English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

@KitFox Even then.

@KitFox hugs

thx

at least linq is making me feel better.

@KitFox strangling but well-meant hug

haha

6:13 PM

Linq?

Language integrated query

Perhaps it is time you sat down your husband and went through all your expenses?

Ah.

He already did that earlier.

But have you done it together?

When we we figuring out if we could send the eldest to preschool.

6:14 PM

Hmm.

We're about $700 overbudget every month.

Do you have lots of savings?

Even at my rates, that's a pretty good amount of consulting time I need to make up.

@Cerberus pshaw No. Maybe a month's worth of expenses.

If we're lucky.

Okay, then I'd say that is a financial emergency. Something needs to change now.

Hardly an emergency. We've been covering that difference for two years.

6:16 PM

But how?

Right, but is it healthy for you?

@Cerberus I do consulting in my "free time."

I am really tired of it.

Ah, so that comes on top of this budget?

Yeah. My salary only covers about 75% of our expenses.

It sounds like you feel pretty stressed about the difficulty and uncertainty of it.

6:17 PM

Yes.

It wouldn't be so bad if it would just stay still.

Just switch to a public school.

So where can you cut expenses? Is this preschool important?

He'll go to public school in September.

oh right, it's a pre-school

6:18 PM

So my husband says, hey, realistically it's only $420.

What will he do before and after school in sept?

What would happen if you cut out preschool?

@MrShinyandNew安宇 What do you mean?

Will he need daycare/babysitting?

No.

My husband is a stay-at-home dad.

It's tough when Gramma's away, because she flags him usually.

6:20 PM

I see

So in sept, will your expenses be sane again?

We wanted one of us to be home with the boys until they started school.

Can your husband work part time?

Or from home?

I figured it would be me, but it didn't work out that way.

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Hmm. Well, they aren't really insane now.

@KitFox Well, I mean, they're insane if you're using your "free time" to cover the shortfall in your budget

Maybe "insane" is a strong word

1 min ago, by KitFox

We wanted one of us to be home with the boys until they started school.

And I couldn't find a job that pays me what I'm worth.

And my husband was laid off for so long that we just gave up on him going back to work.

Thing is, the union has been talking about hiring him. That would work out really well, since then I could quit my job and just do the consulting work.

But it's hard to tell with them. You can't count on it until the papers are signed, you know?

6:25 PM

Does your consulting work pay more than your "job"?

Yes. Twice as much.

Well, on the face of it, it pays twice as much.

but no benefits, etc

no healthcare

And I have to pay taxes through the nose.

But we would have healthcare through my husband's job.

@KitFox But that means you can't just quit now and do full-time consulting

Right. You got it.

6:29 PM

If your husband starts working, what will happen to your kids? Will they need daycare? One is two years old, right?

If he starts working, I will quit.

They would need daycare otherwise.

Well, probably. The position that he is thinking of is currently three days a week.

Not being a parent yet, I probably have no business saying this - I know you'd do anything for your kids. But preschool for part of a year probably won't make a difference in your son's development compared to any other socialization/community activities available. You're brilliant people and I'm sure you're already raising him well and that makes the difference.

Aww, thanks.

And if you need medical expenses paid, that's important: you're the breadwinner and they need you. Your kids need your time too and need you to not be stressed as heck about money either.

That's just as valuable.

I think my husband is pushing for it because he wants to have the time at home with just one kid to worry about.

6:34 PM

@KitFox We had a similar situation, only the finances worked out better for us so I didn't have to worry about it.

What is going to happen next year? Is your husband going to stay at home until your 2nd is 4? Basically: how long is this current crunch situation going to last?

@aediaλ This.

@KitFox I can see how that could be desirable after being a stay at home parent! But don't forget, if him getting hired doesn't work out in the short term, he'll get that by the fall anyway. Whereas all you get is more worry about making ends meet: are you up for it or are you the one who needs a respite? (Not that I advocate taking an adversarial position with one's partner... sometimes things just come down to who really needs a break next I think.)

smiles and proffers slightly aged red-and-green Hershey's Kisses

Hi! Thanks! Sorry, I am talking to my boss. BBL.

