just translating some erotic Sanskrit poetry when you all got so mean to me. I mean Wanta fuck and Is your cunt hairy? were so well-received, obviously you don't recognize my genius."

Robusto

14:49

@RegDwightѬſ道 You really have a hair up your ass today.

user19161

@Robusto But there really is hair in that region.

KitFox

I think he'd like us to think that we would be impressed by his physical prowess.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

@Robusto QED

KitFox

Personally, I enjoy that thought.

user19161

@RegDwightѬſ道 Royalties come to me.

Robusto

14:50

@RegDwightѬſ道 OED

KitFox

LED

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Have Jasper and Robusto switched accounts?

user19161

@Robusto Online EL&U dictionary.

Robusto

@KitFox GED

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Oh, and: new active war.

Robusto

14:51

@RegDwightѬſ道 You're the one who said QED, not me.

@RegDwightѬſ道 Well, have fun.

user19161

@RegDwightѬſ道 J=Will Hunting=Will Smith=Legend=Legendary=R. QED.

KitFox

Much better, @Jasper.

@Robusto Zed.

Robusto

@KitFox Red!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@KitFox ZED? (Zed eee Dee)

KitFox

@Robusto Fred!

Robusto

14:53

@KitFox Fred? Fred wed!

Huh? Maybe I missed something, but why are some questions darker than others in the list?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Facepalm.

Check your favorite tags.

KitFox

headdesk

Robusto

Ah. They didn't used to have that on ELU.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Yeah. Except since its very inception.

Robusto

Well, I never "favorited" any tags here. And I resent if someone favorited them for me.

Cerberus

14:56

Ahh so it's tags.

I keep forgetting.

Robusto

Actually, I hate all tags equally.

Cerberus

I guessed it might be something obscure like that (I never use tags).

I just don't believe in tags.

Robusto

I don't play favorites.

Cerberus

I mean, they would only work if everybody on the site had the exact same ideas about categories all the time.

Quod non.

Robusto

I want to find out how I can unfavorite a tag that someone has favorited for me.

KitFox

14:58

You don't have it as a "favorited" tag. You earned it by having a certain amount of rep for that tag.

Cerberus

Ohh.

Is that it.

Well, the highlighting is barely visible anyway.

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