English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

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F'x

08:36

@RegDwightѬſ道 what's weird is that your superping took 2 days to come to me

has deflation also affected speed of light in Soviet Russia?

or did @Reg get the cheap, slow kind of mod powers?

Excellent recovery: ... which we could try to use to somehow save your original brother!

(I'm sure I could manage a more relevant one, but I haven't had neither coffeee nor a decent night's sleep yet)

2 hours later…

Cerberus

10:24

Morning!

Cerberus

10:45

freewaregenius.com/2012/02/18/…

Gigili

Morning.

Cerberus

Hi!

Gigili

My book says "forgetting parents is quite heart-breaking" is ambiguous, I don't see how it's ambiguous.

Cerberus

It could theoretically be "having parents who forget" or "forgetting one's parents".

But it is an odd sentence anyway.

Gigili

"Forgetting parents" meaning "having parents who forget" is really odd.

@Cerberus Going to install it?

Cerberus

10:52

@Gigili Well, it is an unlikely interpretation, but I guess it is possible. Something is left out that should be clear in context; it should probably have been mentioned before.

@Gigili Nah, but it sounds cool in theory.

Gigili

It's a single question, there's no context.

Cerberus

As in, "Building a few secret entrances should allow the King to escape." — "Secret entrances is really not the best way to make a castle secure: it should be a tunnel!".

Gigili

I voted to close as subjective or not constructive.

Cerberus

Oh, it was a Question!

Gigili

Secret entrances are the best way to make a castle secure, by far.

Cerberus

10:56

I agree that "are" is better in most cases.

The problem with the "forgetting" sentence is that it sounds unidiomatic anyway.

Gigili

Right that and also one should try hard to make it ambiguous as the first impression one normally get is "to forget one's parents".

Cerberus

Yes.

Would you like a grammar tip there?

Gigili

Yes please.

Cerberus

You should use a different verb for "should try hard": now it sounds as though you really want someone to do that. So you need something like "one has to try hard". And it is "one normally gets", because "one" is 3rd person singular.

Gigili

Aha, right. Thank you. Actually the latter was a typo!

Cerberus

11:05

Ah OK, I half suspected it might be.

Gigili

Bah, academia is in private beta.

Cerberus

Oh...

@Vitaly Sorry, I don't even know what that is!

Vitaly

OK. :(

Cerberus

The download has finished, by the way.

Vitaly

Good!

Cerberus

11:13

Is it hard to find these things through regular channels?

Like Googling?

I usually find everything I need that way.

Vitaly

@Cerberus like that philosophy journal that wasn't freely available? :P

Cerberus

I don't know, I didn't really try to, nor did I need it. But guess that means no.

Cerberus

11:30

About the fundamental flaws of modern democracy: diigo.com/annotated/16ea51fb45e874d53c9fdade198902d1

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Q: In the blink of an eye

I wanted to say - time flies very fast with the usage of the idiom "in the blink of an eye". The sentence goes like this - Time flies like in the blink of an eye. Is this the correct usage of the idiom?

idioms

Cerberus

A weakness in this reasoning is that there is an ultimate check in democracy that stops the state from self-destruction before it is too late: if things get really bad, people will vote for someone else, even in America. In the current system, there is no real choice, and people just mechanically vote without a very clear purpose. They can afford to, because the West is still doing very well, despite our problems.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

I feel like this belongs on Writers. Especially looking at the answers.

RobinHood

Welcome

Hey, How are you? @RegDwight

Cerberus

@RobinHood Thank you!!

RegDwight Ѭſ道

11:34

Sleepy.

RobinHood

No work?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

It's Saturday.

RobinHood

o_0) I just waiting for you only, since 5 hour.

Cerberus

@RegDwightѬſ道 Hmm yeah, perhaps so.

RobinHood

Humm.. enjoy!

RegDwight Ѭſ道

11:36

@RobinHood How very romantic.

Cerberus

I hope it rained.

RobinHood

lol

Really, Its too long to see you, or say! how is your life going on?

knock, knock

RegDwight Ѭſ道

My life is going on steadily. Also, no knocking will be heard while I'm cooking.

RobinHood

For me? :D

Anyway! After knot a person has to do.:P

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Sorry, no cooking for you in this chat.