6:50 PM

makes a slightly chocolatey shushing face

@aediaλ They're like whiskey. They can only get better with age.

Q: Technical term for `avoiding responsibility` with decision-makers?

-2

A parliament may avoid responsibility in various ways such as does not underwrite official documents with signature or official "logo" floods important documents with less important documents so the next parliament (particularly if it is opposition) cannot find them maintain the location to sto...

phrase-requests

What is being asked here?

Mar 9 '11 at 3:45, by Kosmonaut

I read through this question a few times and now I feel like I don't understand English anymore.

7:14 PM

@RegDwightѬſ道 Oh dear. Um, wow, the edit history did not help. I don't know. I think it's asking ...what to call politics?

7:48 PM

I left a comment.

Because he has a history of asking, um, subpar questions.

@RegDwightѬſ道 I think Kosmonaut didn't realize the guy was trying to make a poem-question.

Is the behavior of Grigori Perelman,
insistingly rejecting intrusions into his private life,
for example, like making a show of him by awarding him a $million,
is seen as non sequitur, unreasonable or senselesss
in the eyes of general public and organizers of shows around mathematical sciences?

____

See how he's working at the enjambments?

Yes! I think that's Orwellian. And an ideal of responsibility. Which are synonyms, really.

Who would not be "insistingly rejecting intrusions"? Nobody, that's who.

@Robusto Orwellians with ideals of responsibility, that's who.

Hmm ... poem-question or question-poem? Maybe I oughta ask on ELU.

7:52 PM

Sorry, you need to phrase your ask in the form of incomprehensible mutterings, ramblings, and limericks.

@MrShinyandNew安宇 I see that as a non sequitur, unreasonable or senseless.

@Robusto I see your senseless unreason and raise you a piss-flaps.

@MrShinyandNew安宇 So that's where I went wrong. Damn it!

@MrShinyandNew安宇 If there is a single term that could sell me off sex, that would be the one.

@Robusto you fool! It's supposed to be erotic! You're a prude, and not a scholar! admit it!

@Robusto On ELU, you may only ask if it's poem-question or poems-question.

7:55 PM

@MrShinyandNew安宇 you misspelled erratic.

@RegDwightѬſ道 Isn't that more of a guideline than a rule?

Speaking of guidelines, not rules:

Feb 29 at 13:51, by Robusto

The "you misspelled" meme is played out. Let's go back to LOLCATZ or something.

@RegDwightѬſ道 Can I haz memeburger?

But I knew you were going to back-burner that one and trot it out when you judged the time to be right.

I will give you your memeburger only if you promise to mention it in your memeoirs.

@Robusto This reminds me of the time when my daughter, who was supposed to be in bed (and couldn't leave her room because there was a safety gate in the door) picked her nose, then went to her door and shouted "Daddy! got a burger for you!"

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Talk to Ron Popeil about that one.

But it's really sweet that she saved the best ones for her daddy.

7:59 PM

@Robusto Set it and forget it?

Mar 18 at 12:03, by Robusto

Yeah, booger. But it's spelled Popeil.

I taught her to just wipe it on the bedsheets, because those get washed. Unlike, say, the wall, where it would fuse with the paint and become part of the room, gradually making the room smaller and smaller over the years.

@Robusto ah, gotcha

Q: Distinctive features of English diphthongs

@MrShinyandNew安宇 You have no idea. When my eldest went off to college we literally had to scrape the walls before painting.

0

I am looking for a table of distinctive features for English dipthongs along the lines of that available for other vowels at http://www.benjamins.com/jbp/series/Z/156/workbook/exercise_2.7.html. I don't trust my purely book learned linguistic skills to produce an accurate feature matrix. A tool...

american-english vowels

If you're looking for a table of distinctive features for English diphthongs and you don't trust "book learned linguistic skills" ... well, I'm afraid you're in a bit of a bind.

Also, maybe you should learn to spell diphthong.

What thongs?

Plus, I should think that book-learned skills would be sufficient for the production of any feature matrix, accurate or otherwise.

@RegDwightѬſ道 Thilly thongs, thtupid.

8:07 PM

Di is Greek for two, innit?

Well Wikipedia does have an image labeled Thong 2.

Thong_2.jpg

Much better.

Hahaha. Thong — (removed) — much better.

Tru dat. Although the distance between "clothed" and "clothing removed" is not spacious here.

But anyway, stop making my teeth hurt.

Well I've seen salads that were dressed less.

user19161

There are also salads with no dressing.

8:12 PM

I used to think "threads" was a general slang term for clothing. Now I know it has a very specific application.

Seriously, stop making my teeth hurt.

I think I shall stop my own teeth from hurting. The commute should take care of that. Laterz.

CU

people, start chatting real quick until the NSFW image scrolls offscreen, m'kay?

Mahnax

Sure.

Chat.

chats

I can still just see it.

i'm gonna need about 10 more lines

chat harder, people!

hard chats

8:25 PM

I had the same thought.

Wait... just how hard are you "chatting" for that nsfw image?

Another option: increase font size.

Another option: get work in a non-nazi country.

Do people talk about english in here?

Sometimes. But mostly we talk about English.

@Andypandy Occasionally.

8:30 PM

I'm working on this english.stackexchange.com/questions/61884/word-for-how-it-fits

@RegDwightѬſ道 sez the communist owl working in germany

Like.... fit

@JSBᾶngs who can browse Wikipedia!

So what does that say about your country...

@RegDwightѬſ道 whatever, dude. over here we have freedom, which includes the freedom not to look at thongs at work

hopefully a discussion of synonyms trumps a discussion about capitalization

8:31 PM

@JSBᾶngs I am told you also have fries to go with your freedums.

@RegDwight hopefully a discussion of synonyms trumps a discussion about capitalization

@JSBᾶngs not taking the bait...not taking it...

@Andypandy Perhaps it would help if you explained what you need this for a little bit more.

@Andypandy Unlikely.

Oh and @Cerberus right there doesn't look at thongs at work, either. While smoking weed. Match that, America!

Yup, see? No eyes, not looking.

And, for the record, I have never smoked weed, even though it has been legal since before I was born.

I think.

At least for as long as I can remember.

Which is admittedly not long.

Oh, well.

Stop badgering me!

Wait, what is not long about you?

8:34 PM

See the previous line.

My attention span is inside a div with overflow:hidden.

Ah, I see.

So much for your purported wisdom.

I never purported wisdom, for myself or otherwise.

So, have we not helped Andy enough just yet?

@Cerberus for some marketing material hah. Trying to describe a product that is technologically advanced, convenient, and (the word i'm looking for). Its sort of in that context... a word that evokes the idea that something fits in it environment perfectly

@Cerberus but "fit" isn't the word

@Andypandy How about "good"? Sorry, marketing material is really not my cup of tea.

Just use any random positive word.

8:37 PM

@Cerberus thinking more "fits good"

no its all about fit

Relates well to surroundings

blah blah.... we're talking about a building that fits into its block and community and makes it a better place

because it fits well

Just print "this product is good!" in huge letters on your poster and call it a day.

pretty much

hehe

Okay, and why do you want a noun? What is that good for?

"Tailored to bla" is the usual lingo.

Ouch, my ears are hurting.

8:38 PM

i don't want a noun i want an adjective

Oh. Why not a verb?

Ideal.

like... influences surroundings positively

heheh

Think of what it really is you want to say (the actual information you want to convey) and make a sentence that does just that. Try to skip meaningless terms, like general words praising your thing.

@Andypandy Because this is still a bit vague.

Or just skip all adjectives altogether.