Gigili

11:48

What if I committed to 3 proposals and their beta never launch?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

12:04

If they fail and get shut down, you'll get your commits back. If you don't want to wait, you can always uncommit yourself.

Gigili

How? One of them was LEGO and I changed my mind after visiting the site.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Oh, I misunderstood you. LEGO's beta has launched. It hasn't left the beta to become a full-fledged site.

Anyhow, in that case you can only get back your commitment by fulfilling it. I.e., ask or answer ten questions, getting several upvotes for each post, and get a certain number of badges (I believe it's like three silver badges or something like that).

Gigili

12:20

I'd rather wait for the other one's public beta then.

Please commit to this proposal.

Gigili

12:55

Please stop committing to the proposal, The site's down due to high traffic.

Robusto

13:51

@Reg: What are you using against 0'0'0?

user19161

Earlier today there was a series of downvotes on breast tit question.

user19161

There were many victims I checked.

Cerberus

14:11

Hi!

Robusto

14:21

Hi @Cer.

Cerberus

@Robusto Yo.

Cerberus

14:40

English (37)
French (23)
Spanish (20)
Russian (16)
Arabic (14)
Chinese (13)
German (12)
Japanese (10)
Portuguese (10)
Hindi/Urdu (9)

This is an interesting way of weighing the importance of languages around the world. The number are points according to the weighing system. www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/languages.htm

It looks fair.

Although perhaps Russian is a bit higher than I would have expected.

Matt Эллен

@KitFox Thanks! I see you have a new user name and avatar. Very swish!

Robusto

@MattЭллен I don't think "swish" means the same thing in BE that it does in AE.

Matt Эллен

i see

what does it mean to you?

to me it means, uh, swish... my thesaurus brain isn't working right now

swish, like that thing where it look newer and better

Robusto

swish 3 informal, offensive an effeminate male homosexual.

Matt Эллен

I see

no, that's not what I mean

Robusto

14:49

I didn't think so.

In BE it must mean something like flashy, showy, etc.

Matt Эллен

Swish adjective (informal) smart, fashionable

yes, that's what I was going for

Robusto

More evidence that England and America are two countries separated by a common language.

Matt Эллен

indeed :D

Matt Эллен

15:04

right, the rain seems to have lessened. I shall make a beak for groceries! see y'all

Robusto

@MattЭллен More evidence of BE vs. AE obliqueness. In America we would make a "break" for groceries in between rain showers. ^_^

And, yes, I know it's a typo.

2 hours later…

RegDwight Ѭſ道

17:13

Bah, another phone question.

Q: The word describing what to do when you have run out of credit on the phone

About mobile phones. When I have run out of credit I need to do what?

word-choice

Q: "I have no money on my cell phone account" or "my cellphone is out of money" or how?

Situation: Soon you will not be able to use your cell phone because you almost have no money left on your cell phone account. How would a native English speaker quickly and naturally describe this situation?

word-choice

Q: "I have no charge on my cellphone" or "my cellphone is out of charge"?

Situation: The batteries in your cellphone are running out of charge. How would a native English speaker quickly and naturally describe this situation?

word-choice

2 hours later…

simchona

18:52

Q: origin of the expression "proudly placed on our mantelpiece"

What is the origin of the expression "proudly placed on our mantelpiece"? When was it used for the first time?

etymology expressions

How is this even answerable?

Robusto

19:18

@simchona Lord Randall Conyngeham, returning from a foxhunt on the 7th day of September, 1761, in Derbyshire, England, found an old pewter plate outside his estate and handed it to his footman. "What shall I do with this, m'lord?" the footman inquired. "Why you silly fellow," the lord replied, "it should be proudly placed on our mantelpiece." I don't have a citation for this, of course, but I did imagine it so it must be true; anyway, it's such a good story I don't think it needs one.

2 hours later…

Matt Эллен

21:03

I believe I heard that story, it must be true.

Alan Munn

21:28

Hi, Does anyone know why I started in this site with 1 whereas in other .sx sites, I started with 100? (I have > 30k on TeX.sx) I don't really care about the reputation, but I'm curious about the difference.

1 hour later…

Alan Munn

22:38

Answering my own question: logging out and back in again added the complimentary 100 reputation.

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