8:40 PM

Our building fits perfectly into the block, neighborhood, community. Its not out of place, and in fact increases the value by how well it fits

Customers will not buy your product any sooner if you stick nice words onto it, unless you actually describe an aspect of the product that will really be useful to them.

this is kind of high level, far from an actual product

@Andypandy And what does "fit" mean here? Can you be more specific?

people, Andy came here for word advice, not marketing advice

@Andy what's the sentence frame you're trying to fit?

yeah i'm leaning towards using "fits good"

synonym of "fits good"

8:42 PM

6 mins ago, by Andypandy

@Cerberus for some marketing material hah. Trying to describe a product that is technologically advanced, convenient, and (the word i'm looking for). Its sort of in that context... a word that evokes the idea that something fits in it environment perfectly

There's your frame.

Are you talking about physical proportions? Consistency of style?

yes

and more

Fulfilling a function in the neighbourhood that was lacking?

yes

Ideal.

8:43 PM

If your building really has all that, why not name those properties specifically?

The word ideal encompasses all you need, and more. It's ideal.

but it can't have ideal taste or smell. it has to be ideal fit

That would sound more convincing to me than some meaningless word like "fit".

agreed

how about functional?

well-integrated

8:44 PM

function is too vague, i like well integrated however

Equally meaningless.

thanks

in The Frying Pan, 1 min ago, by derobert

@Jay @Cerberus is a magical, large, flying cat

Preposterous!

I am deeply offended.

Special pussy gerth

thanks for the help

@Andypandy "ideal" does not imply taste or smell. It does imply "ideal fit", though.

8:47 PM

Gerth?

ideal, adjective: Optimal; being the best possibility.

How about [blank]?

But anyway. Scrap the adjectives.

in War Metal Tyrant, Aug 1 '11 at 20:09, by RegDwight

All adjectives in commercials are superfluous.

in War Metal Tyrant, Aug 1 '11 at 20:09, by RegDwight

No one would ever say, we're looking for bad surgers. Or our chocolate has the worst ingredients.

Exactly.

My allergy is playing up.

Heuschnupfen?

8:53 PM

No, wordiness.

I do have a bit of a cold all year round, but also in winter, so that can't be it.

9:17 PM

@Cerberus If it's all year round it's not a cold. Maybe cancer, but not a cold.

Oh, nice.

Just trying to cheer you up.

user19161

Well, there are things worse than cancer.

@Cer: See?

9:33 PM

Wow I suddenly feel like someone forced a rainbow down my throat.

user19161

There is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

user19161

There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

user19161

There is a calm at the end of the storm.

user19161

--Will, 2012

Then again, there are cancers worse than things.

It's not all black-and-white.

user19161

9:38 PM

Indeed, it depends on what cancers and what things.

user19161

Nothing is black-and-white, that's why the rainbow has seven colours.

Stupid Google Images changed their interface. GAAAAAAHHHH

I can't use it anymore.

Not that it was extremely usable before.

user19161

I always wonder whether to include an e. I know it's spelled changeable and not changable.

user19161

But it can be aging or ageing.

user19161

So, amazingly, both "floccinaucinihilipilification" and "pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis" are listed at oxforddictionaries.com.

9:44 PM

@RegDwightѬſ道 Did it have something to do with the NSFW thong? Like maybe they said, "All right, we've had it with RegDwight. This undression will not stand, man!"

user19161

Yet it does not list "out of the box" in the software context.

The thong I didn't search for on Google Images. The thong I got straight off of Wikipedia.

user19161

@Robusto After undressing, something will stand.

@RegDwightѬſ道 Ah, I misremembered. I was paying attention to other things.

user19161

Wikipedia is quite liberal with its images.

9:47 PM

@WillHunting Even before.

user19161

@Robusto True, but there might be some obstruction.

I hate Lichtatem. Can't win a single surge against his rainbow.

Let's start calling him Arschatem then.

@Cerberus I don't think anyone had to "force" it.

user19161

I love making links expand here. There is a rule in the other room not to make things expand. I shan't go there anymore.

You are easily amused. Also, go nuts.

user19161

9:51 PM

But sometimes the link does not expand even when it is the only thing. It's a bug probably.

Also, I think thongs should be renamed "Fan Service."

Because that's what they are! Except when they're banana hammocks. @Cer, ymmv.

user19161

@Robusto I don't understand. It can mean either service to the viewers or allowing wind to air the flesh.

@WillHunting You're not understanding the trope.

user19161

@matt Why are you here at this hour? I thought it is your bed time!

My bad, I misspelled it. It should be fanservice.

9:55 PM

there are minutes until my bed time

Nou! No click on link! Its tvropes!

Mwuhahaha. You are trapped.

user19161

I just clicked on link.

Well I'm at 1/7 on Fight, and now lezasa tells me that Da Killah got him 8/0 on Surge.

QQ

9:58 PM

I feel for you. So why didn't you just use Da Killah?

user19161

Predator is a nice movie after so many years.

@Robusto I never use Da Killah!

But now I'm making me some...

Uh-huh. That's what I thought. nods dismissively

subject line in an email I just received: Stop rape and murder for profit

tell me more of your ingenious scheme!

user19161

I think I solved the reviewer badge mystery.

user19161

10:00 PM

It is the number of reviews plus flags you deal with. Maybe I did not count the flags.

@WillHunting was is old man Withers all along

user19161

Well, just a guess.

@MattЭллен I think that means they'll pay you to quit.

@Robusto oh, well then I won't make any money :(

user19161

I received two spams from tagged.com in the past two days.

10:01 PM

unless I start...

The choice is in your hands.

user19161

The model in the email was quite attractive I must say.

user19161

They usually use models for these ads and make them look like real users.

@RegDwightѬſ道 I mini-spent on Lichtatem. Result? 3/0.

Yeah. I just surged twice with Ogralia, won both.

Now just wait for him to switch decks again.

user19161

10:06 PM

I don't use the other accounts much. Maybe I will delete them and just keep ELU. Then I will lose 100 overnight.

@WillHunting Wait, their real users are not models? Pffft.

user19161

@RegDwightѬſ道 Initially I thought these models were real users. Then I saw the same faces elsewhere...

Well, users use several stuffs.

I only use one stuffs, ever

user19161

I sort of liked friendster before it turned into gaming.

10:08 PM

@MattЭллен I saw you use stuffs outside this chat.

@RegDwightѬſ道 I found it disappointing and switched to things

But what about armadillos?

user19161

I think twitter is plain stupid.

crunchy on the outside, smooth on the inside. I do love me an armadillo

@WillHunting I sort of liked gaming before it turned into friendster.

user19161

10:10 PM

I think Facebook is OK.

I sort of liked eBay before it went capitalist

@WillHunting Think again.

user19161

@MattЭллен Amazon is better.

@MattЭллен you liked eBay before 1890?

user19161

But Amazon should introduce free international shipping.

user19161

10:11 PM

For say above a certain price maybe.

@RegDwightѬſ道 oh yes. before the hipsters found it

Thank you for your discontinued patronage.

:D

user19161

I never visited ebay, not even sure what it is.

I must away to bed! toodles.

10:13 PM

Night.

user19161

As usual I have to comment it is not clear who is sleeping.

@Robusto well my third battle was a loss. Went down for the long count, too.

Once the enemy has three units out and activated, I'm toast.

user19161

It is interesting how many people here pronounce Japanese as Japan-ese.

Um. How do you mean it? IPA pls.

user19161

I mean Japan followed by ese.

user19161

10:16 PM

So it sounds terribly weird.

[ʤə'pæniːz]?

user19161

@RegDwightѬſ道 Yes!

That's awful.

user19161

Clearly a pineapple marker some would say.

As a pineapple myself, I am offended. That's not pineapple, that's not even apple.

What's next? Pronouncing "Russian" as "Texan"?

user19161

10:19 PM

It can be confusing, such as the pronunciation of derivative and derivation.

user19161

My math teacher used to pronounce the former like the latter.

user19161

Also my math lecturer used to say multiply upstairs and downstairs by the same factor instead of numerator and denominator.

user19161

But that is probably just for fun.